The Hidden Life in Freemasonry

C. W. Leadbeater 33°

Anand Gholap Theosophical Institute

2009

Plate 0.

FOREWORD

IT is once more my privilege to usher into the world, for the helping of the thoughtful, another volume of the series on the hidden side of things written by Bishop Charles W. Leadbeater. True Mason that he is, he is ever trying to spread the Light which he has received, so that it may chase away the darkness of Chaos. To look for the Light, to see the Light, to follow the Light, were duties familiar to all Egyptian Masons, though the darkness in that Ancient Land never approached the density which shrouds the West today.

This book will be welcomed by all Freemasons who feel the beauty of their ancient Rite, and desire to add knowledge to their zeal. The inner History of Masonry is left aside for the present, and the apprentice is led by a trustworthy guide through the labyrinth which protects the central Shrine from careless and idle inquirers. Places that were obscure become illuminated; dark allusions are changed to crystal clarity; walls which seem solid melt away; confidence replaces doubt; glimpses of the goal are caught through rifts in the clouds; and the earth-born mists vanish before the rays of the rising sun. Instead of fragments of half-understood traditions, confused and uninterpreted, we find in our hands a splendid science and a reservoir of power which we can use for the uplifting of the world. We no longer ask: “What is the Great Work? We see “that it is nothing less than a concerted effort to carry out the duty that is laid upon us, as those who possess the Light, to spread that Light abroad through the World, and actually to become fellow-labourers with T.G.A.O.T.U. in His great Plan for the evolution of our Brn”.

The detailed explanations of the ceremonies are profoundly interesting and illuminative, and I commend them very heartily to all true Freemasons. Our V .·.·. I .·.·. Brother has added a heavy debt of gratitude by this book to the many we already owe him. Let us be honest debtors.

Adyar

ANNIE BESANT

December 25, 1925

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

THE Masonic fellowship differs from all other societies in that candidates for membership have to join it blindfold, and cannot receive much information about it until they actually enter its ranks. Even then the majority of Masons usually obtain only the most general idea of the meaning of its ceremonies, and seldom penetrate further than an elementary moral interpretation of its principal symbols. In this book it is my object, while preserving due secrecy upon those matters which must be kept secret, to explain something of the deeper meaning and purpose of Freemasonry, in the hope of arousing among the Brn. a more profound reverence for that of which they are the custodians and a fuller understanding of the mysteries of the Craft.

Although the book is primarily intended for the instruction of members of the Co-Masonic Order, whose desire, as is expressed in their ritual, is to pour the waters of esoteric knowledge into the Masonic vessels, I hope nevertheless that it may appeal to a wider circle, and may perhaps be of use to some of those many Brn. in the masculine Craft who are seeking for a deeper interpretation of Masonic symbolism than is given in the majority of their Lodges, showing them that in the ritual which they know and love so well are enshrined splendid ideals and deep spiritual teachings which are of the most absorbing interest to the student of the inner side of life.

Before we can gain this fuller understanding we must have at least some slight acquaintance with certain facts concerning the world in which we live - a world only half of which we see or understand. Indeed, undignified as the statement sounds, it is quite true that our position resembles very closely that of a caterpillar feeding upon a leaf, whose vision and perception extend but very little beyond the leaf upon which he crawls. How difficult it would be for such a caterpillar to transcend his limitations, to take a wider view, to understand that his leaf is part of a huge tree with millions of such leaves, a tree with a life of its own - a life outlasting a thousand generations of lives such as his; and that tree in turn only a unit in a vast forest of dimensions incalculable to his tiny brain! And if by some unusual development one caterpillar did catch a glimpse of the great world around him and tried to explain his vision to his fellows, how those other caterpillars would disbelieve and ridicule him, how they would adjure him to waste no time on such unprofitable imaginings, but to realize that the one purpose of life is to find a good position on succulent leaf, and to assimilate as much of it as he can!

When later on he becomes a butterfly, his view widens, and he comes into touch with a beauty, a glory and a poetry in life of which he had no conception before. It is the same world, and yet so different, merely because he can see more of it, and move about in it in a new way. Every caterpillar is a potential butterfly; and we have the advantage over these creatures in that we can anticipate the butterfly stage, and so learn much more about our world, come much nearer to the truth, enjoy life much more, and do much more good. We should study the hidden side of every-day life, for in that way we shall get so much more out of it. The same truth applies to higher things - to religion, for example. Religion has always spoken to mankind of unseen things above - not only far away in the future, but close around us here and now. Our life and what we can make of it largely depend upon how real these unseen things are to us. Whatever we do, we should think always of the unseen consequences of our action. Some of us know how useful that knowledge has been to us in our Church Services; and it is just the same in freemasonry.

Though this vast inner world is unseen by most of us, it is not therefore invisible. As I wrote in The Science of the Sacraments:

There are within man faculties of the soul which, if developed, will enable him to perceive this inner world, so that it will become possible for him to explore and to study it precisely as man has explored and studied that part of the world which is within the reach of all. These faculties are the heritage of the whole human race; they will unfold within every one of us as our evolution progresses; but men who are willing to devote themselves to the effort map gain them in advance of the rest, just as a blacksmith’s apprentice, specializing in the use of certain muscles, may attain (so far as they are concerned) a development much greater than that of other youths of his age. There are men who have these powers in working order, and are able by their use to obtain a vast amount of most interesting information about the world which most of us as yet cannot see. … Let it be clearly understood that there is nothing fanciful or unnatural about such sight. It is simply an extension of faculties with which we are all familiar, and to develop it is to make oneself sensitive to vibrations more rapid than those to which our physical senses are normally trained to respond.* (*Op. cit., pp. 9, 10.)

It is by the use of those perfectly natural but super-normal faculties that much of the information given in this book has been obtained. Anyone who, having developed such sight, watches a Masonic ceremony, will see that a very great deal more is being done than is expressed in the mere words of the ritual, beautiful and dignified as they often are. Of course, I fully understand that all this may well seem fantastically impossible to those who have not studied the subject at first-hand; I can but affirm that this is a clear and definite reality to me, and that by long and careful research, extending over more than forty years, I am absolutely certain of the existence and reliability of this method of investigation.

It is no new discovery, for it was known to the wise men of old; but, like so much else of the ancient wisdom, it has been forgotten during the darkness of the early Middle Ages, and its value is only gradually being rediscovered; so to many it appears unfamiliar and incredible. We have only to remember how utterly inconceivable the wireless telegraph, the telephone, the aeroplane or even the automobile would have seemed to our great-grandfathers, in order to realize that we should be foolish to reject an idea merely because we have never heard of it before. Only a few years ago the powers of research put at our disposal by the invention and development of the spectroscope were as far beyond popular thought as those of clairvoyance are now. That by it we could discover the chemical constitution and measure the movements of stars thousands of millions of miles away might well have been regarded as the baseless fabric of a dream. May not other discoveries be impending?

Men of high scientific attainments, such as Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir William Crookes, Professor Lombroso, M. Camille Flammarion and the late Professor Myers, who have taken the trouble to inquire into this matter of inner sight, have convinced themselves that this faculty exists; so if there be those among the Brn. to whom this claim seems ridiculous, I would ask them notwithstanding to read on and see whether the knowledge obtained by a means which is strange to them does not nevertheless supply for obscure or incomprehensible points in our ritual an explanation which commends itself to their reason and common sense. That which gives them a better grasp of the meaning underlying the mysteries of our Craft, and thereby increases their veneration and love for it, cannot be unworthy or absurd. Any student who wishes to know more of this fascinating subject may be referred to a little book entitled Clairvoyance, which I wrote some years ago.

I should like strongly to recommend for the perusal of my Brn. Of the Craft two books by Wor. Bro. W. L. Wilmhurst - The Meaning of Masonry and The Masonic Initiation; I have myself read them with great delight and profit, and have gathered many gems from their pages.

[Note: While this paragraph is missing in First Edition, in Second Edition it is indicated as part of First Edition.]

I desire to offer my heartiest thanks to the Rev. Herbrand Williams, M.C., B.A., for his kindness in placing at my disposal his vast stores of Masonic erudition, and for many arduous months of patient and painstaking research; also to the Rev. E. Warner and Mrs. M. R. St. John for the careful drawing of the illustrations, and to Professor Ernest Wood for his untiring assistance and cooperation in every department of the work, without which the production of the book would not have been possible.

C. W. L.

Second Edition

In this second edition a few trifling corrections have been made, and some additional information has been given with regard to certain higher degrees.

C. W. L.

CONTENTS

Foreword

Author's Preface

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

Personal Experience. Egyptian Evidences. Preservation of Rituals and Symbols. The Egyptian Outlook. The Hidden Work. The Egyptian Race. The Grand Lodges. The Ordinary Lodges. The History of Masonry.

CHAPTER II

THE LODGE

Form and Extension. Orientation. The Celestial Canopy. The Altar. Pedestals and Columns. Orders of Architecture. Meaning of the Three Columns. The Pillars of the Porchway.

CHAPTER III

THE FITTINGS OF THE LODGE

The Ornaments. The Mosaic Pavement. The Indented Border. The Blazing Star. The Furniture. The Movable Jewels. The Immovable Jewels.

CHAPTER IV

PRELIMINARY CEREMONIES

The Co-Masonic Ritual. The Procession. The Apron. The Ceremony of Censing. Lighting the Candles.

CHAPTER V

THE OPENING OF THE LODGE

The Brethren Assist. Tyling the Lodge. The E.A. S ... n. The Officers. The Duties. The Opening. The E.A. K … s.

CHAPTER VI

INITIATION

The Candidate. Divisions of the Ceremony. Preparation of the Candidate. The Inner Preparation. The Three Symbolical Journeys. The O …. The E …. I L … s. The S … and P … Examination and Investiture. The Working Tools. Egyptian Interpretation of the Working Tools.

(Second Edition: The Working Tools, and the Egyptian Interpretation of Them.

CHAPTER VII

THE SECOND DEGREE

The Questions. The Preparation. The Inner Preparation. The Opening. The E.A.'s Last Work. The Five Stages. The Five Steps. The O. The Working Tools. Closing the Lodge.

CHAPTER VIII

THE THIRD DEGREE

The Opening of the Lodge. The C … The Preparation. The Internal Preparation. Entering the Lodge. The Seven Steps. The O … The Etheric Forces. Hiram Abiff. Death and Resurrection. The Star. The Raising of Humanity. Fire, Sun and Moon. The Villains.

The Inscription.

(Second Edition: Our Master H. A. instead of Hiram Abiff.)

CHAPTER IX

THE HIGHER DEGREES

The Masonic Plane. The Ceremony of Installation. The Mark Degree. The Holy Royal Arch. Still Higher. The Rose Croix. Black Masonry. White Masonry. How to Use the Powers. Our Relation with Angels.

CHAPTER X - (CHAPTER IX in First Edition)

TWO WONDERFUL RITUALS

The Workings in Egypt. The Form of the Temple of Amen-Ra. The Building of the Temple of Amen-Ra. The Unveiling of the Hidden Light. The Offerings. The Descent of Osiris. The Distribution of the Sacrament. The Re-union of Osiris. The Shining of the Light. The Pledge and the Blessing. The Ceremony of the Holy Angels. The Lodge and Officers. The Triangle of Adepts. The Arrival of the Angels. The Building of the Temple of the Angels. The Ceremony in the Temple. The Effect of the Festival.

CHAPTER XI - (CHAPTER X in First Edition)

CLOSING THE LODGE

The Greetings. Preparation for Closing. The Closing.

PLATES

0. The Masonic Temple (Coloured)

I. An Egyptian Apron (Coloured)

II. (a) An Egyptian Initiation

(b) Osiris on the Square

III. The Plan of the Lodge

IV. The Three Columns

(a) Doric

(b) Ionic

V. Ruins of a Greek Temple

VI. A Pillar of the Porchway

VII. The Chapiter

VIII. The Arrow of Ra (Coloured)

IX. The Chakras

X. The Second Portal

XI. The Temple of the Angels (Coloured)

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

1. THE origins of Freemasonry are lost in the mists of antiquity. Last century there were many who thought that it could be traced no further back than the mediaeval guilds of operative masons, though some regarded these in turn as relics of the Roman Collegia. There may still be some who know no better than that, but all students of the Ancient Mysteries who are also Freemasons are aware that it is along that line that we find our true philosophical ancestry; for there is much in our ceremonies and teachings which could have had no significance for the mere operative mason, though when examined by the light of the knowledge received in the Mysteries it is seen to be pregnant with meaning. Many Masonic writers claim various degrees of antiquity for the Craft, some assigning its foundation to King Solomon, and one at least boldly stating that its wisdom is all that now remains of the divine knowledge which Adam possessed before his fall. There is, however, plenty of evidence less mythical than that, and to that evidence I happen to be able to contribute a fragment of personal experience of a rather unusual kind.

2. By devoting some years to the effort and many more years to practice, I have been able to develop certain psychic faculties of the kind mentioned in the Foreword, which, among other things, enable me to remember the previous existences through which I have passed. The idea of pre-existence may be new to some of my readers.* (*Those who wish to learn more about this most fascinating subject should read Reincarnation, by the V .·.·. Ills .·.·. Bro .·. A. Besant, and the chapter on Reincarnation in my Textbook of Theosophy.) I do not propose now to advance arguments in its favour, though they exist in abundance, but simply to state that for me, as for many others, it is a fact of personal experience. The only one of those previous lives of mine with which we are here concerned was lived some four thousand years before Christ in the country which we now call Egypt.

3. When I was initiated into Freemasonry in this life, my first sight of the Lodge was a great and pleasant surprise, for I found that I was perfectly familiar with all its arrangements, and that they were identical with those which I had known six thousand years ago in the Mysteries of Egypt. I am quite aware that this is a startling statement; I can only say that it is literally true. No mistake is possible; coincidence will not serve as an explanation. The placing of the three chief officers is unusual; the symbols are significant and distinctive, and their combination is peculiar; yet they all belonged to ancient Egypt, and I knew them well there. Almost all the ceremonies are unchanged; there are only a few differences in minor points. The s … ps taken, the k … s given - all have a symbolical meaning which I distinctly remember.

4. EGYPTIAN EVIDENCES

5. Knowing these facts to be so from my own experience, I set to work to collect ordinary physical-plane corroborative evidence for them from such books as were within my reach, and found even more than I had hoped. The explanation of the First Degree t … b … begins by remarking that the usages and customs among Freemasons have ever borne a near affinity to those of the ancient Egyptians, but does not furnish us with any illustrations of the points of similarity. These are to be found in Bro. Churchward’s most illuminative books, Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man and The Arcana of Freemasonry, also in The Arcane Schools, by Bro. John Yarker, and Freemasonry and the Ancient Gods, by Bro. J. S. M. Ward. I will proceed to summarize, with grateful acknowledgment, the information derived from these volumes. Masons of various degrees will be able to select from it the features which remind them of their own ceremonies.

6. Some interesting illustrations have been collected from the wall-pictures of ancient Egypt, and from vignettes on various papyri, chiefly from The Book of the Dead, of which there are many recensions. It is clear from these sources that the formation of the temple in Egypt was

7. Figure 1

9. a double square, and in the centre were three cubes standing one upon another, forming an altar* (*Churchward, The Arcana of Freemasonry, p. 43.) upon which were laid their Volumes of the Sacred Lore - not the same as our own, of course, for ours had not yet been written. Those cubes represented the three Aspects or Persons of the Trinity - Osiris, Isis and Horus - as may be seen from the signs engraved on them (see Fig. 1) which, however, is copied not from an Egyptian altar, but from an illustration in Mr. Evans’ book on Crete; but at a later period we find only a double cube.

10. There were two pillars at the entrance to the temple, and on them were squares representing earth and heaven.* (*Ibid., p. 44.) One of them bore a name which signified “in strength” while the name of the other signified “to establish”.* (*Ibid., p. 121.) This gateway was regarded as leading to the higher world of Amenti, the world where the soul was blended with immortal spirit, and thereafter established for ever; so this was the figure of stability. At the entrance of the Lodge there were always two guards armed with knives; the outer was called the Watcher, the inner was known as the Herald.* (*Ibid., p. 47.) The candidate was divested of most of his clothing, and entered with a c … t … and h … w … He was led to the door of the temple, and there asked who he was. He replied that he was Shu, the “suppliant” or “kneeler,” coming in a state of darkness to seek for Light. The door was an equilateral triangle of stone, which turned on a pivot on its own centre.

11. As the candidate entered he trod on the square, and, in so doing, it was supposed that he was treading on, and leaving, the lower quaternary or personality of man, in order to develop the higher triad, the ego or soul. (In modern Masonry the same idea is expressed in the First Lecture, where it is stated that a Mason comes to the Lodge “to learn to rule and subdue his passions, and to make further progress in Masonry”.) He was conducted through long passages, and led round the Lodge seven times; and, after having replied to many questions, he was eventually brought to the centre of the Lodge, and there asked what he required. He was told to answer: “Light”. In all his perambulations, he had to begin with the left foot. If the candidate violated his O., so it is stated in The Book of the Dead, his throat was cut and his heart torn out. Another degree is mentioned in the papyrus of Nesi-Amsu, where it is said that the body was cut to pieces and burnt to ashes, and these were spread over the face of the waters to the four winds of heaven.

12. There is in the temple of Khnumu in the island of Elephantine, just off Assouan, a bas-relief which shows us two figures, one of the Pharaoh and the other of a priest wearing the ibis head-dress of Thoth, standing in an attitude strongly suggestive of the f … p … of f …, though not exactly agreeing with our present practice. (See Plate II a.) It is intended to represent an initiation, and the word given is “Maat-heru,” which means “true of voice” or “one whose voice must be obeyed”.* (*Churchward, The Arcana of Freemasonry, p. 49.) I have also seen a painting in which four attendants are depicted saluting a Pharaoh with the p … s … of an I.M., and the s … of s … is often to be found on the monuments, and is characteristic of Horus. The gavel was then made of stone, and was a model of the double-headed axe.

13. Plate I

14.

15. In those days the aprons were made of leather, and were triangular. That of the First Degree was pure white, as it is now; but the M.M.’s apron was brilliantly coloured and heavily jewelled, with tassels of gold. (See Plate I.) Our t … f … i … g … was represented by a cubit of twenty-five inches. The Blazing Star in the centre of the Lodge existed, but it had eight points instead of six or five. It was called “The Star of Dawn” or “The Morning Star,” and represented Horus of the Resurrection, who is pictured as bearing it upon his head and as having given it to his followers.

16. The Masonic square was well-known, and was called neka. It is to be found in many temples, and also appears in the great pyramid. It is said that it was used for squaring stones, and also symbolically for squaring conduct, which once more resembles the modern interpretation. To build on the square was to build for ever, according to the teachings of ancient Egypt; and in the Egyptian Hall of Judgment Osiris is seen seated on the square while judging the dead. (See Plate II b.)

17.

18. Thus the square came to symbolize the foundation of eternal law.* (*Churchward, The Arcana of Freemasonry, p. 59.)

19. The Egyptians used the rough and the smooth ashlars with much the same meaning that Masons attach to them today.* (*Ibid., p. 60.) A wand surmounted by a dove is represented, not only in ancient Egypt, but also in some of the monuments in Central America, and those who bore it were called “conductors”. It is a curious fact, also, that the descendants of the Nilotic negroes, who emigrated long ago from Egypt to Central Africa, when called to take an oath in a court of law, still do so with a gesture which, still do so with a gesture, were I at liberty to describe it in writing, would be universally recognized by the Craft.

20. Another point that struck me much on looking at engravings of vignettes in The Book of the Dead is that the h … s … of the F.C. is depicted perfectly clearly; a group of people is shown as worshipping the setting sun, or paying respect to it, in that attitude.

21. This Book of the Dead, as it has been somewhat unfortunately called, is part of a manual which in its entirety was intended as a kind of guide to the astral plane, containing a number of instructions for the conduct both of the departed and the initiate in the lower regions of that other world. The chapters which have been collected from the various tombs do not give us the whole of that work, but only one section of it, and even that is much corrupted. The mind of the Egyptian seems to have worked along exceedingly formal and orderly lines; he tabulated every conceivable description of entity which a dead man could by any possibility meet, and arranged carefully the special charm or word of power which he considered most certain to vanquish the creature if he should prove hostile, never apparently realizing that it was his own will which did the work, but attributing his success to some kind of magic. The Book of the Dead was originally intended to be kept secret, although in later days certain chapters were written on papyrus and buried with the dead man. As is said in one of the texts: “This Book is the greatest of mysteries. Do not let the eye of anyone look upon it - that were abomination. The Book of the Master of the Secret House is its name.”* (*W. Marsham Adams, The Book of the Master, p. 96.)

22. In ancient Egypt they recognized seven souls, or life-forces, coming forth from the Most High. Students of Eastern philosophy call them the primordial seven, and they are mentioned in The Book of Dzyan.* (*See The Secret Doctrine, by H. P. Blavatsky.) Six of these were prehuman; the seventh was our humanity, and was brought forth from the virgin Neith. The symbol attached to that bringing forth was that of the pelican, who was fabled to draw blood from her own breast in order to feed her young; this later became a prominent symbol in the Rosicrucian philosophy, which seems to have been derived largely from Egyptian teaching. We read in Egyptian hieroglyphics of “the One and the Four,” referring to Horus and his four Brothers. Of that we also read in The Stanzas of Dzyan; and another expression common to both is “The One from the Egg”. In Egypt the egg was the symbol for the setting sun, which is often seen in that shape when about to touch the horizon. That egg passed into the underworld, and was hatched there, and out of it came the young sun the next morning, rising in his strength, which was called “the flame born of a flame”. All this bore a deeply mystical significance, which was explained in the Mysteries.

23. When Osiris died, Isis and Nepthys - in turn tried to raise him, but it proved a failure; then Anubis attempted it and succeeded, and Osiris returned to the world with the secrets of Amenti - a significant statement which seems to suggest that the secrets which we possess are closely connected with the underworld and the life after death.

24. These are some of the most striking of the evidences which I have been able to collect; and there are others which may not be written. I feel that many more can probably be found, but even these, when taken together, make any theory of coincidence impossible. There is no doubt that this to which we have the honour to belong today is the same fraternity which I knew six thousand years ago, and it can indeed be carried back to a far greater antiquity still. Bro. Churchward claims that some of the signs are six hundred thousand years old; that is quite likely to be true, for the world is very ancient, and assuredly Freemasonry has one of the very oldest rituals existing. We must of course admit that the mere appearance of one of our symbols does not necessarily involve the existence of a Lodge, but at least it shows that, even so long ago as that, men were thinking along somewhat the same lines, and trying to express their thoughts in the same language of symbol that we employ today.

25. PRESERVATION OF RITUALS AND SYMBOLS

26. That the rituals and symbols should have been preserved to us with so wonderfully little alteration is surely a marvellous thing; it would be inexplicable but for the fact that the Great Powers behind evolution have taken an interest in the matter, and gradually brought people back to the true lines when they had swerved somewhat away from them. This business was always in the hands of the Chohan of the Seventh Ray, for that is the ray most especially connected with ceremonial of all kinds, and its Head was always the supreme Hierophant of the Mysteries of ancient Egypt. The present holder of that office is that Master of the Wisdom of whom we often speak as the Comte de S. Germain, because He appeared under that title in the eighteenth century. He is also sometimes called Prince Rakoczi, as He is the last survivor of that royal house. Exactly when He was appointed to the Headship of the Ceremonial Ray I do not know, but He took a keen interest in Freemasonry as early as the third century A.D.

27. We find him at that period as Albanus, a man of noble Roman family, born at the town of Verulam in England. As a young man he went to Rome, joined the army there, and achieved considerable distinction in it. He served in Rome for some seven years at any rate, perhaps longer than that. It was there that he was initiated into Freemasonry, and also became a proficient in the Mithraic Mysteries, which were so closely associated with it.

28. After this time in Rome he returned to his birthplace in England, and was appointed governor of the fortress there. He also held the position of “the Master of the Works”, whatever that may have meant; he certainly superintended the repairs and the general work in the fortress at Verulam, and he was at the same time the Imperial Paymaster. The story goes that the workmen were treated as slaves and wretchedly paid, but that S. Alban (as he was afterwards called) introduced Freemasonry and changed all that, securing for them better wages and greatly improved conditions generally. Many of our Brn. must have heard of the Watson MS of 1687. In that a good deal is said about S. Albans work for the Craft, and it is specially mentioned that he brought from France certain ancient charges which are practically identical with those in use at the present time. He was beheaded in the persecution by the Emperor Diocletian in the year 303, and the great abbey of S. Alban was built over his remains some five hundred years later.

29. In the year 411 he was born in Constantinople and received the name of Proclus - a name which in after life he was destined to make famous. He was one of the last great exponents of Neo-Platonism, and his influence overshadowed to a great extent the medieval Christian Church. After that there is a gap in his list of incarnations, as to which at present we know nothing. We find him reborn in the year 1211, and in that life he was Roger Bacon, a Franciscan friar, who was a reformer both of the theology and the science of his day. In 1375 came his birth as Christian Rosenkreutz. That also was an incarnation of considerable importance, for in it he founded the secret society of the Rosicrucians. He seems some fifty years later, or a little more than that, to have used the body of Hunyadi Janos, an eminent Hungarian soldier and leader. Also we are told that about 1500 he had a life as the monk Robertus, somewhere in middle Europe. We know practically nothing about that, as to what he did or in what way he distinguished himself.

30. After that comes one of the greatest of his births, for in the year 1561 he was born as Francis Bacon. Of that great man we hear in history little that is true and a great deal that is false. The real facts of his life are gradually becoming known, largely by means of a cipher story which he wrote secretly in the many works which he published. That story is of entrancing interest, but it does not concern us here. A sketch of it may be found in my book The Hidden Side of Christian Festivals, from which I am epitomizing this account.* (*Op. cit.., p. 303.)

31. A century later we are told that he took birth as Jozsef Rakoczi, a prince of Transylvania. We find him mentioned in the encyclopedias, but not much information is given. After that considerable mystery surrounds his movements. He seems to have travelled about Europe, and he turns up at intervals, but we have little definite knowledge about him. He was the Comte de S. Germain at the time of the French Revolution, and worked much with Madame Blavatsky, who was at that period in incarnation under the name of Père Joseph. He also appears to have disguised himself as Baron Hompesch, who was the last of the Knights of St. John of Malta, the man who arranged the transfer of the island of Malta to the English. This great saint and teacher still lives, and His present body has no appearance of great age. I myself met Him physically in Rome in 1901, and had a long conversation with Him.

32. In Co-Masonry we refer to Him as the Head of all True Freemasons throughout the world (abbreviated as the H.O.A.T.F.) and in some of our Lodges His portrait is placed in the east, above the chair of the R.W.M., and just beneath the Star of Initiation; others place it in the north, above an empty chair. Upon His recognition and assent as Head of the Seventh Ray the validity of all rites and degrees depends. He often selects pupils from among the Brn. of the Masonic Order, and prepares those who have fitted themselves in the lower mysteries of Masonry for the true Mysteries of the Great White Lodge, of which our Masonic initiations, splendid though they be, are but faint reflections, for Masonry has ever been one of the gates through which that White Lodge might be reached. Today but few of His Masons acknowledge Him as their Sovereign Grand Master, yet the possibility of such discipleship has ever been recognized in the traditions of the Order. It is said in an ancient catechism of masculine Masonry:

33. Q. As a Mason whence come you?

A. From the W … t.

34. Q. Whither directing your course?

A. To the E … t.

35. Q. What inducement have you to leave the W … t and go to the E … t?

A. To seek a Master, and from Him to gain instruction.

36. Fortunately our ancestors have recognized the importance of handing down the working unchanged. Some few points have been dropped during that vast lapse of time; a few others have been slightly modified; but they are marvellously few. The charges have become longer, and the non-officials take less part in the work than they used to do; in the old days they constantly chanted short versicles of praise or exhortation, and each one of them understood himself to be filling a definite position, to be a necessary wheel in the great machine.

37. From this knowledge several points emerge. It is noteworthy that the Masonic ceremonies, which have so long been supposed to be rather in opposition to the received religion of the country, are seen to be themselves a relic of the most sacred part of a great ancient religion. Like every product of these ancient and elaborately perfected systems, these rites are full of meaning, or rather of meanings; for in Egypt we attributed to them a fourfold signification. Since every detail is thus full of import, it is obvious that nothing should ever be changed without the greatest care, and only then by those who know its full intent, so that the symbology of the whole may not be spoiled.

38. THE EGYPTIAN OUTLOOK

39. It is exceedingly difficult to explain to twentieth century readers all that this work meant to us in the sunny land of Khem; but I will try to describe the four layers of interpretation as they were taught when I myself lived there.

40. The first idea of its meaning was that it conveyed to us and symbolized in action the way in which the Great Architect had constructed the universe - that in the movements made and in the plan of the Lodge were enshrined some of the great principles on which that universe had been built. The vortical movement in the censing, the raising and lowering of the columns, the cross, the anchor and the cup upon the ladder of evolution - all these things and many more we interpreted in that way. The different degrees penetrated further and further into the knowledge of His methods and of the principles upon which He works. For we not only held that He worked in the past, but that He is working now, that His universe is an active expression of Him. In those days, books filled a far less prominent place in our lives than they do now, and it was considered that to record knowledge in a series of appropriate and suggestive actions made a more powerful appeal to a man’s mind, and established that knowledge better in memory, than to read it from a book. We are, therefore, preserving by our unvarying actions the memory of certain facts and laws in nature.

41. Because that is so, and because the laws of the universe must be universal in their application and must act down here as well as above, we held that the Great Architect expected from us a life in accordance with the law which He had made. The square was to be applied literally to stones and buildings, but symbolically to man’s conduct, and man must arrange his life in agreement with what obviously followed from these considerations; therefore the strictest probity was demanded, and a high level of purity, physical, emotional and mental. Perfect rectitude and justice were required, and yet at the same time loving-kindness and gentleness, and in all cases “doing unto others what ye would that they should do unto you.” So Masonry is indeed “a system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols,” but it is a system based not on an alleged commandment, “Thus saith the Lord,” but on definite facts and laws in nature which cannot be doubted.

42. The work is a preparation for death, and for what follows it. The two pillars B. and J. were supposed to stand at the entrance to the other world, and the various experiences through which the candidate passed were intended to symbolize those which would come to him when he passed out of this physical world into the next stage. There is a vast amount of information about the life after death to be derived from an intelligent consideration of Masonic ceremonies, and through constantly practising them these worlds will become really familiar to us; so that when we shall pass beyond the grave, no longer in figurative death, we shall feel ourselves quite at home in repeating once more what we have so often enacted in symbol within the Lodge. Above all, it is emphasized that the same laws hold good on the other side of the grave as on this, that in both states we are equally in the presence of God, and that where that holy Name is invoked there can be no cause for fear.

43. The fourth intention is the hardest of all to explain. To make you understand that, I must try to take you back, if I can, into the atmosphere of old Egypt, and to the attitude that religious men held there. I do not know whether it is possible to reconstruct that in these modern days, which are so hopelessly, so fundamentally different.

44. The religion which we know best at the present day is intensely individualistic; the great central objective put before most Christians is that of saving their own souls. That duty is represented to be of primary importance. Can you picture to yourselves a religion, just as much a religion in every way, in every respect as earnest, as fervid, as real, from which that idea was entirely absent, to which it would have been utterly inconceivable? Can you think, as a beginning, of a condition of mind in which no one feared anything excepting wrong, and its possible results in delaying unfoldment; in which men looked forward with perfect certainty to their progress after death, because they knew all about it; in which their one desire was not for salvation but for advancement in evolution, because such advancement brought them greater power to do effectively the hidden work which God expected of them?

45. I am not suggesting that every one in ancient Egypt was altruistic, any more than are all the people in modern England. But I do say that the country was permeated with joy and fearlessness so far as its religious ideas were concerned, and that every one who by any stretch of courtesy could be described as a religious man was occupied not with thoughts of his personal salvation, but with the desire to be a useful agent of the divine Power.

46. The outer religion of ancient Egypt - the official religion in which everyone took part, from the King to the slave - was one of the most splendid that have ever been known to man. Gorgeous processions perambulating avenues miles in length, amid pillars so stupendous that they seemed scarcely human work, stately boats in a medley of rainbow colours sweeping majestically down the placid Nile, music triumphant or plaintive, but always thrilling - how shall I describe something so absolutely without parallel in our puny modern times? The common dress of all classes in Egypt was white; but in contradistinction their religious processions were masses of splendid, glowing colour, the priests wearing vestments of crimson and a gorgeous blue supposed to represent the blue of the sky, and many other brilliant colours also. The life of ancient Egypt, as indeed of modern Egypt, centred round the river Nile, slow-flowing and majestic, and richly decorated barges were used for all purposes of transit, and also for the celebration of religious festivals. On these the priests were arranged in certain symbolical figures, standing or sitting; and all wore the colours appropriate to the particular aspect of the Deity which they symbolized.

47. Not only were solemn sacrifices offered to the gods upon these barges at altars wonderfully adorned with flowers and precious embroideries, sometimes built up by stages to a hundred feet or more in the air; but living pictures or scenes were also enacted upon them, having a symbolical meaning connected with the festival which was being celebrated. In such ways was represented the judgment of the dead, with the weighing of the heart by Anubis against the feather of Maat, the characters of Anubis and Thoth being played by priests who wore the appropriate masks. I remember also a very gruesome performance of the dismemberment of Osiris, in which His body was cut into pieces and then put together again - not the body of a real person, of course, but none the less very realistically enacted. These splendid processions swept down the river between the thronging multitudes of worshippers, shedding the benediction of the gods as they passed by, and evoking tremendous enthusiasm and devotion in the people.

48. The ancient Egyptians have often been accused of polytheism, but in reality they were no more guilty of the charge than are the Hindus. All men knew and worshipped the One God, Amen-Ra, the “One without a Second”, the centre of whose manifestation on the physical plane is the sun; but they worshipped Him under different aspects and through different channels. In one of the hymns addressed to Him it was said:

49. The gods adore Thee, They greet Thee, O Thou the One Dark Truth, the Heart of Silence, the Hidden Mystery, the Inner God seated within the shrine, Thou Producer of Beings, Thou the One Self. We adore the souls that are emanated from Thee, that share Thy Being, that are Thyself. O Thou that art hidden, yet everywhere manifest, we worship Thee in greeting each God-soul that cometh forth from Thee and liveth in us.

50. The “gods” were not considered to be equal with God, but rather to have attained union with Him at various levels, and therefore to be channels of His infinite power to mankind.

51. The cult of the gods was in reality but little different from the cult of Angels and Saints in the Catholic Church. Just as Christians look to St. Michael and to Our Lady as real personages and hold festivals in their honour, so in ancient Egypt adoration was offered to Isis and Osiris, and to other deities likewise. In the ultimate these august names referred to Aspects of the Godhead, Amen-Ra, for the Trinity in Egypt was represented by Father, Mother, Son - Osiris, Isis and Horus instead of the Christian presentation of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; but below that divine level there were then, as there are now, great Beings in whom the Ideal was embodied, who acted as representatives and as channels of God’s threefold power and grace to man. Furthermore there are hierarchies of Angels belonging to these different lines, just as there are hierarchies of Angels who follow the leadership of St. Michael and of Our Lady - each of whom is a channel and representative of his Order according to the level of his development. The celebration of the ritual of Isis, for instance, always attracted her attention, and invoked the presence of Angels of Her Order, who acted as channels of the divine blessing in that wondrous aspect of the Hidden Truth which she represented.

52. THE HIDDEN YORK

53. No doubt the really religious man took his part in all the outward pomp which I have described; but what he prized far above all its amazing magnificence was his membership in some Lodge of the sacred Mysteries - a Lodge which devoted itself with reverent enthusiasm to the hidden work which was the principal activity of this noble religion. It is of this hidden side of the Egyptian cult, not of its outer glories, that Freemasonry is a relic, and the ritual which is preserved in it is a part of that of the Mysteries. To explain what this hidden work was, let us draw a parallel from a more modern method of producing a somewhat similar result.

54. The Christian plan for spreading abroad the divine power or grace is principally by means of the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, commonly called by our Roman brethren the Mass. We must not think of that grace as a sort of poetical expression, or as in the least degree vague and cloudy; we are dealing with a force as definite as electricity - a spiritual power which is spread abroad over the people in certain ways, which leaves its own effect behind it, and needs its own vehicles, just as electricity needs its appropriate machinery.

55. It is possible by clairvoyance to watch the action of that force, to see how the service of the Eucharist builds up a thought-form, through which that force is distributed by the priest with the aid of the Angel invoked for that purpose. It has been so arranged that the attitude of the priest, his knowledge - even his character - does not in any way interfere with the due effect of the Sacrament.* (*See No. 26 of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England in The Book of Common Prayer.) There is, in any case, an irreducible minimum which is transmitted. So long as he performs the prescribed ceremonies the result is achieved.* (*See The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, by T. Waterworth, p. 55 (Session VII, Canon xii)) If he is also a devout man, those who receive the Sacrament at his hands have the additional benefit of a share in his love and devotion, but that in no way affects the value of the Sacrament itself; whatever his failings, the divine strength is outpoured upon the people.

56. The old Egyptian religion had the same idea of pouring out spiritual force upon all its people, but its method was altogether different. The Christian magic can be performed by the priest alone, and may even be done quite mechanically; but the intelligent assistance of the laity greatly increases its power and the amount of force which can be outpoured. The Egyptian plan, however, positively required the earnest and intelligent co-operation of a considerable number of people. It was, therefore, much more difficult to achieve perfectly, but when thoroughly done it was far more powerful, and covered a much wider range of country. The Christian scheme needs a vast number of churches dotted all over the land; the Egyptian plan required only the action of a few Grand Lodges established in the principal cities in order to flood the whole kingdom with the Hidden Light - the work of the ordinary Lodges being regarded as subsidiary to these, and rather as a training ground for membership in the Grand Lodges.

57. The central doctrine of the religion of the ancient Egyptians was that the divine power dwelt in every man, even the lowest and most degraded, and they called that power “The Hidden Light”. They held that through that Light, which existed in all, men could always be reached and helped, and that it was their business to find that Light within every one, however unpromising, and to strengthen it. The very motto of the Pharaoh was “Look for the Light,” implying that his supreme duty as King was to look for that Hidden Light in every man around him, and strive to bring it forth into fuller manifestation.

58. The Egyptians held that this divine spark, which exists in every one, could most effectively be fanned into flame by transmuting and bringing down to the three lower worlds the tremendous spiritual force which is the life of the higher planes, and then pouring it out over the country as has been described. Knowing that spiritual force to be but another manifestation of the manifold power of God, they gave to it also the name of the Hidden Light; and from this double use of the term confusion sometimes arises. They fully recognized that such a downpour of divine grace could be evoked only by a supreme effort of devotion on their part; and the making of such an effort, together with the provision of suitable machinery for spreading the force when it came, was a great part of the hidden work to which the noblest of the Egyptians devoted so much of their time and energy; and this was the fourth of the objects intended to be served by the sacred and secret ritual, of which that of Masonry is a relic.

59. THE EGYPTIAN RACE

60. The Egyptian race of the period of which I have been speaking was of mixed blood, but dominantly Aryan. Our researches show that about 13,500 B.C. a band of men and women belonging to the highest classes of the great South Indian empire which then existed set out on an expedition to Egypt, by way of Ceylon, having been directed to do so by the Manu. The ruling race in Egypt in those days was a branch of what has been called in Theosophical books the Toltec sub-race - a branch probably identical with that Cro-Magnon race which inhabited Europe and Africa somewhere about 25,000 B.C. In Ancient Types of Man* (*Op. cit., p. 71.) Sir Arthur Keith remarks that this race was mentally and physically one of the finest that the world has ever seen. Broca has noted that the brain content of the skull of the Cro-Magnon woman surpasses that of the average male of today. The average height of the men of this race was six feet one and a half inches; the shoulders were exceedingly broad and the arms short as compared with the legs; the nose was thin but prominent, the cheek-bones high, and the chin massive.

61. It happened that the King or Pharaoh on the throne at the time when the expedition from South India arrived had a daughter but no son, his wife having died in child-birth. The newcomers were received with great cordiality by both King and High-Priest, and intermarriage with the strangers became a coveted honour in the Egyptian families, especially as the King had approved the marriage of his daughter with the leader of the band, who was a Prince of India.

62. In a few generations the Aryan blood had tinged the entire Egyptian nobility, and this produced the type, well known from the monuments, which had Aryan features, but the Toltec colouring. After many centuries there came a ruler who was influenced by a foreign princess, whom he had espoused, to cast aside the Aryan traditions and establish lower forms of worship; but the clan drew together and, by strictly marrying only among themselves, preserved the old customs and religion as well as their purity of race. Nearly four thousand years after the arrival of the Indians, there arose in Egypt certain prophets who foretold a great flood, so the clan in a body took ship across the Red Sea and found a refuge among the mountains of Arabia.

63. In 9,564 B.C. the prophecy was fulfilled; the island of Poseidonis sank beneath the Atlantic Ocean in the deluge mentioned in the Timaeus of Plato; at the same time the land rose and made the Sahara Desert where a shallow sea had been before, and a vast tidal wave swept over Egypt, so that almost its entire population was destroyed. Even when everything settled down, the country was a wilderness, bounded on the west no longer by a peaceful sea but by a vast salt swamp, which as the centuries rolled on dried into an inhospitable desert. Of all the glories of Egypt there remained only the pyramids towering in lonely desolation - a state of things which endured for fifteen hundred years before the clan returned from its mountain refuge, grown into a great nation.

64. But long before this half-savage tribes had ventured into the land, fighting their primitive battles on the banks of the great river which had once borne the argosies of a mighty civilization, and was yet to witness a revival of those ancient glories, and to mirror the stately temples of Osiris and Amen-Ra. The first of the several races that entered the country was a negroid people from Central Africa; they had, however, been displaced by various others before the Aryo-Egyptians returned from Arabia, settled near Abydos, and gradually in a peaceful manner became once more the dominant power. Two thousand four hundred years later the Manu (under the name of Menes) incarnated, united the whole of Egypt under one rule, and founded at the same time the first dynasty and his great city of Memphis. This empire had already flourished for more than a millennium and a half before the reign of Rameses the Great, who was himself the Master of one of the principal Lodges at the time when I had the Honour to belong to it.

65. THE GRAND LODGES

66. During the time when I was living in Egypt, the government of the country was directed from within the organization of the Mysteries. Egypt was divided into forty-two nomes or counties, and the nomarch or ruler of the county was the Master of the principal Lodge of the nome. There was a Grand Lodge - not to be confused with the three Grand Lodges of Amen to be described later - which consisted of all the nomarchs, and of which the Grand Master was the Pharaoh. This Grand Lodge was convened at Memphis, and worked a different ritual from those of the lower grades. It was to this body that the Pharaoh announced his decrees; for although his power in the land was almost absolute, yet before any serious decision was made he always took counsel with his nomarchs - and, judging by their decisions, they were a very capable body of men. Lesser matters were settled by an executive committee of this Lodge over which the Pharaoh presided; but important steps were always discussed in Grand Lodge itself. Thus the Mysteries entered into political as well as into religious life in the old days; and politics were much less selfish in consequence.

67. There were in Egypt in those days three Grand Lodges of Amen, each of which was strictly limited to forty members, every one of whom was a necessary part of the machine. Including the officers, whose business was the recitation of the Office and the magnetization of the Lodge, each member was the representative of a particular quality. One was called the Knight of Love, another the Knight of Truth, another the Knight of Perseverance, and so on; and each was supposed to become a specialist in thinking and expressing the quality assigned to him. The idea was that the forty qualities, thus expressed through the Lodge as a whole, would make the character of a perfect man, a kind of heavenly man, through whom the power behind could be poured out upon the whole country.

68. These three Grand Lodges worked three distinct types of Masonry, of which only one has come down to us in the twentieth century. The Master of the first Grand Lodge represented wisdom, and his two Wardens strength and beauty, as in our Lodges today. The predominant power outpoured was that wisdom which is perfect love, the quality that is indeed most needed in the world at the present time. The Master of the second Grand Lodge represented strength, and his Wardens wisdom and beauty, and the strength of the First Aspect of the Trinity was the predominant quality of the Lodge. The Master of the third Grand Lodge typified beauty, and the wisdom and the strength were made subordinate to that third aspect of the Hidden Light.

69. As every one present had to bear his part in building the form, exact co-operation and perfect harmony were absolutely necessary, and only people who could forget themselves entirely in the great work were selected from the ordinary Lodges to become members of these three Grand Lodges, whose power was such that their influence covered the entire country. The slightest flaw in the character of one of the forty members would have seriously weakened the form through which all the work was being done. It is perhaps a relic of this paramount necessity which dictates our present regulation that any Brn. who are not in perfect harmony with each other should not put on their aprons until they have settled their differences. In ancient Egypt there was an intensity of brotherly feeling between the members of a Lodge which is probably rarely attained now; they felt themselves bound together by the holiest of ties, not only as parts of the same machine, but actually as fellow-workers with God Himself.

70. The ritual worked by the Grand Lodges was known as The Building of the Temple of Amen; a translation of its actual wording will be given in another part of this book. It was indeed one of the most splendid and powerful sacraments known to man. It was celebrated for thousands of years, during which Egypt was a mighty land, but a time came when the egos most advanced in evolution began to seek incarnation in new nations, in which, as in different classes in the world-school, they might learn new lessons. Then this portion of the Egyptian Mysteries fell into abeyance, while the Egyptian civilization grew degenerate and formalized as it became a theatre for the activities of less evolved men.

71. THE ORDINARY LODGES

72. There were also dotted all about the country numerous other Lodges, which more closely resembled those of modern times. Their work was much more varied than that of the three Grand Lodges, and they met more frequently, for to them was entrusted the work of preparing their members for higher things, and giving them a liberal education. Their purpose was the same as that of the Mysteries everywhere, to provide a definite system of culture and education for adults, a thing which is not done on a large and public scale in our present day, when the rather curious belief is widely spread that education ends with school or college. The Mysteries were the great public institutions, centres of national and religious life, to which people of the better classes flocked in thousands, and they did their work well, for one who had passed through their degrees - a process of many years - thereby became what we should now call a highly educated and cultured man or woman, with, in addition to his knowledge about this world, a vivid realization of the future after death, of man’s place in the scheme of things, and therefore of what was really worth doing and living for.

73. Even in these ordinary Lodges every member took part in the work, and the labour of those in the columns was regarded as more arduous than that of the officers. Though the latter had special physical actions through which they must go with great accuracy, the former had to use their thought-power all the time. They had all to join at certain points in the ritual in sending out streams of thought, more in the nature of will-power than of meditation, the object of the whole effort being to erect over and around the Lodge a magnificent and radiant thought-form of perfect proportions, specially constructed to receive and transmit in the most effective way the Divine Force which was called down by their act of devotion. If any member’s thought was ineffectual, the mighty temple-like thought-form was correspondingly defective in one part; but the Master of the Lodge was usually a clairvoyant priest or priestess who could see where the defect lay, and so could keep his Lodge strictly up to the mark. Thus these Lodges also shared in the same great work of force-distribution, though on a smaller scale than the three Grand Lodges which were specially entrusted with that task.

74. Without some purpose such as this our great Masonic effort seems unintelligible. We have in nearly all Masonic Lodges a beautiful opening ceremony, full of deep symbolical meaning, and when understood it is seen to be no mere form, but a wonderfully effective formula, calling to our aid various entities, and preparing the way for the performance of a very definite service to mankind. Yet, having opened our Lodge and made all these preparations, we proceed at once to close down, unless we have a candidate to initiate or pass or raise, or a lecture to deliver to our own people. Surely such a wonderful preparation should end in something definite, in a real piece of work for the benefit of mankind.

75. In ancient Egypt there was this splendid work, the culmination to which all the preparations led up. Our true purpose should be the same. We meet and go through certain ceremonies, and give them the name of work - a name that is quite inappropriate as applied to the mere ceremonies, no matter how full of meaning they may be. But if we are building a grand and beautiful form as a channel for the divine energy, through which the world may be helped, then most assuredly we are doing work, collecting, concentrating and storing up great superhuman forces, and then, with the closing blessing, pouring all that out upon the world. Without this, all the preliminaries are, as it says in the Co-Masonic mystic charge, “like massive doorways, leading nowhither”.

76. There is no reason why we in the present day should not do as much with our ritual as did the ancient Egyptians. Any defects that may stand in the way are to be found not in the outer world, but in the failure on the part of the Brn. to realize the seriousness of the work which they have undertaken, or to rise to the degree of unselfishness that is requisite to ensure regular attendance for the sake of humanity. In Egypt no one troubled the Bro. Secretary with letters of excuse; the Brn. considered their membership the most valuable privilege and blessing of their lives, and were always in the Lodge at the proper time, unless too ill to move. Let us hope that Freemasonry will have a future worthy of its past, and that before long such Lodges as they had in Egypt will be working in many parts of the world.

77. There are various lines along which the recollection of the way in which the work was done in ancient Egypt may be of use to us, for those people performed their ceremonies with full knowledge of their meaning, and so the points upon which they laid great stress are likely to be important to us also.

78. Deep reverence was their strongest characteristic. They regarded their temple much as the most earnest Christians regard their church, except that their attitude was dictated by scientific knowledge rather than by feeling. They understood that the temple was strongly magnetized, and that to preserve the full strength of that magnetism great care was necessary. To speak of ordinary matters in the temple would have been considered as sacrilege, as it would mean the introduction of a disturbing influence. Vesting and all preliminary business was always done in the anteroom, and the Brn. entered the Lodge in procession, singing, as Co-Masons do now.

79. THE HISTORY OF MASONRY

80. The Mystery teaching of Egypt was very closely guarded, and it was only with great difficulty and under special conditions that anyone not an Egyptian born could be allowed to receive it. Still, it was given to various distinguished foreigners, and among others to Moses, of whom it is said in the biblical story that he was “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians”. He passed on his knowledge to the Jewish priestly line, and thus it survived in a more or less defective form till the time of David and Solomon.

81. When Solomon built his temple he erected it on Masonic lines, and made it a centre of Masonic symbolism and work. He unquestionably intended his temple to demonstrate and to preserve for his people a certain set of measurements, in the same sort of way in which all kinds of astronomical and geodetic facts were enshrined in the measurements of the great pyramid.* (*See Ch. II, on the Pillars.) He did not succeed, because much of the tradition had been lost; or it would perhaps be truer to say that while external ceremonial and even the traditional ornamentation had been very fairly preserved, the clue to the meaning of it all was no longer known. Until that time initiates of the Jewish Mysteries had had their attention directed to the House of Light in Egypt; but King Solomon resolved to keep their thoughts and feelings strictly focused upon the building which he had himself erected, and therefore instead of speaking to them of the symbolical death and resurrection of Osiris in Egypt he invented the original form of our present traditional history to take its place. In fact, he Judaized the entire ritual, substituting Hebrew words for the original Egyptian, though in some cases at least preserving the original meaning.

82. It should be remembered that in doing this he was only bringing the practice of his people into line with that of neighbouring tribes and nations. There were many lines of Mystery tradition, and though the Jews had brought with them across the desert of Sinai much of the Egyptian form, the Tyrians and others preserved rather the story of the descent of Tammuz or Adonis than that of the dismemberment of Osiris. Indeed, Bro. Ward in his latest book on this subject seems inclined to advocate the theory that we as Masons owe comparatively little to Egypt and very much to Syria. In this briefest of outlines of Masonic history I cannot pursue the question further, but I hope to say more upon it in my next volume, Glimpses of Masonic History.

83. It is principally along this line of Jewish descent that Masonry has come down to us in Europe, though there have been other infiltrations. Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome, who founded the Roman Collegia, established in connection with them a system of the Mysteries which derived its Masonic succession from Egypt; but its ceremonies and teachings were somewhat modified by the migration of the rites of Attis and Cybele to Rome about 200 B.C., and again through the medium of the soldiers returning from the campaigns of Vespasian and Titus. From the Collegia this mingled tradition was handed on through the Comacini and various other secret societies through the dangerous times of the Middle Ages; and when a better age dawned and persecution became less fierce it came to the surface once more. Certain fragments of it were gathered together in 1717 to form the Grand Lodge of England, and so it has come down to us unto the present day.

84. It should be understood, however, that there is no one line of Masonic orthodoxy. A parallel tradition, coming originally from Chaldean sources, has given rise to Masonry as worked upon the continent of Europe. And yet another line seems to have been brought back by the Knights Templars on their return from the crusades.

85. The whole subject of Masonic history is one of exceeding interest; but, owing to the fact that Masonry is after all a secret society, it is often almost impossible to trace the line of its descent by means of any documents which are now available, and consequently there is great confusion and contradiction among the various accounts. We have ourselves devoted a good deal of investigation and research to this matter, and I have published some of its results in the book just mentioned, Glimpses of Masonic History.

86. Much of the ancient wisdom has been allowed to slip into oblivion, and so some of the true secrets were lost to the great body of the Brn. But among the Hierophants of the Great White Brotherhood the true secrets have ever been preserved, and they will always reward the search of the really earnest Mason. We, of these later sub-races, may prove ourselves just as unselfish and capable of just as good work for our fellowmen as were the people of old. Indeed, we ourselves may well be those men of old, come back in new bodies, and bringing with us the old attraction to the form of faith and work which then we knew so well. Let us try to revive under these far different conditions the unconquerable spirit which distinguished us so long ago. It means a good deal of hard work, for every officer must do his part quite perfectly, and that involves much training and practice. Yet I feel sure that there are many who will respond to the Master’s call and come forward to join in preparing the way for those who are to come.

87. Let each Lodge make itself a model Lodge, thoroughly efficient in its working, so that when anyone visits it he may be impressed by the good work done and by the strength of its magnetic atmosphere, and may thereby be induced to share in this vast undertaking. Our members must also be able, when they in turn visit other Lodges, to explain our method of working, and show how, from the occult point of view, the ceremonies should be performed. Above all, they must carry with them everywhere the strong magnetism of a completely harmonious centre, the potent radiation of brotherly love.

88. To us also, as to the ancient Egyptians, the Lodge should be holy ground, consecrated and set apart for Masonic work, never to be used for any secular purpose. It should have an atmosphere of its own, just as have the great medieval cathedrals; as they are permeated by the influence of centuries of devotion, so should the very walls of our Temple radiate strength, broadmindedness and brotherly love.

89. CHAPTER II

90. THE LODGE

91. FORM AND EXTENSION

92. IT is customary in speaking of the Freemasonic Lodge to which one belongs to think of a hall or room in an ordinary building in the physical world. Therefore, when its extension is mentioned, the ordinary ideas of its measurements in length, breadth and height come up in the mind. It is necessary, however, to think of much more than that, for the Lodge represents the universe at large, as is explained in the ritual of the Craft degrees of Universal Co-Masonry. In the description of the t … b …, we are told that the Lodge is in length from east to west, in breadth from north to south, and in depth from the zenith to the centre of the earth, which shows that it is a symbol for the whole world.

93. The form of the Lodge-room, according to Dr. Mackey, should be that of a parallelogram at least one-third larger from east to west than it is from north to south. It should always, if possible, be situated due east and west, should

94. Plate III

95.

96. be isolated, where it is practicable, from all surrounding buildings, and should be lofty, to give dignity to the appearance of the hall, as well as for purposes of health. The approaches to the Lodge room from without should be angular, for, as Oliver says, “a straight entrance is unmasonic, and cannot be tolerated.” There should be two entrances to the room, which should be situated in the west, and on each side of the W.S.W.’s station. That on his right hand is for the introduction of visitors and members and, leading from the T.’s room, is called the T.’s or the outer door; the other, on his left, leading from the preparation room, is known as the “inner door” and sometimes is called the north-west door. Plate III shows the form of the Lodge and the positions of the principal objects in it, as usually arranged by Co-Masons of the British jurisdiction.

97. The floor of the Lodge, technically speaking, is the mosaic pavement, which will be described among the ornaments of the Lodge. The correct shape for this is a double square - that is to say, a rectangle having a length double its breadth - and the Lodge may be thought of as a double cube standing on this floor. Considered as the entire room, the Lodge is a temple of humanity, and as such it may be taken to symbolize a man lying upon his back. In this position the three great supports correspond to important centres in the human body. The column of the R.W.M. is in the place of the head or brain; that of the W.S.W, corresponds to the generative organs, symbols of strength and virility, and also to the solar plexus, the great ganglionic centre of the sympathetic system; and that of the W.J.W. corresponds to the heart, anciently regarded as the seat of the affections.

98. ORIENTATION

99. Three reasons are given in the ritual to explain why our Lodges are set east and west. In the first place, the sun rises in the east, and the sun is regarded in Masonry as a symbol of divinity. Secondly, all the western nations look to the east as the source of their wisdom. Thirdly, the Masons follow the precedent of the temple of King Solomon, which was set east and west in imitation of the arrangement of the tabernacle which was carried by the Israelites in their wanderings through the desert, and was always placed east and west when put down. It is certainly not sufficient to say that the early Masons oriented their Lodges merely because all churches and chapels ought to be so; rather the ecclesiastical rule spectare ad orientem was also a rule for the Masons.

100. As we have already said, the Egyptian origin of Masonry has been somewhat obscured by Jewish influence. When Moses introduced the Egyptian wisdom to the Jews they quickly gave their own colouring to it. They are a very remarkable race, in that they assimilate readily, but stamp their own decided characteristics upon whatever they take up. In this case, the Egyptians spoke of the great pyramid of Gizeh as the “House of Light”, or more commonly “The Light” but the Jews were taught to interpret it as referring to the temple of King Solomon.

101. The real reason, however, for the careful orientation of the Lodge is magnetic. There is a constant flow of force in both directions between the equator and each of the poles of the earth, and there is also a current flowing at right angles to that, moving round the earth in the direction of its motion. Both of these currents are utilized in the working of the Lodge, as will be explained when we come to deal with the ceremonies. The world at large does not recognize the presence of these forces, which are not of the same order as those which influence a common steel or iron magnet, but there are some people who are sensitive to them to such an extent that they cannot sleep comfortably if they lie across them. Some of these people sleep best with the head to the north, others with the head to the south. Among the Hindus it is considered that only an ascetic should sleep with his head to the north. The householder, the man of the world, should lie with his head to the south.

102. THE CELESTIAL CANOPY

103. The ritual tells us that the covering of a, Freemason’s Lodge is a celestial canopy of divers colours. This may very well symbolize the star-lit heavens which canopy the true temple of humanity, when we regard the Lodge as universal; but the reference to divers colours indicates another meaning, for the vault of the sky is not of various hues, except at sunrise and sunset, but is blue. The real celestial canopy is the aura of the man whom we have thought of as lying on his back; it is the vividly tinted thought-form that is made during the working of the Lodge. We see this symbolism appearing elsewhere also, in Joseph’s coat of many colours in the V.S.L., in the Robe of Glory which the initiate puts on, according to the Gnostic hymn; and also in the Augoeides of the Greek philosophers, the glorified body in which the soul of man dwells in the subtle invisible world. Bro. Wilmshurst in The Meaning of Masonry also interprets the canopy as the aura of man, which is surely more reasonable than to suppose with Dr. Mackey that because the early Brn. met on the highest hills and in the lowest vales this symbol must refer to the over-arching vault of heaven.

104. THE ALTAR

105. The altar should be in the middle of the square nearest to the R. W. M., though this differs in different Obediences. In the Grand Lodge of England working there is generally no altar at all, or at the most only an appendage to the Master’s pedestal; so that when the candidate is taking the O. he kneels before the pedestal of the R. W. M. In some Lodges the altar is a little east of the centre of the floor, and in others it stands in the middle of the floor.

106. On the altar, or close to it, or hanging above it in the middle of the eastern square, there is in Co-Masonic Lodges a small light burning, usually enclosed in ruby-coloured glass. This light symbolizes the reflection of Deity in matter, and it corresponds exactly to the light in Catholic churches which burns always before the Altar on which the Host is reserved.

107. Figure 2.

108.

109. Mackey, in his Lexicon of Freemasonry, speaks of the altar as:

110. The place where the sacred offerings were presented to God. After the erection of the Tabernacle, altars were of two kinds, altars of sacrifice and altars of incense. The altar of Masonry may be considered as the representative of both these forms. From hence the grateful incense of Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth, is ever rising to the Great I Am; while on it the unruly passions and the worldly appetites of the Brethren are laid as a fitting sacrifice to the genius of our Order. The proper form of a masonic altar is that of a cube, about three feet high, with four horns, one at each corner, and having spread open upon it the Holy Bible, Square, and Compasses, while around it are placed in a triangular form and proper position the three lesser lights.

111. Fig. 2 is taken from the same source. The stars represent the three lighted candles and the black dot the vacancy in the north, where there is no light. In our Co-Masonic Lodges we follow the English custom of having the three candles beside the seats of the three principal officers, but they are still in the same relative positions. In this, as in other matters, there is no orthodoxy in Masonry.

112. The symbol upon the eastern side of the altar is a circle bounded on the north and the south by two lines. In the centre there should be a point - the point within a circle round which a M.M. cannot err. The circle, as shown on the t … b …, is drawn the full size of the altar, so that it touches or almost touches the V.S.L. An explanation of this which is often given in Lodge lectures is that as the circle is bounded by two lines, which signify Moses and Solomon, and also by the V.S.L., anyone who keeps himself within that circle and follows the precepts of the V.S.L. as thoroughly as did Moses and Solomon will not err.

113. In ancient Egypt, however, long before the time of the Jews, it was already a symbol with many meanings. First of all, it was the symbol of the sun-god, Ra; secondly, it bore to the Egyptians the signification of the earth circling round the sun. That was with them a portion of the secret knowledge reserved for the Mysteries. There was a still older tradition, which held the circle to be the equator and the dot in the centre to be the pole-star, whose position changes because of the precession of the equinoxes, in which the Egyptians took great interest. The inclination of the chief passage of the great pyramid was determined by the position of the pole-star of the period. This symbol was used once more to indicate the all-seeing eye - an idea easily suggested by the dot in the middle of the circle.

114. Another interpretation of the symbol by the Egyptians was particularly beautiful, and all Brn. will find it well worth remembering whenever their eyes fall upon it. The three columns, representing wisdom, strength and beauty, were stated to stand round God’s throne, which was the altar itself, which they took to signify love. Thus the circle describes the love of God, and the two lines which bound it are the lines of duty and destiny or, to put the idea in Oriental terms, of dharma and karma. It was said that while a M.M. kept himself within the circle of the divine love, and bounded his actions by duty and destiny, he could not err.

115. The same device also signifies the first manifestation of the Deity. It was held by the Egyptians there were three successive manifestations; the first aspect far above our reach, the second and third successively lower, and their conception of these three was very similar to that of the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity in Christianity and the Trimurti among the Hindus; in fact, practically all philosophical religions have recognized the triple manifestation of the Deity. In The Book of Dzyan the same emblem, but without the two lines, was used to denote the same reality, the first Logos or Word; while in Christian mysticism it signifies the Christ within the bosom of the Father. It was also considered to be a reflection of the Blazing Star which should be in the centre of the Lodge ceiling, it being in this respect the same as the ever-burning ruby lamp. It symbolized His light that “burns ever in our midst” and “shineth even in our darkness”. Some students of Masonry see the same symbol once more in many of the temples of the Druids and Scandinavians, which were formed of a circle of stones with one, generally taller than the rest, in the centre.

116. PEDESTALS AND COLUMNS

117. “Our Lodges are supported by three great pillars - wisdom, strength and beauty,” says the Masonic ritual, “wisdom to contrive, strength to support and beauty to adorn; wisdom to conduct us in all our undertakings, strength to support us under all our difficulties, and beauty to adorn the inward man. The universe is the Temple of the Deity whom we serve; wisdom, strength, and beauty are about His throne as pillars of His works, for His wisdom is infinite, His strength is omnipotent, and His beauty shines through the whole of the creation in symmetry and order. The heavens He has stretched forth as a canopy; the earth He has planted as His footstool; He crowns His Temple with stars as with a diadem, and from His hands flow all power and glory. The sun and the moon are messengers of His will, and all His law is concord. The three great pillars supporting a Mason’s L … e are emblematical of these divine attributes.”

118. Full-sized columns are rarely erected in any Lodges, but the W.S.W. and W.J.W. have miniature columns on their pedestals, and all three of the principal officers have usually larger columns beside them, upon which are supported their respective candles. In Craft literature various reasons are given for the presence of the three pedestals and for their arrangement. Some say that there are three because King Solomon had two other important people associated with him in the building of the temple; but the deeper fact is that the pillars on the t … b … and the columns near the pedestals of the three principal officers are intended to symbolize the three aspects of the divine life in manifestation, which have been spoken of by various religions as the Holy Trinity. In the earliest times in Egypt, as we have already explained, there were three kinds of Grand Lodges, with somewhat different methods of working, according as the R.W.M. represented wisdom, strength or beauty. In our modern days we have only one of these types, in which the Master’s pedestal signifies wisdom, and the working is that of the Second Person of the Trinity, the Christ. In the now practically defunct Rite of Swedenborg the chair of the Master represented strength.

119. In the process of the development of our universe, the third member of the Trinity first exercised His portion of the divine power in preparing the world of matter; then the second Person put forth His energy, and that was the beginning of the evolution of conscious life. This is symbolized in the opening of the Lodge. At first the W.J.W.’s miniature column, which signifies the Third Person and the first outpouring of divine activity, is erect, but at the moment when the R.W.M. declares the Lodge open, that column is laid down and the W.S.W. raises his column to the vertical position. By the authority of the First Person, the Father, the Ruler of the world, the Second Person has now taken charge of the proceedings, and the work of evolution of the powers of consciousness is the order of the day in the open Lodge.

120. The three pillars, the columns and the pedestals, the candlesticks and candles, all mean the same thing. The column on the desk or pedestal of each of the principal officers of the Lodge is sculptured in a definite order of architecture which signifies his power or quality; his candlestick also is carved in the same design, and often it is depicted upon his candle as well. Our columns and candlesticks are now usually made of painted wood, but in reality they should be of three different kinds of stone; that of the R.W.M. should be of freestone, that of the W.S.W. of granite, and that of the W.J.W. of marble. These three kinds of stone are typical specimens of the three great classes of rocks freestone is aqueous or sedimentary; granite is igneous or plutonic, and marble is metamorphic. If wooden columns are used, they should be painted to resemble these stones.

121. Plate IV

122.

123. ORDERS OF ARCHITECTURE

124. In looking at any column, there are two principal parts to be considered - the column itself, and at the top of it the entablature which helps it to support the roof. Each of these two parts is divided again into three. The column has its base, then a long thin shaft, then the capital. The parts of the entablature are first the architrave, that comes out above the capital, then the friezes which is a straight piece with ornaments, and above that the cornice. In almost all these points the different orders of architecture vary.

125. The three orders of architecture in ancient Greece were the Ionic, the Doric and the Corinthian which are now assigned to the R.W.M., the W.S.W. and the W.J.W. respectively. Afterwards two others were added of Italian origin - the Tuscan and the Composite, which we do not use in Masonry. The three columns are shown in Plate IV.

126. Of the three Greek columns the Doric is the simplest. Its shaft has twenty shallow flutings, and its height is eight times its diameter. It has no base, and the capital is solid and quite plain. In the entablature, which is not usually reproduced in the officers’ pillars, its frieze is characterized by triglyphs, representing the ends of joists, and metopes, representing rafters, and its cornice exhibits mutules. This column is considered to be formed after the model of a muscular full-grown man; it shows strength and noble simplicity.

127. The Ionic column has twenty-four flutings and a length nine times its diameter. Its capital is adorned with two volutes, and its cornice with dentils. It is thought to be modelled with the grace of a beautiful woman, the volutes being suggested by the dressing of her hair.

128. The Corinthian Column is by far the most beautiful. Its flutings are not different from the Ionic, but its height is ten times its diameter, which gives a slender and very graceful appearance. The capital is ornamented with two rows of acanthus leaves and eight volutes, which sustain the abacus.

129. The following story is told with regard to the origin of the Corinthian column. A Greek poet and architect named Calimachus once visited a cemetery and saw there the grave of a child, on which an acanthus plant had grown in a manner that struck the poet as so pleasing and beautiful that he had it cut in stone, and it became the original of the form now seen on the capital of every Corinthian pillar. On the grave there was a circular box of toys which had been put there by the nurse of the child in order to please its spirit - for at that time the idea was prevalent that departed spirits were in the habit of visiting their places of burial or sepulture, and were in a position to enjoy the objects placed there for them, or the counterparts of those objects, which thus became their possessions on the other side of death.

130. Plate V

131.

132. On the top of the little box of toys the nurse had placed a flat tile to keep off the rain. It happened that she had put the box upon an acanthus root, and that the leaves had grown up and, when they reached the tile, had turned again to form a kind of fringe round it, with most beautiful effect. The acanthus plant grows wild all over Sicily and the south of Italy and Greece, and is everywhere charming.

133. The Tuscan column is the plainest of all; it has a perfectly plain base and top, the length of its shaft is only seven times its diameter, and it has no flutings. The composite column, on the other hand, is the most ornate of all, as it is an attempt to combine the beauties of the Ionic and the Corinthian. It has the same number of flutings and the same proportions as the latter, but combines with the acanthus ornament the volutes of the Ionic style.

134. The three columns are part of the Greek or classic style of architecture, which has always a flat or very slightly sloping roof, no arches, and many pillars arranged in rows, generally with a large shallow triangle, the pylon, at the front of the building. (See Plate V.)

135. In the religious architecture of Europe we find mainly the Gothic style. The guilds of Freemasons in the Middle Ages travelled over Europe in wandering bands, which were engaged in building churches. All the great Gothic building was cone, broadly speaking, about the same period, and at that time the famous cathedrals of Europe were erected by the Freemasons, who had the three orders. They were operative masons, but they had their practical secrets, and only they were able to do this kind of work. The Gothic was an entirely new method, departing altogether from the classic, and there is ample evidence to show that Freemasons were responsible for the change. The great cathedral of Cologne, for example, which has been five hundred years in course of erection and is not yet completed, was laid out by a man who signed himself with a sign known only by the M. M., and there are also documents to show that the early part of the building was done by Freemasons. It has the peculiar form of pointed arch, made by the intersection of two rising arches, which characterizes the Gothic style, differing both from the Norman and Roman styles with their rounded arches, and from the Saracenic or Byzantine with its serrated arches and round domes.

136. MEANING OF THE THREE COLUMNS

137. I am indebted for the following luminous suggestions to Bro. Ernest Wood. They are an interpretation of the three columns in the light of the principles embodied in his book, The Seven Rays, and I commend them to the careful study of the Brn.

138. In order to understand the full significance of the columns presided over by the three principal officers, we must recall the occult teaching of the great Divine Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, or Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. In Their unity They are one Universal God in whom everything exists, whether it be animate or inanimate, for there is nothing but That. But in Their separate appearances, the Holy Ghost is the maker or builder of the outer world, and the Son is the life in all beings, the “light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world”. Every material object in the world is part of the being of God the Holy Ghost in this large sense, and every life or consciousness is part of the consciousness of God the Son, who is the manifested Solar Logos. Behind these, invisible and beyond all imagining, is the ineffable glory and happiness of the Father.

139. Both the Holy Ghost and the Son are in turn triune; wisdom, strength and beauty are the three qualities of God the Holy Ghost, and they form the three supports of the objective world, as they also mark out its three divisions. These divisions are (1) the visible world of material objects, founded in beauty - God in things is seen as beauty; (2) the invisible energy with which the world is filled, and on which all things that are seen are built - this is the strength of God the Holy Ghost; (3) the universal mind, the world of ideas, the storehouse of archetypes, marking out the possibilities of material forms and relationships, which is seen in what the scientist calls the laws of nature - the wisdom of the Divine Architect, His settled plans. These are the three parts of any objective world; they constitute the Lodge, the building, in which life plays its part; and the three Pillars, Ionic, Doric and Corinthian, symbolize these three divisions of the world - the field of consciousness, as it has been called in the Bhagavad Gita.

140. All the living beings which people this world display the light of the divine life and consciousness in their varying degrees. They are all parts of God the Son, the Christ, the great sacrifice, the divine life crucified on the cross of matter. He also is a trinity, and this is seen in the three powers of consciousness appearing in man as the spiritual will, the intuitional love and the higher intelligence, which are the root of all human will, love and thought. Since the officers are the life in the Lodge, they represent these qualities in consciousness, which are called in Sanskrit philosophy Ichchha, Jnana and Kriya. The R.W.M. expresses the divine will of the Christ, directing the work to the perfecting of man; the W.S.W. represents the divine love of the Christ; and the W.J.W. the divine thought. These officers are to be known by their jewels, which represent will, love and thought respectively, not by the columns at which they preside.

141. Just as material energy is the strength in things, so is love the strength in consciousness; it is what has been called in Sanskrit terminology the buddhi in man, the wisdom that is direct knowledge of life, the energy of consciousness. It is the faculty in man with which he contacts and deals with life around him, while his thought is the faculty with which he deals with objective things. So when at the opening of the Lodge the W.J.W. lays down his pillar and the W.S.W. raises his, it symbolizes the fact that now we are interested in life, we are working upon man, upon consciousness, not upon material objects, as would be the case if we were building a material structure, and not the temple of man, his inner character, his immortal soul. The Great Architect is now building “a temple in the heavens, not made with hands”.

142. Thus the columns represent the three qualities of the material Lodge, but the three principal officers express the three qualities of consciousness or life. Now the assistant officers must be explained. In his inner nature every man is a spiritual consciousness, threefold, as we have seen - but when we look at him in this world we see not the man himself but the body in which he lives, his material house, or rather, to use a more modern simile, his motor car in which he goes about to do the business of his life, to see what he wants to see and to work where he wants to work. That body, trained perhaps for a particular profession, brought up in the special culture of one of the nations, with its manners and habits of action, feeling and thought, constitutes his personality, the mask through which his voice can be heard in the world of outside appearances. This personality is fourfold - there is the physical body, then the etheric double or counterpart of that, then the emotional nature, then the lower mind - the last two constituting his own private storehouse and gallery of personal feelings and ideas. The S.D. stands for the lower mind, the J.D. for the emotional or astral nature; the I.G. for the etheric double, and the O.G. or T. for the physical body.* (*For a fuller study of these principles from this point of view, see Professor Wood’s book, The Seven Rays.)

143. According to this interpretation the columns represent the three aspects of the outer world (the world of human tuition), but the three principal officers, who preside at their pedestals, stand for the three aspects of divine consciousness (the inner world of human intuition), as in the following diagram:

144. Diagram 1

145.

146. THE PILLARS OF THE PORCHWAY

147. Referring to King Solomon’s temple, the English Craft ritual says: “There was nothing in connection with this magnificent structure more remarkable, or which more particularly struck the attention, than the two great pillars which were placed at the porch or entrance.” The ritual goes on to explain that these two pillars were set up at the entrance of the temple to remind the children of Israel, on their way to and from divine worship, of the pillar of fire which gave light to the Israelites during their escape from bondage in Egypt, and the pillar of cloud which proved darkness to Pharaoh and his followers, when they attempted to overtake them.

148. Their original significance, however, dates much further back than this. It is claimed that these two columns originally represented the north and south pole-stars. They were at first the pillars of Horus and Set, but their names were afterwards changed to Tat or Ta-at, and Tattu, the former meaning “in strength” and the latter “to establish”, the two together being considered as the emblem of stability. Tattu is the entrance to the region where the mortal soul is blended with the immortal spirit, and thereby established for ever, as I have already explained in Chapter I. It seems strange that so many authors should speak of the north and south pole stars, when the fact is that there is no star of any consequence at the south pole. The southern pole of the heavens is situated in an unusually barren tract of the sky, and the nearest star of any consequence is that at the foot of the Southern Cross, which is no less than twenty-seven degrees from the pole.

149. On the tops of the two columns in the very ancient symbolism there were at first four lines or cross sticks, which were symbols of heaven and earth, as in Fig. 3.

150. Figure 3

151.

152. How the four quarters or the square, or rather the two squares, arose may be understood from Fig. 4.

153. Figure 4

154.

155. The first symbol shows the two eyes of north and south, with a connecting line. The second shows the line of Shu, where he makes a division at the equinox, and thus forms two triangles of Set and Horus; and the third figure completes the square of the four quarters. It is said that Tattu is thus the place established for ever, a heaven with its four quarters, as Tat represents the earth with its four quarters.

156. Figure 5 and 6

157.

158. In the hieroglyphs the form has become like Fig. 5, while in the Papyrus of Ani it appears as in Fig. 6.

159. Dr. Mackey has made a special study of these two pillars in their later Jewish form. He speaks of them as memorials of God’s repeated promises of support to His people of Israel, since Jachin is derived from Jah, which means “Jehovah”, and achin, “to establish”, and signifies “God will establish His house in Israel,” while Boaz is compounded of b, which means “in” and oaz, “strength”, the whole signifying “in strength shall it be established”. Mackey thinks that the pillars should be within the porch (which in reality they were not), at its very entrance; and on each side of the gate. It will be seen how exactly the meanings given here correspond with those of the Egyptian names of the same pillars.

160. We find various descriptions of these columns given in the Christian Scriptures. The references are 1 Kings, vii, 15; 2 Kings, xxv, 17; 2 Chron. iii, 15 and iv, 12; Jer. lii, 21 and Ezek. xl, 49. A description is also given by the Jewish historian Josephus, and another may be found in Mackey’s Lexicon of Freemasonry. These accounts differ in various respects, and the details given are so confused that Masonic writers are by no means in agreement as to any but the chief features. I therefore thought it best to take the trouble to make a clairvoyant investigation, the result of which is given in Plates VI and VII. The first of these is what is called a scale-drawing, showing the proportions of the pillar exactly as it was, but as it never could have been seen by any human being, because of its size. The second is an enlarged drawing, of the same character, of the capital (or, as it is called in the Bible, the chapiter) to show the detail of its somewhat complicated workmanship. There is also a small ground-plan (Fig. 7) of the temple, to show the position of the

161. Figure 7

162.

163. pillars in relation to the porch. It will be seen that they were not within the porch, but just outside it. This ground-plan has been drawn to scale according to the biblical measurements, but it should be noted that in it no account is taken of any other doors than that of the porchway, or of the curious little side-chapels which King Solomon added; nor is any attempt made to indicate the courts which surrounded the temple.

164. These pillars are described in the Bible as of brass, but their appearance is much more that of what we today call bronze. The height of the pillar itself is given in all the accounts but one as eighteen cubits, and the chapiter which swells out above it is said to have been five cubits in height, but as it overlapped the top to the extent of half a cubit the total height was 22 ^1/2cubits. As the cubit is usually calculated to have been eighteen inches, this gives us the total height of the pillar and its capital as 33 feet 9 inches. Its circumference is given as twelve cubits or eighteen feet, which would make its diameter just under six feet. The pillars were hollow, and the thickness of the metal of which they were composed is usually supposed to have been three inches, though it has sometimes been given as four. At the back of each pillar, so that they were not seen at all from the front, were three small doors, one above the other, so that part of the pillar may be thought of as divided into safes, in which archives, books of the Law and other documents were kept.

165. Plate VI

166.

167. The chapiters which fit on to the top of the pillars like caps are the most interesting part of these remarkable castings. The ornamentation of these capitals will best be understood from the illustration. The whole chapiter swells upwards in a somewhat urn-like form, with a flat circular disc resting upon it. The upward curve of the urn is continued through the disc, and makes a projection above the disc which is a segment of a sphere, though this was of course not visible to anyone looking up from the foot of the pillar. It would be more correct to say that the form suggested is not actually a sphere but rather an oblate spheroid, and in the original stone pillar which occupied a similar place in the Egyptian temple, the symbology of which was copied by the Tyrian artificer, this somewhat unusual form was undoubtedly intentional, and was adopted in order to give an idea of the true shape of the earth, which was perfectly well known in ancient Egypt. As will be seen in a later chapter, the Egyptians were quite familiar with the exact measurements of the earth, but in the indication of it in the spheroid of the pillar the polar depression is naturally greatly exaggerated, as otherwise the difference could hardly have been visible. It is known that these pillars were intended to represent the terrestrial and celestial spheres respectively; and in some modern attempts to reproduce them they are crowned with these two globes. In the originals, however, there were no such globes, as the rounded chapiters sufficiently represented them.

168. It will be seen from the illustration that the surface of the chapiter below the disc is covered with a network, and that the lower ends of the network coalesce into a kind of fringe, from which depend a number of little balls. The Bible account tells us quite accurately that these balls were intended to represent pomegranates, and that there were two hundred of these pomegranates upon each pillar. Superimposed upon the network is a rather curious decoration of chains, hanging in festoons, and there are seven rows of these festoons one below the other. Each loop of chain consists of seven links, and in each case the central link of the chain is much the largest and heaviest, and the links diminish in size and weight as they rise towards the ends of the loop. Along the edge of the disc runs a line of lilies, and from this four chains of the same flowers are represented as hanging straight down the chapiter on the north, east, south and west respectively. These flower-chains, however, do not hang loose in the air, but cling closely to the outline of the chapiter. Between them two palm-leaves are crossed through the middle link of the central chain in each space.

169. Entirely apart from this scheme of decoration a very beautifully executed band of flowers is introduced to hide the junction of the chapiter with the pillar. This consists of a triple row of lilies; the central row, which exactly covers the edge of the chapiter, is composed of fully opened flowers facing outwards from the pillar, with leaves between them, while there is an upper row of tightly-closed buds standing up between the flowers of the middle row and giving an effect not

170. Plate VII

171.

172. unlike that of the points of a crown. The lilies of the third row hang gracefully downwards from the middle row upon curved stems, and face in various directions.

173. All this, we are told, was the work of H. A., a widow’s son of Naphtali - a man described in the biblical account as a cunning worker in brass, who was sent down to Jerusalem by H., K. of T., especially in order to do this and other metal work for King Solomon. Undoubtedly this man was a true artist, for he took an almost inconceivable amount of trouble to carry out his design exactly as he wanted it. So far as the investigators were able to see, his work was based entirely upon a traditional account of the stone Egyptian pillars, which had been handed down from the time of Moses. It did not appear that he had any clear idea of the meaning of all these strange decorations, though Moses knew perfectly well the whole system of symbology which lay behind it.

174. It is to be understood that all this varied ornamentation was not arranged in basso-relievo, as would be expected in a casting; on the contrary it stood out boldly from the face of the pillar, many of the flowers being connected with it only by a comparatively thin stalk of considerable length. Some indication of the patience and care which the artist exhibited may be gathered from the fact that he carved in wood and in full size the entire triple band of lilies to go round the eighteen-foot circumference of the base of the chapiter, and then made his moulds round that wooden carving. Though the general idea of the threefold band of flowers was preserved, the whole thing was arranged in a very natural manner, no flower being an exact reproduction of its neighbour; it was not a mere repetition of a pattern, such as we might have in a modern wallpaper, but the whole conception was carried out as one great unit with the most loving and painstaking care.

175. Many experiments were tried before this ancient artificer was satisfied, and he adopted various ingenious methods to attain his object. He was anxious to make the whole chapiter and all its decorations as nearly as possible in one casting, and with the primitive appliances at his command this gave him an immensity of trouble. His lilies may perhaps be considered as somewhat conventional; at least they do not exactly correspond to any varieties with which I happen to be acquainted. They were on the whole more like the lotus than like an ordinary lily; but on the other hand the leaves were by no means lotus leaves.

176. To the ordinary worshipper in the temple all this rather complicated ornamentation was merely decorative, but to the initiate it was full of esoteric significance. First, these two pillars were an exemplification of the occult axiom, “As above, so below”, for though they were absolutely alike in every particular it was always understood that they represented respectively the terrestrial and celestial worlds. On Tat, the left-hand pillar, each link of each chain symbolized what in our Oriental studies we call a branch-race, and the links as they descended became larger and thicker to indicate a deeper descent into matter, until the fourth was reached, when the life-force begins to draw inward and upward, and so its embodiment becomes less material.

177. Each loop of seven links therefore typified a sub-race, and the seven loops which extended round the pillar, making one festoon, correspond to one of the great root-races, such as the Lemurian, the Atlantean or the Aryan. The whole set of seven festoons hanging one below the other denoted one world-period, one occupation of this planet of ours.

178. Underneath the chain-work a beautifully executed system of fine network will be seen, and this was employed by the priests of old to elucidate yet another side of the marvellous mystery of evolution. When the Holy Spirit has brooded over the face of the waters of space, and has impregnated and vivified primordial matter, the activity of the Second Aspect of the Logos begins, and innumerable streams of His divine life pour down into the field prepared for them. In a thousand ways they interlace and combine, and so produce the bewildering multiplicity of the life which we see around us. From their interaction result the manifold fruits of evolution which we see exemplified in our pillars by the rows of pomegranates which depend from the fringe of the network, the pomegranates being chosen for this symbolism because each fruit contains a prodigious number of separate seeds, thus illustrating the amazing fecundity of nature and the vast variety of her types.

179. In Tat the lilies represented always the flower of humanity. Arranged in line round the edge of the disc they indicated the Great White Brotherhood the jewels in the crown of mankind, hovering above the human race and directing its evolution. The four pendant flower-chains symbolized the Holy Four who reside at Shamballa - the Spiritual King and His three pupil-assistants, the sole representatives on earth of the Lords of the Flame who came down long ago from Venus to hasten the evolution of mankind. The crossed palm-leaves between them typified the four Devarajas, the principal agents through whom the decrees of the Sons of the Fire-Mist are carried out.

180. The three bands of lilies which are arranged to hide the junction of the chapiter with the pillar were taken to represent the initiates of the three stages of the Egyptian Mysteries. The buds of the upper row, pointing upwards, typified the initiates of the Mysteries of Isis, who were full of aspiration, reaching upwards and in that way raising the general average of human thought. The flowers of the middle row, opened and facing outwards, were the initiates of Serapis, showing forth by their lives the glory, dignity and power of humanity as it should be. The third row of drooping lilies represented the initiates of the Mysteries of Osiris, reaching down into the world in order to devote themselves to the helping and enlightenment of humanity.

181. These three grads of initiates seem to correspond in a general way to three other divisions or grades of the occult life which I have described at length in The Masters and the Path. There are first those on the probationary path, who are aspiring to enter the Path proper, and are doing everything in their power to purify themselves, to develop their character, and to serve humanity with unselfish love under the guidance of the Masters. Then come those who have been initiated into the Great White Brotherhood, and have thus entered on the Path proper; their lives are dedicated entirely to the service of humanity; in them the bud of human life has opened into flower, and their consciousness has risen into the buddhic principle, which has been described as the truly human expression of man. Thirdly come the Arhats, those who have taken the fourth great Initiation; they are not compelled to reincarnate; if they do so it is quite voluntary; they dip down into human life on this plane simply in order to help.

182. On Tattu, the right-hand pillar, we take up the tale of evolution where we left it on the other. A single link here betokens one world-period, and therefore includes the whole set of seven festoons on Tat. To use once more the technical terms of Theosophical teaching, the loop of seven links on Tattu stands for what we call a Round, the completed festoon of seven loops is meant to suggest one Chain-period, and the full group of seven festoons equals one Planetary Scheme. The two pillars taken together correspond exactly to the table of evolution and the diagram which I give in the sixth section of The Inner Life, and almost the whole of the information contained in that section was taught by the Egyptian priests to their neophytes, and illustrated by means of this elaborate system of chapiter decoration. It would be out of place to repeat here the whole of the explanation included in that book, but I would refer to it those students who wish to pursue further this most interesting subject. As there are several editions of the book I am unfortunately unable to give an exact page reference, but the diagram will easily be found.

183. In Tattu the crown of flowers round the edge of the disc seems to have been taken to symbolize the hosts of the Dhyan Chohans, including perhaps the Planetary Logoi. The four chains of lilies flowing down from that crown bore to the Egyptians a signification connected with the Tetraktys, or perhaps with a reflection or expression of that Mystery, while the triple band of lilies round the lower edge of the chapiter was taken as signifying the action in matter of the three Aspects of the Logos - the buds denoting the action of the Holy Spirit, the Arm of the Lord outstretched in activity, and always pushing upward and onward within the spirit of man, while the middle row was taken as showing the strength of the Father ever shining forth as the sun in his glory far beyond the clouds and mists of earth, and the lowest row betokened the action of the Second Aspect, God the Son, bending down into incarnation and raising humanity from within.

184. The crossed palm-leaves here indicate the Lipika, the Lords of Karma, who work through the four Kings of the elements symbolized by similar leaves on Tat. They are unconnected with the rest of the design because they represent forces not confined to our planetary scheme, or even to our solar system; they administer a Law which rules the whole universe, which Angels and men alike obey.

185. The upper segment of the spheroid, beyond the disc, was left entirely bare of ornament, in order to indicate that beyond all that could be symbolized there was yet something more, out of manifestation, and therefore entirely inexpressible.

186. Another reason for the placing of these two pillars at the entrance of the temple was that the man who would enter the higher world of the Lodge from the common world of every-day life must pass between them; and from this point of view they typified the overcoming in his own lower nature of the turbulence of the personal emotions and the Waywardness of the personal mind. First, his strength for fighting the battle of life came from the emotions, the astral nature; then that pillar of our personal nature, the pillar of Set, had to be conquered by the power of the mind, the pillar of Horus, end conjoined with it in order to add to the strength the stability necessary for going forward to higher things. Only then is the man established in strength, having the power to execute and the wisdom to direct.

187. The pillars also represent once more the two great laws of progress, karma and dharma, the former providing the environment or material world, and the latter the direction of the self within; by the union or harmonious working of these two laws a man may attain the stability and strength required for the occult path, and map thus reach the circle within which a M.M. cannot err.

188. Also the pillars were used in the teaching of the priests to illustrate the great doctrine of the pairs of opposites - spirit and matter, good and evil, light and darkness, pleasure and pain, etc.

189. It is interesting to note that Kabbalistic writers understood these pillars somehow to have represented involution, the descent of the divine Life into lower worlds, though they may not have been familiar with all the details. A treatise named The Gates of Light is quoted by Bro. A. E. Waite in this connection as follows:

190. He who knows the mysteries of the two Pillars, which are Jachin and Boaz, shall understand after what manner the Neshamoth, or Minds, descend with the Ruachoth, or Spirits, and the Nephasoth, or Souls, through El-chai and Adonai by the influx of the said two Pillars.

191. And again:

192. By these two Pillars and by El-chai (the living God) the Minds and Spirits and Souls descend, as by their passages or channels.* (*New Encyclopaedia, II, 280.)

193. They form also the portal of the Mysteries by which the souls ascend to their divine Source; and it is only by passing through them that the sanctuary of man’s true Godhead may be reached, that divine splendour which when aroused in the depths of the heart indeed establishes its dwelling-place in strength and stability.

194. In the French working two large pillars are placed inside the Lodge on either side of the door, in the West, and the W.S.W. and W.J.P. sit at triangular tables beside these. This arrangement is derived from the Chaldaean system.

195. Several writers have made persistent attempts to attach a phallic signification to these two pillars; I can only say that in the course of a prolonged investigation by means of the inner sight we found no trace of the attribution of any such meaning.

196. CHAPTER III

197. THE FITTINGS OF THE LODGE

198. THE ORNAMENTS

199. “THE interior fittings of a Freemason’s Lodge”, says the Co-Masonic ritual, “comprise the ornaments, the furniture and the jewels. The ornaments are the mosaic pavement, symbolizing spirit and matter; the blazing star, ever reminding us of the presence of God in His universe, and the indented border, the Guardian Wall.”

200. THE MOSAIC PAVEMENT

201. The three ornaments all belong to the middle of the Lodge. The mosaic pavement is the beautiful floor, which is composed of squares alternately black and white, and is explained in the Craft ritual as the diversity of objects which decorate and ornament creation, the animate as well as the inanimate parts thereof. Its alternate squares, however, symbolize not only the mingling of living and material things in the world, but even more the intermingling of spirit and matter, or life and matter, everywhere. The double triangles interlaced indicate the same great fact in nature.

202. Throughout nature there is no life without matter, and no matter without life. Until recent years many scientific people thought that the life side of creation extended only as far down as the vegetable kingdom, but nowadays it is being recognized that it is not possible to draw a line anywhere and say: “Above this things are living and conscious in various degrees, but below it there is only dead matter.” The researches made by Professor Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose of Calcutta (recorded in his book Response in the Living and Non-Living) which have won him the highest scientific honours and respect, show that such a line simply does not exist, but that there is some degree of life in the tiniest grain of sand. Some of his conclusions have been stated in brief and effective form in Dr. Annie Besant’s well-known work, A Study in Consciousness, in the following words:

203. Professor Bose has definitely proved that so-called “inorganic matter” is responsive to stimulus, and that the response is identical from metals, vegetables, animals, and - so far as experiment can be made - man.

204. He arranged apparatus to measure the stimulus applied, and to show in curves, traced on a revolving cylinder, the response from the body receiving the stimulus. He then compared the curves obtained in tin and in other metals with those obtained from muscle, and found that the curves from tin were identical with those from muscle, and that other metals gave curves of like nature but varied in the period of recovery.

205. Tetanus, both complete and incomplete, due to repeated shocks, was caused, and similar results accrued, in mineral as in muscle.

206. Fatigue was shown by metals, least of all by tin. Chemical re-agents, such as drugs, produced on metals similar results to those known to result with animals - exciting, depressing, and deadly.

207. A poison will kill a metal, inducing a condition of immobility, so that no response is obtainable. If the poisoned metal be taken in time, an antidote may save its life.

208. A stimulant will increase response, and as large and small doses of a drug have been found to kill and stimulate respectively, so have they been found to act on metals.

209. “Among such phenomena,” asks Professor Bose, “how can we draw a line of demarcation and say: ‘Here the physical process ends, and there the physiological begins’? No such barriers exist.”

210. Psychic experience and trained clairvoyance add their testimony to this conclusion, and affirm that without a shadow of doubt the same kind of life can be seen pulsating in the body of a tiger or an oak tree or a fragment of mineral substance. As The Secret Doctrine expressed it:

211. With every day, the identity between the animal and physical man, between the plant and man, and even between the reptile and its nest, the rock, and man - is more and more clearly shown. The physical and chemical constituents of all being found to be identical, Chemical

212. Science may well say that there is no difference between the matter which composes the ox, and that which forms man. But the Occult doctrine is far more explicit. It says: Not only the chemical compounds are the same, but the same infinitesimal invisible Lives compose the atoms of the bodies of the mountain and the daisy, of man and the ant, of the elephant and of the tree which shelters it from the sun. Each particle-whether you call it organic or inorganic - is a Life.* (*The Secret Doctrine, I, 281.)

213. In looking, then, at our chequered pavement, those of us who understand the full significance of it are constantly reminded of the omnipresence of life.

214. In ancient Egypt the sanctity of the mosaic pavement was guarded with the most jealous care, and it was never invaded except by the candidate and the officers at the proper times, by the I.P.M. in the pursuance of his duties, the S.D. at the obtaining of light from the sacred fire, and the Thurifer when he censed the altar.

215. The exceeding importance of squaring the Lodge accurately is another aspect of the same idea. The currents of force are rushing along and across that pavement in lines like the warp and woof of a piece of cloth, and also round the edges of it, and anyone who has to cross it, or even come near it, should be careful to move with the force and not against it. Hence the imperative necessity of always keeping to one direction. In modern days less care seems to be taken of the mosaic pavement; I have even seen a case in which the attendance-book, which all have to sign, was placed on a table in the middle of it. With us in Egypt that pavement occupied almost the whole of the floor of the Lodge; now it is often only a small enclosure in the middle of it.

216. THE INDENTED BORDER

217. All round the mosaic pavement runs the tesselated border. In older Masonry it is said that it was made of threads twining in and out, but now it is a machicolated border, a sort of dog-tooth arrangement. In the early eighteenth century, we are told, the symbols of the Order were marked out in chalk upon the floor, and this diagram was then encircled with a wavy cord, ornamented with tassels, and was therefore called “the indented tassel”, later corrupted into the “tesselated border”. The French call it “la houpe dentelée”, and describe it as “a cord forming true lover’s knots, which surrounds the tracing board”. The tesselated border refers us, says the masculine ritual, to the beautiful border formed round the sun by the planets in their various revolutions. The Co-Masonic ritual makes it an emblem of the Guardian Wall protecting humanity, composed of Adepts or men who have attained the perfection of human evolution in past centuries and millennia. They stand around humanity in the spiritual worlds, it is said in a Buddhist scripture, to save mankind from further and far greater misery and sorrow.

218. There is a similar dual interpretation also for the four tassels which appear in the corners of the border. In masculine Masonry they are usually considered to mean temperance, fortitude, prudence and justice; their significance is always interpreted as ethical. But they stand also for four great orders of devas connected with the elements earth, water, air and fire, and their great Rulers, the four Devarajas, agents of the law of karma, which is always balancing and adjusting the affairs of man, and seeing that there is no injustice between living creatures in God’s universe, just as there is no maladjustment in the relations of material substances and bodies. At the initiation of candidates in Co-Masonic Lodges these four Rulers of the elements are invoked, and the consequences of that are very real and beneficial, little as many members of the fraternity may be aware of the fact.

219. THE BLAZING STAR

220. The Blazing Star is properly six-pointed, and is made of glass, set in the middle of the ceiling and illuminated from inside by artificial light. Below it there should be another and movable star on the floor. The Blazing Star is the sign of the Deity, and to make that more evident, in the middle of it is usually inscribed the letter G, for God. In the old Jewish form of Masonry they had instead of that letter their sacred word YHVH, standing for Jehovah. In Co-Masonic Lodges the usual form of this figure is a serpent curled round with its tail in its mouth, a symbol of eternity. This was the original form, but the head of the serpent was altered so as to form the letter G. The Sacred Fire below the star is a reflection of it; in some Lodges, as for example at Adyar, in India, it hangs just underneath the ceiling on a pulley arrangement, and is lowered that light may be taken from it and carried to the candles. The Blazing Star also represents the sun, the dispenser of innumerable blessings to mankind and the world in general; but as the sun is the symbol of God there is no difference between these two interpretations. In many Lodges the Blazing Star is made five-pointed, and it formerly had wavering points or rays; this is usual in the English and American Obediences.

221. The spiritual verity expressed in the Blazing Star and its reflection in the Sacred Fire indicates that God’s reflection is ever in our midst. The statement that man was made in the image of God is familiar to all; there is a reflection of God in man more than a reflection. The image of God in man is an expression or continuation of God Himself, for God is the light which carries the image, and insomuch as a man can receive that light in himself and reflect it he is a part of it, one with the Divine. As Emerson beautifully expressed it in his essay on the Over-Soul: “There is no bar or wall in the soul where God the cause ceases and man the effect begins.”

222. Several different kinds of stars are to be seen in the Masonic Lodge, and it is well to consider the special significance of each of them, for there is nothing in the Lodge that is mere ornament, without meaning - on the contrary, even the simplest thing is there for a purpose and has great significance. The six-pointed star is, as we have seen, an emblem of the unity of spirit and matter, of God in manifestation in His universe. The five-pointed star is placed in the east on the wall over the head of the R.W.M. and is called the Star in the East, and also the Star of Initiation. It is the symbol of the perfect man, God manifesting through man, not through the universe as a whole. Man is a five-fold being - physical, emotional, mental, intuitional and spiritual; and when all these parts of his nature are perfectly developed as far as that is possible in a human state of existence, he becomes the perfect man, the Adept, master of himself and the five worlds or planes in which he has his being. Such a man has fulfilled the instruction: “Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

223. On the t … b … there is the seven-pointed star above the ladder reaching up into the heavens. It is a symbol of the seven great lines along which all life is moving slowly upwards to completer union with the divine, of the seven ways in which man may realize perfection, and the seven rays or emanations of God through which He has filled the whole universe with the light of His life. This star also typifies the Christian thought of the seven great Archangels, the Seven Spirits who stand before the throne of God. It is likewise another symbol for the perfected man or Adept, because while he is master of the five worlds, he is also the wielder of seven powers; he has developed his nature to human perfection on all seven rays, in all seven of the lines of activity of the divine life.

224. THE FURNITURE

225. The furniture of the Lodge is also threefold, and consists of the V. S. L., the square and the compasses. Without them the Lodge cannot legally be held. The Lodge is described as just, perfect and regular: it is just because the V. S. L. is open in it; it is perfect because it contains seven M.M.s or more; it is regular because it holds a warrant or charter from a Supreme Council, Grand Lodge, or other supreme body having an unbroken line of Masonic authority. It is to be understood, of course, that the Volumes of the Sacred Lore are not only the Bible of the Christians, but the sacred books of other religions as well, for the members of a Lodge may and often do belong to various religions. In a Lodge meeting on one occasion in Bombay there were among the Brn. present Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Parsis, Jews, Sikhs, Muhammadans, and Jains. It is the custom there to place on the altar the sacred books of all who are likely to attend that Lodge. The Rev. J. T. Lawrence, the well-known author of many Masonic handbooks, tells us that he himself has initiated Jews, Muhammadans, Hindus and Parsis, and at least one Buddhist. He writes:

226. According to a pronouncement of Grand Lodge, the Bible need not be in the Lodge at all. The Volume of the Sacred Law, we have been told, is that which contains the sacred law of the individual concerned. That is to say, it may be the (Quran, the Zendavesta, the Shasters, the Rig-Veda, or any other volume.* (*Sidelights on Freemasonry, p. 47.)

227. In the Grand Lodge of all Scottish Freemasonry in India a (Quran-bearer, a Zendavesta-bearer, and the like, are numbered among the officers.* (*Sidelights on Freemasonry, p. 50.) Freemasonry has always been liberal in its views. The Grand Lodge of England has declined to limit or define the belief in God which is expected from every candidate; in the charge concerning God and Religion in the Book of Constitutions of 1815 it is said: “Let a man’s religion or mode of worship be what it may, he is not excluded from the Order, provided he believes in the glorious Architect of heaven and earth and practise the sacred duties of morality.” It will thus be seen that the ideals of Masonry are very high, and its views extraordinarily tolerant, and that its power for good in the world is unquestionably enormous.

228. In Co-Masonry the term “lore” is employed as describing all these scriptures, since in the use of them we are in pursuit of wisdom. The term “law” is used in many other Lodges, but even then it is explained in the ritual that the object of the Volume of the Sacred Law is to illumine our minds. So in the three articles of furniture we have the V.S.L. to enlighten the mind, the square to regulate our actions, and the compasses to keep us within due bounds in our relations with all, and especially with our Brn. in Freemasonry. Yet at the same time all these objects have much larger meanings.

229. With the Egyptians the compasses were a triangle and the square was a geometrical square - the ordinary figure with four equal sides and all its angles right angles. In modern days we use the tool that a working Mason calls a square, by means of which he tests the two adjacent sides of any flat stone to find out whether they are at right angles to each other. In Freemasonry when the candidate is now asked, “What is a square?” he replies: “It is an angle of ninety degrees or the fourth part of a circle.” This is obviously not a correct description of a square, but only of one corner of a square.

230. The square which lies on the V.S.L. has quite a different genesis, and a different reason for its existence, from the implement which is worn by the R.W.M. It was originally a mathematical square, but it has lost its full shape, and is now represented only by one corner of the square. It is usually considered identical with the carpenter’s or mason’s tool of that name, which is worn by the R.W.M. as the symbol of his office, but the two ideas are in reality quite distinct.

231. In Egypt the triangle represented the triad of spiritual will, intuitional love and higher intelligence in man; while the square typified the lower quaternary, that is, his body with its visible and etheric divisions, his emotional nature, and his lower mind. Thus the triangle stool for the individuality or soul, and the square; fur the personality, the two together constituting septenary man.

232. The three articles of furniture were also regarded as intended to help men on their way; the V.S.L. drew attention to the value of tradition, the triangle spoke of the importance of inspiration, and the square emphasized the high use of facts, with also in the background the idea of the value of common sense. The tradition was handed down by the forefathers, the inspiration came from the higher self, and the facts were to be studied and used with common sense.

233. THE MOVABLE JEWELS

234. The three movable jewels are the square, the level and the plumb-rule. They are worn, depending from their collars, by the three principal officers, and are then called their jewels of office. They are movable because they are transferred by Master and Wardens to their successors on the day of installation of new officers. The collar was also worn in ancient Egypt, but it was much more nearly circular, like a necklace, instead of being pointed and hanging low on the breast, as it is now worn.

235. The square is usually considered to represent morality, the level equality, and the plumb-rule uprightness or justice. It will be seen that in this case the term “square” is applied exclusively to the tool, and not to the geometrical figure. In his Masonic Encyclopaedia, Kenning mentions that the square was often seen in churches as an emblem of the old operative builders, and that upon an early metal square found near Limerick, in Ireland, the following words and the date 1517 are inscribed:

236. I strive to live with love and care

237. Upon the level, by the square.

238. This seems to show that our speculative interpretations were already known at the early date mentioned.

239. There is also a translation from an ancient Persian inscription, which runs:

· square thyself for use; a stone that may

240. Fit in the wall is not left in the way.

241. The R. W. M. has as his jewel the square, which indicates the Third Outpouring of divine force, from the First Logos, the First Person of the Trinity, and has therefore the same significance as the gavel, his instrument of government. The symbolism of the gavel is very profound; to explain it I must draw attention to what is probably the oldest symbol in the world. (Fig. 8a).

242. Figure 8.

243.

244. This long line with two crossed bars upon it has for uncounted thousands of years been the special sign of the Supreme Being. The pygmy race is probably the most primitive at present existing, but even they have that symbol for their chief. Older people will remember the excitement that was caused when the famous explorer Stanley journeyed into the centre of Africa to find Dr. Livingstone, and came back to us with the story of the pygmies living in the forests there. His new s way a confirmation of that which a French explorer, Du Chaillu, had brought some quarter of a century before, but it had not been generally accepted until Stanley’s evidence arrived.

245. That pygmy race is a relic of the old Lemurians, and represents them more purely than any other people. The Lemurians were at one time a gigantic people, but in process of dying out they diminished in size. The African bushmen are also remnants of the same race, but with very mixed blood, and the same thing is true of those who are usually called the Australian aboriginals, except that in their case there is a very alight admixture of Aryan blood.

246. At one time the pygmies were spread over a great deal more of Africa than at present, and some of them were the first people to enter Egypt when the marshes were partially drying up after the great flood that followed the sinking of the island of Poseidonis some nine thousand five hundred years before Christ. They were driven out a little later by the Nilotic negroes, but that more advanced race was finally dispossessed (and, I think, to some extent absorbed) by the true Egyptians when they returned to their country. As I have explained in Chapter I, the wise men of Egypt had foreseen that there would be a great flood, and the Aryan portion of the Egyptian population had left the country and gone over to Arabia, where it was mountainous. When the returned a long time after the flood they found the Nilotic negroes in possession of their country, and to some slight extent they blended with them; that is the explanation of the traces of negro blood which are found in the ancient Egyptians.

247. These Nilotic negroes also used the same symbol, but they altered it somewhat; instead of having the two sticks crossed (Fig. 8 a), they laid them across the vertical rod one above the other (Fig. 8 b), thereby making the double cross which is still used by the Greek Church, having come to it via the Coptic Church. But in the meantime another development of this symbol had taken place. If we draw lines joining each of the two ends (Fig. 8 c & d), we get the double axe - the double-headed battle-axe, which appeared when hafting was invented. That was the sign of the chief or king in many parts of the world. Among the Chaldeans, for example, it was the token of Ramu, which was their name for the Supreme God, and one of His titles was the God of the Age. The same symbol was also found among the Aztecs, which shows their connection with Egypt. They represented their chieftain by this symbol of the age, which was their sign for God, because the chief was looked upon as God’s representative. There are still tribes in Central Africa among which that double axe has a hut to itself, as a great chief would have.

248. Quite recently extensive archaeological researches have been made in the island of Crete, and among other things discovered there was this symbol of the double axe, which there also stood for the Deity.* (*Fig. 9 is reproduced (with permission) from an illustration in The Palace of Minos in Knossos, by Sir Arthur Evans.) In the outer courts of the temples of the great kingdom of Knossos there were many statues, but when one penetrated to the Holy of Holies there was no statue, but the double age was there set up as a symbol of the Supreme, and was called the Labrys. That is the

249. Figure 9

250.

251. origin of the word labyrinth; for the first labyrinth was constructed in order that this sacred symbol might be put in the middle of it, and the way to it was confused in order to symbolize the difficulty of the path which leads to the Highest. The stories of the Minotaur and Theseus and Ariadne came much later than this. Until these recent discoveries the Greek word “labyrinth” was marked as a foreign word of unknown derivation.

252. The gavel of the Master of the Lodge has descended from that, and it is held by the Master because in his humble way, in the symbolism of the Lodge, he is representing the Deity. It is a sign of government, and is held by him in exactly the same way as it was long ago by the first of the Pharaohs. It has now become modified in shape, and often takes the form of the mason’s stone-hammer. The name gavel came from the word “gable”, so that name belongs to an object of this later shape, rather than to the old double-axe.

253. In Egypt the double axe was also the sign for Aroueris, the first name given to the risen Horus, and Horus was called the Chief of the Hammer because this sign was sometimes drawn as a hammer. One of the old Egyptian gavels is still in existence, and there may be others also which have not been identified for what they are. That one is in the possession of the H.O.A.T.F., who uses it today in His own Lodge. It is the gavel which was used by Rameses the Great in Egypt - a most lovely implement of green jade inlaid with gold. With it the H.O.A.T.F. also has a cloak which was used by Rameses when acting as Master of his Lodge; I do

254. Plate VIII

255.

256. not know its material, but it somewhat resembles the feathered cloaks which used to be worn in Hawaii.

257. The square of the I.M. is equally an instrument of government, as is indicated in its use as the seat of Osiris in the Judgment Hall, mentioned in Chapter I.* (*Plate II (b)) From it Osiris governs or judges the souls of men who are brought before him, and decides as to whether they are sufficiently perfect to pass onward. From this we have our modern idea of acting on the square; that is to say, with perfect justice to our neighbour.

258. The figure is in this case the working mason’s square, an angle of ninety degrees, used for testing the sides of a stone to see that they are at right angles to each other, and that therefore the wall built of them will stand perpendicular, safe and strong. The difference between the two kinds of squares will now be clearly seen. The quadrilateral is intended when we speak of the compasses as dominating the square, but this right angle is signified when we refer to the tool wherewith the Master measures and decides. Although the R.W.M. has this symbol of the square, he is in fact the Son governing and judging on behalf of the Father, who remains in the background, since our Lodges are of the Christ or Sun-God type.

259. In Egypt they had a symbol of very great significance, called the Arrow of Ra, which includes both the square of the R.W.M. and his gavel of office. (Plate VIII)

260. In our plate the different parts are separate, but sometimes they are joined together, and then one gets the effect of an arrow, whence it is named the Arrow of Ra, the Sun-God, who was also called Horus of the Double Horizon, the Son of Osiris and Isis, and yet a reincarnation of Osiris, God in evolution. The lower portion of the drawing refers to His descent into matter, the inverted square signifying descent, and the angle beneath symbolizing the cavern of matter into which He went down. The upper square then indicates that He ascended or rose again. The symbol in the centre - that of the double axe - is that of the Most High God; so the complete glyph is thus a kind of symbolic creed, which for those who drew it affirmed their faith in the descent of the Deity into matter and His final triumphant ascension from it: “descended He; ascended He”. If we were to interpret it along lines of Christian symbology we might call it the emblem of the crucified and triumphant Christ; but it is also a token of the whole method of evolution.

261. This device appears in many places. It is to be seen in the museum of the Louvre in Paris, engraved upon a Chaldaean intaglio made of green jasper. It is also to be found on the walls of some very old churches in Devonshire and Cornwall in England, where it must have been engraved by the wandering Freemasons who built those churches, for the orthodox Christians could have known nothing of it.

262. While we are considering the symbols of the R.W.M. we may note also the three levels which appear upon his apron in place of the three rosettes. These are not true levels, but figures formed of a perpendicular line standing upon a horizontal - an inverted T, thus ┴. This has the same significance as the W.S.W.’s column standing erect while the W.J.W.’s is recumbent in the open Lodge; it indicates that the life of the Second Logos, the Christ, is flowing. It is not that the life of the Third Logos, which is represented by the horizontal line, or by the W.J.W.’s column, has ceased to flow (it is flowing always while an external world exists) but that the Second Aspect of the Divine is also outpouring His life, and causing the evolution of living forms. Thus this emblem refers to the two outpourings, and shows that the Master presides over all three representations.

263. This figure, called the Tau, has another very important meaning, for the upright line signifies the masculine element, and the horizontal line the feminine, in the Deity - thus slowing that God manifests as Mother as well as Father, as we are told in The Stanzas of Dzyan.* (*The Secret Doctrine, vol. I, p. 59 et passim.) I shall refer to this again later when writing of the H.R.A. In ancient Egypt it took to a large extent the place of the cross and, conjoined with the circle or oval, it became the ankh, the symbol of everlasting life.

264. The jewel of the I. P. M. resembles that of the Master in that it contains the square, but it has certain important additions. The jewel of the I.P.M. in England was formerly a square on a quadrant, but it is now the forty-seventh proposition of Euclid’s Book I, engraved on a silver plate suspended within a square. In the United States it is a pair of compasses extended to sixty degrees on the fourth part of a circle, with a sun in the centre. The proposition is of course well known, and a practical application of it is widely used by builders, in laying out walls at right angles to each other and in other work, in the form of a triangle having its sides in the ratio 3 : 4 : 5, the first two sides of which are invariably at right angles. Plutarch says that a triangle of this kind was frequently employed by the Egyptian priests, who regarded it as a symbol of the universal Trinity, Osiris and Isis being the two sides at right angles to each other, and Horus their product, the hypotenuse. The extent to which this measure was used by the Egyptians can be judged from the following extracts from the Exposition du Systeme Metrique des Anciens Egyptiens of M. Jomard, as given in Dr. Mackey’s Lexicon:

265. If we inscribe within a circle a triangle, whose perpendicular shall be 300 parts, whose base shall be 400 parts, and whose hypotenuse shall be 500 parts, which, of course, bear the same proportion to each other as 3, 4, and 5; then if we let a perpendicular fall from the angle of the perpendicular and base to the hypotenuse, and extend it through the hypotenuse to the circumference of the circle, this chord or line will be equal to 480 parts, and the two segments of the hypotenuse, on each side of it, will be found equal, respectively, to 180 and 320. From the point where this chord intersects the hypotenuse, let another line fall perpendicularly to the shortest side of the triangle, and this line will be equal to 144 parts, while the shorter segment, formed by its junction with the perpendicular side of the triangle, will be equal to 108 parts. Hence, we may derive the following measures from the diagram: 500, 480, 400, 320, 180, 144, and 108; and all these without the slightest fraction. Supposing, then, the 500 to be cubits, we have the measure of the base of the great pyramid of Memphis. In the 400 cubits of the base of the triangle we have the exact length of the Egyptian stadium. The 320 gives us the exact number of Egyptian cubits contained in the Hebrew and Babylonian stadium. The stadium of Ptolemy is represented by the 480 cubits, or length of the line falling from the right angle to the circumference of the circle, through the hypotenuse. The number 180, which expresses the smaller segment of the hypotenuse, being doubled, will give 360 cubits, which will be the stadium of Cleomedes. By doubling the 144, the result will be 288 cubits, or the length of the stadium of Archimedes; and by doubling the 108, we produce 216 cubits, or the precise value of the lesser Egyptian stadium. In this manner, we obtain from this triangle all the measures of length that were in use among the Egyptians.

266. Figure 10

267.

268. For the demonstration of the proposition in general, that in a right-angled triangle the sum of the squares on the two shorter sides is equal to the square on the hypotenuse, the modern world is indebted to Pythagoras. It is interesting that as the I. P. M. stands in the Lodge as a watcher to see that all is in order, and test everything by his judgment, so does an architect test the rectangularity of a structure by the triangle of ratio 3 : 4 : 5. It is he who also declares that “His light is ever in our midst”, pronouncing his final authority upon the presence of the Divine, and opening the V.S.L.

269. The W.S.W.’s jewel is the level, an emblem of the equality and harmony which he must endeavour to preserve among the Brn. in the Lodge; but, as we have seen, this is also a symbol of the second member of the Trinity, the universal Christ-principle, the life-force in evolution. The two ideas, are not, however, inconsistent, for in Christ all men are brothers, since all lives are part of the one great Life in which we have our being. The most perfect equality should exist in the Lodge, just as in the sight of God, who treats all equally, with the same judgment and according to the same laws. An additional interpretation of this symbol is that it indicates that only those buildings which are erected on a good level can stand firm and strong.

270. The W.J.W. has the plumb-rule as his jewel. It is taken as an emblem of the rectitude which should mark the conduct of the Brn. during the time of refreshment, when they are outside the Lodge. Such conduct at all times leads to a life that is full of grace and beauty.

271. The remaining officers also wear jewels of office. Those of the Orator, Secretary, Treasurer and D.C. are respectively a book, crossed pens, crossed keys and crossed wands, of which the meaning is obvious. In Co-Masonry, the S.D. and J.D. have each a dove as their jewel, signifying their quality as messengers; but in some other Lodges they have a square and compasses, with a sun in the centre for the S.D. and a moon for the J.D. The square and compasses are intended to indicate their qualities of circumspection and justice, for theirs are the duties of seeing to the security of the Lodge and the introduction of visitors. A lyre, a purse, crossed swords, and a single sword, are once more obvious as the jewels of the Organist, the Almoner, the I.G., and the T. respectively. The jewel of the Stewards is the cornucopia. They take their appointment from the W.J.W., provide the necessary refreshments, collect dues and subscriptions, and make themselves generally useful. It is said that the horn of plenty should remind them that it is their duty to see that the tables are properly furnished, and that every Bro. is suitably provided for.

272. THE IMMOVABLE JEWELS

273. The t … b … and the rough and perfect ashlars are called the immovable jewels, because they lie open and ever present in the Lodge, so that they may reflect the divine nature, and serve at all times for the Masons to moralize upon. In some Masonic books, however, especially those published in America, the square, the level and the plumb-rule are called the immovable jewels, because they are always in the same place in the Lodge, and the t … b … and the rough and smooth ashlars are spoken of as the movable jewels, because they can be moved about.

274. In the description of the t … b … which is given in some rituals we are told that it is for the Master to lay his plans upon. It is, however, obvious that it is not precisely suitable for that purpose, because it is already very fully occupied with the plan or drawing of an ideal Lodge. What is intended is simply that the R.W.M., with the assistance of the other Brn. assembled, should bring the Lodge down here as closely as possible into harmony and accurate relation with the ideal Lodge. It means that as T.G.A.O.T.U. has laid His plans up above, so should we down here make ours as nearly as may be in harmony with His and in imitation of them. To put it in other terms, the t … b … was intended to mean the plan in the thought of the Logos, which the Greeks called the “Intelligible World”. They said that all things came down out of that into the world which we know, that everything is planned out beforehand, and that the world existed in the divine thought before it materialized. In the Lodges of two centuries ago, the t … b … was drawn afresh on the floor with chalk for each meeting, instead of being printed; and it was considered part of a good R.W.M.’s knowledge that he should be able to draw it quickly and quite perfectly without having to look at a copy.

275. In the diagram of the t … b … we see the altar, and on it the V.S.L. From that a ladder goes up to the seven-pointed star, which represents the Monad in man, in whom the seven types of life or consciousness are all to be perfect to the limits of human possibility. That star represents also the Logos, the supreme consciousness of our solar system, God’s consciousness, which is already perfected in a degree altogether beyond human comprehension.

276. The ladder has many steps, which indicate the virtues by means of which we may ascend to the perfection symbolized by the star. In Egypt those steps were taken to express the initiations leading upwards; but of course these are only two interchangeable methods of expressing the same thing. If we take them to mean initiations, they represent definite steps taken, but if we regard them as indicating the virtues, they are the qualifications for initiation. In all cases the idea of degrees leading up to a condition of perfection is quite definitely recognized. Or it may be considered in another way, as Bro. Wilmshurst takes it in his wonderful book Masonic Initiation, in which he writes:

277. It is a symbol of the Universe, and of its succession of step-like planes reaching from the heights to the depths. It is written elsewhere that the Father’s house has many mansions; many levels and resting-places for His creatures in their different conditions and degrees of progress. It is these levels, these planes and sub-planes, that are denoted by the rungs and staves of the ladder. And of these there are, for us in our present state of evolutionary unfoldment, three principal ones; the physical plane, the plane of desire and emotion, and the mental plane, or that of the abstract intelligence which links up to the still higher planes of the spirit. These three levels of the world are reproduced in man. The first corresponds with his material physique, his sense-body; the second with his desire and emotional nature, which is a mixed element resulting from the interaction of his physical senses and his ultra-physical mind; the third with his mentality, which is still further removed from his physical nature, and forms the link between the latter and his spiritual being. …

278. Thus the Universe and man himself are constructed ladder-wise, in an orderly organized sequence of steps; the one universal substance composing the differentiated parts of the Universe “descends” from a state of the utmost ethereality by successive steps of increasing densification, until gross materialization is reached; and thence “ascends” through a similarly ordered gradation of planes to its original place, but enriched by the experience gained by its activities during the process.

279. It was this cosmic process which was the subject of the dream or vision of Jacob. … What was “dreamed” or beheld by him with supersensual vision is equally perceptible today by any one whose inner eyes have been opened. Every real Initiate is one who has attained an expansion of consciousness and faculty enabling him to behold the ethereal worlds revealed to the Hebrew Patriarch as easily as the uninitiated man beholds the phenomenal world with its outer eyes. The Initiate is able to see the angels of God ascending and descending; that is, he can directly behold the great stairway of the Universe, and watch the intricate but orderly mechanism of involution, differentiation, evolution and resynthesis constituting the Life-process. He can witness the descent of human essences or souls through planes of increasing density and decreasing vibratory rate, gathering round them as they come veils of matter from each, until finally this lowest level of complete materialization is reached, where the great struggle for supremacy between the inner and the outer man, between the spirit and the flesh, between the real self and the unreal selves in veils built round it, has to be fought out on the chequer-work floor of our present existence among the black and white opposites of good and evil, light and darkness, prosperity and adversity; and he can watch the upward return of those who conquer in the strife and, attaining their regeneration and casting off or transmuting the “worldly possessions” acquired during their descent, ascend to their Source, pure and unpolluted from the stains of this imperfect world.* (*Op. cit. pp. 64-66.)

280. On the ladder appear three emblems, a cross, an anchor, and a cup with a hand stretched out to reach it. The explanation of the t … b … in the ritual speaks of these as the three principal virtues, faith, hope and charity. Strictly speaking, the standard symbol for charity is a heart, and this does actually appear on some t … b … s instead of the cup; but the cup is the more ancient symbol, and really means much more to us.

281. Another and a very beautiful interpretation of the cross upon the ladder is given to us by Bro. Wilmshurst, who takes it to represent all the aspirants who are engaged in mounting that ladder. He says:

282. Each carries his cross, his own cruciform body, as he ascends; the material vesture whose tendencies are ever at cross purposes with the desire of the spirit, and militate against the ascent. Thus weighted, each must climb, and climb alone; yet reaching out - as the secret tradition teaches, and the arms of the tilted cross signify - one hand to invisible helpers above, and the other to assist the ascent of feebler brethren below. For, as the sides and separate rungs of the ladder constitute a unity, so all life and all lives are fundamentally one, and none lives to himself alone.* (*Op. cit. p. 69.)

283. These three symbols also refer once more to the three outpourings of the divine life, which have their correspondence in the development of the self in man. First he has to realize the world of material things, then that of consciousness or life, and finally he must rise to the real self. Since Egyptian times both the cross and the anchor have been modified, but the cup has not. The cross was originally what is now called the Greek cross, with equal arms. That has always been the token of the first outpouring of divine life through the Third Aspect of God, or the third member of the Trinity, called among the Christians God the Holy Ghost, and sometimes the Life-Giver, who brooded over the waters of space.

284. A further point in the symbology is that the cross contains within itself the square, the level and the plumb-line combined; and we find in the Epistle to the Ephesians written by St Ignatius (who according to tradition was the little child whom Christ once took and set in the midst of His disciples as a type of those who should inherit the kingdom of heaven), this remarkable Masonic passage:

285. Ye are stones of a Temple, which were prepared beforehand for a building of God the Father, being raised to the heights by the working-tool of Jesus Christ, which is the cross, and using for a rope the Holy Spirit, your faith being a windlass, and love the way leading up to God.

286. Sometimes the rose is impressed upon that equal-armed cross, and then we have the Rose Croix, the great emblem of the Rosicrucians, which figures largely in the Eighteenth Degree. The Maltese cross is another form of it, with the arms widening or spreading out, conveying the idea that the force that is pouring out is constantly increasing. Again, we find it with flames shooting out from the ends of the cross; and when it is in active revolution, with the flames trailing at right angles to the arms of the cross, we have the well-known form called the swastika.

287. In these days the cross on the ladder is usually drawn in the Latin form, which makes it a sign of the Second Outpouring, from the Second Person of the Trinity, and it is usually considered as the cross of Christ, though crosses of many forms were used as symbols thousands of years before Christ incarnated in Palestine. The First Outpouring, typified by the Greek cross, prepares the world for the reception of life; it brings into being the material elements, but not bodies formed by their combination. We might have oxygen and hydrogen produced by this outpouring, but not their combination, water; for combination of the elements into bodies of ever-increasing complexity of organized structure and function is the work of the Second Outpouring of the divine life or power.

288. The Second Outpouring is indicated by the anchor, for that was originally in Egypt a little pendulum swinging over a scale, curved to coincide with the arc of its motion. It is not difficult to see how that might be changed into an anchor, especially among people who were thinking of the cross and anchor as representing faith and hope. Such a modification may easily have come about without deliberate intention; and when it had been determined that the third virtue should be charity, we can understand why the cup was sometimes changed into a heart. The cup may stand also as suggesting charity, as being the cup of life from which the overflow is charity; but many people would feel the heart to be an easier symbol for that virtue.

289. Those who have read Greek philosophy or the Gnostic systems will remember that the krater or cup plays a prominent part in them. It was the vessel into which the wine of the divine life was poured. In Christian thought it is the Holy Grail filled with the precious blood of Christ; the chalice used at the institution of the Holy Eucharist, the cup which Joseph of Arimathea is supposed to have held to catch the sacred blood of Jesus as He hung upon the cross. All these things are, however, an allegory. The real meaning of the symbol is that the cup is the causal body of man, and the wine is the life from God that flashes into it in the Third Outpouring from the First Logos, at the moment of individualization, which makes the animal into a human being, not perfected yet, of course, but capable of perfection.

290. So the three symbols represent the respective gifts of the divine life, or three great emanations of the Logos. In Egyptian times the Greek term Logos did not yet exist, and they spoke of Osiris and Horus, but the teaching was the same, for there is only one fundamental truth about these things. The t … b … thus shows that the man who intelligently comprehends the scheme of the evolution of life in the world can deliberately co-operate with the divine plan, until he becomes perfectly evolved as man and reaches the seven-pointed star; and that then he is ready to pass on into still higher conditions, which are indicated on the t … b … by the clouds, the sun, the moon and the stars above. In fact, true philosophy discerns the plan drawn by T.G.A. on the Tracing Board of Time for the building of the Universe.

291. The remaining jewels, the rough and smooth ashlars, are seen in the t … b … near the pillars which represent the columns of the W.J.W. and W.S.W. respectively. The smooth ashlar is generally suspended from a pulley, and held by the lewis,* (*See fig. 11.) an implement

292. Figure 11

293.

294. consisting of wedge-shaped pieces of steel which are fitted into a dovetailed mortise in the stone to be hoisted. This instrument was so named, by the architect who invented it, in honour of the French King Louis XIV. One who is the son or daughter of a Mason is called a lewis (because he is supposed to support his parents in their old age), and it is generally held that he may be initiated into Masonry when only eighteen years old. Though some assert that this can be done only by special dispensation, the custom is to regard it as a right.

295. The rough ashlar indicates the untrained mind of the candidate. He is supposed to be in a state of darkness and ignorance, but gradually through Masonic work and knowledge his mind will be polished, and it may then be tested by the square, the plumb-rule and the level, and will be found accurate. The smooth ashlar represents the condition which should be attained by the F.C. In the light of evolution and reincarnation we may regard the rough ashlar as the symbol of the young soul. Through much experience and effort life after life he must polish his nature and develop his powers. The three degrees in Masonry represent three stages in that process. The business of the E.A. is to take himself in hand morally and conquer the physical body, so that its impulses will not stand in the way of his rapid progress or evolution. The E.A. of Egypt used to remain seven years in the First Degree, because he had to fit himself thoroughly for the illumination which could come only to one who had his emotions under control and sufficiently purified to reflect and serve the higher self. That being done, the smooth ashlar was to be perfected until it was ready to be used as a living stone in the temple of T.G.A.O.T.U., fit to form part of the heavenly Man of the future.

296. CHAPTER IV

297. PRELIMINARY CEREMONIES

298. THE CO-MASONIC RITUAL

299. IN commenting upon the ceremonies of Freemasonry I shall take those of Co-Masonry as the basis of my disquisition, because they have been arranged largely with a view to their effect on planes other than the physical. The workings there described were prepared with the aid of several of the best existing rituals and in consultation with experienced Brn. They will be found to embody some of the best points of these rituals, in addition to many valuable features peculiar to our own workings. It has been found eminently desirable to give to the Brn. in the columns a larger share in the working of the Lodge, so certain verses of the V. S. L. and some well-known Masonic hymns have been inserted for their use.

300. The Supreme Council of Universal Co-Masonry has with the utmost liberality and the widest tolerance allowed those who owe their allegiance to it to choose between several variants of the Ritual. Some Lodges prefer the simplest form, which is practically identical with that used by the masculine Craft; others find a slightly more elaborate working more inspiring and helpful, because it expresses somewhat more fully the work upon inner planes which is to them the main object of the ceremony. It is this latter working which I am about to try to expound; but I wish to make it perfectly clear that the interpretation which I place upon it is my own private opinion only, and that the Supreme Council under which I have the honour to serve must not in any way be considered as endorsing that opinion because it permits the use of the Ritual.

301. It must not be supposed that the shorter Masonic ritual of the masculine Craft is ineffective; all that we claim is that the objects of the various ceremonies are more fully and more expeditiously achieved when their real intention and signification are thoroughly understood.

302. THE PROCESSION

303. Everywhere on the surface of the earth there are great magnetic currents passing both ways between the poles of the earth and the equator, and others coming at right angles to them round the earth. The Co-Masonic procession of entry into the Lodge makes use of these currents, forming of the space which we circumambulate a distinct eddy or specially magnetized portion of space.

304. As the Brn. march round the floor, singing, they should be thinking of the words of the introcessional hymn and canticle, and taking care that the procession is well done and in good order; but in addition they should be deliberately directing their thoughts to the magnetization of the mosaic pavement and the space above it. In ancient Egypt it was considered to be the duty of the R.W.M. to direct the currents and form the eddy in them, so as to magnetize very strongly the floor round which he passed. It is for this purpose that the officers and distinguished visitors pass clear round the Lodge, and even go over some of the ground twice; for they do not go straight to their places on first approaching them as do the E.A.s, the F.C.s and the M.M.s, but continue so as to complete the circumambulation, as described in The Ritual of Universal Co-Masonry (5^th Edition).

305. With us also it is the Master of the Lodge who is responsible for the magnetization of the double square, but the Brn. ought all to help in that work. The object is to charge that space heavily with the highest possible influence, and to erect a wall round it in order that the influence may be kept in place. The part played by the thought-form is much like that of a condenser. It matters not how much steam may be generated, it is useless for work unless it is enclosed and kept under pressure. In this scheme we accumulate and use the force which otherwise would scatter itself freely over the surrounding neighbourhood.

306. As has been explained in Chapter III, when the floor has thus been set apart and prepared, no one passes across it except the candidates who are taken there for the purpose of initiation and are intentionally submitted to the influence of its magnetism, the Thurifer when he is censing the altar, and the I.P.M. when he goes down from the dais to perform the duty of opening the V.S.L. or of altering the position of the s … and c … as we change from one degree to another. One other exception is made when the S.D. during the ceremony of lighting the candles comes to the altar to receive the sacred fire from the I.P.M. The I.P.M. lights a taper at the sacred fire, and with it kindles the small candle standing in an ornamental brass vessel, which the S.D., as Lucifer, carries to the R.W.M. and the W.W.s.

307. The floor has now rushing across it magnetic currents or lines of force like the warp and woof of a piece of cloth, and this forms the foundation upon which we build the great thought-form which is one of the objects of our Masonic meeting. In view of the enormous value of the thought-form made on the floor of the Lodge, we can see how important it is that none should disturb or confuse the currents by walking in the wrong direction, or by bringing into the Lodge thoughts of ordinary business-the cares and worries and conflicts of the world of daily life. We go to the Lodge to do a definite piece of work for humanity, and we must devote our entire attention to it during the whole time of the meeting.

308. The singing of the introcessional canticles is intended to help us to harmonize our minds. The words of the canticles tell us of the basis upon which all edifices are built, T.G.A.O.T.U., who is Himself the foundation and structure of all things, because there is nothing that is not part of Him. Every member, as he goes round in the procession, should be dedicating himself and all his thought and strength to the great work about to be undertaken. These words that we sing have a strong Masonic association, for this metrical version of the hundredth psalm has been used at the opening of Lodge Canongate Kilwinning ever since its foundation in 1723. There is one word in that version to which I want to make special reference in passing. In the first verse, where we sing “Him serve with mirth”, some uncomprehending hymnologist has changed the word “mirth” to “fear”, which is entirely inaccurate and utterly indefensible. In the Bible we are asked to praise the Lord with gladness and come before His presence with a song, and we must be careful to preserve the correct spirit and rendering. The other canticle: “I was glad when they said unto me: we will go into the house of the Lord”, consists of texts taken from the V.S.L., put together so as to form a beautiful and appropriate invocation.

309. All this dedicated thought forms the basis of the splendid edifice which the Lodge is about to build, the true temple of which the earthly one is an outer symbol, a temple of finer matter through which perfectly real work can be done and enormous volumes of spiritual influence can be distributed. This temple is also an image of the vortex which T.G.A.O.T.U. made when He was about to form His solar system. He began by limiting Himself, by marking out the limitations of His system, within which He set up a vast etheric vortex, the remains of which we find today in the system of revolving planets condensed from the original nebula, as it cooled and descended into denser physical matter.

310. In Co-Masonic Lodges the procession has at its head a Thurifer swinging a censer, giving off the smoke from aromatic gums specially compounded with other substances for the purpose. After him comes the T. with his sword, and behind him the D.C. That little group is especially entrusted with the business of purifying the Lodge. The D.C. is supposed to be the directing brain in this work, and the T. with his sword is the hand used to drive out of the mental and emotional atmosphere all thought that is not wanted there.

311. Behind this purifying wedge come all the ordinary members, arranged in reversed order of precedence. At the end of the procession come the officers and those of higher degree, and eventually the R.W.M., who has to complete the work of all those who have gone before him, using the devotion which the other people have supplied, and building the walls of the cella as far as possible with the material available. The form that we are building is that of the old Greek temple with the columns outside it, and inside the inner shrine called the cella, which was enclosed and dark, the only opening being its entrance. In the Lodge the members stand outside around that, like the columns of an old temple, such as that shown in our illustration (Plate V).

312. THE APRON

313. Every Mason at a Lodge meeting must wear the distinctive badge which is called an apron, and it is only when doing so that he is, in Masonic parlance, “properly clothed”. He may wear additional decorations, such as collars or jewels, indicating the special office which he holds, or the degree which he has taken, but unless he wears at least the apron he cannot be admitted to the Lodge - the only exception being in the case of a candidate for initiation, who, not being yet a Bro., has no right to wear that distinguishing badge. There are certain higher degrees in which the apron is not worn, but its place is taken by other insignia. That is only because the need for it is past. There are some Lodges in which people put on and take off their aprons in the temple, but that should never be countenanced.

314. The necessity that Masons should be properly clothed brings with it an interesting suggestion of the ancient Mysteries, and also explains why the essential part of the Masonic clothing, to be worn by all with the exceptions above mentioned, is the apron. Our modern apron has departed somewhat from the form used in ancient Egypt; no doubt it was modified at the time when it was found necessary to merge the speculative and operative Freemasons, in the days of persecution by the Church. The ancient Egyptian apron* (*See Plate I, and Fig. 12.) was triangular, with the apex upward, and its ornamentation differed in several respects from that used at the present time. But the most important change is in the thought that now prevails, that the apron itself is everything,

315. Figure 12

316.

317. and that the band which passes round the body exists merely to secure it and retain it in place. In old days the belt of the apron was the most important practical feature, and it was far more than a mere symbol. This belt was a highly magnetized circle, intended to enclose within itself a disc of etheric matter, separating the upper part of the body from the lower, so that the tremendous forces which it was the object of the Masonic ceremonial to set in motion might be entirely shut off from the lower part of the man’s body.

318. In The Meaning of Masonry Bro. Wilmshurst writes:

319. Masonry is a sacramental system, possessing, like all sacraments, au outward and visible side consisting of its ceremonial, its doctrine and its symbols which we can see and hear, and an inward, intellectual and spiritual side, which is concealed behind: the ceremonial, the doctrine and the symbols, and which is available only to the Mason who has learned to use his spiritual imagination and who can appreciate the reality that lies behind the veil of outward symbol.* (*The Meaning of Masonry, p. 21.)

320. He reminds us how, in the case of the E.A., the point of the apron is turned up, making it therefore a five-pointed figure, symbolical of the fivefold man. The triangle made by the uplifted flap, he explains, is then above the square, and it symbolizes the fact that the soul is hovering over the lower body at that stage, but yet can hardly be said to be working through it. Later on that flap is turned down, showing that the soul is within the body and acting through it. He tells us also how the lambskin is first of all a symbol of purity, but also typifies the blankness of the undeveloped soul, or of what in Theosophy is called the causal body. In that, as some of us know, in the course of development a great quantity of glorious colour shows as new vibrations are awakened in it. Some account of that will be found, illustrated with coloured plates, in Man, Visible and Invisible.

321. Bro. Wilmshurst further explains that the pale sky-blue colour of the rosettes on the F.C. apron and the blue lining and edging and silver tassels of the M.M.’s apron indicate that at that stage the blue of the sky begins to break through the whiteness that innocence, however beautiful it may be, is being replaced by knowledge to some extent, and as the higher degrees are reached more of colour and beauty appears. He especially mentions that there are two lines of influence, or spiritual force, which come down from above, each ending in seven silver lines - a kind of tassel - indicating the seven colours of the spectrum. These are really symbolical of the seven great divisions or varieties or temperaments of life. In American Masonry, according to Mackey’s Encyclopaedia* (*Art. Apron.) the apron is the same in all the three degrees of Blue Masonry, being made of white lambskin with a narrow edging of blue ribbon. Co-Masonry follows the usage prevailing in the Grand Lodge of England, save that instead of sky-blue for the edging and rosettes, an edging of deeper blue with a narrow border of crimson is prescribed, and the rosettes are made of similar material. The tassels are gilded instead of silvered, and their seven lines symbolize the seven rays of life and the seven grades of matter. Our illustrations give an idea of the M.M. aprons as worn in Egypt and at the present day. (Fig. 12.)

322. THE CEREMONY OF CENSING

323. When all have taken their places the ceremony of censing begins. The Thurifer advances to the pedestal of the R.W.M., who places upon the charcoal in the censer some incense which he has previously magnetized, or better still, he magnetizes the incense as it is melting in the censer, for that is the condition in which it is most responsive to his power. As the ceremony is not known in some Lodges I reprint it here from the Co-Masonic ritual:

324. During the ceremony appropriate music is played, the Brn. remaining standing. When all are in their places, the Thurifer advances to the pedestal of the R.W.M., who places upon the charcoal in the censer some incense which he has previously consecrated. The Thurifer steps back and bows to the R.W.M., who returns the bow. He then censes the R.W.M., with three triple swings *** *** *** the chains being held short and the censer extended at the level of the eyes, but slightly lowered after the first and second sets of triple swings. The censer is then grasped firmly by the chains in the right hand, and swung with full chain (if space permits) in the form of a V, three long dignified strokes to the right of the pedestal, then three to the left. Then, with the arm extended in front, the censer is swung in seven graduated circles, each circle above the other, so that by the time the seventh and smallest circle is made, the arm is raised to its full height. The Thurifer bows again to the R.W.M., and then passes directly to the altar, which he encircles, beginning at the E., swinging the censer at short chain with a circular motion. He then returns to the R.W.M.’s pedestal, bows and squares the Lodge to the W.J.W.’s pedestal, where the ceremony which took place at the previous pedestal is repeated, save that the W.J.W. receives five swings of the censer, one triple and two single *** * *. A pause is observed between single swings, just as between triple swings. He next passes to the W.S.W.’s pedestal, censing him in identical fashion, save that he receives seven swings, two triple and one single *** *** *. The Thurifer now turns to the J.D., bows to him, and after the bow has been returned, censes him with three single swings * * *, after which they bow as before, and the Thurifer squares the Lodge to the S.D., who is censed in a similar manner, but with four swings, one triple and one single *** *. The Thurifer now censes the distinguished visitors according to their rank, beginning with those of highest dignity (nine swings for 33°, seven for 30°, five for 18° and visiting P.M.s.-the swings to be divided as above), bows as he passes the R.W.M.’s pedestal and censes the P.M.s (the I.P.M. receives seven swings). He then takes up his position before the Master’s pedestal, having returned directly thereto; then, having bowed to him, he turns and faces the Brn., bows to them collectively, and (himself remaining stationary) censer them successively, beginning with those on his left hand, and ending with those on his right. This is accomplished by a number of short swings, aimed down the S., column and up the N. in rapid succession. The Brn. stand with the hands joined before the breast and the palms laid together, and bow successively as the gaze of the Thurifer meets theirs. This ceremonial should be carefully carried out, each Bro. bowing a moment later than his predecessor. The above-mentioned position of the hands should be adopted by all officers while they are being censed. The Thurifer squares the Lodge and passes to the position of the I.G., whom he censes with two single swings * *; then he hands the censer to him. The I.G. censes the T. with a single swing *, and then hands the censer to him. The whole ceremony should be carried out as briskly as is consistent with dignity; there should be no unnecessary delay. As the Thurifer censes the different pedestals the Brn. should unite in thought upon the three principles which they represent R. W.M. - Wisdom; W.S.W. - Strength; W.J.W. - Beauty. This should also be done while the candles are being lighted at each pedestal. When the altar is reached the thought should be on the Unity of Brotherhood.

325. The censing of the pedestals in this manner produces in front of each of them a highly magnetized cone, or beehive-shaped form, in which the candidate stands when he comes before any of the pedestals. It is erected for that purpose, and can be stretched when several candidates come together, but it becomes a little tenuous if the number is large. The censing of the officials is intended to prepare them for the work which they have to do. The varied number of swings is given not only to honour the person, but to strengthen him for his work, and it does so by setting up a line of communication with the forces of the inner planes. The higher the man is in degree, the more does he himself give in proportion to what is received. The Master gives most of all, but the columns receive more than they give; yet each one should try as the Thurifer turns to him to give as much as he possibly can.

326. This use of incense is perfectly scientific. All occult students are aware that, as was said in the last chapter, there is no such thing as really dead matter, but that everything in nature possesses and radiates out its own vibration or combination of vibrations. Every chemical element has thus its own set of influences, which are useful in certain directions and useless or even hostile in others. It is in this way quite possible, for example, to mingle certain gums which, when burnt as incense, will strongly stimulate the purer and higher emotions; but one could just as easily make another mixture whose vibrations would promote the most undesirable feelings. This is a matter about which some people are sceptical, because humanity is at present passing through a stage in its evolution during which its development is almost exclusively that of the lower mind, which is fiercely intolerant of anything which it has not specially studied. We all know how difficult it has been until quite lately to gain any recognition for non-physical phenomena, such as those of telepathy or clairvoyance, or indeed anything outside the most materialistic science.

327. Now the time has come when men are beginning to see that life is full of invisible influences, whose value can be recognized by sensitive people. The effect of incense is an instance of this class of phenomena, as is also the result of the use of talismans and of certain precious stones, each of which vibrates at its own rate and has its own value. Such things are not usually of importance so great that we need give much time to their consideration, but they all have their effects, and are therefore not to be entirely neglected by wise people.

328. The incense used in the Lodge tends to purify that part of man’s nature which is sometimes called the astral body, as it is made of gums which give off an intensely cleansing vibration. In this respect its effect is analogous to the sprinkling of a disinfectant, which will spread about in the air and destroy undesirable germs, though in this case the operation is on higher levels and in finer matter. It has also the effect of attracting denizens of the inner worlds whose presence is helpful to our working, and of driving away those which are unsuitable.

329. Two of the most important constituents of such incense as is useful for our work are benzoin and olibanum. The benzoin is a vigorous purifier, and tends to drive away all coarse or sensuous feelings and thoughts. The olibanum has nothing to do with that, but it creates a devotional and restful atmosphere, and tends to stimulate those vibrations in the astral body which make people responsive to higher things. Attar of roses is also useful, and adds greatly to the effect produced.

330. If the incense is intelligently magnetized its strength is increased enormously; for example, by putting into olibanum the definite force of the will in the direction of calmness and devotion, its influence may be increased by perhaps a hundredfold. That is why the incense in church is always taken up to the celebrant to be blessed, and why in the Lodge it is brought to the R.W.M. in order that he may magnetize it with whatever special quality he thinks will be helpful for the work of the day. The sprinkling of holy water in a church is another way of producing a similar effect, but incense has the advantage that it rises into the air, and wherever a single particle goes the purification and blessing is borne with it.

331. It is desirable on all occasions, and especially in Lodge, in the interests of the work, that the Brn. should have in their minds but a few definite and strong vibrations of emotion and thought; but instead of that they sometimes have forty or fifty small vortices of emotional and mental activity all whirling at once, each representing some small worry or care or desire. It is difficult for a person to do good work while these are present, and almost impossible for him to make real progress in the evolution of consciousness. If he is trying to attain a better emotional and mental condition, the incense will offer him a strengthening current of vibration which will help very much in combing out the tangle and producing calm and steadiness.

332. We sometimes find that there is much prejudice against the use of incense, because it is supposed to be connected exclusively with the ceremonies of the Roman Church, for it is only there and in some of the higher Anglican churches that Western people ever see it. Those who have travelled in the East, or are interested in the study of other faiths, know that practically all the religions of the world use incense in one form or another. It appears in the temples of the Hindus, the Zoroastrians, the Jains, and in the Shinto of China and Japan. It was used in Greece, in Rome, in Persia, and in the ceremonies of Mithra. All these people, including the Roman Catholics, avail themselves of it because they know it to be a useful thing; why then should not we?

333. For a time in England there was a very strong puritan wave, shortly after the Reformation, which led to the murder of King Charles, to the Commonwealth and to Cromwell’s rule. True, there was a reaction at the time of the Restoration, but the puritan feeling seems to have been of the most intense kind, and traces of it still remain in England, some of them showing themselves in the most amazing and unreasoning prejudice.

334. That feeling has sometimes entered Masonic circles, and efforts have been made to induce the Grand Lodge to limit the definition of the Great Architect, so as to exclude the possible association of Masonry with non-Protestant beliefs. But the Grand Lodge has liberally refused to create any such limitations. Under the Grand Lodge of England incense is prescribed for the ceremony of consecrating a Lodge* (*See The Chaplain’s and Organist’s Work, by the Rev, J. T. Lawrence.) and the Consecrating Officer and the Wardens are censed, though no definite number of swings appears to be laid down. Incense is also used in the Consecration of a Chapter of the Holy Royal Arch, under the Supreme Grand Chapter of England, and in the ceremonial of many of the higher degrees. Thus its introduction into Co-Masonic Lodges is in no way an innovation, but is in full accordance with Masonic usage.

335. The number of swings given to each of the non-official Brn. indicates his particular rank in the Order, for the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite are taken into account in Co-Masonry. Each thus receives the influence he needs, that he may be strengthened for the work which his rank qualifies him to do. Each Bro., as he is censed, bows out of respect, and as a token that he dedicates all the force that he has to T.G.A.O.T.U.

336. LIGHTING THE CANDLES

337. The S.D. is the Lucifer, who bears the light to his fellow-men. The light having been given to him from the Sacred Fire by the I.P.M., he carries it to the R.W.M., who by means of a small taper lights from it the tall candle standing on his right, and then puts out his taper with an extinguisher. He must not blow it out, because that would suggest the pollution of the sacred fire by the breath, which is unclean. It is for the same reason that the Parsis, who are sometimes called fire-worshippers, because they regard that element as the greatest symbol and expression of the divine, will on no account pollute it with refuse. The R.W.M. says: “May the light of wisdom illumine our work” (here he lights his candle); “His wisdom is infinite.” The S.D. then carries the light to the W.S. and J.W.s, who light their candles and speak appropriately of the strength and the beauty of T.G.A.O.T.U.

338. In this ceremony we are reminded once more of the three Aspects of T.G.A.O.T.U., and here they are symbolized as coming forth from the unconditioned into conditioned form in the order of wisdom, strength and beauty, in preparation for the opening of the Lodge, the commencement of the work of the building of the temple. When the work begins, as we shall see in the next chapter, the process is reversed, but here we have only the preparation, the coming forth of the wisdom to plan, the strength to execute, and then the beauty to adorn.

339. The use of fire in ecclesiastical or Masonic ceremonies is but little understood. The lighting of a candle with religious intention is analogous to a prayer, and always invokes a downpouring of force from on high. Thus the three principal officers, in uttering these phrases as they light their candles, are not only announcing in symbol that they represent certain Aspects of the divine, but are actually opening the way to a definite link with those Aspects, which is made in response to their request. The electric lights which are used instead of candles in some Lodges do not produce the same effect; they give light, but not fire, and therefore fail of their full result. Electric light is, however, permissible for the Blazing Star and the Star of Initiation, where the action and the symbolism are solely that of the light.

340. What I have said before about the assistance that should be given to the officers by the Brn. applies here most emphatically. When the R.W.M. says: “May His wisdom illumine our work,” all should join with him in a strong effort to call down the divine wisdom, so that through him it may pour out upon the Brn. So also when the W.S.W. says: “May the light of strength sustain our work,” all should think earnestly of the divine strength, and send up an aspiration that it may flow through him; and once more a similar effort is to be made when the W.J.W. says: “May the light of beauty make manifest our work,” and the I.P.M. declares: “His light dwelleth ever in our midst.”

341. We must not attach to these thoughts the old, and I think false, idea of prayer - that we need to beseech the attention of T.G.A.O.T.U. We know that He is always sending down His force; it is our business to open the channel. His symbol down here is the sun, which is always pouring out light and life and glory without being asked to shine. In the utterance of these words, therefore, we are only seeking to make ourselves and the Lodge channels for His service.

342. During all these processes the thought of the Brn. is important, but most of all when the altar is censed should they think of the divine love. It falls to the R.W.M. to direct the whole work and to each of the officers to bear his part, but the full success of the scheme depends upon the recollectedness and unselfishness of every Bro. in the Lodge. Without that there is no real life in the work. It is to be feared that in many Masonic Lodges, though their work is deeply coloured by the great ideal of charity, there is an entire failure to radiate the spiritual influence. They perform the ritual accurately and beautifully, but they have not realized how much depends upon the thought given to it, and the comprehension of all that it means and implies. The blessing of the Great Architect is invoked not so much by the mere formula of words and acts, as by the spirit that underlies the work of the Lodge.

343. CHAPTER V

344. THE OPENING OF THE LODGE

345. THE BRETHREN ASSIST

346. WHEN the ceremony of lighting the candles is completed, the Brn. take their seats, and the R.W.M. asks them to spend a few moments in aspiration to T.G.A.O.T.U., earnestly resolving that the work to be done that evening shall be well and thoroughly done, and that each member shall never forget that he is doing it in His name and to His glory.

347. The R.W.M. then gives a single k … k and calls upon the Brn. to assist him in opening the Lodge. Some may ask why he needs their assistance in so simple an act as declaring the Lodge open; but the fact is that it is by no means so simple as this. The opening of a Masonic Lodge is in itself an exceedingly beautiful and interesting ceremony, and the success of the evening’s work depends upon its being properly and thoroughly done. The work before us is no light matter, for it is nothing less than a concerted effort to carry out the duty that is laid upon us, as those who possess the Light, to spread that Light abroad through the world, and actually to become fellow-labourers with T.G.A.O.T.U. in His great plan for the evolution of our Brn.

348. He pours spiritual strength into the world just as the sun pours out its light; but as there are many dark places in the world which the sunlight cannot directly reach, so are there many souls in the world who are unable to receive and assimilate this divine force. As man by means of mirrors can reflect the sunlight into a cave or cellar, so also can man reflect the spiritual light upon those darkened souls, and perchance present it to them so that they may be able to receive it and profit by it. All light in the world is but transmuted sunlight; if we burn coal and make gas, or if we burn oil in a lamp, the energy is none the less converted solar energy.

349. The Great Architect sends forth His power at all levels, but most of all on the higher planes. But the majority of men are not yet sufficiently developed on those higher planes to be directly affected by this force. If, however, those men who are already somewhat developed at those levels will lay themselves open to receive that force, and slow down its vibrations by passing them through their own subtle bodies, it can then be poured out upon the world at large in an assimilable form. And this is a great part of the work that is being done by all those who wish to co-operate with Him.

350. I have explained in The Masters mad the Path how one who approaches a Master of the Wisdom with a view to becoming His pupil and working under Him for the good of mankind, is first drawn into a wonderfully intimate association with that Master, so that he may become a perfect channel for the distribution of spiritual forces. Precisely the same thing on a much smaller scale is being done by every human being who wishes well to his fellow-man. Being developed somewhat above the average, he is able to receive and to profit by some at least of these forces, and he assuredly pours them out again on lower levels in good-will and kindly feeling. The ceremonies of all great religions aim at producing such results on a larger scale by some sort of common action. In The Science of the Sacraments I have explained the mechanism of this common action as far as the great Christian services are concerned; and the ceremonies of Freemasonry attain a similar object, though in a different way.

351. The Christian service begins by building a great thought-form to act as a kind of storage-battery or condenser for this force, in order that as it is gradually generated it may be stored up for use instead of being allowed to dissipate itself uselessly in the ambient air; and we in Freemasonry have to take the same precaution. In both cases we invoke the aid of non-human entities - the inhabitants of those subtler planes, who are thoroughly accustomed to deal with and control the forces belonging to their respective levels; but there is a certain difference between the methods adopted in the Christian religion, and in the old Egyptian Mystery-faith from which Masonry is derived.

352. In Christianity we invoke great Angels who are far above us in spiritual unfoldment, and place ourselves to a considerable extent in their hands, supplying them with the material of love and devotion and aspiration which the service calls forth from us, and leaving them largely to do the form-building and the distribution.

353. In Freemasonry also we invoke angelic aid, but those upon whom we call are nearer to our own level in development and intelligence, and each of them brings with him a number of subordinates who carry out his directions. All around us there is a vast unseen evolution, which may be thought of as parallel to our own.* (*See plate, “The Evolution of Life” in The Hidden Side of Things, vol. i, p. 116 (1st edition) And just as our line of progress passes through the vegetable kingdom, the animal kingdom and the human kingdom, and then carries us on to the superhuman developments of Adeptship, so does that parallel evolution run through the various elemental kingdoms, the kingdom of the nature-spirits, and then the kingdom of Devas or Angels. There are many levels of intelligence and holiness in this great angelic kingdom; and while it stretches upwards to heights far above those at present attainable by human beings, it has also members who are hardly at a higher level than our own.* (*In the course of involution the Second great Outpouring of divine Life descends from the Second Logos into the matter already vivified by the Third Logos. Very slowly and gradually this resistless life pours down through the various planes, spending in each of them a period equal in duration to one entire incarnation of a planetary chain - a period which, if measured as we measure time, would cover many millions of years. As a whole, this life-wave is spoken of as monadic essence when clothed only in the atomic matter of the various planes at different stages of its descent. When it energizes the matter of the higher mental plane, it is known as the First Elemental Kingdom. When it descends to the lower or rupa levels of the same plane it is the Second Elemental Kingdom, and on the astral plane it is the Third Elemental Kingdom. Even when this monadic essence first comes before us, in the earliest of the elemental Kingdoms, it is already not one monad, but very many - not one great life-stream but many parallel streams, each possessing characteristics of its own. The monadic essence ensouls the matter of the sub-planes below it on each plane or division of a plane, and thus forms the Elemental Kingdoms. It is the same life that goes on into the mineral kingdom, and then begins to ascend, and proceeds through the vegetable and animal kingdoms until, upon its junction with rays from the life of the First Logos, human beings are formed. See Man, Visible and Invisible, Chapter vi.)

354. Those, however, are only the lowest members of the angelic kingdom; next below them in development come the highest of the nature-spirits, in the same way as the highest members of the animal kingdom come only just below the lowest human beings; and indeed in many cases the kingdoms overlap, for the most intelligent of the animal kingdom are frequently superior in many respects to the most degraded of human beings. In the Church service we invoke the great Archangels - beings very far above ourselves - though they also have their cohorts of assistants at a level much below their own; in Freemasonry we call rather upon beings at our own stage or slightly above it, and they bring with them assistants from the kingdom of the nature-spirits and even of the elementals.

355. In both cases the work is initiated by someone who is specially qualified and set apart to do it; in the Church the priest; in Freemasonry the R.W.M. Still, the assistance of the brethren present is always a matter of importance and significance. In ecclesiastical circles they often speak of the priesthood of the laity. Certain things the priest is commissioned to do, and only he can do them. But he requires the help and co-operation of the laity in order that he may work at the highest degree of effectiveness. It is exactly the same with the Master of a Masonic Lodge; he also has certain work to do, and unless there are other P.M.s. present, he is the only man who can do it; but it will be done better and more easily if the Brn. understand and co-operate.

356. I remember well that when first I was elected R.W.M. of my Mother Lodge, I had to do all the magnetization in the opening procession myself; I had to march round the Lodge, making an eddy in the flowing forces, building the preliminary thought-form and filling it with a strong current of magnetism. Presently I explained matters to some of the older members of the Lodge and told them how they could help in this work, and when they got into the habit of doing so I found that it made my own labours very much less.

357. But remember that what the H.O.A.T.F. wants is not a sort of bored acquiescence, but cordial co-operation. He wants the members really to be thinking vividly all the time and keeping their minds on what they are doing. If we hear the same thing over and over again, there is a certain tendency for it to become a matter of course, so that people give only half of their attention to it. That is not the way to get the best results; we must fig our minds strongly upon what we are saying and what we are doing. Only the officers have to give the responses at the opening of the Lodge, but every member ought to know these responses by heart. When we come to the temple, we come for a definite purpose-not to get, but to give; and the amount that we are able to give in the way of spiritual force and help depends largely upon the intentness with which we fix our thought upon what we are doing, and the amount of definite understanding that we bring to it. It means a considerable mental effort, no doubt; but it is very well worth while to make it.

358. When the R.W.M. asks for the assistance of the Brn. he also means that they should specially prepare themselves to co-operate in the work of the evening, and this important preliminary is achieved by his next questions.

359. TYLING THE LODGE

360. The Brn. being upstanding, the R.W.M. begins the proceedings by asking from the W.J.W. (carefully addressing him by name, and not using the title of his office) the characteristic question which is the keynote of every Masonic meeting: “What is the first care of every Freemason?” and receives the traditional reply: “To see the Lodge close tyled.” He continues: “Direct that that duty be done.” The W.J.W. passes on the command to the I.G., who goes to see that the T. is at his post, and reports that he is, this report being at once passed on to the R.W.M.

361. What is the symbolism here? The first requisite when we are about to do a great piece of work is to concentrate upon it, and in order to do that we must be free from interruption; so the fortress of Mansoul (to adopt John Bunyan’s picturesque terminology) needs a strong wall all round outside, and our entrance must be well guarded. Therefore the Spirit calls to the intelligence, which is its link with the lower worlds; the intelligence asks the etheric double, who in turn signals the dense physical body to know how things look from the outside, and receives the satisfactory reply that all the defences are in order, so that the Spirit is reassured on the important point that the Lodge may labour in safety.

362. Each one of us has to tyle his own Lodge on various levels, and this must be done with great care and wisdom. Through thousands of years of past evolution each man has been learning to build a strong shell for himself, so that within it he may grow into a powerful centre, capable of radiating spiritual force upon his fellows. Inevitably in the earlier stages of that growth he becomes a self-centred being, thinking and caring only for his own interests - tyling his Lodge indeed, but shutting out from it much that is noble and beautiful. Only by degrees does he learn that power is given to him for use in the service of others, and that while he must so tyle his Lodge as always to maintain the strong centre of consciousness which he has been at such pains to create (because without that centre he would be useless in the work of the world) he must at the same time watch ceaselessly to see that the force generated in that centre is employed only in the helping of mankind and in the furtherance of the designs of T.G.A.U.T.U. The man does not lose his individuality and initiative, but he learns to use them rightly.

363. The man must learn to tyle the Lodge of his mental body; but this must be done with discretion and indeed with exceeding great care. We often find the physical world uncomfortably crowded, especially if our lot imposes upon us the necessity of living or working in one of the great cities. But we must remember that the astral and mental worlds are also crowded - very much more so than the physical, although not quite in the same way. Those finer worlds have far greater extension than the physical, and also in them bodies freely interpenetrate one another. So the crowding is not of the same nature; but nevertheless, we need to shield ourselves even more strictly on those higher levels than down here.

364. It is not only that on the mental plane there are many millions of people. It is also full of centres of thought on all kinds of subjects, which have been established mostly by men like ourselves. We who are students are earnestly trying to raise ourselves somewhat above the thought of the average man; therefore a very large proportion of all this insurgent thought which is so constantly pressing upon us is at a lower level than our own, and we require constantly to guard ourselves against its influence. There is such a vast ocean of thought upon all sorts of utterly unimportant subjects that, unless we rigidly exclude it, we shall find ourselves unable to concentrate upon the higher subjects about which we really wish to think. Therefore in that respect we must tyle the Lodge of the mental body and must exercise great care to whom and to what we open its doors.

365. There are also other respects in which care is necessary on the mental plane. For example, there are many who are cursed with an argumentative nature. Such men throw open the doors of their mental fortress and rush eagerly out to battle on the slightest provocation, or on none at all - quite forgetting that they thereby leave the fortress undefended, so that any thought-forces which may happen to be in their neighbourhood can enter in and possess it. While they are wasting their strength in wrangling over points of no importance, the whole tone of their mental bodies is being steadily deteriorated by the influences which are flowing into it. Such a man should learn to tyle his mental body, so that only those thoughts may enter it which he as an ego really approves.

366. The Lodge of the astral body must be tyled also, for it is even more difficult to resist the surging of emotions than the pressure of thoughts. The majority of emotions in the world are ill-directed, being motived by selfishness in some one among its many protean forms - jealousy, envy, pride, anger, or intolerance. To keep our own feelings pure and high, to retain the philosophical calm which is as necessary for right feeling as it is for right thinking, we must sternly tyle the Lodge against all this vast ocean of unnecessary excitement. Yet on the other hand we must take great care that we never fail in true sympathy. Our ears must ever be open to the appeals of suffering, even though we close them resolutely against the meaningless babble of those who pursue only their own ends. In this, as in so many other ways, the middle path of occultism is narrow as the edge of a razor, as we are told in the old Indian books; and we must watch ceaselessly lest on the one hand we are wrecked upon the Scylla of indifference or overwhelmed on the other in the confusion of Charybdis.

367. Even as regards our physical bodies there is the same reason for strict tyling of the Lodge. We do not despise or shun our fellow-creatures, though we do shun some of their undesirable haunts. No one who knows anything of the inner side of things will voluntarily approach such a centre of ghastly influence as a prize-ring, a butcher’s shop or a drinking saloon; anyone who has even to pass by such places in the course of his daily avocations should make a strong shell round himself that he may not draw into himself even the least trace of their psychic infection.

368. Again, there are many people who are unconscious vampires; without being in the least aware of it, they draw out vitality from those who are near them, so that if one sits and talks to such an one for a little while, one feels utterly exhausted and incapable of useful work. If such a person were helped by the strength which he draws from his healthier friends, one might at last regard it as an act of charity to allow him to deplete one; but the fact is that these unfortunate people are themselves incapable of retaining what they take, so that they gain nothing from the transaction, while their hapless victims lose health and strength. In approaching such cases, we shall do well to tyle the Lodge of our physical bodies by making a strong etheric shell round them, even while we radiate all love and kindly feeling upon the unfortunate vampire.

369. The constantly repeated charge to see that the Lodge is close tyled should bring to our minds a succession of useful warnings; and whenever we hear it we should remember to ask ourselves: “Is my heart full of the divine love, and have I kept it close tyled against all evil and foolish thought since last I heard these mystic words?”

370. So when this question comes now, just before the opening of the Lodge, it serves to remind us of the instant necessity of bringing ourselves into the right frame of mind for the wonderful piece of work which we are going to do.

371. The Egyptians taught that this phrase had yet another meaning, though one which scarcely concerns us. They understood the necessity of tyling the world as a whole. Our earth is surrounded by a gaseous atmosphere in which the lightest matter tends to find its way to the top. Hydrogen is the lightest, and what little of it there is in a free state gradually rises to the top of the atmosphere, and some of it escapes and becomes lost in space. That is one of the reasons why the older planets always have less hydrogen than the younger - it leaks away to a certain extent as the planet rushes along through space. That reduces the amount of water on the globe. Thus we find that Mars, which is older than the earth in proportion to its size, and is in a later period of its life, has slightly more land than water on its surface, while Jupiter and Saturn which are younger, not in actual age, but in proportion to their size, are almost entirely liquid. There is a great being called the Spirit of the Earth, who uses the earth as his physical body; he has made his own arrangements to prevent the too rapid escape of his hydrogen, and takes constant care to tyle his Lodge; but we of course have nothing to do with that.

372. In thinking of all these symbolical meanings, we must not forget the actual tyling of the Lodge in which we sit. There are several reasons for our extreme care in this matter. We want to keep the Lodge shut not merely to preserve our mysteries from the outer gaze, but because only so may we keep its influence pure and undisturbed. The thought-form that is about to be built is a thing very delicately balanced and carefully graduated, and is composed not only of the etheric substances of our material plane, but also of the still finer matter of the emotional and mental worlds. This thought-form is constructed for a definite purpose, and if outsiders, whose minds are working along different lines, were present, they would quite unintentionally cause a good deal of friction and destroy the balance and efficacy of the form. It is not that we consider ourselves to be superior to those other people, but that we are training ourselves to think along certain definite lines, and they as a rule arc not.

373. We must also keep prominently in our minds the obligation to preserve absolute secrecy in the outer world about our Masonic meetings and all that takes place at them. There unquestionably is a certain danger of inadvertence in these matters. None are likely even for a moment to contemplate the betrayal of any Masonic secret, nor to exhibit any lack of caution with regard to the w … s and s … s which we have solemnly sworn never to reveal, but in other matters there is sometimes incaution; for example, on one occasion I heard some Brn. discussing in a tramcar the excellent manner in which a certain J.D. performed his work in the Lodge. This is, of course, no betrayal of any of the secrets, but it contains an element of distinct danger, for it is so easily possible when speaking of the ceremony to make some reference from which an intelligent and inquisitive bystander might deduce more than he ought to know.

374. THE E.A. S … N

375. After it has been seen that the Lodge is close tyled, the next thing to be done is to see that all is right within - that all present are Freemasons. As a matter of fact we are already sure of that, for the members of a Lodge are well known to each other, and any stranger presenting himself is always carefully proved before he is admitted. But this is the formal proof appointed in the ritual, to make assurance doubly sure; so the R.W.M. calls his Lodge to order, and all adopt a certain attitude of attention with a s … p and s … n, both of which are highly symbolical, and have remained unchanged for a very long period. It should be distinctly understood that a man who joins Freemasonry does thereby take a step forward in evolution, and the fact that his identification as a Freemason begins with that s … p is a constant reminder and acknowledgment of that.

376. The l … f …, because it is nearest to the heart, symbolizes the intuition, while the r … f … is supposed to represent intellectual faculty. The meaning of the s … p is therefore obviously that in occult matters intuition always takes precedence over mere reasoning processes. The position adopted is intended to show that reason must always spring from the centre of right feeling.

377. Having thus indicated the method of our advancement, we proceed in Co-Masonry to give the Dieu-garde, a contraction of the French “Dieu vous garde,” which means “God keep you,” though in English it has been corrupted into due-guard. In addition to the thoughts suggested by the s … p, this shows us that we learn but to bless, for this position is that which the candidate adopted at the moment when he took his O. It indicates that the E.A., being himself but a beginner, has as yet neither the right nor the power to give any blessing but that which is prescribed in the V.S.L.; he may use only the words which are taught to him, for he is not yet in the position to be either a direct channel or a reservoir of the higher force.

378. Then follows a gesture which is at the same time a salutation to God and a declaration of power. The rest of the s … is commonly interpreted as a reminder of the p … y attached to any violation of the E.A.O.; and it is certain that the idea of that p … y has been associated with it from an early period in history, as may be seen by reference to the works of Dr. Albert Churchward. There is, however, yet another more occult meaning for that s … than the explanation usually given. Students of the inner side of man’s constitution and of Oriental occultism are aware that there are seven great force-centres (called in Sanskrit chakras) in the human body, and that in the course of occult progress all of them have to be opened, developed and made effective.

379. There are many methods of psychic development, some of which commence with the opening of one centre and some with another; but in the scheme advocated in ancient Egypt and continued in Freemasonry the centre indicated by that s … is taken first. So when the Freemason makes that movement he not only designates the opening up of that centre as the special work, from the occult point of view, of this degree, but he also commands the aid of the powers in nature connected with and controlled through that centre in whatever work he is about to undertake. The gestures and words taught in Freemasonry are not chosen at random; each has a definite meaning and a definite power in the world of the unseen, quite apart from its signification on the physical plane. Lodges in Europe usually know nothing whatever of all this; perhaps there may be some in Oriental countries which are better instructed.

380. The force-centres exist as points of connection at which energy flows from one vehicle or body of a man to another. Anyone who possesses a slight degree of clairvoyance may easily see them in the etheric double, where they show themselves as saucer-like depressions or vortices in its surface. When quite undeveloped they appear as small circles about two inches in diameter, glowing dully in the ordinary man; but when awakened and vivified they appear as blazing, coruscating saucers, much increased in size. We sometimes speak of them as roughly corresponding to certain physical organs; in reality they show themselves at the surface of the etheric double, which projects slightly beyond the outline of the dense body. If we imagine ourselves to be looking straight down into the bell of a flower of the convolvulus type, we shall get some idea of the general appearance of a chakra. The stalk of the flower in each case springs from a point in the spine, so another view might show the spine as a central stem, from which flowers shoot forth at intervals, showing the opening of their bells at the surface of the etheric body.

381. The seven centres with which we are at present concerned are indicated in the accompanying illustration. (Plate IX.) It will be seen that they are situated at: (1) the base of the spine; (2) the spleen; (3) the navel or solar plexus; (4) the heart; (5) the throat; (6) the space between the eyebrows; and (7) the top of the head. I have described them fully in The Inner Life; and I have also published a monograph on them, called The Chakras, with unique coloured illustrations.

382. There are several force-centres besides these, and there are schools of magic that use them; but the dangers connected with them are so serious that we should consider their awakening as the greatest misfortune. It is precisely in order to avoid the arousing of those lower centres that so much importance was attached in Egypt to the belt or girdle of the apron, and the etheric web which stretched across it.

383. When at all in action, these centres show signs of rapid rotation, and into each of their open mouths, at right angles to the surface of the body, there rushes a force from the higher world - one of those which

384. Plate IX

385.

386. T.G.A.O.T.U. is constantly pouring out through His system. That force is sevenfold in its nature, and all its forms operate in each of these centres, although one of them in each case greatly predominates over the others. Without this inrush of energy the physical body could not exist. Therefore the centres are in operation in every one, although in the undeveloped person they are usually in comparatively sluggish motion, just forming the necessary vortex for the force, and no more. On the other hand, they may be glowing and pulsating with living light, so that an enormously greater amount of force passes through them, with the result that there are additional faculties and possibilities open to the man.

387. This divine energy which rushes into each centre from without sets up at right angles to itself, that is to say, in the surface of the etheric double, secondary forces in undulatory circular motion, just as a bar magnet thrust into an induction coil produces a current of electricity which flows round the coil at right angles to the axis or direction of the magnet. The primary force itself, having entered the vortex, radiates from it again at right angles, but in straight lines, as though the centre of the vortex were the hub of a wheel, and the radiations of the primary force its spokes. The number of these spokes differs in the different force-centres, and determines the number of waves or petals which each of them exhibits. Because of this these force-centres have often been poetically described in Oriental books as resembling flowers.

388. Each of the secondary forces which sweep round the saucer-like depression has its own characteristic wave-length, just as has light of a certain colour; but instead of moving in a straight line as light does, it moves along relatively large undulations of various sizes, each of which is some multiple of the smaller wave-lengths within it. The number of undulations is determined by the number of spokes in the wheel, and the secondary force weaves itself under and over the radiating currents of the primary force, just as basket work might be woven round the spokes of a carriage wheel. The wavelengths are infinitesimal, and probably thousands of them are included within one of the undulations. As the forces rush round in the vortex, these oscillations of different sizes, crossing one another in this basketwork fashion, produce the flower-like form to which I have referred. It is, perhaps, still more like the appearance of certain saucers or shallow vases of wavy iridescent glass, such as are made in Venice. All of these undulations or petals have that shimmering iridescent effect, like mother-of-pearl, yet each of them has usually its own predominant colour.

389. In the vivification of the particular centre with which this degree of E.A. is principally concerned, three factors are important. When the centre in the emotional body which corresponds to this is awakened, it gives to the man the power of hearing in the subtle world at that level - that is, it causes a development of that sense which, in what is usually called the astral world, produces on our consciousness the effect which on the physical plane we call hearing. So, if the etheric centre were fully working, the E.A. would be clairaudient as far as the etheric and astral planes. Its slow and partial unfoldment gradually tends to dissipate prejudice in the man, to open his mind to suggestions and, generally speaking, to widen and liberalize his thought.

390. Secondly, the development of the brain largely depends upon the opening up of this centre, because it plays an important part in the division and distribution of one of the main streams of vitality which course through the human body. I have already explained the detail of this action in The Chakras and The Hidden Side of Things, to which I must refer any reader who desires further information on the subject of vital circulation.

391. Thirdly, another important action of this centre deserves our notice, as the especial object of the first Degree is the conquest of the passions of the physical body and the development of morality. Among the various kinds of vitality is an orange-red ray, which contains also a certain amount of dark purple. In the normal man this ray energizes the desires of the flesh, and also seems to enter the blood and keep up the heat of the body; but if a man persistently refuses to yield to his lower nature, this ray can by long and determined effort be deflected upwards to the brain, where all three of its constituents undergo a remarkable modification. The orange is raised into pure yellow, and produces a decided intensification of the powers of the intellect; the dark red becomes crimson and gradually increases the power of unselfish affection; while the dark purple is transmuted into a lovely pale violet, and quickens the spiritual part of man’s nature. The man who achieves this transmutation will find that lower desires no longer trouble him; and it is with that consummation in view that the development of the centre in which those modifications and transmutations are achieved is so strongly emphasized in the preliminary stages of Freemasonry.

392. The unfoldment of this centre is closely associated with the power of paying attention, as well as with the opening of higher forms of hearing. In all occult systems of training great importance was attached to this in the case of the neophyte. In the school of Pythagoras the pupils were kept for several years in the order called Akoustikoi or Hearers; in the mysteries of Mithra the lowest order was that of the Ravens - a name which signifies that they were allowed only to repeat that which they had heard, precisely as a raven or a parrot does; for in all these ancient systems students were strictly forbidden to launch out upon the perilous waters of originality until they were thoroughly grounded in the established principles of philosophy. The s … also evokes or calls to the assistance of the man who uses it a particular class of non-human intelligences of the subtle world.

393. In view of the great influence of this s … of power, all will see the necessity that it should be preserved with the greatest care and secrecy. If it is made wrongly, not in exact form and at the proper place, the effect will be lost. In these matters we are working what is commonly called magic; and that is a dangerous thing to play with and should be taken up only with the greatest seriousness of purpose and precision in work.

394. If a member should make this s … carelessly and without thinking what ho is doing, he opens himself up to influences of which he is unaware, for which be is unprepared; and things may happen which should not happen. It is this idea which is at the basis of the grossly exaggerated and misleading statement that a man who takes the Holy Sacrament in the Church, while permitting his mind to be full of evil, really eats and drinks damnation to himself. The man who receives the Holy Communion becomes a very high centre of radiating force, and is also made receptive to the highest degree; let him be sure therefore to eliminate evil thoughts, lest such thoughts may draw into him other influences like unto themselves. It is the same with the Masonic s …. He who performs it as a salutation to another opens up his heart towards that person, and that is good; but all should be on guard lest they carelessly open themselves to unpleasant influences which might otherwise have passed them by.

395. When made thus at the opening of our Lodge, this s … reminds us that we must put ourselves in a receptive attitude, so that we may obtain the greatest possible benefit from the influx of spiritual force which we are about to invoke.

396. THE OFFICERS

397. Having thus done our best to prepare our selves for the work of the evening (a) by the purifying of the Lodge-room by means of the censing, (b) by closing our hearts and minds against all distracting thoughts and feelings, and (c) by putting ourselves in a receptive attitude, we now proceed to set in motion the marvellously arranged Masonic machinery by which we can invoke the assistance of non-human beings in our altruistic labours. The method by which this is done is exceedingly ingenious and most skilfully concealed. Man is a complex being, and the rough division into body and soul is not sufficient for scientific working. For the purposes of his evolution he exists upon five of the seven planes of nature, and has sheaths or bodies built of the matter of the lower of those planes, and principles or constituents within himself which correspond to the higher. This will be made clearer by Fig. 13, and its accompanying diagram.

398. Therefore for our work we need forces of all these different levels, and each officer of a Masonic Lodge has, besides his duties on the physical plane, the function of representing one of these levels, and acting as a focus for its special energies. The arrangement made by the Founders of Freemasonry is that the enumeration of the officials and the recitation of their positions and duties shall act as an evocation of the devas or Angels belonging to and working on those respective levels. The fact that thousands of R.W.M.s have asked the appointed questions without the faintest idea of producing an effect in unseen worlds has not deprived them of angelic assistance which, if they had known of it, would have astounded them beyond expression, and probably even terrified them.

399. So the spirit turns again to the intelligence, and calls on it to formulate the great divisions; intelligence responds and names the three lines through which the force flows, thereby attracting the attention of the Angels of those lines. To symbolize that, the R.W.M. asks how many principal officers there are in the Lodge, and receives the answer that there are three. These are the R.W.M., the W.S.W., and the W.J.W., who represent the divine or spiritual trinity which appears in the Deity, and also in man, who is made in the image of that Deity. These three principles in man are familiar to many students of Theosophical psychology under the names of atma, buddhi and manas, which may be rendered into English as the spiritual will, the intuitional love and the higher intelligence.

400. Then the R.W.M. asks how many assistant officers there are, and is told that these are likewise three, not including the O.G. or. T. These represent the personal constitution of man or his lower self-composed of the lower mind, which the S.D. represents, the emotional nature, personified by the J.D., and the etheric double of the physical body, for which the I.G. stands. The T. represents the dense part of the physical body.

401. The porchway of the Lodge is the entrance to the inner world which is invisible to ordinary sight. Therefore the T., who typifies the denser part of the physical body, is the only officer of the Lodge who stands outside it, visible to the sight of the profane. All the other six principles of the human constitution are beyond physical sight, which deals with only one grade of the matter of the world, and that the lowest and densest. Those principles exist on distinct planes of nature, of ascending degrees of subtlety or fineness of matter.

402. Fig. 13 and the diagram connected with it show the seven principles in man, the planes of nature on which they exist, and the corresponding officers in the Masonic Lodge.

403. The upper triangle, containing the first, second and third principles, represents the ego or higher self in man, commonly called the soul, who in the course of his long pilgrimage or evolution towards human perfection, takes many incarnations, each of which is called a personality. The lower triangle is a reflection of that higher one in the matter of the lower planes, and it forms with the dense physical body the lower quaternary, which constitutes the personality, and lasts through one incarnation. The evolution of man is really the development of the ego or higher self, but in most people at the present stage of human progress that ego may be described as still in his infancy; he has not yet fully awakened to the positive and purposeful life of a man on his own planes, nor has

404. Figure 13

405.

406. he realized what can be learnt through incarnation in the lower planes. In course of time and many incarnations the three higher principles gradually unfold themselves, and the man realizes more and more of the divinity which is truly his. Though the principal object of Freemasonry is the collection and distribution of spiritual force for others, it is also deeply concerned with the welfare and progress of the Brn., so its ritual and its teaching clearly indicate the path which man should tread, and offer him the most valuable help as he passes along it.

407. THE DUTIES

408. The list of situations and duties is then rehearsed. It is commonly supposed that the object of this enumeration is to make sure that the facts are thoroughly known to all the Brn., and that all the officials are duly present. It has in reality another and far more important function, as I have explained.

409. Several interesting points of symbolism are brought out in the apparently curious answers which are given with respect to the duties attached to the various offices. The physical body should protect the lodge of a man’s soul from the dangers of the outer world, from temptations or evil influences. The T. is ordered to keep out all cowans and intruders to Freemasonry, and when we recollect that the word “cowan” is simply the Greek kuon, a dog, and that from time immemorial the dog has been used as a symbol of violent animal passions, we shall readily comprehend what the work and office of the T. are intended to typify.

410. The etheric double, in the person of the I. G., also joins to defend the Lodge, and is especially under the command of the higher mind or intelligence, the W.J.W., who is concerned with testing all who seek to enter; which shows that it is the duty of the intelligence to discriminate, and to decide what thought or emotion shall receive lodgment within the temple of man. The R.W.M. communicates with the T. only through the W.J.W. and the I.G., which signifies that spirit does not act directly on dense matter, but through his intelligence impresses himself upon etheric matter; though when he has once sent out his enquiry, the mind may instruct the etheric double to report directly to the R.W.M. on the particular subject. To typify this, in many Lodges it is the custom that the W.J.W., in passing on his command, should say, “Bro. I.G., you will see who seeks admission, and report to the R.W.M.”

411. The reflection of the upper triangle in the lower takes place point for point, and there is therefore a sympathetic relation between principles 2 and 5, as well as between 3 and 4, and between 1 and 6. It is with the aid of the emotions, by their purification and development, that the man unfolds principle 2, the intuitional love, so that it is brought into activity in his life. And it is with the aid of the mind that he casts off the five fetters to further progress (namely, the delusion that his personal self is the real self, doubt about the reality of spiritual things, superstition, and unreasoning likes and dislikes) and so enables the spiritual will to express itself in his life. About these stages, and the great Initiations that accompany them, I have written in full in The Masters and the Path. They are mentioned here to show why it is that the J.D. acts between the W.S.W. and the W.J.W. and the S.D. acts between the R.W.M. and the W.S.W. They explain also why it is that the W.J.W. takes charge of the E.A.s, and the W.S.W. of the F.C.s, while the M.M.s may be considered to be under the immediate charge of the R.W.M. As the open Lodge is a place where the Brn. are symbolically undergoing the advanced course of evolution before mentioned, the officers who represent the principles in man must show those principles acting in relation to one another as they do in man in the course of that evolution.

412. The Third Aspect of the Divine Being is typified by the W.J.W. when he directs the passage from the labour of evolution to the refreshment of periodic rest; while it is the Second Aspect which is symbolized by the W.S.W. when he closes the Lodge at the R.W.M.’s command, because when the Second Aspect of Deity withdraws from the forms that He has made, everything is resolved into its primal elements and the universe as such ceases to exist, and so the Lodge of the solar system is for the time closed. This is what is called among the Hindus the end of the manvantara and the beginning of the pralaya.

413. It is not implied that the officials who happen to hold the positions representing the principles in man in any given Lodge are necessarily able to function upon the planes to which they correspond; but it is to be understood that not only the nature-spirits, but also the strange half-conscious creatures which we have called elementals, existing on the downward arc of evolution on each of these levels, will and do respond to the invocation which is employed in this closely condensed formula of opening. The enumeration of the officials in answer to the earlier questions of the R.W.M. is in the nature of a call to attention - a call which reverberates through these different kingdoms of nature - and lets devas, nature-spirits and elementals know that an opportunity is about to be offered to them. For that, remember, is the way in which these creatures at all levels look upon such a call. It is one of the chief methods of their evolution to be used in work such as this, and they therefore greatly rejoice to respond.

414. That general enumeration by the W.s is quickly followed by the specific questions addressed to each of the officers; and of these the first enquiry as to their situation in the Lodge sets the machinery in motion, acts as a call to a deva of the particular type required, who immediately presents himself and acts as a captain of the nature-spirits and elementals who next gather round. The second question and answer in each case, as to the special duty of the officers in question, brings round him these myrmidons of his, and he influences them to arrange themselves as required. For example, when the J.D. is mentioned a thrill shoots out through the astral levels, and when he is asked what is his situation in the Lodge, a deva, having for his lowest vehicle a body of astral matter (what is called in Buddhism a kamadeva), at once steps forward and takes up his position above the head of the J.D. At the same time the attention of a number of nature-spirits wearing bodies of astral matter is aroused, and also a great mass of the elemental essence belonging to the third of the great elemental kingdoms is awakened into activity. Then when the question as to the duties is asked, the deva captain draws round him those astral myrmidons, and arranges them as he needs them, and at the same time seizes upon the floating mass of elemental essence and welds it into thought-forms such as he requires to carry out the work that has to be done.

415. In exactly the same way the S.D. is represented by a deva captain whose lowest vehicle is built of the matter of the lower sub-planes of the mental plane (a rupadeva), and lie employs nature-spirits and elemental essence at his own level. It will be noticed that in each case not only the actual situation and duty of the official are defined, but also his relation to other officials, his part in the work as a whole. The deva captains corresponding to the three principal officers are all what are called in the East arupadevas, and they possess the consciousness and wield the forces of the planes which they respectively represent. It is not easy for us to understand the working of forces at such levels, as they act upon the corresponding principles in man, and those principles are only slightly developed as yet in the majority of human beings.

416. By the time, therefore, that the last of the list of questions and answers has been exchanged, the whole Lodge is pulsating with elemental life, all of which is filled with the most intense eagerness to launch itself upon the work in hand, whatever that may be. The elementals and nature-spirits of the different levels vary greatly in development and intelligence, some being fully defined and exceedingly active, whereas others are comparatively vague and cloud-like. But a very striking appearance is presented by the Lodge when these various groups of beings are gathered together, each group showing its distinctive colour and floating over the head of the official who is its physical plane representative - all this taking place while the Lodge is still in semi-darkness, lit only by the three candles and the sacred fire. It is to this condition that the R.W.M. refers (whether he knows it or not) when he says: “Our Lodge being thus duly formed.”

417. In the case of the lower officers, at any rate, it requires but a slight development of clairvoyance to see these creatures floating in their appointed places, each group making a sort of luminous sphere or cloud. (See Plate X.) This cloud is violet-grey in the case of the I. G., crimson for the J.D. and yellow for the S.D. It is not so easy to define the hues of the three principal officers, for each of them seems to carry something of all possible colours; but it may perhaps be said that a golden hue predominates in the W.J.W.’s sphere, and a strong electric blue in that of the W.S.W. The R.W.M’s light-globe is the brightest of all, glowing equally with rose, gold, blue and green, each of which flashes out into prominence at certain points of the ceremony. It is through these deva representatives of the various officers that the building of the thought-form and the outpouring of the force is really done; but on the physical plane the officer of the Lodge should also participate in the work to the extent of his power. If he reaches upward to his deva representative, and allows the force to flow freely through him, blending his will with it as it flows, his higher principles will become one with that deva; and he will not only be an excellent channel for the divine force, but will himself be greatly helped and strengthened in the doing of the work.

418. THE OPENING

419. The deva-representative of the R.W.M. is a highly developed and very capable seventh-ray Angel, and the moment that he arrives with his cohort of assistant-angels and elementals he takes full charge of the whole of the proceedings. The captains of all the other little groups spring to attention, and everything is at once made ready for the supreme moment of the opening of the Lodge. The R.W.M., having declared that his Lodge is duly formed and that he stands there as its head and representative, turns to express his gratitude to T.G.A.O.T.U. for this, and then offers up an earnest wish that the work of the evening, having thus begun in order, may be continued in harmony and closed in peace. To this his whole Lodge replies with a ringing response, like the cheer of an army: “So mote it be.” “Mote” is an old Anglo-Saxon form of “may”, and this expression is the Masonic “Amen”. But just as “Amen” is often interpreted “so may it be”, so is this splendid Masonic expression often degraded to the level of a mere assent or pious wish. And again, just as “Amen” is not a wish but an assertion - the most sacred oath of ancient Egypt, which none would ever dare to break – “By Amen it shall be so” - so is this Masonic exclamation to be taken as the strongest affirmation – “so shall it be”. Not: “We pray or we hope that it may be so”, but “We shall make it so”. This is shown by the emphatic outstretching of the right hand at the level of the shoulder, this being a well-known sign of power and command.

420. Immediately after this the R.W.M., acting in the name of T.G.A.O.T.U., declares the Lodge duly open, and all the lights are turned fully on. It is not only the physical light which leaps forth at this moment, for as the R.W.M. says the opening words his deva-representative also lifts his staff, and all the seven groups of assistant spirits, which until now have been seen even by clairvoyant sight as merely luminous clouds, flash out into their full brilliancy and their natural beauty of colour. At once also each group is connected by a line of living light with the physical official over which it hovers, and through this line its force is poured down upon him whenever he is called upon to take part in the ceremony. The deva representative usually remains floating above the regular situation of the official, but as the latter moves about the Lodge in the course of his work the line of light never leaves him for a moment, though it becomes more vivid during his activity.

421. Just before the Lodge is opened, the I.P.M. is escorted by the two D.s with crossed wands to the altar, where he kneels and awaits the exact moment of opening. As the R.W.M. utters the word “open” the I.P.M. opens the V.S.L., and arranges upon its pages the s … and the c … thus displaying what we esteem the three great emblematical lights in Freemasonry simultaneously with the physical illumination. It is the I.P.M. who thus brings the symbolical light to the Lodge, just as it was he who gave the physical light from the sacred fire to the S. D., because he represents the Silent Watcher, the influence which sees that everything is correctly done and stands ready always to supply anything that is needed. He has reached the Light in its fullest sense; he has done his work and is therefore in a position to help others. It should be specially noted that he should open the sacred volume at random, not searching for any particular passage; it is the whole book that is given to us to illumine our minds, not only this verse or that. It will be found most convenient to open it somewhere about the middle.

422. To show that the sacred volume is here being used as a symbol, the I.P.M, solemnly recites the ancient formula quoted by St John the Evangelist at the beginning of his Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” We all know that the Greek translated in this text as “word” is in the original “Logos”; and so the opening of the V.S.L. typifies the manifestation of the Logos at the beginning of a solar system, while the c … s and the s … show further that He manifests Himself as spirit and matter; for there is nothing which is not God. To indicate that the Second Person or Aspect of the Logos is about to descend into His universe, the column of the W.S.W. is now erected, and that of the W.J.W. is laid down. The brooding of the Holy Spirit over the waters of chaos is now no longer the only divine activity; the groundwork is laid, and the active life of the system is to begin. The tracing-board which indicates the plan of its activity is now exposed, and the nature of that activity is indicated by the fact that we commence it with a hymn of praise to T.G.A.O.T.U., during the singing of which the Brn. should pour out all the love and devotion of which they are capable.

423. In those Lodges which use a portrait of the H.O.A.T.F. it is just before the singing of this hymn that that portrait is unveiled, all the Brn. turning towards it and saluting. In instant response to this salutation the great Adept projects a thought-form which is an exact image of Himself; just as at a higher level the Lord Christ projects that thought-form which is called the Angel of the Presence at every celebration of the Holy Eucharist. So fully is this thought-form a part of the H.O.A.T.F. that the Lodge has the benefit of His presence and His blessing just as though He stood there in physical form. The Deva representative of the R.W.M. bows low before the Head of his Ray, and leaves the direction of affairs in His hands. It will be seen that those of us who know of the existence of this great Adept, and of His keen interest in our work, have a great advantage; but it must not be forgotten that every regularly constituted Masonic Lodge is in charge of a Seventh Ray Angel, however little the Brn. may know about the matter.

424. I have explained how at the moment of the opening of the Lodge all the assistant angels, nature-spirits and elemental creatures and their deva captains flash out into brilliancy, and stand round ready to spring forward at the word of command. To say that they are ready is far from expressing the fact; they are overflowing with eagerness, like dogs straining at a leash. And now comes the moment for which they have been waiting, for immediately after the return of the I.P.M. to his seat and the display of the tracing-board by the S.D. comes the opening hymn, with the first note of which the super-physical entities burst into tumultuous yet ordered activity. The hymn itself, or rather the devotion and enthusiasm with which we sing it, provides them with the material for their building, and immediately they are all working away at its erection, each at his own level, and with the materials belonging to that level with which the Brn. supply him.

425. In the opening procession the R.W.M. and his officers have already constructed the lower part of the cella, or interior chamber of the temple, shutting in the whole of the mosaic pavement and charging it heavily with magnetism. These creatures pounce upon that first of all and rapidly make its walls both thicker and higher, the greater ones reinforcing its magnetism by filling it with the splendid power of their respective levels. Again with lightning-like rapidity they spread a ceiling over the whole of the Lodge, and from that ceiling, beginning at the edges, just within the walls of the physical Lodge, they drop supporting columns from above downwards like the roots of a banyan-tree, one of them surrounding each of the non-official Brn. It will thus be seen that our thought-form is very nearly a reproduction of a Greek temple-the rows of columns which support its tremendously heavy roof being outside the central chamber, which is the only part of the temple fully enclosed. The accompanying picture may help to make this clear, and we give at the same time in Plate V a drawing of an existing Greek temple for the sake of comparison. The mere outline of the temple is always finished during the singing of the opening hymn, but in certain circumstances friezes and other decorations may be added later on under the direction of the controlling Angel.

426. It will thus be seen why the unofficial Brn. who sit at the sides of the Lodge are sometimes spoken of as the columns; and some light is also thrown on an ancient text which runs: “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out.” Incidentally, we see how necessary it is that the Brn. should put their hearts and souls into the words that they sing or say, for upon their efforts in this direction depends the amount of material provided for our super-physical fellow-workers, and consequently the massiveness and richness of the thought-form which they build. All through the ceremony that follows, whatever it may be, the deva representatives of the three principal officers continue to pour into the cella their beneficent influence; and though its strongest force is reserved for those who enter upon the mosaic pavement as candidates, it also somehow filters through the roof and down the columns upon all who are present.

427. THE E.A. K … s

428. At the moment of opening the Lodge the R.W.M. also gives the E.A. K … s.

429. K … s in Freemasonry have a double significance and a very definite use. The latter is based on the fact that they are a recognized method of communication with certain orders of earth-spirits whose attention is attracted by them, whose eager service is at once at the disposal of those who are duly qualified to summon them, though they will take no notice of a call from one who has not been properly introduced to them by initiation into the E.A. degree. Their main use in the ceremony is to create an atmosphere - the atmosphere appropriate to the degree which is being worked; and in that special work they become extraordinarily proficient, answering instantly to the call of the k … s with military promptness and precision, so that even when the Lodge is being raised or lowered by the short method they are able to produce the required changes as quickly as the commands can be issued.

430. This generation of the proper atmosphere is one of the most important special features of Freemasonry, indispensable to really efficient working. Any one who is at all sensitive to such influences may feel the change which takes place when we pass from one degree to another, but only those who have opened the sight of the soul can see the variations of colour, or watch the busy workers who are so energetic in producing them. The Deva captains of the three principal officers take charge of this important part of the work - the W.J.W. of the servants of the First Degree, the W.S.W. of those of the Second, and the R.W.M. of those of the Third; but the earth-spirits themselves obey the call of the k … s, appearing at the first round and unobtrusively returning to their normal haunts when another battery announces that their work is done. The k … s of the closing correspond to the “Ite, missa est” of the Catholic Church. It may be noted that similar creatures are fond of announcing their presence by k … s at a spiritualistic seance.

431. The k … s of the First Degree have also a moral significance, indicating that the E.A. has three planes in front of him to conquer, the physical body with its impulses coming from the past, the astral with its strong desires and emotions, and the mental with its curiosity and waywardness. With each of these every man in the course of his evolution has a twofold work to do first he must conquer it, govern its impulses and bring them into a state of obedience to the soul within, and secondly he must develop it as a positive, well-trained, useful instrument for his service.

432. The E.A. is supposed to have conquered the physical body before entering into Masonry - without that he could not be well and worthily recommended for admission - but he has still to develop it; and while he is doing that be is supposed to be gaining complete control of his astral nature; that is the special work of this degree as far as self-development is concerned, though of course the Mason is trying to perfect himself in every way all the time. The k … s of the Second Degree indicate that the physical work is complete, and that the F.C. has still two planes to conquer. He is engaged in making his astral body into a perfect instrument for the expression of high emotion, and is at the same time learning to gain control of his mind. In this stage a Mason should be making every day some advances in Masonic knowledge, till presently the mind will no longer be wayward and fickle, but controlled. At this point he will pass on to the Third Degree, and then the k … s indicate that he has but one plane to conquer, has but to perfect the mind as an instrument in the service of the higher self. This work will go on for as many years as are necessary before he passes through the Chair.

433. From the above it will be seen that there are four stages in Craft Masonry - three degrees and then a further attainment when the M.M. becomes an I.M. There is a similarity between these stages and those which have been prescribed in the Christian Church, although one is at a much higher level than the other. This is shown in the following diagram:

434. Diagram X

435.

436. In the Church certain people are set apart as priests - but they have to pass through the earlier stages before reaching that position. First the man must be a subdeacon; his business then is to prepare himself for the great surgical operation which takes place at the diaconate, when he is definitely joined with the World-Teacher, in a way which has been fully explained in The Science of the Sacraments.

437. In the stage of the subdiaconate, which corresponds somewhat to the E.A., the man is supposed to learn to control himself perfectly. In the next grade, during the time of the diaconate, he has to learn; he is preparing himself for the work of the priesthood, just as the F.C. is preparing himself for the work of the M.M.

438. As I have said in speaking of the due-guard, the power of blessing of the E.A. is contained within the book from which he learns. He may use only the words of the book, and must not go beyond them. He is not himself yet a direct channel for the divine power, so he puts the book between his hands. But the F.C. puts one h … on the b … and raises the other in the f … of a s … He corresponds to the deacon, because he is a channel linked with the Christ, but only that which comes down and pours through him may he give. He is not yet himself filled with grace and power, but he is able to act as a channel. His holding of the l … h … in that way corresponds, though at a lower stage, with the bishop’s holding his crosier in the left .hand. He is drawing down divine power through that highly magnetized staff, while he is pouring it out on the people with the other hand. It is the same gesture, though of course in the case of the bishop it is far more highly specialized.

439. Then the M.M. puts both his h … on the b … He is supposed when he has attained that high degree to be in a position of power, to be filled with the energy which has been poured into him in the symbolical death and rising again. Therefore he can give that energy; he may give a blessing to other people just as a priest does, and as the priest has authority to administer certain sacraments, so is the M.M. qualified to accept office in the Lodge.

440. Still, neither the M.M. nor the priest can convey his power or authority to anyone else. The bishop alone has power to ordain priests or to consecrate other bishops, and only the I.M. is able to initiate, pass and raise Masons, and to create other I.M.s. Both the bishop and the I.M. have also the power to give a fuller blessing than the priest or the M.M. can bestow. Thus there is a succession of I.M.s in Masonry, just as there is a succession of bishops in the Church.

441. In The Science of the Sacraments I have explained something of the inner meaning of the apostolic succession, the method designed by the Christ for handing down the spiritual powers of the Catholic Church. It will be seen that we have a similar succession in Masonry, extending back to the priests of the Mysteries of ancient Egypt, and beyond.

442. There is a further analogy between the degrees of Freemasonry and the orders of the Church, for just as the clergy of the Church are linked in various degrees of connection with the Head of the Church, the Lord Christ Himself, and with the reservoir of power which He has set apart for the celebration of the sacraments, so are the initiates of the various degrees in Freemasonry linked according to their rank with the H.O.A.T.F., and with the reservoir of power set apart for the work of the Craft. Every Freemason has a certain touch with Him; but the first great link directly with Him is given in the degree of I.M. (for it is practically a separate degree, although it is not called so), and closer links still are conferred in the higher degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite; so that the earnest Mason becomes a veritable outpost of His consciousness, a channel of His power and a minister of His will. Such Brn. act as His representatives in their Lodges and Chapters, and have the right to give His blessing according to their Masonic rank. It is a matter of deep regret that so few of our modern Brn. realize in the least the sacredness of their office, and the heavy responsibility laid upon them to use their power without thought of self in the service of the world.

443. There are, however, considerable differences between the methods of transmission in these two great sacramental systems. It is recognized in Catholic theology, and confirmed by occult investigation, that the spiritual powers given at ordination are invariably conferred, provided only that the bishop be in the line of the apostolic succession, that he have the intention to confer Holy Orders and that the recipient have the intention to receive them, and that the laying on of hands take place according to the ancient tradition. The particular beliefs of the bishop and the candidate do not affect the validity of the sacrament in the slightest degree, nor will it be withheld if they are out of communion with any particular branch of the Church, or even if they are persons of questionable moral worth.* (*See notes to page 25.) The Lord Christ out of His great love for His Church is willing to overlook the human frailties of the minister, so that His flock may be fed.

444. But the transmission of power in Masonry seems to he by no means so unalterably fixed, probably because of the fact that Masonry is a secret Order and is not therefore in direct relation with the outer world; the whole scheme of transmittal is much more elastic than that of the Church. Although it would appear that the succession both of I.M.s and Sovereign Grand Inspectors-General has been to a large extent handed down on the physical plane, it is by no means necessary that it should be so handed down, and the sacramental powers may be introduced or withheld as the H.O.A.T.F. sees fit. When a clandestine meeting is held, even though a duly qualified I.M. be present, the inner recognition is not given, and the powers are not conveyed. Two such cases of the withholding of inner recognition are within my personal experience. In the Church a priest can anywhere and by himself perform a sacrament, and a bishop can also pass on his power at his own discretion,