Leonardo Monno Anglisani, Author at

MUSIC AND THE CRAFT – LUIGI BORGHI , A FREEMASON OF THE NINE MUSES LODGE

London was the 18th century wonder capital of Europe. It had been rebuilt following the Great Fire of 1666 and had an extremely new look. The merchants had withdrawn from the City and moved into fashionable terrace houses in the parishes of Soho, Mayfair, and in St. James, which had broad streets and paved squares.

And yet, London continued to be surrounded by miasma and be a city broadly tarnished by horse-dung. In the absence of an adequate sewerage structure, many servants still discharged their master’s chamber pot upon the heads of passersby and because of the coal burning in the fireplaces, layers upon layers of black soot coated the buildings and made the air not healthy to inhale. Violence and street crime were rampant.

THE WORLD OF THE OPERA IN LONDON

It was in this almost surreal habitat that deep connections were established between Freemasonry and the world of music, and they have never been stronger than during those years.

With the upper social classes having so much available time in hand and a strong love for entertainment, London turned into a Mecca for foreign artists. Since 1708, the Italian Opera had been constantly performing, with varying fortunes, at the Queen’s Theater in Haymarket, London, which is now called Her Majesty’s Theater. Built in 1705 and renamed the King’s Theater in 1714 upon the ascension to the throne of Great Britain of the German born George I (1626-1727), the theater also became identified for a period as The Italian Opera House.

The ceaseless comings and goings of French, German and Italian musicians, singers and impresarios continued strongly into the following century and the King’s Theater audience was never entertained with as many comic operas as it was in the season 1768-69.

The international artists all detested the English climate, which brought them colds and fevers, but they never regarded this poor factor as a reason for not coming back if awarded a contract. Aliens had also learned to put up stoically with the infamously atrocious English food and an Italian representative of the 1763 King’s Theater recounted his experience of it in these terms:

“In this expensive metropolis, we poor Christians are reduced during Lent to the melancholy alternative of either fasting like our founder, or living on rotten eggs, stinking fish, train-oil, and frost-bitten roots and herbage’’.

HOSTILITY TOWARDS FOREIGNERS

The Italian literatus Giuseppe Baretti (1719-1789), compiler of the first English-to-Italian vocabulary, devoted most of his life in London and denounced the poverty that existed among Italian singers in London, which was created by inadequate earnings and exceedingly costly existence. He did so in a letter printed in The Public Ledger of 16 September 1760, which received this response:

“We can now see into the penury and meanness of those who have gained thousands by our folly and extravagance – we know, while in England. how miserably they live, because they will save all they can to spend in their own country; (…) such is their hatred of the nation that caresses them, that if it were possible to live upon the dirt or filth of the streets, they would rather do it than the least farthing should come back again into an Englishman’s pocket“.

Luigi Borghi - A Freemason from the Nine Muses Lodge

The London society, had always harbored animosity towards aliens–the 1666 Great Fire of London was attributed on a French catholic, after all – and accused the Italians of avarice for their meager spending, neglecting that the aristocrats kept artists waiting around without work or payment for days or even weeks at a time. They did not understand the struggles the touring musicians suffered and would not have cared less even if they did.

Samuel Johnson declared that in London one discovered the “full tide of human existence,” and that although the Capital of England was “a place with a diversity of greed and evil (…) slight vexations do not fix upon the heart” of its residents. In my opinion, he never asked them.

THE NINE MUSES LODGE

Networking was an important chore for all the foreigners who visited England, whether they were artists, merchants, aristocrats, or rich gentlemen. At best, it assured admittance into affluent and patrician circles, at worst it guaranteed contracts and even a profitable office.

And what better way to network than by joining a Masonic Lodge?

On January 14, 1777, these individuals convened in the Thatched House Tavern on St. James’s Street, Westminster–which at the time was regarded as being part of the County of Middlesex – and on the 23rd, after securing a warrant, formed the Lodge of the Nine Muses No. 502.

SPILSBURY – THE FREEMASON FATHER OF FORENSIC SCIENCE

Sir Bernard Henry Spilsbury was the most distinguished medical detective in England and a Freemason, like some of his colleagues and the criminals he helped bring to jail. Only the imaginary character of Sherlock Holmes exceeds him in popularity.

Spilsbury was responsible, with Scotland Yard, for the introduction of the “Murder Bag” following the “Crumbles murder” case in 1924. Patrick Mahon had killed Emily Kaye, his lover, and then dismembered her body and when Spilsbury arrived on the murder scene, he was surprised to find investigators picking up body parts with their bare hands. As a result, he devised a kit consisting of a collection of instruments – tweezers, evidence bags, and other items -which forensic detectives presently still use.

Spilsbury was also responsible for establishing the character of the “legal expert” by integrating pathology and cause-of-death examinations into the legal criminal context.

— *** —

Bernard Henry Spilsbury was born on January 16, 1877, in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England and was one of four offspring from the union between Marion Elizabeth Joy and James Spilsbury, a chemist. Bernard adopted his father’s passion for science but – according to the crime author Michael J Buchanan-Dunne – he also absorbed his coldness, arrogance and lack of empathy. After receiving home education, at the age of nine Bernard was sent to boarding school for three years and at the age of 15, with his parents living in Crouch End in London, he went to study chemistry, physics and biology at the Owen’s College in Manchester.

In 1895 Bernard Spilsbury enrolled at the Magdalen College, Oxford and earned his BA in natural science in 1899. He subsequently attended St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in Paddington’s Praed Street, London, where he meant to qualify as a general practitioner. Instead, he went on to study pathology and never repented.

THE MASONIC GLOVES

_{There is a time-immemorial tradition, both in Masonry and outside it, of the wearing and giving of gloves”}
Bernard E. Jones

The function of the gloves is to protect and avoid injury to our hands and skin. The Medieval Knights wore them in fight to have a stronger grip on the sword. Later, their metal version was introduced; called gauntlets, they better protected against blows. The gloves thus took on a meaning of strength, courage and authority, with Kings and nobles also wearing them to affirm their supremacy over the simple folks. But they were also a useful tool for avoiding direct contact with dirty objects and not so hygienic people. Once upon a time In the Catholic Church, even the Pope and high prelates wore white gloves to indicate their chastity, which albeit only a few observed.

In the middle ages, the so-called “sweet gloves”, were gloves saturated with the perfumes of herbs and spices and they served to hide the nasty odour of the skin browned with…dung. They were in use across the Continent by both men and women.

Catherine de ‘Medici, an Italian-born monarch of France, made these fragrant gloves renowned at the Court in the 16th century. She was even accused of poisoning one of her greatest enemies, a Huguenot named Jeanne d’Albret, with a pair of gloves she had gifted him. Centuries later, the French author Alexandre Dumas, spun the story of this poisoning Queen into a historical novel called “La Reine Margot.”

Today the gloves are employed for the more refined purpose of maintaining hygiene and preserving aseptic conditions and to be worn in the most accurate tasks, such as those performed by a surgeon on the human body.

JACOB’S LADDER EXPLAINED

Jacob’s Ladder is possibly among the most enigmatic and obscure of all the symbols found in Freemasonry. Its name can be traced back to a metaphorical allusion in the Bible, but more on this later.

Both the First Degree Tracing Board and the Second Degree working tools (long version) include the Jacob’s Ladder. This symbol can also be found on the Mark Tracing Board, as well as in Holy Royal Arch Chapter.

Thomas Dunckerley , founder of Mark Masonry, is credited with introducing the Masonic emblem of the ladder into the Masonic ritual in 1776. I recommend that you read the interesting life of this well-known Freemason, but doubtful character, by visiting this page at Tetraktys.

The ancients thought there could be no evolution without previous involution and indeed the Scripts say: “no man hath ascended up to heaven but he who came down from heaven” (John 3.13).

Man is a composite of natural elements that have been assimilated into him; the mineral kingdom is in his bones, the vegetable kingdom in his tissues and the animal world is in his brute impulses and appetite. He’s basically a microcosm; a synthesis of all that is present in the planes of existence beneath him.

THE CHEVALIER RUSPINI

PREFACE

Samuel Johnson, regarded as one of the greatest English figures of 18th-century life and letters, once said of the celebrated poet and author Geoffrey Chaucer , defined by some as the father of English literature, that he “took much from the Italians”. He was of course referring to Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”, a set of twenty four stories very much inspired by the “Decameron”, an original work by the Italian writer and poet Giovanni Boccaccio.

Petruccio Ubaldini was an Italian exile who arrived in England from Florence in 1545 and was known for his account in Italian, of the English victory over the Spanish Armada. The Tudor Queen , Elizabeth I, liked Petruccio so much as to give him a pension.

The English writer Daniel Defoe–creator of the novel Robinson Crusoe and of A Journal of the Plague Year in London in 1665 – championed not just the Italians but all newcomers to England. In 1709 he wrote:

_{opening the nation’s doors to foreigners, has been the most direct and immediate reason of our wealth and… has brought us from a nation of slaves and mere soldiers to a rich, opulent, free and mighty people}

But sadly the mood against the foreigners was hardening and the conservative Parliamentary members of the day– history constantly repeats itself! – soon began denouncing the presence of the aliens as a threat and a drain on the resources of the Nation.

Italian literature was barely known in England before the first half of the 18th century, when Giuseppe Baretti, a friend of Dr Johnson, began championing the Italian literary cause during his exile here. The first Italian-into-English dictionary was the creature of his labour.

Other Italians – and they can be counted in the hundreds – who achieved success and fame in England were:

Giovanni Battista Cipriani ; founder member of the Royal Academy and a Freemason.
Antonio Canal from Venice (better known as Canaletto) , who devoted a decade in Soho in 1746 to painting the Grand Canal from memory.
Giacomo Casanova, a famous philosopher, philanderer and Freemason who came to London in 1763 with the intention of establishing a Lottery and repeat the success he had had in France with it .

In Georgian England, Italian actors, dancers and singers performed in theatres as part of the Opera Buffa and Italian jesters were always present at local Fairs. The most celebrated comic entertainer of the time was Giuseppe Grimaldi.

In conclusion, aside from representatives of the performing arts, Italy also exported to England bankers, theatre impresarios, music virtuoso [1] and from the medical field , the Chevalier Ruspini, a surgeon-dentist who won the confidence of a King and the love and respect of the population of this island for his skill, medical care and sincere benevolence.

BARTOLOMEO RUSPINI

Bartolomeo Ruspini was born in 1728/1730 at Romacoto (Bergamo), a village about 40 miles north-east of Milan, Italy. His father Andrea came from the village of Grumello (Bergamo) and was a minor member of a patrician family that originated from the ancient Italian region of Como. He was ‘the eldest of the eight children of Giovanni Andrea Ruspini (1707–1769) and his wife, Bartolomea (1708–1788.)

Bartolomeo claimed to have qualified as a surgeon in Bergamo in 1758, and to have trained under Pierre Fauchard (January 2, 1679–March 21, 1761) who was a French physician, credited as being the “father of modern dentistry” and the Court dentist of Louis XV of France who suffered with dental abscesses. Ruspini self-styled himself as a specialist “surgeon-dentist” and commenced practicing in England around 1750, initially in Bath and Bristol and later in London.

The limited and expensive medical relief that doctors provided before Nations set up free healthcare systems for their people, cleared the way for opportunistic shady individuals to take over the “poor man” territory. Fear and pain made people turn to quackery and its fake remedies.

The Black Alexandre Dumas

The famous 19^th century French novelist Alexandre Dumas senior, one day argued in these terms with an insolent man who had insulted him for his looks:

Sir,

My father was a mulatto, my grandfather was a negro,

and my great grandfather was a monkey. 

So you see, Sir,

My family starts where yours ends!

Alexander Dumas senior was the author of “The Count of MonteCristo”, “The Three Musketeers”, “The Man in the Iron Mask” and many other brilliant historical novels. The most extensively read French writers in the world was also a mulatto [1]. This essay, however, concerns another Dumas [2]; it is about the life of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, whose life is rarely told in books.

Most of us know that men of colour fought in the 1861 American War of Secession but not that black people , almost a century earlier, had defended the principles of “Liberté, égalité, fraternité” both in France and in its overseas territories. Saint Domingue, or Haiti, was the first of the Antilles islands in 1794 to wipe out slavery and to proclaim its people free and equal. And in France, during both the Revolution and the Republican years, many black individuals reached unimaginable heights of authority. Napoleon Bonaparte recognised their gallantry in battle and rewarded their courage, only to then favour “lucky generals” over valiant or competent military commanders.

THOMAS-ALEXANDER DUMAS

Thomas-Alexandre Dumas was born as Thomas–Alexandre Davy at Jeremie, on the island of Saint Domingue, on March 25th 1762. His father, Antoine Davy, was the youngest offspring of a lesser noble family that owned a chateau at Bielleville-en-Caux, a pretty village near Bolbec in the Haute Normandie, France.

In the XVIII century the French colony of Saint Domingue was the most successful territory of the Antilles in exporting sugar, cocoa and coffee; a trade in which Antoine’s elder brother had made a fortune by 1748. Full of grand expectations for himself, Antoine joined his sibling on the island to co-manage the business. But the partnership was spoiled by arguments and it soon ended with Antoine purchasing from Monsieur de Maubielle a valuable plantation and setting up business for himself. The land also came with a beautiful black slave called Marie-Cesette Dumas who gave Antoine four illegitimate children; three daughters and one son. According to Antoine, his mother died of dysentery in 1777, but there are notary documents that suggest Cesette was alive in 1801.

With his business failing, Antoine cut his losses and absconded. He only reappeared, years later, when his brother’s death gave him the opportunity to claim the title of Marquis and to inherit the family’s estate upon his return to France. Having little or no money to pay for the crossing, in 1775 Antoine sold his four children and common wife Marie Cesette as slaves to a Monsieur Caron and made the journey to France to become the new Marquis De La Pailetterie. A few months later his son, Thomas-Alexandre, joined him from Saint Domingue; the only member of the family whose freedom Antoine had cared to redeem !

Notwithstanding his background and skin colour, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, whom we shall henceforth address as Alex, received a distinguished education from the age of 14 and developed into a towering fellow with a herculean physique, and strong personality. Thanks to his father’s rich maintenance, Alex lived his youth in Paris where he met

Joseph Boulogne, the famous mulatto “Chevalier de Saint-George”. Joseph was an esteemed musician born in a family of musketeers that was well known at the Court of Queen Marie Antoinette of France. In Joseph’s company, Alex lived two years of the “belle vie” by attending theatre and soirée, seducing women and of course fighting duels.

But clouds were gathering on the horizon.

On 2 June 1786, Antoine Davy Marquis De La Pailetterie, married his governess Francoise Retou, a woman thirty years his junior and cut off the subsidy to his profligate son. Determined to find a place in the world, Alex enlisted as a Privateer in the Queen’s Dragoons Regiment using his mother’s name of Dumas, perhaps on his father’s desire to not blight the family’s name. The Regiment was under the command of the Duc de Guiche [3], a Freemason and an admirer of handsome garcons who gave Alex the opportunity to distinguish himself in service and to make the acquaintance of three future grand Generals of the French Empire : Jean-Louis Espagne, Louis-Chretien Carriere de Beaumont and Joseph Piston. All were serving in the same Division and were also Freemasons.

FREEMASONRY IN THE FRENCH ARMY

Many prominent French revolutionaries like the Marquis de Lafayette, Mirabeau, Danton and the Duke of Orléans to name but a few, were in the Craft and so was a great part of the French Army. In the Penthievre Regiment, for example, 53% of the officers were Freemasons and 2500 of the Brethren living in Paris were also in the military. General Kleber, took part with Napoleon in the Egyptian Campaign and founded the Lodge “Isis” in Cairo shortly after the troops subdued the city. Gaspard Monge was a member of the Military Lodge “The Perfect Union” of Mezieres and Dominique Vivant Denon of “The Perfect Meeting” Lodge in Paris; both were among the military strategists who turned around the fortunes of Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt. Whether the great man himself was a Freemason, we do not know for certain. Some claim he underwent initiation in Malta in 1798 when he took possession of the island for France, on his way to Egypt. Others say he was initiated in the “Perfect Sincerity” Lodge in Marseilles, the same Lodge that later initiated his brother Joseph Bonaparte who went on to become the Grand Master of the Grand Orient of France and King of Naples.

Why was Napoleon never a Freemason, or at least why he never openly admitted it, may perhaps be attributed to his character. It was not enough for Napoleon to be “first among equals”, he had to be “above” equality. Can you envisage him allowing anyone to call him “Brother” ? What we know for certain is that the finest years of Freemasonry in France were those that followed Napoleon’s coup d’etait in November 1799. The event, renowned in history as “18 Brumaire” [4], saw the overthrow of the Directory and the installation of a three-man Consulate of which Napoleon was the Leader. The progress of Freemasonry in France lasted fifteen years and saw its Lodge number increase from 300 to 1220 in the space of a few Anni Lucis. Napoleon looked upon all this with contentment, knowing that he benefited both politically and military from the support of the Craft.

The escalation of membership in Masonic military-only lodges in France provided a great cohesion of the troops in battle and saw the French Army go from strength to strength.

The list of eminent and influential individuals who were Freemasons during Napoleon’s regime is lengthy and remarkable: Princes,Admirals, Senators, Ambassadors, Ministers, Academics and so forth. Twenty-two out of Napoleon’s thirty Marshals, five of the six members of the Imperial Military Council and six of the nine ministers in the government were Freemasons. A look at Napoleon Bonaparte’s Dynasty reveals that in addition to Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon’s other younger brothers -Jerome and Luis- were also Freemasons. His wife, Empress Josephine de Beauharnais was for a while the Grand Master of women’s Freemasonry in France and her son (from her first marriage) Eugène de Beauharnais, was too in the Craft.

In light of such evidence, to think that Alex Dumas attained such an exceptional military career without himself being a Freemason, would be naïve.

THE “LODGE CAROLINA” IN VILLERS–COTTERÊTS

In August 1789, Alex Dumas received orders to travel from his base in Laon to Villers–Cotterêts [5] were he was to keep public order during the disorders of the French Revolution.

King Francis I of France (12.09.1494–31.03.1547) built a Chateau outside the village which he adopted as a base for his hunting trips. In 1539, whilst briefly staying there, he promulgated an edict that suppressed all Trade Federations and Guilds in France and thus prevent workers from going on strike. The decree also imposed “French” as the official language of the kingdom in place of Latin, which was the elite European lingua franca of the age and of the several other regional dialects in use.

We also associate Villers-Cotterêts with the Dukes d’ Orléans. King Louis XIV had gifted the chateau to his brother and years later another Duke d’ Orléans, Louis Philippe II [6] was to spend his exile there.

Louis Philippe- Duc d'Orleans — Louis Philippe- Duc d’Orleans

Louise Philippe II was a cousin of the King Louis XVI. After his grandfather’s death in 1752, Philippe inherited the title of Duke of Chartres and in 1769 married Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, daughter of the richest man in France [7]. Louis Philippe II was also the Grand Master of the Masonic Order of the Grand Orient of France from 1771 to 1793, and being a fellow of highly radical views, he sided with the people of France during the French Revolution. Marie Antoinette hated him for what she regarded as treason and duplicity, and he in turn scorned her for her frivolous behaviour. The populace of Paris, where Louis Philippe II lived during the terrible final days of the revolution, loved him and called him “Philippe Égalité” ; but that did not save him from being indicted and guillotined on 6th November 1793.

The Masonic Lodge “Carolina” was founded in Villers–Cotterêts in February 1787 and had the local Mayor, Nicolas Lalitt, as its Worshipful Master. Louis Philippe II and his personal surgeon Marsolan joined the lodge in the second part of 1787 when in exile there and the two men attended many meetings together. After the Duke’s arrival the Lodge Temple translated from a small pavilion in the adjacent “Clos de Cent Suisse”, to a chamber in the Chateau that is since known as “Sale des Franc-Macons”.

Monsieur Claude Labouret was the proprietor of the “Hotel de l’Epee” in Villers–Cotterêt and also a member of the Lodge Carolina. On Sunday 15 August 1789, he went outside with his daughter to admire the arrival from Laon of the detachment of Dragoons on horse. Alex Dumas was one of the Dragoons and his deportment and looks were so impressive as to earn him an invite to dine at Laboret’s table that evening. Alex ended up lodging at the hotel for the term of his stay and it is reasonable to assume that it was Claude Labouret who introduced him to Freemasonry. Three years later, on 28th November 1792, Alex will marry Marie Labouret. The Lodge Carolina became thereafter an Aristocratic Lodge par excellence, listing among its members forty eight grand seigneurs of the realm of France, born in families like the Rohan, Noailles, Polignac, La Rochefaucauld, Montmorency,Segur and so forth.

RISE THROUGH THE RANKS

In less than two years, and presumably after being initiated in the Ars Regia, Alex catapulted from the lowest military rank to the highest. Ever since enrolling in 1786 in the “Hussards de la Liberte”, a sequence of fortuitous circumstances, acts of bravery and patrons in high places assisted him in building a truly exceptional military career and shaped his future.

1792

This was the year that Julien Raimond founded the Legion Franche des Americans et du Midi  where “American” was a term the French used to identify those who came from its overseas colonies. Although the Legion was not part of the Regular French Army, it fought alongside it frequently and  being composed entirely by “free men of colour”, it became known also as “The Black Legion”. Its commanding officer, the Chevalier de Saint Georges, was a member of the powerful Masonic Lodge “Le Neuf Soeurs” of Paris. The Chevalier had given Alex  lessons in swordsmanship whilst at La Boessiere’s Academy and had been his partner in many Parisian social evenings and exploits. In 1792 Alex, at the command of only fourteen black legionnaires, defeated a group of forty Dutch soldiers near Lille and made half of them captives. As a reward for his bravery, he received the rank of lieutenant colonel and became the Legion second-in-command.

1793 

The General Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte - whom the Convention nominated Minister of War in April of the same year - appointment Alex to the rank of Brigadier General [8] of the Army du Nord which was under the command of General Demounez. Alex Dumas’s heroic defence of Pont-a-Marq in Northern France won him the promotion to General of Division. In September 1793 he became Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Pyrenees and in December he was put in command of the Army of the Alps. With Jean-Louise Brigitte Espagne, Marc Antoine Bonnin de Beaumont and his dear friend Joseph Piston [10], Alex won the battle of the Little San Bernard, seized the enemies’ mortars and turned them against the Austrians. They then charged and took control of the Mont Cenis, made 1700 prisoners and captured 30 enemy’s cannons. Their exploits inspired Alexander Dumas Senior to write the adventures of the Three Musketeers.

1794

In August, after a brief spell in charge of the military Ecole de Mars in Paris , Alex Dumas became Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the West. But the slaughtering by the French troops of thousands of peasants during the Vendee War  - a counter revolution against the Regime by the inhabitants of the Region - so abhorred Alex as to induce him to resign his office and earn the pseudonym of “Monsieur l’Humanité”. On 7th December 1794 Alex rejoined the ranks and received orders to swiftly travel to Paris where he was to crush the royalist revolt. But his carriage broke down on the road to the Capital and Paul Barras [11]–the Chief Executive of the Directory regime from 1795 to 1799– replaced him for the task with an unknown young Corsican officer called Napoleon Bonaparte.

In July Alex received the promotion to General of Division [9] and joined a group of four other coloured Generals of African origins who
were born like him in Saint Domingue. They were : Louis-Jacques Beauvais, Toussaint Louverture, Andre Rigaud and Jean-Louis Villatte.In September Alex fought in the Army of the Rhine under the command of the  General  and Freemason Jean Baptste Kleber. After being wounded during the assault to the City of Düsseldorf in November, Alex applied to retire from active service but was ignored.


1796

The General Dumas joined  Napoleon to fight in  Northern Italy. But a less than frictionless  connection  between the two men meant that  in December Alex received the command of only a minor division. His assignment consisting in putting the Austrian occupied city of Mantua, under siege.

1797

After a gallant struggle to ward off the Austrian reinforcements from reaching Mantua, the General Alex Dumas entered the city in February. Ignoring his victory, some resentful Generals complained of Alex’s unrestrained behaviour to Napoleon, who next sent him to fight under the command of General Massena. This effectively meant a demotion, but Alex continued to distinguish himself in battle and even gained the appellative of “Black Devil” from the Austrians. Transferred to a Division led by General Joubert–a fierce republican like our hero–and again in charge of only a small force, Alex crushed the Austrian positions along the River Adige in northern Italy and pressed back, all on his own, a full enemy squadron on to a bridge outside the municipality of Chiusa. Such new heroics greatly impressed Napoleon who, no longer questioning the General Dumas’s integrity and commitment, promoted him to Cavalry Commander of the French armies in the Tyrol.

The Egyptian campaign

1978
In May the General Alex Dumas travelled to Toulon where Napoleon Bonaparte – who apparently received him whilst in bed with Josephine! - ordered him to board the vessel “Guillaume Tell” sailing for Malta, a small Mediterranean island south of Sicily. With him on the expedition were also the Generals Beaumont, Dermoncourt and Lambert. After capturing the island–ruled by the descendant of the Knights Hospitaller aka Knights of St John–the French fleet and Alex proceed to Egypt. Napoleon had promoted him to the grand sounding rank of Commander of the Cavalry of the Orient Army, but his squadron of 3000 horsemen could only count on 300 horses! Scorched by the unbearable African heat and running short of food rations and medicines, men soon perished of various illnesses, leaving Alex wavering. After conquering Alexandria, the French prepared to advance to Cairo, but the republican General Alex Dumas no longer believed in the military operation; he was by now persuaded that only personal ambition guided Napoleon Bonaparte and that the military campaign on such a far away land brought no benefits to France. He even held meetings in camp tents, with some other unhappy Generals (among whom was Joachim Murat) [12], to agree a refusal to continue fighting. As a justification he wrote to Napoleon that General Berthier, Napoleon’s Aid of Camp, was a coward who in battle “shit himself in his pants”. Napoleon wrote in his diaries that when he found out about Alex’s mutinous tent meetings, he was on the verge of having him shot for sedition.

1799

In January, an intensely irritated Bonaparte agreed to let the sick General Alex Dumas’ return to France. “I can easily replace him with a Brigadier” and “intelligence is not his forte”[14] Napoleon told his Generals. On March 7th 1799, Alex embarked for Marseilles on the vessel “Belle Maltaise”. He took with him some wounded French soldiers, the geologist Deodat de Dolomieu [13] and the General Jean-Baptiste Manscourt du Rozoy. After an unexpected tempest in the Mediterranean caused the vessel to sustain serious damages, the crew veered the ship to Taranto, in Southern Italy. Before sailing from Egypt, news from France had reported that the citizens of the Kingdom of Naples, that included Taranto, had taken up arms against King Ferdinand IV and, supported by French troops, had proclaimed the Parthenopean Republic. In the light of those events Taranto, was rightly seen as a safe, friendly destination for the distressed French ship and those onboard.

But as the Belle Maltaise approached the harbour, the crew noticed with surprise that the Bourbons’ flag was still flying on the fort turrets and the masts of the docked ships. The men were unaware that whilst they were sailing, the royalist Archbishop Ruffo’s units had defeated the Neapolitan republicans and regained the Kingdom for Ferdinand. The Belle Maltaise was laden with too much personal cargo–like the eleven Arab horses that the General Dumas was taking to France for breeding–to the detriment of its defence capability. Its ten cannons could give only a feeble resistance to the firepower of King Ferdinand’s fleet. The Belle Maltaise surrendered and all his men on board were taken captive.

IMPRISONMENT AND RETURN TO FRANCE

Imprisoned in the dungeon of the Castle Aragonese of Taranto, the General Alex Dumas endured a regime of abuses and even an attempt to poison him by the prison governor Marquis De La Schiava (or Della Schiava). Curiously, not far from Alex’s cell was that of General Manscourt, whom became the inspiration of the character of the Abbe’ Faria in the novel “The Count of Montecristo” by Dumas senior!

The day the Governor De La Schiava went to General Dumas’s cell with the pretence that he was to transfer him to a better prison in Brindisi–when in truth he plotted to murder him during the journey–there was an almighty altercation. The Marquis unsheathed his sword, but the General fended him and his men off by waiving his walking stick and shouting verbal threats; such was the degree of fear that his figure could still instil on those who defied him. A year after Napoleon installed his former Marshall Joachim Murat as King of Naples in 1805, Alex received a pardon and returned to France. Only six years had passed from his imprisonment in Taranto, but Alex Dumas was now a shadow of the strong man he was. And seeing France now ruled by that young inexperienced officer who had out-smartened him by one day to a military assignment that marked his rise to power and greatness, must have cut his motivation to live even further. A stroke had paralyzed one side of his body, he was almost blind in one eye, half deaf and in constant pain. The General also lived on a miserable military allowance that was utterly inadequate to the status he had held in the Army. Napoleon did not regard General Alex Dumas’s entitlement to be anything more than he received because he had failed to complete the Egypt Campaign and contracted his infirmities in jail rather than on the battlefields. To those who petitioned for justice, Napoleon thundered: “I forbid you ever to speak to me of that man!”.

Pre Napoleonic France was not a racist country. On 7th August 1775, King Louis XVI had signed a political declaration granting admission into his Kingdom to people of colour while at the same time directing the removal to the colonies of illegal settlers. All this changed when Napoleon returned from the Campaign of Egypt in 1802 as he imposed cruel race laws, re-instituted slavery in the colonies and even sent troops to Saint Domingue to kill or arrest any black person who dared wear a French military uniform. Napoleon also tried to bury the memory of General Alex Dumas by never mentioning him in the memoirs he wrote while in exile on the island of Elba. On 26 February 1806, at the age of only forty-four, the destitute General Alex Dumas, died at the Hotel de l’Epee in Villers-Cotterets, from stomach cancer [15] , his health most surely undermined by the arsenic the Marquis De La Schiava administered him in Taranto. Sadly, the Country for which the General had valiantly fought and that had overthrown the old social order in the name of the sacred principles of “freedom, fraternity and equality”, treated him as an alien just when he was most vulnerable and in need of constant care.

CONCLUSION

Although General (Thomas)-Alexander Dumas became a forgotten hero of France, he gave the future generations of his adopted Country and indeed of the whole world, a talented writer who immortalized his life, by casting him in the epic characters of the Count of Montecristo and as one of the four Musketeers. He inspired some of the most famous pages of literature.

Often we better understand a man after his passing and can look back on the events of his life without being influenced by prejudices. It is for this reason that I have brought to your attention the life and adventures of this very worthy Brother.

The author forbids any reproduction or publication of this article, in full or in part, without his explicit authorization.

[1] a person of mixed white and black ancestry, especially a person with one white and one black parent.

[2] They were: General Thomas-Alexandre (or Alex) Dumas , Alexandre Dumas senior and Alexandre Dumas Jr.

[3] Antoine Louis Marie de Gramont, first Duc de Louvigny then Count de Gramont from 1762, was born in Paris 17 Aug 1755. A military man he became Duc de Guiche in 1780 and was put in charge of the regiment of the Queen’s Dragoon in 1790. He was a Freemason member of the Lodge “La Cauderet” in 1776 and of the Lodge “L’Olympique” in 1786.

[4] An historical Term. Brumaire was the month of mist: the second month of the French revolutionary calendar, extending from Oct 23 to Nov 21.

[5] It is now a town to the north-east of Paris, near Reims

[6] Born 13April 1747 – Died 6 November 1793,. He was affiliated to the Templar Order

[7] It was that financial strength that enabled Louis Philippe to play a political role at Court equal to that of his great grandfather who had been the Regent of France whilst King Louis XV was in childhood.

[8] The lowest ranking general officer and usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general and who is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000 troops (four battalions)

[9] Brigade General Louis Jacques Bauvais (also Beauvais) (1759 – September, 12 1799) was the charismatic and respected leader of the mulatto revolt. French-educated, handsome, and quiet, Bauvais had served in America during the American Revolution.

[10] Lyon 1754-1831. He became a baron of the Napoleonic Empire

[11] Paul François Jean Nicolas, Vicomte de Barras (1755-1829) a former soldier who will become the Head of the Directory and one of the most powerful revolutionaries.

[12] Marshal of France in May 1804, husband of Caroline Bonaparte, King of Naples from August 1808 to May 1815

[13] The discovered of the material called dolomite

[14] Desgenettes, the medical officer of the French Army in Egypt

[15] By Bonaparte’s doctor at Paris Jean-Noel Corvisart

SOURCES

Quel Generale dalla pelle nera    by C.L.Sulzberger – La Repubblica 21.01.1986

L’Association des amis du General Dumas   (24.03.2009)

Thomas Alexandre Dumas, le père d’Alexandre Dumas  – http://negronews.fr/cultureDictionnaire.sensagent.leparisien.fr/

http://jesuimort.com/biographie_celebrite_chercher/

Who was Napoleon’s Black Devil?  by Henry Louis Gate Jr.

Nel Castello di Taranto la lunga prigionia del Conte di Montecristo  by Tonio Attino

Il Conte di Montecristo a Taranto  by Roberto Ferretti – 12.02.2015

La memoire bafouee du general Dumas, fils d’ascalve , pere d’Alexandre et heros de la Revolution   by Anne Brigaudeau – http://blog.francetvinfo.fr/

Dumas, Thomas-Alexandre (1762-1806) by Wirth Nikolaus. Univ. Augsburg

The Third Musketeer , The black Count  by  Leo Damrosch – 14 Sept 2012

Le Temple Maconnique de Philippe-Egalite a Villers-Cotterets by Eugene Toupet, Vice-President de la Societe Historique de Villers-Cotterets

General Thomas Alexandre Davy Dumas  by Nayhan D. Jensen – http://frenchempire.net/biographies/dumas2/

BREAKING A MASONIC OATH

In Freemasonry the individual who presents himself at the door of a Masonic Lodge “properly prepared and humbly soliciting to be admitted to the mysteries and privileges of Ancient Freemasonry” is called the “Initiate”. What leads him there, is an act of faith. He comes because in life he has a feeling of incompleteness and because he finds that pursuing ephemeral pleasures does not satisfies his soul.

Every Initiate in every Mystery must pledge secrecy for what will be communicated to him during the ceremony. Such constraint has been imposed on him since time immemorial and evidence exists that this was customary also in the days of the Guilds and of the operative medieval stone masons.

The solemn promise of the modern Initiate, however, is not on a par with the oath of the ancient craftsmen.

According to Bernard Jones [1] “the oath is a solemn appeal to God in support of the truth of a declaration made and in witness that a promise will be kept”; note the words “an appeal to God”. An oath is also neither objectionable nor can it be open to criticism, unless the oath itself is immoral. What an Initiate swears on the Volume of the Sacred Law nowadays is instead an Obligation, which is described as a binding agreement made under pain of a sanction if it is unilaterally broken. Essentially, ritual revisions through time have eroded and eventually removed the authority and intensity initially present in the oath and turned it into a mere promise. For that reason it is felt necessary to give the obligation a mantle of solemnity by asking the Initiate to recite the ritual words in a manner similar to giving testimony in a Court of Law and seal his promise by kissing the VSL.

Both oaths and obligations bind society together and stop it from falling into disorder, confusion, anarchy ; they also insure that justice keeps being administered. All authority custodians, legislators, civil servants and State officials are bound by their oath of office and so too are the politicians, even though the latter regularly commit perjury with a despairing indifference. The Romans punished this sin by tearing the sinner’s tongue out by the roots.

The Masonic Square and Compass on the Bible

Continue reading BREAKING A MASONIC OATH

THE MASONIC STEPS

Before I enter into the subject of the masonic steps , I first wish to make my case for introducing compulsory Catechism in the Craft.

Freemasons are told that it is their duty “to make a daily advancement in Masonic knowledge”. But as Freemasonry is a “peculiar system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols” it is no surprise that some Brethren find the task challenging for its complexity. As the Craft evolved , Masonic education stopped being the main focus of the meetings and became perceived as an irritation. Intellectual stimulation has been replaced by a rush to higher offices, honorifics and obsessive charity work. The purpose of the Lodge of Instruction should be , as the name implies, to teach Masonic wisdom to the new and/or lesser educated Brethren, but it often consists of only a couple of hours of ritual rehearsal. There are also those Masons who believe that attending numerous meetings, performing various Masonic duties and so forth, somehow transforms them in “better men”. But Masonic knowledge is not to be found in the parroting of the Ritual Book, nor in the perfect execution of the ceremony with its perambulations and interactions. No matter how well all of that is performed, it has no part in the achievement of Masonic awareness; it only provides focus and entertainment for the Lodge guests.

Yet everything in Freemasonry has its importance and significance, even something as simple as a Masonic step has its symbology.

(Aldo Reno)

STEP OFF WITH YOUR LEFT FOOT

A step is not only a progressive body action but when taken in a Masonic Lodge, it is a figurative forward movement towards reaching the objectives to which the Candidate aspires by joining the Order. But whilst in all walks of life it is customary, or simply natural, to step off with the right foot, in Freemasonry it is not. The reason lays in the traditional association of the left foot with man’s heart and intuition , which always urge him to take prompt action towards a desired goal. When the initiate enters the Temple, he is blindfolded; he is in the dark both physically and metaphorically . His initiation is a journey from the state of ignorance that the darkness represents towards the world of knowledge and spirituality epitomised by the light. The Candidate’s stepping forward with his left foot is a symbolical gesture taken to assert that he is ready to trample all the material things and possessions that chain him to this world of temptations, sin and spiritual ignorance. The forward movement of the left foot and leg also gives strength and stability to the thrusting movement of the right hand, which is the limb usually armed with the spear that kills the snake, the dragon or whichever symbol is used to represent the devil. And indeed in mythology and in religion the devil is always depicted being crushed under the left foot.

In ancient Egypt, the left advanced foot represented the power of Isis, a goddess which is also known as the one who marks a new beginning. The Egyptians believed that at death , the Soul leaves the physical body and – if it is proved worthy – undertakes a journey to the “City of Light”[1]. For this reason most Egyptian statues and hieroglyphics depict standing figures with their left foot always presented in a forward position, to symbolise the beginning of the subjects’ own journey into the afterlife. In a similar belief every Brother, by stepping forward with the left foot , re-confirms – or asserts for the first time , if he is an Initiate – the pledge that he will shed all material things in favor of an emblematic journey that will gradually take him from the darkness (ignorance) to the light , alas self-consciousness and spirituality.

But is it just the stepping off with the left foot that has a meaning in Freemasonry? The answer is negative ; the right foot is also important and it too has a symbolical significance.

The right foot is associated with the head (or the conscious mind) which often acts as a brake on the ardent impulses of the heart. Indeed , when the right foot is placed in the required Masonic position, it acts as a brake to the subject’s locomotion and gives him a sensation of lameness when he attempts to walk.

The Greek philosopher Plato[2] stated in his work “The Republic” that by coming into this world and being confined in a material body, the Soul of man is rendered lame; a condition however that as I will explain later , rather than counteracting, fortifies the Soul on its journey to a superior plane of consciousness.

In the western ancient religions there was a God – which the Romans called Vulcan , the Greeks Hephaestus, the Egyptians Ptah or Phtah and the Jews Tubalcain – who was depicted as grotesque and with one leg shorter than the other. For the ancient Greeks, Hephaestus [3] was either the son of both Hera and Zeus or the son of only Hera who gave birth to him in retaliation for the solitary birth of Athena from Zeus’ head. Hephaestus was therefore a God but an extremely ugly one in a celestial world where only beauty, strength and perfection were acceptable. His family threw him off Mount Olympus and that action caused him to break a leg and become lame. Yet Hephaestus, despite his physical imperfection, was later allowed to re-enter the Pantheon[4] because through that act of violence and the ordeal he suffered, he had come out the other side much stronger. During his time on earth he mastered the use of fire – a symbol of purification and regeneration in every culture – and developed skills which he later put to the service of humanity. The Homeric Hymns, says that Hephaestus “taught men , who formerly lived in caves like animals, work that was noble to do on the earth” (The Hymn to Hephaestus).

This tale is of course all an allegory!

What Hephaestus’s story tells us is that our strongest and best work can grow out of imperfection, that our very brokenness is one of the strongest tools available to us. The metals work in which Hephaestus is said in mythology to have attained the greatest skill – in the Masonic ritual Tubal-cain is described as “the first artificer in metals” – did not consist in building a most beautiful throne to Zeus or forging armors for the other deities, but something more admirable, purer and above all meaningful. “Metals” are really a reference to man’s wordly possessions and “work” is an allusion to the transmutation process from base “metal” to gold, alias spiritual perfection.

In conclusion , I believe that the Masonic steps represent a symbolical assertion by the Freemason :

of his eagerness to crush all the material temptations that chain down his Soul to this imperfect world;
that he must never act on impulse alone but must pause and use his rational mind ;
that to begin his allegorical journey to spiritual perfection he must learn to overcame the difficulties – like the lameness in Hephaestus – that are inflicted on him , for they are given to him to strengthen his Soul on the journey to a superior spiritual plane.

So mote it be!

The author forbids any reproduction or publication of this article, in full or in part, without his explicit authorisation.

[1] also known as Heliopolis. Located in Ayn Shams, a north eastern suburb of Cairo, Heliopolis was the capital of the 13th Lower Egypt and one of the dest cities of ancient Egypt. It was also a major religious center.

[2] Born in 428/427BC in Athens, Greece—died in 348/347, Athens. Plato was an ancient Greek philosopher, student of Socrates (c. 470–399 ), teacher of Aristotle (384–322 ) and founder of the Academy. He is best known as the author of philosophical works of unparalleled influence.

[3] Some stories tell us that it was Zeus who threw Hephaestus from Olympus for taking Hera’s side in a quarrel and that Hephaestus became lame as a result of the fall. Other myths say that Hephaestus was born lame and that Hera threw him from Olympus because she was ashamed of his deformity. Hephaestus landed in the ocean and was rescued by sea nymphs, who raised him in a cave under the sea and taught him many skills. Hephaestus became a master craftsman was known as the “Blacksmith God”.

[4] The Pantheon was a celestial Temple from where the twelve Olympian deities ruled the mortals.

SOURCES

Emulation Lodge of Improvement website: https://emulationloi.org/silvermatchbox/
The Myth Encyclopedia – http://www.mythencyclopedia.com
“Hephaestus and how brokenness contributes to creativity” by Allison Stiege December 12, 2013 http://creativitypost.com

Pythagoras’s Theorem – The Operative Mason’s secret

Some of the most architectonically beautiful buildings that man ever designed were erected by our ancestors, the Operative Freemasons. They built them using unsophisticated technology and with rough working tools, yet even now we are filled with a great sense of admiration whenever we look at them! How did the Operatives accomplish it? They did it by applying a mathematical postulation to their building method that the Greek-born mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras[1] had rediscovered ; although the mathematical formula was known to both the Babylonians and the Egyptians well before his time. Pythagoras’s Theorem is of such importance that, centuries later, the Speculative Freemasons adopted its allegorical mystical significance and even showed it on one of the Craft’s jewel.

In Freemasonry, every passing Worshipful Master, at the end of his year in the Chair is invested with a collar from which hangs a jewel that symbolises the completion of his mandate and in a way of his “journey”. That regalia represent the highest honour that an Officer may receive from his Lodge, higher even to that of the presiding Master whose jewel – some Freemasons may say – instead of being a triangle is only a square without the hypotenuse! The ornament is a demonstration of Pythagoras’s theorem in terms of the 3 4 5 application method;it is a very significant symbol of the Craft and also the most emphatic tool of every Operative and Speculative Mason. Its importance lies further in the fact that the motif shown on the jewel is also a representation of the Square, the Level and Plumb Rule, which are tools used to prepare the ashlars[2]. It is a well known fact that unless the ashlars are perfect the stability of a structure – be that physical or allegorical – is inevitably compromised. But many Past Masters do not know of the existence of Pythagoras’s theorem nor its meaning and just as I was, they are ignorant of the fact that it is represented on the regalia they wear in the Lodge.

THE POSTULATION OF PYTHAGORAS’ THEOREM AND ITS PRACTICAL USE

The most important principles that are applied when erecting every new building are:

the foundations must be perfectly upright
the structure must be level
its corners must have a perfect 90 degrees angles

These principles were valid and binding in ancient times as much as they are nowadays. Whether an Operative Freemason was paid to build a castle, a cathedral or a chateau, it was inconceivable of him to foul up the first step in the construction process because the alternative would have entailed his wages being withdrawn and his privileges being forfeited. One such privilege was that of the freedom to practice his trade wherever the Freemason chose to. A sort of lifelong Green Card and a right that the Freemason would have earned after seven years or more of apprenticeship in his respective craft.

Ensuring that a wall is level may be a relatively easy task to accomplish with the aid of the Plumb Rule – a piece of string at the end of which hangs a weight – but the process known even today as “squaring the room” is not that simple.

On the practical side we can assume that to minimise time and effort required to build the perfect 90 degrees corners of a structure, the Operatives Masons would have used an easy-to-assemble or perhaps even a pre-assembled wooden frame constructed by applying the theorem[3]. Pythagoras’ postulation – which later became better known as the Euclid’s 47^{th [4]} proposition – states that : “In every right-angled triangle, the square of the Hypotenuse [5] , equals the sum of the squares of the other two shorter sides” which for the record are called Perpendicular and Base and are both shorter than the Hypotenuse. The triangle built with such criteria will be called a right triangle and have a 90 degrees angle which represents a perfect corner for any structure!

There are two ways to illustrate this; one is graphically and the other is with a mathematical formula.

Let’s now take a look at how this works in practice. Say we have a triangle where the two short sides are 9 and 12. We don’t know what the long side is but we want to ensure that we obtain a right triangle. To find the long side, we can just plug the side lengths into the Pythagorean theorem. Thus 9 squared plus 12 squared equals C squared. That is to say: 81+144=225 and √225 = 15; so the Hypotenuse length must be 15 in order to return a triangle with a 90 degrees angle.

But there is a problem: the theorem only works for certain numbers. Those numbers are called Pythagorean Sequences Triplets and the smallest is 3 4 5; a sequence that makes the theorem both easy to comprehend and uncomplicated to put into practice.

Some of the other triplets are: 5 12 13, 6 8 10, 9 12 15, 8 15 17, 12 16 20, 15 20 25, and 7 24 25 and thousands more. They can be scaled up or down by multiplying

or dividing the length of each side of the triangle by the same number. For example, a 6-8-10 triangle is just a 3-4-5 triangle with all the sides multiplied by 2.

On the other hand, you cannot add or subtract the same number to all sides: there is no such thing as a 4-5-6 triangle!

To prove to you that only certain triplets will return a perfect 90 degrees angle in our chosen geometrical shape, let us look at what a triangle with a Base of 3 and a Perpendicular of 8 would return:

3 ×3 + 8×8 = 9+64 = 73

But 73 is a number that represents a huge practical problem because its square root does not return a whole number, or integer, but 8.5440037453 and so on to the infinitesimal. In other words the result of the Theorem is a number that was impossible to exactly measure with the tools then available to the Operatives.

A Pythagorean Triplet gives a triangle where all sides are integers and that explains why the triplet 3 4 5 is so popular.
In conclusion, the Operative Mason could have cut have cut a length of timber respectively into 3 4 and 5 units[6] – or scaled them up by using the criteria revealed earlier – laid them on the ground in the shape of a triangle and obtained a corner of 90 degrees onto which to lay the foundations of the building. Watch the video available at YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69cslx6ER7k to realise how our ancestors went about achieving a perfect 90 degrees corner.

There are of course many other ways of arriving at a right angle. One technique, which could have been used in antiquity, is that of drawing a circle on the ground and divide it in four exact parts, like in the picture below.

The triangle within each of those four parts will have a 90 degree angle. But such method would have required getting the alignment of the two axes absolutely right to north/south and west/east. This was achievable by looking at the night sky and the position of the stars but as a method it must have been time consuming and certainly less practical for checking the square angles of large buildings.

The circle, however, is just what is referred to in the second degree ritual of the Craft. When the Worshipful Master asks the Junior Warden the question “what is a square?” the Officer replies: “It is an angle of 90 degrees or the forth part of a circle”. A statement that would sound meaningless if you do not know a bit of Geometry and never heard of the Pythagoras’s Theorem!

THE 3 4 5 TRIANGLE: AN ALLEGORICAL AND NUMEROLOGICAL INTERPRETATION.

Let me now quote you the reasons why the triangle constructed with a 90° angle has so much importance for the Craft as to be described “The Foundation of Freemasonry”.

The traditional esoteric doctrine claims that the sides of a right triangle represent

God
Man’s free will
Destiny

and suggests that balancing the relation between them allows man to advance in his spiritual journey. The longer man applies his “libero arbitrio” – or free will – the longer it will take him to join as one with God.

Numerology was a method employed by both the Pythagoreans and the Jews because it was believed that all numbers have mystical properties. Even in Freemasonry the presence of that science is noteworthy and important, although this aspect is rarely disclosed to the Brethren if at all.

For example, in Masonic Rituals the candidate is symbolically led to square the Lodge by being escorted around it 3 times during the EA Ritual, 4 times during a Fellow Craft Ritual and 5 times in a Master Mason Ritual. In the Fellow Craft degree, the explanation of the tracing board abounds with numbers : there is the “winding staircase” consisting of 3, 5 ,7 or more steps; the detailed description and dimensions of three pillars – Wisdom, Strength and Beauty – and chapters, the reference made to the five orders of Architecture [7] and to the seven Liberal Arts [8] . And it does not end there, though I have to stop myself from quoting them because the whole ritual book and every Masonic degree contain a multitude of sacred numbers.

A triangle is called rectangular because it contains an angle of 90 degrees. The number 90 is the product of 9 multiplied by 10, where 9 is a symbol of regeneration and Justice and the number 10 is the symbol of Perfection. The 90 degree angle can be interpreted as representing rectitude, a virtue that man needs to regenerate himself and return to the state of innocence that predated his original sin.

The Egyptians – whom earlier in the paper were referred to as people already in possession of the knowledge of Euclid’s 47^th Proposition thousands of years before Pythagoras – identified the vertical line of the triangle measuring 3 units with their God Osiris . horizontal line of 4 units, was attributed to Isis and the Hypotenuse (5 units) to Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis [9]. Even the prominent American Freemason and author Albert Pyke, in his “Morals and Dogma” suggests that the triangle represents: the Spirit (Osiris), the Matter (Isis) and the union of the two (Horus). This is the same ancient principle of the Divine Trinity, where we have, according to Plutarch[10], the Perpendicular representing the Masculine, the Baseline representing the Feminine and the Hypotenuse of the sacred triangle representing the Offspring.

Even the units of the triangle’s side are significant!

The 3 units of the Osiris/vertical line have been attributed to the three Alchemical principles to which all things are a manifestation of, i.e.: Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury.

The 4 units of the horizontal line of Isis relate to the so-called four Elements that surround us: Earth, Air, Water and Fire. Finally, the ascending Horus line with its five units represents the five kingdoms: Mineral, Plant, Animal, Human and the 5^th Kingdom identifiable with the Adept consciously reuniting with the Source of all things aka TGAOTU.

*******

In future I will endeavour to write about other similar secrets that it is claimed the Operative Freemasons kept close to their chest, but for now I would like to send a message of exhortation to all the Brethren and to the Candidates in particular to read deeper into the ritual book and the Volume of the Sacred Law. It will be worth your effort. Putting off or slowing down your Lodge Office progression until you will have assimilated the teaching of every degree will feel most rewarding.

To quote the philosopher Thomas Carlyle [11]: “In a symbol there is concealment and yet revelation”. So mote it be.

THE ANECDOTE

After the creation of the Grand Lodge of England the Old Charges of the London Company of Masons, dating back to the 14^th century, were replaced with the “Constitutions”, written by the Rev. Dr James Anderson and printed in January 1723, with a second edition released in 1738.

The Frontispiece of the original volume of those “Constitutions” depicts a classical arcade with two individuals in its foreground. The one on the left is possibly the Grand Master the Duke of Montagu and he can be seen passing the scroll of the Constitutions to the other Grand Master, Philip, Duke of Wharton. Both Grand Masters have attendants and the one in the left is shown carrying an apron and a pair of gloves. In between the principal figures, is a diagram of Pythagoras’s Theorem with the Greek word “Eureka” – which in Ancient Greek means “I have found it” – written beneath it.

Anderson must have thought that it was Pythagoras who exclaimed “Eureka!” when in truth the expression belongs to Archimedes [12] , an inventor and mathematician from Syracuse, Sicily who lived centuries after Pythagoras. The story goes that one day, on a visit to Syracuse’s public baths, Archimedes realized that the more his body sunk into the water the more water it displaced, making the expelled liquid an exact measure of his body volume. This sudden discovery of the relation between density and volume [11] made the naked Archimedes run out of the baths and onto the city streets shouting “Eureka! Eureka!”

Anderson believed Euclid’s 47^th proposition to be the “Foundation of all Masonry, sacred, civil and military!” and yes, confusing Pythagoras with Archimedes is an unforgivable inaccuracy but it takes little away from the work that our esteemed Grand Warden Rev. Brother James Anderson did for the Craft!

By W.Bro Leonardo Monno Anglisani

The author forbids any reproduction or publication of this article, in full or in part, without his explicit authorization.

[1] Born c.570BC, Samos, Greece, Pythagoras settled in Crotone, Calabria , Italy and died c. 490-500 BC at Metapontum, Lucania, Italy

[2] The Ashlar is a cubic stone

[3] Pythagoras proved the theorem, Euclid published it in his Book One, two centuries later.

[4] Because it was the 47^th problem out of 465 that Euclid proved in his book.

[5] Hypotenuse: the name with which the longest side of a triangle is known

[6] Where the units could have been any of those in usage at the time , like for example : cubits , palms, feet or thumbs.

[7] The Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Composite

[8] Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry , Music and Architecture

[9] It is bizarre that in the myth of Osiris and Isis, Osiris is killed thus making Horus : the Son of a Widow and links him to Hiram !

[10] Plutarch of Chaeronea in Boeotia (ca. 45–120 CE) was a Platonist philosopher. He wrote extensively about ancient Greek and Roman culture

[11] A philosopher and poet , was born 4 December 1795 at Ecclefechan a small village in the south of Scotland in Dumfries and Galloway, died 5 February 1881 in London

[12] Born 288BC in Syracuse, Sicily, Italy and died 212/211BC in Syracuse.

[13] A body immersed in fluid loses weight equal to the weight of the amount of fluid it displaces.

Sources:

 “Euclid  on the square” by Craig Gavin – The Square magazine, Vol. 30,Mmarch 2004

“The 47^th Problem of Euclid” by H.Maij, August 2009

https://study.com/academy/lesson/properties-of-3-4-5-triangles-definition-and-uses.html

 “Trigonometry Concepts” by Albano Martín De La Scala

“The 47^th problem of Euclid – the veil lifted” - By Bro. Wm Steve Burkle  – Scioto Lodge 6, Chillichote, Ohio, published in Pietre &Stones

“Geometry and Masonry” By W.Bro. Harvey Lovell (Lodge Millaa Millaa 351 – UGL of Queensland, AU,  Pietre &Stones

Allegory and Symbolism in Freemasonry – A little inkling

One of the first things that we are taught in Freemasonry is that it is “a peculiar system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols”. One can therefore only understand the real meaning of Freemasonry by investigating its allegorical meaning.

A most obvious example of an allegory in Freemasonry is the question of “Age” made to the candidate by the Worshipful Master with the following words: “Are you a free man of the full age of twenty-one?”. To which the candidate is prompted by the Junior Deacon to reply: “I am”.

In Hebrew language “I am” translates “Eheieh” , which according to the numeration of the Hebrew letters of the alphabet , adds up to twenty one.

Such method of interpretation can be applied not just to the Masonic Rituals – Craft , Royal Arch, MM etc – but also to the Sacred Scriptures. It is a method that computes the numerical value of words based on their constituent letter. This method is called Gematria or Geometria and is used in the Kabbalah.

WHAT IS THE KABBALAH

The Kabbalah is described as an esoteric theosophy based on the Hebrew Scriptures and the mysterious doctrine even influenced Freemasonry in the XVII century.

In Hebrew the meaning of the word Kabbalah is “to receive”. There is a curious myth that claims God himself taught this doctrine to a selected company of angels who , after the fall of man, communicated it to men so that they could learn how to return to the original state of happiness and communion with God. The great prophets Noah, Abraham and Moses received it and passed it on to their successors, among who was of course King Salomon.

The contents of the Kabbalah are believed to have derived from a mixture of ancient superior cultures like the Greek, the Egyptian and the Oriental. Even the Christianity adopted it , initially believing that it was Hebrew rather than Pagan.

The Kabbalah has three distinct facets. It can be :

“theoretical” when it teaches man about God;
“enigmatical” when it is based on the interpretation of the arrangements of words and letters in the Bible ;
“practical” when it professes to cure disease in man by interpreting the arrangement of words and letters.

For the Kabala every word can be reduced to a numerical value and be explained by means of another word of the same value.

A LOOK AT GEMATRIA

Gematria , or Geometria in Greek language, is a kabbalistic practice , essentially it is the Hebrew science of Numerology used mainly as a method for interpreting biblical texts. In Gematria each Hebrew letter represents a number.

Through those numbers one can calculate the numerical value of a word and by computing that value with one or more other words, a connection is established that can prove larger conceptual conclusions. One example of Gematria can be found in the interpretation of Genesis 14:14.

The verse mentions that to defeat the armies that had recently attacked his brother Lot, Abram (later in Genesis, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham), sent to fight the 318 men that made up his household. The numerical equivalent of Abram’s trusted household steward ‘s name “Eliezer” is 318; therefore, the text can also suggest that it was not an army of 318 that accompanied Abram, but only Eliezer. To prove that there can be more than one interpretation revealed by Gematria and the Kabala by the computation of words-values, let us consider the numerical value of the word “siach” which in Hebrew means “speaking” or “conversing”. It matches that of “Eliezer” and so it is now possible to argue that the interpretation of the Genesis 14:14 may also be that Abram defeated his enemies on his own just by speaking to them in the name of God !

In the Hebrew language the word “God” translates “Elohim” and Gematria returns for it a word- value of 86 which is also that of the word “Nature” , thus concluding that the divine presence manifests itself also in the physical world.

And finally, did you know that the term GOD is composed with the first letter of three Hebrew words : Gomer, Oz and Dabar ?

Gomer means Beauty; Oz means Strength; Dabar means Wisdom …… the Three Pillars of Freemasonry !

Gematria gives the word GOD a value of 810 which is also the result of the enumeration of : God+is+you = 810 and The+Holy+digit = 810

Throughout history, some people have believed that the Bible contains secrets that can be revealed by Gematria and used it to predict historical events. This belief continues to this day and it has been made famous by Michael Drosni’s best-selling book The Bible Code, published in 1997. At page 85 , the book recounts the poisonous gas attack that occurred in Tokyo on 20 March 1995 by a lunatic religious cult called Aum Shinrikyo. Twelve people were killed and more than 5000 injured when the nerve gas Sarin was released in the subway trains of the morning Tokyo rush hour. The book’s author claims that the name of the Cult’s leader was encoded in the Bible together with : “Tokyo”, “Japan” and “ subway”. Even the word “plague” is mentioned therein and indeed less than a year later, we had in South Africa the outbreak of the haemorragic fever Ebola.

SOME MORE ALLEGORIES

We opened this paper by explaining that the Kabbalists recognise that “I am” translates “Eheieh” in Hebrew . “Eheieh” is also the divine name associated with the first of the Holy Sephiroth[1] and it is also how God described himself – “Eheieh asher Egeieh” , “I am what I am” – to Moses when he appeared to him in the midst of the burning bush[2].

In Gematria, “Eheieh asher Eheieh” enumerates to 5 4 3. If you have been paying attention to the regalia your Past Master wears, you will have noticed that the jewel is a representation of Euclid’s 47^th proposition , otherwise known as Pythagoras’s Theorem whose postulation is proved by the ratio 3-4-5 or 5-4-3. ”I am what I am” !

Have you noticed the letter “G” that in some Lodges hangs from the ceiling centre and others is depicted in the East above the master’s pedestal ?

AllegorThe letter “G” can signify Geometry, which is the root and foundation of all Sciences. “G” has also a symbolic meaning of God as synonymous with Geometry and it may also stand for the “Great” or” Grand” Architect of the Universe . In the words of our Brother W.L. Wilmhurst [3]:

“When the Lodge is opened , the mind and heart of every Brother composing it, should be deemed opened to the “G” and all that it implies and to the desire that those implications may eventually realise themselves by becoming facts (…) and when the Lodge is closed, the memory of the symbol “G” and its implications should be the principal things to be retained and pondered over in the repository of the heart”

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It is therefore entirely appropriate that the Masonic “Charge after the Initiation” delivered to the EAF, should state : “As a Freemason I would first recommend to your most serious contemplation , the volume of the Sacred Law”. It is only by contemplating the scripture with perseverance, that one will find and recognise symbolism. It cannot be attained by simply memorising and repeating to an esponential degree , the words of the Masonic ritual.

But sadly there is a large number of Freemasons who never actually consider the presence of allegories in the ritual and in the VSL.

On the Continent of Europe the Entered Apprentice has to wait a number of years after his initiation before being passed to the second degree. And during that time he is expected to do Masonic research and write papers to be presented to his lodge and in the Lodge. It is only when his Brethren are convinced that he has attained a relevant and sufficient Masonic knowledge that he is allowed progression to the next degree.

If you were to ask an Entered Apprentice Freemason here to make research on symbolism, he would probably not even know where to start. By contrast , in France and in Italy there has always been an intellectual tradition. Philosophy is taught in secondary school there, so there is a tendency to recruit from people who have such kind of interest and education. And if you go to France, you will discover that every bookshop – whether in Paris or in any provincial town – has shelves stacked with books and magazines on Freemasonry written by Freemasons and covering the subject of Masonic symbolism.

The philosopher Thomas Carlyle once wrote: “In a symbol there is concealment and yet revelation, silence and speech acting together. (…) infinite blending itself with the finite, to stand visible and, as it were, attainable there.”

So mote it be.

The author forbids any reproduction or publication of this article, in full or in part, without his explicit authorisation.

[1] According to the Kabbalah there are ten creative forces – the Holy Sephiroths – that intervene between God and our world. Through these powers God created and rules the universe, and it is by influencing them that humans cause God to send to Earth forces of compassion or severe judgment .

[2] The burning bush is an object described by the Book of Exodus as being located on Mount Horeb. According to the narrative, the bush was on fire, but was not consumed by the flames, hence the name. In the biblical narrative, the burning bush is the location at which Moses was appointed by Yahweh (God) to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and into Canaan.

[3] In the words of our distinguished Brother and author Robert Lomas , William Leslie WIlmhurst was one of the greatest thinkers about Freemasonry in the last century. Born in Chichester in 1867, he died in London in 1929. He wrote the book “The meaning f Freemasonry” and within it he tried to explain the inexplicable.

Sources

D.M.Study Circle 2016 transactions

“The Holy Acronym and Gematria” by Bro. R. Johnson (from “The Midnight Freemasons” blog)

Wikipedia

The Blog universalfreemasonry