Monthly Magazine Monthly Magazine
Cover Story, Herman Melville and Freemasonry
Visiting
The Educational Value of Freemasonry
Did You Know?
Hiram Abiff and Santa Claus
The Meaning and Purpose of the Hoodwink?
Famous Freemasons – Burl Ives
Foreign Countries
The ‘Non-Secrets’ of Freemasonry
Secrecy
The Eye of Providence
The Back Page – The Story of the Three Stonemasons
Main Website – The Sprig of Acacia
Cover Story
‘Herman Melville and Freemasonry.’
“The book ‘Moby Dick has many references to Freemasonry. The author explains that although Melville was not a mason, he looks at why he would use these phrases.
Page 5, ‘Visiting.’ Try it!You’ll never regret it!
Page 7, ‘The Educational Value of Freemasonry’ Education from a different aspect.
Page 11, ‘Did You Know?’ Questions about the Craft.
Page 13, ‘Hiram Abiff and Santa Claus’ The parallels between the two!
Page 15, ‘What is the Meaning and Purpose of the Hoodwink?’
Page 17, ‘Burl Ives’ Famous Freemasons.
Page 20, ‘Foreign Countries.’
“Time”, Twenty Seventh in the series.
Page 23, ‘Reflections.’
The ‘Non-Secrets’ of Freemasonry
Page 25, ‘Secrecy’
Page 28, ‘The Eye of Providence’ Watching over us!
Page 30, ‘The Back Page.’ The Story of the Three Stonemasons.
In the Lectures website
The article for this month is ‘The Sprig of Acacia’ [link]
Front cover –A free public domain picture of a white sperm whale in the deep, sourced from Freerangestock photos.
“The more I consider this mighty tail, the more do I deplore my inability to express it. At times there are gestures in it, which, though they would well grace the hand of man, remain wholly inexplicable. In an extensive herd, so remarkable, occasionally, are these mystic gestures, that I have heard hunters who have declared them akin to Free-Mason signs and symbols.”
Moby Dick – Chapter 86 – “The Tail.”
In 1851, Herman Melville wrote to novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, saying that, “…the Problem of the Universe is like Freemason’s mighty secret, so terrible to all children. It turns out, at last, to consist in a triangle, a mallet, and an apron—nothing more!” (Melville, 1989) Melville was not a Freemason. So why is his writing (particularly Moby-Dick) so replete with Masonic references?
While born into a family filled with prestigious Freemasons, including several Grand Masters (Cohen, 1997), there is no record of Melville ever joining the Craft himself. We know that he had some interest in Freemasonry from his notes, made while writing an essay on Hawthorne’s short story collection Mosses. These notes include references to and symbols such as “Squares, compases [sic], levels, trowels” and King Solomon’s Temple (Melville, 1989).
However, we do not know whether these references are due to his interest in allegory or whether he was genuinely interested in Freemasonry itself. If Moby-Dick is a
reflection of Melville’s actual views, then his attraction to Brotherhood, at least, becomes clearer. In Chapter 82 (The Honor and Glory of Whaling), he proclaims, “I am transported with the reflection that I myself belong, though but subordinately, to so emblazoned a fraternity” (Melville, MobyDick, 2003).
He imagines his fraternity of whalemen as embodying the qualities and nature of mythic figures who wrestled with primordial forces. “Nor do heroes, saints, demigods, and prophets alone comprise the whole roll of our order,” he says. “Our grand master is still to be named; for like royal kings of old times, we find the head waters of our fraternity in nothing short of the great gods themselves.” “Perseus, St. George, Hercules, Jonah, and Vishnoo! there’s a member roll for you! What club but the whaleman’s can head off like that?” (Melville, Moby-Dick).
While these passages are full of hyperbole, brotherhood played a large role in the fishing industry during Melville’s time. George Brown Goode states that, “Many fishermen belong to such organizations as the Masonic fraternity, the Odd-Fellows, and the Knights of Pythias; and in some communities the systems of assurance and mutual help thus provided are called into much activity.” (Goode, 1884)
Goode goes on to mention Masonic Lodges in Gloucester, Provincetown, and Boothbay, Maine. These references are included in a chapter on the prevalence of benevolent and mutual aid societies in fishing communities. It is no surprise that an organization proclaiming to care for widows and orphans would find such a strong foothold among these men.
In fact, there is convincing evidence that the maritime industry, specifically that of
whaling, directly contributed to the spread of Freemasonry. Peter T. Young explains that, “On April 8, 1843, during the reign of King Kamehameha III, Freemasonry was formally established in Hawaii by Joseph Marie Le Tellier, Captain of the French whaling barque “Ajax” when he warranted Lodge Le Progres de l’Oceanie No. 124, of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of the Supreme Council of France.” (Young, 2020)
Likewise, Jock Phillips states that, “The first New Zealand Masonic meeting was in 1837 at Port Levy, Banks Peninsula, with a gathering of French masons on board the whaling ship Le Comte de Paris. (Phillips, 2022)
In his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Albert Mackey reinforces this idea by saying, “Freemasonry also, ever since as a worldwide Speculative Fraternity it escaped out of the cocoon of the Time Immemorial Lodges, has been afloat on the merchant ships and with the navies, and has with its Lodges followed them, or has waited for them in more than 3 thousand ports.” (Mackey, 1889)
Mackey continues, “If ever a truly complete history of Freemasonry is written, omitting nothing important enough to have a chapter of its own, it will tell the story of how seamen of Britain, America, and the maritime countries of Europe carried Masonry around the world; so that if they had no share in its antiquity they had a large share in that other Landmark, its universality.”
Perhaps Melville was faithfully recording the world around him by including these references in his magnum opus. Maybe, like many celebrities in modern times, he was
simply flirting with society by dropping subtle hints, signs, and symbols of the mysterious order to create intrigue. Possibly he was trying to understand something that was a mystery to him. Outside the few operative allusions to Brotherhood, Melville provided numerous examples of the more speculative nature of Freemasonry.
Does Ahab’s soliloquy in Chapter 70 (The Sphinx) give us a glimpse into the author’s motivations? “… speak, mighty head, and tell us the secret thing that is in thee… Where unrecorded names and navies rust, and untold hopes and anchors rot; where in her murderous hold this frigate earth is ballasted with bones of millions of the drowned; there, in that awful water-land, there was thy most familiar home.” (Melville, Moby-Dick, 2003)
Here, instead of embracing the common meaning, Melville turns a familiar Masonic emblem on its head by saying “(where)… untold hopes and anchors rot.” Dripping with existential dread, this passage denies the allusion of hope to this ancient symbol, which according to Mackey, was first found in the Christian catacombs of Rome. Melville’s use of irony challenges the idea of immortality itself, which inspires one to ask if he was questioning Freemasonry or the Christian faith. With Queequeg’s declaration “it’s a wicked world in all meridians; I’ll die a pagan” in Chapter 12 (Biographical) Melville hints that it is the latter.
A letter to Hawthorne written in November of 1851 shows us the mindset of Melville in regard to the book. In it he writes, “I have written a wicked book, and feel spotless as the lamb.” (Herman Melville, 1993) It seems that in the aftermath of the Morgan Affair, Melville knowingly used allusions to
Freemasonry, paganism, and other “sinful” things to shock his primarily Christian readers.
The Mason trying to find sincere Masonic meaning in Moby-Dick is left wanting just like the crew of the Rachel in the last sentence of the novel. “It was the devious cruising Rachel, that in her retracing search after her missing children, only found another orphan.” (Melville, Moby-Dick, 1851) While there may be something there to find, even in this last bit of allegorical prose, it is not that for which they are searching.
WorksCited:
Cohen, H. (1997, March). Melville's Masonic Secrets. MelvilleSocietyExtractsNumber108,pp.3-17.
Goode, G. B. (1884). The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States. U.S. Government PrintingOffice,p.127.
Herman Melville, L. H. (1993). Correspondence. NorthwesternUniversityPress,p.212.
Mackey, A. G. (accessed 15 June 2022). Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and its Kindred Sciences. http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/mackeys_encyclopedi a/s.htm
Melville,H.(2003).Moby-DickorTheWhale.Penguin Classics an Imprint of Penguin Books. 42nd Printing. Chapter 82, pp. 395-397, Chapter 70, p. 339, Chapter 12,p.62.
Melville, H. (1989). Journals. Evanston and Chicago: Northwestern University Press and The Newberry Library,p.604.
Phillips, J. (accessed 15 June 2022) 'Men’s clubsMasons', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/mens-clubs/page-4 Young, P. T. (2020, accessed 15 June 2022). Freemasonry in Hawaii. Images of Old Hawaii Blog, Freemasonry in Hawaii ;Images of Old Hawaii (imagesofoldhawaii.com)
By Bro. Michael Jarzabek
This article first appeared in the July 2022 issue of the ‘Southern California Research Lodge’ Fraternal Review.
One of the more remarkable features of modern society is its mobility. Everyone seems to be on the move. A combination of affluence and rapid transportation has offered a whole generation the opportunity to tramp about half way around the world. With little hesitation entire families move across the town or across the nation. But in the process of compressing time and space, our perspectives have changed and human relations become more impersonal.
For example, we have become conscious of the value of seconds and fractions thereof, but we have lost the consciousness of the changing of the seasons, or phases of the moon...Things which our forefathers were acutely aware. Likewise we all have friends in other cities or countries, yet so many of us in the city don't even know the name of the neighbour just across the street.
But of course, this has not always been the case, back in the middle ages the majority of men did little visiting or travelling except in their own neighbourhood. Workers tended to be organized into guilds or fraternities with each confined to its local area.
While the modern workman is freed from any restrictions and able to come and go across the nations. A medieval workman could not: he was tied to his own farm or village or town, and he made his friends there or nowhere at all. To men five miles away he was a stranger and a foreigner.
The masonic historian H.L. Harwood states that this general rule as in so many other things the Freemasons were an exception. Any Freemason could, and did come from other town and even from abroad. And nearly always they did come from a distance. While travelling they could visit Freemasons or lodges anywhere they
chanced upon them, and not only could, but were expected to do so, because it was from the travelling brethren that the news of the craft was spread throughout the land.
When such a traveller arrived he was welcomed as a guest and treated to hospitality. If he was ill, he was nursed; if in need, he received relief. The only requirement was a familiarity with the modes of recognition- protected by his oath of secrecy- used to identify himself as a member of the craft.
Haywood notes that "this freedom to travel and this right to visit were so necessary to Freemasons that without them they could not have carried on their work. Being thus an essential, visiting became a landmark, and has continued to be ever since."
Thus we find that the visiting of Freemasons among their brethren is not a mere neighbourliness, a casual sociability, a polite reception of an acquaintance. It is on a far higher plane. It embodies both privileges and responsibilities, and opportunities that would be folly to neglect.
As Haywood says "in the moment of becoming a mason, the candidate becomes a friend of thousands of men in his own community, and millions of men in the world who already are sworn to be in friendship with him. He has never met them; he is not acquainted with them; he does not know their names; but he has millions of acquaintances whom he has never seen. And whenever he meets a mason and introduces himself as a mason, he will find himself in a land of amicable fellowship which was already there before he came- for it to be there, is one of the things that is meant by being a mason."
So we are reminded today that one of the fringe benefits of being a mason- as in past
centuries- is the privilege and the pleasure derived from visiting. Whether it be across the city, the province, or around the world, one is constantly mindful that the craft is a universal organization, and that the masonic fundamentals we share with others know no bounds of race, colour or creed, and that one is unfailingly received with the outstretched hand of welcome.
To visit overseas, of course can almost be classed as high adventure, and if one can possibly spare the time from a busy itinerary, it is to be highly recommended. I once told by a bro who paid a visit in far away India.... An experience he shall never forget to his dying day. Until that moment he felt a complete stranger in a land of some seven hundred million people. But the moment he entered the lodge he felt completely at home and was taken into the hearts and even the homes of brothers in the craft. There is just nothing quite like it! Incidentally, I was reminded of the universality of the craft when he counted no less than five different volumes of the sacred law on the altar!
For most of us, visiting lodges in the city is particularly convenient because of the ample choice of lodges and meeting nights, and the likely chance of meeting familiar friends in the craft. On the other hand, the rewards from visiting around the province combines the best of both worlds.... Both a measure of convenience and the thrill of being made at home in an otherwise unfamiliar community. What a wonderful opportunity to renew old acquaintances and to make new ones!
Of course, there are many brethren who have not discovered the pleasure of visiting. Many of reserved or bashful disposition are somewhat timid and feel unsure when dropping in to a strange lodge. They are due
for a pleasant surprise. Others- and too many, I fear- hesitate lest fail to pass an examination at the door. They are a little rusty about certain things, and with the passage of time have become shy about asking friends for guidance.
Basically, it's ever so simple. Don't be embarrassed about brushing up on your knowledge. Everyone else does it. If you look in the pages of Mackey's encyclopedia under "examination of visitors," you will discover that the examiner is not supposed to ask any embarrassing "leading questions", or to prompt your memory in the direction of his own proficiency, but merely to ask you to prove that you are a member by "commencing at the beginning."
Thus you need only impart the necessary knowledge you have in a normal order until the examiner is satisfied. Bear in mind that the examination was never intended to be a test to 'prove up' your proficiency or expertise. Nor is it to be an inquisition. The brother is only trying to make sure that you are, indeed, what you claim to be. Once satisfied, the brethren will receive you with open hands.
As a matter of fact, you will be doing a good service if you rise in your lodge some evening and ask the worshipful master to instruct his director of ceremonies [ or some other well qualified brother] to prepare and hold periodic mini-practices in open lodge to illustrate clearly to the newer brethren what may be required for visiting. You'd be surprised at the number of older brethren who would welcome such guidance. It can do nothing but help!
And while you're at it, see if you can't make each visit with a car full. It only takes a telephone call or two. Do things together... And don't forget to always try to include a
candidate or one of the newly-raised brethren. There is no better opportunity to get to know him and to make him feel wanted in his lodge. He'll welcome the chance to learn the ropes it will broaden his experience; expands his knowledge of the craft; and provide ample proof that your offers of fellowship are not just empty words.
Remember, one of the greatest rewards of visiting is not so much the actual visit, but fun of travelling together with your brethren and cementing your friendships. Try it! Make it a habit! You'll never regret it.
As historian Haywood has said, "visiting is a landmark. It is as if each and every master mason had a standing invitation from each lodge in the world to be it's guest. He does not need to seek their hospitality; their hospitality is seeking him."
Those of us who remember any Latin from the dim past would recall that the Latin derivation of the word 'education' comes from "e" out, "duco" I lead, and "ion" the act of: the act of leading out, it is this concept of education that I want to talk about, not the usual sense of taking in information from without, but giving out from within. Education in this sense implies much more than mere learning. A man who has acquired extensive knowledge, perhaps with a University degree, need not necessarily be regarded as a truly educated man, "unless he has also attained that measure of culture and capacity for service to the community which is the criterion of a good and useful citizen, able to apply his knowledge of the past to
the solution of problems of the present and future". So that true education is not necessarily only what is learned in school, college or university; often the self-educated man who has gained his knowledge from the school of experience may be a better and more useful citizen and freemason than he who has passed exams by regurgitating knowledge, often rote learned, from outside sources.
The taking in of knowledge from outside is of course the starting point of being educated; but true education is the further process of bringing out the innate capacity and ability to interpret and to use what has been learned for his own self development and for the good of the general society in which we live.
Various definitions of education by philosophers and writers of the past are worth looking at; Aristotle, for example, defined education as follows, "The true aim of education is the attainment of happiness through perfect virtue."
Addison said, "What sculpture is to the block of marble, education is to the human soul." Mills: "The end of education is to render the individual as much as possible an instrument of happiness first to himself and next to others." Woodward said education is "a preparation for the duties and responsibilities of life." Poet Robert Browning's interpretation reinforces the literal meaning of education as a leading out when he says:
"To know, Rather consists in opening out a way. Whence the imprisoned splendour may escape, Than in effecting entry for a light, Supposed to be without"
These sorts of definitions, if applied to our whole masonic system, would imply that
Freemasonry has a definite and high educational value. Certainly, our ritual does not leave education undefined, and I quote from the presentation of the working tools in the 1st Degree: "The chisel points out the advantages of education by which means alone we are rendered fit members of every well organised society". The chisel is the instrument used to shape the rough ashlar, and this crude material received its fine polish by many repeated efforts. The assumption is that exertion and perseverance are the necessary attributes of any individual who aims at reaching a high educational standard.
So what is the educational value of Freemasonry? Like true education itself, which implies a giving out from within, the true educational value within our ritual lies in what is forthcoming from it as a mason gradually comes to a better understanding and realisation of the true meanings and applications of the various charges that his own powers of thought can bring forth.
And the ritual really does continually encourage us to achieve this goal. We are invited and enjoined to "make daily advancement in masonic knowledge", "to study such of the liberal arts and sciences as may well be within the compass of our attainments", "more especially the science of geometry which is established as the basis of our art". A candidate is received into our order as the already shaped but nevertheless 'rough ashlar', and he is enjoined to labour diligently so that the 'rough ashlar' of his mind may be fashioned into the 'perfect ashlar' of such quality towards which we should all strive, if never quite attain.
Critics of our ritual have stated that it contains historical inaccuracies, often historical myths; it has also been stated that many of the original meanings of our
symbols have been lost. But I believe that historical accuracy, within our ritual, or the loss of the original meanings of symbols is not necessarily over important.
What is important through this true education I'm talking about, is the interpretation we as individuals can place upon it, the lessons to be learned and most importantly the practical applications in our daily lives stemming from that.
We have, in the church I attend, an honorary minister, who is a Ph.D and a lecturer in Engineering at the University of Queensland. He recently delivered a most interesting sermon on Noah's Ark, and by applying mathematics and engineering principles showed that, given the statistics as related in the Bible, Noah's Ark, as described, simply could not have been built, and even if it could, would never have floated. Now, he was not advocating any non-acceptance of the Bible, far from it. He was careful to point out that the actual events as related i.e. the flood, the existence of Noah and the building of some kind of boat and the circumstances surrounding the flood etc, undoubtedly did take place. He pointed out that what was important was not necessarily the literal acceptance of the word so much as the interpretation and application we place on a story that occurred thousands of years ago, in the light of knowledge in the 20th century.
Let me further illustrate the point I am making, in relation to our ritual. In the 2nd Degree, the candidate is told about the Winding Staircase, the origin of which comes fro the 1st Book of Kings Ch.VI, v.viii, "The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house; and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third."
The candidate is told of the Brethren ascending the Winding Staircase, and after giving 'convincing proof' were admitted to the middle chamber to receive their wages. He is told the Winding Staircase consisted of 'three, five, seven or more steps' and is given an explanation of the significance of these numbers.
Now it has been claimed that the whole story of the Winding Staircase in the 2nd Degree has no more actual foundation than the slight allusion in the Book of Kings. But again, we're not particularly concerned here with material facts, because once more this is merely an illustration that the truths of our system are presented in symbolical form, and it is our true educated interpretation of them that matters.
Let me quote to you some individual interpretations placed on the Winding Staircase that I've read from an old lecture on the subject delivered some fifty years ago;
"Every winding staircase is built on to a central pillar or support around which the steps revolve, and all steps are of equal length and must be attached to the central pillar. So in Freemasonry there is the Deity, in whose sight we are all equal; we are attached to Him and derive our strength from Him".
"From the Winding Staircase we learn that the search for Truth always leads upwards; also we are never far from the central pillar ? God. We also find that the search for Truth is a labour, but nevertheless we rise as we go on. If we go far enough we receive the wages of a speculative Freemason ie. Knowledge and Truth".
"The symbolism of the Winding Staircase has one more point; the straight staircase
reveals all that lies ahead. The man starting on a Winding Staircase cannot see what is ahead except only the next step or two, and these only partially. So also, with our ascent of the Winding Staircase of life".
Let me give you another example based on the Two Great Pillars. In the 2nd Degree Tracing Board, the candidate is given certain details about them ? their size, how they were constructed, whom they were named after and so on. The candidate is not told, in relation to their names, apart from the persons the Great Grandfather of David and the Assistant High Priest, the Hebrew derivation of the words: "B" means "in" and "oaz" means "strength", similarly "Jah" was the word for "God" and "achin" meant "to establish". But again their actual measurements and shape have been subject to controversy, and there seems to be general agreement mainly on the fact that they were made hollow and of molten brass. There have been claims that the spherical balls are a masonic myth, as also the claim that the constitutional rolls were deposited therein.
Again, I believe we can say 'so what?' What is more important is what we can learn further, what further interpretation can we place upon the symbolism of these pillars? With reference to the ritual: "There was nothing, however, about that magnificent structure more remarkable, or that more particularly struck the attention than the two Great Pillars which stood at the porchway or entrance". One could imagine the thoughts of the onlooker if such beauty be on the outside, what must the inside of the Temple be like. I quote one speaker's reflection on this: "What a pattern for us to so order our lives that we may reflect to the people outside, the still greater beauty which lies within our Masonic edifice."
We are told that the pillars were cast on the clay grounds in the plain of Jordan, moulded to the plan of our Master Hiram Abiff. I quote, "There I think we have the lesson of humility: think of human clay where all mankind is moulded to the plan of a still greater Master mind, T.G.A.O.T.U. Contemplation on such common grounds should surely remind us of our duty to others and that all men are brothers".
So Brethren, these examples of the Winding Staircase and the Two Great Pillars illustrate that. From straight forward references in the ritual, through the application of the principles of true education we can learn much more than simple facts. We cannot know until we look, and as has been said, "the heart must be made to conceive before the eye can be permitted to discover".
So I repeat. Education does not mean mere learning but is really a process of bringing out what lies within.
Our Masonic education is the process of developing our faculties of thought and expression, often lying unseen and unsuspected within us. It is the stimulus which urges us "to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield". So Freemasonry plays a very special role in developing and bringing out the intellectual capabilities of its members and directing those faculties towards service in the community. The success achieved will be the measure of Freemasonry's ultimate value as a worldwide organisation.
This essay is about “Education”, but I hope from a different aspect from what is usually said on this topic in relation to Freemasonry; not so much "Masonic Education" but rather "The Educational Value of Freemasonry". In other words true education as opposed to mere learning. Sourced from the Sunday Masonic PaperNo.931,thanksagainWayne.
Question: “Where do you hope to find them?” The given answer is ‘With the Centre”. Why not ‘At the Centre”
Answer: There is a quite remarkable degree of variation among the different rituals on this subject. In the question we have quoted Emulation, and that same formula appears in Claret (1838), Irish (1910), Exeter (1932), Standard Stability, Sussex (1965), West End (1967).
Here we have named only a few examples taken almost at random, and it must be clear that the answer is either in very bad English, or it is simply not the answer to that question. If the question is “Where”, the answer should begin “In, Within, At, On, Around, Near”, etc., i.e., a location, and so long as the answer begins : “With”, something must be wrong. In all fairness we quote a few correct versions, e.g. Veritas (1937) - “Where do you ..“ - “At the Centre”; Complete - “Within a Centre”; “Castle”, Northumbrian (1927)- “On the Centre”.
There are a number of Workings which ask “How do you hope to find them?” These require an answer beginning “With or By” and the rituals examined that have the question “How generally have a grammatical answer. e.g. Logic (1899)“How do we - “With the Centre”, and we find the same formula in Oxford (1904), English (1946) and Universal (1968).
By way of an interesting variation we quote an extract from the Turk MS. an exact copy of one of Preston’s versions of the Third Lecture c. 1816 (in a Paper by Bro. P.R.
James to be published in A.Q.C. Vol.84. 1972):
M. Bro. J.W. how do you hope to find them? J.W. By Working towards the centre.
If we try to analyse the question in its proper context, it seems possible that there may be a clue as to how the question and answer should run. At that point in the ritual at which the question arises, we are talking - of course - about finding the “genuine secrets of a M.M.” which were “lost” through the untimely death of H.A. As Masons to whom the Hiramic legend is an important part of our teachings, we know that the secrets were not, in fact, lost, but simply abandoned (out of fear that H.A. had divulged them) and we know that certain somewhat casually substituted secrets were adopted in their places. There is good and ample evidence in various early Masonic documents of the 1740’s, that the substituted secrets were adopted to replace the “sacred and mysterious Name”, i.e., the Tetragrammaton, which appears clearly written, in several early versions of the T.B. of the 3°. Obviously that was never lost; it was the Ineffable Name, and therefore unpronounceable, but not lost.
There is - of course - one of our later ceremonies in which the Candidate learns the manner in which it may be pronounced and conferred. Now, allowing that we do know the details of the so-called “lost” secrets, it seems to me that we have no need to worry about “How to find them” and I am inclined to believe that the question should not be “How do we hope but “Where do we hope to find them”. The answer “At (or in) the Centre” is probably to be preferred. It had already been foreshadowed in the 2° Closing ceremony where we teach that another name of the G.G.O.T.U. is situated at (or in) the centre (of the building).
Question: Why do some rituals give the names of the three ruffians in the M.M. degree and others do not?
Answer: While the main elements of the M.M. degree are broadly similar in most jurisdictions, there are many variations, notably in the manner of presentation. In England, where we have many well known 'workings' which differ from each other only in minor details, the legend is solemnly recited, the ruffians are mentioned but not named, and the Candidate is 'out of action' for only a brief moment.
In the USA, Ireland and some other jurisdictions, the main body of the ceremony is played as a drama. The whole of the legend that we recite is en-acted, and the Brethren who play the parts of the ruffians bear the names which are the subject of this question.
The earliest evidence I have been able to trace on the appearance of those names in the ritual is an English exposure, 'Three Distinct Knocks', first published 1760. It was a very popular publication, frequently reprinted, and it claimed to represent the working of the rival Grand Lodge, the 'Antients', established in England in 1751. In that Text, the story is told in the form of question and answer, with copious notes detailing the parts played by each of the characters, and the three ruffians are named. All the materials are included which would enable that story to be played as a drama, but the text is not laid out in that form and I cannot find any evidence to show that the 'drama' form was ever used in English Lodges.
The 'Antients' Grand Lodge was established mainly by Irish immigrants and their ritual
was probably influenced to some extent by Irish usage. It seems likely that the dramatic presentation, including the named ruffians, was imported into the USA from Ireland, but the actual origin of that method of presentation had not yet been proved.
Question: when the candidate is restored to light when the verses from Genesis are recited following the obligation, why do the brethren clap once?
Answer: In simplest terms, the handclap may represent the acclaim and applause of the Brethren, acknowledging and welcoming a new Initiate into the Brotherhood.
The sound adds a dramatic element to the restoration of light. In nature, lightning is followed by thunder. The Jewish tradition associated lightning with revelation. The Hebrew word used in the Creation story may be translated as either „light‟ or „lightning.‟ In ancient times thunder symbolized the voice of God, and lightning, the written word of God. “God thunders wondrously with his voice.” (Job 37: 5) “Let there be light, and there was light.”
Joseph Campbell, in his insightful study, “The Inner Reaches of Outer Space‖ (2002) refers to the oriental vajra — “the thunderclap of enlightenment.” In the Hindu and Buddhist tradition, a thunderbolt in the form of a diamond sceptre splits the clouds of ignorance revealing ‘knowledge.‘
The Questions and answers from ‘Did you Know’ were collected from various constitutions across the world, and in no way reflect the views or thoughts of the editor and or his Lodge or Mother Constitution.
Hiram Abiff and Santa Claus - two legendary figures that Masons around the world are familiar with. As whimsical as this educational topic might seem, there really are a lot of parallels in the lives of these two men. As adults, Santa usually evokes in us a smile, fond memories, lighthearted feelings, and serene mental pictures. As Masons, Hiram Abiff congers up somewhat darker and more serious thoughts relating to our own mortality and our personal relationship with the Supreme Architect of the Universe. Nevertheless, both of these legends have quite a bit in common that may not be immediately obvious.
Of course, we all know that ‘Santa Claus’ really did exist. Actually he was Bishop Nicholas of Myra, also known as Saint Nicholas, who was born during the third century in a village in what is now Turkey. His wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young, and he was raised by his uncle, also a Bishop in the church. Obeying the words of Jesus to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor," Nicholas used his entire inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. The tradition of Saint Nicholas Day, usually December 6th in European Orthodox countries, is a festival for children related to legends about the saint, particularly his reputation as a bringer of gifts. The American Santa Claus, as well as the AngloCanadian and British Father Christmas, are derived from these legends. "Santa Claus" is itself derived in part from the Dutch Sinterklass.
But today, Santa Claus, his modern representation, has evolved into a mythological figure that serves as a symbol for charity, and love for our fellowmen. So, in Santa Claus we find a progression of the stages of life. As children we come to understand Santa as a gift-giving kindly and jolly old man. As we grow older and began to realize the physical impossibility of Santa Claus’ nocturnal journey, we learn the history and mythology behind that figure. Then eventually in time and with the coming of age and experience we understand the true meaning of the symbol.
Hiram Abiff parallels those same progressive stages. When we are first introduced to the Masonic character of Hiram Abiff, he is presented as a real person and Master Architect. Hiram, was in fact a skilled artisan who helped beautify and adorn King Solomon’s Temple as recorded in the Book of First Kings. Like Saint Nicholas, Hiram, through the fertile minds of Masonic writers, evolves into our mythological figure Hiram Abiff and the details of his story are related to us in our ritualistic degree work.
At first we only see what’s on the surface, but as we grow, and ‘come of age in Masonry’, we realize that a lot of the story has been very creatively ‘invented’ and is presented to teach us great and important moral and Masonic lessons. Eventually, through a virtuous Masonic education, our own endeavours and the help of the Supreme Architect, we come to understand the true meaning of the legend of Hiram Abiff and how it relates to our growth as Masons and men. Understanding both Santa Claus and Hiram Abiff is a growing process by which we arrive at the true meaning of each legend.
Another parallel to Santa can be seen in how Hiram Abiff was killed and how Santa Claus "dies" in our minds. We are told that Hiram was struck in the throat, the place of our voice. Is it not by word of mouth from our school classmates or older siblings that Santa Claus is also first struck?
Hiram was also struck in the chest or heart, the place of our affections. Once our suspicions about Santa are confirmed by our parents or our own sensibility, it usually ends up breaking the child’s heart. We are growing up, but who among us doesn’t wish that Santa really exists, as we first perceived him?
Finally, Hiram received a blow to the head, the place of our intellect. Similarly, children who are aware of the true nature of Santa kill the jolly old elf in the minds of those who still believe in him by ridiculing, with blistering logic, until finally there is no belief left. After that, it is only with personal growth and acquired wisdom that a person can arrive at a full realization of the true symbolism of Santa Claus. This understanding takes time, thought, and guidance from others. But this eventual understanding is what actually inspires us to perpetuate the Santa Claus myth with our own children. And so, the cycle continues. Santa Claus, like Hiram Abiff, has life after death, albeit a different life. Is it any wonder that the Christmas tree, like the acacia, is evergreen, and lives on from year to year?
Finally, how did you first hear about Santa Claus, and Hiram Abiff? You heard it from a person who cared about you and wanted to share a wonderful tradition with you. They probably enjoyed sharing it as much as you enjoyed receiving it. Both legends are perpetuated and passed along from generation to generation by word of mouth
from parents to children, and likewise from a brother Mason to a candidate.
Yes, while St. Nichols and Hiram were two actual historic figures, their lives inspired two legends that have lived for centuries and enriched the lives of those who sought to learn from them. They were indeed two very different men, but their legends contain what I think are some amazing parallels. I believe that we can become better men and Masons by following their examples. After all, isn’t that why we are here…isn’t that why we became Masons?
….. Another in the series of nuggets from the Quarry of Freemasonry. Douglas Messimer, PM, LEO Tuckahoe Lodge 347 5-12
Despite the ritual, only a very ill-informed man can imagine that the hoodwink is for the purpose of concealing the Lodge room and the Brethren from the Initiate until he is obligated.
Yet these thoughts do pass before the minds of the Brethren as they wait with keen anticipation to watch the effect that the ceremony has upon the candidate.
There is nothing secret about the inside of a Masonic temple. The architect who designed the building, the contractors who completed the contract, and all his workmen, down to the charwoman who regularly sweeps and dusts and maintains the place, have all seen the inside of the Lodge room.
The United Grand Lodge of England has held conducted tours on a daily basis around the temple at Great Queen Street for many years. In many Lodges, it has always been the custom to invite the Ladies and nonMasons who attended ladies evening festivals to “have a look around the Lodge room”.
This is to say nothing about the recent policy of “openness” and the resulting implications of “Freemasonry in the Community” So what is the meaning, and the purpose behind the hoodwink?
What is its symbolism?
Many different rituals required that the eye should not see until the heart has conceived the mysteries of the Order. It was, therefore,
commonplace for the aspirant to membership to be always shrouded in darkness as a preparatory step to the reception of the full light of knowledge (whatever that may be!) The time for the confinement of a candidate into darkness and solitude varied dramatically across the different mysteries.
Among the Druids of Britain the period was nine days and nine nights! Some of the Grecian mysteries required three times nine days! In the select Persian Orders the period of time was extended to the incredible period of 50 days of darkness, solitude and fasting.
So, upon reflection, we have all had a relatively comfortable ride during our admission into the Craft! Taking our minds back to the creation of the world, darkness is thought of existing before light was created. In the Old Testament, as well as many other ancient religions and philosophies, darkness is symbolic not only of ignorance, but of sin, evil and wrong.
This is not so with regards to Masonic darkness of the hoodwink. The reason for this is because evil, sin and wrong are matters of a voluntary nature. They are the result of going against knowledge. There is no thought in any Masonic degree that the candidate is or does evil.
The hoodwink is not voluntary. The candidate submits to the hoodwink because the degree requires him to do so. It is a requirement to emphasise ignorance now and knowledge to come. Not sin now and redemption to come.
A comparison between theology and Freemasonry is worth a mention here. A Freemason’s darkness indicates only a helpfulness to emphasise the worth of
knowledge. In a Freemason’s Lodge it is not used to emphasise a moral regeneration.
A candidate for Freemasonry is already a moral individual or he would not be an Initiate! Interestingly, there is a particularly appropriate extract from Isaiah which exclaims:
“I will give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places”
The “treasures of darkness” are those which the Initiate receives whilst he is in darkness; the hidden riches of secret places he receives later in the ceremony when he is permitted to kneel in “the secret places” of Freemasonry.
Without darkness he could neither see nor appreciate the light. The darkness of unseeing eyes is in itself a treasure in that it teaches the lesson of dependence upon others – of friendly hands, of the eventual unveiling to come – and the unforgettable anticipation of new knowledge.
A further reference to the scriptures is interesting when before the unveiling there is “darkness on the face of the deep”. This darkness is fully emphasised in the degree.
“The spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” … Here we all can recall – that never-to-be-forgotten moment when it is only by a knowledge of – and a dependence upon The Great Architect of the Universe –that illumination is possible. By this we mean Masonic illumination.
This can only be described as the very heart of Freemasonry. Here is the great and solemn explanation of the hoodwink:
The anticipation of knowledge to come; Its removal – a reminder of the treasures of darkness;
Its revelation of the hidden riches of secret places.
It is such a profoundly important moment in the life of a Freemason when, as an Entered Apprentice, he is given such a precious possession to have all his life.
Doctor Oliver, an eminent Masonic historian, had this to say about the subject:
The temporary blindness of the hoodwink is symbolic of the deprivation of moral and intellectual light. Therefore the Masonic candidate represents one immersed in intellectual darkness, groping in the search for that Divine light and truth which are the objectives of our Fraternity.
William Preston, maybe the best known authority upon these matters, describes in his Illustrations of Masonry published in 1772 what is described as the sense of sight; he wrote:
SEEING is that sense by which we distinguish objects, and are enabled in an instant of time without change of place or situation, to view armies in battle, array, figures of the most stately structure and all the agreeable variety displayed in the landscape of Nature.
By this sense find we our way in the pathless ocean, traverse the globe of this planet earth, determine its figures and dimensions and delineate any region or quarter of it. By it we measure the planetary orbs, and make new discoveries in the sphere of the fixed stars.
Nay, more – by it we perceive the tempers and dispositions, the passions and affections of our fellow creatures, when they wish most to conceal them. Although the tongue may be taught to lie and dissemble; countenance will display the hypocrisy to the discerning eye.
In fine, the rays of light which administer to this sense are the most astonishing parts of the inanimate creation, and render the eye a peculiar object of admiration.
Besides the symbolism of the hoodwink, there are two psychological reasons for depriving the candidate temporarily of his sight. First, man has only a certain amount of power to receive impressions. If this power is divided between the eye and the ear and the sense of touch, the deprivation of one sense will increase the strength of the remaining senses. The blindfold will therefore increase and emphasise the words which the Initiate hears, which means that he will pay more attention to the spoken words of the ritual. Second, a candidate is more impressed when he is “part of the action”.
The more that he becomes part of it the greater the impression is made upon him.
Hoodwinking the candidate singles him out from his fellows. In fact, for a time, he is put into a different situation from the people around him. He is immediately made to feel dependant upon a friend. He can no longer defend himself. He has to put his trust in his fellows.
Above all, he is directed to “safely rise and follow his leader with a firm but humble confidence, for where the name of God is invoked, no danger will ensue”.
There you have it! There is a power for good in the darkness induced by the temporary withdrawal of sight. Let no man who has worn the hoodwink ever forget that for all mankind. “It is only after darkness falls –that man can see the stars!”
Ray Hollins is the author of A Daily Advancement In Masonic Knowledge: One Hundred Short Talks on the Craft. June 2015. Sourced from Freemasonry Matters.
Burl Ives was a 20th-century minstrel and balladeer who brought new life and popularity to some of America's oldest folk music with songs of children, history, animals, insects and loves won and lost.
Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was born in Jasper County, Illinois, June 14th 1909, into a tenant farming family that could trace its ancestry through a line of preachers, farmers and riverboat gamblers back to 17th-century America. From his tobacco-chewing, pipesmoking grandmother he learned scores of Scottish, Irish and English folk ballads that were brought over by her immigrant ancestors, then revised and readapted over the years in this country.
Singing was a large part of his family life in his early years. Beginning at age 4, Burl earned money by performing in public, sometimes alone and sometimes with his brothers and sisters in a group that came to
be known as "those singing Ives." They sang the ballads learned at their grandmother's knee, such as "Barbara Allen," "Jesse James" and "Pearl Brian;" hymns including "Rock of Ages" and "Shall We Gather at the River;" sea and river chants, and songs of the forest, mountain, prairie and mine.
As a teenager, Burl sang in church choirs and at camp meetings. He played football in high school and entered Eastern Illinois State Teachers College from 1927 to 1929 with the intention of becoming a football coach. He "never did take to studies," he said later, and during his junior year, he was sitting in English class, listening to a lecture on a classic poem, when he suddenly realized he was wasting his time. As he walked out of the door, the professor made a snide remark and Ives slammed the door behind him, shattering the window in the door. Sixty years later, the school named a building after its most famous dropout.
And in 1930 he decided that he would hitchhike through the United States, Mexico and Canada. He took his guitar with him, and he sang for his support along the way. In saloons, parks, village churches, hobo jungles, lumber camps and at prize fights, steel mills, cattle ranches and fishing wharfs, he forged the nucleus of a musical constituency that would endure for decades. At the same time, he gathered more songs for his repertoire.
Burl registered at Indiana State Teachers College, found a job singing on the radio and worked in a drugstore. A singing teacher there suggested he seek additional training in New York, and Burl moved on, settling there. He supported himself with odd jobs and by singing in church choirs while he studied under the vocal coach Ekka Toedt and took music courses at New York
University. During the summer of 1938, he made his professional acting debut at a theatre in Carmel, N.Y., where he performed character parts in several plays. That fall he appeared on Broadway in a non-singing role in the George Abbott musical comedy "The Boys from Syracuse."
Over the next two years, Burl played in New York nightclubs and with a touring company in Rodgers and Hart's "I Married an Angel." In 1940, he began singing on the radio, initially on NBC and later on CBS, where he did ballads on the program "Back Where I Come From." Eventually he got his own show on CBS, "The Wayfarin' Stranger."
During World War II, he served briefly in the Army but then received a medical discharge. Later in the war, he entertained military personnel and made records for the Office of War Information. In 1944, he began a long engagement at Cafe Society Upland, a New York nightclub.
In 1945, he made his film debut in a version of the Will James novel "Smokey," and he began appearing as the weekly star of the "Radio Readers Digest." He also had guest appearances on other radio shows, and in 1946, he launched a series of recorded singing shows on the Mutual Broadcasting System.
Over the next four decades, Burl would have major parts in more than 20 films, which continued till well into hie 80’s, playing in major films like; “So Dear to My Heart” (1948) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), as well as the role of Rufus Hannassey in The Big Country (1958), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also continued to perform in about 40 concerts a year, in the United States and foreign countries. He gave a private
performance for Israeli leader Golda Meir and a command performance for Queen Elizabeth II of England, and he played for U.S. presidents.
In early 1942, Ives was drafted into the U.S. Army. He spent time first at Camp Dix, then at Camp Upton, where he joined the cast of Irving Berlin's This Is the Army. He attained the rank of corporal. When the show went to Hollywood, he was transferred to the Army Air Forces. He was honourably discharged, for medical reasons, in September 1943. Between September and December 1943, Ives lived in California. In December 1943, Ives went to New York City to work for CBS Radio for $100 a week.
The late forties his records really took off, in 1947 his recording of “The Blue Tail Fly” with the Andrews Sisters became a bestselling hit, and in 1949 the song “Lavender Blue” was nominated for an Academy Award. The public loved Burl’s voice.
In the 50’s and 60’s Burl expanded his film appearances. His movie credits include the role of Sam the Sheriff of Salinas, California, in East of Eden, Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, roles in Desire Under the Elms, Wind Across the Everglades, The Big Country, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Ensign Pulver, the sequel to Mister Roberts, and Our Man in Havana, based on the Graham Greene novel.
In the 1960s, Ives began singing country music with greater frequency. In 1962, he released three songs that were popular with both country music and popular music fans: "A Little Bitty Tear", "Call Me Mister InBetween", and "Funny Way of Laughin'". His records, recorded in Nashville for Decca Records, were produced by Owen Bradley,
one of the record producers who (along with Chet Atkins) helped define the Nashville Sound style of country music that expanded the music's appeal to a wider audience. Bradley used Nashville's famous "A-Team" of session musicians behind Ives, including the Anita Kerr Singers, which enhanced Ives' appeal. Bradley also produced the recording of Ives's perennial Holiday favourite "A Holly Jolly Christmas" in Nashville.
Burl performed in other television productions, including Pinocchio and Roots. He made a number of appearances in a number of dramas and plays, including an episode of “Little House on the Prairie.” And made regular appearances in TV commercials, and continued to entertain, however in 1989, Burl Ives announced his retirement on his 80th birthday.
Burl Ives had a long relationship with the Boy Scouts of America, he joined in 1924 when he was 15, and continued to support them throughout his life, and often played at their Jamborees all over America.
Burl’s other love was freemasonry, he became involved as a youth becoming a DeMolay (youth masons) on December 5 1927, but had never joined the Lodge. Brother W.M. Julian E. Ensley relates this story in his article about Burl Ives:-
“After a long and very busy period of work for the President’s Handicap Committee in 1975, Burl Icle Ives and his wife, Dorothy, sat quietly relaxing on the veranda of their home overlooking Hollywood, California. Random thoughts played in their conversation about what they had done during the year and what might come next in their lives.
They had performed numerous concerts on a world tour, and, starting in 1969, they had
been early ambassadors for environmental cleanup efforts under the auspices of United States Secretary of the Interior.
Finally, Dorothy said, “Burl, you have done so much for everybody else, is there something you have wanted to do just for yourself and have simply never done it?”
“Yes, there is,” Burl said thoughtfully, revealing nothing.
“Well, maybe now is the time to do it,” Dorothy replied. “What is it?”
“I’ve always wanted to be a Mason. My father was a Mason and my brothers are, and my sister, Audrey, was Worthy Grand Matron in Eastern Star in Illinois.”
“Why haven’t you done it before?” his wife asked.
“Well, I’ve just been so busy I never had the time, or felt like I never had the time.”
“Then why not take the time now?” Dorothy suggested.”
Burl Ives petitioned Magnolia (now Magnolia-La Cumbre) Lodge No. 242. On September 1975, he was made an Entered Apprentice, a few weeks later a Fellow Craft, and thereafter a Master Mason in February 1976.
Burl Ives, a long time smoker of pipes and cigars, was diagnosed with oral cancer in the summer of 1994. After several unsuccessful operations, he decided against further surgery. He fell into a coma and died from the disease on April 14, 1995, at his home in Anacortes, Washington, just two months before his 86th birthday. He was buried at Mound Cemetery in Hunt City Township, Jasper County, Illinois.
This article has been sourced and put together from a Variety of sources freely available on the internet, chief of which was; Washington Post; The Midnight Freemason; 1996 Scottish Rite SJ Magazine KT Templar Magazine; Wikipedia, And many others, thanks to all.
ONE of the hidden or "covered" symbols of Freemasonry is found in the many references to time. The Entered Apprentice is given a twenty-four-inch gauge as his working tool and with it taught to divide his time.
The Entered Apprentice must wait a certain time before taking his Fellowcraft Degree.
The Fellowcraft is reminded of the time required for creation, and the function of geometry as to time is emphasised; "by it, also, the astronomer is enabled to make his observations and to fix the duration of time and seasons, years and cycles." He is also made to realise that there are three principal causes which contribute to destruction; the hand of ignorance, the devastations of war and the lapse of time.
The Fellowcraft must wait a period of time before he may receive His Master Mason Degree.
As a Master Mason, he is reminded of the passage of time in the reading from Ecclesiastes; emphasis is put upon the journey from "the days of thy youth" to that hour when "shall the dust return to the earth
as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."
In the prayer used in the Sublime Degree we hear: "Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth as a flower and is cut down; he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not. Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee; thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass; turn from him that he may rest, till he shall accomplish his day."
Master Masons are taught from the Scriptures of the length of time required to construct the Temple of Solomon. The three steps on the Master's Carpet are of youth, manhood and old age, of which, as we have seen, the three degrees as a whole are symbols.
The hour glass, an instrument used for the measurement of time, is one of the symbols discussed in the lecture of the Sublime Degree.
"The Scythe is an emblem of time, which cuts the brittle thread of life and launches us into eternity. Behold! what havoc the scythe of time makes among the human race. If by chance we should escape the numerous evils incident to childhood and youth, and with health and vigour arrive at the years of manhood, yet withal, we must soon be cut down by the all-devouring scythe of time and be gathered into the land where our fathers have gone before us."
There are many more references to time; high twelve and low twelve, the calling from labour to refreshment, and the return to labour in due season, will occur to all.
With the exception of the small paragraph quoted above, however, explanatory of the
scythe as an emblem of time, there is neither monitorial nor secret explanation of time as a symbol. Yet surely it is used as such, when so many references are made to it ... or can we be content with the thought that, as time is so important to us all, it could not entirely be left out in the making of the degrees of our Order?
What is time? No man knoweth! The very philosophers who "explain it" confess the inadequacy of their explanations. We know of a past, possess a present and hope for a future. If the past is dead and gone, it yet influences our present. If the future is only a hope, it is yet the treasure box of all our lives, for which we strive endlessly. The only part of time we have, the immediate now, is always the least important to us all!
Objects have length, breadth, thickness. They also have duration. The "instantaneous cube" cannot exist; we can have no conception of anything, material or spiritual, which does not have some length of time of existence. Some mathematicians speak of time as the fourth dimension of matter, and Einstein's theories, both the General and the Special, are concerned with a something which is neither space nor time, but a blend, or combination of both.
The only measurement of time we know is finite; the revolution of the earth about its axis and about the sun, or any other heavenly body movement, is our only means of measurement of duration. We can expand it into "light years" or contract it with splitsecond watches, but all our measurement is founded upon a purely finite, material happening.
Infinite time is a phrase, not a concept. The human mind cannot conceive of endless time. We say "as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be," but the words
contradict themselves, for anything which "ever shall be" must always have been, and therefore could not have had a beginning. Whether we think of time, or a piece of string, we cannot conceive it as having only one end!
We conceive ourselves as moving along in time, from birth to death, over a path which we divide into milestones of years, days, hours, minutes, all multiples or divisors of that which elapses between sun and sun. Yet the human mind reels at the thought of travel forward which does not leave something behind, or which does not approach something. If there was no beginning to leave behind, if there is no end toward which we go, are we really travelling through time, or is time a vast wheel, merely sweeping around and around us?
Men fool themselves. In all ages and all times past, men have told themselves fairy tales and believed them. Our remote ancestors watched the fall of a rock and believed in the anger of the stone; they heard in the growl of the thunder the rage of some mighty hidden being; they saw in the lightning flash which killed the righteous wrath of a power unguessed.
But a few hundred years ago, an eclipse of the sun was a portent of evil, a comet in the sky a sure sign of pestilence, the earth was flat and mariners need beware lest they sail off the edge.
What we do not understand we ascribe to the supernatural, in spite of the experience of science and the teachings of history. A savage mind finds a telephone a miracle.
It behooves us to think carefully and make up our minds slowly. Every day we find the "knowledge" of yesterday was not
knowledge, but fiction. Our atoms are no longer atomic, our matter is no longer matter, our space is no longer of three dimensions, our astronomy is as different today from what it was twenty years ago, as that was from Copernicus' day.
We no longer "lay on hands," or prescribe the leech and bloodletting, for disease; we no longer withhold water from the fevered or air from the pneumonia patient. Disease is no longer a visitation from on high but a matter of germs, from the earth. The pestilence which was once the work of Satan is now located in a drain pipe or a swamp.
We have certain concepts to-day which we believe to be absolute facts, despite the fact that we demonstrate there is no absolute! Only a short while ago the philosopher's stone, the elixir of life and perpetual motion were demonstrated impossibilities. Now our scientists talk rationally of the possibilities of transmutation of metals, our surgeons talk of renewed youth through transferred glands, and for all we know to the contrary some man may arise with a new theory of energy a la Einstein, of space and time, in which the self-mover may actually function.
It does not do to be too certain of anything. The open mind is the only one into which new thoughts may come. There is no absolute; the fact of to-day is the fiction of yesterday; the romance of to-morrow becomes the experience of to-day when tomorrow comes.
Time is the most familiar fact of our lives. Every man carries a watch. We get up, eat, work, make love, marry, have children, join Masonic lodges, die and bury our dead, according to a schedule of time.
Yet this very familiar fact; this thing which is as much a part of our lives as our bodies;
this commonplace, everyday, utterly usual matter, is the most mysterious, most unknown, most completely unsolvable finite mystery about us!
Is time, then, in a Freemason's lodge, not a symbol of Deity? We believe that The Great Architect is a part of our daily lives. We thank God for labor; we praise God for love; we marry under the blessing of Deity, christen our children with His Word, join Masonic lodges erected to God, die in the hope of His immortality, and bury our dead with the Sprig of Acacia, its symbol; and yet this familiar fact, this idea which is as much a part of our daily lives as our souls, is our most mysterious, most unknown, most completely unsolvable infinite mystery.
Time, puzzle never solved of man's mind; God, puzzle never solved of man's soul! The conclusion seems inescapable that the many references to time in Freemasonry, the insistence upon time as a factor in the degrees, and in what they teach of life, was no fortuitous circumstance, no mere unwitting bringing of the life of everyday into the ritual of our degrees, but a great symbol of Deity and of our complete dependence upon Him; a symbol teaching that as our lives are inextricably mixed with time (which is only a name and not a concept understood), so are they as inextricably mingled with God; a hope, a faith, but a concept never to be understood in this world.
This is the Twenty Seventh article in this our regular feature, ‘Foreign Countries,’ each month we will publish in the newsletter one of these interesting and informative pieces by Carl Claudy.
Authorities in the evolution of Freemasonry tell us that the Master's Degree was not present in the Old Operative Lodges. It is evidently the creation of the founders of Speculative Freemasonry. The two degrees of Entered Apprentice and "Fellow of the Craft", or Fellow craft, were the only ones used by the Operative Lodges. The importance of the Master Mason's Degree to the Speculative Lodges can be seen in the opening lesson taught to the candidates; "Brotherly love, morality and relief. The most important tenets of Freemasonry, are contained between the points of the compasses when properly extended." We find in the Great Light of Freemasonry these same lessons in many places: "And this commandment we have from him, that, he who loves God should love his brother also" (1 John 4:21); "Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times" (Psalms 106:3): "For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying. Thou shall open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land" (Deut. 15:11). In the First and Second Degrees the symbols of operative masonry and architecture were used to teach the candidate the lessons of those degrees.
In the first degree he was taught to symbolically use these tools to build his own character. In the second degree he was taught to build a better society by a study of the liberal arts and sciences and application
of them. In the Third Degree he is taught the essential principle of the immortality of the soul. The third or sublime degree of a Master Mason is a dramatic tragedy. Each man is caused to playa part just as he is a player in the dramas of daily life. It is enacted in and about the Temple, and the Tragedy of Hiram Abif is part of its ritual. Hiram Abif was an historical figure and many legends exist about him, but our Hiram Abif is a symbol of the human soul and portrays what happens in the life of every man. It is the story of the journey that every man must take for himself.
The candidate for Master Mason is conducted on his journey, admonished by the message of the 12th chapter of Ecclesiastes, verses 1 through 7:
"Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shall say, I have no pleasure in them, while the sun, or the light or the moon, or the stars be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: in the days when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders shall cease because they are few, and those that look out of the window be darkened, and the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird and all the daughters of music shall be brought low, also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and mourners go about the streets: or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the
earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it".
As Master Masons we are admonished to remember God and his service while we are still able because as we grow older our senses and physical abilities will not allow us to serve. No man who has received the Master's degree can forget the admonition to serve God in his youth as death may come quickly and rob him of the opportunity to serve. But at the same time we are taught that God is the God of old age and the soul after death just as much as He is of youth.
The working tools of a Master Mason are all of the tools of Freemasonry, for the Master must be able to use all of the tools before he can teach those who are less skilled than he in the arts of the craft. But the special tool reserved for the Master Mason is the trowel (Ed. note: this is mainly American ritual). Operative masons use the trowel to spread the cement that unites and bonds a building together. As Master Masons we are taught to symbolically use the trowel to spread the cement of brotherly love and affection. This is the cement that binds a society of friends and brothers together in work and agreement.
The climax of the sublime Degree of Master Mason is the Tragedy of Hiram Abif. The lessons of the degree are many and are only discovered after years of reflection but there are several important points concerning this drama that should be clear in our minds. Always remember that this ritualistic drama is as serious as a prayer before the altar. It is not a rite of initiation to test the courage and endurance such as those employed by savage and primitive peoples. Freemasonry is neither savage nor primitive. It is not a cruel game of horse play such as might be carried out by boys in school. Freemasonry is neither cruel nor juvenile. The
presentation of our ritual should be serious and solemn. It should be taken seriously and no one either watching or participating in it should act trivially or unceremoniously.
Hiram Abif represents the human soul. His enemies came from within the circle of those who should have been his friends. Our greatest enemies are from within.
The Great Light teaches us: "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart: and they defile the man" (Matt. 15:19). And as the temple is representative of our soul, we learn that the completion of the temple is impossible because of the confusion caused by these enemies from within. Until the soul is restored and is raised from self-defeat to self- victory, the building of our spiritual temple will cease. This victory comes from within by the search for the truth as portrayed in our drama.
The completion of this degree is only the beginning of a man's Masonic Education. It gives hints and suggestions. The Master Mason represents a man fully grown, capable of thinking for himself. He has reached the apex of his journey in the Symbolic Lodge but only the beginning of his studies. The serious Mason will reflect back on the preparation Room lecture given him before his first entrance into a lodge of Masons. "Freemasonry is a beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols". Through serious study and contemplation of the ritual of our degrees, and conversation with more experienced brethren, each man will remove the veil and discover the "mysteries" of our craft
This is from our Regular feature of articles under the title, “Reflections.” Articles from all around the world from a variety of Constitutions and authors and adapted to use in SRA76. This article was written by Bro. James W. Seymour.
An old Greek philosopher, when asked what he regarded as the most valuable quality to win and the most difficult to keep, he replied: "To be Secret and Silent." If secrecy was difficult in the olden times, it is doubly difficult today, in the loud and noisy world in which we live, where privacy is almost unknown.
Secrecy is, indeed, a priceless but rare virtue, so little effort is made to teach and practice it. The world of today is a whispering gallery where everything is heard, a hall of mirrors where nothing is hid. If the ancient worshipped a God of silence, we seem about to set up an Altar to the God of Gossip.
Some one has said that if Masonry did no more than train its men to preserve sacredly the secrets of others confided to them as such — except where a higher duty demands disclosure — it would be doing a great work, and one which not only justifies its existence, but entitles it to the respect of mankind.
Anyway, no Mason needs to be told the value of secrecy. Without it, Masonry would cease to exist, or else become something so different from what it is as to be unrecognizable. For that reason, if no other, the very first lesson taught a candidate, and impressed upon him at every turn in unforgettable ways, is the duty of secrecy.
Yet, strictly speaking, Masonry is not a secret society, if by that we mean a society whose very existence is hidden. Everybody knows that the Masonic Fraternity exists, and no effort is made to hide that fact. Its organization is known; its Temples stand in our cities; its members are proud to be
known as Masons. Anyone may obtain from the records of a Grand Lodge, if not from the printed reports of Lodges, the names of the members of the Craft.
Nor can it be said that Masonry has any secret truth to teach, unknown to the best wisdom of the race. Most of the talk about esoteric Masonry misses the mark. When the story is told the only secret turns out to be some odd theory, some fanciful philosophy, of no real importance. The wisdom of Masonry is hidden, not because it is subtle, but because it is simple. Its secret is profound, not obscure.
As in mathematics, there are primary figures, and in music fundamental notes, upon which everything rests, so Masonry is built upon the broad, deep, lofty truths upon which life itself stands. It lives, moves, and has its being in those truths. They are mysteries, indeed, as life and duty and death are mysteries; to know them is to be truly wise; and to teach them in their full import is the ideal at which Masonry aims.
Masonry, then, is not a secret society; it is a private order. In the quiet of the tiled lodge, shut away from the noise and clatter of the world, in an air of reverence and friendship, it teaches us the truths that make us men, upon which faith and character must rest if they are to endure the wind and weather of life. So rare is its utter simplicity that to many it is as much a secret as though it were hid behind a seven-fold veil, or buried in the depths of the earth.
What is the secret in Masonry? The "Method" of its teaching, the atmosphere it creates, the spirit it breaths into our hearts, and the tie it spins and weaves between men; in other words, the lodge and its ceremonies and obligations, its signs. tokens and words — its power to evoke what is most secret
and hidden in the hearts of men. No one can explain how this is done. We only know that it is done, and guard as a priceless treasure the method by which it is wrought. It is the fashion of some to say that our ceremonies, signs and tokens are of little value; but it is not true. They are of profound importance, and we cannot be too careful in protecting them from profanation and abuse. The famous eulogy of the signs and tokens of Masonry by Benjamin Franklin was not idle eloquence. It is justified by the facts, and ought to be known and remembered:
"These signs and tokens are of no small value; they speak a universal language, and act as a password to the attention and support of the initiated in all parts of the world. They cannot be lost so long as memory retains its power. Let the possessor of them be expatriated, ship-wrecked or imprisoned; let him be stripped of everything he has in the world; still these credentials remain and are available for use as circumstances require.
"The great effects which they have produced are established by the most incontestable facts of history. They have stayed the uplifted hand of the Destroyer; they have softened the aspirates of the tyrant; they have mitigated the horrors of captivity; they have subdued the rancour of malevolence; and broken down the barriers of political animosity and sectarian alienation.
"On the field of battle, in the solitude of the uncultivated forests, or in the busy haunts of the crowded city, they have made men of the most hostile feelings, and most distant religions, and the most diversified conditions, rush to the aid of each other, and feel a social joy and satisfaction that they have been able to afford relief to a brother Mason."
What is equally true, and no less valuable, is that in the ordinary walks of everyday life they unite men and hold them together in a manner unique and holy. They open a door out of the loneliness in which every man lives. They form a tie uniting us to help one another, and others, in ways too many to name or count. They form a network of fellowship, friendship, and fraternity around the world. They add something lovely and fine to the life of each of us, without which we should be poorer indeed.
Still let us never forget that it is the spirit that gives life; the letter alone is empty. An old home means a thousand beautiful things to those who were brought up in it. Its very scenery and setting are sacred. The ground on which it stands is holy. But if a stranger buys it, these sacred things mean nothing to him. The spirit is gone, the glory has faded. Just so with the lodge. If it were opened to the curious gaze of the world, its beauty would be blighted, its power gone.
The secret of Masonry, like the secret of life, can be known only by those who seek it, serve it and live it. It cannot be uttered; it can only be felt and acted. It is, in fact, an open secret, and each man knows it according to his quest and capacity. Like all the things most worth knowing, no one can know it for another and no one can know it alone. It is known only in fellowship, by the touch of life upon life, spirit upon spirit, knee to knee, breast to breast and hand to hand.
For that reason, no one need be alarmed about any book written to expose Masonry. It is utterly harmless. The real secret of Masonry cannot be learned by prying eyes or curious inquiry. We do well to protect the privacy of the lodge; but the secret of Masonry can be known only by those who are ready and worthy to receive it. Only a
pure heart and an honest mind can know it, though they be adepts in all signs and tokens of every rite of the Craft.
Indeed, so far from trying to hide its secret, Masonry is all the time trying to give it to the world, in the only way in which it can be given, through a certain quality of soul and character which it labours to create and build up. To the making of men, helping self discovery and self development, all the offices of Masonry are dedicated. It is a quarry in which the rough stones of manhood are polished for use and beauty.
If Masonry uses the illusion of secrecy, it is because it knows that it is the nature of man to seek what is hidden and to desire what is forbidden. Even God hides from us, that in seeking Him amid the shadows of life we may find both Him and ourselves. The man who does not care enough for God to seek Him will never find Him, though He is not far away from any one of us.
One who looks at Masonry in this way will find that his Masonic life is a great adventure. It is a perpetual discovery. There is something new at every turn, something new in himself as life deepens with the years; something new in Masonry as its meaning unfolds. The man who finds its degrees tedious and its Ritual a rigmarole only betrays the measure of his own mind.
If a man knows God and man to the uttermost, even Masonry has nothing to teach him. As a fact the wisest man knows very little. The way is dim and no one can see very far. We are seekers after truth, and God has so made us that we cannot find the truths alone, but only in the love and service of our fellow men. Here is the real secret, and to learn it is to have the key to the meaning and joy of life.
Article sourced from SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol. V No. 1
As Freemasons, we’ve dedicated ourselves to a high moral standard. We’re devoted to serving our communities, refining our rough ashlars as we strive to become better men and push ever forward in an attempt to find greater light through our craft. Reminding us of our commitment is the Grand Architect’s Eye of Providence, the ancient symbol guiding our actions to be just, carried out with humility and love.
While the Eye has long been associated with Freemasonry, first with the publication in 1797 of Thomas Smith Webb's Freemasons Monitor, modern popular culture has led to a rise in conspiracy theories distorting its significance and past. Here we will examine this ancient emblem's rich history and detail its true meaning within the Masonic fraternity.
Long before the Eye of Providence watched over the first Masonic lodges of our ancestors, eyes were used by one of the world’s oldest religions. In Sumerians sculptures (4500 – 1900 BCE), eyes were enlarged to communicate the subjects’ holiness. These large eyes were meant to
convey watchfulness and enlightened thinking. The ancient Egyptians used eyes in hieroglyphics in reference to the story of the god Horus, who in their mythology lost his eye in a battle. Later his eye was returned and healed, and the Egyptians subsequently began interpreting the eye as a symbol of healing, growth, and perseverance.
The rise of the Eye of Providence in Western culture occurred during the Renaissance. European scholars and artists of this era were enraptured by ancient iconography, which led to attempted interpretations, many of which proved inaccurate. For example, in 1499, a romance by Francesco Colonna translated the Egyptian eye symbol into ‘God.’ The emblem quickly became an embodiment for God, as can be seen from the 1525 painting by Pontormo, Supper at Emmaus.
Later, in 1593, the Italian iconographer Cesare Ripa published a book of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman emblems entitled Iconologia. This book included elegant illustrations and written descriptions of ancient icons derived from oral history. Given the flourishing art and poetry of the age, Iconologia was a hit with the growing population of Europe’s enlightened thinkers and creators. It was invaluable in providing new symbols for them to reference and include in their works.
By the late Renaissance, the Eye frequently appeared in religious paintings, often depicted surrounded by rays of light contained within a triangle. This new version of the icon was chosen because the three sides of the triangle represented the three divine persons of the Holy Trinity. For the intellectuals and artists of this time, the Eye of Providence reflected the intellectual
curiosity of the time and was a reminder to think critically and remain mindful of a higher entity. This period birthed the concept of the All-Seeing Eye as a symbol of God.
Given the prominence of the Eye of Providence in Renaissance art, it is reasonable to conclude why it was adopted into the iconography of early Freemasons. Historians have dated one of the earliest Masonic appearances of the Eye all the way back to the 17th century. The personal seal of Bro. Robert Moray, a Scottish soldier and philosopher, showed a circle with an eye at the centre and rays radiating out from the centre, just as in many earlier examples.
It’s unclear exactly when the symbol entered into Masonic ritual, but it had clearly been adopted by the mid-1700s. Two books by Bro. Fifield D’Assingy, An Impartial Answer to the Enemies of Freemasonry (1741) and A Serious and Impartial Inquiry Into the Cause of the Present Decay of FreeMasonry in the Kingdom of Ireland (1744) both include the Eye of Providence. The latter depiction appears to show Freemasons heading to lodge with the Eye watching over.
Over the course of the next century, the Eye became a much more prominent symbol within the fraternity. Notably, the great Masonic lecturer Bro. William Preston referenced the “all-seeing eye” of God in his writings. It was Thomas Webb, however, who brought The Eye of Providence to Freemasonry in the United States when he published The Freemason’s Monitor in 1797. It was hugely influential in the development of Masonic ritual across the country.
Today, conspiracy theories continue to permeate in the United States about the “true” meaning of the Eye as it appears in the Great Seal of the United States of America. In the Seal, the Eye of Providence sits atop a pyramid while rays of light shine out. Movies and other popular culture references to the Great Seal have obscured the true story of how the Seal’s design came to be and what the symbol means in this context. Some go so far as to suggest that the Seal is a Masonic emblem itself, and Freemasons have maintained some level of control over the government of the United States. Of course, this is not true, and The Eye of Providence was already increasingly recognizable by the time the Great Seal was designed in 1782.
The Great Seal was designed by Charles Thomson, Secretary of the Continental Congress, in collaboration with artist William Barton. Together they suggested the pyramid, a symbol of strength, to have 13 levels to represent the 13 states of America. The use of the Eye of Providence was consistent with other examples of the time: a reference to God’s oversight of the nation.
For Freemasons, the meaning behind the Eye of Providence remains similar to the early days of speculative Masonry. It’s a reminder of the Great Architect watching over us and that we must continue living up to the standards and ideals of our brotherhood and uphold our tenets of Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth in all things.
The Eye of Providence – sourced from the Scottish Rite Blog – with thanks.
The great fire of 1666 destroyed the central part of London and laid a large number of its churches in ruins. It completely gutted the old St. Paul’s and made necessary the building of the present noble cathedral. This was the opportunity for Sir Christopher Wren, to whom London owes very much for what is finest in its architecture and especially in the character of its central churches.
One morning he passed among the workmen, most of whom did not know him, and of three different men engaged in the same kind of work, so he stopped at the first one and asked, “What are you doing?”
The first stonemason didn’t even look up, but snarled at him to move on, because he had too much to do and it was too hot to be answering questions from strangers. Wren moved down the road a bit and came to another stonemason.
Again, he asked, “What are you doing?” The second stonemason stretched his back and wiped the sweat from his brow.
“Well,” he sighed. “I’ll tell you. I’m a stonemason. Basically, all I do is smooth the sides of big blocks of stone, so they can be used for building. It’s hard work and not very creative. Sometimes I think I would like to have been a sculptor, but that takes years of training and my father couldn’t afford that much schooling for me. And I can’t be pining after that sort of thing now I’ve got a wife and kids to keep. I’m just grateful there’s paying work here, not too far from home. As you can see, this is a big job that will keep us all employed for a long time.” At this, he picked up his mallet and chisel and returned to his work.
Wren thanked him and moved on again. This time, he came to a stonemason who was not just hammering away at a block of stone, but also whistling as he worked. Wren stopped and asked, “What are you doing?”
The third stonemason didn’t answer at once. He put his tools down and ran his hand over the block in a way that seemed almost a caress, then looked up at the stranger with a smile that was so pure and filled with joy, jumped to his feet and said. “Come, I’ll show you!”
He led the Wren through a maze of stone blocks, wood beams, and tools of all sorts. Everywhere there was a chink of metal on stone, the rasp and chunk of metal on wood, and
the scrape and thump of moving earth. Over it all rang the murmurs and shouts of dozens and dozens of workmen.
Finally, the stonemason stopped and, smiling broadly, gestured in a grand fashion at what, for all that Wren could see, was nothing but a gigantic hole in the ground.
Puzzled, Wren said, “What?”
The stonemason said, “It’s what I’m doing.”
“But what IS it you are doing?”
“Why, can’t you see?! I’m building a beautiful cathedral that will be here for 200 years and help the lives of thousands of people long after I am gone!”
These are the three ways of looking at life:
1. I am just cutting this stone.
2. I am only earning a living.
3. I am doing a small part of a great work.
I have not seen the Architect and I do not altogether understand the plan. But I believe there is a plan, so I work with good spirit in which is no fear.
This version of the parable of the Three Stonemasons (or bricklayers) was adapted by SRA76 from various sources. Until next month, Keep the faith! The Editor