Category: Masonic Symbolism

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  Intellectual stimulation has been replaced by a rush to higher offices, honorifics and obsessive charity work.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. 

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[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

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. 

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[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.

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Sources:

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

“The 47th 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 47th 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

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”

— *** —

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