The All-Seeing Eye

From Albert G. Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, this installment of Symbols & Symbolism presents his exploration of the All-Seeing Eye. Note, some links have been added as reference to the original quoted sources.

Look for future installments on Symbols & Symbolism here, and on YouTube.

all-seeing_eye

An important symbol of the Supreme Being, borrowed by the Freemasons from the nations of antiquity. Both the Hebrews and the Egyptians appear to have derived its use from that natural inclination of figurative minds to select an organ as the symbol of the function which it is intended peculiarly to discharge. Thus, the foot was often adopted as the symbol of swiftness, the arm of strength, and the hand of fidelity. On the same principle, the open eye was selected as the symbol of watchfulness, and the eye of God as the symbol of Divine watchfulness and care of the universe. The use of the symbol in this sense is repeatedly to be found in the Hebrew writers. Thus, the Psalmist says

The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry (Palms 34:15),

which explains a subsequent passage (Psalms 121.4), in which it is said:

Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

In the Apocryphal Book of the Conversation of God with Moses on Mount Sinai, translated by the Rev. W. Cureton from an Arabic MS of the fifteenth century, and published by the Philobiblon Society of London, the idea of the eternal watchfulness of God is thus beautifully allegorized:

Then Moses said to the Lord 0 Lord dost thou sleep or not? The Lord said unto Moses, I never sleep: but take a cup and fill it with water. Then Moses took a cup and filled it with water, as the Lord commanded him. Then the Lord cast into the heart of Moses the breath of slumber; so he slept, and the cup fell from his hand, and the water which was therein was spilled. Then Moses awoke from his sleep. Then said God to Moses, I declare by my power, and by my glory, that if I were to withdraw my providence from the heavens and the earth, for no longer a space of time than thou hast slept, they would at once fall to ruin and confusion, like as the cup fell from thy hand.

all seeing eye small

On the same principle, the Egyptians represented Osiris, their chief deity, by the symbol of an open eye, and placed this hieroglyphic of him in all their temples. His symbolic name, on the monuments, was represented by the eye accompanying a throne, to which was sometimes added an abbreviated figure of the god, and sometimes what has been called a hatchet, but which may as correctly be supposed to be a representation of a square.

The All-Seeing Eye may then be considered as a symbol of God manifested in his omnipresence-his guardian and preserving character – to which Solomon alludes in the Book of Proverbs, 15.3, when he says:

The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding (or, as in the Revised Version, keeping watch upon) the evil and the good.

It is a symbol of the Omnipresent Deity.

Read more on the All Seeing Eye as Omnipresent Deity

the broken column

The Broken Column in Freemasonry

From Albert G. Mackey and his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, this installment of Symbols & Symbolism presents his exploration of the Broken Column. Note, some links have been added as reference to the original quoted sources.

Look for future installments on Symbols & Symbolism here, and on YouTube.

The Broken Column

time, virgin, broken pillar, art, illustration
Time, the weeping virgin and the broken column

Among the Hebrews, columns, or pillars, were used metaphorically to signify princes or nobles, as if they were the pillars of a state . Thus, in Psalm 11:3, the passage, reading in our translation: If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? is, in the original, when the columns are overthrown, I.E..: when the firm supporters of what is right and good have perished.

So the passage in Isaiah 19:10 should read: her (Egypt’s) columns are broken down*, that is, the nobles of her state.

In Freemasonry, the broken column is, as Master Masons well know, the emblem of the fall of one of the chief supporters of the Craft. The use of the column or pillar as a monument erected over a tomb was a very ancient custom, and was a very significant symbol of the character and spirit of the person interred. It is accredited to Jeremy L. Cross (from the Masonic Chart) that he first introduced the Broken Column into the ritual, but this may not be true.


* This passage in Isaiah 19:10 reads: And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish. (KJV)

Statesman, postmaster, Freemason: Ben Franklin.

Illustrious Brother Ben Franklin and Freemasonry

Statesman, postmaster, Freemason: Ben Franklin.
Ben fKranklin in Paris

Ben Franklin has long stood as one of the patriarchs of American Freemasonry. As one of the most prominent Founding Fathers, today Franklin is known for little more than the face on the $100 dollar bill. Yet, the history of the man behind such an honor is rich with industriousness, inventiveness and political genius such that he is perhaps one of a few who could be considered a modern day Renaissance man, both in and out of the fraternity.

Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 in Boston, MA (as calculated by the new style – Gregorian calendar dating). His intelligence and wisdom helped him excel as an author, scientist, philosopher, statesman, and postmaster. As well known as Ben Franklin is as a Founding Father of the United States, he is also known as an illustrious Freemason.

No one can be sure of exactly when Benjamin Franklin was initiated into St. Johns’ Lodge, but it was some time during the year 1730 or 31, most likely during the February meeting[1] of St. John’s Lodge in Philadelphia. Before his initiation into the Freemason brotherhood, Benjamin Franklin made some lighthearted jokes about fraternity in his publication, the Pennsylvania Gazette. One source says that his joking was to:

“advertise” himself to St.  John’s Lodge so that when he applied he would not be regarded as a stranger.[2]

After being initiated, however, Franklin’s writing in the Gazette changed because of his Masonic influences. Thereafter he published many positive and affirming stories in the Gazette about the craft. These publications have become the core for understanding the history of Freemasons in the United States, especially in Pennsylvania.

Franklin was in no way a simple and ordinary member of the Masonic lodge. He was appointed as the Junior Grand Warden of the Provincial Grand Lodge in Pennsylvania in the year 1732 and as the Grand Master on June 24, 1734.* In 1734, he also printed the first Masonic book in the United States. His Mason Book was the publication of Anderson’s Constitutions.[3] Franklin was quickly elected as secretary of St. Johns’ Lodge, and he held the position from 1735 until 1738. Franklin continued to be an active member of the fraternity, and he continued to be elected and appointed for many positions. In March of 1752, Benjamin Franklins was put onto a committee for the first Masonic building in the United States. The lodge was to be in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

ben franklin and his beaver skin hat

Benjamin Franklin was not only involved in Freemasonry in the United States; he also traveled abroad to take part in meetings and lodges which came about in his diplomatic missions to Europe. In November of 1760 he was entered upon the Minutes as the Provincial Grand Master during the Grand Lodge of England’s meeting in Crown & Anchor, London, a position he was elected into in June of 1760.[4] In April of 1778 he was in Paris to assist with the initiation of Voltaire into the Lodge of Nine Sisters. He continued to be affiliated with the Lodge of Nine Sisters for years through the funeral services for Voltaire and as master of the Lodge for two years. Voltaire had such affection for Franklin that it was written:

The aged Voltaire who in the last year of his life came in triumph to Paris grappled Franklin to himself as with hooks of steel. He placed his withered hands in benediction on the head of Franklin’s grandson as if to confer the philosophy and inspiration of the epoch on the third generation. The two great thinkers were taken together to the theater and at the close of the play were called upon the stage while the excited thousands cried out “Solon and Socrates.”

From: Cyclopædia of Universal History: The modern world. 2 pt By John Clark Ridpath

funeral of voltaire

Benjamin Franklin passed away on April 17, 1790. He will always be remembered by the citizens of the United States as an intelligent Founding Father and scientist. For Freemasons, however, he is so much more.

Count Mirabeau’s eulogy, suggested at the French National Assembly, was perhaps most fitting for Franklin, saying:

Would it not become us, gentlemen, to join in this religious act, to bear a part in this homage, rendered, in the face of the world, both to the rights of man and to the philosopher who has most contributed to extend their sway over the whole earth? Antiquity would have raised altars to this mighty genius, who, to the advantage of mankind, compassing in his mind the heavens and the earth, was able to restrain alike thunderbolts and tyrants. Europe, enlightened and free, owes at lest a token of remembrance and regret to one of the greatest men who have ever been engaged in the service of philosophy and liberty. I propose that it be decreed that the National Assembly, during three days shall wear mourning for Benjamin Franklin.

Franklin’s Masonic career spanned a period of 60 years achieving, in his day, one of the highest Masonic accords, that of an Illustrious Brother. Given Franklin’s prolific career, in and out of Freemasonry, here below is a blended time line of his secular and Masonic life.

January 17, 1706 (New style dating) Born, Boston.

April 2, 1722 The first letter of “Silence Dogood” published.

November 5, 1724 Franklin sails to London to procure type and printing supplies.

July 21, 1725 Franklin leaves London for Philadelphia.

Fall, 1727 Franklin founds the Junto club.

October 2, 1729 Franklin became the owner, publisher, and editor of the weekly newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette.

February 1730-1 Initiated in St. John’s Lodge, Philadelphia

June 10,1731 Franklin publishes his “Apology for Printers,” a defense of the freedom of the press.

June 1732 Drafts a set of By-law’s for St. John’s Lodge

June 24, 1732 Elected Junior Grand Warden.

franklins Mason Book

December 28, 1732 Franklin published the first edition of Poor Richard’s Almanack under the pseudonym “Richard Saunders”

June 24, 1734 Elected Grand Master of Pennsylvania.

August, 1734 Prints his Mason Book a reprint of Anderson’s Constitutions, the first Masonic book printed in America.

1734-5 The State house (Independence Hall) built during Franklin’s administration. According to old Masonic and family traditions, the corner-stone was laid by him and the brethren of St. John’s Lodge.

1735 Franklin elected to serve as Secretary to St. John’s Lodge. Continues to 1738.

October 151736 Franklin appointed clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly.

December 7, 1736 Franklin organized the Union Fire Company of Philadelphia.

April 13, 1738 Franklin in a letter to his Mother, says: “Freemasons have no principles or practices that are inconsistent with religion and good manners.”

May 14, 1743 Franklin published his A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge Among the British Plantations in America, the founding document of the American Philosophical Society.

May 25, 1743 Visits St. John’s Lodge, Boston.

November 24, 1747 Franklin and others organized a volunteer militia – the Associators – for the defense of Pennsylvania

June 10, 1749 Appointed Provincial Grand Master of Pennsylvania by Thomas Oxnard of Boston. Franklin promptly stepped down in 1750 when Lord Byron, Grand Master of England, acting directly, deputized William Allen, Provincial Grand Master for Pennsylvania.

August 29,1749 Tun Tavern Lodge petitions P. G. M. Franklin for a Dispensation.

November 14, 1749 Franklin and others organized the Academy of Philadelphia

March 13, 1750 Deposed as Provincial Grand Master and immediately appointed Deputy Grand Master by William Allen.

May 9, 1751 Franklin elected a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly (reelected annually until 1764)

March 12, 1752 Appointed on Committee for building the Freemason’s Lodge in Philadelphia.

June, 1752 Franklin, who has not yet heard of the French success, experiments with flying a kite in a thunderstorm, and also proves that lightning is electrical in nature. He describes this experiment in the October 19 edition of the Pennsylvania Gazette.

first postmaster ben franklin

October 25, 1752 Visits Tun Tavern Lodge, Philadelphia.

August 10, 1753 Franklin appointed joint Deputy Postmaster General of North America.

May 9, 1754 Disturbed by increasing French pressure along the western frontier, Franklin designed and printed a cartoon of snake cut into sections, over the heading “Join or Die,” in the Pennsylvania Gazette (often credited as America’s first political cartoon).

June through July, 1754 Franklin attends the Albany Congress as a representative from Pennsylvania proposing a union of the colonies in defense against the French.

October 11, 1754 Present at the Quarterly Communication held in Concert Hall, Boston.

June 24, 1755 Takes a prominent part in the Grand Anniversary and Dedication of Freemason’s Lodge in Philadelphia, the first Masonic building in America. Serves as Deputy Grand Master of Pennsylvania until 1760.

March 21, 1756 Franklin meets George Washington while on post office business.

July 26, 1757 Franklin arrives in London, July 26, 1757, Franklin returns to Philadelphia on Nov. 1st.

November 17, 1760 Present at Grand Lodge of England held at Crown & Anchor London. Entered upon the Minutes as Provincial Grand Master.

September 9, 1762 King George III commissioned William Franklin the royal Governor of New Jersey. Franklin returns to Philadelphia on Nov. 1st.

1762 Addressed as Grand Master of Pennsylvania.

May 6, 1775 Franklin elected a delegate to the Second Continental Congress.

June 1, 1776 Continental Congress appointed Franklin to the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence.

1776 Affiliates with Masonic Lodges in France.

1777 Elected Member of Loge des IX Soeurs (Nine Sisters or Muses.)

February 27, 1777 Franklin moved to Paris suburb of Passy, where he remained during French mission.

February 7, 1778 Assists at the initiation of Voltaire in the Lodge of the Nine Sisters. (You can see Franklin’s Masonic apron he wore in Paris from the Musée de la Franc-maçonnerie)

November 28,1778 Officiates at the “Lodge of Sorrow “or Masonic funeral services of Voltaire.

1782 – Elected Venerable (W. M.) of Loge des IX Soeurs Grand Orient de Paris.

July 7, 1782 Member R.’ L.’  – De Saint Jean De Jerusalem (Ordre de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem).

April 24, 1785 Elected Venerable d’honneur of R.’ L.’ De Saint Jean De Jerusalem (Ordre de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem)

1785 – Honorary Member Loge des Bone Amis (Good Friends) Rouen, France.

December 27, 1786: In the dedication of a sermon delivered at the request of the R. W. Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, by Rev. Joseph Pilmore in St. Paul’s Church, Philadelphia, Franklin is referred to as “An illustrious Brother whose distinguished merit among Masons entitles him to their highest veneration.”

April 23, 1787 Franklin elected President of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery.

February 12, 1789 Franklin composed, signed, and submitted the first petition against slavery to appear before the U.S. Congress.

April 17,1790 Benjamin Franklin passed to the Grand Lodge beyond.

April 19, 1906 Masonic Services at his grave in Christ Church yard, Philadelphia by the R. W. Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, the occasion being the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the Birth of Brother Benjamin Franklin.

* – See the comment from Pete Normand with an informative note on the history of Pennsylvania Freemasonry.

Masonic history composed from:
The Masonic Chronology of Benjamin Franklin, compiled by Julius F. Sachse, 1906.

Secular history composed from:
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary – Timeline

[1] http://www.masonicworld.com/education/files/artoct02/benjamin_franklin.htm
[2] ibid.
[3] http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1028&context=libraryscience
[4] http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/franklin_b/franklin_b.html

Quatuor Coronati Lodge of Research

Quatuor CoronatiJanuary 12th marks the Anniversary of the consecration of Quatuor Coronati Lodge in London.

Quatuor Coronati is a Masonic Lodge in London dedicated to Masonic Research. The name, Quatuor Coronati, derives from the Regius Poem (lines 497-534) which is considered to be one of the oldest Masonic documents; dating back to approximately 1390. Its name, the Four Crowned Ones, is from its Latin translation of Quatuor Coronatorum.

From the Regius Poem:

The art of the four crowned ones (Ars quatuor coronatorum)

Pray we now to God almighty,
And to his mother Mary bright,

That we may keep these articles here,
And these points well all together,
As did these holy martyrs four,
That in this craft were of great honor;
They were as good masons as on earth shall go,
Gravers and image-makers they were also.
For they were workmen of the best,
The emperor had to them great liking;
He willed of them an image to make
That might be worshiped for his sake;
Such monuments he had in his day,
To turn the people from Christ’s law.

The lodge, today, meets at Freemason’s Hall on Great Queen Street in London and was founded in 1886.

Following 10 years of spirited debate, Revd. A.F.A. Woodford,

…encouraged a group of earnest young ‘Masonic students’ in their open arguments and provided the intellectual environment that gave birth to the ‘authentic’ school of Masonic research – which relied not on the testimony of the Bible and of ancient historians, but on manuscript records, the primary source for all truly academic history.

Following a few years of formative dialog, the lodge was consecrated on January 12th, 1886 as Quatuor Coronati was established after nine dissatisfied brethren (Charles Warren, William Harry Rylands, Robert Freke Gould, the Revd. Adolphus Frederick Alexander Woodford, Walter Besant, John Paul Rylands, Major Sisson Cooper Pratt, William James Hughan and George William Speth) obtained a warrant in 1884. However, owing to Charles Warren, the first Master being absent on a diplomatic mission in Southern Africa; the lodge was not inaugurated until 1886.

Woodford, in his oration at its consecration set forth its purpose saying:

…the members proposed, by means of papers, discussions and publications, to help forward the important cause of Masonic study and investigation [and] induce a more scholarly and critical consideration of our evidences, a greater relish for historical facts.

Their dissatisfaction that precipitated in the founding  Quatuor Coronati arose in how the history of Freemasonry had been interpreted at that time and thus endeavoring to conduct their own examination of for themselves using an evidence-based approach in their study. It was intended that any result of their research would “replace the imaginative writings of earlier authors on the history of Freemasonry.”

The lodge intended to develop global interest in research from Brethren around the world: holding quarterly meetings in which papers are delivered and questions are posed to the presenters. Annual transactions entitled Ars Quatuor Coronartorum are published. In addition to these, the lodge upholds the Quatuor Coronati Correspondence Circle (QCCC). Membership to the Correspondence Circle is not restricted to Freemasons and open to anyone interested in Masonry and fraternal societies.

Among the original objectives of the lodge were the ideas of providing a center and bond of union for Masonic students as well as a desire to attract intelligent masons who they hoped to imbue with a love of research. The founders also intended to reprint rare Masonic manuscripts with the intention of dedicating a library to such works and eventually translating them to many other world languages.

Of note to American Freemasons, in 2007 S. Brent Morris was the first (and only) American to head Quatuor Coronati Lodge.

Their work of Quatuor Coronati continues today as the Premier Lodge of Research and this once new style has become known as the ‘authentic school’ of Masonic research.

The symbol of acacia in Freemasonry

Acacia

From Albert G. Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, this installment of Symbols & Symbolism presents his exploration of the mystical properties of the Acacia. Note, some links have been added as reference to the original quoted sources. Look for future installments on Symbols & Symbolism here, and on YouTube.

From the Encyclopedia:

An interesting and important symbol in Freemasonry. Botanically, it is the acacia vera of Tournefort, and the mimosa nilotica of Tinneus, called babul tree in India. It grew abundantly in the vicinity of Jerusalem, where it is still to be found, and is familiar in its modern use as the tree from which the gum arabic of commerce is derived.

William Francis Lynch
William Francis Lynch

Oliver, it is true, says that “there is not the smallest trace of any tree of the kind growing so far north as Jerusalem” (Landm.,ii.,149); but this statement is refuted by the authority of Lieutenant Lynch, who saw it growing in great abundance in Jericho, and still farther north . (Official Report of the United States of America to Explore the Dead Sea and the River Jordan by Lieutenant W. F. Lynch, U.S.N) The Rabbi Yehoseph Schwarz, who is excellent authority, says : “The Acacia (Shittim) tree, Al Bunt, is found in Palestine of different varieties ; it looks like the Mulberry tree, attains a great height, and has a hard wood . The gum which is obtained from it is the gum arabic .” (Descriptive Geography and Historical Sketch of Palestine, p308, Leeser’s translation. Phila., 1850) Schwarz was for sixteen years a resident of Palestine, and wrote from personal observation. The testimony of Lynch and Schwarz should, therefore, forever settle the question of the existence of the acacia in Palestine.

Rabbi Yehoseph Schwarz
Rabbi Yehoseph Schwarz

The acacia is called in the Bible Shittim, which is really the plural of Shittah, which last form occurs once only in Isaiah 41:19. It was esteemed a sacred wood among the Hebrews, and of it Moses was ordered to make the tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, the table for the shewbread, and the rest of the sacred furniture. (Exodus 25-27) Isaiah, in recounting the promises of God’s mercy to the Israelites on their return from the captivity, tells them that, among other things, he will plant in the wilderness, for their relief and refreshment, the cedar, the acacia (or, as it is rendered in our common version, the shittah), the fir, and other trees.

The first thing, then, that we notice in this symbol of the acacia, is that it had been always consecrated from among the other trees of the forest by the sacred purposes to which it was devoted. By the Jew, the tree from whose wood the sanctuary of the tabernacle and the Holy Ark had been constructed would ever be viewed as more sacred than ordinary trees. The early Masons, therefore, very naturally appropriated this hallowed plant to the equally sacred purpose of a symbol, which was to teach an important divine truth in all ages to come. Having thus briefly disposed of the natural history of this plant, we may now proceed to examine it in its symbolic relations.

Acacia

First, the acacia, in the mythic system of Freemasonry, is preeminently the symbol of the IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL – that important doctrine which it is the great design of the Institution to teach. As the evanescent nature of the flower, which “cometh forth and is cut down,” reminds us of the transitory nature of human life, so the perpetual renovation of the evergreen plant, which uninterruptedly presents the appearance of youth and vigor: is aptly compared to that spiritual life in which the soul, freed from the corruptible companionship of the body, shall enjoy an eternal spring and an immortal youth. Hence, in the impressive funeral service of our Order, it is said that “this evergreen is an emblem of our faith in the immortality of the soul. By this we are reminded that we have an immortal part within us, which shall survive the grave, and which shall never, never, never die.” And again, in the closing sentences of the monitorial lecture of the Third Degree, the same sentiment is repeated, and we are told that by “the ever-green and ever-living sprig ” the Mason is strengthened” with confidence and composure to look forward to a blessed immortality.” Such an interpretation of the symbol is an easy and a natural one; it suggests itself at once to the least reflective mind; and consequently, in some one form or another, is to be found existing in all ages and nations. It was an ancient custom-which is not, even now, altogether disused-for mourners to carry in their hands at funerals a sprig of some evergreen, generally the cedar or the cypress, and to deposit it in the grave of the deceased. According to Dalcho,* the Hebrews always planted a sprig of the acacia at the head of the grave of a departed friend. [John] Potter tells us that the ancient Greeks “had a custom of bedecking tombs with herbs and flowers.”‡ All sorts of purple and white flowers were acceptable to the dead, but principally the amaranth and the myrtle. The very name of the former of these plants, which signifies “never fading,” would seem to indicate the true symbolic meaning of the usage, although archaeologists have generally supposed it to be simply an exhibition of love on the part of the survivors. Ragon says that the ancients substituted the acacia for all other plants because they believed it to be incorruptible, and not liable to injury from the attacks of any kind of insect or other animal-thus symbolizing the incorruptible nature of the soul.

Hence we see the propriety of placing the sprig of acacia, as an emblem of immortality, among the symbols of that degree, all of whose ceremonies are intended to teach us the great truth that “the life of man, regulated by morality, faith, and justice, will be rewarded at its closing hour by the prospect of Eternal Bliss.”≠ So, therefore, says Dr. Oliver, when the Master Mason exclaims “my name is Acacia,” it is equivalent to saying, “I have been in the grave – I have triumed over it by rising from the dead-and being regenerated in the process, I have a claim to life everlasting.” (See Landmarks, ii.,151, note 27)

The sprig of acacia, then, in its most ordinary signification, presents itself to the Master Mason as a symbol of the immortality of the soul, being intended to remind him, by its ever-green and unchanging nature, of that better and spiritual part within us, which, as an emanation from the Great Architect of the Universe, can never die. And as this is the most ordinary, the most generally accepted signification, so also is it the most important; for thus, as the peculiar symbol of immortality, it becomes the most appropriate to an Order all of whose teachings are intended to inculcate the great lesson that “life rises out of the grave.” But incidental to this the acacia has two other interpretations which are well worthy of investigation.

Secondly, then, the acacia is a symbol of INNOCENCE. The symbolism here is of a peculiar and unusual character, depending not on any real analogy in the form or use of the symbol to the idea symbolized, but simply on a double or compound meaning of the word. For ακακία in the Greek language, signifies both the pant in question and the moral quality of innocence or purity of life. In this sense the symbol refers, primarily, to him over whose solitary grave the acacia was planted, and whose virtuous conduct, whose integrity of life and fidelity to his trusts have ever been presented as patterns to the craft, and consequently to all Master Masons, who, by this interpretation of the symbol, are invited to emulate his example.

Hutchinson, indulging in his favorite theory of Christianizing Masonry, when he comes to this signification of the symbol, thus enlarges on the interpretation:

We Masons, describing the deplorable estate of religion under the Jewish law, speak in figures: ‘Her tomb was in the rubbish and filth cast forth of the temple, and ACACIA wove its branches over her monument;’ ακακία being the Greek word for innocence, or being free from sin; implying that the sins and corruptions of the old law, and devotees of the Jewish altar, had hid religion from those who sought her, and she was only to be found where INNOCENCE survived, and under the banner of the divine Lamb ; and as to ourselves professing that we were to be distinguished by our ACACY, or as true ACACIANs in our religious faith and tenets.†

But, lastly, the acacia is to be considered as the symbol of INITIATION. This is by far the most interesting of its interpretations, and was, we have every reason to believe, the primary and original; the others being but incidental.

It leads us at once to the investigation of the significant fact that in all the ancient initiations and religious mysteries there was some plant peculiar to each, which was consecrated by its own esoteric meaning, and which occupied an important position in the celebration of the rites, so that the plant, whatever it might be, from its constant and prominent use in the ceremonies of initiation, came at length to be adopted as the symbol of that initiation.

Thus, the lettuce was the sacred plant which assumed the place of the acacia in the mysteries of Adonis. (See Lettuce) The lotus was that of the Brahmanical rites of India, and from them adopted by the Egyptians. (See Lotus) The Egyptians also revered the erica or heath; and the mistletoe was a mystical plant among the Druids. (See Erica and Mistletoe) And, lastly the myrtle performed the same office of symbolism in the mysteries of Greece that the lotus did in Egypt or the mistletoe among the Druids. (See Myrtle)

In all of these ancient mysteries, while the sacred plant was a symbol of initiation, the initiation itself was symbolic of the resurrection to a future life, and of the immortality of the soul . In this view, Freemasonry is to us now in the place of the ancient initiations, and the acacia is substituted for the lotus, the erica, the ivy, the mistletoe, and the myrtle. The lesson of wisdom is the same – the medium of imparting it is all that has been changed.

Returning, then, to the acacia, we find that it is capable of three explanations. It is a symbol of immortality, of innocence, and of initiation. But these three significations are closely connected, and that connection must be observed, if we desire to obtain a just interpretation of the symbol. Thus, in this one symbol, we are taught that in the initiation of life, of which the initiation in the Third Degree is simply emblematic, innocence must for a time lie in the grave, at length, however, to be called, by the word of the Great Master of the Universe, to a blissful immortality. Combine with this the recollection of the place where the sprig of acacia was planted – Mount Calvary – the place of sepulcher of him who “brought life and immortality to light,” and who, in Christian Masonry, is designated, as he is in Scripture, as “the lion of the tribe of Judah” ; and remember, too, that in the mystery of his death, the wood of the cross takes the place of the acacia, and in this little and apparently insignificant symbol, but which is really and truly the most important and significant one in Masonic science, we have a beautiful suggestion of all the mysteries of life and death, of time and eternity, of the present and of the future.

Notes:

* “This custom among the Hebrews arose from this circumstance . Agreeably to their laws, no dead bodies were allowed to be interred within the walls of the City ; and as the Cohens, or Priests, were prohibited from crossing a grave, it was necessary to place marks thereon, that they might avoid them. For this purpose the Acasia was used.” (Dalcho, 2nd Oration, p . 23, note)

Editors Note: Dalcho’s full quote reads:

Another circumstance, my Brethren, I beg leave to recall to your  recollection. It is the spring of Cassia, as it is generally termed in our Lodges, where we speak of its strong scent, &c. Cassia, my Brethren, did not grow about Jerusalem. It is an alteration of the word Acasia, the Mimosa Nilotica of Linnæus, belonging to the 23d class and 1sr order, Polygamia Monæcia, of his system. This shrub grew there in abundance, and from the habit arising from an indispensable custom among the Hebrews, a branch was broken off from a neighboring bush, and placed where the Fellow-Crafts fond it, who, perceiving it to be withered, when all around flourished in perfection, they were led to draw those conclusions which we teach in our Lodges.

*These customs among the Hebrews arouse from this circumstance. Agreeably to their laws, no dead bodies were allowed to be interred within the walls of the City; and as the Cohens, or Priests, were prohibited from crossing a grave, it is necessary to place marks thereon, that they might avoid them. For this purpose the Acasia was used.

It is further mentioned in the report of the Inspectors, that some knowledge  of the Talmud is necessary to enable us to understand some of our  ceremonies. It is so, my respectable Brethren, and to which they might have  added, some knowledge, also, of the mysteries of the Cabala. That expressive mystic figure, of the Divinity, formed in the Fellow-Craft’s degree, constitutes, in the Hebrew language, the word Shaday, Omnipotent.

In the Sublime degrees, it is elegantly illustrated.* From these, and many other, errors which have unfortunately crept into the Blue degrees, it must be evident, that it is necessary, that a man of science should preside over a Lodge, that the true ceremonies and principles of the mystic Craft, may be taught in language, which will bear the test of criticism.

I object to the reason assigned by Dalcho, but of the existence of the custom there can be no question, notwithstanding the denial or doubt of Dr. Oliver . Blount (A Voyage into the Levant, p. 197) says, speaking of the Jewish burial customs, “those who bestow a marble stone over any [gravel have a hole a yard long and a foot broad, in which they plant an evergreen, which seems to grow from the body and is carefully watched.”

Hasselquist (Travels, p . 28) confirms his testimony. I borrow the citations from Brown (Antiquities of the Jews, vol . ii ., p. 356), but have verified the reference to Hasselquist. The work of Blount I have not been enabled to consult.

Archaeologia Graeca, Or, The Antiquities of Greece, Volume 2, John Potter. 569.

≠ Dr . Crucefix, MS . quoted by Oliver. Landmarks, ii., 2.

† Hutchinson’s Spirit of Masonry, Lect. IX.;p . 160, ed . 1775.

The Going Rate of Losing a Landmark

Six Million dollars appears to be the answer, or best offer.

It was sad to see this story in my inbox – St. Louis City Masonic Temple being sold.

St Louis Masonic Temple

Image from PRlog.org Press Release

Here we have yet another Masonic lodge being sold off to make way for luxury condos or a shopping mall. Only this time, it happens to be the New Masonic Temple in Saint Louis, Missouri.

Built in a Classical revival style in 1926, the temple on Lindell Boulevard has played  host to, then, Grand Master Harry Truman, and initiated the Spirit of St. Louis pilot, Charles Lindbergh. For the Gen-Xer’s who might be reading, the temple steps were the back drop for parts of the film Escape from New York.

Perhaps the most notable element of the building is the 38 foot long mural, The Origins of Freemasonry, created by Jessie Housley Holliman and dedicated by, then senator, Harry S. Truman in 1941. Holliman, you see, was an African American woman commissioned for the work.

This would appear to be the mural:

The Origins of Freemasonry Jessie Housley Holliman mural detail

The Origins of Freemasonry Jessie Housley Holliman mural

The temple celebrated its 80 year anniversary in 2006.

 

halloween as a hermetic tradition

Halloween as a Hermetic Holiday

halloween as a hermetic tradition

Little ground exists between Halloween and Freemasonry. Here and there a costume ball or an orange crepe paper centerpiece marks the passing of the season, but that is probably the extent of any connectivity. For me, the holiday has always been an important one even as my own little goblins have forsaken the quest for candy for more adult like pursuits.

This is the first year of a house devoid of pint sized celebrants leaving me to reorient myself to the signs of the season. Few could argue that the air itself reminds us that it is autumn – it comes from the harvest; the slow subjugation of the sun; the withering leaves. Today, I’ve come to see the holiday in a different perspective, a Hermetic point of view that, in a sense, encapsulates some importance of the season.

For me, Halloween is the point upon which my spiritual year turns. It is the window between the bountiful summer that comes from the victorious sun and its falls closer to the horizon. Autumn is the stretching shadow that foretells of things to come. This is when the cold seeps in, the dead begin to walk and ghosts skulk out from shadows.

As an adult, I’ve found a greater love of the holiday with a deeper sense of what it represents. My childhood memories of the season have paved the road of time with recollections of cheap drugstore costumes imbued with magical powers – powers that allowed me to wantonly go door-to-door in search of candy. These magical powers were not remarkable themselves but the costumes that they came from were. They gave me the power to pretend for a time to be someone else. Besides being a day of candy corn and mummy dogs, the celebration of Halloween is a way of celebrating the opposite ideation of ourselves – to be something more than what we are. In doing so, it allows us to assume that things power, if even if for an instance.

Understandably, this ignores the traditions of Samhain or dia de los muertos as they each in kind have their own specific practices. Rather than celebrating the dead or forestalling their return, I see the fundamental aspect of Halloween as the celebration of becoming something we wish we were. The season reminds us of this with the change in the air that it brings. It taunts us with the slowly enveloping cocoon of winter looming before us.

The lessons I glean from All Hallows Eve are the forces of change at work in both our physical and mental universe as we reminiscence and contemplate the imaginary roles of our past and future selves. It is the polarity that the Kyablion speaks of and the duality that such polarity embodies. From those thoughts go our fears on the flickering lights of the jack-o-lantern and upon the whispers of invisible ghosts.

The celebration of the harvest and of Halloween gives us command over the power of our past and shows us the potential of our future. It puts us in charge of who we are at this moment of being in a way similar to the action of becoming HIram Abiff. Fundamentally, it represents our own juxtaposition of static change giving us, perhaps, a glimpse of some dimensional otherness.

That’s what Halloween reminds me of – melancholy and spice; damp eyes wet with the glimmer of the future; it’s imagining what we want to be.

It’s Halloween, time for us to assume an imaginary mantle of some otherness of who we want to be… even if for just a few fleeting hours.

The Little Project

The ApprenticeJust recently, I decided to bring to life a little project of mine that began somewhere back in 2007. The “project” evolved as a series of short works, or treatises, on the degrees of Scottish Rite Freemasonry.

The project had an purpose, one that I followed through its course. Slowly, the pile of works grew to encompass 12 near complete works, many at written at great pains of research and time. But what was I to do with them?

I wanted to do something more with them than to publish them onto the web. I felt like they deserved better than that, they needed something to encapsulate their content.

Then it came to me.

Earlier this year, I finished Richard Kaczynski ‘s biography on Aleister Crowley, Perdurabo, and something struck me. One of the driving forces behind Crowley’s work, despite all the hype and hyperbole, was that he wanted to communicate it to the world. More so, that he was driven by the idea of having to let the world know what he had discovered in the pursuit of his passions. I was feeling the need to do the same; I needed to get these ideas out of my head and out of the drawer that the sat quietly in and into a medium where they could live beyond the pixilated computer screen and sink into the zeitgeist of modern Masonic esoterica.

So began the “little project.”

I’m sure I will be talking more about the project in the weeks and months to come, but for now, if you’re interested in seeing what this little project is about, you can read more on it here, at Kickstarter.

I haven’t said much about the project because I don’t want to give too much away just yet, I want the work to do that. What I will say is that the work thus far is an exploration of Freemasonry and it connection to the Kabbalah and how that is reflected in the working of the Scottish Rite degrees. I’ve let a few people read it and each has said that it offers a lot of food for thought with one saying that it bridged the “…disconnect between my expectation and the reality of [the first degree] initiation.”

Personally, I didn’t think I would be writing this so soon but stunningly, my project has reached its campaign goal in just under six days. But that doesn’t mean it’s over. If you would like to still be a part of my little project, you can still contribute. Every bit will go towards making this book that much better. My stretch goal, with anything left over from the campaign, is to get the text translated into Spanish and French and then look at publishing it into those markets as well. Your further help and support can help make that happen.

More Noble than the Roman Eagle

Aquila, better known in Masonic parlance as the Roman Eagle, was considered in ancient times to be a symbol of strength, courage, and immortality. The signa militaria[i] of the Roman military under Gaius Marius (104 BC), the war standard was made of silver or bronze and served more as a holy war relic than mere militaristic emblem of the Roman Legions.

masonic lecture, eagle, apron

Wells, in his Masonic short talk of 1915, says of the eagle that as it was adopted by the Romans upon their banners it

…signified magnanimity and fortitude, or as in the ancient Sacred Writings, swiftness and courage.

In antiquity, the Romans were not the first to make use of the eagle as an emblem of war, as, Wells cites, the Persians, under Cyrus the Younger[ii], had borne the Eagle upon their spears as a standard.[iii]

In a more modern parlance France, Russia, Prussia, Germany, and the United States have each in turn adopted the Eagle, variously, as a National symbol of identity adorning the U.S. dollar, today, in a style reminiscent of its depiction on similar Roman coinage from when it was adopted into western material culture.

Albert Mackey in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry says of the eagle that it is a symbol of great antiquity calling into reference Egyptian, Greek, and Persia symbolism where the bird was sacred to the sun.

He says,

Among the Pagans it was an emblem of Jupiter, and with the Druids it was a symbol of their supreme god. In the Scriptures, a distinguished reference is in many instances made to the eagle; especially do we find Moses (Exodus xix, 4) representing Jehovah as saying, in allusion to the belief that this bird assists its feeble young in their flight by bearing them upon its own pinions, “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.” Not less elevated was the symbolism of the eagle among the Pagans. Thus, Cicero, speaking of the myth of Ganymede carried up to Jove on an eagle’s back, says that it teaches us that the truly wise, irradiated by the shining light of virtue, become more and more like God, until by wisdom they are borne aloft and soar to Him.

While Mackey goes deep into the meanings behind the eagle, the suggestion that the Masonic Apron is more noble than the Roman Eagle implies that its receipt is an honor, greater than being a member of the famed Roman Legion which may lend itself to some pull to particular military association with Masonry today. An interesting consideration of the Roman Legion was their early and then later composition.

In the early period of the empire, the legion was composed of levied soldiers who supplied their own equipment that would form as needed disbanding when not. Essentially, to serve meant you were a citizen of the empire. When the Rome army began to experience inadequate staffing because of income or property qualifications of its citizenry, Consul Gaius Marius removed the prequalifications of service (wealth and social class) allowing all free people of the empire eligible for the army. This change created the first volunteer professional standing army. That openness to everyone regardless of class of social standing is a parallel we find amongst the ranks of Freemasonry today.

Coat of arms of the Hanseatic League, London
Coat of arms of the Hanseatic League, London

Some suggest that the Roman Eagle was a European Trade Symbol coming from the Hanseatic League. A confederation of merchant guilds that stretched from the Baltic to the North Sea and inland during the Late Middle Ages and early modern period (c. 13th to 17th centuries), the Hanseatic league evolved to protect economic interests and diplomatic privileges along trade routes, cities and countries where its members did business. . One Masonic source says of the Hanseatic League that,

…its members had their Headquarters at Lubeck, and adopted the Arms of Lubeck which at this time was the Roman Eagle and appears on the Seal of the Hanse. They also called themselves Knights of the Holy Roman Empire.[iv]

The Leagues coat of arms is of a double headed eagle, rather than an Aquila eagle, so this connection to the Apron seems less legitimate other than its being a pre-enlightenment trade guild, similar to the guild of the Golden Fleece.[v][vi]

An interesting parallel in the Hanseatic League connection is the guilds factory rules which one could find Masonic parallels including:

  • No man older than fifty years or younger than eighteen winters could be received.
  • Anyone who committed what had been forbidden was to be cast out, and driven from the community.
  • No one should have a woman within the burgh
  • be absent from it for three nights

These rules helped the league work in foreign countries as they “… formed among the alien populations in which they were placed semi-monastic establishments”[vii]

Yet, in this double headed eagle, we can still find some parallels to draw with the Roman Eagle.

Mackey says of the emblem,

The Eagle Displayed, that is, with extended wings, as if in the act of dying, has always, from the majestic character of the bird, been deemed an emblem of imperial power. Marius, the consul, first consecrated the eagle, about eight years before the Christian era, to be the sole Roman standard at the head of every legion, and hence it became the standard of the Roman Empire ever afterward.

As the single-headed Eagle was thus adopted as the symbol of imperial power, the double-headed Eagle naturally became the representative of a double empire; and on the division of the Roman dominions into the eastern and western empire, which were afterward consolidated by the Carlovingian race into what was ever after called the Holy Roman Empire, the double-headed Eagle was assumed as the emblem of this double empire; one head looking, as it were, to the West, or Rome, and the other to the East, or Byzantium.

double headed eagle

He goes on to enumerate the orders of knighthoods that adopted the double headed eagle including, The Prussian Order of the Black Eagle and the Order of the Red Eagle, both, Mackey says, are “outgrowths of the original symbol of the Roman Eagle.”

Of the double headed eagle, Mackey goes on to say that its adoption was probably first introduced as a symbol into Freemasonry in 1758. He says,

In that year the Body calling itself the Council of Emperors of the East and West was established in Paris. The double-headed eagle as likely to have been assumed by this Council in reference to the double Jurisdiction which it claimed, and which is represented so distinctly in its title.

Quoting from the transactions of Quatuor Coronati Lodge, pages 214, volume xxiv, 1911, Mackey says of the adoption of the Scottish Rite usage,

The most ornamental, not to say the most ostentatious feature of the insignia of the Supreme Council, 33 , of the Ancient and Accepted (Scottish) Rite, is the double-headed eagle, surmounted by an imperial crown. This device seems to have been adopted some time after 1755 by the grade known as the Emperors of the East and West; a sufficiently pretentious title. This seems to have been its first appearance in connection with Freemasonry, but history of the high grades has been subjected to such distortion that it is difficult to accept unreservedly any assertion put forward regarding them. From this imperial grade, the double-headed eagle came to the “Sovereign Prince Masons” of the Rite of Perfection. The Rite of Perfection with its twenty-five Degrees was amplified in 1801, at Charleston, United States of America, into the Ancient and Accepted Rite of 33, with the double-headed eagle for its most distinctive emblem. When this emblem was first adopted by the high grades it had been in use as a symbol of power for 5000 years, or so. No heraldic bearing, no emblematic device anywhere today can boast such antiquity. It was in use a thousand years before the Exodus from Egypt, and more than 2000 years before the building of King Solomon’s Temple.

The quote, which is quite extensive, gives a sort of psudo-parrallel to antiquity linking the Scottish-Rite double headed eagle to the Babylonian era through a pair of terra cotta cylinders[viii] that depicts a proto-eagle in the form of a lion headed bird.

The long quote reads:

The story of our Eagle has been told by the eminent Assyriologist, M. Thureau Dangin, in the volume of Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie (1904). Among the most important discoveries for which we are indebted to the late M. de Sarzec, were two large terra cotta cylinders covered with many hundred lines of archaic cuneiform characters These cylinders were found in the brick mounds of Tello, which has been identified with certainty as the City of Lagash, the dominant center of Southern Babylonian ere Babylon had imposed its name and rule on the country.

The cylinders are now in the Louvre (see below) and have been deciphered by M. Thureau Dangin, who displays to our wondering eyes the emblem of power that was already centuries old when Babylon gave its name to Babylonia. The cylinder in question is a foundation record deposited by one Gudea, Ruler of the City of Lagash, to mark the building of the temple, about the year 3000 B.C., as nearly as the date could be fixed. The foundation record was deposited just as our medals, coins and metallic plates are deposited today, when the corner stone is laid with Masonic honors. It must be born in mind that in this ease, the word cornerstone may be employed only in a conventional sense, for in Babylonia all edifices, temples, palaces, and towers alike, were built of brick. But the custom of laying foundation deposits was general, whatever the building material might be, and we shall presently see what functions are attributed, by another eminent scholar, to the foundation chamber of King Solomon’s Temple.

The contents of this inscription are of the utmost value to the oriental scholar, but may be briefly dismissed for our present purpose. Suffice it to say, that the King begins by reciting that a great drought had fallen upon the land. ” The waters of the Tigris,” he says, ” fell low and the store of provender ran short in this my city,” saying that he feared it was 3 visitation from the gods, to whom he determined to submit his evil ease and that of his people. The reader familiar with Babylonian methods that pervade the Books of the Captivity will not be surprised to learn that the King dreamed a dream, in which the will of the gods was revealed by direct personal intervention and interlocution. In the dream there came unto the King “a Divine Man, whose stature reached from earth to heaven, and whose head was crowned with the crown of a god, surmounted by the Storm Bird that extended its wings over Lagash, the land thereof.” This Storm Bird, no other than our double-headed eagle, was the totem as ethnologists and anthropologists are fain to call it, of the mighty Sumerian City of Lagash, and stood proudly forth the visible emblem of its power and domination. This double-headed eagle of Lagash is the oldest Royal Crest in the world.

As time rolled on, it passed from the Sumerians to the men of Akhad. From the men of Akhad to the Hittites, from the denizens of Asia Minor to the Seliukian Sultans, from whom it was brought by Crusaders to the Emperors of the East and West, whose successors today are the Hapsburgs and Romanoffs, as well as to the Masonic Emperors of the East and West, whose successors today are the Supreme Council, 33, that have inherited the insignia of the Site of Perfection.

635px-GudeaZylinder

GudeaZylinder” by RamessosOwn work. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Interesting in its attempt at drawing a parallel to antiquity, in a modern context, it is challenging to find the same level of depth to so abstract an emblem, especially one that is superior to the other. But, a final consideration to include would be a symbolic one, for which we turn to Cirlot, from his Dictionary of Symbols[ix].

In his work, he suggests the symbol of the eagle as a symbol of height “… of the Spirit, as the sun, and of the spiritual principals in general” suggesting it linked to the symbolism found in Egyptian hieroglyphics, where “the Eagle represents the letter A–the first—pertaining to the warmth of life, the origin, the day.”

Cirlot writes “…the eagle is also identified with the father figure” representing heroic nobility.  And, in religious terms, In the Vedic tradition, the eagle as the Messenger or in other art forms as “the emblem of the Thunderbolt.”

According to St. Jerome the Eagle is the emblem of the Ascension and of prayer.  Since it can fly higher than any other bird, it is regarded as an expression of Divine Majesty.  It is said to dominate and destroy baser forces.  Thus making it the symbol of Imperial power.

Truly, the Lambskin Apron is greater and more noble emblem of strength, courage and power than the imperial symbol of powers, Aquilla, the Roman Eagle.


[i] Signa Militaria

[ii] Cyrus the Younger

[iii] Citing Chambers Encyclopedia from 1864

[iv] The Roman Eagle

[v] Theoretical and Practical Positions of the Church

[vi] [image] Memorials of Old London by P. H. Ditchfield

[vii] Memorials of Old London Volume I, p225

[viii] Gudea cylinders

[ix] Cirlot, Dictionary of Symbols eagle

MEGA Brands partners with Shriners Hospitals for Children Canada

Exceptional Care OdysseyMEGA Brands has pledged to donate $500,000 for new Shriners hospital while launching a limited edition Mega Bloks® Fundraising Toy.

Montreal – June 6, 2014 – MEGA Brands Inc., a member of the Mattel family of companies (NASDAQ: MAT), announced the start of a new partnership with Shriners Hospitals for Children® – Canada. The toy maker has pledged $500,000 to the hospital’s Exceptional Care for Exceptional Kids campaign and will launch a custom-made and limited edition Mega Bloks™ First Builders Block Buddy fundraising toy at today’s International Shriners Day celebration in Ottawa.

Additionally, MEGA Brands will provide Mega Bloks toys and decorations for the new hospital’s Child Life playroom. Located in Montreal, construction of the new Shriners Hospital for Children began in spring of 2013, and is expected to be complete in 2015.

In order to help drive donations to the Exceptional Care for Kids campaign, MEGA Brands has designed a Shriners-inspired Block Buddy to add to the Mega Bloks First Builders line. Called “Loveable Lucas,” the Limited Edition Block Buddy can be purchased at select Shriners Temples, at Shriners Hospitals for Children — Canada in Montreal or online at http://exceptionalcare4kids.com.

“Shriners Hospitals for Children -Canada does a remarkable job of providing exceptional care and services to children and their loved ones in communities across Canada,” said Bisma Ansari, vice president of marketing, MEGA Brands Inc. “Our team was thrilled to bring to life a brand-new Shriners-inspired toy, and we can’t wait to help create the hospital’s Child Life playroom. MEGA Brands could not be happier to join forces with this outstanding institution.”

To commemorate International Shriners Day, Loveable Lucas will make his debut, and be available for purchase, at the Shriners celebration in Ottawa. Today’s event will be held at Ottawa City Hall, from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., and hosted by Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and members of the Tunis Shrine Temple. The Tunis Klowns, Keystone Kops, Mini Bikes and Tunis Air Force Units will also add to the fun. Please visit for more information on the Exceptional Care Odyssey.