Memory and the Mason

One of the most fascinating observations within the craft, is the ability for some skilled brethern to learn huge portions of ritual.  Of course all members of the craft who rise through the various offices must learn some lines and remember their duties in the lodge, and as we go through the various degrees ourselves, we are given phrases and various private ways of proving we are who we claim to be.

The process of rememberance are not new, the techniques go back to antiquity, before the advent of the printing press, writing materials were scarce and expensive - many also could not read or write, therefore a trained memory was seen as a valuable asset.

It is attributed to the Greek poet Simonides the creation of the 'art of artificial memory' who could remember the names of all those who were present at a great banquet, who after a great accident could recall each guest in detail - largely based on the position of the guests and the images he associated with each (rules for images and rules for places).

After Simonides, these techniques were perfected by several teachers, one manuscript, writen by an anonymous man - known as 'Ad Herennium' -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorica_ad_Herennium
It formalises the theme that in order to remember something, one should remember lines as being part of a building, with various rooms, and to associate striking images in each room.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci - discusses the concept of the memory palace, again linking the mason (the 'builder') creating the architecture of 'thoughts'

The Knights of the Rosy Cross and their legacy

"For we are the Brethern of the Rosie Cross, We have the Mason word and second sight; Things for to come  we can tell aright"

Who were the Rosicrucians and what possible relevance do they have to us today?

In the 1600's brutal (and in my mind pointless) religious wars were breaking out from within Christianity, from two ideological viewpoint - commonly known as Protestantism and Catholicism.  But within this turmoil a few individuals believed in religious tolerance - they couldn't see a problem with a having a friend of a differing religious persuasion.

These people who held these views, had to keep them very secret, If they had openly declared these beliefs they would have been tortured and killed for them.  In 1610 a new religious sect appeared, calling themselves Rosicrucians arose in Germany.  The Pamplet The Universal and General Reformation of the Whole Wide World was being circulated - this text told of an individual  had come across the grave of a Christian Rosenkrantz deep in the forest, he found beside the grave, three books that he had written.

The story goes that Christian Rosenkrantz had been born in 1384 and had lived 106 years (almost unheard of in that age) - he wrote about a future vision of paradise in which men believed in a God, or supreme being, who attached no importance to the subtleties of sixteenth - and seventeenth century religious controversies.  This was a God whom people of differing religions could worship - promoting religious tolerantion to all.

Im not sure exactly how much of this I believe is literal, but looking at it as a powerful allegory, the world today with its extremist attitudes of religion and politics need a message of tolerance.  Personally I believe in a God who will never turn his head or face away from any peoples or person, I believe in a very big God - Just and perfect in his actions.  His message is for us to uphold justice and truth, to be forgiving of our own faults and others, but to strive for perfection in attitudes of charity and interpersonal relationships.

That to me is the message of Rosicrucians and of Masonry

Abraxas

Basilides, - the head of the Egyptian Gnostics - constructed a belief of Seven emanations or 'aeons' from the supreme Godhead.  These emanations created the highest of the angels, created a form of heaven for themselves - in turn these angels brought forth lesser angels, until in turn the whole number of Angels reached 365 - (again we can point to many 'mythological' concepts such as Enoch, whose years of life numbered 365 - associated with a solar year)

Basilides believed that over all these emanations, there was a supreme God called Abraxas - whose numerical value (when the name is written in Greek) amounts to 365.  Therefore this God was a type of symbol of the rotation of the Earth around the Sun.

...Incidentally this can be found in the Gods Mithras and Belenus

From Dr Mackey's Encyclopedia - Abdiel

Curious that Dr Mackey should bring up the topic of the blessed angels in his encyclopedia

Abdiel

"Hebrew - the servant of God".  The name of the angel mentioned by the Jewish Kabbalists, one of the seraphim, who when Satan tried to stir up a revolt among the angels, alone and boldly stood against his traitorous designs

"Among the faithless, faithful only he;
Among innumerable false, unmoved,
Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,
His Loyality he kept, his love, his zeal"

Perhaps now I realise why Dr Mackey includes Abdiel, his name and nature is the property of those who are faithful? 

Contessa Perdono

One of the most beautiful Aria's by Brother Mozart, the Countess forgives her husband..and her song flows through the cast, bringing benediction and consolation to all who sing and hear.  Truly Mozart was touched by the divine..may this spirit and aria of forgiveness flow through the earth, to bring strength and comfort to all who need it.

Freemasonry - what do you mean?

It has been often said - and (can be seen traditionally  as a kind of catechism within the craft) that Masonry is: "a peculiar system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols".  What does this mean?

 i - the word peculiar in this sense, means a special form, a code of general moral knowledge based on and derived from the lives of operative stonemasons of ancient times to aid us in our daily living

ii - The moral system employed by the craft is that of an allegorical system, part fact, part legend.

iii - The guiding principles of life are set out in the Masonic code, explained by the moralising of stone masons tools.

Personally I dont think this goes far enough, Masonry's main principles are related to a love of mankind, a real desire to help others in times of need, and a further desire to lead a truthful and moral life.  We are taught that we have three supreme duties - to the Supreme Being, to others, and to further examine ourselves and our attitudes towards life.  These are the supreme challenges that Masonry brings to us -

On a personal note, at times it can be inspiring, at times, I fail - I dont spend the time I should meditating on the sacred mysteries of my VSL, sometimes I make an off-hand comment to members of my family which hurt them, showing my uncharitable nature.  But perhaps the main point is to try, to aspire to be greater than we are, to really learn to examine our lives asd how we relate to others.

The Delphic quote of "Knowing thyself" is very apt

The Best of the Season!

May I wish you all the best of the Season.  I see this as a period of divine reflection, where we each have the chance to examine relationships with our fellow man and our respective God/s.  Today as I type this, I am looking forward to sharing a nice meal with my wife and having a few drinks and perhaps heading to Church, to contemplate the sacred mysteries within my tradition.

Wherever and whoever you are, I raise a Glass to you, I wish you many blessings for this season and for evermore, may your countenance always be in the light and may your heart always know the warmth of love.

Tracing Board - 1st Degree

We dont work the Tracing boards in Ireland, but I use them in my own philosophical, introspective  musings (try saying that with a few drinks!).  The Entered Apprentice is offered these set of symbols to focus their thoughts and guide meditation.

As Dr Lomas states

"The floor represents the physical state, or our material bodies, the lower or material nature.  The sky with it's Sun, Moon and Stars stands for the mind, or intellectual nature.  But the blazing Star, or glory, represents the ultimate spiritual core"

The coming of the "Star Child"

During this Christmas season, I often reflect on my Volume of Sacred Law, which happens to be the Bible (not just the Bible that was handed to us at the time of Nicea - courtesy of the Mithrastic Emperor Constantine).

 It is interesting to note that the concept of the Messiah (which simply means 'anointed' - remember when Samuel anointed Saul, the first king of Israel? - )

"Samuel took a phial of oil and poured ot on Saul's head; he then kissed him and said, 'Has not Yahweh anointed you as leader of his people Israel? You are the man who is to govern Yahweh's people and save them from the power of the enemies surrounding them." - 1st Samuel 9:26-27)

Intensely related to the coming of each Israelite Messiah, was the number 40, this was the symbolic number representing the cycle of the star of Venus - the symbol we as Freemasons hold sacred.  It was like a 'timer' - As Bro. Christopher Knight explains

"For Solomon, the cycle of Venus of precisely 40 years was of paramount importance.  He like the kings before and after him, knew that every important aspect of life was governed by this divine period of 40 years, as is the Old Testament Records" - The Hiram Key Revisited

• Moses led his people through the wilderness for 40 years (from the ripe age of 80 - the beginning of his third Venus cycle, until his death at the age of 120, his third Venus cycle)
• Throughout the Old Testament, Yahweh allows the land to rest for 40 years
• Israel had done evil and Yahweh gave it to an enemy for 40 years
• Eli was judge of Israel for 40 years
• Saul (first king of Israel) became King at age 40 and ruled for exactly 40 years
• King David, Solomon's father, ruled for 40 years

Going back to the Shekinah - this was a brillant star (the same Star saw by the magi at the birth of Jesus, incidently the word 'magi', is where we get the word magic from) that was caused by the planets Venus and Mercury rising in conjunction - from Earth, they overlap and look like a single, extremely bright Star.

"I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there will come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the children of Sheth" - Numbers 24:17

The Shekinah appeared with such brillance, that everyone was impressed and the Jews began to examine who would be the promised Messiah.  The Shekinah - called the 'Star of Bethlehem' by later Christians is described in Matthew 2:1

"Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wide men (magi) from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is he who has been born king of the jews?  For we saw his star when it rose [or in the east] and have come to worship"

Why I created this Blog

The important thing I want to try and portray about the craft is :

Everything we do inside the lodge is about friendship, brotherhood and love, we sit together as brethern, communicating with each of our God's seperately, yet together, we care for the nameless-faceless individuals outside lodge, through charity. We enjoy being family, helping each other through times of difficulty and celebrating in times of success

 

The Anti-Masons dont understand this, I believe we hold the greatest secret of all - how to live a happy, peaceful contented life - its called Tolerance.

The Shekinah, the presence of God

The Shekhinah, the prescence or dwelling of God. This is grammatically feminine and therefore represents the female aspects of God. It was the cloud (Shakhan) in which God represented his/her self to the Hebrews, it was used in the standard Jewish blessings each sabbath in the Temple of Jerusalem

"May he who causes His name to dwell (shochan) in this house, cause to dwell among you, love and brotherliness, peace and friendship"

The place that housed the Shekinah, was seen as a direct communication to the divine (much like the function of the Egyptian Pyramids)

This was the basis of Solomon wanting to create a Temple worthy of housing the presence of God, to finish what his father David wanted to construct (but could not, as he was a warrior king and his hands were stained with blood)

The Shekhinah did not have to dwell in a physical location, but in the Talmud it was stated that "where 10 gathered together in prayer - the Shekinah would appear as well" - much like Jesus proclaiming "Where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my name, there I shall be also"

Egyptian Sacred Geometry

Why do we look at some Egyptian representations on Masonic Temples?

May I submit this for edification - may it be the fact that we are looking at the sacred Geometry in Egyptian temples.  If you research the throne of the Hegemon, we see a cube, apparently measuring 5 hands equally (on each side), perhaps linking to the 5 elements.

The Throne is the standard from which all geometric buildings such as Solomon's Temple derive from.  Imhotep was the first builder to realise that this calculation yielded a stable structure.
There are deeper meanings within the Golden Section, such as the relationship between Isis, Ra and Osiris, the generation of the 3rd unique entity from two distinct entities - also look at Pythagoras for this (47th proposition of Elucid), this then expresses the mysteries of Ra-Hoor-Khuit.

The Purpose of Ritual - is it an enlightening process?

What is the purpose of ritual within Freemasonry?, why do we as human beings need a seemingly repetitive system?. 

Ritual is described as "A set of actions performed for their symbolic value".  Ritual can be created through religious directives or social traditions.  But it should be clear that meaningful ritual has a serious and beneficial content behind the rich symbolism. 

As Julian Rees states in regards to Freemasonry:

"If we examine the ritual forms which we have inherited, we discover that much of the Spiritual content remains.  We discover that all the way through our ceremonies we are encouraged to research our inner selves.  Wherever we look in masonic ritual, the constant theme is one of knowing who and where I am, and knowing  my true relationship to my fellowman and the universe I inhabit"

Recently I have been confronted with several Brethern and non-brethern who dont think there is any real significance to what, we as Masons do in lodge. This can be easily countered by pointing out everything that we do in lodge has tremendous significance - from the fraternal friendship displayed, to the giving of alms, the dedications to the G.A.O.T.U. displaying the practical values of faith, hope and charity.

However delving into the ritualistic aspects of Freemasonry, I do believe there is great significance to the individual participating and watching within the lodge.  Tracing the possibility that Freemasonry comes from the ancient mystery schools, Julian Rees continues -

"The Mysteries were schools, which provided the gateway to the non-material realms, and to the knowledge of the natural laws operating in them.  They existed for the satisfaction for those who wished to know more, those who wished to understand divinity, directly for themselves.  How did they do this? Incorporated in the practice of ancient Mysteries were a process of initiations, a process directly comparable with Masonic initiation"

Burning Volumes of Sacred Law

Does the title of this post outrage you?

It should in my opinion - don't worry, Im not talking about noble Freemasons burning VSL's in or outside their lodges.  Im talking about a paticular individual who has gained 'celebrity' by threatening to burn The Koran.  Im not a Moslem - sometimes I wonder if I can categorise myself as anything, but think it's wrong for anyone to destroy any work that is held sacred by my brother.

Yes Virgina, there is a Santa Clause

As we reach closer to the sacred and fun period Christmas, all of us have to admitt that we all still await the visit of that fat, jolly figure - the encapsulation of the warmth of human feeling, of Charity and wonder - Father Christmas.  It doesn't matter what age you are, what your personal beliefs are - we all believe in Santa, Father Christmas, Pere Noel, Kris Kringle.

In my home, my wife goes mad for Christmas, she puts up the tree, decorates it beautifully and places all sorts of images of this jolly icon around our house.  We have Santa playing the saxaphone, Santa hanging off the tree, Santa sitting on the Roof of a house - ready to deliver presents to one household.  Beside the DVD player, we have Raymond Brigg's Father Christmas cartoon, Tim Allen in 'The Santa Clause' (and yep, we have all the sequels!) and The original classic of the 80's 'Santa Clause The Movie ' with Dudley Moore.

Every year I read the Editor of the New York Sun's response to a little girl called Virgina
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes,_Virginia,_there_is_a_Santa_Claus - explains what I'm talking about, if you have never heard of it.

It's a marvelous thing to watch the magic of Christmas unfold, but its a magic that you have to let into your heart  - this is the one time of the year where we all feel that we can be that better person, we have always dreamed of becoming .  As the editor of the New York Sun stated:

"No Santa Claus!, Thank God he lives and lives forever.  A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood"

My Heart believes in Santa Claus - does yours?

Morals and Dogma - Chapter 2 continued

"In your studies as a Fellow-craft you must be guided by REASON, LOVE and FAITH"

Wise Bro. Pike expounds these as the 'bed-rock' of human existence and indeed the basis for all practical knowledge. To me each of these aspects of human moral character can be seen as gifts from the divine.  We have reason to help us understand the world around us, the greatest exponant of Reason perhaps being either Geometry or Retoric (two of the seven Liberal arts, as far as I remember).  Geometry to help create and understand the mystical connection between 'idea', 'design' and practical creation, Retoric to explain concepts and project our ideas to others, Retoric helps us explain, so others can collaborate - and perhaps be similarly inspired.

Love, as is poetically put by C.S. Lewis - "A Reassurance for man to know that he is not alone".  None of us would want to live without this gift, this is the gift that brings forth the noble charitable aspects of man, this gift gives us hope and strength - as does th gift of Faith.  Everything we do in and out of lodge should be motivated by love, our fraternal bond is the purest expression of brotherly love that we can express.  Think of it this way, in lodge we sit with a wide range of people, people similiar and people incredibly different, yet we all have common accord.  In Belfast we are lucky enough to have an active 'festive board' period after lodge, heading out for a steak dinner or an Indian, EVERYONE looks forward to these events, we all sit round and enjoy our company, catching up with Brethern, chatting and sharing all that has happened in the last month.

A Festive Board to me is a family occasion, If  may be so crass to share a personal aside - My concept of creation is not just of an impersonal Geometrician, as some imply of  Masonry (I personally believe that Masonry through it's teaching expounds a personal deity, interested in his creation - hence why, I call all these aspects celestial gifts), I believe, from my Christian context, that creation began from the love emanating from the Father to the Son and to the Spirit, through this joy, laughter and love, creation began.

Morals and Dogma - Chapter 2 The Fellow-craft degree

"Masonry, successor of the Mysteries, still follows the ancient manner of teaching.  Her ceremonies are like ancient mystic shows - not the reading of an essay, but the opening of the problem, requiring research, and constituting philosophy the arch-expounder.  Her symbols are the instruction she gives.  The lectures are endeavors , often partial and one-sided to interpret these symbols.  He who would become an accomplished Mason must not be content merely to hear, or even to understand the lectures; he must aided by them, and they having, as it were, marked out the way for him, study, interpret, and develop these symbols for himself  "

So begins the second chapter of Bro. Pike's Morals and Dogma - reading and re-reading this paragraph, it still resonates deeply.  Bro. Pike proclaims Freemasonry as the natural successor to the ancient mystery schools of Pythagoras, the Essenes, the rites of the Egyptians..that Freemasonry is influenced by the very fabric of social history - a history that gave us scientific breakthrough and new spiritual outlooks.

Bro. Pike looks at how the teachings of the ancient mysteries have changed since many of their teachings left Egypt and how these mysteries have been transplanted into various nations througout the earth, changing some of their essence and mis-translating or potentially losing their key messages.

Bro. Pike ascerts the original messages of the ancient mystery schools were:

"It was but a development of the original purpose of the Mysteries, which was to teach men to know and practice their duties to themselves and their fellows, the great practical end of all philosophy and knowledge"

The practical end of these duties seem to be the freedom of man in thought, word and deed, a freedom against the tyranny of spirit, which can easy overcome us - if we for one moment see ourselves as mere 'drones' of the system. My friends you are a free person, free to think and feel whatever you wish - this is the most precious truth of existence, this makes you conscious of your duties regarding choices in life.  If you were not free in a personal and indeed theological sense, you would have no real duty, for choice would not exist - and life is meaningless.

"Truths are the springs from which duties flow; and it is but a few hundred years since a new Truth began to be distinctly seen.  That MAN IS SUPREME OVER INSTITUTIONS, AND NOT THEY OVER HIM.  Man has natural empire over all institutions.  They are for him, acording to his development; not he for them."

"Once revealed , it imposed new duties on men.  Men owed it to himself to be free.  He owed it to his country to seek to give her freedom, or maintain her in that possession.  It made Tyranny and Usurpation the enemies of the Human Race.  It created a general outlawry of Despots and Despotisms, temporal and spiritual.  The sphere of duty had increased.  Patriotism had, henceforth, a new wider meaning.  Free Government, Free Thought, Free Conscience, Free Speech!"

Morals and Dogma - Chapter 1 continued..

One of the most interesting aspects for the first time readers of this chapter is the emphasis that Pike places on Kabbalistic teaching.

"YOD is, in the Kabbalah, the symbol of unity, of the supreme deity, the first letter of the Holy name; and also a symbol of the great Kabbalistic triads.  To understand its mystic meanings , you must open the pages of the Sophar and Siphra de Zeniutha, and other Kabbalistic books, and ponder deeply upon their meaning. "

So what is the linkage between Freemasonry and the Kabbalah? - there have been several Masonic writers who draw parallels between Masonry and Kabbalistic teaching - Bro. Schwartz of New Jersey states

"There is no doubt that there is a confluence between Freemasonry and the Hebrew religion"

This seems a logical statement since Freemasonry has its major motif of King Solomon's Temple.  But what of the Kabbalah?

"Kabbalistic speculation and doctrine is concerned with the realm of divine emanations or Sefiroth, in which God's creative power unfolds" - Gershom Scholem

Charles Ponce asserts that the Sefiroth and En-Sof are the major concepts in the Kabbalah, Ein-Sof meaning 'without end' - the Sefiroth are the ten points of light emanating from Ein-Sof (God).  Ponce also looks at the Merkabah - the 'myth' of the chariot throne of God, which can be reached by knowing the correct words to go through the various celestial chambers - much like the Freemason needing to know the certain words to facilitate his entrance into the lodge at various levels.

"The Kabbalists believe that the transmission of the name of God from master to pupil is part of the rites of initiation.  The newly-raised brother  also recieves a word in a certain manner, which is never used in normal conversation. "

Morals and Dogma - Chapter 1 Entered Apprentice

Lets get this out of the way - Pike wasn't anti-relgious, any anti-mason worth his or her salt, would pick up Morals and Dogma, read at least the first chapter and come away with the fact that Pike was a Deist.

Pike (and Mackey) were geniuses, they lived in a time were little was known about the craft and no reliable historical information was available.  They were both serious researchers into the craft, and Pike could be credited with expanding the Scottish Rite in the Southern Juristiction.

This Chapter looks first at the use of the Gavel and Rule within the individual and society itself, Taking the operative mason could not just bang away at the stone with brute force, hoping that the statue would take form, he applies this in a broader speculative sense to society

"The force of the people, or the popular will, in action and exerted , symbolised by the gavel , regulated and guided by and acting within the limits of law and order; symbolised by the 24-inch rule; has for it's fruit Liberty, Equality and Fraternity - liberty regulated by law; equality for rights in the eye of the law; brotherhood with its duties and obligations as well as its benefits ."

Looking at the moral message of the ashlar stone in the context of politics he states:

"The rough ashlar is the people, as a mass, rude and unorganised.  The perfect ashlar is the state, the rulers derived their powers from the consent of the governed; the constitution and the laws speaking the will of the people; the government harmonious, symmetrical, efficient"

Pike also addresses the point that Freemasonry is not a religion, but has religious aspects, or perhaps more properly seemingly religious aspects -

"Though Freemasonry neither usurps the place of , nor apes religion, prayer is an essential part of our ceremonies.  It is the aspiration of the soul of the soul towards the Absolute and Infinite intellegence, which is the one supreme deity"

Why do I say that prayer is 'seemingly' religious?, let me share something personal with you.  I at times, have great difficultly reconciling my personally held 'religious' beliefs with the events that happen in my life, however even a times of this doubt, I still direct my thoughts to God - leaving theology aside, I simply ask for his help.  Therefore prayer to me, as an individual is not a 'religious trapping' but a deeply personal point of contact with the Architect.

Pike continues:

"To deny the efficacy of prayer is to deny that of Faith, Love and Effort.  Yet these effects produced, when our hand, moved by our will, launches a pebble into the ocean, never cease; and every uttered word is registered for eternity upon the invisible air"

What is an initiate?

When I talk to my wife about going for my 'next degree' or meeting a new initiate, these words roll off my tongue quite easily, yet my wife looks at me with a puzzled expression, an expression I soon adopted, when I asked myself "What is initiation?".

Initiation in its simplist sense - is being shown something by someone 'in the know', taking this in an operative masonic sense, it was being taught geometry by the tools of the trade, creating something solid from abstract ideas (this is the real understanding of the term magic - not most tosh spouted by occultists).

As Dr Lomas says:

"If your level of perception could be changed, if you could be raised up in awareness and understanding things in the upper world"

(The upper world in this instance meaning - opening intellectual and spiritual awareness beyond our current parochial climate.)

Initiation can teach you that there is infinitely more 'out there' than you know currently, it gives you a taste that you can explore uncharted intellectual and spiritual waters through reason and intellect.  It gives you the tools to earnestly explore the inner nature of YOU and how you can become a more 'rounded' individual.