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“Masonry,
like all the Religions, all the Mysteries, Hermeticism and Alchemy, conceals
its secrets from all except the Adepts and Sages, or the Elect, and uses
false explanations and misinterpretations of its symbols to mislead those
who deserve only to be misled ...”
“The Blue
Degrees are but the outer court or portico of the Temple. Parts 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.”
"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. He must follow in the footsteps of his father, Tubal-Cain, who with
the mighty strength of the war god hammered his sword into a plowshare."
"The dunces
who led primitive Christianity astray, by substituting faith for science,
reverie for experience, the fantastic for the reality; and the inquisitors
who for so many ages waged against Magism (magic and sorcery) a war of
extermination, have succeeded in shrouding in darkness the ancient
discoveries of the human mind; so that we now grope in the dark to find
again the key of the phenomena of nature, But all natural phenomena depend
on a single and immutable law, represented by the pratosphal stone and its
symbolic form, which is that of a cube." “Freemasonry is a fraternity within a fraternity — an outer organization concealing an inner brotherhood of the elect. Before it is possible to intelligently discuss the origin of the Craft, it is necessary, therefore, to establish the existence of these two separate yet interdependent orders, the one visible and the other invisible. The visible society is a splendid camaraderie of 'free and accepted' men enjoined to devote themselves to ethical, educational, fraternal, patriotic, and humanitarian concerns. The invisible society is a secret and most august fraternity whose members are dedicated to the service of a mysterious Arcanum Arcanorum. Those Brethren who have essayed to write the history of their Craft have not included in their disquisitions the story of that truly secret inner society which is to the body Freemasonic what the heart is to the body human.” Manly P. Hall 33°, Lectures on Ancient Philosophy and Introduction to the Study and Application of Rational Procedure, p. 397 "The religion of Freemasonry is not sectarian. It admits men of every creed within its hospitable bosom, rejecting none and approving none for his particular faith. It is not Judaism...it is not Christianity. It does not meddle with sectarian creeds or doctrines, but teaches fundamental truth...At its altar, men of all religions may kneel; to its creed, disciples of every faith may subscribe." Albert G. Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry pg.641 “As regards all secret societies of the Middle Ages, the mysteries of the ancient world are important… if, then, we regard Freemasonry as a mere assimilation of the mysteries, our attention should be chiefly directed to the bewitching dreams of the Grecian mythologists… On the other hand, if Masonry is regarded as the direct descendant, or as a survival of the mysteries, the peculiarities of the Mithraic worship…will mainly claim our notice… Also, that is without break of continuity the forms of the mysteries are not possessed by the Freemasons their origin must be looked for in the rites of Mithraism… The first and original mysteries appear to have been those of Isis and Osiris in Egypt…” Robert F. Gould, The History of Freemasonry: Its Antiquities, Symbols, Constitutions, Customs Volume I, London:Thomas C. Jacki, 1887, pg. 13. “The fundamental dogma of the Mithraic doctrine was the transmigration of souls under the influence of the seven planets, over whose operations Mithras presided.” Robert F. Gould, The History of Freemasonry: Its Antiquities, Symbols, Constitutions, Customs Volume I, London:Thomas C. Jacki, 1887, pg. 24. “Freemasonry is taken from the Mysteries of Kabir, of Samothrace, Mithras of Eleusis, of Jesus and many others.” Foster Bailey, The Spirit of Masonry, Lucis Press Limited, 1957, pg. 30. “The average Mason, as well as the modern student of Masonic ideals, little realized the cosmic obligation he takes upon himself when he begins his search for the sacred truths of Nature as they are concealed in the ancient and modern rituals. He must not lightly regard his vows, and if he would not bring upon himself years and ages of suffering he must cease to consider Freemasonry solely as a social order only a few centuries old. He must realize that the ancient mystic teachings as perpetuated in the modern rites are sacred, and that powers unseen and unrecognized mold the destiny of those who consciously and of their own free will take upon themselves the obligations of the Fraternity. Freemasonry is not a material thing: it is a science of the soul; it is not a creed or doctrine but a universal expression of the Divine Wisdom. The coming together of medieval guilds or even the building of Solomon’s temple as it is understood today has little, if anything, to do with the true origin of Freemasonry, for Masonry does not deal with personalities. In its highest sense, it is neither historical nor archaeological, but is a divine symbolic language perpetuating under certain concrete symbols the sacred mysteries of the ancients. Only those who see in it a cosmic study, a life work, a divine inspiration to better thinking, better feeling, and better living, with the spiritual attainment of enlightenment as the end, and with the daily life of the true Mason as the means, have gained even the slightest insight into the true mysteries of the ancient rites. The age of the Masonic school is not to be calculated by hundreds or even thousands of years, for it never had any origin in the worlds of form. The world as we see it is merely an experimental laboratory in which man is laboring to build and express greater and more perfect vehicles. Into this laboratory pour myriads of rays descending from the cosmic hierarchies. These mighty globes and orbs which focus their energies upon mankind and mold its destiny do so in an orderly manner, each in its own way and place, and it is the working of these mystic hierarchies in the universe which forms the pattern around which the Masonic school has been built, for the true lodge of the Mason is the universe. Freed of limitations of creed and sect, he stands a master of all faiths, and those who take up the study of Freemasonry without realizing the depth, the beauty, and the spiritual power of its philosophy can never gain anything of permanence from their studies. The age of the Mystery Schools can be traced by the student back to the dawn of time, ages and aeons ago, when the temple of the Solar Man was in the making. That was the first Temple of the King, and therein were given and laid down the true mysteries of the ancient lodge, and it was the gods of creation and the spirits of the dawn who first tiled the Master’s lodge. The initiated brother realized that his so called symbols and rituals are merely blinds fabricated by the wise to perpetuate ideas incomprehensible to the average individual. He also realized that few Masons of today know or appreciate the mystic meaning concealed within these rituals. With religious faith we perpetuate the form, worshiping it instead of the life, but those who have not recognized that truth in the crystallized ritual, those who have not liberated the spiritual germ from the shell of empty words, are not Masons, regardless of their physical degrees and outward honors. In the work we are taking up it is not the intention to dwell upon the modern concepts of the Craft but to consider Freemasonry as it really is t o those who know, a great cosmic organism whose true brothers and children are tied together not by spoken oaths but by lives so lived that they are capable of seeing through the blank wall and opening the window which is now concealed by the rubbish of materiality. When this is done and the mysteries of the universe unfold before the aspiring candidate, then in truth he discovers what Freemasonry really is. Its material aspects interest him no longer for he has unmasked the Mystery School which he is capable of recognizing only when he himself has spiritually become a member of it. Those who have examined and studied its ancient lore have no doubt that Freemasonry, like the universe itself, which is the greatest of all schools, deals with the unfolding of a three-fold principle; for all the universe is governed by the same three kings who are called the builders of the Masonic temple. They are not personalities but principles, great intelligent energies and powers which in God, man, and the universe have charge of the molding of cosmic substance into the habitation of the living king, the temple built through the ages first of unconscious and then conscious effort on the part of every individual who is expressing in his daily life the creative principles of these three kings. The true brother of the ancient Craft realized that the completion of the temple he was building to the King of the Universe was a duty or rather a privilege which he owed to his God, to his brother, and to himself. He knew that certain steps must be taken and that his temple must be built according to the plan. Today it seems that the plan is lost, however, for in the majority of cases Freemasonry is no longer an operative art but is merely a speculative idea until each brother, reading the mystery of his symbols and pondering over the beautiful allegories unfolded in his ritual, realized that he himself contains the keys and the plans so long lost to his Craft and that if he would ever learn Freemasonry he must unlock its doors with the key wrought from the base metals of his own being. True Freemasonry is esoteric; it is not a thing of this world. All that we have here is a link, a doorway, through which the student may pass into the unknown. Freemasonry has nothing to do with things of form save that it realize form is molded by and manifests the life it contains. Consequently the student is seeking so to mold his life that the form will glorify the God whose temple he is slowly building as he awakens one by one the workmen within himself and directs them to carry out the plan that has been given him out of heaven. So far as it is possible to discover, ancient Freemasonry and the beautiful cosmic allegories that it teaches, perpetuated through hundreds of lodges and ancient mysteries, forms the oldest of the Mystery Schools; and its preservation through the ages has not depended upon itself as an exoteric body of partly evolved individuals but upon a concealed brotherhood, the exoteric side of Freemasonry. All the great Mystery Schools have hierarchies upon the spiritual planes of Nature which are expressing themselves in this world through creeds and organizations. The true student seeks to lift himself from the exoteric body upward spiritually until he joins the esoteric group which, without a lodge on the physical plane of Nature, is far greater than all the lodges of which it is the central fire. The spiritual instructors of humanity are forced to labor in the concrete world with things comprehensible to the concrete mind, and there man begins to comprehend the meaning of the allegories and symbols which surround his exoteric work as soon as he prepares himself to receive them. The true Mason realized that the work of the Mystery Schools in the world is of an inclusive rather than an exclusive nature, and that the only lodge which is broad enough to express his ideals is one whose dome is the heavens, whose pillars are the corners of creation, whose checker-board floor is composed of the crossing currents of human emotion and whose altar is the human heart. Creeds cannot bind the true seeker for truth. Realizing the unity of all truth, the Mason also realized that the hierarchies laboring with him have given him in his varying degrees the mystic spiritual rituals of all the Mystery Schools in the world., and if he would fill his place in the plan he must not enter this sacred study for what he can get out of it but that he may learn how to serve. In Freemasonry is concealed the mystery of creation, the answer to the problem of existence, and the path the student must tread in order to join those who are really the living powers behind the thrones of modern national and international affairs. The true student realizes most of all that the taking of degrees does not make a man a Mason. A Mason is not appointed; he is evolved and he must realize that the position he holds in the exoteric lodge means nothing compared to his position in the spiritual lodge of life. He must forever discard the idea that he can be told or instructed in the sacred Mysteries or that his being a member of an organization improves him in any way. He must realize that his duty is to build and evolve the sacred teachings in his own being: that nothing but his own purified being can unlock the door to the sealed libraries of human consciousness, and that his Masonic rites must eternally be speculative until he makes them operative by living the life of the mystic Mason. His karmic responsibilities increase with his opportunities. Those who are surrounded with knowledge and opportunity for self-improvement and make nothing of these opportunities are the lazy workmen who will be spiritually, if not physically, cast out of the temple of the king. The Masonic order is not a mere social organization, but is composed of all those who have banded themselves together to learn and apply the principles of mysticism and the occult rites. They are (or should be) philosophers, sages and sober-minded individuals who have dedicated themselves upon the Masonic altar and vowed by all they hold dear that they world shall be better, wiser, and happier because they have lived. Those who enter these mystic rites and pass between the pillars seeking either prestige or commercial advantage are blasphemers, and while in this world we may count them as successful, they are the cosmic failures who have barred themselves out from the true rite whose keynote is unselfishness and who workers have renounced the things of the earth. In ancient times many years of preparation were required before the neophyte was permitted to enter the temple of the Mysteries. In this way the shallow, the curious, the faint of heart, and those unable to withstand the temptations of life were automatically eliminated by their inability to meet the requirements for admission. The successful candidate who did pass between the pillars entered the temple, keenly realizing his sublime opportunity, his divine obligation, and the mystic privilege which he had earned from himself through years of special preparation. Only those are truly Masons who enter their temple in reverence, who seek not the ephemeral things of life but the treasures which are eternal, whose sole desire is to know the true mystery of the Craft that they may join as honest workmen those who have gone before as builders of the Universal Temple. The Masonic ritual is not a ceremony, but a life to be lived. Those along are truly Masons who, dedicating their lives and their fortunes upon the altar of the living flame, undertake the construction of the one universal building of which they are the workmen and their God the living Architect. When we have Masons like this the Craft will again be operative, the flaming triangle will shine forth with greater luster, the dead builder will rise from his tomb, and the Lost Word so long concealed from the profane will blaze forth again with the power that makes all things new.” Manly P. Hall, Freemasons and Rosicrucian’s the Enlightened, Cornerstone Books, pgs.50-56 (Underlined emphasis ours) Resources: Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite or Freemasonry Prepared for the Supreme Council of the Thirty-Third Degree, for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, and Published by Its Authority Library of Congress 1871, by Albert Pike 33◦ “Albert Pike was the Master Builder of the Scottish Rite and chiefly responsible for its current development and ceremonial. His ritual revisions and philosophy have influenced those of the Supreme Councils worldwide, and his writing are among the most insightful and profound in the history of Freemasonry”
Scottish Rite Ritual
Monitor and Guide
pg. 19 ___________________________________________ The Lost Keys of Freemasonry or The Secret if Hiram Abiff By Manly P. Hall, 33◦,K.T. Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Company, Inc. Richmond, Virginia In 1973 Mr. Hall was recognized as a 33º Mason (the highest rank possible in the Scottish Rite), at a ceremony held at Philosophical Research Society on December 8th. No doubt this honor is due to Mr. Hall’s lifelong study of the philosophical basis of Freemasonry, writing several books on the subject, The Lost Keys of Freemasonry, Masonic Orders of Fraternity, Freemasonry of the Ancient Egyptian, The Secret Destiny of America, and his belief our continent was set aside for a great experiment of enlightened self-government by ancient philosophers, and that the seeds of this plan for the founding of America were planted one thousand years before the Christian era and is partly revealed in the symbolism of the Great Seal of the United States. http://prs.org/mphbio.htm
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