SEEKING ENLIGHTENMENT by llkkl

SEEKING ENLIGHTENMENT RESEARCH, CONSULTED TEXTS AND WORK

Aaron Vergult

SEEKING ENLIGHTENMENT RESEARCH, CONSULTED TEXTS AND WORK

Aaron Vergult

The whole secret of mysticism is this:

That man can understand everything by the help of what he does not understand.

G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, p. 33

INDEX

INTRODUCTION

8 VOORWOORD 13 DE GEHEIME WERELD VAN DE VRIJMETSELARIJ

HISTORY: DEFINING FREEMASONRY

40 ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD FREE-MASON 44 THE NATURE AND PURPOSE OF FREEMASONRY 50 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FREEMASONRY 54 THE TWO-FOLD NATURE OF FREEMASONRY 62 HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS: THE REAL OBJECTIVE OF FREEMASONRY 64 THE DECEPTIVE NATURE OF BLUE LODGE SYMBOLISM 67 THE SEXUAL MEANINGS OF MASONIC SYMBOLS

70 THE OCCULT MEANING OF THE FIVE-POINTED STAR 74 HANDSHAKES, PASSWORDS & SIGNS

INDEX

FREEMASONRY’S ANCIENT BELIEF AND WISDOM

84 KNOW THYSELF 86 THE LAW OF DUALITY 88 AS ABOVE, SO BELOW 90 THREE GRAND COLUMNS

HOAXES, SATANISM & OTHER

100 THE TAXIL HOAX 104 AN INDEPTH DOCUMENTARY: EXPOSING THE PHILOSOPHY & VAIN DECEIT OF ZEITGEIST, PART ONE. 108 DEVIL WORSHIP IN FRANCE 117 UNDERCOVER FREEMASON FOOTAGE SATANIC RITUAL IN ISTANBUL 124 CONTROVERSIAL PUBLICATIONS

CONTRIBUTION

128 A SELECTION OF NON-EXHIBITED WORK AND STUDIES 142 BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

VOORWOORD

Voorwoord

In september 2014 begon ik een onderzoek rondom onze ervaringen met een mysterie. Ik had een aantal boeken aangekocht die reflecteren rondom de grootste mysteries die de mensheid begeesteren. Mijn eerste vraagstelling ging over de eerste bevolkingen op de aarde, waaronder de SoemeriĂŤrs en de Egyptenaren mijn grootste aandacht troffen. Ik heb een sterke interesse ontwikkeld voor de architectuur, rituelen en symboliek van deze beschavingen. Het was echter ergens in december dat ik in aanraking kwam met een meer hedendaagse uitwerking van deze aspecten, namelijk de vrijmetselarij. In mijn onderzoek kwam ik al snel tot de conclusie

INTRODUCTION

dat de vrijmetselarij vaag en mysterieus in beeld wordt gebracht, omdat de symboliek, rituelen en eigenlijke doelstelling vaak verkeerd worden begrepen. Het woord ‘Vrijmetselarij’ roept daarbij heel wat krachtige en sterk geladen reacties op. In heel Europa hebben kerk en staat de vrijmetselarij steeds met de grootste argwaan bekeken. Vrijmetselaars worden van corruptie beschuldigd; door de aanhangers van complottheorieën geassocieerd met het wereldjodendom, als bron van alle kwaad; en al eeuwenlang door de katholieke kerk krachtig veroordeeld De spanning tussen goed en slecht, wantrouwen en geborgenheid, open- en geslotenheid, elitarisme en toegankelijkheid zorgen ervoor dat de vrijmetselarij steeds fel gecontesteerd is geweest. Deze agitatie wordt nog meer geaccentueerd door de opkomst van internet en allerlei media en fora waar naar hartenlust persoonlijke – soms heel intieme informatie – openbaar wordt gemaakt. De inkijk in het persoonlijk leven – die ons door o.a. facebook

VOORWOORD

wordt aangeboden – staat in schril contrast tot de beslotenheid van de vrijmetselarij. Naar aanleiding van de verschillende complottheorieën en misopvattingen besloot ik een extensief onderzoek te doen in de vrijmetselarij om een duidelijke kennis te bezitten. Ik heb mezelf onder andere aangemeld om bij een loge in Antwerpen lid te worden. Hoewel ik geen directe familieleden heb die lid zijn van de loge, werd ik toch aangenomen. Op dat moment had ik het idee dat dit mijn werk kan beïnvloeden, en me niet meer kan profileren als de buitenstaander. Vervolgens trok ik in februari naar Malaga om via een kennis met een ex-vrijmetselaar in contact te komen. Door dit gesprek kwam ik tot de conclusie dat vrijmetselarij op verschillende manieren beleefd kan worden, zelfs als men geen lid (meer) is. Het daaropvolgend onderzoek bestond voornamelijk vanuit het internet. Ik was voornamelijk bezig met het bekijken van documentaires, zowel over hedendaagse

INTRODUCTION

complottheorieĂŤn op youtube, maar ook documentaires uitgegeven door Grootloges. Daarnaast bezocht ik dagelijks websites die schreven over vrijmetselarij vanuit verschillende contrasterende standpunten. - Aaron Vergult

INTRODUCTION

De Geheime Wereld van de Vrijmetselarij Aaron Vergult & Julien Borremans

Het woord ‘Vrijmetselarij’ roept heel wat krachtige en sterk geladen reacties op. Dat is niet verwonderlijk, want in heel Europa hebben kerk en staat de vrijmetselarij steeds met de grootste argwaan bekeken. Vrijmetselaars worden van corruptie beschuldigd; door de aanhangers van complottheorieën geassocieerd met het wereldjodendom, als bron van alle kwaad; en al eeuwenlang door de katholieke kerk krachtig veroordeeld. Veel historici menen echter dat de vrijmetselarij een belangrijke rol heeft gespeeld in het tot stand komen van de Amerikaanse grondwet, een mijlpaal in de geschiedenis van de democratie. De Vrijmetselarij zou een prominente rol hebben gespeeld bij het tot stand komen van de eenheid van Italië en bij de bevrijding van de ZuidAmerikaanse staten. Ze zou een cruciale inbreng in de wording van de Europese cultuur hebben gehad, door de borging van de werken van Goethe, Mozart en Beethoven. Over de ontstaansgeschiedenis van de vrijmetselarij is heel wat te doen. Volgens Tim Wallace-Murphy – auteur, historicus en vrijmetselaar – duiden de mythen, rituelen en tradities op een oudtestamentische oorsprong en voeren terug op de verhalen over de bouw van de tempel door Salomo en het oude Egypte. Volgens de auteur is er nog een andere ontstaansgeschiedenis, die teruggaat naar de gilden van de vrije metselaars in de middeleeuwen. Deze gilden bewogen zich vrij van het de ene bouwwerf naar de andere. Terwijl deze letterlijk bouwden aan een perfecte kathedraal, ter ere van God, zien de huidige vrijmetselaars zich als symbolische bouwers aan een perfecte mensheid.

DE GEHEIME WERELD VAN DE VRIJMETSELARIJ

VRIJMETSELARIJ ALS BEWEGING

Boven: Passer met winkelhaak, al dan niet met de letter G in het midden, is het universele symbool van de vrijmestelarij

De Grootloge van België omschrijft de vrijmetselarij als “een universeel genootschap met als oogmerk de broederlijkheid onder de mensen, de vervolmaking van de mens en de vooruitgang van de mensheid. De vrijmetselarij aanvaardt geen enkele discriminatie onder de mensen. Het werk van de vrijmetselarij rust op de inwijdingsarbeid van haar leden. De inwijding gebeurt in traditionele rituelen met symbolen, en is gebaseerd op broederliefde. Vrijmetselaars interpreteren deze symbolen vrij. Deze inwijding gebeurt in loges. De vrijmetselarij stelt geen grenzen aan de het zoeken naar de waarheid. Zij waarborgt aan al haar leden de volledige vrijheid van denken en overtuiging. Vrijmetselaars onthouden zich in de loge van elke polemiek, in het bijzonder van politieke of godsdienstige aard.

Wat voor een beweging is de vrijmetselarij eigenlijk? De talloze controverses en mysterieuze gebruiken van hun spirituele voorgangers, de tempeliers, leiden maar al te vaak de aandacht af van het feit dat vrijmetselaars beschikken over een bron van kennis en inzicht die beschouwd kan worden als de belangrijkste en de oudste nog bestaande stroming in de westerse esoterische traditie. Professor Theodore Roszak van The California State University omschreef deze beweging als: “waarschijnlijk de belangrijkste, vindingrijkste en invloedrijkste spirituele traditie in de westerse cultuur. Als zodanig is zij van groot invloed geweest op kathedralenbouwers, kerkleraren, wijsgeren, schrijvers (waaronder Shakespeare, Goethe…) en kunstenaars (waaronder uomini universale als Leonardo da Vinci en Michelangelo). Gedurende tweeduizend jaar had zij indirect invloed op het westerse christendom. De vrijmetselarij stond tevens aan de wieg van de alchemie en de moderne wetenschap. Volgens Tim Wallace-Murphy is voldoende continuïteit om van een traditie te spreken. Maar we moeten deze wel beschouwen als “een dynamische, zich wijd vertakkende, moeilijk te definiëren en zich voortdurend vernieuwende traditie, die zich meestal aan onze directe waarneming onttrekt en alleen aan zijn vruchten kan gekend worden.” Deze dynamische traditie heeft haar oorsprong in de mystieke leer van het Bijbelse Israël en het oude Egypte. Zij kon openlijk tot bloei komen in het oude Griekenland en tijdens het tolerante regime van het Romeinse rijk. Toen het Europese christendom opkwam, werd deze traditie gedwongen zich ondergronds voort te zetten. Volgens Jimmy Koppen is de vrijmetselarij geen religie, geen sekte, noch een serviceclub, ook geen occult genootschap of een politieke pressiegroep, laat staan een internationale organisatie of een bouwonderneming. Vrijmetselarij is een cultureel gegeven. Het is de verzamelnaam voor een groep van mensen die streven naar een betere wereld. Om dat te kunnen bereiken, moeten de leden eerste zichzelf leren kennen en openstaan voor nieuwe kennis. Om tot die zelfontplooiing te komen ontmoeten vrijmetselaars elkaar als broeders op regelmatige tijdstippen in een afgesloten ruimte die ze ‘tempel’ noemen.

INTRODUCTION

Vrijmetselaar wordt je door inwijding. Je komt samen in een de loge waar je aan de hand van symbolen en rituelen tot zelfkennis kan komen.

GEHEIM GENOOTSCHAP De vrijmetselarij is elitair, omdat het vooral een intellectueel gebeuren is. Niettegenstaande er tal van pogingen zijn ondernomen om alle lagen van de bevolking aan te spreken, moet een kandidaat die tot een werkplek wil toetreden, over een aantal kwaliteiten beschikken: een zekere intellectuele achtergrond en/of een grote algemene kennis; de bereidheid zich open te stellen voor nieuwe kennis; er tijd voor maken; het betalen van het lidmaatschapsgeld en het dragen van de kosten van de regalia en van speciale activiteiten, zoals banketten.

Vrijmetselaars omschrijven hun genootschap als discreet tot zeer discreet, maar in de praktijk komt het er op neer dat het een broederschap met geheimen is. Deze geslotenheid garandeert de integriteit van de leden en zorgt – hoe paradoxaal dat ook mag klinken – voor een grote openheid. Achter gesloten deuren kan immers alles gezegd en gedacht worden, met uitzonderling van politieke en religieuze thema’s. Bepaalde herkenningstekens behoren tot dat geheim. Leden van een loge kunnen elkaar in het openbaar herkennen door een bepaalde handdruk te geven of door andere aanrakingen, zoals een schouderklopje. Ook het uitwisselen van wachtwoorden kan helpen. Het maçonnieke geheim is een vlag die vele ladingen dekt. In feite wordt er van een vrijmetselaar verwacht dat hij zeker drie zaken voor zichzelf houdt: 1. Je mag buiten de werkplaats jouw broeders of zusters niet openlijk vrijmetselaar noemen. Je mag natuurlijk op eigen titel spreken. 2. Adressen van de tempels en de agenda van de bijeenkomsten zijn alleen bij ingewijden bekend. 3. De rituelen en typische maçonnieke gebruiken worden niet openbaar gemaakt. Het inwijdingsritueel is immers een erg emotioneel geladen moment, waarover het best niet in het openbaar wordt gepraat.

DE GEHEIME WERELD VAN DE VRIJMETSELARIJ In 1717 ontstond de vrijmetselarij in haar huidige vorm in London, toen vier loges er de eerste Grootloge oprichten. Overal ter wereld werd dit voorbeeld gevolgd. De Grand Lodge of England profileerde zich als een ‘Moederloge’. Zij stippelde min of meer de lijnen uit waartussen andere loges en obediënties zich moesten bewegen. In ruil daarvoor werden ze door London erkend als echte vrijmetselarij. Om erkend te worden, moeten de obediënties zich houden aan een aantal basisregels, zoals dat in 1929 vastgelegd in de Basic Principles of Grand Lodge Recognition: De loges en de obediëntie werken ter ere van de Opperbouwmeester van het Heelal. Vrijmetselarij staat enkel open voor mannen. Zittingen van politieke of religieuze aard zijn strikt verboden. Er is maar een obediëntie per nationaal gebied. De eedaflegging gebeurt op ‘het Boek van de Heilige Wet’. In de meeste gevallen is dit de Bijbel.

HET GEDACHTENGOED VAN DE VRIJMETSELARIJ Het merendeel van de geheime en internationale genootschappen zijn gefundeerd op idealisme, optimisme en goede bedoelingen. In hoeverre zijn deze principes door de tand des tijds doorstaan? Jimmy Koppen is duidelijk: “In de loop van driehonderd jaar hebben de principes en de filosofie van de vrijmetselarij wonderwel alle stormen doorstaan: aanvallen van de katholieke kerk en totalitaire regimes, onderdrukking door plaatselijke autoriteiten, intimidaties en vooroordelen. Maar ook ernstige interne meningsverschillen hebben weinig of niets kunnen veranderen.”

INTRODUCTION Verschillende stromingen Binnen de vrijmetselarij wordt onderscheid gemaakt tussen de Angelsaksische en de Latijnse strekking. Sommigen vinden dat onvoldoende en vermelden vijf grote stromingen: 1. De Angelsaksische vrijmetselarij is de meest verspreide vorm. Ze onderschrijft duidelijk het geloof in de Opperbouwmeester van het Heelal en in de openbaring van zijn wil. 2. De christelijke vrijmetselarij sluit nauw aan bij het protestantisme. De vorm is vooral in Scandinavië en een aantal streken in Duitsland terug te vinden. 3. In de esoterische vrijmetselarij zijn rituelen en symbolen van doorslaggevend belang. Er zijn banden met de rozenkruisers, het kabbalisme en alchemie. 4. Bij de liberaal-symbolische vrijmetselarij zijn de rituelen een illustratie van het geloof in de vooruitgang. 5. De agnostische vrijmetselarij stelt de mens centraal. Loges engageren zich openlijk of indirect in maatschappelijke thema’s. Het godsbeginsel is hier van bijkomstig belang. In België kan je zowel de vierde als de vijfde stroming loges vinden.

Volgens de auteur kan je de vrijmetselarij omschrijven als een verbond tussen vrije mensen, van alle rassen en leeftijden en met uiteenlopende maatschappelijke en filosofische achtergronden. “Via traditie, symboliek en ceremonies, en met zoveel mogelijk discretie, wordt de maçonnieke ideologie overgebracht.” De vrijmetselarij kent een aantal basisprincipes. We nemen ze even door: Broederliefde: vrijmetselaars spreken elkaar aan met ‘broeder’ aanspreken, bedoelen ze daarmee dat ze – ondanks de grote verschillen – elkaar als gelijke ervaren. Onderlinge bijstand: in tijden van nood staan de vrijmetselaars elkaar bij. Waarheid: een vrijmetselaar is steeds op zoek naar antwoorden op vragen die hij zich stelt over moraliteit, rechtvaardigheid en ethiek. Dé waarheid bestaat dus niet. Je moet steeds kritisch blijven en bereid zijn je mening en zelfs overtuiging aan te passen. Ontmoeting: het is niet alleen een essentieel kenmerk van de vrijmetselarij, maar het is ook één van de hoofdredenen waarom mensen tot een loge wensen toe te treden. Kandidaten zoeken in een loge een vorm van geborgenheid, die ze in het gewone leven moeilijker kunnen vinden. Initiatie: je wordt nooit zomaar lid. Je wordt ingewijd. De ceremonie – waarmee je in een maçonnieke werkplaats wordt opgenomen – is ronduit indrukwekkend. Deze ceremonie gaat gepaard met veel symboliek, rituelen en allegorieën. Deze moeten op een begrijpelijke manier de boodschap overbrengen. Symbolen op zich zijn niet belangrijk, maar wel de verandering in het denkproces dat daardoor wordt veroorzaakt.

DE GEHEIME WERELD VAN DE VRIJMETSELARIJ

De Amerikaanse President Theodore Roosevelt (1858 – 1919) is vooral gekend omdat de teddybeer naar hem werd genoemd. Roosevelt stak niet onder stoelen of banken dat hij vrijmetselaar was. Tijdens zijn presidentschap bezocht hij in september 1908 zijn oude New Yorkse loge Matinecock 806. Op dat moment was zijn tuinman Achtbare Meester, terwijl hijzelf als ‘gewoon’ vrijmetselaar mocht aanschuiven. Wat in het gewone leven onmogelijk was, kon perfect in de loge. De tuinman en de president leefden in het gewone leven in twee verschillende werelden, maar konden elkaar in de loge – waar de sociale verschillen werden opzijgezet – ontmoeten.

De vrijmetselarij kent een enorm aantal religieuze elementen. Dit zijn de meest opvallende:

Boven: The Ancient of Days, (William Blake, 1794) wordt vaak gebruikt door vrijmetselaars als afbeelding van De Opperbouwmeester van het Heelal. ( Eng: The Grand Architect of the Universe)

De Opperbouwmeester van het Heelal. Een vrijmetselaar gelooft in het algemeen in een opperwezen. Of het nu om God de Vader, Allah of Jahweh gaat, is van minder belang. Gebruik van symboliek en legendes die verwijzen naar de Bijbel, in het bijzonder het Oude Testament. De Hiram-legende is belangrijk in de maçonnieke legende. Ook de lichtsymboliek kan aan de Bijbel doen denken. Heel wat loges worden ook ‘Sint-Jansloges’ genoemd. Dit verwijst naar de patroonheiligen van de vrijmetselaars, Johannes De Doper en Johannes de Evangelist.

INTRODUCTION

In de vrijmetselarij wordt vaak gebruik gemaakt van een aparte jaartelling. De maçonnieke kalender begint 4000 jaar voor Christus. De Ierse bisschop James Ussher berekende in de zeventiende eeuw dat God de wereld had geschapen op de avond van 22 of 23 oktober 4004 voor Christus. Vrijmetselaars ronden dit jaartal naar beneden af. Volgens de vrijmetselaars leven wij momenteel in het jaar 6015.

Boven: afbeelding van De Drie Grote Lichten met een passer en winkelhaak op een geopende Bijbel.

De Drie Grote Lichten staan symbool voor de drie voorwerpen die de geest verlichten. Het gaat om een soort lessenaar waar een passer en een winkelhaak op een geopende Bijbel liggen. De Bijbel ligt open op het eerste hoofdstuk van het Evangelie van Johannes. Vrijmetselarij is geen religie, ondanks alle verwijzingen naar God en de Bijbel. Een maçonnieke bijeenkomst is geen religieuze dienst. De Opperbouwmeester van het Heelal is niet de Bijbelse God. Hij is een abstract begrip, dat iedere ingewijde naar believen kan invullen. Binnen de reguliere vrijmetselarij wordt van de leden verwacht dat ze geloven. In de irreguliere werkplaatsen ontbreekt vaak iedere verwijzing naar de Opperbouwmeester. In België werden in de negentiende eeuw – naar aanleiding van slepende conflicten tussen de vrijmetselarij en het katholicisme – alle verwijzingen naar de Opperbouwmeester uit de statuten geschrapt. In de twintigste eeuw werd het aandeel atheïsten in de werkplaatsen groot.

DE ORGANISATIE VAN DE VRIJMETSELARIJ Voor de vrijmetselarij krijgt de loge twee invullingen. Enerzijds gaat het om de plek waar de leden op regelmatige basis samenkomen. Deze samenkomsten worden ook ‘zittingen’ genoemd. Tijdens de zittingen wordt er maçonnieke arbeid verricht. Leden luisteren dan naar voordrachten of ‘bouwstukken’. Anderzijds verwijst de loge naar de naam van de vereniging waarbij de vrijmetselaar is aangesloten, bijvoorbeeld Asua,, Loge aan de stroom, LCL Antwerpen.

DE GEHEIME WERELD VAN DE VRIJMETSELARIJ ‘Loge’ verwijst naar het Engelse ‘Lodge’ of ‘bouwloods’. In de oorspronkelijke betekenis is dit de ruimte op de bouwwerf van de middeleeuwse kathedraal waar de architecten en de bouwmeesters zich terugtrokken, waar de plannen werden besproken en de ideeën uitgewisseld. In de vrijmetselarij heeft iedere loge, werkplaats of atelier een specifieke naam en vestigingsplaats of ‘Oosten’. Deze wordt meestal voorafgegaan door een eigen nummer. Achter de term ‘tempel’ moet geen religieuze betekenis worden gezocht. De tempel duidt enkel op een sacrale of symbolisch geladen plek waar de loge samenkomt. Vrijmetselaars bouwen op een spirituele en filosofische manier aan de Tempel, die hier symbool staat voor de mensheid.

Boven: Layout van de Tempel van Salomo

De indeling van de Tempel van Salomo vind je ook terug in de praktische indeling van een hedendaagse maçonnieke werkplaats. Er kunnen zich wel een aantal verschillen voordoen, maar doorgaans merk je wel dat je je in een maçonnieke tempel bevindt. Een ander kenmerk van de loges bestaat erin dat ze niet hiërarchisch zijn gestructureerd.

INTRODUCTION

Iedere maçonnieke werkplaats heeft een aantal leidende figuren die er nauwgezet op toezien dat de regels punctueel worden opgevolgd. De bestuursleden van een loge worden ‘officieren-Dignitarissen’ genoemd. Hiërarchisch gezien staan zij niet boven de ‘gewone’ leerlingen, gezellen en meesters. Ze blijven elkaars gelijke. Wel voeren ze een aantal praktische en administratieve taken uit. Je kan maar pas van een bestuur deel uitmaken, na het behalen van een meestergraad. Een vrijmetselaarsloge bestaat uit minstens zeven leden. Gemiddeld telt een atelier dertig à veertig ingewijden. De dignitarissen hebben een aantal typische, uiterlijke kenmerken. In de Nederlandse en Belgische werkplaatsen dragen ze een stoffen kraagband of cordon, waaraan een kenteken of juweel wordt bevestigd. Dit juweel of bijou verschilt van Officier tot Officier. We gaan ze hier niet allemaal behandelen. Dat zou ons te ver leiden, maar toch enkele:

Het juweel van de Voorzittend of Achtbare Meester.

Het juweel van de Eerste Opziener.

De Voorzittend of Achtbare Meester – ‘den Achtbare’ in Vlaanderen – bevindt zich centraal aan de oostzijde van de tempel, vaak gezeten op de grootste en meest indrukwekkende zetel van allemaal. De voorzitter moet ervoor zorgen dat de leden tevreden zijn, dat de doelstellingen van de vereniging worden nageleefd en dat alles vlot verloopt. De voorzitter waakt over het correct toepassen van de reglementen en statuten. De bijeenkomsten worden door hem geleid. Het juweel van de voorzitter is een winkelhaak, die wordt gebruikt om hoeken van 90° te construeren. De winkelhaak gaat na of iets ‘recht’ of ‘correct’ is. Het staat daarmee symbool voor de deugd. Tevens beschikt de voorzitter over een moker en een zwaard, respectievelijk het symbool van de wereldlijke en geestelijke macht. De Eerste Opziener assisteert de Voorzitter. In sommige werkplaatsen kan hij zelf optreden als vicevoorzitter. In dat geval is hij de geknipte persoon om de voorzitter na diens periode op te volgen. De Eerste Opzichter draagt de verantwoordelijkheid voor de zuiderkolom. Hij is met andere woorden het aanspreekpunt voor de gezellen. Het is mogelijk dat de Eerste Opziener bijeenkomsten belegt waarbij enkele gezellen aanwezig zijn, met de bedoeling wat dieper in te gaan op de betekenis van deze graad. Het juweel van de Eerste Opziener is de waterpas, het antieke model. De waterpas symboliseert de gelijkheid tussen vrijmetselaars, losstaand van hun sociale, politieke of religieuze achtergrond.

DE GEHEIME WERELD VAN DE VRIJMETSELARIJ De Eerste Opziener heeft eveneens een moker en een zwaard als attribuut. In de werkplaats zit de Redenaar aan de linkerzijde van de Voorzitter. Hij wordt ook wel het geweten van de werkplaats genoemd. Hij let erop dat de reglementen van de grootmacht waartoe zijn loge behoort, worden gerespecteerd. In overleg met de Voorzitter kan hij tijdens de werkzaamheden het woord nemen of eventueel tussenbeide komen bij het verkeerd toepassen van het rituaal. Bij stemmingen bepaald hij de richtlijnen. Na afloop van de bouwstukken geeft de Redenaar de synthese. Ook de agenda van de werkplaats of ‘arbeidstafel’ wordt soms door hem vastgesteld. Het juweel van de Redenaar kan een open boek of een stralende zon zijn. De werkplaatsen hebben een grote mate van zelfstandigheid. Daarboven bestaat doorgaans nog een overkoepelende organisatie. Deze wordt obediëntie of grootmacht genoemd. Obediënties hebben een administratieve functie. Ze worden gewoonlijk ‘Grootloge’ of ‘Grootoosten’ genoemd.

Beneden: het juweel van de Redenaar.

INTRODUCTION

DE RITUELEN De rituelen van de vrijmetselaars zijn niet specifiek. Je kunt ze overal in het dagelijks leven tegenkomen. De handdruk, het applaus en de ceremoniën bij een diploma-uitreiking of een functieaanstelling van een persoon kunnen allemaal beschouwd worden als rituelen. “Rituelen versterken sociale relaties dankzij de vele herhalingen en het wijdverspreide gebruik ervan. Zo worden gemeenschappelijke ervaringen door de tijd heen overgedragen. Ze verbinden de samenleving van vandaag met haar verleden.” De hedendaagse vrijmetselarij heeft een geheim karakter om te voorkomen dat de specifieke ervaring van de verschillende graden voor nieuwe kandidaten verpest wordt. De kracht van iedere initiatie is de beleving van nieuwe ervaringen, die steeds heftige emoties oproept. Elke graad heeft zijn ritueel. Daarin staan volgende stappen beschreven:

de inrichting van de loge; de arbeidstafel; de openingsritueel van de logewerkzaamheden; het sluitingsritueel van de logewerkzaamheden; de inwijdingsceremonie van de betreffende graden; de instructie.

De instructies bestaan uit vragen en antwoorden die tijdens de plechtigheid moeten worden gelezen, herhaald en uit het hoofd geleerd. De instructies noemen alle symbolen van de betreffende graad. De methode van vraag en antwoord dateert uit de periode van de mondelinge overleveringen. De meeste loges hebben vaste kledingvoorschriften: een donker pak, een wit overhemd en een stropdas of zwarte vlinderstrik. Het is een manier om duidelijk te maken dat een logebijeenkomst geen ontspannen avond is, maar plechtig van aard is. Om de leden naar de hogere sferen van de vrijmetselarij te leiden, is er een openingsritueel. Wanneer de broeders hun voorgeschreven kleding hebben aangetrokken (schootsvel, handschoenen en een kraagband voor de Officieren-Dignitarissen), gaan ze de tempel binnen en wachten daar in stilte op de komst van de Commissie van Officieren-Dignitarissen en de Achtbare Meester. Het doel van de openingsritueel is om een hogere sfeer en tijd te creëren en om zich ervan te verzekeren dat alles in orde en op

DE GEHEIME WERELD VAN DE VRIJMETSELARIJ

Boven: De Weense vrijmetselaarsloge ‘Zur gekrönten Hoffnung’, rond 1785. De man rechtsvoor is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

zijn plaats is. Dit gebeurt aan de hand van een serie vragen en antwoorden tussen de Achtbare Meester en de twee Opzieners. De Achtbare Meester sluit de loge af met het afsluitingsritueel van de arbeid. Dit ritueel is hetzelfde als het openingsritueel, alleen in omgekeerde volgorde uitgevoerd. Vlak voor het vertrek trekken de broeders hun handschoenen uit en maken ze een broederketen. De broederketen is een symbool van broederschap, waarbij de aanwezigen in een kring gaan staan en hun rechterbuurman de linkerhand en hun linkerbuurman de rechterhand geven. Het is een heel intens moment. Voor dat de broederketen verbroken wordt, herinnert de Achtbare Meester de broeders eraan dat een vrijmetselaar de plicht heeft om ook buiten het werk voort te zetten dat hij binnen begonnen is. Nadien vindt er een gezamenlijke maaltijd plaats. Wanneer een loge vindt dat een vrijmetselaar ver genoeg is gevorderd in zijn graad, wordt hij verzocht om een bouwstuk voor te bereiden over een onderwerp binnen zijn graad. Het wachtwoord, de tekens, de gebaren, aanrakingen en codewoorden moeten gekend zijn.

INTRODUCTION

Boven: Een illustratie van de leerling die zich bereid voor de inwijding.

Vragen en antwoorden uit het instructieboek van zijn graad moeten uit het hoofd worden geleerd. Slaagt hij, dan mag hij naar een volgende graad overstappen, wat gepaard gaat met een overgangsceremonie. Dit noemt men de initiërings- of inwijdingsceremonie. De vrijmetselarij kent een enorme hoeveelheid aan rituelen. We beperken ons tot één: de inwijdingsceremonie. Deze ceremonie is belangrijk voor de leerling, als voor de loge. Voor de kandidaat begint de ceremonie in de kamer van Overdenking. Dit is een aparte ruimte waar de kandidaat kan mediteren. De kamer wordt slechts door één kaars verlicht en roept een gevoel van eenzaamheid en teruggetrokkenheid op. De elementen in de kamer zijn afkomstig uit de wereld van de alchemie, zoals een schedel (symbool van ijdelheid) en een zandloper (symbool van vergankelijkheid). Tegen de wand hangt het letterwoord V.T.R.I.O.L. Dit is de afkorting van ‘Visitae Interiora Terrae, Rectificando Invenies Occultam Lapidem’. Wat wil zeggen: “Ga in het diepste van de aarde op zoek naar de donkerste steen.” Kort gezegd: “Ken uzelf!” De kandidaat moet een aantal filosofische of spirituele vragen beantwoorden in een brief. Deze brief wordt nadien in de Tempel verbrand. Voor de inwijding moet de leerling zijn persoonlijke spullen, die doen denken aan de profane wereld, afgeven. Volgens het ritueel mag hij noch gekleed, noch naakt zijn. Hiertoe trekt hij zijn rechter broekspijp op tot boven de knie en ontdoet hij zich van zijn linkerschoen. Vervolgens wordt zijn hemd opengemaakt, krijgt hij een touw om de hals en wordt hij geblinddoekt. Kandidaten worden geblinddoekt omdat ze de emoties intenser zouden beleven en omdat ze zich volledig op de woorden zouden kunnen concentreren. De Tweede Opziener begeleidt hem de ganse avond. Tijdens zijn symbolische reis wordt de kandidaat via een opeenvolging van beproevingen en opdrachten ingewijd. Daarnaast doorloopt de ingewijde verschillende levensstadia. Voor het altaar der waarheid moet hij met zijn rechterhand op het Boek van de Heilige Wet een eed afleggen, waarin hij belooft de geheimen van het genootschap niet openbaar te maken. Vervolgens krijgt hij een wit leren schootsvel en een paar witte handschoenen. Tot slot vertel men de leerling over liefdadigheid en het belang van de hulp aan andere mensen en aan broeders-vrijmetselaars. De leerling moet een reeks vragen en antwoorden die op zijn graad van toepassing zijn uit het hoofd leren.

DE GEHEIME WERELD VAN DE VRIJMETSELARIJ

DE SYMBOLIEK “Een symbool is iets tastbaar, een voorwerp of een afbeelding die de plaats inneemt van een abstracte of onzichtbare eenheid, iets ontastbaars.” Er is altijd een verband tussen het uiterlijk van een symbool en dat waar het voor staat. Een witte duif staat symbool voor vrede, omdat een vogel die door de lucht vliegt ons automatisch doet denken aan de vrijheid om te gaan en te staan waar je wilt. Het kruis is heel belangrijk voor de christenen. Het staat symbool voor het kruis waaraan Jezus Christus gestorven is. De betekenis van een symbool leeft slechts binnen een bepaalde cultuur of een specifiek gedachtegoed, een religie of een filosofie. Symbolen hebben geen vaste betekenis. Ze worden bovendien gebruikt om een eenvoudige voorstelling van complexe zaken te maken. We treden dan binnen in de wereld van de verbeelding. Niet alle elementen uit de verbeelding zijn uit te leggen door middel van woord of geschrift. De praktijk van de symbolen is zeker niet eenvoudig. We kunnen dan niet meer dan een aanzet van de betekenis van enkele symbolen geven. Het interpreteren van symbolen is een spel van analogie en bandering, waar maar weinig logica aan te pas komt. De maçonnieke symboliek is een uiterst subjectief en veelzijdig. Buiten de uitleg van de beginselen van de symboliek, heeft de vrijmetselaar een quasi onuitputtelijke verzameling aan symbolen tot zijn beschikking, waar hij op kan mediteren. Het is erg verleidelijk om te geloven dat de bizarre beelden in de vrijmetselarij mysteries of zelfs magie verhullen. In werkelijkheid dienen deze symbolen om de geest te prikkelen. De symbolen in de vrijmetselarij zijn noch heilig, noch voorwerp van vereniging. Een vrijmetselaar zal nooit buigen voor een symbool. Ondanks de onbegrensde interpretatievrijheid van de vrijmetselaarsarbeid, vormen de maçonnieke symbolen samen een coherent geheel dat dient als kader voor de betekenis van elk van deze symbolen.

INTRODUCTION

HET GETAL DRIE

In de vrijmetselarij komt het getal drie overal voor: drie graden, drie hoofdofficiers, Drie Kleine Lichten, drie stuks gereedschap van de leerling, drie treden die leiden naar de zetel van de Achtbare Meester, Drie Grote Lichten (boek, passer en winkelhaak), drie reizen die de leerling moet maken, drie levensfasen… De lijst is oneindig lang. Het universele symbool van de Opperbouwmeester van het Heelal is de gelijkzijdige driehoek, meestal voorzien met een Alziend Oog. Plato en Aristoteles geloofden dat het getal drie symbool stond voor het Opperwezen. De Egyptenaren vereerden hun goden in groepjes van drie. De Grieken vereerden Zeus, Poseidon en Hades. De Drie-eenheid is een belangrijk christelijk symbool. Uiteindelijk is het getal drie het symbool geworden van de drang naar eindeloos onderzoek en perfectie.

geen religieus object. Het is een symbolisch gegeven. De Tempel staat voor vrede, de toetand die elke vrijmetselaar wil bereiken.

HET LOGETABLEAU

De eerste rituelen zijn door de eeuwen heen zo uitgebreid en complex geworden, dat het steeds moeilijker werd om ze uit het hoofd te leren. Het was echter verboden om ze in een te ontcijferen geschrift op te schrijven. Daarom werd de boodschap van de vrijmetselarij verhuld in symbolen en werd de sleutel tot die boodschap slechts gegeven aan diegenen die bevoegd waren, slim genoeg waren om de symbolen te begrijpen en op de juiste manier te gebruiken. Zo werd de symboliek in de vrijmetselarij geïntroduceerd. De verschillende symbolen werden op een doek aangebracht, die dan tijdens een bijeenkomst werd uitgerold. Het uitrollen noemt men ‘het teken van het tableau’. Op het tableau zie je afbeeldingen van verschillende symbolen. We bespreken er enkele.

DE TEMPEL VAN SALOMO

De Tempel werd in een ver verleden gebouwd in Jeruzalem op de Tempelberg. Deze tempel staat op het logetapijt afgebeeld. De Tempel is een symbool voor de vrijmetselarij. Er zijn jaren voor nodig om deze plek op te bouwen en waardig te maken om de geest van God in te herbergen. De Tempel is er dankzij het harde werk van talloze mannen. Ook al is de Tempel verdwenen, het beeld ervan blijft voortbestaan in de harten en herinneringen van talloze volgelingen. Zo zullen ook de verdiensten van goede mensen nog lang na hun dood blijven voortbestaan. Voor een vrijmetselarij is de Tempel van Salomo geen historisch feit en ook

Het tableau of logetapijt.

DE HAMER, DE BEITEL EN DE 24-DUIMSMAAT Het gaat hier om drie symbolische werktuigen van de leerling. De 24-duimsmaat staat symbool voor de dag van een vrijmetselaar. Alle uren moeten nuttig worden ingevuld. De hamer en de beitel zijn werktuigen waarmee je een staan vorm geeft. Je kunt er scherpe randen en oneffenheden mee wegwerken. De hamer

DE GEHEIME WERELD VAN DE VRIJMETSELARIJ

Vrijmetselaarssymbool van de zon

en beitel zijn de symbolische werktuigen waarmee de leerling-vrijmetselaar zichzelf door middel van het werk kan omvormen. De hamer staat symbool voor de bereidwilligheid om te werken en de beitel voor de scherpzinnigheid tijdens het werk. De hamer staat voor de kracht, de beitel voor de nauwkeurigheid. Deze symbolen worden altijd samen gebruikt. Elke vorm van kracht is nutteloos als hij niet scherpzinnig wordt aangewend.

HET DAMBORDPATROON

In het midden van de werkplaats zijn zwarte en witte tegels in dambordpatroon gelegd. Elke loge heeft zo’n tegelvloer. Dit dambordpatroon staat symbool voor de dualiteit. In de vrijmetselarij is niets wit-zwart. Uit het licht ontstaat het donker en uit het donker komt het licht tevoorschijn. Het dambordpatroon symboliseert dat goed en kwaad inherent zijn aan de mens. Deze gedachte vindt men ook terug in yin en yang.

DE ZON EN DE MAAN

De zon vertegenwoordigt het actieve principe. Het licht wordt in verband gebracht met vuur en goud. De maan vertegenwoordigt het passieve principe. Deze symbolen zijn niet tegengesteld aan elkaar, zoals goed en kwaad, maar vullen elkaar aan. Deze twee lichtsymbolen drukken hun stempel op de twee zones in de tempel waarover de leden van de loge zullen worden verdeeld naargelang hun graad en functie.

Vrijmetselaarssymbool van de maan

DE VLAMMENDE DELTA

In het midden van de loge, aan de oostzijde, bevindt zich de gelijkzijdige driehoek. In het brandpunt van de driehoek is een oog getekend dat lijkt te schitteren. Deze driehoek wordt ook vlammende delta genoemd. Het is het symbool van de Opperbouwmeester van het Heelal. De driehoek wordt eveneens verbonden met het getal ‘drie’ en met het begrippentrio ‘vrijheid, gelijkheid en broederschap’, maar ook met ‘horen, zien en zwijgen’. Het symbool van het oog verwijst naar de alziendheid van God. Je treft het Alziend Oog van God in schilderijen van voor de renaissance. Voor de christenen staat een oog in een driehoek tevens voor de heilige drie-eenheid. Voor de vrijmetselarij vertegenwoordigt het de Opperbouwmeester van het Heelal, symbool van de ongebonden schepper, los van elke religie.

HET SCHIETLOOD

Het schietlood is een draad met aan het uiteinde een gewicht. Daarmee kan de arbeider controleren hoe recht hij twee stukken op elkaar heeft gezet. Het schietlood laat zien waar het middelpunt van de aarde is, en waar de hemel. Het is een symbool van rechtlijnigheid en rechtschapenheid. De vrijmetselaars herkennen hierin het streven om eerlijk te zijn in hun verplichtingen naar de mensheid toe. Dit idee kan je terugvinden in uitdrukkingen zoals ‘op het rechte pad blijven’ en ‘scheef lopen’.

INTRODUCTION

Rechts: Vrijmetselaarssymbool van de twee zuilen

DE TWEE ZUILEN

De zuilen zijn belangrijke symbolen. Elke vrijmetselaarstempel heeft op de een of andere manier een afbeelding van deze twee zuilen. Ze vervullen een belangrijke rol in de ceremonie van de graad van gezel. Net zoals de zon en de maan, staan de twee zuilen symbool voor het actieve, mannelijke en het passieve, vrouwelijke principe. Op de zuilen in de maçonnieke loges liggen in veel gevallen twee grote bollen, die de aarde en de hemelen uitbeelden. De originele zuilen van de Tempel van Salomo droegen geen bollen. Het idee van de aardeen de hemelbol komt mogelijk van een tekening uit de Bijbel van Genève die in 1560 werd uitgegeven. De twee bronzen zuilen van de Tempel van Salomo staan aan de ingang en heten Jakin en Boaz. In het

Hebreeuws betekent ‘Jakin’ ‘hij zal stichten’ en ‘Boaz’ ‘in kracht’. Jakin vertegenwoordigt het mannelijke principe en Boaz het vrouwelijke. Het symbool van de twee zuilen lijkt sterk op dat van de zon en de maan. Ook hier is geen van de twee principes superieur aan de andere. Ze vullen elkaar aan en zijn allebei even onmisbaar in het leven.

DE TROFFEL

De troffel wordt gebruikt om het cement of de mortel uit te spreiden en glad te maken. De mortel zorgt ervoor dat de stenen bij elkaar blijven. Als de mortel is opgedroogd dan is er een solide bouwwerk. In de vrijmetselarij wordt de troffel gebruikt om het cement van de broederliefde te verdelen over de verschillende leden van de loge en deze om te smeden tot één groep van broeders. Wanneer personen

DE GEHEIME WERELD VAN DE VRIJMETSELARIJ bijeenkomen om samen deel te nemen aan de ceremoniën en activiteiten, zullen zijn elkaar helpen.

DE VLAMMENDE STER EN DE LETTER G

De vijfpuntige ster is het grote symbool van de gezellen. Vermoed wordt dat het heel vroeger het teken van verbond was voor de aanhangers van Pythagoras. In de oudheid was de vijfpuntige ster het symbool van perfectie en schoonheid. Deze ster was terug te vinden in de kunst, op munten, vlaggen… Soms wordt zo’n ster een pentagram genoemd. Hij wordt ook uitgebeeld als een man met gespreide armen en benen, naar de beroemde tekening van Leonardo De Vinci. Net als de ster van de drie koningen, heeft de vlammende ster een oriënterende functie en wijst hij de juiste weg aan. Net zoals de operatieve gezel door het hele land reisde, zo ook wordt de gezel-vrijmetselaar aangespoord om te reizen. De vlammende ster zal hem de weg wijzen. In het midden van de vlammende ster staat de letter ‘G’. Deze letter heeft meerdere betekenissen. Vaak staat de letter ‘G’ voor geometrie, de heilige kunst van de oude metselaren die de basis is van de vrijmetselarij. Dankzij de geometrie konden de metselaren de lijnen omzetten in massieve structuren. Met de geometrie kan je de stand van de planeten in de ruimte bepalen… De letter ‘G’ dient ook om te voorkomen dat er een specifiek of sektarisch symbool voor God wordt gebruikt. Zo kunnen alle metselaren, ongeacht hun religie, de Opperbouwmeester van het Heelal aanwijzen. In de loge smelt de letter G deze verschillende opvattingen en gebruiken allemaal samen tot één geheel. Een jood, een moslim en een boeddhist kunnen in de loge zij aan zij staan. Maar ook een atheïst kan zich in de letter ‘G’ vinden. De letter kan immers ook voor ‘goedheid’ of ‘geweten’ staan. Het leggen van een verband tussen de Opperbouwmeester van het Heelal en de geometrie, is een manier om de spirituele wereld te verbinden met de fysieke wereld. Daarom bevindt de letter ‘G’ zich ook tussen de winkelhaak en de passer.

Boven: Het dambordpatroon met centraal de vlammende ster Onder: de ‘vlammende ster’ met G, als vrijmetselaarssymbool.

INTRODUCTION

VRIJMETSELARIJ EN CULTUUR Net als alle andere cultuurverschijnselen heeft de vrijmetselarij – zowel op materieel als op immaterieel vlak – haar sporen nagelaten.

GEBOUWEN EN TEMPELARCHITECTUUR

Hoewel heel wat maçonnieke tempels in Egyptische stijl zijn opgetrokken, kan je moeilijk stellen dat er een typische bouwstijl is. De bouwstijlen zijn erg divers en zijn meestal bepaald door de geldende stroming van het moment wanneer de tempels werden ingericht. Heel wat vrijmetselaars hebben zich laten beïnvloeden door exotische motieven uit de Japanse, Chinese, Egyptische… bouwstijl. De gevels zijn meestal erg sober opgetrokken, maar daarachter liggen op zijn minst vaak indrukwekkende en bevreemdende ruimtes. In de architectuur van de ruimte is meestal plaats voor een aantal vaste symbolen, zoals we die voordien hebben besproken. In Groot-Brittannië en de Verenigde Staten zijn maçonnieke gebouwen opvallend in het straatbeeld aanwezig. Op een bepaald ogenblik was het logegebouw in Boston het hoogste van de stad. Dichter bij huis kan je het park van Brussel bezoeken, dat overgoten is met maçonnieke symbolen.

MONUMENTEN EN GEDENKTEKENS

Voor Brussel en Parijs bestaan er gedrukte gidsen die je kan gebruiken om een maçonnieke wandeling te maken. De gids leidt je dan van de tempels naar huizen en gebouwen die door maçonnieke architecten zijn ontworpen. Er zijn ook tal van standbeelden en andere monumenten die op één of andere manier met de vrijmetselarij hebben te maken. Toch mogen we de aanwezigheid van maçonnieke elementen in een stad niet overschatten. Ze blijven eerder beperkt.

Boven: Het Belgisch Museum van de Vrijmetselarij te Brussel.

DE GEHEIME WERELD VAN DE VRIJMETSELARIJ REGALIA In de Lage Landen zijn er naar schatting ongeveer dertigduizend vrijmetselaars. Elk van hen heeft regalia nodig om de maçonnieke arbeid te kunnen verrichten. In het kielzog van de vrijmetselaars ontstaat er een heuse industrie van schootsvellen, kraagbanden, juwelen, attributen en andere maçonnieke regalia.

PROZA EN POËZIE

In de loge worden bouwstukken gegeven. Dat hoeft niet steeds een tekst te zijn. Ook een passend gedicht kan hier uitstekend worden gebruikt. Gedichten kunnen immers evenzeer gevoelens of inzichten met betrekking tot de maçonnieke arbeid verwoorden. Er zijn grote namen uit de literatuur die in een loge waren en voor de gelegenheid speciale stukken schreven. Je kan je net zo goed je eigen muze raadplegen en je door de vrijmetselarij en haar symboliek laten inspireren. Een klinkende naam is ongetwijfeld Rudyard Kipling (165-1936). In 1907 won hij de Nobelprijs voor literatuur. Bij het publiek is hij vooral bekend als auteur van Jungle Book. In gedichten liet Kipling zich soms door de maçonnieke mythologie inspireren. In het gedicht King Solomon’s Banquet vertelde hij het verhaal van koning Salomo die de bouwers aan zijn Tempel uitnodigde voor een feestmaal. In het gedicht komen verwijzingen voor naar de beide Hirams en specifieke graden, zoals het Koninklijk Gewelf en de Merkmeester. Dichter bij huis liet ook Willem Brandt (1905-1981) zich door de broederschap inspireren in de dichtbundel ‘Gedichten van een vrij metselaar’ (1968), waaruit een kort gedicht:

INTRODUCTION

De Kamer van Overpeinzing Zout, brood en bekkenneel, wat schamel licht, Gitzwarte schaduw over kale wenden; In flakkervlam onder mijn witte handen Het oud boek met het eeuwig licht Is dit het einde of een nieuw begin, Een laatste schuilplaats of geboren worden, Uitwijken of zich moediger omgorden, Het woord verloren of vol dieper zin? Zie, door het donker van de harde muur Weerspiegelt in het binnenst van mijn ogen Licht door geen duisternis te overmogen De dag ontwaakt, het is Johannesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; uur. Willem Brandt, Gedichten van een vrijmetselaar, Den Haag, Fama MaĂ§onnieke Uitgeverij, 2003)

DE GEHEIME WERELD VAN DE VRIJMETSELARIJ

The Lost Symbol: Special Illustrated Edition: A Novel Kindle Edition by Dan Brown (Author)

Andere schrijvers lieten zich nooit zo expliciet over hun logelidmaatschap uit. Een voorbeeld is de Antwerpse schrijver Hubert Lampo (1920-2006), de belangrijkste vertegenwoordiger van het magisch realisme. In zijn boeken – waarvan ‘De komst van Joachim Stiller’ (1960) het belangrijkste is – gebeuren bovennatuurlijke dingen die als doodnormaal worden beschreven. Pas na zijn dood werd zijn logelidmaatschap duidelijk door de aanwezigheid van winkelhaak en passer op zijn overlijdensbericht. Eens je dat weet, lees je zijn boeken op een andere manier. Je ziet in bepaalde symbolen een maçonnieke betekenis. Dan Brown’s roman ‘Het verloren symbool’ (‘The Lost Symbol’, 2009) gaat over de vrijmetselarij. Miljoenen exemplaren gingen er al van het boek wereldwijd over de toonbank. Vrijmetselarij werd daardoor weer in het middelpunt van de belangstelling geplaatst, want de broederschap is het decor en speelt eigenlijk zelfs een hoofdrol in de roman. Ook in Brown’s bestseller ‘De Da Vinci Code’ speelde de vrijmetselarij al een rol. Maar wat is het geheim dat de leden bewaren en wat is het verloren symbool? Wat is er in Dan Brown’s boeken waar en wat is er niet waar? Ook in Nederland zijn vrijmetselaarsloges. Wat gebeurt daar? En wat voor soort mensen zijn er lid? In ‘Het verloren symbool’ trekt Dan Brown een sluier weg van een deels verborgen wereld vol mystiek, genootschappen en geheime ruimtes. Dat deed hij al eerder in ‘De Da Vinci Code’. Maar op het betrouwbaarheidsgehalte van zijn onthullingen kwam destijds veel gefundeerde kritiek. Heeft hij daarvan geleerd of moeten wij ook ‘Het verloren symbool’ met een korreltje zout nemen, als hij bijvoorbeeld de vrijmetselarij beschrijft? MUZIEK Al in de achttiende eeuw werden speciale composities geschreven om in de loges te worden uitgevoerd. Vooral Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) heeft een aantal van deze gelegenheidscomposities op zijn naam staan. Andere werken daarentegen – met ‘Die Zauberflöte’ als bekendste voorbeeld – waren enkel bedoeld om in de ‘profane’ wereld te worden opgevoerd. Wel waren er steeds verwijzingen naar de vrijmetselarij. In ‘Die Zauberflöte’ ondergaat hoofdpersonage Tamino een maçonniek inwijdingsritueel. Ook op muzikaal vlak zijn er verwijzingen: motiefjes die bestaan uit drie tonen, het

INTRODUCTION

gebruik van toonaarden die gebruikelijk zijn in maçonnieke composities… Ook de Finse componist Jean Sibelius en de Nederlander Willem Pijper hebben nieuwe werken voor logebijeenkomsten geschreven. Andere toondichters – zoals Joseph Hayden en de Hongaarse pianovirtuoos Franz Ferenc Liszt (18111886) – waren eveneens vrijmetselaars, maar het is veel minder evident om in hun werken rechtstreekse maçonnieke invloeden te vinden.

DE VRIJMETSELARIJ MORGEN Het succes van de boeken van Dan Brown hebben er voor gezorgd dat de vrijmetselarij in de belangstelling staat, al moeten we hier onmiddellijk aan toevoegen dat fictie en realiteit aardig door elkaar worden gehaald. Uiteraard is er een verschil tussen wat er geschreven wordt over de vrijmetselarij – waarbij de nadruk ligt op de meest nobele kant – en de realiteit van de leges die bestaan uit mensen die nu eenmaal geen Mozarts of La Fayettes zijn. Maar anderzijds moet we ons hoeden voor de wilde cowboyverhalen die op onbewaakte ogenblikken de ronde doen, al zou de duivel in een aantal loges zijn opwachting doen. Laten we nuchter blijven. Het valt niet te ontkennen dat de vrijmetselarij aan belang inboet. Het gesloten en mystiek aandoende genootschap staat haaks op de open cultuur van het internet. Daarnaast zorgen de lange, ingewikkelde en saai aandoende inwijdingsrituelen ervoor dat jongeren de weg naar de loges moeilijker vinden . In de Verenigde Staten is het ledenaantal drastisch gedaald. Imposante gebouwen die in de jaren van voorspoed zijn gebouwd, worden met sluiting bedreigd en werkplaatsen die al meer dan honderd jaar bestaan, fuseren of verdwijnen gewoonweg. De Amerikaanse loges vonden er niet beter op om peperdure barnumreclames te lanceren en het initiatietraject wordt stevig ingekort tot soms maar één dag. In sommige delen van de V.S. moet soms maar één lid een kort initiatietraject afleggen voor een grote groep van mensen. De vraag is wat er nog overblijft van de zorgvuldig opgebouwde cultuur en knowhow van de vrijmetselarij. Zal

DE GEHEIME WERELD VAN DE VRIJMETSELARIJ de vrijmetselarij de tand des tijds doorstaan? Zeker is dat de besloten cultuur met zijn lange en ingewikkelde rituelen niet meer aansluiten bij de oppervlakkigheid en zich razendsnel ontwikkelende consumptiecultuur, waarbij de houdbaarheid van een ‘product’ fel gereduceerd wordt. De Verenigde Staten vormen ongetwijfeld het Mekka van de consumptiecultuur. Het genot bestaat erin om steeds opnieuw en steeds sneller te consumeren. In Europa loopt het vooralsnog niet zo’n vaart. In Nederland en België kiezen de loges nog steeds nadrukkelijk voor het mysterie en het vertrouwelijke aspect van de organisatie. De loges zijn opzoek naar mensen die niet op zoek zijn naar wat ze alle dagen op televisie zien. Al zijn de meeste vrijmetselaars wel overtuigd dat de traditie wel wat moderner mag, zonder daarbij te vervallen in oppervlakkigheid. De esoterische leer blijft overeind en een hoeksteen van vele loges. De vrijmetselarij in de Lage Landen maakt geen reclame en al dat ook nooit doen. Jonge generaties beginnen de vrijmetselarij te herontdekken. Deze nieuwe groep wil niet in de voetsporen van de oudere generatie treden. Ze willen terugkeren naar: een oude, mythische en legendarische traditie; een groep die eeuwen lang een grote broederlijke organisatie is geweest; een broederlijke organisatie die alle religies en rassen omvat; een tolerante en solidaire loge; een groep die blijft hameren op de belangrijkste grondwettelijke vrijheden blijft onderstrepen; een nieuwe generatie die zich blijft inzetten voor de materiële, sociale en morele vooruitgang van de mensheid; een initiatie aan rituelen om zelf te veranderen.

INTRODUCTION

Het valt wel op dat de jonge generatie voor waarden en normen kiest die nauw aansluiten bij de grote uitdagingen van het multiculturele Europa die gebukt gaat onder een nietsontziende consumptiedrift. Voor het eerst in de wereldgeschiedenis kunnen de loges over de hele wereld met elkaar in contact treden. Traagheid, inertie, beslotenheid en traditie zullen het moeten afleggen tegen openheid, solidariteit, nieuwe, progressieve ideeën en een meer openhartige communicatie. De vraag is of deze confrontatie een meerwaarde voor de verschillende organisaties vormt of er juist voor zorgt dat de vrijmetselarij verzandt in eindeloze discussies en ruzies.

“De vrijmetselarij van de eenentwintigste eeuw moet zich richten op de kwaliteit van de ontwikkeling. Obediënties moeten strenger zijn in hun eisen voor morele en intellectuele kwaliteit van de leden en niet alleen maar geobsedeerd zijn door hun ledenaantal. De eenentwintigste eeuw zal zeker voor verandering zorgen, zoals ook de twintigste eeuw dat gedaan heeft. We weten niet of de eenentwintigste eeuw religieus wordt of niet. We denken dat hij in ieder geval spiritueler, saamhoriger en mooier zal zijn.” - Julien Borremans

HISTORY: DEFINING FREEMASONRY

ORIGIN & ETYMOLOGY

Etymology of the Word Free-Mason by EZEKIEL on october 24, 2009 http://masonicsecrets.info/freemasons/

freemason (noun) late 14c., originally a traveling guild of masons with a secret code; in the early 17c. they began accepting honorary members and teaching them the secrets and lore, which was continued into or revived in the 17th century and by 1717 had developed into the secret fraternity of affiliated lodges known as Free and Accepted Masons (commonly abbreviated F. and A. M.). The accepted refers to persons admitted to the society but not belonging to the craft. The exact origin of the free- is a subject of dispute. Some [such as Klein] see a corruption of French frère "brother," from frèremaçon "brother mason;" others say it was because the masons worked on "free-standing" stones; still others see them as "free" from the control of local guilds or lords [OED]. Related: freemasonic. http://www.etymonline.com

The term Freemason can be traced back as far as 1375 A.D., and possibly as early as 1155 A.D., where it was used by a traveling guild of masons who shared a secret code. It wasn’t until the earth 17th century that they began accepting non-operative members as ‘masons’ and introducing them to their secrets and symbols. By 1717 A.D. this group had developed into the fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons. The origin of the free- part of Freemason is a matter of considerable debate amongst Freemasons and historians. It has been suggested as a corruption of the French word frère, meaning brother, as in frèremaçon (a “brother mason”). However, other authorities contend that the name is due to the fact that the masons worked on free standing stones. Another theory suggests that they were freemasons as they were not under the control of local guilds. The word mason derives from the French maçon (Latin matio or machio), meaning “a builder of walls” or “a stone-cutter”. Originally a Freemason was a mason of superior skill, but later it was used to describe a

HISTORY: DEFINING FREEMASONRY

mason who had the freedom of a trade guild. Thus Freemasons were skilled artisans, free from the restrictions and control of local guilds, who could travel and perform their trade for such this as the building of cathedrals and other grand structures. These Freemasons developed a system of secret signs and passwords to aid recognition of each other, and thereby give evidence of their competency and skill. Since about 1750 A.D. the word Freemasonry has been universally and exclusively applied to the fraternal body of men who trace their institution back to the founding of the Grand Lodge of England in 1717 A.D. The official craft rituals defined Freemasonry as “A peculiar system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols”. Albert Mackey, in his Symbolism of Freemasonry (1869) gives the definition of Freemasonry as “a science which is engaged in the search after the divine truth.” The German Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, defines Freemasonry as “the activity of closely united men who, employing symbolical forms borrowed principally from the mason’s trade and from architecture, work for the welfare of mankind, striving morally to ennoble themselves and others and thereby to bring about a universal league of mankind, which they aspire to exhibit even now on a small scale”.

Above: Portrait of an English freemason of the 19th century

ORIGIN & ETYMOLOGY

Freemasons can trace their history back to the 1600’s, when the organized Stone Mason Guilds began to admit members who were “non-stone-working” men into their organizations. These men that were admitted into the Fraternity were of the “Age of Enlightenment” period and felt that the principles that defined Stone Mason Guild’s were a good basis for their mission of making “Good Men Better”. You see the men of the “Age of Enlightenment” believed that reason and individualism should replace tradition. These fundamental principles of Freemasonry have transcended the world over and over for hundreds of years. Today there are more than four million Freemasons worldwide; Fourteen United Presidents and thirteen signers of the Declaration of Independence were all Freemasons. The most famous Freemason, George Washington, oversaw the committee that drew up the Constitution of the United States. Today those very principles that were the foundation of Freemasonry back in the 1600’s are the very same principles that are practiced by Fraternal Brothers in Masonic Temples all throughout cities and towns Worldwide. -PA Lodge #486 Above: detail of Bavarian stonemasons, Rueland Frueauf, c. 1505 Below: Illustration of Declaration of Independence

HISTORY: DEFINING FREEMASONRY

Above: 1873 black and white wood engraving of the Private marks of the builders of the Great Subterranean Quarry. These marks were found on stones in the foundation walls of the temple area, the Samaria, Hebron, and the Great Subterranean Quarry

THE NATURE AND PURPOSE OF FREEMASONRY

The Nature and Purpose of Freemasonry Developed by W. Bro. Kent Henderson

Dip. T., B. Ed., Grad. Cert. Ed., Grad. Dip. Ed., M. Ed, Diploma of Masonic Education (Sth. Aust.)

Past Junior Grand Deacon, A. F. & A. Masons of Victoria, Australia

Surely, in a world torn by strife and divided by so many feuds of race, religion and nationality, we have a right to rejoice in a fellowship, at once free, gentle and refining, which spans all distances of space and all differences of speech, and brings men together by a common impulse and inspiration in mutual respect and brotherly regard. Truly it needs no philosopher to discern that such a fraternity, the very existence of which is a fact eloquent beyond words, is an influence for good no one can measure in the present, and a prophecy for the future the meaning of which no one can reckon; and doubly so because by its very genius Freemasonry is international, and therefore ought to be responsive to the ideal world of fellowship. These words, written in the early part of this century by the late Brother John Fort Newton of the Grand Lodge of Iowa, are as true today as they were then. Rising from the mists of antiquity to the present day, many myths, legends and facts have relating to the purpose, aims, objectives and validity of Freemasonry. It is useful to look broadly at

them and place them in a proper perspective. Freemasons who desire to develop a greater understanding of Masonic history and teachings are aware of, and well served by, Lodges of Research all over the world. The oldest and most eminent is the Quator Coronati Lodge No. 2076 EC, London, the Premier Lodge of Research. Its transactions, Ars Quatuor Coronatorum (AQC), have been published annually since 1886. Non-Freemasons who genuinely seek knowledge concerning the Order can readily obtain it from talking to a Freemason, or find almost unlimited material in any good public library. As a commencement point in this discussion, let the myth that Freemasonry is a secret society be exploded - it is not. Freemasons proudly acknowledge their membership of the Masonic Order, its Constitutions and Rules are freely available, their transactions regularly cover the globe, and there is no secrecy about any of the aims and principles of Freemasonry. Like many societies, Freemasonry regards its internal affairs as a private matter for its members. Even so,

HISTORY: DEFINING FREEMASONRY the only matters that are really intended to be ‘secret’ are its traditional modes of recognition. It has been said that the only real ‘secret’ about Freemasonry is that it is no secret at all. Many Freemasons have a vague idea that Freemasonry, as we know it, can be traced back to King Solomon, the ancient pyramids of Egypt, or some ancient mystery or rite. The late Brother Harry Carr, PJGD, EC, an eminent English Masonic authority, states emphatically that the first Masonic trade organisation of ‘operative’ Masons (when Masons earned their living with hammer and chisel) was in 1356, and this organisation started as a result of what we would now call a demarcation dispute, between mason hewers who cut the stone, and the mason layers and setters who actually built the walls. A simple code of regulations was drawn up in a document which still survives. Within twenty years the organisation became the London Masons Company, the first trade guild of Masons and one of the direct ancestors of Freemasonry today. Other guilds became established. These guilds were not lodges, but the Masons who were engaged on really big projects (such as castles, abbeys, churches( formed themselves into Lodges so that they had some form of self-government. Information concerning the earliest lodges comes to us from a collection of documents known as ‘The Old Charges’ - the Regius MS. C. 1390, the Cooke MS c. 1410, and some 130 versions of these running through to the eighteenth century, including the important Sloane MS c. 1700 and the Graham MS 1726. From these early beginnings we come to 1717 when the first Grand Lodge was founded, in England. As Freemasons are aware, from 1751 until 1813 there were two rival Grand Lodges in England - the original (‘The Moderns’), and the rival (‘The Antients’). In 1813 these two Grand Lodges merged to

become the United Grand Lodge of England, and it is fair to say that the basic pattern of Australian Masonry today follows the ritual and procedures that were approved upon that union. We can accept the foregoing as fact by virtue of documented evidence. We may now turn briefly to the myth and legend which have affected the rituals and beliefs inherent in Freemasonry. Masonry, the art of building, began many thousands of years ago, from the dawn of civilisation. Man has always been a builder, and wherever a civilisation has existed we find the remains and crumbling ruins of towers, temples, tombs and monuments, originally erected by the industry of human beings; and these invariably have some mark or monument bespeaking a vivid sense of the Unseen, and the builder’s awareness of his relation to it. The Masonic art of building probably reached its greatest peak in the erection of temples and cathedrals. Ruskin, in his Seven Lamps of Architecture, argues that the laws of architecture are moral laws, that there are two sets of realities - the material and the spiritual - so interwoven that the practical laws are exponents of moral laws. The discovery of the square was a great event to the primitive mystics of the Nile and very early it became an emblem of truth, justness and righteousness, which it remains to this day. So too, the cube, compasses, triangle and keystone, while the tools which fashioned these, the level, plumbrule, pencil, skirret, chisel, mallet, gavel and 24-inch gauge, have attracted to themselves symbolisms of the laws of the Eternal.

THE NATURE AND PURPOSE OF FREEMASONRY

Socrates made probably the greatest discovery ever made - that human nature is universal. It has been found that races far removed from each other by space, distance and time, but at roughly the same stage of culture, have used the same or similar symbols to express their thoughts, hopes and aspirations. The outstanding example, as ancient as it is eloquent, is the idea of the trinity and its emblem, the triangle. When the social life of man becomes the prism of faith, God is a trinity of Father, Mother, Child. Almost as old as human thought, we find the idea of trinity, and its triangle emblem everywhere - the two best known examples being Siva, Vishnu and Brahma in India corresponding to Osiris, Isis and Horus in Egypt. Square, triangle, cross and circle are the oldest symbols of humanity and, as symbols do, point beyond themselves to an invisible truth which they seek to embody. Sometimes we find them united, the square within the circle, and within that the triangle, and at the centre the cross. These earliest of emblems indicate the highest faith and philosophy, betraying not only the unity of the human mind but its kinship with the Eternal - the fact that lies at the root of every religion. The virtues of faith, hope and charity, embodying love in its broadest sense, and the four cardinal virtues of temperance, fortitude, prudence and justice, are enshrined in Masonic lore. The various symbols which have become associated with Freemasonry through the centuries all fortify in one way or another these desirable virtues. At this point, let it be acknowledged that Freemasonry is not a religion - neither is it a creed or sect, nor a substitute for religion.

In this regard it is again pertinent to quote from the late Brother John Fort Newton: All this confusion (about Freemasonry being a religion) results from a misunderstanding of what religion is. Religions are many; religion is one - perhaps we may say one thing, but that one thing includes everything - the life of God in the soul of man, which finds expression in all the forms which life and love and duty take. The church has no monopoly on religion. The soul of man is greater than all dogmas and more enduring than all institutions. Masonry seeks to free men from a limiting conception of religion, and thus remove one of the chief causes of sectarianism. It is itself one of the forms of beauty wrought by the human soul under the inspiration of the Eternal Beauty, and as such is religious. Many fine minds have been estranged from the Church, not because they were irreligious, but because they were required to believe what it was impossible for them to believe; and, rather than sacrifice their integrity of soul, they have turned away from the last place from which a man should ever turn away. No part of the ministry of Masonry is more beautiful and wise in its appeal, not for tolerance, but for fraternity; mot for uniformity, but for unity of spirit amidst variety of outlook and opinion. Instead of criticising Masonry, let us thank God for one altar where no man is asked to surrender his liberty of thought and become an indistinguishable atom in the mass of sectarian agglomeration. What a witness to the worth of the Order that it brings together men of all creeds on behalf of those truths which are greater than all sects, deeper than all doctrines - the glory and the hope of man! The lessons of Freemasonry are based upon the Volume of the Sacred Law, whilst it is founded on the principles of the brotherhood of man under the Fatherhood of God, and the acknowledgment of a Supreme Being. It has

HISTORY: DEFINING FREEMASONRY preserved the right of each individual soul to its own religious faith; it does not compete with any religion and holds itself aloof from all sects and creeds whilst it requires its members to tolerate, revere and respect, or at least regard with clarity, that which its fellows hold sacred. Masonry does not divide men, it unites them, leaving every man free to think his own thought and fashion his own system of ultimate truth. All its emphasis rests upon two extremely simple and profound principles - love of God and love of man. Therefor all through the ages it has been, and is today, a meeting place of differing minds, and a prophecy of the final union of all reverent and devout souls. Brother Reverend Neville Barker Cryer, in his outstanding paper, ‘The Churches Concern with Freemasonry’ came to ‘conclusions’ which are eminently sound, but two in particular are of note 1…one of the essential landmarks of the Craft should constantly be the assertion that Freemasonry is not a religion; 2…one of the major difficulties would be overcome if it were constantly realised by non-Masons that not every Mason who issues in print is speaking with authority for the whole Craft, and is not quotable to that end. VW Bro Rev Cryer has been Director General of the British and Foreign Bible Society since 1970. His service to the Anglican Church has taken him all over the world. He is a Past Master of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, Assistant Provincial Grand Master of Surrey, EC and in 1986 he was appointed as Grand Chaplain of the United Grand Lodge of England. He was Prestonian Lecturer in 1984. While the individual Freemason has the right to hold his own opinion with regard to

public affairs, neither in any lodge nor in his capacity as a Freemason may he advance his views on theological or political questions. Freemasonry does not express any opinion on the questions of foreign or domestic policies either at national or international levels. There have been many definitions attempted or offered as to what Freemasonry is; but one which would meet with universal acceptance is to be found in the German Handbuch of 1900: Masonry is the activity of closely united men who, employing symbolical forms borrowed principally from the mason’s trade and from architecture, work for the welfare of mankind, striving morally to ennoble themselves and others, and thereby to bring about a universal league of mankind, which they aspire to exhibit even now on a small scale. Fundamentally, Freemasonry is a code of living based on the highest ethical and moral standards. Among its principle aims are: I. to promote the brotherhood of man under the Fatherhood of God; II to render practical aid to the less fortunate members of the community; III. to develop such behaviour in daily life as will demonstrate that the teachings of the Order have a profound and beneficial affect on all who sincerely embrace its concepts; IV. to encourage the practice of every moral and social virtue. Membership is open to all men of good reputation and integrity, of any race or

THE NATURE AND PURPOSE OF FREEMASONRY

religion, who can fill the one essential qualification that the applicant believes in a Supreme Being. He is also required to acknowledge obedience to lawful authority and the laws of the land in which he resides. A most serious responsibility rests on his sponsors that he is well fitted to become a members of the lodge he seeks to join. One of the outstanding appeals of Freemasonry lies in its exhortation that honesty, decency, integrity and virtue are the hallmarks of a dedicated Freemason. During his period as Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of Queensland, Sir Leslie Orme Wilson, then Governor of Queensland, often commented that Freemasonry might not be able to make a bad man good, but that it could make a good man better. The future of Freemasonry is very bright indeed. Since its ancestral beginnings Freemasonry, at various periods, has survived international wars, political and religious suppressions, and the victimisation of its members. While the principles and the objects of the Order have been so firmly established over the centuries, it is sensible to conclude that its future appeal will be as a beacon light drawing men of integrity, strength and goodwill within its lustrous ambit. Freemasonry is a vast, worldwide fraternity based on spiritual faith and moral idealism. It helps a man to think through to a more satisfactory meaning of life. It is a way of life, a code of conduct, a pattern of behaviour, philosophically subscribing to the Golden Rule, in a world society which today is fractured by deceits, duplicities, tensions, torn by violence and acts of terrorism, wars of acquisition and wars based on religion in the name of God, for purposes all of which are

abhorrent and repugnant to the teachings of Freemasonry. Brother John Fort Newton might possibly had some of these thoughts in mind when he asked the question â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;When is a man a Mason?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; He answered his own question at length in beautiful and noble phrases:

HISTORY: DEFINING FREEMASONRY

â&#x20AC;&#x153;When he can look out over the rivers, the hills, and the far horizon with a profound sense of his own littleness in the vast scheme of things, and yet have faith, hope and courage - which is the root of every virtue. When he knows how to sympathise with men in their sorrows, yea, even in their sins - knowing that each man fights a hard fight against many odds. When he has learned how to make friends and keep them, and above all how to keep friends with himself. When he loves flowers, can hunt the birds without a gun and feel the thrill of an old forgotten joy when he the laugh of a little child. When no voice of distress reaches his ears in vain, and no hand seeks his aid without a response. When he finds good in every faith that helps any man to lay hold of divine things and sees majestic meanings in life, whatever the name of that faith may be. When he knows how to pray, how to love, how to hope. When he has kept faith with himself, with his fellow man, with his God; in his hand a sword for evil, in his heart a bit of a song - glad to live, but not afraid to die! Such a man has found the only real secret of Masonry, and the one which it is trying to give to all the world.â&#x20AC;? - Brother John Fort Newton

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FREEMASONRY

The Psychology of Freemasonry Talk delivered to Garfield Lodge #559, DuBois, PA, February 5, 1987

Above: Illustration of Labor is Worship

The title of my talk tonight, brethren, appears in the meeting announcement as the "Psychology of Freemasonry." Actually, tonight I plan to describe two psychologies of Freemasonry--an outer psychology and an inner psychology. The "outer" psychology I will share with you is that manner in which a non-initiate psychologist might describe our activities. The "inner" psychology I will then describe can only be fully understood by a man initiated into the mysteries of Freemasonry. First, then, what would an ordinary, non-Masonic psychologists say about the things we Masons do at our lodge meetings? More than likely, he would look at our activities as an expression of ancient, universal drives, motives, and impulses that date back to the dawn of human history. Psychologists have noted that in every single culture--from the most ancient and primitive-to the most recent and civilized--men seem to be motivated or driven by three basic instincts or impulses:

HISTORY: DEFINING FREEMASONRY 1.

An instinct to gather in groups to enjoy each other's company. Men, in particular seem to have an instinct to meet in groups that exclude women. 2.

An instinct to arrange the groups in a status hierarchy, or chain of command, from high to low. Again, men seem to be more interested in power and politics than women. 3.

An instinct to make life predictable through structured rituals. The rituals can be either sacred or profane. The ordered activities in sacred rituals are supposed to help us feel closer to the divine order. Profane rituals, like a morning coffee break, simply make everyday life predictable and comfortable.

Let's look at these three instincts to see whether they do indeed apply to us. First, the instinct to gather in groups. Clearly, this is something we do every month, and most of us enjoy chatting and visiting with each other. Like many other groups, ours is an exclusive group that does not admit just any person. Therefore, to be accepted into a Masonic lodge is makes us feel a special sense of belongingness and importance. What about the instinct to arrange our group in a power structure, from high to law? Again, this seems to be the case. Our hierarchy or chain-of-command places God first, as our spiritual head, followed by our various earthly leaders, from the Grand Master of Pennsylvania through our District Deputies to our Lodges' Worshipful Masters, Senior and Junior Wardens, and other officers. What about the instinct for order and structured rituals? Again this instinct seems to apply to us; we can find in our activities both sacred and profane rituals. We believe that God is the Great Geometrician of the universe, and through our sacred ritual work we learn secret words which are keys to understanding the Great Geometrician's order. We also have profane rituals such as business meetings conducted by Robert's Rules of Order and the traditional refreshments after the meeting. Now, a most important question--can Freemasonry be reduced by psychology to nothing more than an expression of ancient instincts? Are we simply re-creating a period of human history where men fought other men for leadership of a group that left women back at the campground to go off and hunt and to participate in secret religious rituals? I think that perhaps this is true for some individual Masons. Some of usâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and when I say "some of us" I mean Masons in general, not necessarily individuals in this Blue Lodgeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;some of us attend Lodge only to

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FREEMASONRY

escape from our wives and to visit with other men. Some of us may indeed be motivated primarily by ambition, desiring the awesome power of Worshipful Master--or even Grand Master. And, some of us are comforted by the predictability of our meetings and ritual work in the same way we are comforted by the predictable order of worship in a church service. As in a worship service, we really don't understand the real significance of the rituals, although we have a sense that something important is happening, and that makes us feel relaxed and comfortable. Hopefully, Freemasonry has for us a higher and more noble purpose. We are motivated by an inner psychology, not by the common motives of the uninitiated. What is this inner psychology? This inner psychology cannot be described in a single meeting-there is simply too much to discuss. Also, some of this inner psychology may be beyond words—it must be personally experienced. I will, however, give you one example of the inner psychology of Freemasonry in the activities of the officers at the opening of the Lodge. The seven Lodge officers represent the seven faculties of the mind. As they carry out the activities of the Lodge opening, we should be opening our minds and heats to God. The officers are dramatizing this psychological process of opening our minds and hearts. The Worshipful Master represents what is highest in us—the Spirit, the Divine Spark, or what St. Paul called "the Inner Christ." He directs the opening of the lodge, but cannot do it alone. The officers must work together, and so must our own psychological faculties work together to open us to God. The opening begins with the Worshipful Master directing the Pursuivant-or Inner Guard—to see that the Lodge room is tyled, or sealed off.

The Tyler—or Outer Guard as he is sometimes called—keeps a watch at the outer door to prevent nonMasons from entering.

The Tyler represents our outer senses, our link to the mundane, profane world. As the Tyler guards the door and the Pursuivant seals the Lodge, so should we also be sealing off our minds to our lower natures, to prepare to turn to higher things. Once the Lodge is tyled, any communication with the outer world is channeled through the Pursuivant, or Inner Guard. As the Tyler represent our outer senses, The Pursuivant represents our inner senses, or intuition. Should an alarum be heard at the door of the outside world (our lower nature), the Pursuivant is directed to attend to that alarum with sword drawn, to deal with it, so that

HISTORY: DEFINING FREEMASONRY the harmony of the Lodge (our mind) is not disturbed. The opening is completed when the Worshipful Master (Divine Spirit) communicates a desire to open the Lodge through the Senior Deacon to the Senior Warden (who represents our Soul). The Soul, like the moon, has no light of its own, and needs light from the Divine Spirit to become illumined. So should we also link our souls to God, else they will not shine. The Senior Deacon then communicates the Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s desire to open through the Junior Deacon to the Junior Warden (who represents the enlightened intellect). As Joshua prayed for the Sun to stand still so he could conquer his enemies, so should we also pray that our intellect remain enlightened throughout the Lodge meeting, so that we may continue to dispel any remnants of our lower nature. Thus, the activities of our officers reflect--or should reflect--processes within the seven faculties of our minds. Only when the faculties of our minds work in harmony can we find God. For further reflection on the harmony of the seven mental faculties, I refer to you for study Revelation chapter 1, verses 12 to 20. Much more can be said about the inner psychology of Freemasonry. I have not talked about the significance of the greater and lesser lights, nor the rituals of the three degrees. Perhaps, at some other time.

Above left: Classic portrait of a Tyler with a sabre Above right: Prince Arthur, Dukes, British Royals, Famous Freemason, Governor General, Canadian Confederate, British Royal Families, Connaught, Grand Master

THE TWO-FOLD NATURE OF FREEMASONRY

The Two-Fold Nature of Freemasonry Article by Kenneth H. Hooley

Among the Craft, very little is known about the origins of Freemasonry; the designed purpose of its exoteric, or outer work; and even less about the esoteric aspect of its ritualistic work. How better to begin than to open the First Great Light in Masonry to page one.[1] "In the beginning God created" the ‘Above' and the ‘Below'. "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And God said, ‘Let there be light; and there was Light'" Thus is stated two Divine Laws: (1) the Hermetic Law: "as above, so below; as within, so without"; and (2), a corollary of the first; the Law of Duality. The six days of Creation is really a declaration of the evolutionary-devolutionary process which governs all of Creation, including the destiny of the Soul of Man. Then follows the story of Adam's creation and his ouster from the Garden of Eden. Symbolically, Eden was that temporary state of suspension, of inaction, before the inbreathing of the Spirit of God upon His "waters". Eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil was a programmed necessity. It was a predestined event. The moment Adam partook of that sacrament two things happened: (1) He became subject to two conflicting inner

HISTORY: DEFINING FREEMASONRY drives: the constructive and the destructive; (2) He became subject to the Law of Personal Responsibility for his choices, i.e. his actions. Thus, did God launch Man upon the long road towards his eventual destiny; eternal salvation as God's co-creator, or eternal oblivion as the price of refusal to accept his builder's responsibilities. Thus, from the beginning, was created the Inner and the Outer; the Above and the Below. From the beginning Man, like Prometheus has been bound to that necessity. Also, like Prometheus, Man's only unbinding from the limits of the Lower Law will come through his total obedience of the Higher Law wherein lies a FREEDOM never promised by Satan and all of his ruffians. He must curb his "undue passions" by the horizontal plane of the Level. He must erect his aspiring goals heavenward by the perfect vertical of the Plumb Line. Thus, the Mason may complete the work of the Entered Apprentice and the Fellowcraft by the completion of the Right Angle. The Master Mason degree is a representation of the finished Work. It is the transformation of the Right Angle into the Right Triangle by connecting the ends of the horizontal and the vertical planes with the Hypotenuse, a representation of Infinity. It represents the completion of the "Temple Not Made with Hands". And in that completion is found the "Philosopher's Stone", or the True Word of the Master Mason. Yet, as we all know, we are invested with a substitute word. Why, then, are we faced with this disappointing climax? The answer is that each Entered Apprentice must first build his horizontal level. Each Fellowcraft must erect his vertical pillar of goals and aspirations; set his "Jacob's Ladder" thereupon; and climb, rung by rung of experience, until he arises to that level where he may find that Special Path which

Above: As Above, So Below is a maxim from the Western tradition. This is a paraphrase from The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus and is of central importance to the entire Hermetic tradition from Kabbalah to alchemy to ceremonial magic to metaphysics.

leads to the building of his "hypotenuse". This is God's evolutionary Law. There is no possibility of escape. His only option is unthinkable: Drown in the depths of eternal oblivion! Because of the foregoing, we can better understand that subjective disciplines have two aspects. Remember the Law of Duality! One is the objective, exoteric, or outer appearances. The other is the hidden,

THE TWO-FOLD NATURE OF FREEMASONRY

esoteric, or inner obscure meanings. Esoteric philosophy obscures inner truth, in part by necessity, and in part by deliberate purpose. Freemasonry also has an esoteric aspect and its exoteric work. The esoteric aspect is embodied by its secret signs, tokens, and ritual. The ritual is really a Among the Craft, very little is known about the origins of Freemasonry; the designed purpose of its exoteric, or outer work; and even less about the esoteric aspect of its ritualistic work. How better to begin than to open the First Great Light in Masonry to page one.[1] “In the beginning God created” the ‘Above’ and the ‘Below’. “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And God said, ‘Let there be light; and there was Light’” Thus is stated two Divine Laws: (1) the Hermetic Law: “as above, so below; as within, so without”; and (2), a corollary of the first; the Law of Duality. The six days of Creation is really a declaration of the evolutionary-devolutionary process which governs all of Creation, including the destiny of the Soul of Man. Then follows the story of Adam’s creation and his ouster from the Garden of Eden. Symbolically, Eden was that temporary state of suspension, of inaction, before the inbreathing of the Spirit of God upon His “waters”. Eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil was a programmed necessity. It was a predestined event. The moment Adam partook of that sacrament two things happened: (1) He became subject to two conflicting inner drives: the constructive and the destructive; (2) He became subject to the Law of Personal Responsibility for his choices, i.e. his actions. Thus, did God launch Man upon the long road towards his eventual destiny; eternal salvation as God’s co-creator, or eternal oblivion as the price of refusal to accept his builder’s responsibilities.

Thus, from the beginning, was created the Inner and the Outer; the Above and the Below. From the beginning Man, like Prometheus has been bound to that necessity. Also, like Prometheus, Man’s only unbinding from the limits of the Lower Law will come through his total obedience of the Higher Law wherein lies a FREEDOM never promised by Satan and all of his ruffians. He must curb his “undue passions” by the horizontal plane of the Level. He must erect his aspiring goals heavenward by the perfect vertical of the Plumb Line. Thus, the Mason may complete the work of the Entered Apprentice and the Fellowcraft by the completion of the Right Angle. The Master Mason degree is a representation of the finished Work. It is the transformation of the Right Angle into the Right Triangle by connecting the ends of the horizontal and the vertical planes with the Hypotenuse, a representation of Infinity. It represents the completion of the “Temple Not Made with Hands”. And in that completion is found the “Philosopher’s Stone”, or the True Word of the Master Mason. Yet, as we all know, we are invested with a substitute word. Why, then, are we faced with this disappointing climax? The answer is that each Entered Apprentice must first build his horizontal level. Each Fellowcraft must erect his vertical pillar of goals and aspirations; set his “Jacob’s Ladder” thereupon; and climb, rung by rung of experience, until he arises to that level where he may find that Special Path which leads to the building of his “hypotenuse”. This is God’s evolutionary Law. There is no possibility of escape. His only option is unthinkable: Drown in the depths of eternal oblivion! Because of the foregoing, we can better understand that subjective disciplines have two aspects. Remember the Law of

HISTORY: DEFINING FREEMASONRY Duality! One is the objective, exoteric, or outer appearances. The other is the hidden, esoteric, or inner obscure meanings. Esoteric philosophy obscures inner truth, in part by necessity, and in part by deliberate purpose. Freemasonry also has an esoteric aspect and its exoteric work. The esoteric aspect is embodied by its secret signs, tokens, and ritual. The ritual is really a type of Ancient Mystery Play.[2] Its plot is the age-old Legend of the Fall of Man. The Legend also intimates the existence of a Path by which Man may re-arise to sublime heights, if he will accept the challenge and successfully run the gauntlet. This plot and the Sacred Law is basic to all time-tested religions. This is the common bond by which Masonic Brethren may kneel about the Three Great Lights in Masonry and offer up their supplications to Deity. In this manner fraternal harmony is established within the Craft. In this fashion acceptability of The Craft is established in outer society. Let me quote from “The Meaning of Masonry” by W. L. Wilmshurst, an English Mason of high rank who bridged the 19th and 20th centuries. By the depth of his insight into the subjective nature of Masonry, and by his manner of expression we may well suspect that he was also a Spiritual Mason, as well. This book is a “must” for every Master Mason who is strongly drawn towards the goal of esoteric, or Spiritual Masonry. From page 5: “. . . It seems taken for granted that reception into the Order will automatically be accompanied by an ability to appreciate forthwith and at its full value all that one there finds. The contrary is the case, for Masonry is a veiled and cryptic expression of the difficult science of spiritual life, and the understanding of it calls for a special an informed guidance on one hand, and on the other a genuine and earnest interest on the part of those seeking to be instructed;.

. . not infrequently one finds the Brethren discontinuing their membership because they find that Masonry means nothing to them and that no explanation or guidance is vouchsafed to them . . .”[3] Brethren, harken to those words! Investiture of the “substitute” Master Mason’s Word is a disappointment. Future generations can never find out the “right” within any Masonic body. The originators of Freemasonry never vested that special knowledge within their creation! Spiritual Initiates of authentic Arcane Secret Societies were the founders of Freemasonry. It seems that they labored at least two centuries, evolving operative guild masonry of the Middle Ages into what became Freemasonry as it emerged about the middle of the 17th century. These illumined men foresaw the coming of the Renaissance, its special opportunity for Man, and its singular needs. They built into Freemasonry the basic idealism and moral requirements which they knew to be essential to the success of the work Freemasonry was to perform. However, they reserved exclusively to themselves the esoteric, Arcane process which was and still is required to realize the goal which the True Word of the Master Mason signifies. In the words of Wilmshurst: “I emphasize that the method was necessarily to be not a haphazard, but scientific one”.[4] It is interesting to note that, in Europe, after the appearance of Freemasonry, many of the Arcane Societies required that their applicants be Masons, Primitive or Speculative.[5] However, in the United States Masonic membership has never been an admission requirement. The esoteric aspect of Freemasonry was designed to operate on two planes. The first plane is that of the collective, or group function. The second plane is that of the inner being of the individual Mason. Wilmshurst emphasizes this in his “Meaning of Masonry”:

THE TWO-FOLD NATURE OF FREEMASONRY

“. . .’Know thyself!’ was the injunction inscribed over the portals of ancient Temples of Initiation, for with that knowledge was promised the knowledge of all secrets and all mysteries. And Masonry was designed to teach knowledge much deeper, vaster and more difficult than is popularly conceived. The wisest and most advanced of us is perhaps still but an Entered Apprentice at this knowledge, however high his titular rank. Here and there may be one worthy of being hailed as a Fellow-Craft in the true sense. The full Master Mason - the just man made perfect who has actually travelled the entire path, endured all its tests and ordeals, and becomes raised into conscious union with the Author and Giver of Life and able to mediate and impart that life to others - is at all times hard to find.”[6] Every coin has two sides. This is but another vernacular statement of the Law of Duality. It is universal and all pervading. The Supreme Architect designed Man to conquer his external environment and to expand it in evolutionary fashion by use of his five physical senses and objective mind. But he also endowed Man with a subconscious capacity to function as a bridge which crosses the obscure boundary between the outer material world and the unseen inner spiritual world. Likewise, the originators of Freemasonry designed our Fraternity to perform a double function: (1) To supply and apply the idealistic and ethical mortar for securely binding the unfolding social organizations of Man on the West side of the foreseen Renaissance; (2) To serve as the concealed connector to the illuminated Spiritual Initiates and their Arcane Societies. This last point is affirmed by Wilmshurst: “. . . Nevertheless to point to that path of selfperfecting to those who care and dare to follow it . . . modern Speculative Masonry was instituted. . . .”[7]

But just who were the originators of Freemasonry? For the answer, let us now turn to a work by another high ranking English Mason, Bro. Rev. F. deP. Castells. This book, “Our Ancient Brethren, The Originators of Freemasonry” is truly a remarkable work. It is now out of print. His thesis, stated in the preface, is “that Freemasonry came through the movement initiated by the Christian Kabbalists. . . . The Jewish Brotherhood . . . gave rise successively to several secret associations, chief of which were the Orders of the Holy Cross, the Rosy Cross, and the Freemasonry of the middle seventeenth century.” Beginning with Chapter III, the rest of the book deals primarily with the Rosicrucians, and a number of their personalities, their works and their connections with Freemasonry. Chapter VIII deals with the FAMA FRATERNITAS; and Chapter IX deals with the CONFESSION of the Rosicrucians.[8] The worth of this work becomes highlighted when we compare it with the world’s most authentic history of the Fraternitas Rosae Crucis: “The Book of ROSICRUCIAE”. The 3 volumes are available through the Philosophical Publishing Co., PO Box 220 at Quakertown, PA 18951. This work was compiled by the late Supreme Grand Master, Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer who held that office from 1905 until 1966. Dr. Clymer was also a 32nd Degree Mason, and a descendant of George Clymer, one of the signers of our Declaration of Independence. Most of Dr. Clymer’s many works will be found in the Library of the Scottish Rite Supreme Council in Washington, D.C. Near the start of the 16th century Paracelsus began what was to become the Fraternitas Rosae Crucis by the turn of the 17th century. See Volume I, Preface, BOOK OF ROSICRUCIAE, pages 18 and

HISTORY: DEFINING FREEMASONRY 19. “The records of the Fraternitas are proof of this . . .” “. . . we have drawn a parallel in juxtaposition between the lives, travels and experiences of the legendary Father C.R.C. and Paracelsus . . . the father of the Confederation which later became the Fraternitas Rosae Crucis and continues to be such unto this day.[9] It should here be noted that the Kabbalists which had so profoundly influenced the formation of Freemasonry were a part of this early confederation. It appears that the Masonic evolution started somewhat before the 16th century. Since the formation of the modern Fraternitas Rosae Crucis occupied all of the 16th century, it is likely that the Kabbalists were involved in Masonic formation for some period prior to the start of the 16th century. The Fraternitas Rosae Crucis which emerged at the beginning of the 17th century was a blend of Arcane Societies or groups which included the Kabbalists, Hermeticists, and Alchemists. Let’s now change the scene to the New World. The Supreme World Council of the Fraternitas in Europe established the Council of Nine at Philadelphia in 1773, just before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. This was the first organizational appearance of the Fraternitas in America.[10] You will note that 3 revolutionary Americans were members of the World Council: (1) Thomas Paine; (2) Benjamin Franklin, a Mason; and (3) George Washington, also a Mason. To most fully appreciate the stature of these great men; to realize the source of the grand concepts of The United States and the magnificence of its founding documents, every Mason should really study and absorb Volume II, BOOK OF ROSICRUCIAE, page 101 to its end. Further, every Mason should study George Lippard’s “Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross”. This is also obtainable from the Philosophical Publishing Co. at Quakertown, PA. See the Addendum

at the end of this paper. Dr. Clymer’s Introduction to this work should be read and re-read until its message is burned in fire upon every Masonic heart! In 1858 the World Council established the first Rosicrucian Grand Jurisdiction in the New World, and installed Dr. P. Beverly Randolph as the first American Grand Master.[11] General Ethan Allen Hitchcock, George Lippard, and Abraham Lincoln were contemporaries of Dr. Randolph. Finally, in 1884, the European Supreme World Council was closed forever when Dr. Freeman B. Dowd was made Supreme Grand Master in The United States. Let it here be noted that the name, “Fraternitas Rosae Crucis” with many of its symbols were registered with the U. S. Library of Congress. Therefore, by Fraternal Law, the Fraternitas Rosae Crucis with its SEE at Quakertown, PA, is the only authentic Rosicrucian in The United States today. While the Fraternitas and Freemasonry worked in Europe separately, but side-byside from the 17th century; both fraternities existed concurrently, at least from the time of our American Revolution. The Fraternitas worked silently and inwardly. Freemasonry also worked quietly, but performed the outer work of building our great nation. One was the left hand; the other was the right hand. And, Brethren, I sincerely believe that our singular national structure could have never been erected without those two sides of the fraternal equation.

THE TWO-FOLD NATURE OF FREEMASONRY TODAYS’S MASONIC CHALLENGE AND OPPORTUNITY

As we turn to the present, we find two major problems which confront Freemasonry in The United States. One is that membership is either static, or actually declining. Two is a marked decline of Masonic influence upon the quality and direction of our local and national life. From our American Revolution through World War I, the Masonic Fraternity exerted a vital, formative force in the building of the United States as a citadel of human freedom and the World’s greatest political and economic power. The advent of the “technological” revolution during World War II has wrought an avalanche of unforeseen changes in our individual and national lives with the speed of a tornado. During these 40 ensuing years we have literally adjourned to Masonic Refreshment, except for ritualistic work. We have become content to rest upon the laurels of our Masonic forbears. We have indulged in celebration of our new scientific panacea. However, we have also been accepting layer upon layer of unnatural stress until it seems that we cannot much longer control the technological monster which our 20th century Dr. Frankensteins have created. For more than 20 years I have been deeply involved in the geometry of our securities markets. These markets move in steps, or cycles; both as to price and time segments. Over extended period of time, these cycles appear to have a direct correlation with the vicissitudes of cultures and nations in much the same way as tree-rings record past climatic conditions. However, many consider the action of these markets as leading indicators. I have found that the projection of future price/time segments is feasible with almost unbelievable accuracy. From this mathematical base I

foresee an economic event fully as formidable as the threat of nuclear war. It is likely to crest just as we pass into the 21st century. No man can foretell the precise pattern of human events, especially during periods of turbulence and chaos. But history tells me that wars and social upheavals always have an economic base. It also tells me that human, economic, political and spiritual freedom are most at jeopardy during such cycles. The Red Revolution of Russia and the rise of Germany’s Hitler are two glaring modern examples. The lessons of history, just cited, plus the above mentioned two Masonic problems clearly set forth a most worthy challenge upon our trestleboard. It also confronts Freemasonry with a magnificent opportunity for dedicated service to mankind. As Bro. Wilmshurst has indicated,[12] many of the Brethren have withered away because they found not the Light which they sought. This, then, points up the urgent need for Freemasonry to develop a dynamic program of Masonic Education, plus a format of creative Masonic participation in the warp and woof of our local, state, and national life. Therefore, let me suggest that this A. Douglas Smith Lodge of Research develop a two-fold program: (1) for Masonic Education; and (2) for Masonic Civic Action. The educational program should be designed for the study of exoteric and esoteric Masonic philosophy by means of regular round table discussion groups. Hopefully, this will lead to the development of new contemporary speakers and writers from the present ranks of the Brethren. Between the Macoy Publishing Co., in Richmond, VA, and the Philosophical Publishing Co, in Quakertown, PA, there presently exists an abundance of working materials. Special round table meetings should also be established of

HISTORY: DEFINING FREEMASONRY Masonic families and related organizations such as the Eastern Star, DeMolay, and Job’s Daughters. Secondly, a separate series of round table meetings should be established to study American history, civics, and government. The centerpiece of this work must be an understanding and practical acceptance of the idealistic and philosophical purposes for which these United States were founded. Finally, there must be formulated a program of specific procedures by which our national life can be re-programmed back within the metes and bounds set forth by our founding documents. This, it seems to me, is the Masonic challenge of our day. It is monumental. If you find this challenge worthy of acceptance, the only way the work will get done is to make the start. The sooner, the better. And if it be good and proper, inch by inch, the human resources and essential wisdom will come with the effort. Brethren, Virginia was the Mother of our United States. Virginia was also the Mother of George Washington, the Mason and the Spiritual Initiate. Where better to begin the revitalization of Freemasonry and the re-direction of America? This is a magnificent possibility. It can also become a glorious reality. The difference will depend, Brethren, upon your collective Will and Desire! Now in closing, let me pose you a question: Are you ready - are you ready to accept this challenge; and are you willing to secure a living future for yourselves and your descendants? You have TWO futures to ponder. One is the “future” which yet remains to us in this present vale of tears. The second is your “future” in that Foreign Country, beyond the pillars of Jachin and Boaz, where you may well discover that you are your own Great Grandfather! Harken, Brethren, for the call of your Worshipful Master from Refreshment to

Labor. That call should remind you that the Temple within AND the Temple without have yet to be completed according to that Grand Design of the Supreme Architect: “As within, so without; As above, so below!

Endnotes: [1] The Holy Bible (King James Version) [2] “Meanings of Masonry”, W. L. Wilmshurst, Chapter V. [3] “Meanings of Masonry”, W. L. Wilmshurst, page 5. [4] “Meanings of Masonry”, W. L. Wilmshurst, page 174. [5] “The Book of ROSICRUCIAE”, R. Swinburne Clymer, Vol. III, pages 80 - 81. [6] “Meanings of Masonry”, W. L. Wilmshurst, page 12. [7] “Meanings of Masonry”, W. L. Wilmshurst, page 13. [8] “The Book of ROSICRUCIAE”, R. Swinburne Clymer, Vol. I, pages 227 - 286 and Vol. II, pages 1 - 29. [9] “The Book of ROSICRUCIAE”, R. Swinburne Clymer, Vol. I Preface, pages xviii - xix. [10] “Brotherhood of The Rosy Cross”, George Lippard, page 22.V An imposing list of Americans who were Rosicrucians begins on page 101 of Volume II, BOOK OF ROSICRUCIAE. Biographical sketches of these men continue to the end of that volume. [11] “The Book of ROSICRUCIAE”, R. Swinburne Clymer, Vol. II, page 191. [12] “Meanings of Masonry”, W. L. Wilmshurst, pages 5 - 6.

HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS

Higher Consciousness: The Real Objective of Freemasonry Brian Dieppa, Shihan (Reiki Master) Freemasonry as a Buddhist Many are the reason why we join the craft, but only one is the objective of her existence. Freemasonry as we know it today is the greater esoteric compendium (Gnosis) of ancient wisdoms passed on to us by “higher intelligence”... many generations have found and used her advice and have awaken to the sweet light of the great Geometrician. This process is calling for the empowerment of each and everyone of our center (Human Soul). So, yes I said it the purpose of Freemasonry is to train the soul, to eliminate the “Ego” and to arrive at a higher plane of consciousness. For you Mystic Mason interested in achieving a higher plane of consciousness you can start by checking out Brother Robert Lomas new book, “The secret science of Masonic initiation”. ISBN: 978-1-57863-4903. I said a higher level because even when you are not aware and do not know it yet, your soul does! How do you think that you arrive at the light, by your self, please... by taking the degrees of the craft your soul already achieves a significant level of consciousness. Yes, yes, but you can only achive the full potential and benefits of initiation when you work and follow the ancient ways.

Our inner self (soul) originated and emanated from the same thought; from the same source and by the same higher intelligence we constantly improve and obtain our consciousness. If only we really can understand that we are the true heirs to one of the oldest if not the oldest valuable initiatic system. The craft is veil and charged with many and all the universal truths. In the past these truths have guided the evolution of humanity, today they are more active than ever and minute by minute we are moved by her higher frequencies. Our ritual is replete with higher teachings and spiritual credos… yes, shrouded by symbolisms and metaphors that we use in combination with working tools to exhume our higher self from the chains of ignorance and darkness, but we need to reinstate it to the light of higher consciousness. Freemasonry is indeed a system guiding humanity not only its members closer to the sublime and sacred. The knowledge embodied in our rituals are a reflection for the real life initiations that we need to undertake if we desire our SelfRealization. The mystical (hidden) equivalent of our three degrees relate to the essential parts of man consisting of the body, the mind

HISTORY: DEFINING FREEMASONRY

and the spirit (center).

THE FIRST DEGREE accentuates the physical and its objective is 'from darkness to light'. It is symbolized the birth. By the rough ashlars and the working tools are those implements needed to carve the ill-defined stones brought to light from the darkness of the quarries. The consciousness of the first degree is at the level of animal instinct and its pillar represents physical strength and is capped with the terrestrial globe. THE SECOND DEGREE symbolized the development of the human body and it stresses the faculties of the mind and its objective is ‘from ignorance to knowledge’. It is symbolized by the smooth ashlars and the working tools are designed to perfect and prove the stone by cutting its remaining rough edges. The consciousness of this degree is at the level of intellect. Its pillar represents wisdom and is crowned with the celestial globe. In THE THIRD DEGREE the emphasis is on spirit and the objective is to kill for once and for all the entire Ego”… and by doing so building the Temple, not made with human hands, but in eternal planes! Its symbol is the blazing star (Tetragrammaton), its consciousness is at the level of intuition, the voice of Nature, and its pillar is that of Beauty that depends on balance and harmony. The objectives of the three degrees – illumination through the search for light, wisdom through the increase in knowledge, and transformation through the process of death and rebirth – portray the story of the evolution of human consciousness leading ultimately to his enlightenment.

Above: depiction of The Three Virtues

Sadly, I observed that most of our brethrens simply ignored or failed to see the deeper aspects of our society. Stop calling it a fraternity. For them modern freemasonry is just an fraternal association of good men bounded by common aspirations of morality, charity and brotherhood which for me is just a single dimensional view of what our order is really all about. Only if the brethrens could pierce what’s is really behind the veil of our mysteries as embodied in our rituals... then they could understand that the true spirit of freemasonry is not simply confined to the four walls of the temple or lodges but inside of them as parts of the Elohim’s (God). May our higher’s self guide us through

DEFINING FREEMASONRY

The Deceptive Nature of Blue Lodge Symbolism Chapter Four, Part One The Symbolism of Freemasonry Source: http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com

In order to fully comprehend Freemasonry it is important to become familiar with its many symbols, as well as the esoteric meanings behind them. Indeed, this is precisely where the mystery religion of the Masonic Order finds full explanation. In the words of Masonic authority, Allen E. Roberts, "...Symbolism is the lifeblood of the Craft.... It is the principal vehicle by which [we are taught] Masonic philosophy and moral lessons."(1) Likewise, Albert Mackey stated, "Freemasonry is... a system of doctrines which [are] taught by allegories and symbols."(2) Again, "In Freemasonry, all the instructions in its mysteries are communicated in the form of symbols."(3) It should be noted, however, that the true interpretation of the various symbols of Freemasonry are not to be found in the lowest three degrees of the Blue Lodge -- Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason. In fact, there is deliberate deception in the Lodge with regards to Masonic symbolism as it appears in these lower degrees, which is not discovered by the initiate until he advances into the higher degrees of either the

York Rite or Scottish Rite. Albert Pike, former Grand Commander and respected authority on the symbolism of Freemasonry, made the following admission: The Blue Degrees are but the outer court or portico of the Temple. Part of the symbols are displayed there to the Initiate, but he is intentionally misled by false interpretations. It is not intended that he shall understand them; but it is intended that he shall imagine he understands them. Their true explication is reserved for the Adepts, the Princes of Masonry.... It is well enough for the mass of so-called Masons, to imagine that all is contained in the Blue Degrees; and whoso attempts to undeceive them will labor in vain, and without any true reward violate his obligations as an Adept.... The symbols of the wise are the idols of the vulgar, or else as meaningless as the hieroglyphics of Egypt to the nomadic Arabs. There must always be a commonplace interpretation for the mass of Initiates, of the symbols that are eloquent to the Adepts.(4)

THE SYMBOLISM OF FREEMASONRY Likewise, Henry C. Clausen admitted, "It must be apparent that the Blue Lodge... degrees cannot explain the whole of Masonry. They are the foundation.... An initiate may imagine he understands the ethics, symbols and enigmas, whereas the true explanation of these is reserved for the more adept."(5) In the Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Albert Mackey rightly traced such esotericism back to the mystery cults of the past, particularly those of Egypt:

Endnotes

The priesthood of Egypt constituted a sacred caste.... Their doctrines were of two kinds -- exoteric or public, which were communicated to the multitude, and esoteric or secret, which were revealed only to a select few.... That secret portion of Masonry which is known only to the initiates is distinguished from exoteric Masonry... which is accessible to all who choose to read the manuals and published works of the Order.... [Masons are] divided into two classes, according to the degree of initiation to which they had attained, as being either fully admitted into the society, and invested with all the knowledge that the Master could communicate, or as merely postulants, enjoying only the public instructions of the school, and awaiting the gradual reception of further knowledge. This double mode of instruction was borrowed... from the Egyptian priests, whose theology was of two kinds -- the one exoteric, and addressed to the people in general; the other esoteric, and confined to a select number of the priests.(6)

5. Clausen, Commentaries, page 148.

1. Allen E. Roberts, The Craft and Its Symbols: Opening of the Door to Masonic Symbolism (Richmond, Virginia: Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Company, 1974), page ix. 2. Mackey, The Symbolism of Freemasonry : Its Science, Philosophy, Legends, Myths, and Symbolism (Chicago, Illinois: Charles T. Powner Company, 1975), page 10. 3. Mackey, Encyclopedia, Volume II, page 752. 4. Pike, Morals and Dogmas, page 819.

6. Mackey, Encyclopedia, Volume I, pages 232, 249.

THE SYMBOLISM OF FREEMASONRY

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Compass and Square image is probably the most popular symbol in Freemasonry. The fundamentalist Pastor Ron Carlson, who has spoken about Freemasonry in evangelical churches in many parts of America, claims that the square represents the earth, the compasses represent the sky, and the square and compasses when united, represent the sky impregnating the earth with its showers. He goes on to state that this is a symbol of sexual intercourse. The official Freemason line is they are just tools of the Masonry Trade.â&#x20AC;? - Willian Bond

HISTORY: DEFINING FREEMASONRY

The Sexual Meanings of Masonic Symbols Chapter Four, Part Two The Symbolism of Freemasonry

Along with the Bible, or whatever "holy book" is employed in each particular Lodge, are two other "Great Lights" -- the Square and the Compass. Together, these three comprise the "Furniture" of the Lodge. (7) Blue Lodge Masons are taught that the significance of the Square is to remind them of honesty in their dealings with other men as well as the necessity of defending the honor of the teachings and ceremonies of the Lodge.(8) The Compass, on the other hand, designates the "circumscription of the heart," and serves to teach Masons to exercise temperance and the control of their desires. (9) These are, however, deliberate misrepresentations of these two symbols which are intended to conceal their true meaning from the lower degrees. Former 33rd Degree Mason James D. Shaw gave the proper explanation as it is known to Royal Arch initiates: The real meaning of these "great lights"... is sexual. The Square represents the female (passive) generative principle, the earth, and the baser, sensual nature; and the Compass represents the male (active)

generative principle, the sun/heavens, and the higher, spiritual nature. The Compass, arranged above the Square, symbolizes the (male) Sun, impregnating the passive (female) Earth with its life-producing rays. The true meanings, then are two fold: the earthly (human) representations are of the man and his phallus, and the woman with her receptive eteis (vagina). The cosmic meaning is that of the active Sun (deity, the Sun-god) from above, imparting life into the passive Earth (deity, the earth/fertility goddess) below and producing new life.(10) Thus, from these two symbols alone, we see Freemasonryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s undeniable relationship to the fertility cults of ancient paganism. The symbols of the sun and the moon, which are also associated with the compass and the square, have likewise played a vital role in the architecture of Masonic temples. These are representations of the pagan god Baal, and his female consort, Astaroth (Asherah or Easter), who is referred to in the Old Testament as the "queen of heaven" (Jeremiah 44:17-19), and was worshipped by the ancients as the patron goddess of fertility and motherhood.(11)

THE SYMBOLISM OF FREEMASONRY

According to the Babylonian tradition of the Kabalah, the moon is symbolic of the feminine, or the shekinah aspect of deity. Initiates into the Eleusyian Mysteries, as well as those of Ceres, were referred to as regenerated “children of the moon,” and believed themselves to be the spiritual offspring of the metaphysical union of the solar and lunar principles of nature. It was for this reason that the moon was often depicted with an open door in its side, which was symbolic of a productive womb.(12) Counterparts of these two deities can also be found in countless other occult-based world religions and traditions as well, all represented by the sun and the moon (and/or the earth).(13) These include Osiris and Isis in Egyptian mythology; Mahadeva, or Shiva, and Bhavani, or Kali in India; Dionysis and Rhea in Greek mythology; and Lucifer and Lilith in the more modern Theosophical and New Age philosophies advanced by the writings of Alice Bailey, Helena Blavatsky, Aleister Crowley, and other practitioners of white and black magic. Several occult traditions, such as the “Jewel in the Lotus” of Tantric Yoga, also venerate sexuality, and view coitus as the highest expression of spiritual union with the combined male and female aspects of the Absolute. This is precisely the reason that sexual immorality has been so consistently rampant in the various branches of paganism, for it is the direct result of mankind’s universal rejection of the knowledge of the True and Living God and his consequential degeneration into worship of the creation (Numbers 25:1-3; Romans 1:18-27)

Endnotes 7. Reference, Mackey, ibid., page 287. 8. Reference: Duncan, Ritual, page 36; see also Mackey, Encyclopedia, Volume I, page 174. 9. Reference: Duncan, Ritual, page 36; see also Mackey, Encyclopedia, Volume I, page 174. 10. James Shaw and Tom McKenney, Deadly Deception (Lafayette, Louisiana: Huntington House, 1988), pages 143144; see also Pike, Morals and Dogma, pages 850-851. 11. Reference: Mackey, Encylopedia, Volume I, page 88; ibid., Volume II, pages 491, 560. 12. Reference: Arthur E. Waite, A New Encyclopedia of Freemasonry (New York: Weather Vane, 1970), page 111. 13. Reference: Pike, Morals and Dogma, page 377.

HISTORY: DEFINING FREEMASONRY

Above: The Washington Monument in Washington D.C. is often seen as a prime example of phallic architecture and American masculinity.

THE SYMBOLISM OF FREEMASONRY

The Occult Meaning of the Five-Pointed Star Chapter Four, Part Three The Symbolism of Freemasonry

Another Masonic The occult pentagram. symbol with occult origins, is the five-pointed star, otherwise known as the pentacle. In its upright position, with one point up and two points down, this symbol represents the "morning star," or Lucifer, as well as goodness and light, and serves to beckon man to discover his inherent or potential divinity.(14) However, in its inverted position, with two points up and one point down, it represents evil and darkness, and ultimately symbolizes the sensual temptations of manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s baser nature which hinders the spiritual development and evolution of the esoteric initiate.(15) In this latter form it is most often seen in connection with Satanism and black magic.(16) There is also a deeper, sexual meaning of the symbol of the pentacle in occult philosophy. According to researcher Martin Wagner, the five-pointed star is a symbol of creation, or the male/female generative principle of nature.(17) The points of the upright star represent the figure of a man with outstretched arms and legs,(18) and the pentagon thus formed in the center of the star by the intersection of the five lines, is therefore symbolic of the male reproductive organ.(19)

Consistent with the The inverted pentagram of the Black Massdualism so prevalent in the occult, the five-pointed star in its inverted position represents the female aspect of nature, with the pentagon formed in the center symbolizing the reproductive organs of the woman. This particular esoteric meaning explains why the inverted pentacle, enclosed in a circle (the pentagram or the "Baphomet") is often used in the "Black Mass" of Satanism and black magic. Here, the "altar," significantly situated in the west of the ritual site beneath the inverted star, normally consists of the prostrate body of a nude woman, who supposedly fulfills the role of the "passive receptor," or the "earth mother."(20) The pentacle in its inverted form is also used as the official motif of the Order of the Eastern Star, which is an organization designed primarily for the female relatives of Masons in good standing. These women The inverted pentagram of the Order of the Eastern Starare falsely led to believe that the inverted pentacle is symbolic of the Star of Bethlehem and that the five points correspond to the five virtues of womanhood: integrity, industry, fidelity, faith, and patience.(21) In reality, however, it is

HISTORY: DEFINING FREEMASONRY

occult symbol is instead known by Masonic and other esoteric authorities as the "Seal of Solomon."(25) However, that this "Solomon" is not to be confused with the Israelite king spoken of in the Bible, is made quite clear in Masonic literature:

Above: This particular esoteric meaning explains why the inverted pentacle, enclosed in a circle (the pentagram or the "Baphomet") is often used in the "Black Mass" of Satanism and black magic

an extremely vulgar symbol of the moon goddess of fertility, as she lies prostrate, awaiting impregnation by her celestial mate, the sun-god. It is perhaps also important to mention here that the rituals of the Order of the Eastern Star are presided over by a "Worthy Patron" and a "Worthy Matron," who sit side by side against the eastern wall of the lodge,(22) thus representing the heathen deities of the sun and the moon. Of equal significance in Masonic symbolism is the hexagram, or the sixpointed star, which J.D. Buck admitted in his book Mystic Masonry is merely another form of the compass and square.(23) Again, sexual intercourse is here depicted by the upright triangle, representative of the male phallus, or the "active principle," placed over the inverted triangle, representative of the female vagina, or the "passive principle."(24) Often misidentified as the "Star of David," this

All true Masons have come into the realization that there is but one Lodge and that is the Universe. There is but one Brotherhood and this is composed of everything that moves or exists in any of the planes of Nature. He realizes that the Temple of Solomon is really the Temple of the Solar Man, Sol Om On, the King of the Universe manifesting through his three primordial builders.(26) This name is a composite, Sol-Om-On, the names of the sun in Latin, Indian [Hindu], and Egyptian, and is designed to show the unity of several god-ideas in the ancient religions, as well as those of Freemasonry. It is a glyph which indicates the unity of the god-ideas of these various cults, a coordination of their deities and expresses the Masonic idea of the "unity of God" as it was conceived of in these religions.(27)

THE SYMBOLISM OF FREEMASONRY

Endnotes 14. Reference: Hall, Lost Keys, page 122; see also Mackey, Encyclopedia, Volume II, page 553. 15. Reference: Pike, Morals and Dogma, page 305. 16. Reference: Richard Cavendish, The Black Arts (New York: Perigee Books, 1967), page 242; see also Anton S. LaVey, The Satanic Bible (New York: Avon Books, 1967), page 136. 17. Reference: Wagner, Interpretation, page 114. 18. Reference: Cavendish, Black Arts, page 242; see also Blavatsky, Secret Doctrine, Volume I, page 219. 19. Reference: Wagner, Interpretation, page 109; see also Buck, Symbolism, page 40. 20. Reference: LaVey, Satanic Bible, page 135. 21. Reference: Robert Macoy, Adoptive Rite Ritual (Richmond, Virginia: Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Company, 1928), page 17; see also Mackey, Encyclopedia, Volume II, page 910. 22. Reference: Macoy, Adoptive Rite Ritual, page 27. 23. Reference: Buck, Symbolism, page 40; see also Mackey, Encyclopedia, Volume I, page 351. 24. Reference: Mackey, ibid., Volume II, page 801. 25. Reference: Cavendish, Black Arts, pages 242-243. 26. Hall, Lost Keys, page 93. 27. Wagner, Interpretation, page 97.

HISTORY: DEFINING FREEMASONRY

Above: The Franklin Delano Roosevelt lodge room (GLdF).

HANDSHAKES, PASSWORDS AND SIGNS

Handshakes, Passwords and Signs THE MASONIC HANDSHAKE

Above: Roman Catholic priests giving each other the handshake â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Tubal-cainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, the real grip of a fellow craft Above right: Nixon & Moon, masonic handshake Central right: Pope John Paul II and Israel foreign minister Ariel Sharon in a heavy moment of recognition. Below right: pope shares secret handshake with rabbi

A Masonic handshake is a handshake that is used as a form of recognition between two Freemasons. The Freemasons have at least 12 known universal secret handshakes that were implemented in their society, however, there are believed to be many more unrecorded masonic secret handshakes. The secretiveness of this society is prevalent in their greetings. The Freemasons use their set of unique handshakes to not only identify members of the society, but also to identity the different levels, classes, or castes of people within the societies. Fellow masons shake hands using secret handshakes, but within the society, apprentices and masters have distinctly different handshakes to identify one from another. Additionally, the Freemasons make use of the aforementioned secret signals to subtly indicate who is of what level. For instance, one handshake used between a master from an apprentice includes distinct touches on the knuckles.

HANDSHAKES

Note: In the following discourse WM stands for Worshipful Master, and SD stands for Senior Deacon.

WM: Brother Senior Deacon. SD: Worshipful Master. WM: I hele. SD: I conceal. WM: What do you conceal? SD: All the secrets of a Mason in Masonry, to which this token alludes. (At this time, the candidate is shown the grip of an Entered Apprentice)

WM: What is that? SD: A grip WM: Of what? SD: Of an Entered Apprentice. WM: Has it a name? SD: It has. WM: Will you give it to me? SD: I did not so receive it, neither will I so impart it. WM: How will you dispose of it? SD: Letter it or halve it. WM: Letter it and begin. SD: You begin. WM: Begin you. SD: A WM: B SD: O WM: Z WM: (Directing his words to the candidate): "Boaz, my Brother, is the name of this grip, and should always be given in the customary manner, by lettering or halving. When lettering, always commence with the letter, "A".

HANDSHAKES, PASSWORDS AND SIGNS

Above: Gulen & Pope John Paul II do the Masonic handshake

HANDSHAKES

Above: Duke of Kent in a Masonic grip with another mason Below: President Bush & Bono, both are known to be freemasons

HANDSHAKES, PASSWORDS AND SIGNS

THE HIDDEN HAND SIGN From George Washington, to Stalin, to Mussolini, to Napoleon, to John Wilkes Booth, to Kim Jong Un.. throughout history, many notable, powerful and historically important people have been photographed or, further back in time, had portraits painted of them in which they are making a peculiar and distinct gesture in which they have their hand hidden and inserted into their shirt either over their heart or their stomach.. but why? What does this gesture signify and mean? This gesture is a masonic gesture that signifies being a Master Mason and represents the "hidden hand". This "hidden hand" is Freemasonry, and the historical record of powerful people making this gesture provides Above left: Portrait of Salomon Rothschild with the hidden hand sign

proof of the true power, control and influence of Freemasonry that extends over our world throughout our history. It is important to note that, in order to ascend through the ranks of Freemasonry to the point where one becomes a master mason, the initiate must take an oath of fidelity to the order, which includes a promise under penalty of DEATH to maintain their silence and not expose the secrets of the order. More significantly, when an initiate takes the masonic oath, they swear to obey the will of those Masons who are superior in rank. Hence, although we are educated to believe in that "dictators" such as Stalin controlled their empires, in reality, behind their power was this all pervasive "hidden hand" controlling them. - â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Jâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Canaan Greene

HIDDEN HAND SIGN

Skull and Bones fraternity in 1929

“Today’s thinking toward a democratic world state is neither a new trend nor an accidental circumstance; the work of setting up the background of knowledge necessary to the establishing of enlightened democracy among all nations has been carried on for many hundreds of years by secret societies.” -Manly P. Hall, Secret Destiny of America

HANDSHAKES, PASSWORDS AND SIGNS

Karl Marx is known today to be the founder of modern Communism. Despite being denied by some Masons, Marx is said to have been a 32nd degree Grand Orient Freemason. Marx became the spokesman of the atheist and socialist movement of Europe. He planned the replacement of monarchies with socialist republics, with the next step conversion to communist republics. - CV, The Vigilant Citizen

Above: Karl Marx photographed in Margate on january 3, 1866.

HIDDEN HAND SIGN

“Many theories have been presented as to why Napoleon is traditionally depicted with his hand in his waistcoat. Some of these theories include: he had a stomach ulcer, he was winding his watch, he had an itchy skin disease, in his era it was impolite to put your hands in your pockets, he had breast cancer, he had a deformed hand, he kept a perfumed sachet in his vest that he’d sniff surreptitiously, and that painters don’t like to paint hands” -Tom Holmberg

Above: The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries, painted by Jacques Louis David, 1785 Source: Google Art Project

FREEMASONRY’S ANCIENT BELIEF & WISDOM

KNOW THYSELF

Know Thyself Below: The Tyler’s or guardian’s seat is located at The House of the Temple, Freemason temple in Washington, D.C., United States that serves as the headquarters of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A.

The Ancient Greek aphorism "know thyself" transliterated: gnōthi seafton; is one of the Delphic maxims and was inscribed in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi according to the Greek writer Pausanias (10.24.1). Legend tells that the seven sages of ancient Greece, philosophers, statesmen and law-givers who laid the foundation for western culture, gathered in Delphi to inscribed ‘know thyself’ at the entry to its sacred oracle. The adage subsequently became a touch-stone for western philosophers, and extended its reach as the influence of Greek philosophy expanded. This site gathers its most profound expressions and elaborates on their meaning.

FREEMASONRY’S ANCIENT BELIEF & WISDOM

Right: Masonic stairs, 3-5-7

THE LAW OF DUALITY

The Law of Duality Article by Beverly Blanchard

The Law of Duality basically states that everything is on a continuum and has a complementary opposite within the whole. To use an old adage, there may be two sides of a coin but there is only one coin. In other words, things that appear as opposites are in fact only two extremes of the same thing. For instance, heat and cold may appear to be opposites at first glance, but in truth they are simply varying degrees of the same thing. On the physical level the law of duality is easy to understand. We can make comparisons with physical eye. For instance, there is life and death, day and night, short and tall, masculine and feminine, near and far, and so forth. What becomes problematic with the Law of Duality is when we start thinking that one aspect of the spectrum is better than the other aspect of spectrum. We get into labeling things as right or wrong. Unlike mankind’s laws and morals, there is no right or wrong. For example, in America they drive on the right side of the road. In England they drive on the left side of the road. Who is right and who is wrong? Similarly there are no good or bad experiences. Experiences are just experiences nothing more, nothing less. What one learns from the experience is all that counts. We have all had experiences that initially proved unpleasant but they became the greatest thing that happened to us.

Seeing things from only one perspective is a trap that keeps you locked into one aspect of a condition. In every situation in life, under the Law of Duality you are simply seeking to balance the duality. It is not about operating in either extreme. It is about keeping to the middle path. One does not however deny the moment. To learn how live the moment all one needs to do is watch a child’s behaviour. They get angry with someone and in the next moment they forget it. They move on. No stress. Currently there are many who like to label the darkness as evil. There is not a source of evil. In this universe, there is only a source of love. There is however negative thought forms as every thought that has ever been thought is still in existence. If you attune to these thought forms then you are attuning to that which is not Source Energy. It is also important to understand that in order to be for something; you must be against something. For and against still indicates you are operating on the same continuum. It is the reason most of our War Against (drugs, cancer, poverty, homelessness, etc.) campaigns do not work. What we are essentially doing is focusing our energies on that which we do not want and in doing so we neglect to define what it is we do want. As Einstein said, ‘you cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it.’ When working with this law you may find that

FREEMASONRYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ANCIENT BELIEF & WISDOM

when attempting to balance the duality you will end up attracting the opposite of what you want. For the moment you call in that which you are seeking to balance, everything in its opposite will come tumbling into your life. If you are seeking more clarity, confusion will seem to reign supreme. Nothing will seem to be clear anymore, and you will wonder why you ever started on this journey. Yet, if you continue to work on changing your thinking and your belief patterns you will reach the balance point. This is what the Law of Duality is all about. It is about reaching a balance point. It is not about operating at either extreme. It is about remaining at your centre even when the hurricane of life is swirling around you.

One wanders to the left, another to the right. Both are equally in error, but, are seduced by different delusions. - Horace

AS ABOVE, SO BELOW

As Above, So Below jtansill, january 24, 2015

As above, so below is the esoteric meaning of this symbol. The Hexagram is comprised of both a downward and upward triangle. the downward triangle represents heaven or the higher power. The upward triangle is the earthly triangle which represents man and the physical plain. Together the symbols represent As above, so below. One of the most utilized occultic symbols is the triangle. A triangle with its point downward represents the deity and is called the Deity’s Triangle, or the Water Triangle. With one point up, it is called the Earthly Triangle, Pyramid Triangle, or the Fire Triangle. These two definitions of the triangle are standard occult belief. The hexagram was used as a “stand-by for Magicians and Alchemists. The Sorcerers believed it represented the footprint of a special kind of demon called a ‘trud’, and used it in ceremonies both to call up demons and to keep them away.”The hexagram is used to conjure up demons, making them appear in this dimension to do the bidding of the witch. Doc Marquis (Former Illuminist Satanist) confirms that hexagrams are used to call forth demons to place spells and curses on the intended victim. The word, “HEX,” comes from this practice.The hexagram is also a symbol of the sex act and reproduction. Masonic author, Albert G. Mackey provides us with the occult explanation in his book, The Symbolism of Freemasonry, [p. 195, 1869 A.D.] The triangle pointing downward

“is a female symbol corresponding to the ‘yoni’ and the upward pointing triangle is the male, the ‘lingam’. When the two triangles are interlaced, it represents the union of the active and passive forces in nature; it represents the male and female elements.” If this has not become evident to you, the occultist, the paganist, worship sex. They also worship most everything in nature, which fulfills the Biblical definition of a paganist in Romans 1:25, “Because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator …” Speaking of the sexual connotation of the hexagram, another witch revealed, “When the male triangle penetrates the female triangle, it produces the six pointed crest of Solomon or hexagram, the most wicked symbol in witchcraft.” The upward moving triangle is sometimes called the blade (the chalice and blade figure ceremonially in many ritual magic operations). It is a symbol of aspiration or rising up, male force, and fire. It is purely phallic in origin. The triangle represents aspiration, rising force, and the male principal. The downward pointing triangle is sometimes referred to as the chalice. It is the symbol of water (as it flows downward), the grace of heaven, and the womb. it is one of the most ancient symbols of female divinity, as a representation of the genitalia of the goddess.

FREEMASONRYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ANCIENT BELIEF & WISDOM

MALE

FEMALE

Above left: Picture of a freemasons' hexagram on the building of the lodge of Edinburgh in Scotland

THREE GRAND COLUMNS

Three Grand Columns by: Unknown SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VIII June, 1930 No.6

All Masons are taught of Wisdom, Strength and Beauty; the words “For there should be Wisdom to contrive, Strength to support and Beauty to adorn” are older than our Rituals. Attempting, as we do, to convey an outline of Masonic wisdom in three degrees, conferred in three evenings, our work necessarily devotes but little time to any one of our great teachings. We give the hint, refer the initiate to the Great Light, abjure to study the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences, instruct him to converse with well-informed Masons, and pass on to offer another outline of a great truth. It would take pages, where here are but paragraphs, even to list the references to Wisdom in the Great Light; the word occurs in the Bible two hundred and twenty-four times! For Masons, however, perhaps the most illuminating passage regarding wisdom is from I Kings (IV. 30-32): “Solomon’s wisdom exceeded the wisdom of all children of the east country and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman and Chalcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the nations round about.” As might be expected of the man who was wiser than “all children of the East country,” Solomon esteemed wisdom greatly. In Proverbs he says: “Incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thy heart to understanding. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver and the gain thereof than fine gold. For wisdom is better than rubies and all things that may be desired are not to be compared to it!”

FREEMASONRYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ANCIENT BELIEF & WISDOM

Above: Illustration of The Three Grand Columns with the initials of Wisdom, Strength and Beauty

THREE GRAND COLUMNS It is easy, Masonically, to confuse wisdom with knowledge as it is to do so in profane life. Pope is often misquoted: “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.” What he really said was “a little ‘learning’ is a dangerous thing,” which is as different from knowledge as is wisdom. Knowledge is the cognizance of facts. Wisdom is the strength of mind to apply its knowledge. A Mason may know every word of our ritual from the beginning of the entered Apprentice Degree to the final words of the Sublime Degree of Master Mason and still have no wisdom, Masonic or otherwise. Many a great leader of the Craft has been a stumbling, halting ritualist; yet possessed in abundance a Masonic wisdom which made him a power for good among the brethren, by whom he was well beloved. Knowledge comes from study; Wisdom from experience. Knowledge may be the possession of the criminal, the wastrel, the “irreligious libertine” and the atheist. Wisdom comes only to the wise, and the wise are ever good. Surely the first of the three Grand Columns which support our Institution should be taken to heart by every Mason as a symbol of the real need of a brother to become wise with the goodness of Masonry, skilled in the arts of brotherhood, learned in the way to the hearts of his brethren. If he knew not, and asked “how may I gain Masonic Wisdom,” let him find the answer not in the ritual, important though it is; not in the form and ceremony, beautiful though they are, and in themselves strong with the strength of repetition and age - let him look to the Five Points of Fellowship, for there is the key to the real wisdom of the brotherhood of man. The connection between wisdom, strength and beauty is by no means confined to Masonry. The terms have been associated in many great and good minds. Thus, Tupper sings: “Few and precious are the words which the lips of Wisdom utter To what shall their rarity be likened, what price shall count their worth? Perfect and much to be desired, and giving joy with riches, No lovely thing on earth can picture all their beauty.”

FREEMASONRY’S ANCIENT BELIEF & WISDOM

Milton wrote:

“What is strength, without a double share of wisdom? Vast, unwieldy, burdensome; Proudly secure, yet liable to fall By weakest subtleties; not made to rule But to subserve, where wisdom bears command.”

And the immortal Bard of Avon knew:

“O, how much doth beauty beauteous seem by that sweet adornment which truth doth give!” Strength, the second of our Grand Columns, without which nothing endures, not even when contrived by wisdom and adorned with beauty; we know in two forms in our daily lives. First, the strength which lies in action, power, might - the strength of the arm, the engine, the army. Second, that other, subtler strength which is not less strong for being passive; the strength of the column which supports, the strength of the foundation which endures; the strength of the principles by which we live, individually, collectively, nationally - Masonically. It is the second form of strength with which the Speculative Mason is concerned. Freemasons build no temporal building. True, we do lay the cornerstone of the public building in the northeast corner, but the building is symbolic, not practical. The operative Mason who sets the stone for the Grand Master would place it as strongly in the building without our ceremony as with it. Our building is with the strength which endures in hearts and minds rather than that which makes the sun-dry materials of which an edifice is composed to do man’s will. The Freemason constructs only the spiritual building; his stone is his mind; mentally, not physically, chipped by the common gavel to a perfect ashlar. The strength by which he establishes his kingdom is not a strength of iron but a strength of will; his pillars support not a wall to keep out the cowans and eavesdroppers, but a character, proof against the intrusion of the vices and superfluities of life. The lesson of the second column is made plain in the second degree. The “promise of God unto David” may be found by any who will read in II Samuel” “And when thy days shall be

THREE GRAND COLUMNS fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowels and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house in my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. He who reads not merely the promise, but the reason for it, will understand that when David wished to build a house for the Lord, the Prophet Nathan brought him a message of the Lord, that he, not David, will build a “house not made with hands” in the form of sons and their sons forever. Later, in the Great Light, we learn that the house which is “the Temple of the Holy Spirit” is man. If we follow out Masonic teachings, and believe that “the inestimable gift of God to man for the rule and guide of his faith” holds a true interpretation of the Mason’s conception of life and living, the “strength” which Masons should strive to acquire is that which will establish our sovereignty over ourselves, that our kingdom of character may endure. Beauty is represented in a Masonic lodge by the Corinthian Column, most beautiful of the ancient orders of architecture; by the Junior Warden, who observes the sun at Meridian when the day is most beautiful; by Hiram Abif, who “beautified and adorned the Temple.” We are taught that it is as necessary that beauty adorn all great and important undertakings as that wisdom contrives and strength supports them. In the story of Solomon’s Temple in the Great Light we find detailed descriptions of what was evidently, to those who went into details of its construction; the most beautiful building possible for the engineering skill, the wealth and the conception of the people of Israel of that day. Artists have disputed and philosophers have differed about what is beauty. All of us have our individual conceptions of what constitutes it. That the beauty is largely in the mind of the beholder is demonstrated vividly to every traveler! The Turk thinks Ruben’s women are beautiful; while the American admires the pulchritude of the slender woman. Doubtless the pyramids were beautiful to the Egyptians, but modern architecture finds them too plain, too severe for beauty. Harmonies which the trained musical ear enjoys are but sounding brass and tinkling cymbal to the radio devotee, who finds in the spontaneity of a Negro jazz orchestra something to which his conception of musical beauty responds to.

FREEMASONRY’S ANCIENT BELIEF & WISDOM

The man who finds pleasure in Edgar Guest gets none from Swinburne, or the sonnets to the Portuguese; he who finds beauty in a diatom or a bacteria under a microscope will see none in tiger or a rose. Obviously then, the beauty of which Masons are taught is that variety which, like the “natural religion” of the Old Charges, is one “in which all men agree.” As no two men are agreed as to what is beautiful in a material sense, the Masonic conception of beauty cannot be of a material beauty. Its symbol of beauty - the sun at Meridian is actually blinding to see. If we think the sun is beautiful, it is, for what it does for us rather than for what it is. The Masonic Pillar of Beauty then, must be the symbol of an inward loveliness; a beauty of the mind, of the heart; a beauty of idea and ideal; a beauty of the spirit. Our Corinthian Column is to us not merely the support of the building, but that which upholds a character. Our Junior Warden represents not only the beauty of the sun at Meridian, but the illumination by which a life is made beautiful. Hiram Abif is to us not only an exemplary character but an ideal to follow, a tradition to be preserved, a glory for which we may strive. All about us, among our neighbors, are examples of what we term “a beautiful life.” Such beauty is almost wholly composed of unselfishness. He who walks in beauty thinks of others before himself, of stretching forth his hand, not for personal gain, but to help, aid and assist the poor and the unfortunate. Such a conception of the third Grand Column is foreshadowed in our teaching that “the greatest of these is charity” - charity of thought, of action, of understanding as well as of alms and of giving. Masonic beauty was wholly an operative matters in the days when the Gothic Cathedrals first lifted their arches and spires to heaven. Today, when Masonry is purely speculative, Masonic beauty must be considered only as a beauty of the spirit. It cannot be had by wishing. It is not painted by the brush of desire. No musician may compose it upon any material piano. The poet may write about it, but he cannot phrase it. For it is of the inward essence which marks the difference between the “real good man” and he who only outwardly conforms to the laws and customs of society.

THREE GRAND COLUMNS A man may keep every law, go to church three times on Sunday, belong to our Order and subscribe to every charity; and still be mean of spirit, unhappy to live with, selfish, inconsiderate, and disagreeable. Such a one has not learned the inward meaning of the Pillar of Beauty. He has never stood, symbolically in the South. For him, the sun at Meridian is but the orb of the day at high noon and nothing more. But for the real Mason, the brother who takes the lessons of the three Grand Columns to heart, Beauty is as much a lamp to live by as are Wisdom and Strength. He finds beauty in his fellow-man because his inner self is beautiful. His “house not made with hands” is glorious before heaven, not because, in imitation of Solomon, he “overlaid also the house, the beams, the post and the walls thereof and doors thereof with gold” but because it is made of those stones which endureth before the Great Architect - unselfishness, and kindness, and consideration, and charity, and a giving spirit - in other words, of brotherhood genuine because it springs from the heart. For these things endure. Material things pass away. The Temple of Solomon is but a memory. Scattered are the stones, stolen is the gold and silver, destroyed are the lovely vessels cast by Hiram Abif. But the memory. like the history of the beauty and the glory which was Solomon, abide into this day. So shall it be with our “house not built with hands,” so be it if we build with the Beauty which Masons teach. In conclusion consider an oddity of this dear old Craft of ours, a coincidence to be cherished in the heart, if only to keep constantly in memory of the real meaning of the three Grand Columns. The ancient Hebrew word for strength is “Daath.” The ancient Hebrew word for strength is “Oz.” The ancient Hebrew word for a hewn stone, our perfect Ashlar, which may well stand here as meaning beauty, is “Gazith.” According to our ideas, Hebrew is read backwards. The initials of these three Old Testament words, read backwards, produce our name for Deity! Surely it is the Great Architect, of whom they speak to the Mason who hath ears to hear, to whom we must look for the inner and spiritual meaning of the three Grand Columns which support our Institution!

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THE TAXIL HOAX

The Taxil Hoax Article by Stephen Dafoe

Perhaps no one aspect of anti-Masonic practice has fueled religious zeal greater than the hoax perpetrated by Leo Taxil, shown on the right page, on Albert Pike. This hoax, still accepted today by those who would attempt to condemn Freemasonry, linked the fraternity to Lucifer and therein to Devil worship.

ALBERT PIKE

Albert Pike (1809-1891) was the Grand Commander of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for the Southern Jurisdiction, a position he was elected to in 1859. To many Freemasons, he is considered to be a Masonic genius, yet to a large number of people he is viewed as a Luciferian, preaching a secret doctrine hidden from the majority of Masons. Pike wrote a book called "Morals and Dogma", in which he quoted many philosophical and religious teacher's words. It was Pike's belief that, unless you knew the history of a concept, you couldn't grasp the concept itself. It is a book still available today and in the libraries of many Freemasons worldwide. The book has often been criticized and misquoted, as we will soon see. Why was such a great man, in the eyes of Freemasons, so disliked outside the craft? The answer is because of a hoax constructed by Leo Taxil and the gullibility of the masses eager to accept it as the truth.

LEO TAXIL

Leo Taxil, born Gabriel Antoine JogandPages, was a freethinker who made his living writing pornographic stories in serial form. Freethinker was a term given to those who opposed the authority and dogma of society, especially when that authority was religious in nature. In addition to his antiMasonic writings, Taxil also was known for his works opposing Catholicism. Taxil upon petitioning admission to the Masonic lodge met with opposition of its members, largely due to his reputation as an anti-Catholic writer. Objections aside, Taxil was made a member for a short time after which he was expelled from the order. Perhaps this expulsion prompted him to write his AntiMasonic works or perhaps it was his purpose for joining in the first place. In any case Taxil would go on to perpetrate a hoax that has lasted decades. THE HOAX DOCUMENT The following is the form, which the bogus quotation usually takes. It was later admitted by Taxil to be a hoax, yet to this day is quoted by those that would use it to slander Freemasonry:

ALBERT PIKE 33째

"That which we must say to a crowd is - We worship a God, but it is the God that one adores without superstition.

ANTI-MOVEMENTS, HOAXES, & SATANISM

Above: Les Mystères de la francmaçonnerie dévoilés par Léo Taxil

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THE TAXIL HOAX

To you, Sovereign Grand Inspectors General, we say this, that you may repeat it to the Brethren of the 32nd, 31st, and 30th degrees - The Masonic Religion should be, by all of us initiates of the high degrees, maintained in the purity of the Luciferian Doctrine. If Lucifer were not God, would Adonay whose deeds prove his cruelty, perdify and hatred of man, barbarism and repulsion for science, would Adonay and his priests, calumniate him? Yes, Lucifer is God, and unfortunately Adonay is also god. For the eternal law is that there is no light without shade, no beauty without ugliness, no white without black, for the absolute can only exist as two gods: darkness being necessary to the statue, and the brake to the locomotive. Thus, the doctrine of Satanism is a heresy; and the true and pure philosophical religion is the belief in Lucifer, the equal of Adonay; but Lucifer, God of Light and God of Good, is struggling for humanity against Adonay, the God of Darkness and Evil." Instructions to the 23 Supreme Councils of the World, July 14, 1889. Recorded by A.C. De La Rive in La Femme et l'Enfant dans la FrancMaconnerie Universelle on page 588

TAXIL ADMITS DOCUMENT A HOAX On April 17th, 1897, twelve years after Taxil first launched the hoax, he admitted it was just that. Before an assembly at the Paris Geographical Hall, Taxil told the crowd that the last decade plus of anti-Masonic literature had been falsely stated fabrications. The crowd, who in all likelihood had gathered to hear some new anti-Masonic revelation, was angered to a point where Taxil had to duck out a back exit.

As well documented as his admission of defrauding a gullible public is, the myth of Albert Pike's statement is still used today to slander the fraternity of Masonry. In fact some Fundamentalist Christian Web sites go so far as to attach the above document to Pike's book Moral's and Dogma.

THE BAPHOMET

The purpose of Taxil's hoax was to reveal a highly secret Masonic order called the Palladium, which only existed in Taxil's imagination. Palladium, Taxil claimed, practiced Devil worship, murder and other brutalities of an erotic nature. His works published in 1885 and 1886 were very popular with a public eager to read the horrors of Freemasonry. In his book "Les Mysteries Franc Maconnerie" (cover shown right) Taxil utilized Levi's Baphomet. The cover depicts a group of Masons dancing around Levi's demonic Baphomet depiction. Additionally, the artist added another element of the Baphomet mystery. In the lower left hand of the cover we see a woman holding a severed bearded head. In esoteric tradition dating back three thousand years, there is the image of the "Mistress or Mother of Blood" believed to be the Baphomet, representing the bride of Satan. In this tradition, the severed head is that of a priest, being representative of the sinister male aspect. The head is said to be severed after sexual union with the Baphomet. In another anti-Masonic book of the day we find the image of Levi's Baphomet as connected with the Freemasons. Published in 1894 ,"La Femme et L'Enfant dans la FrancMaconnerie Universal" or Woman and child in Freemasonry by Abbe Clarin de la Rive, we find the popular Baphomet seducing a woman on the cover between the pillars of Masonry.

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In this same book the false Albert Pike quote is used to support, and falsely so, the authors own anti-Masonic views. It is no doubt that the covers of these two books created quite a stir with the public of the day. This type of imagery as false as it is, has prevailed among many Fundamentalist Christian groups today, such as Jack T. Chick publisher of "The Curse Of Baphomet", an anti-Masonic tract comic book which we deal with on another page of this web site. The Taxil hoax has been thorn in the side of Freemasons for years and is unlikely to go away anymore than the myths surrounding the Knights Templar.

Above: Book cover of Les Mysteries Franc- Maconnerie, by Leo Taxil, First published in 1885

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EXPOSING THE PHILOSOPHY & VAIN DECEIT OF ZEITGEIST

An Indepth Documentary: Exposing the Philosophy & Vain Deceit of Zeitgeist, Part One. Article by Keith Thompson

The philosophy behind the Zeitgeist movement comes from the writings of H. P. Blavatsky who declared that Lucifer / Satan is the God of this world & the one whom she worshipped. Here are some quotes from H. P. Blavatsky & high freemasons. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky 32° Ancient and Accepted Primitive Rite Grand Orient of France The Secret Doctrine "Lucifer represents..Life..Thought..Progress.. Civilization.. Liberty..Independence..Lucifer is the Logos..the Serpent, the Savior." pages 171, 225, 255 (Volume II) "It is Satan who is the God of our planet and the only God." pages 215, 216, 220, 245, 255, 533, (VI) "The Celestial Virgin which thus becomes the Mother of Gods and Devils at one and

the same time; for she is the ever-loving beneficent Deity...but in antiquity and reality Lucifer or Luciferius is the name. Lucifer is divine and terrestial Light, 'the Holy Ghost' and "Satan' at one and the same time." page 539 Albert Pike 33° Freeason, Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite. The Supreme Council, 33° Masonic temple in Washington DC, houses a shrine/museum/ memorial to Albert Pike. Also the founder of the KKK(KuKluxKlan). Quotes from Morals & Dogma, by Albert Pike. "Every Masonic Lodge is a temple of religion: and its teachings are instruction in religion... This is the true religion revealed to the ancient patriarchs; which Masonry has taught for many centuries, and which it will continue to teach as long as time endures."

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"rejecting all the wild and useless speculations of the Zend-Avesta, the Kabalah, the Gnostics, and the Schools, are the religion and Philosophy of Masonry." "Masonry is a search after Light. That search leads us directly back, as you see, to the Kabalah. In that ancient and little understood medley of absurdity and philosophy, the Initiate will find the source of many doctrines;" "All truly dogmatic religions have issued from the Kabalah and return to it: everything scientific and grand in the religious dreams of all the illuminati, Jacob Boehme, Swedenborg, Saint- Martin, and others, is borrowed from the Kabalah; all the Masonic associations owe to it their Secrets and their Symbols."

Above: lucifer - Ă&#x2030;liphas LĂŠvi

"The Bible is an indispensable part of the furniture of a Christian Lodge, only because it is the sacred book of the Christian religion. The Hebrew Pentateuch in a Hebrew Lodge, and the Koran in a Mohammedan one, belong on the Altar; and one of these, and the Square and Compass, properly understood, are the Great Lights by which a Mason must walk and work." "LUCIFER, the Light-bearer! Strange and mysterious name to give to the Spirit of Darknesss! Lucifer, the Son of the Morning! Is it he who bears the Light, and with its splendors intolerable blinds feeble, sensual or selfish Souls ? Doubt it not!" 'The Mysteries Of Magic' by Eliphas Levi "What is more absurd and more impious than to attribute the name of Lucifer to the devil, that is, to personified evil. The intellectual Lucifer is the spirit of intelligence and love; it is the paraclete, it is the Holy Spirit, while the physical Lucifer is the great agent of universal magnetism."[page-428.]

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EXPOSING THE PHILOSOPHY & VAIN DECEIT OF ZEITGEIST

'The Book Of Black Magic' by Arthur Edward Waite-33 Degree. "First Conjuration Addressed to Emperor Lucifer. Emperor Lucifer, Master and Prince of Rebellious Spirits, I adjure thee to leave thine abode, in what-ever quarter of the world it may be situated and come hither to communicate with me. I command and I conjure thee in the Name of the Mighty Living God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, to appear without noise and without ...." page 244 'The Lost Keys Of Freemasonry' by Manly Palmer Hall 33-degree. "When The Mason learns that the Key to the warrior on the block is the proper application of the dynamo of living power, he has learned the Mystery of his Craft. The seething energies of Lucifer are in his hands and before he may step onward and upward, he must prove his ability to properly apply this energy." page 48 "The serpent is the symbol and prototype of the Universal Savior, who redeems the worlds by giving creation the knowledge of itself and the realization of good and evil." Manly P. Hall 33rd Degree Mason, The Secret Teachings of All Ages, the Philosophical Research Society Press, p.lxxxviii.

Above: The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation (1908)

ANTI-MOVEMENTS, HOAXES, & SATANISM

Above:This anti-Masonic protestor from 1870 has a sign decrying “illegal, immoral, and despotic oaths.”

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DEVIL WORSHIP IN FRANCE

Devil Worship in France by A.E. Waite, 1896

source: sacred-texts.com

CHAPTER II: THE MASK OF MASONRY

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The identification of the cultus of Lucifer with devil-worship pure and simple is not, as we have seen, at first sight an entirely just proceeding, but at the same time it is inevitable. As already observed, the source of all our knowledge concerning Modern Diabolism exists within the pale of the Catholic Church; the entire literature is written from the standpoint of that church, and has been created solely in its interests. Some of that literature has been put forth with the special marks of high ecclesiastical approbation, and to some this guarantee is wanting, but the same spirit informs the whole. To insist on this point is important for many reasons which will become apparent at the close of our enquiry, and for one which concerns us now. It is impossible for the [paragraph continues] Catholic Church to do otherwise than brand the cultus of Lucifer as identical with that of Satan, because, according to her unswerving instruction, the name Lucifer is an equivalent of Satan, and, moreover, the Luciferian cultus is so admittedly anti-Christian that no form of Christianity could do otherwise than regard it as a worship of darkness and evil. While, therefore, the adoration of a good principle under this discredited name may in one of its aspects be merely an error of judgment, and not the worship of a devil, apart from other facts which destroy this consideration, we must all agree that from the standpoint of Christian and Latin orthodoxy the Luciferian is a diabolist, though not in the sense of the Satanist.

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The doctrine of Lucifer has been tersely described by Huysman as a kind of reversed Christianity---a Catholicism à rebours. It is, in fact, the revival of an old heresy founded on what we have most of us been accustomed to regard as a philosophical blunder; in a word, it is a Manichæan system having a special anti-Christian application, for while affirming the

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existence of two equal first principles, Adonaï and Lucifer, it regards the latter as the god of light and goodness, while the Christian Adonaï is the prince of darkness and the veritable Satan. It is inferred from the condition of the world at the present time that the mastery of the moment resides with the evil principle, and that the beneficent Deity is at a disadvantage. Adonaï reigns surely, as the Christian believes, but he is the author of human misery, and Jesus is the Christ of Adonaï, but he is the messenger of misfortune, suffering, and false renunciation, leading ultimately to destruction when the Deus maledictus shall cease to triumph. The worshippers of Lucifer have taken sides in the cause of humanity, and in their own cause, with the baffled principle of goodness; they co-operate with him in order to insure his triumph, and he communicates with them to encourage and strengthen them; they work to prepare his kingdom, and he promises to raise up a Saviour among them, who is Antichrist, their leader and king to come. Such is the doctrine of Lucifer according to

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the testimony of witnesses who have come out from his cultus; it is not an instruction which à priori would seem likely to commend itself to a numerically powerful following, but the society which is concerned with its propagation is affirmed to have spread over the whole world, and to be represented in all its chief cities. It is that which we have already found mentioned by M. Huysman as possessing a demonstrated existence and being a proof positive of modern Satanism, namely, the Palladian Order. Having broadly ascertained its principles, our next course is to discover its alleged history, and here it is necessary to admit that it is a matter of some difficulty to place the position in such an aspect that it will be a tolerable subject for inquiry among readers in England.. The mystery of modern Diabolism and the Cultus of Lucifer is a part of the mystery of Masonry as interpreted by an Anti-Masonic movement now at work in France. The black magic, of which we hear so much, involves a new aspect of the old Catholic Crusade against the Fraternity of the Square and Compass, and by the question of Lucifer is signified an alleged discovery that Masons diabolise.

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DEVIL WORSHIP IN FRANCE Now, we are all well acquainted with the historical fact that the Latin Church has long been hostile to Masonry, that popes have condemned the order, and have excommunicated its initiates. Having regard to the position of the brotherhood here in England, most of us have been content to infer in this respect that the ripe old age of the Church is passing into a second childhood; some, however, have concluded that there may be more in Continental Freemasonry than meets the English eye, and here the Church herself comes forward to assure them that the fraternity abroad is a hotbed of political propaganda, and is responsible for the most disastrous revolutions which have perplexed the modern world; that it is actually, as the exploded Robison described it, a conspiracy against crowned heads; and that it is at the present time the most potent, most secret enemy which checkmates and hinders herself. It is now further affirmed that behind the Masonry of to-day—here in England posing as

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a benefit society, and political or not upon the Continent, but everywhere disclaiming any connection with a religious propaganda—there is affirmed to be another Masonry, of which the ordinary Mason knows nothing, secretly directing the order, and devoted to the cultus of Lucifer. This organisation, which has sprung up within recent years, is largely, though not exclusively, recruited from Masonry; it works through the powerful Masonic apparatus, and, according to the evidence which has been put in, it has obtained a substantial and masterful control over the entire Fraternity. It has focussed the raw material of Masonic hostility towards the Catholic Church; as it is anti-Christian in religion, so is it revolutionary in politics; and once more, it is called the Palladian Order. This exceedingly grave and important accusation, together with its side issues, has perhaps all the more claim on our consideration because, apart from actual diabolism, which is in itself so paralysing as almost to arrest discussion, it conflicts with all that we know or believe concerning the Masonic constitution. Let me briefly collect

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the points. (a) Masonry possesses a secret directing centre— which has been strenuously denied by the Fraternity. (b) It has a religious mission and a doctrinal propaganda—which has also been invariably denied. (c) It is concerned with political objects—which, for the most part, is denied. (d) It has a transcendental teaching— which is generally denied, and (e) is concerned largely with transcendental practices and phenomena—which would be denied absolutely, had the question been seriously raised till this day. (f) It

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initiates womenâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;which, except in a very secondary, occasional, and insignificant manner, is in toto and at all times denied. The last point is brought within the scope of our inquiry because the Palladium is an androgyne order. Now, it will be fairly well known to many who are not within the ranks of the fraternity that the Grand Lodges of every country are supposed to be autonomous, and that there has been no previous impeachment of this fact; that, ostensibly at least, there is no central institution to which they are answerable in Masonry. Individual lodges derive from a single Grand Lodge

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and are responsible thereto, but Grand Lodges themselves are supreme and irresponsible. It will be known also that the Masonic system in England differs from that of France, that the French rite has always occupied a somewhat heterodox position, and that since the Grand Orient expunged the Grand Architect of the Universe, so to speak, from its symbolism, official communication has been suspended by the Grand Lodge of England. It will be known further that outside recognised Masonic systems many rites have arisen which are only Masonic to the extent that their point of departure is from the Master-grade. As a special instance may be cited the Supreme Oriental Rite of Memphis and Misraim. In England the Lodge meetings of these rites are never suffered to take place in the great central institution of Freemasons Hall; in France, the Grand Orient has consistently forbidden its members to participate in the Memphis system. To hold Masonry responsible for irregularities or abuses which from time to time may obtain in these fantastic developments from the parent institution, would be about as just and reasonable as to impeach the Latin Church on the score of corruptions now existing in the heresies which have separated from her. Having established these points in view of the result of our inquiry, let us now trace the manner in which a supreme authority, frequently termed by the accusers Universal Masonry, is alleged to have grown up. Upon this subject not only the most complete information but the only formal narratives are provided by the later witnesses, so that the following account, while in no sense translation, is based exclusively upon the works of Domenico Margiotta and Dr Bataille. On the 20th of May, 1737, there was constituted in France the Order of the Palladium, or Sovereign Council of Wisdom, which, after the manner of the androgyne lodges then springing into existence, initiated women under the title of Companions of Penelope. The

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DEVIL WORSHIP IN FRANCE ritual of this order was published by the Masonic archĂŚologist Ragon, so that there can be no doubt of its existence. At the same time, so far as I am aware, there are few materials forthcoming for

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its history. In some way which remains wholly untraceable this order is inferred to have been connected by more than its name with the legendary Palladium of the Knights Templars, well known under the title of Baphomet. In any case it failed to spread, and it is uncertain whether the New and Reformed Palladium, also an androgyne order, with which we shall presently be concerned, is a metamorphosis or reconstruction of the original institution, but a connection of some kind is affirmed. For a period exceeding sixty years we hear little of the legendary Palladium; but in 1801 the Israelite Isaac Long is said to have carried the original Baphomet and the skull of the Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay from Paris to Charleston in the United States, and was afterwards concerned in the reconstruction of the Scotch Rite of Perfection and of Herodom under the name of the Ancient and Accepted Scotch Rite, which subsequently became widely diffused, and it is stated that the lodge of the thirty-third degree of the Supreme Council of Charleston has been the parent of all others, and is therefore, in this rite, the first supreme council of the entire globe. Eight years later, on the 29th of December 18.09, a man of great importance to the history of Freemasonry was born in the city of Boston. Albert Pike came of parents in a humble position, who, however, struggled with their difficulties and sent him to Harvard College, where he duly graduated, taking his degree as M.A. in the year 1829. He began his career as a schoolmaster, but subsequently led a romantic and wandering life, his love of untrodden ground leading him to explore the Rocky Mountains, then very imperfectly known. In 1833 he settled in Arkansas, and, drifting into journalism, founded the Arkansas Advocate, wherein his contributions, both prose and verse, but the latter especially, obtained him a reputation in literature. The admission of Arkansas into the confederation of the United States was in part his work, and from this period he began to figure in politics, becoming also the recorder of the Supreme Court in that state. One year after the civil war, in which he

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took active part, Pike removed to Memphis in Tennessee, where he again followed law and literature, establishing the Memphis Appeal, which he sold. in 1868, and migrated to Washington. His subsequent history is exclusively concerned with unwearying Masonic labours.

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Now, it was at Little Rock in Arkansas that Albert Pike was first initiated, and ten years later, that is, in 1859, he was elected Sovereign Commander Grand Master of the Supreme Council of Charleston. Having extraordinary powers of organisation, he became a person of wide influence in the Ancient and Accepted Scotch Rite, and a high authority also on the ritual, antiquities, history, and literature of Masonry. Under his guidance, the Scotch Rite extended and became dominant. Hence, when the Italian patriot Mazzini is said to have projected the centralization of high grade Masonry, he could find no person in the whole fraternity more suited by his position and influence to collaborate with him. Out of this secret partnership there was begotten on September 20, 1870— that is to say, on the very

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day when the Italian troops entered the Eternal City—a Supreme Rite and Central Organisation of Universal High Grade Masonry, the act of creation being signed by the American Grand Master and the Italian liberator, the two founders also sharing the power between them. A Supreme Dogmatic Directory was created at Charleston, with Pike at its head, under the title of Sovereign Pontiff of Universal Freemasonry. Mazzini took over the Supreme Executive, having Rome as its centre, under the title of Sovereign Chief of Political Action. If we now recur to the statements that the genuine Templar Baphomet and the skull of Jacques de Molay had been deposited at Charleston for the space of seventy years, and that Albert Pike was Grand Master of the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scotch Rite in that city, we shall understand why it was that the new institution was termed the New Reformed Palladian Rite, or the Reformed Palladium. Subsequently, five Central Grand Directories were established—at Washington for North America, Monte Video for South America,

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Naples for Europe, Calcutta for the Eastern World, and Port Louis in Mauritius for Africa. A Sovereign Universal Administrative Directory was fixed at Berlin subsequently to the death of Mazzini. As a result of this astute organisation, Albert Pike is said to have held all Masonry in the hollow of his hand, by means of a twofold apparatus—the Palladium and the Scotch Rite. During all his remaining days, and he lived to a great age, he laboured indefatigably in both causes, and the world at the present moment is filled with the organisation that he administered. "Four persons are cited as having been coadjutors in his own country—his old friend Gallatin Mackey, in honourable memory

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DEVIL WORSHIP IN FRANCE among masons; a Scotchman named Longfellow, whom some French writers have ludicrously confused with the poet; one Holbrook, about whom there are few particulars; and, finally, Phileas Walder, a native of Switzerland, originally a Lutheran Minister, afterwards said to have been a Mormon, but, in any case, at the period in question, a well known spiritualist, an

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earnest student of occultism, as were also Holbrook and Longfellow, and, what is more to the purpose, a personal friend and disciple of the great French magus Ă&#x2030;liphas LĂŠvi. Albert Pike was himself an occultist, whether upon his independent initiative, or through the influence of these friends I am unable to say. Miss Diana Vaughan, who is one of the seceding witnesses, affirms that it was an early and absorbing passion. However this may be, the New Reformed Palladium was kept most rigidly separate from all other Masonry, the Scotch Rite included; that is to say, no initiate of even the highest grade had, as such, the right or opportunity of entrance into the occult order, which, at the same time, was chiefly recruited, as already stated, from the higher ordinary grades, but the recipients of the new light became silent from the moment that it was imparted. Now, it was exclusively in the Palladian order that Albert Pike and his confidants propagated transcendental religion, as it is said to have been understood by them. In other words, while the Scotch Rite continued to speculate, the Palladium betook itself to magic and succeeded so well that there was a perpetuity of communication between Charleston and the unseen world. It does not appear from the evidence either when or why Albert Pike and his collaborators transferred their allegiance from the God of the sages to Lucifer. The Catholic Church regards all magic as diabolism, and makes or tolerates no mystic distinction. between the black and white departments of transcendental practice, but the specific character of the Palladian cultus is so clearly defined in the depositions that it cannot pass as a presentation of magical doctrine distorted by prejudice. It is almost stripped of correspondence with any existing school of occult teaching, and it is either the true statement of a system founded. by Pike, or the deliberate invention of malice. The thaumaturgic phenomena tabulated in connection therewith are of an extremely advanced kind, including the real and bodily presence of Lucifer at frequent and regular intervals. When Mazzini died he indicated to Albert

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[paragraph continues] Pike a possible successor in Adriano Lemmi, who became in due course the chief of the Executive Department;

ANTI-MOVEMENTS, HOAXES, & SATANISM

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and when in the fulness of years the pontiff of Luciferian Freemasonry himself passed on to the higher life of fire, which is the Palladian notion of beatitude, and in the peace and joy of Lucifer, the sovereign pontificate itself, after resting for a short period upon incompetent shoulders in the person of Albert George Mackey, was transferred to the Italian; the seat of the Dogmatic Directory was removed to Rome; a split in the camp ensued, inspired by a lady initiate, since famous under the name of Diana Vaughan, and to this we owe most of the revelations. Furthermore, with the death of Albert Pike the cultus of Lucifer is said to have undergone a significant transfiguration. For him the conception of Satan was a blasphemous. fiction, devised by Adonaïte priestcraft to obscure the veridic lustre which inheres in the angel of the morning-star; but this view represented, as it is said, rather the private opinion of the masonic pontiff, impressed by his strong personality on the lodges

p. 39

he controlled, and propagated. by the instruction of his rituals. The more discerning among his disciples regarded it as the besetting weakness of their grand old man, and surreptitiously during his lifetime the cultus of Satan pure and simple, that is, of devil-worship, the adoration of the evil principle, as evil, was practised at numerous Palladian centres. After his death, it is said to have unmasked altogether, and Adriano Lemmi himself is depicted as an avowed Satanist. Now, I believe it will fairly interpret the feeling of all readers to admit that when the authority of a great church has been brought into operation to crush a great institution by charges which most seriously discredit it—which represent it as diametrically and in all respects opposite in its internal nature to its ostensible appearance—we must by no means make light of the impeachment; we must remember the high position and the many opportunities of knowledge which are possessed by such an accuser; we must extend to that accuser at least the common justice of an impartial

p. 40

and full hearing; à priori considerations of probability and inferences from our previous knowledge, much less from opinions obtained at second-hand, must not be permitted to prejudge a case of so great importance; we must be prepared, if necessary, to admit that we have been egregiously deceived; and if the existence of Palladian Masonry can be proved an undoubted fact, we must assuredly do full honour to the demonstration, and must acknowledge with gratitude that the Church has performed a service to humanity by unveiling the true character of an institution which is imposing on a vast number of well-intentioned persons within its own ranks, who are admittedly unaware of the evil to which they are lending countenance and support.

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DEVIL WORSHIP IN FRANCE On the other hand, the same spirit of liberality and justice will require that the demonstration in question shall be complete; in support of such terrible accusations, only the first quality of evidence can obviously be admitted. In the chapters which follow immediately, I shall produce in succession the evidence of every

p. 41

witness who has anything to tell us about Palladism, including those whose experience is of a personal kind and those whose knowledge is derived. Where possible, the testimony of each witness will be weighed as we proceed; what is unconvincing or irrelevant will be dismissed, while that which is important will be carried over to the final summary. In two cases only will it be found necessary to reserve examination for special and separate treatment.

ANTI-MOVEMENTS, HOAXES, & SATANISM

Undercover Freemason Footage Satanic Ritual in Istanbul New footage of youtube of alleged Turkish Freemason rituals. The first six minutes is a basic initiate ceremony into the masonic temple. At about the 6:00 mark you will see a second ritual, more satanic in nature. Although blurry, it says that these 33rd degree masons are drinking goat blood in honor of Satan. - ILLUMINATIWATCHER

Right: Screenshot taken from google search: Masonic Satan Turkey

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UNDERCOVER FREEMASON FOOTAGE SATANIC RITUAL

TRANSLATION Please introduce the cadidates to us. Serdar Büyüküstün, his profession is electrical engineering. Aykut Erensoy, his profession is electrical Engineering Kenan Ali Akman, he is a businessman. Understood. Please bring them inside. Dear Misters, before all else we would like you to promise to us that, whether you are accepted as a brother or not, after you are taken into what we call; 'contemplation room', you will not tell anybody what you have seen and heard so far and what you will hear from now on, do you promise on your honour? Mr. Erensoy? Yes, I promise. Mr. Büyüküstün? I promise. Mr. Akman? Yes, I promise. The inquisotor brother, let the candidates sit. Mr. Büyüküstün, tell us what is the thing which was touched to your chest and which was made you feel with one of your hands?

ANTI-MOVEMENTS, HOAXES, & SATANISM

Above: Screenshots from the Masonic Ritual Satanism Exposed source: youtube

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UNDERCOVER FREEMASON FOOTAGE SATANIC RITUAL

Uhm... it is a piece of metal... sword. The meaning of the sword being touched to your chest is that you keep your promise otherwise you will be made to regret not keeping it and suffer pains for the rest of your life. Let us avoid any mistakes, are you really the same people who wants to join us? Did you fill in the form without pressure from others and with your own free will and judgement? And you signed it? Yes. Let the cadidates commence 'the first journey'. Who are they? They are the candidates who are searching for the true light. Misters, repeat the oath we made just now once again after me. Before the symbol of the great architect of the universe and in front of the mason brotherhood, what I said was correct and I swear by it with all my sincerity. I will not disclose any of our masonic secrets and what I have been shown and told here to anybody other than other brothers in a masonic lodge. I will work towards the end of masonic goals. I will obey the principles of the free masons' greater lodge. I will regularly attend the meetings of the lodge which I will became a member of. The first officer, brother, what do you want for the candidates?

ANTI-MOVEMENTS, HOAXES, & SATANISM

Above: Screenshots from the Masonic Ritual Satanism Exposed source: youtube

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UNDERCOVER FREEMASON FOOTAGE SATANIC RITUAL

The light of the scientific truth, dear master. All other brothers who stand by the columns and decorate the true light. What do you want for the candidates? The light of the scientific truth, dear master. With the third stroke of the hammer, let the light of scientific truth be given. The swords which are pointed at you symbolises the fact that, other masons will defend you should you ever be attacked by others in the rest of your life.

THE SATANIC WORSHIP Only 33rd degree masons can attend. The grand master drinks the goat's blood which is sacrificed in the middle of the room and prays in Hebrew language and ends the satanic worship ritual.

MASONIC WEDDING A lodge in Istanbul. There is a masonic wedding ceremony which is constantly denied by the masons that it exists.

ANTI-MOVEMENTS, HOAXES, & SATANISM

Above: Screenshots from the Masonic Ritual Satanism Exposed source: youtube

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CONTROVERSIAL PUBLICATIONS

Controversial Publications THE BROTHERHOOD

FROM THE BACK COVER

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE 'ON THE SQUARE?' 700,000 Freemasons, all male, probably make up the largest secret society in Britain today. Who are they? Why are they so incredibly secretive? Is Freemasonry a positive, charitable organisation which incorporates a certain amount of harmless mumbo-jumbo, or does it in fact represent something more sinister? Stephen Knight's impartial – but highly controversial – investigation addresses these vital questions and asks:

Does Freemasonry influence our police and judiciary? Can a Christian be a Freemason? Have the KGB penetrated the Freemasons? Does freemasonry lead to corruption in public life?

Freemasons are all bound to silence, but now some of them have been impelled to break ranks and reveal part of the truth… REVIEWS "Valuable testimony… impressively researched… He most certainly has not been wasting his time" THE OBSERVER "Top of the list of prohibited subjects is Freemasonry… A barrier of secrecy surrounds it. It has been breached in several places by Stephen Knight… Some of my best friends are Freemasons. I wish they would read this book… a revelation." RICHARD KELLY, 'The Guardian'

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INSIDE THE BROTHERHOOD

FROM THE BACK COVER

When the House of Commons Affairs Committee recently recommended that police officers, magistrates, judges and crown officers should publicly register their Masonic membership, it was very largely thanks to the ammunition provided by Martin Short’s investigative 'tour de force'. His 'Inside the Brotherhood' carried on the pioneering work begun by Stephen Knight’s explosive account of 'The Brotherhood'. Approximately half a million men in the British Isles – and another five million around the world – are Freemasons. 'Inside the Brotherhood' examines what kind of men join the Craft – and why. It investigates the occult elements in Masonry, whether its rituals should be seen as a religion- and, if so, what god is being worshipped. And, while relying on first-hand evidence wherever possible, the book probes the extent to which Masonic oaths of mutual aid and secrecy have contaminated the fraternity, aroused mounting hostility from churches, politicians and public, and provoked charges of corruption in key areas of British life, including the police force, local government, the City and the secret services. REVIEWS “A judicious investigation, and Short puts forward a devastating case for the prosecution… He produces a persuasive testimony that Freemasonry has become a savage and a disease in jobs in the public service. He cites some fascinating and entirel credible examples of Masonic skulduggery – and of Brother ranged viciously against Brother… It is difficult to dispute Short’s conclusion that disclosure of their Masonic membership by those in positions of power should be made obligatory.” Piers Brendon,'Observer' “Given the nature of the subject, it is doubtful if a more conclusive book could have been written” Alan Rusbridger,'Times Literary Supplement'

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CONTRIBUTION

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NON-EXHIBITED WORKS AND STUDIES

A Selection of Non-Exhibited Works and Studies The following shown works include paintings, silkscreen and several digital media which were inspired by the previous shown texts. In these images I aim to capture the vagueness that surrounds freemasonry ever since it’s existence and their controversial role in society, politics and religion. Some works are based on nepotism and deception, others are tend to glorify the enigmatic nature that defines freemasonry. The fundation of my starts with the famous quote of Francis Bacon: “The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.” In terms of content the viewer will not find an existent allegory of freemasonry, but rather the paradoxical appearance as it is perceived in society and media.

CONTRIBUTION

Study on The Apprentice, 2015 Oil on canvas 85 x 100 cm

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NON-EXHIBITED WORKS AND STUDIES

Studies on Most Worshipful Grand Master, NO. I & NO. II, 2014 Digital manipulation Screenprint

CONTRIBUTION

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NON-EXHIBITED WORKS AND STUDIES

Left: Pike’s vision in 1873, 2015 Digital collage Silkscreen Right: Johnson’s Deception, 2015 Digital manipulation Screenprint

CONTRIBUTION

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NON-EXHIBITED WORKS AND STUDIES

Studies on the Indoctrination, NO. I & NO. II, 2015 Digital manipulation Screenprint

CONTRIBUTION

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NON-EXHIBITED WORKS AND STUDIES

Studies on the Indoctrination, NO. III, 2015 Digital manipulation Screenprint

CONTRIBUTION

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NON-EXHIBITED WORKS AND STUDIES

The Most Worshipful, 2015 Digital manipulation Screenprint

CONTRIBUTION

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NON-EXHIBITED WORKS AND STUDIES

Left: Mosaic Floor Pavement, 2015 Digital manipulation Silkscreen Right: The Tylerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Secret, 2015 Digital collage Silkscreen

CONTRIBUTION

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY DE GEHEIME WERELD VAN DE VRIJMETSELARIJ Aaron Vergult & Julien Borremans, May 26, 2015 Consulted literature: Jimmy Koppen, Vrijmetselarij Voor Dummies, Pearson Benelux B.V., 2007

Bernard E. Jones, Freemasons’ Guide and Compendium, New and Revised Edition, Harrap, 1965

Leo Apostel, Vrijmetselarij, Een wijsgerige Benadering, ASP, 2012

Tim Wallace-Murphy, The Enigma of the Freemasons: Their History and Mystical Connections, The Disinformation Company, 2006

Alexander Roob, Le Museé Hermétique: Alchimie & Mystique, Taschen, 1997

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD FREE-MASON by EZEKIEL on october 24, 2009

source: www.masonicsecrets.info/freemasons/

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FREEMASONRY

Lecture by John A. Johnson, Ph.D. delivered to Garfield Lodge #559, DuBois, PA, February 5, 1987 source: www.drj.virtualave.net/other/religio/psymason.html

THE NATURE AND PURPOSE OF FREEMASONRY

Developed by W. Bro. Kent Henderson Dip. T., B. Ed., Grad. Cert. Ed., Grad. Dip. Ed., M. Ed, Diploma of Masonic Education (Sth. Aust.) Past Junior Grand Deacon, A. F. & A. Masons of Victoria, Australia

Source: www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/masonic_course_purpose.html

THE TWO-FOLD NATURE OF FREEMASONRY

Article by Kenneth H. Hooley, September 24, 2005

source: www.masonicworld.com/education/articles/twofold_freemason.htm

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS: THE REAL OBJECTIVE OF FREEMASONRY

Article by Brian Dieppa, Shihan (Reiki Master), April 6, 2011

Source: http://dieppabryan-thewidowson.blogspot.be/2011/04/higher- consciousness-real-objective-of.html

THE DECEPTIVE NATURE OF BLUE LODGE SYMBOLISM

Chapter Four, Part One The Symbolism of Freemasonry

Source: http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com

THE SEXUAL MEANINGS OF MASONIC SYMBOLS

Chapter Four, Part Two The Symbolism of Freemasonry Source: http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com

BIBLIOGRAPHY

THE OCCULT MEANING OF THE FIVEPOINTED STAR

Chapter Four, Part Three The Symbolism of Freemasonry

Source: http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com

HANDSHAKES, PASSWORDS AND SIGNS

The Hidden hand sign, article fragment of - ‘J’ Canaan Greene

THE LAW OF DUALITY

Article by Beverly Blanchard, published in 2011

THREE GRAND COLUMNS

by: Unknown, SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VIII June, 1930 No.6

THE TAXIL HOAX

Article by Stephen Dafoe

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

AND INDEPTH DOCUMENTARY: EXPOSING THE PHILOSOPHY & VAIN DECEIT OF ZEITGEIST, PART ONE

Article by Keith Thompson

DEVIL WORHSIP IN FRANCE

Book by A.E. Waite, 1896 CHAPTER II: THE MASK OF MASONRY

source: sacred-texts.com

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COLOPHON

Seeking Enlightenment, Aaron Vergult This publication is the result of an ongoing research about the formation of a mystery. Within this reading file you will find an extensive research for the misconceptions, doubts and fear, or anti-movements regarding Freemasonry. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission from the publishers or in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act. All rights reserved to the restricted autors mentioned in this publication. Designed by Aaron Vergult Used fonts Arial Helvetica Neue

Adobe Jenson Pro

Thanks to: Julien Borremans Werner Van Dermeersch Hugo Puttaert Hilde Van Pelt Geert Vervaeke Reg Herygers Jan Baert Joris Ghekiere

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152 Seeking Enlightenment is a publication that seeks to explain the controversial existence of Freemasonry. It consists of a selection of essays, interviews, and archival presentation on subjects that range from the beginning of the stonemasons as an organisation, taking in along the way, to contemporay Freemasonry and their anti-movements. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s purpose is destined to bring an understanding in the enigmatic topics that defines freemasonry.