THE ORNAMENTS

"THE interior fittings of a Freemason's Lodge", says the Co-Masonic ritual, "comprise the ornaments, the furniture and the jewels. The ornaments are the mosaic pavement, symbolizing spirit and matter; the blazing star, ever reminding us of the presence of God in His universe, and the indented border, the Guardian Wall."

THE MOSAIC PAVEMENT

The three ornaments all belong to the middle of the Lodge. The mosaic pavement is the beautiful floor, which is composed of squares alternately black and white, and is explained in the Craft ritual as the diversity of objects which decorate and ornament creation, the animate as well as the inanimate parts thereof. Its alternate squares, however, symbolize not only the mingling of living and material things in the world, but even more the intermingling of spirit and matter, or life and matter, everywhere. The double triangles interlaced indicate the same great fact in nature.

Throughout nature there is no life without matter, and no matter without life. Until recent years many scientific people thought that the life side of creation extended only as far down as the vegetable kingdom, but nowadays it is being recognized that it is not possible to draw a line anywhere and say: "Above this things are living and conscious in various degrees, but below it there is only dead matter." The researches made by Professor Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose of Calcutta (recorded in his book Response in the Living and Non-Living) which have won him the highest scientific honours and respect, show that such a line simply does not exist, but that there is some degree of life in the tiniest grain of sand. Some of his conclusions have been stated in brief and effective form in Dr. Annie Besant's well-known work, A Study in Consciousness, in the following words:

Professor Bose has definitely proved that so-called "inorganic matter" is responsive to stimulus, and that the response is identical from metals, vegetables, animals, and - so far as experiment can be made - man.

He arranged apparatus to measure the stimulus applied, and to show in curves, traced on a revolving cylinder, the response from the body receiving the stimulus. He then compared the curves obtained in tin and in other metals with those obtained from muscle, and found that the curves from tin were identical with those from muscle, and that other metals gave curves of like nature but varied in the period of recovery.

Tetanus, both complete and incomplete, due to repeated shocks, was caused, and similar results accrued, in mineral as in muscle.

Fatigue was shown by metals, least of all by tin. Chemical re-agents, such as drugs, produced on metals similar results to those known to result with animals - exciting, depressing, and deadly.

A poison will kill a metal, inducing a condition of immobility, so that no response is obtainable. If the poisoned metal be taken in time, an antidote may save its life.

A stimulant will increase response, and as large and small doses of a drug have been found to kill and stimulate respectively, so have they been found to act on metals.

"Among such phenomena," asks Professor Bose, "how can we draw a line of demarcation and say: 'Here the physical process ends, and there the physiological begins'? No such barriers exist."

Psychic experience and trained clairvoyance add their testimony to this conclusion, and affirm that without a shadow of doubt the same kind of life can be seen pulsating in the body of a tiger or an oak tree or a fragment of mineral substance. As The Secret Doctrine expressed it:

With every day, the identity between the animal and physical man, between the plant and man, and even between the reptile and its nest, the rock, and man - is more and more clearly shown. The physical and chemical constituents of all being found to be identical, Chemical

Science may well say that there is no difference between the matter which composes the ox, and that which forms man. But the Occult doctrine is far more explicit. It says: Not only the chemical compounds are the same, but the same infinitesimal invisible Lives compose the atoms of the bodies of the mountain and the daisy, of man and the ant, of the elephant and of the tree which shelters it from the sun. Each particle-whether you call it organic or inorganic - is a Life.* (*The Secret Doctrine, I, 281.)

In looking, then, at our checkered pavement, those of us who understand the full significance of it are constantly reminded of the omnipresence of life.

In ancient Egypt the sanctity of the mosaic pavement was guarded with the most jealous care, and it was never invaded except by the candidate and the officers at the proper times, by the I.P.M. in the pursuance of his duties, the S. D. at the obtaining of light from the sacred fire, and the Thurifer when he censed the altar.

The exceeding importance of squaring the Lodge accurately is another aspect of the same idea. The currents of force are rushing along and across that pavement in lines like the warp and woof of a piece of cloth, and also round the edges of it, and anyone who has to cross it, or even come near it, should be careful to move with the force and not against it. Hence the imperative necessity of always keeping to one direction. In modern days less care seems to be taken of the mosaic pavement; I have even seen a case in which the attendance-book, which all have to sign, was placed on a table in the middle of it. With us in Egypt that pavement occupied almost the whole of the floor of the Lodge; now it is often only a small enclosure in the middle of it.

THE INDENTED BORDER

All round the mosaic pavement runs the tesselated border. In older Masonry it is said that it was made of threads twining in and out, but now it is a machicolated border, a sort of dog-tooth arrangement. In the early eighteenth century, we are told, the symbols of the Order were marked out in chalk upon the floor, and this diagram was then encircled with a wavy cord, ornamented with tassels, and was therefore called "the indented tassel", later corrupted into the "tesselated border". The French call it "la houpe dentelée", and describe it as "a cord forming true lover's knots, which surrounds the tracing board". The tesselated border refers us, says the masculine ritual, to the beautiful border formed round the sun by the planets in their various revolutions. The Co-Masonic ritual makes it an emblem of the Guardian Wall protecting humanity, composed of Adepts or men who have attained the perfection of human evolution in past centuries and millennia. They stand around humanity in the spiritual worlds, it is said in a Buddhist scripture, to save mankind from further and far greater misery and sorrow.

There is a similar dual interpretation also for the four tassels which appear in the corners of the border. In masculine Masonry they are usually considered to mean temperance, fortitude, prudence and justice; their significance is always interpreted as ethical. But they stand also for four great orders of devas connected with the elements earth, water, air and fire, and their great Rulers, the four Devarajas, agents of the law of karma, which is always balancing and adjusting the affairs of man, and seeing that there is no injustice between living creatures in God's universe, just as there is no maladjustment in the relations of material substances and bodies. At the initiation of candidates in Co-Masonic Lodges these four Rulers of the elements are invoked, and the consequences of that are very real and beneficial, little as many members of the fraternity may be aware of the fact.

THE BLAZING STAR

The Blazing Star is properly six-pointed, and is made of glass, set in the middle of the ceiling and illuminated from inside by artificial light. Below it there should be another and movable star on the floor. The Blazing Star is the sign of the Deity, and to make that more evident, in the middle of it is usually inscribed the letter G, for God. In the old Jewish form of Masonry they had instead of that letter their sacred word YHVH, standing for Jehovah. In Co-Masonic Lodges the usual form of this figure is a serpent curled round with its tail in its mouth, a symbol of eternity. This was the original form, but the head of the serpent was altered so as to form the letter G. The Sacred Fire below the star is a reflection of it; in some Lodges, as for example at Adyar, in India, it hangs just underneath the ceiling on a pulley arrangement, and is lowered that light may be taken from it and carried to the candles. The Blazing Star also represents the sun, the dispenser of innumerable blessings to mankind and the world in general; but as the sun is the symbol of God there is no difference between these two interpretations. In many Lodges the Blazing Star is made five-pointed, and it formerly had wavering points or rays; this is usual in the English and American Obediences.

The spiritual verity expressed in the Blazing Star and its reflection in the Sacred Fire indicates that God's reflection is ever in our midst. The statement that man was made in the image of God is familiar to all; there is a reflection of God in man more than a reflection. The image of God in man is an expression or continuation of God Himself, for God is the light which carries the image, and insomuch as a man can receive that light in himself and reflect it he is a part of it, one with the Divine. As Emerson beautifully expressed it in his essay on the Over-Soul: "There is no bar or wall in the soul where God the cause ceases and man the effect begins."

Several different kinds of stars are to be seen in the Masonic Lodge, and it is well to consider the special significance of each of them, for there is nothing in the Lodge that is mere ornament, without meaning - on the contrary, even the simplest thing is there for a purpose and has great significance. The six-pointed star is, as we have seen, an emblem of the unity of spirit and matter, of God in manifestation in His universe. The five-pointed star is placed in the east on the wall over the head of the R.W.M. and is called the Star in the East, and also the Star of Initiation. It is the symbol of the perfect man, God manifesting through man, not through the universe as a whole. Man is a five-fold being - physical, emotional, mental, intuitional and spiritual; and when all these parts of his nature are perfectly developed as far as that is possible in a human state of existence, he becomes the perfect man, the Adept, master of himself and the five worlds or planes in which he has his being. Such a man has fulfilled the instruction: "Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect."

On the t … b … there is the seven-pointed star above the ladder reaching up into the heavens. It is a symbol of the seven great lines along which all life is moving slowly upwards to completer union with the divine, of the seven ways in which man may realize perfection, and the seven rays or emanations of God through which He has filled the whole universe with the light of His life. This star also typifies the Christian thought of the seven great Archangels, the Seven Spirits who stand before the throne of God. It is likewise another symbol for the perfected man or Adept, because while he is master of the five worlds, he is also the wielder of seven powers; he has developed his nature to human perfection on all seven rays, in all seven of the lines of activity of the divine life.

THE FURNITURE

The furniture of the Lodge is also threefold, and consists of the V. S. L., the square and the compasses. Without them the Lodge cannot legally be held. The Lodge is described as just, perfect and regular: it is just because the V. S. L. is open in it; it is perfect because it contains seven M. M.s or more; it is regular because it holds a warrant or charter from a Supreme Council, Grand Lodge, or other supreme body having an unbroken line of Masonic authority. It is to be understood, of course, that the Volumes of the Sacred Lore are not only the Bible of the Christians, but the sacred books of other religions as well, for the members of a Lodge may and often do belong to various religions. In a Lodge meeting on one occasion in Bombay there were among the Brethren present Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Parsis, Jews, Sikhs, Muhammadans, and Jains. It is the custom there to place on the altar the sacred books of all who are likely to attend that Lodge. The Rev. J. T. Lawrence, the well-known author of many Masonic handbooks, tells us that he himself has initiated Jews, Muhammadans, Hindus and Parsis, and at least one Buddhist. He writes:

According to a pronouncement of Grand Lodge, the Bible need not be in the Lodge at all. The Volume of the Sacred Law, we have been told, is that which contains the sacred law of the individual concerned. That is to say, it may be the (Quran, the Zendavesta, the Shasters, the Rig-Veda, or any other volume.* (*Sidelights on Freemasonry, p. 47.)

In the Grand Lodge of all Scottish Freemasonry in India a (Quran-bearer, a Zendavesta-bearer, and the like, are numbered among the officers.* (*Sidelights on Freemasonry, p. 50.) Freemasonry has always been liberal in its views. The Grand Lodge of England has declined to limit or define the belief in God which is expected from every candidate; in the charge concerning God and Religion in the Book of Constitutions of 1815 it is said: "Let a man's religion or mode of worship be what it may, he is not excluded from the Order, provided he believes in the glorious Architect of heaven and earth and practise the sacred duties of morality." It will thus be seen that the ideals of Masonry are very high, and its views extraordinarily tolerant, and that its power for good in the world is unquestionably enormous.

In Co-Masonry the term "lore" is employed as describing all these scriptures, since in the use of them we are in pursuit of wisdom. The term "law" is used in many other Lodges, but even then it is explained in the ritual that the object of the Volume of the Sacred Law is to illumine our minds. So in the three articles of furniture we have the V.S.L. to enlighten the mind, the square to regulate our actions, and the compasses to keep us within due bounds in our relations with all, and especially with our Brethren in Freemasonry. Yet at the same time all these objects have much larger meanings.

With the Egyptians the compasses were a triangle and the square was a geometrical square - the ordinary figure with four equal sides and all its angles right angles. In modern days we use the tool that a working Mason calls a square, by means of which he tests the two adjacent sides of any flat stone to find out whether they are at right angles to each other. In Freemasonry when the candidate is now asked, "What is a square?" he replies: "It is an angle of ninety degrees or the fourth part of a circle." This is obviously not a correct description of a square, but only of one corner of a square.

The square which lies on the V.S.L. has quite a different genesis, and a different reason for its existence, from the implement which is worn by the R.W.M. It was originally a mathematical square, but it has lost its full shape, and is now represented only by one corner of the square. It is usually considered identical with the carpenter's or mason's tool of that name, which is worn by the R.W.M. as the symbol of his office, but the two ideas are in reality quite distinct.

In Egypt the triangle represented the triad of spiritual will, intuitional love and higher intelligence in man; while the square typified the lower quaternary, that is, his body with its visible and etheric divisions, his emotional nature, and his lower mind. Thus the triangle stool for the individuality or soul, and the square; fur the personality, the two together constituting septenary man.

The three articles of furniture were also regarded as intended to help men on their way; the V.S.L. drew attention to the value of tradition, the triangle spoke of the importance of inspiration, and the square emphasized the high use of facts, with also in the background the idea of the value of common sense. The tradition was handed down by the forefathers, the inspiration came from the higher self, and the facts were to be studied and used with common sense.

THE MOVABLE JEWELS

The three movable jewels are the square, the level and the plumb-rule. They are worn, depending from their collars, by the three principal officers, and are then called their jewels of office. They are movable because they are transferred by Master and Wardens to their successors on the day of installation of new officers. The collar was also worn in ancient Egypt, but it was much more nearly circular, like a necklace, instead of being pointed and hanging low on the breast, as it is now worn.

The square is usually considered to represent morality, the level equality, and the plumb-rule uprightness or justice. It will be seen that in this case the term "square" is applied exclusively to the tool, and not to the geometrical figure. In his Masonic Encyclopedia, Kenning mentions that the square was often seen in churches as an emblem of the old operative builders, and that upon an early metal square found near Limerick, in Ireland, the following words and the date 1517 are inscribed:

I strive to live with love and care
Upon the level, by the square.

This seems to show that our speculative interpretations were already known at the early date mentioned.

There is also a translation from an ancient Persian inscription, which runs:

Square thyself for use; a stone that may
Fit in the wall is not left in the way.

The R. W. M. has as his jewel the square, which indicates the Third Outpouring of divine force, from the First Logos, the First Person of the Trinity, and has therefore the same significance as the gavel, his instrument of government. The symbolism of the gavel is very profound; to explain it I must draw attention to what is probably the oldest symbol in the world. (Fig. 08a).

Figure 08.

This long line with two crossed bars upon it has for uncounted thousands of years been the special sign of the Supreme Being. The pygmy race is probably the most primitive at present existing, but even they have that symbol for their chief. Older people will remember the excitement that was caused when the famous explorer Stanley journeyed into the center of Africa to find Dr. Livingstone, and came back to us with the story of the pygmies living in the forests there. His new s way a confirmation of that which a French explorer, Du Chaillu, had brought some quarter of a century before, but it had not been generally accepted until Stanley's evidence arrived.

That pygmy race is a relic of the old Lemurians, and represents them more purely than any other people. The Lemurians were at one time a gigantic people, but in process of dying out they diminished in size. The African bushmen are also remnants of the same race, but with very mixed blood, and the same thing is true of those who are usually called the Australian aboriginals, except that in their case there is a very alight admixture of Aryan blood.

At one time the pygmies were spread over a great deal more of Africa than at present, and some of them were the first people to enter Egypt when the marshes were partially drying up after the great flood that followed the sinking of the island of Poseidonis some nine thousand five hundred years before Christ. They were driven out a little later by the Nilotic negroes, but that more advanced race was finally dispossessed (and, I think, to some extent absorbed) by the true Egyptians when they returned to their country. As I have explained in Chapter I, the wise men of Egypt had foreseen that there would be a great flood, and the Aryan portion of the Egyptian population had left the country and gone over to Arabia, where it was mountainous. When the returned a long time after the flood they found the Nilotic negroes in possession of their country, and to some slight extent they blended with them; that is the explanation of the traces of negro blood which are found in the ancient Egyptians.

These Nilotic negroes also used the same symbol, but they altered it somewhat; instead of having the two sticks crossed (Fig. 08 a), they laid them across the vertical rod one above the other (Fig. 08 b), thereby making the double cross which is still used by the Greek Church, having come to it via the Coptic Church. But in the meantime another development of this symbol had taken place. If we draw lines joining each of the two ends (Fig. 08 c & d), we get the double axe - the double-headed battle-axe, which appeared when hafting was invented. That was the sign of the chief or king in many parts of the world. Among the Chaldeans, for example, it was the token of Ramu, which was their name for the Supreme God, and one of His titles was the God of the Age. The same symbol was also found among the Aztecs, which shows their connection with Egypt. They represented their chieftain by this symbol of the age, which was their sign for God, because the chief was looked upon as God's representative. There are still tribes in Central Africa among which that double axe has a hut to itself, as a great chief would have.

Quite recently extensive archaeological researches have been made in the island of Crete, and among other things discovered there was this symbol of the double axe, which there also stood for the Deity.* (*Fig. 09 is reproduced (with permission) from an illustration in The Palace of Minos in Knossos, by Sir Arthur Evans.) In the outer courts of the temples of the great kingdom of Knossos there were many statues, but when one penetrated to the Holy of Holies there was no statue, but the double age was there set up as a symbol of the Supreme, and was called the Labrys. That is the origin of the word labyrinth; for the first labyrinth was constructed in order that this sacred symbol might be put in the middle of it, and the way to it was confused in order to symbolize the difficulty of the path which leads to the Highest. The stories of the Minotaur and Theseus and Ariadne came much later than this. Until these recent discoveries the Greek word "labyrinth" was marked as a foreign word of unknown derivation.

Figure 09

The gavel of the Master of the Lodge has descended from that, and it is held by the Master because in his humble way, in the symbolism of the Lodge, he is representing the Deity. It is a sign of government, and is held by him in exactly the same way as it was long ago by the first of the Pharaohs. It has now become modified in shape, and often takes the form of the mason's stone-hammer. The name gavel came from the word "gable", so that name belongs to an object of this later shape, rather than to the old double-axe.

In Egypt the double axe was also the sign for Aroueris, the first name given to the risen Horus, and Horus was called the Chief of the Hammer because this sign was sometimes drawn as a hammer. One of the old Egyptian gavels is still in existence, and there may be others also which have not been identified for what they are. That one is in the possession of the H.O.A.T.F., who uses it today in His own Lodge. It is the gavel which was used by Rameses the Great in Egypt - a most lovely implement of green jade inlaid with gold. With it the H.O.A.T.F. also has a cloak which was used by Rameses when acting as Master of his Lodge; I do not know its material, but it somewhat resembles the feathered cloaks which used to be worn in Hawaii.

Plate VIII

The square of the I.M. is equally an instrument of government, as is indicated in its use as the seat of Osiris in the Judgment Hall, mentioned in Chapter I.* (*Plate II (b)) From it Osiris governs or judges the souls of men who are brought before him, and decides as to whether they are sufficiently perfect to pass onward. From this we have our modern idea of acting on the square; that is to say, with perfect justice to our neighbor.

The figure is in this case the working mason's square, an angle of ninety degrees, used for testing the sides of a stone to see that they are at right angles to each other, and that therefore the wall built of them will stand perpendicular, safe and strong. The difference between the two kinds of squares will now be clearly seen. The quadrilateral is intended when we speak of the compasses as dominating the square, but this right angle is signified when we refer to the tool wherewith the Master measures and decides. Although the R.W.M. has this symbol of the square, he is in fact the Son governing and judging on behalf of the Father, who remains in the background, since our Lodges are of the Christ or Sun-God type.

In Egypt they had a symbol of very great significance, called the Arrow of Ra, which includes both the square of the R.W.M. and his gavel of office. (Plate VIII)

In our plate the different parts are separate, but sometimes they are joined together, and then one gets the effect of an arrow, whence it is named the Arrow of Ra, the Sun-God, who was also called Horus of the Double Horizon, the Son of Osiris and Isis, and yet a reincarnation of Osiris, God in evolution. The lower portion of the drawing refers to His descent into matter, the inverted square signifying descent, and the angle beneath symbolizing the cavern of matter into which He went down. The upper square then indicates that He ascended or rose again. The symbol in the center - that of the double axe - is that of the Most High God; so the complete glyph is thus a kind of symbolic creed, which for those who drew it affirmed their faith in the descent of the Deity into matter and His final triumphant ascension from it: "descended He; ascended He". If we were to interpret it along lines of Christian symbology we might call it the emblem of the crucified and triumphant Christ; but it is also a token of the whole method of evolution.

This device appears in many places. It is to be seen in the museum of the Louvre in Paris, engraved upon a Chaldaean intaglio made of green jasper. It is also to be found on the walls of some very old churches in Devonshire and Cornwall in England, where it must have been engraved by the wandering Freemasons who built those churches, for the orthodox Christians could have known nothing of it.

While we are considering the symbols of the R.W.M. we may note also the three levels which appear upon his apron in place of the three rosettes. These are not true levels, but figures formed of a perpendicular line standing upon a horizontal - an inverted T, thus -. This has the same significance as the W. S. W.'s column standing erect while the W. J. W.'s is recumbent in the open Lodge; it indicates that the life of the Second Logos, the Christ, is flowing. It is not that the life of the Third Logos, which is represented by the horizontal line, or by the W. J. W.'s column, has ceased to flow (it is flowing always while an external world exists) but that the Second Aspect of the Divine is also outpouring His life, and causing the evolution of living forms. Thus this emblem refers to the two outpourings, and shows that the Master presides over all three representations.

This figure, called the Tau, has another very important meaning, for the upright line signifies the masculine element, and the horizontal line the feminine, in the Deity - thus slowing that God manifests as Mother as well as Father, as we are told in The Stanzas of Dzyan.* (*The Secret Doctrine, vol. I, p. 59 et passim.) I shall refer to this again later when writing of the H.R.A. In ancient Egypt it took to a large extent the place of the cross and, conjoined with the circle or oval, it became the ankh, the symbol of everlasting life.

The jewel of the I. P. M. resembles that of the Master in that it contains the square, but it has certain important additions. The jewel of the I.P.M. in England was formerly a square on a quadrant, but it is now the forty-seventh proposition of Euclid's Book I, engraved on a silver plate suspended within a square. In the United States it is a pair of compasses extended to sixty degrees on the fourth part of a circle, with a sun in the center. The proposition is of course well known, and a practical application of it is widely used by builders, in laying out walls at right angles to each other and in other work, in the form of a triangle having its sides in the ratio 3: 4: 5, the first two sides of which are invariably at right angles. Plutarch says that a triangle of this kind was frequently employed by the Egyptian priests, who regarded it as a symbol of the universal Trinity, Osiris and Isis being the two sides at right angles to each other, and Horus their product, the hypotenuse. The extent to which this measure was used by the Egyptians can be judged from the following extracts from the Exposition du Systeme Metrique des Anciens Egyptiens of M. Jomard, as given in Dr. Mackey's Lexicon:

If we inscribe within a circle a triangle, whose perpendicular shall be 300 parts, whose base shall be 400 parts, and whose hypotenuse shall be 500 parts, which, of course, bear the same proportion to each other as 3, 4, and 5; then if we let a perpendicular fall from the angle of the perpendicular and base to the hypotenuse, and extend it through the hypotenuse to the circumference of the circle, this chord or line will be equal to 480 parts, and the two segments of the hypotenuse, on each side of it, will be found equal, respectively, to 180 and 320. From the point where this chord intersects the hypotenuse, let another line fall perpendicularly to the shortest side of the triangle, and this line will be equal to 144 parts, while the shorter segment, formed by its junction with the perpendicular side of the triangle, will be equal to 108 parts. Hence, we may derive the following measures from the diagram: 500, 480, 400, 320, 180, 144, and 108; and all these without the slightest fraction. Supposing, then, the 500 to be cubits, we have the measure of the base of the great pyramid of Memphis. In the 400 cubits of the base of the triangle we have the exact length of the Egyptian stadium. The 320 gives us the exact number of Egyptian cubits contained in the Hebrew and Babylonian stadium. The stadium of Ptolemy is represented by the 480 cubits, or length of the line falling from the right angle to the circumference of the circle, through the hypotenuse. The number 180, which expresses the smaller segment of the hypotenuse, being doubled, will give 360 cubits, which will be the stadium of Cleomedes. By doubling the 144, the result will be 288 cubits, or the length of the stadium of Archimedes; and by doubling the 108, we produce 216 cubits, or the precise value of the lesser Egyptian stadium. In this manner, we obtain from this triangle all the measures of length that were in use among the Egyptians.

Figure 10

For the demonstration of the proposition in general, that in a right-angled triangle the sum of the squares on the two shorter sides is equal to the square on the hypotenuse, the modern world is indebted to Pythagoras. It is interesting that as the I. P. M. stands in the Lodge as a watcher to see that all is in order, and test everything by his judgment, so does an architect test the rectangularity of a structure by the triangle of ratio 3 : 4 : 5. It is he who also declares that "His light is ever in our midst", pronouncing his final authority upon the presence of the Divine, and opening the V.S.L.

The W. S. W.'s jewel is the level, an emblem of the equality and harmony which he must endeavor to preserve among the Brethren in the Lodge; but, as we have seen, this is also a symbol of the second member of the Trinity, the universal Christ-principle, the life-force in evolution. The two ideas, are not, however, inconsistent, for in Christ all men are brothers, since all lives are part of the one great Life in which we have our being. The most perfect equality should exist in the Lodge, just as in the sight of God, who treats all equally, with the same judgment and according to the same laws. An additional interpretation of this symbol is that it indicates that only those buildings which are erected on a good level can stand firm and strong.

The W.J.W. has the plumb-rule as his jewel. It is taken as an emblem of the rectitude which should mark the conduct of the Brethren during the time of refreshment, when they are outside the Lodge. Such conduct at all times leads to a life that is full of grace and beauty.

The remaining officers also wear jewels of office. Those of the Orator, Secretary, Treasurer and D.C. are respectively a book, crossed pens, crossed keys and crossed wands, of which the meaning is obvious. In Co-Masonry, the S.D. and J.D. have each a dove as their jewel, signifying their quality as messengers; but in some other Lodges they have a square and compasses, with a sun in the center for the S.D. and a moon for the J.D. The square and compasses are intended to indicate their qualities of circumspection and justice, for theirs are the duties of seeing to the security of the Lodge and the introduction of visitors. A lyre, a purse, crossed swords, and a single sword, are once more obvious as the jewels of the Organist, the Almoner, the I.G., and the T. respectively. The jewel of the Stewards is the cornucopia. They take their appointment from the W. J. W., provide the necessary refreshments, collect dues and subscriptions, and make themselves generally useful. It is said that the horn of plenty should remind them that it is their duty to see that the tables are properly furnished, and that every Bro. is suitably provided for.

THE IMMOVABLE JEWELS

The t … b … and the rough and perfect ashlars are called the immovable jewels, because they lie open and ever present in the Lodge, so that they may reflect the divine nature, and serve at all times for the Masons to moralize upon. In some Masonic books, however, especially those published in America, the square, the level and the plumb-rule are called the immovable jewels, because they are always in the same place in the Lodge, and the t … b … and the rough and smooth ashlars are spoken of as the movable jewels, because they can be moved about.

In the description of the t … b … which is given in some rituals we are told that it is for the Master to lay his plans upon. It is, however, obvious that it is not precisely suitable for that purpose, because it is already very fully occupied with the plan or drawing of an ideal Lodge. What is intended is simply that the R.W.M., with the assistance of the other Brethren assembled, should bring the Lodge down here as closely as possible into harmony and accurate relation with the ideal Lodge. It means that as T.G.A.O.T.U. has laid His plans up above, so should we down here make ours as nearly as may be in harmony with His and in imitation of them. To put it in other terms, the t … b … was intended to mean the plan in the thought of the Logos, which the Greeks called the "Intelligible World". They said that all things came down out of that into the world which we know, that everything is planned out beforehand, and that the world existed in the divine thought before it materialized. In the Lodges of two centuries ago, the t … b … was drawn afresh on the floor with chalk for each meeting, instead of being printed; and it was considered part of a good R. W. M.'s knowledge that he should be able to draw it quickly and quite perfectly without having to look at a copy.

In the diagram of the t … b … we see the altar, and on it the V.S.L. From that a ladder goes up to the seven-pointed star, which represents the Monad in man, in whom the seven types of life or consciousness are all to be perfect to the limits of human possibility. That star represents also the Logos, the supreme consciousness of our solar system, God's consciousness, which is already perfected in a degree altogether beyond human comprehension.

The ladder has many steps, which indicate the virtues by means of which we may ascend to the perfection symbolized by the star. In Egypt those steps were taken to express the initiations leading upwards; but of course these are only two interchangeable methods of expressing the same thing. If we take them to mean initiations, they represent definite steps taken, but if we regard them as indicating the virtues, they are the qualifications for initiation. In all cases the idea of degrees leading up to a condition of perfection is quite definitely recognized. Or it may be considered in another way, as Bro. Wilmshurst takes it in his wonderful book Masonic Initiation, in which he writes:

It is a symbol of the Universe, and of its succession of step-like planes reaching from the heights to the depths. It is written elsewhere that the Father's house has many mansions; many levels and resting-places for His creatures in their different conditions and degrees of progress. It is these levels, these planes and sub-planes, that are denoted by the rungs and staves of the ladder. And of these there are, for us in our present state of evolutionary unfoldment, three principal ones; the physical plane, the plane of desire and emotion, and the mental plane, or that of the abstract intelligence which links up to the still higher planes of the spirit. These three levels of the world are reproduced in man. The first corresponds with his material physique, his sense-body; the second with his desire and emotional nature, which is a mixed element resulting from the interaction of his physical senses and his ultra-physical mind; the third with his mentality, which is still further removed from his physical nature, and forms the link between the latter and his spiritual being. …

Thus the Universe and man himself are constructed ladder-wise, in an orderly organized sequence of steps; the one universal substance composing the differentiated parts of the Universe "descends" from a state of the utmost ethereality by successive steps of increasing densification, until gross materialization is reached; and thence "ascends" through a similarly ordered gradation of planes to its original place, but enriched by the experience gained by its activities during the process.

It was this cosmic process which was the subject of the dream or vision of Jacob. … What was "dreamed" or beheld by him with supersensual vision is equally perceptible today by any one whose inner eyes have been opened. Every real Initiate is one who has attained an expansion of consciousness and faculty enabling him to behold the ethereal worlds revealed to the Hebrew Patriarch as easily as the uninitiated man beholds the phenomenal world with its outer eyes. The Initiate is able to see the angels of God ascending and descending; that is, he can directly behold the great stairway of the Universe, and watch the intricate but orderly mechanism of involution, differentiation, evolution and resynthesis constituting the Life-process. He can witness the descent of human essences or souls through planes of increasing density and decreasing vibratory rate, gathering round them as they come veils of matter from each, until finally this lowest level of complete materialization is reached, where the great struggle for supremacy between the inner and the outer man, between the spirit and the flesh, between the real self and the unreal selves in veils built round it, has to be fought out on the checker-work floor of our present existence among the black and white opposites of good and evil, light and darkness, prosperity and adversity; and he can watch the upward return of those who conquer in the strife and, attaining their regeneration and casting off or transmuting the "worldly possessions" acquired during their descent, ascend to their Source, pure and unpolluted from the stains of this imperfect world.* (*Op. cit. pp. 64-66.)

On the ladder appear three emblems, a cross, an anchor, and a cup with a hand stretched out to reach it. The explanation of the t … b … in the ritual speaks of these as the three principal virtues, faith, hope and charity. Strictly speaking, the standard symbol for charity is a heart, and this does actually appear on some t … b … s instead of the cup; but the cup is the more ancient symbol, and really means much more to us.

Another and a very beautiful interpretation of the cross upon the ladder is given to us by Bro. Wilmshurst, who takes it to represent all the aspirants who are engaged in mounting that ladder. He says:

Each carries his cross, his own cruciform body, as he ascends; the material vesture whose tendencies are ever at cross purposes with the desire of the spirit, and militate against the ascent. Thus weighted, each must climb, and climb alone; yet reaching out - as the secret tradition teaches, and the arms of the tilted cross signify - one hand to invisible helpers above, and the other to assist the ascent of feebler brethren below. For, as the sides and separate rungs of the ladder constitute a unity, so all life and all lives are fundamentally one, and none lives to himself alone.* (*Op. cit. p. 69.)

These three symbols also refer once more to the three outpourings of the divine life, which have their correspondence in the development of the self in man. First he has to realize the world of material things, then that of consciousness or life, and finally he must rise to the real self. Since Egyptian times both the cross and the anchor have been modified, but the cup has not. The cross was originally what is now called the Greek cross, with equal arms. That has always been the token of the first outpouring of divine life through the Third Aspect of God, or the third member of the Trinity, called among the Christians God the Holy Ghost, and sometimes the Life-Giver, who brooded over the waters of space.

A further point in the symbology is that the cross contains within itself the square, the level and the plumb-line combined; and we find in the Epistle to the Ephesians written by St Ignatius (who according to tradition was the little child whom Christ once took and set in the midst of His disciples as a type of those who should inherit the kingdom of heaven), this remarkable Masonic passage:

Ye are stones of a Temple, which were prepared beforehand for a building of God the Father, being raised to the heights by the working-tool of Jesus Christ, which is the cross, and using for a rope the Holy Spirit, your faith being a windlass, and love the way leading up to God.

Sometimes the rose is impressed upon that equal-armed cross, and then we have the Rose Croix, the great emblem of the Rosicrucians, which figures largely in the Eighteenth Degree. The Maltese cross is another form of it, with the arms widening or spreading out, conveying the idea that the force that is pouring out is constantly increasing. Again, we find it with flames shooting out from the ends of the cross; and when it is in active revolution, with the flames trailing at right angles to the arms of the cross, we have the well-known form called the swastika.

In these days the cross on the ladder is usually drawn in the Latin form, which makes it a sign of the Second Outpouring, from the Second Person of the Trinity, and it is usually considered as the cross of Christ, though crosses of many forms were used as symbols thousands of years before Christ incarnated in Palestine. The First Outpouring, typified by the Greek cross, prepares the world for the reception of life; it brings into being the material elements, but not bodies formed by their combination. We might have oxygen and hydrogen produced by this outpouring, but not their combination, water; for combination of the elements into bodies of ever-increasing complexity of organized structure and function is the work of the Second Outpouring of the divine life or power.

The Second Outpouring is indicated by the anchor, for that was originally in Egypt a little pendulum swinging over a scale, curved to coincide with the arc of its motion. It is not difficult to see how that might be changed into an anchor, especially among people who were thinking of the cross and anchor as representing faith and hope. Such a modification may easily have come about without deliberate intention; and when it had been determined that the third virtue should be charity, we can understand why the cup was sometimes changed into a heart. The cup may stand also as suggesting charity, as being the cup of life from which the overflow is charity; but many people would feel the heart to be an easier symbol for that virtue.

Those who have read Greek philosophy or the Gnostic systems will remember that the krater or cup plays a prominent part in them. It was the vessel into which the wine of the divine life was poured. In Christian thought it is the Holy Grail filled with the precious blood of Christ; the chalice used at the institution of the Holy Eucharist, the cup which Joseph of Arimathea is supposed to have held to catch the sacred blood of Jesus as He hung upon the cross. All these things are, however, an allegory. The real meaning of the symbol is that the cup is the causal body of man, and the wine is the life from God that flashes into it in the Third Outpouring from the First Logos, at the moment of individualization, which makes the animal into a human being, not perfected yet, of course, but capable of perfection.

So the three symbols represent the respective gifts of the divine life, or three great emanations of the Logos. In Egyptian times the Greek term Logos did not yet exist, and they spoke of Osiris and Horus, but the teaching was the same, for there is only one fundamental truth about these things. The t … b … thus shows that the man who intelligently comprehends the scheme of the evolution of life in the world can deliberately co-operate with the divine plan, until he becomes perfectly evolved as man and reaches the seven-pointed star; and that then he is ready to pass on into still higher conditions, which are indicated on the t … b … by the clouds, the sun, the moon and the stars above. In fact, true philosophy discerns the plan drawn by T.G.A. on the Tracing Board of Time for the building of the Universe.

The remaining jewels, the rough and smooth ashlars, are seen in the t … b … near the pillars which represent the columns of the W.J.W. and W.S.W. respectively. The smooth ashlar is generally suspended from a pulley, and held by the lewis,* (*See fig. 11.) an implement consisting of wedge-shaped pieces of steel which are fitted into a dovetailed mortise in the stone to be hoisted. This instrument was so named, by the architect who invented it, in honor of the French King Louis XIV. One who is the son or daughter of a Mason is called a lewis (because he is supposed to support his parents in their old age), and it is generally held that he may be initiated into Masonry when only eighteen years old. Though some assert that this can be done only by special dispensation, the custom is to regard it as a right.

Figure 11

The rough ashlar indicates the untrained mind of the candidate. He is supposed to be in a state of darkness and ignorance, but gradually through Masonic work and knowledge his mind will be polished, and it may then be tested by the square, the plumb-rule and the level, and will be found accurate. The smooth ashlar represents the condition which should be attained by the F.C. In the light of evolution and reincarnation we may regard the rough ashlar as the symbol of the young soul. Through much experience and effort life after life he must polish his nature and develop his powers. The three degrees in Masonry represent three stages in that process. The business of the E.A. is to take himself in hand morally and conquer the physical body, so that its impulses will not stand in the way of his rapid progress or evolution. The E.A. of Egypt used to remain seven years in the First Degree, because he had to fit himself thoroughly for the illumination which could come only to one who had his emotions under control and sufficiently purified to reflect and serve the higher self. That being done, the smooth ashlar was to be perfected until it was ready to be used as a living stone in the temple of T.G.A.O.T.U., fit to form part of the heavenly Man of the future.

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