THE CANDIDATE

When any member of the general public wishes to become a Freemason, he usually applies to some friend whom he knows to be a member of the Craft. This friend will probably introduce him to the Secretary of the Lodge, who then supplies the applicant with certain papers. The candidate will then find that he is expected to give some particulars with regard to himself - his age, his occupation in life, his reason for wishing to join the Craft, etc. Also, in Co-Masonry the following notice will be handed to him:

The Candidate should clearly understand the obligations he takes upon himself in joining the Order. These obligations are of the most serious and solemn character, and he is expected to discharge them honorably.

A. The candidate undertakes to try to lead a noble and upright life, and to work at the improvement of his character.

B. He undertakes to attend regular meetings of the Lodge, unless prevented by cause sufficiently grave. These are usually held once or twice a month, except at holiday seasons. Sometimes Emergency Meetings are called for special work, but attendance at these is not obligatory. The true Mason, however, regards it not only as a solemn duty, but also as a great privilege to attend his Lodge, realizing that, though the Lodge exists to help its members, it has a far greater and wider function in shedding the spiritual influence of Masonry upon the world. By his regular attendance at the meetings he is definitely participating in that great work. His progress in the Order will depend upon the zeal and assiduity which he shows in this service.

C. He undertakes to remain in the Order and in his Mother-Lodge for at least three years. He is permitted, after Initiation, to visit other Lodges, and after he is a Master Mason to join other Lodges, if he so desires; but he must not leave the Mother-Lodge under the specified period. It is to the Mother-Lodge that he owes allegiance and the duty of loyal co-operation. Where there is more than one Lodge near his place of residence the Candidate should ask his introduces for information regarding the work of the several Lodges, so that he may be sure of entering the Lodge whose work and members are likely to be most congenial to him..

D. The Candidate is bound to true Masonic secrecy and caution concerning Freemasonry and the affairs of the Order, and this promise is to be regarded as binding for all time, even if he leaves the Order.

DIVISIONS OF THE CEREMONY

We now come to the consideration of the ceremony by which the candidate is admitted to Freemasonry, a ceremony which is commonly called his initiation. We must recognize from the beginning that this ceremony is no mere form; first because it produces definite inner effects, and secondly, because it contains a great deal of most valuable symbology, the understanding and application of which will be of great moment in the candidate's future life.

As I have stated earlier in the book, one chief object of freemasonry is to train its members for the work which they have to do in the world, and therefore to cultivate within them the qualities necessary for that work. The various degrees in Masonry are all stages in that training; and in each stage not only is certain definite education given, but also definite powers are conferred. It is to be feared that through ignorance of these facts many Masons make but little real progress; for unless the developments initiated in each degree by the ceremony of admission are duly understood and put into practice by the candidate, he is in no true sense prepared to pass on to a higher stage, or to take advantage of the opportunities which that in turn puts before him.

The outer ceremony confers certain powers and opens up certain possibilities; but it remains for the neophyte to develop them and make use of them. Some neophytes take the hints offered to them, and accordingly make progress; others understand little of the inner requirements, and so are only temporarily affected. The very word initiation is derived from initium, a beginning; and that is precisely what it is intended to be - the beginning of a new and higher life. But it is not enough to begin; one must also continue.

In the Buddhist teaching it is said that in each of the great steps which are the true Initiations there are four stages

(1) The Way, in which the neophyte is mastering the lessons of his new step, casting off (as they put it) the fetters which have previously bound him, finding himself at his new level, and learning how to use the powers conferred upon him.

(2) The Fruit, when he finds the results of his action in so doing showing themselves more and more.

(3) The Consummation - the period when, the results having culminated, he is able to fulfill satisfactorily the work belonging to the step, on which he now firmly stands.

(4) The Readiness, meaning the time when he is seen to be in a fit state to receive the next Initiation.

We see, therefore, that initiation involves something more than the mere outward ceremony - more even than the upliftment of the inner nature which accompanies that ceremony; all that is but the gateway at the entrance of a path along which we may proceed as quickly or as slowly as we will.

In considering this ceremony of initiation to the stage of the E.A. it will be useful to regard it from three aspects or points of view. (1) As an impressive ceremony of admission. (2) As a preparation for and an indication of the life which the man must lead and the work which he must do while in the degree to which it admits him. (3) As putting in a powerful and effective symbolical form the teaching which it is one of the purposes of this degree to impress upon him. When we examine the ceremony in detail I think we shall find that every incident in it falls under one or other of these three heads.

Thinking of the ritual from the point of view of a ceremony of admission into the Order, it seems naturally to divide itself into three parts. The central point of the ceremony, the climax of our effort, is the definite admission into the Order - the point at which a certain center or chakra is opened, a certain potentiality of power given. All that precedes that in the ceremony is of the nature of preparation for that point; all that follows it is in the nature of explanation of what has been done, or of exhortation as to how the power can best be developed and used. All through the ceremony everything is arranged so that the candidate may receive the greatest possible benefit from the forces which are being outpoured; and that is the principal object of the very curious preparation upon which Masonry has always insisted, even before the candidate is allowed to enter the Lodge.

PREPARATION OF THE CANDIDATE

Before his admission he is divested of all m … s and v … s, is h … d, and has his r … a …, l … b … and l … k … b …, and his r … h … s … d. All Masonic bodies agree in viewing the continuance of this conventional form of preparation as a matter of the greatest importance, and give as their reason for this the practice of ancient times. It was a rule among the Jews, says a treatise connected with the Talmud, that "no man shall go into the Temple with his staff, nor with shoes on his feet, nor with his outer garment, nor with money tied up in his purse".

The very specific character of the preparation, which is different in each degree, points, however, not to a general rule of this kind, but to real knowledge of the occult physiology of the process of initiation on the part of those who originated the method which has been so faithfully preserved. Certain forces are sent through the candidate's body in a definite manner during the ceremony, and especially at the moment when he is created, received and constituted an E.A.F.

Certain parts of the Lodge have been very heavily charged with magnetic force, especially in order that the candidate may absorb as much as possible of this force. It will be remembered that in the process of censing the Lodge a beehive-shaped structure was erected in front of the pedestal of each of the principal officers; and the cella or enclosed central space, founded upon the mosaic pavement and including the altar, is the most highly magnetized of all. The first object of this curious method of preparation is to expose to this influence those various parts of the body which are especially used in the ceremony. Thus, the r … a … is made b … because the candidate must use that, as soon as he is taught to extend it in the sign of power which accompanies the asseveration: "S … m … i … b …" It is also said to be a token of sincerity, to shove that the candidate has no weapon about him.

The l … b … is made b … because upon it is received the touch of the point of the s … on entering the Lodge. The masculine Craft adds as another reason that they are hereby assured that their candidate is not a woman in disguise. The l … k … is that upon which he kneels when he is received, so it also is made b …, and the r …, h … is s … d because that must touch the floor when he holds the r … k … in the form of a s … The 1 … k … and the r … h … are his supports or points of contact with the floor at the moment of his admission. Another reason sometimes given for the r … h … being s … d is that this is in accordance with the ancient Jewish custom when a man was taking upon himself an obligation or making an agreement.* (*See Ruth, iv, 7, 8.)

In ancient Egypt there was yet another reason for these preparations, for a weak current of physical electricity was sent through the candidate by means of a rod or sword with which he was touched at certain points. It is not practical here to say more about this part of the ceremony, except that it is concerned with the stimulation of an etheric current in the spine that is known to the Hindu occultists under the name of the ida nadi; it will be more fully described in explaining the ceremony of raising.

It is partly on the same account that at this first initiation the candidate is deprived of all m … s, since they may very easily interfere with the flow of the currents. Very great importance has always been attached to this part of the preparation, and the strictest adherence to the rule is necessary. The vigilance of Co-Masonic officials in this respect should be even greater than is necessary in the Masculine Craft, because in the intricacies of a lady's costume it is more easily possible to overlook some breach of the regulation. Most kinds of hairpins must of course be rigorously excluded; the same caution applies to hooks and eyes and many types of buttons and garters. Our Indian Brethren need to exercise care with regard to the embroidery on dhoties and saris. We have sometimes encountered sentimental objections on the part of ladies to the removal of the wedding ring, and I think that similar difficulties sometimes exist in India with regard to bangles and other ornaments.

Direction on this point was asked from the H.O.A.T.F., and he said very definitely that modification of this rule should not be permitted, though He also said that in several cases in the past, where an official was ignorant of the stringency of the rule, He had Himself performed an act of healing which validated the initiation. Otherwise; He requires its strict fulfilment, and intimates that those who feel unable to comply with this requirement should not join the Co-Masonic Order. We had a case in which a man inadvertently went through the ceremony with a gold charm or medal sewn into the lining of one of his garments. This was not remembered until the conclusion of the ceremony, which of course had to be repeated from the beginning.

There was another instance in which by an unworthy subterfuge a feminine candidate succeeded in retaining a wedding ring until the conclusion of the ceremony and, when this was discovered, absolutely refused to have it removed that the initiation might be repeated. The question then arose as to the status of this candidate, who had irregularly received certain secrets. The decision of the H.O.A.T.F. was clear and uncompromising, that in spite of the ceremony of initiation she was not a Mason, and could not in any way be recognized as such. There have been cases in my Mother Lodge in which it has been found necessary to file through a tightly-fitting ring; but that can easily be done by a skilful operator, who is also able to restore the ring quite perfectly to its previous appearance. Obviously, care must also be taken with regard to spectacles and eyeglasses. We are given to understand that gold and silver in teeth are not objectionable, as they are a permanent part of the person.

Another suggestion which has been made as to the meaning of this stringent prohibition is that the wearing of m … s would render the candidate ceremonially unclean, therefore his initiation would be null and void, so that it would be necessary to remove the m … l and to repeat the ceremony. Some writers have supposed that this feeling that m … s are to a certain extent impure probably dates from the close of the stone age. The same idea of conservatism dictated that only a stone knife might be used in the offering of sacrifices or in the rite of circumcision.

This part of the preparation is also supposed to refer to the fact that at the building of King Solomon's Temple there was not heard within its precincts the sound of any axe, hammer or tool of iron, as the stones were fully prepared in the quarries and were laid in their places by means of wooden mauls.

That the candidate should enter without any v … s on his person is symbolic of the fact that he is going into a brotherhood in which money, titles, and other distinctions of the outer world do not count.

The rich man leaves his rank and state
Outside the Mason's door;
The poor man meets his true respect
Upon the checkered floor.

The Freemason is equal to a prince, but brother to a beggar, if he be worthy. In the Lodge this brotherhood is seen in the entire absence of any favoritism; everyone who becomes a M.M. may in due course rise to the position of Master of the Lodge.

There is also a personal side to the matter. He must be "poor"; that is to say, he must not be dependent upon external wealth and possessions, for they will not avail him in the progress of the evolution that he is now taking in hand. On the contrary, great possessions may be a hindrance to him, unless he is a man of such strong character that he is entirely their master, and can take them up and put them down at will, and can see them come and go without elation or sorrow. Strictly speaking, he who enters on the occult path owns nothing at all; though he may have to handle great wealth and large interests, he cannot feel them as his personal possessions, to be held for the delight or benefit of his separate self. He deals with them only as a steward on behalf of God in the service of man. He has in that sense given all that he had to the poor, and has thus at the same time become one of the poor himself.

The candidate is blindfolded for the obvious reason that he shall not see the Lodge or any of its decorations or arrangements till he has taken the solemn O. on no account to reveal them to any outsider. Until the O. is taken the candidate is at liberty to withdraw. There have been cases in which the candidate objected to the form of the O. offered to him, and declined to proceed further. In such rare instances he may honorably be permitted to withdraw, and he will be conducted from the Lodge still blindfolded, so that no question can arise of his disclosing anything that should be kept secret. As soon as that solemn O. has been taken, the very first step is to remove the handkerchief from his eyes. If at any time subsequent to that the candidate should wish to withdraw he is of course nevertheless bound by the oath of secrecy which he has taken.

The h … g typifies the state of mental darkness of the candidate. The man in the street thinks that he sees and knows, but the candidate must now realize that that is not so. He begins to understand the words of an ancient sage, who said that when it is day with ordinary men it is night to the wise, but when it is night to ordinary men it is day to the wise. What looks to men in the world like light and knowledge, he sees to be ignorance and darkness; and where all is dark to them, he sees. It seems sad that so little of the true knowledge vital to the well-being and progress of the human soul is taught in our schools at the present day. Much time and energy are expended in trying to make a boy a good classical or mathematical scholar; far less attention seems to be devoted to making him a man of noble life, an honorable, unselfish, loyal and upright citizen. Therefore about many of the most important points in life we are truly left to walk in darkness; and it is precisely from that particular sort of darkness that Freemasonry delivers its candidates. Therefore they symbolically acknowledge the existence of the darkness, and are willing to go forward through it in search of Light.

Moreover, as is said in the Mystic Charge, it also symbolizes the blank unconsciousness which follows the passage through the gateway of death, ere the subtler part of the physical body has fallen away.

The candidate wears a c … t … about his neck, with the loose end hanging in front, and he is admitted to the Lodge upon the p … of a naked s … pressed to his left b … These two things typify the fact that in life men have responsibilities and limitations, both of which must be taken into account by every wise man; there can be no turning back from the former, nor any impetuous rushing forward regardless of the latter. Here again we have a symbol of the two great laws of dharma and karma. Through dharma - the use of the powers that we have, in the duties of life that those powers make us fit to perform - there is growth or evolution from within. Through karma - the outer environment that comes to us as the result of the actions that we have done in past lives - come opportunities for progress and sometimes obstacles, which, however, when rightly faced, increase our inward strength. As Emerson put it, man learns in this world through tuition and intuition - both externally and internally he is being taught. On the occult path it is still more important that the aspirant shall proceed without impetuosity or reluctance, without rashness or fear. Just as one wishing to walk on a line must go neither too slowly nor too fast, so must the candidate proceed on the path which is narrow as the edge of a razor. "Festina lente" might well be taken as his motto.

It should be noted that the symbolism of the c … t … requires that whoever conducts the candidate in these earlier stages of the ceremony should in all cases lead him by it, as well as grasp him by the hand or elbow. It also, as well as the h … k, has been described as symbolical of the bondage of ignorance under which the candidate remains until the light of Masonry shines upon him.

This emblem of the c … t … has also been considered to typify the psychic umbilical cord - the connecting thread of matter which joins the etheric double to the dense physical body when the former is temporarily partially withdrawn from the latter - the "silver cord" mentioned in a well-known biblical passage as being definitely loosed at death.*(* Ecclesiastes, xii, 6.) Bro. Wilmshurst tells us that "silver is the technical esoteric term for psychical substance, as gold is for spiritual, and iron or brass for physical".* (*The Masonic Initiation, p. 85.) He suggests also that the c … t … is intended to hint to us that all the true and higher Initiations take place out of the physical body.

THE INNER PREPARATION

But little is said in the ritual about the other and even more important aspect of the necessary preparation of a candidate for initiation into Freemasonry - the inner and spiritual part of it. At a later stage, when the neophyte is about to pass on into a higher degree, he is asked: "Where were you first prepared to be made a Freemason?" and the beautiful and suggestive answer which is put into his mouth is: "In my heart." In one of the masculine rituals the R.W.M. reminds the candidate that internally he was prepared to be made a Mason in his heart by having a preconceived good opinion of the Order, a wish to be ranked among its members, and a desire for knowledge. Furthermore, in the first lecture the questioner asks: "What come you here to do?" and the answer is: "To learn to rule and subdue my passions, and to make further progress in Masonry."

Before the door is opened to his knock the candidate has to convince the I.G. that he is rightly prepared in his mind and heart, as well as in external form. He comes, announces the T., of his own free will and accord, humbly soliciting to be admitted to the mysteries and privileges of ancient Freemasonry, and hopes to obtain them by the help of God, and the t … of g … r …, being free. No man can tread the occult path on the inspiration of another; he must feel within himself the impulse, a lack of satisfaction with the things that the world of ordinary life can give, an inner hunger for the things of the spirit, which among the Hindus is called mumukshatva. It is a path on which external things do not stand by to support the traveler, who has nothing but his own inner strength to sustain him and urge him on.

Though this is so, it is also happily true that when the man makes this effort for himself he does find a response from within, and so he is justified in saying that he hopes to obtain initiation by the help of God as well as by the t … of g … r …

He solicits humbly because he is looking upwards to the light; his attitude is the exact opposite of that of the man of pride, who is content to look downwards, enjoying the comparison of his own greatness with the littleness of inferior persons and things that come within his supercilious vision. Humility is the possession of the man of ideals, who is never self-satisfied, because he regards always that which is above. It is thus the key to the gateway of the upward path. The humble man will not think that he achieves his triumph by his own proud prowess alone, but, realizing that all strength is the divine strength, he will recognize that, like the heroes of old, he is but employing the powers with which he has been endowed from on high - just as Arjuna in the battle of Kurukshetra used the celestial weapons presented to him by Shiva during his pilgrimage in the Himalayas - just as Perseus, in the fearful adventure which he undertook against the Gorgon, used the helmet lent to him by Pluto, the shield or mirror of Pallas Athene and the wings of Mercury - just as King Arthur received the mystic sword Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake. And even Christ said: "I do nothing of myself, but as my Father hath taught me, and he that sent me is with me."

The t … of g … r …, it is said, has already been heard in his favor in the Lodge. This phrase has a double sense. It may undoubtedly be taken as referring to the testimony to the candidate which has already been given by his proposer and seconder. But it has also another and more esoteric meaning, which has been beautifully expressed by Bro. Wilmshurst in Masonic Initiation as follows:

This does not mean of good reputation. It means that on being tested by the initiating authorities he must be found spiritually responsive to the ideals aimed at and "ring true", giving back a good sound or report like a coin that is tapped to determine its genuineness. In the wonderful Egyptian rituals in The Book of the Dead, one of the Titles always found accorded to the Initiate was "true of voice". This is the same thing as our reference to possessing the "tongue of good report". It does not mean that he was incapable of falsity and hypocrisy, which goes without saying, but that his very voice revealed his inherent spirituality and his own speech reflected and was colored by the divine Word behind it. The vocal and heart nervous centers - the guttural and the pectoral, as we say - are intimately related physiologically. Purity or impurity of heart modifies the tonal quality and moral power of one's speech. The voice of the real Initiate or saint is always marked by a charm, a music, an impressiveness, and a sincerity absent in other men; for he is "true of voice"; he possesses the "tongue of good report".* (*Op. cit., p. 31).

Every man pronounces his own true name. Just as he has his own odor materially, by which a bloodhound can track him, so has he his sound spiritually; and those who can hear that sound of his in the inner worlds know where he stands on the ladder of evolution, and what he can and cannot do. The distinctive sound which every man has is often spoken of as his chord. Each of his vehicles contains vibrations of all sorts of different rates, and these blend together so as to make for each vehicle a certain complex sound - the average sound of the whole vehicle, somewhat analogous to the composite photographs which we sometimes see, in which a number of faces are superimposed upon the same plate. Such composite notes are produced by each of the vehicles - etheric, astral and mental - and these taken together make up the distinctive chord of the man, by which those who can hear it can always identify him. This is sometimes called the occult name of the personality; the true name which is first heard at his Initiation as an Adept is that belonging to other and far higher vehicles. Much ancient magic took its power from the knowledge of such names. Thus it is his own knock, his own report, made with the t …, of the inner self, that opens for the man the way into the true Lodge.

The stipulation that the candidate must be a free man takes us back in thought to those ancient days in which a large majority of men were not free, in which vast hosts of people lived in the condition of serfs or slaves. We need not think of that great class as being necessarily ill-treated or degraded. Many of them were men of other races, whose fate it had been to be taken prisoners in battle; they were consequently quite often of just as good birth as their captors. In ancient Egypt at any rate this fact was fully recognized, and it was by no means infrequent for a slave to marry into the family of his master, when of course he became at once a free man. It was, however, the immemorial tradition in times of old that only one who held the status of a free man could be admitted into a Masonic Lodge. The definition now given of the man who is a fit and proper person to be made a Mason is that he shall be just, upright and free, of mature age, sound judgment and strict morals; and this enumeration of qualities gives us some idea of the inner preparation necessary before the Masonic initiation.

To this qualification also there is a symbolical meaning, for the man who is aspiring towards the light ought even already at least to have begun to free himself from the domination of circumstances, which so hopelessly enslave the ordinary man of the world. He ought at least to have some glimmering of the truth that these very circumstances which so limit and oppress him may themselves be used by the strong soul as steppingstones to a wider and more glorious life.

All these preliminaries being finished, the R.W.M. issues the command that the candidate shall be admitted in due course. The I.G. receives him between the two p … s and touches his 1 … b … with the p …, of the p …, asking him whether he feels anything. Receiving an affirmative reply he then gives the candidate the solemn warning that the remembrance of this action should always operate as a reminder if he should ever be in danger of forgetting his O. to guard the s … s of Freemasonry.

Just inside the door of the Lodge stand the S. and J. D.s with crossed w … s, representing thereby the triangular door of the ancient Egyption Lodge, and also the first of the symbolical portals through which the candidate has to pass. As he stands within that portal the candidate is directed to bow his head as a further token of the humility which should mark the aspirant. From the emblematical point of view the Lodge typifies the higher world into which man passes when he leaves this physical plane, so that this first portal represents the gate of death, and in relation to this the bowing of the head signifies that submission to the divine will with which the man should enter upon this new field of life, calm, and ready to receive without agitation whatever may come.

The I.G., having performed his office, has nothing further to do with the candidate. This we may take as indicating the fact that the man should withdraw entirely from his etheric double as soon as may be after entering the portal of death. He is now taken in hand by the J.D., who signifies the astral body in which the newly deceased has to live for a time.

The candidate now kneels at the left of the S.W. while the R.W.M. invokes the blessing of the Ministers of T.G.A.O.T.U. and that of the Most Worthy and Venerable Master of the Wisdom, who is the H.O.A.T.F. throughout the world. Once more a true name is sounded, and the great Master and others stand ready to help the candidate to attain to wisdom in himself, to display the beauty of divine humanity in his outward form and actions, and to co-operate with the Supreme Will in evolution, so preserving perfect harmony between the inner life and the outer form.

By this invocation the R.W.M. acknowledges that our temple is but a lodge at the gate, an entrance to the driveway of a greater Temple, the hidden Lodge of which the M.O.T.W. has charge. In the cyclic progress of civilization the seven rays or types of life take pre-eminence in turn. During the middle ages devotion, the sixth type, was predominant, but now the seventh type, which includes many forms of ceremonial, is coming into force, so that everywhere interest in it is on the increase, and the time is ripe for a large extension of Masonry, and for the more perfect working and understanding of its ritual.

Plate X

THE THREE SYMBOLICAL JOURNEYS

When a man joined the Lesser Mysteries in Greece or Egypt, it was considered that the first and most important teaching to be given to him was the truth about conditions after death, since they felt that a man might die at any moment, and should therefore be in possession of that knowledge. We continue that practice to the present day, and as a prominent part of that teaching we take the candidate on the three symbolical journeys.

There are three portals, or doorways, through which the candidate must pass. They are invisible to physical eyes, but are nevertheless perfectly real, because they are made by thought. The first one, as has already been explained, is an emblem of death, the passing out of the physical world into the next stage of life in the lowest part of the astral plane. The candidate enters without sight into that world, but feels the touch of a friend, who takes hold of his hand or arm and guides him on his journey. This friend is the J.D. who, it will be remembered, represents the astral or emotional principle in the human constitution. The I.G. presides over the first portal on behalf of the R.W.M., of whom he is an expression on the physical plane.

In the first circuit of the Lodge, or the first symbolical journey, the candidate finds himself surrounded by horrible noises, including the clanking of chains and the clashing of swords, which are intended to tell him of the din and confusion of the lowest sub-plane of the astral world, where are gathered after death those who are in bondage to sensual pleasures, or filled with fear, hatred, malice or revenge. Afterwards the W.J.W. explains that this journey is a faint copy of the trials through which the candidate had to go in the ancient Mysteries, when he was led through gloomy caverns, symbolizing the underworld, amid tumultuous sounds, in darkness, surrounded by perils which he could pot understand. It is not probable that the average decent person who presents himself for admission to the Masonic fraternity will have after death any consciousness at all of passing through this lowest region, but if it should happen so, he will be prepared to go through the experience calmly and without fear.

As the candidate approaches the W. J. W.'s pedestal he arrives at the second portal, and is there introduced to the elementals of earth and water, who are related to the region through which he has just symbolically come, which may be thought of as consisting of the solid and liquid sub-planes of the astral world. First he turns to the north and makes a suitable offering to the earth-elementals, and then to the south to make his offering to the elementals of the water. They are not the same creatures as those who were engaged in building the temple, but they stand quite definitely under their captain, who in turn obeys the W.J.W. as the guardian of the second portal. These elementals, which are of the kind sometimes called nature-spirits, gather round, and recognize thenceforth the man who has been presented to them. After this ceremony, should the man find himself in any kind of non-physical danger, or in the presence of a malignant influence, he can draw round him a bodyguard of these beings, on account of the brotherhood with them that has now been established.

Plate X is an attempt to show the appearance of this portal. The W.J.W. is seen seated at his pedestal, which is as it were within the thickness of the wall of the second portal. Over his head floats the sphere of his Deva-representative, who is surrounded by his band of assistants. At the right hand side of the portal the earth elementals are grouped, and on the left side those of the water - tricksy sprites, ready to play with great gusto their part of resisting intrusion upon their domain until the candidate is properly presented to them, and demonstrates his friendly intentions by a formal offering. For the purpose of clearness we omit from this illustration all that is not necessary for our object; the candidate and the J.D. who is leading him are not shown, nor are the Brethren in the columns. Only the W.S.W. appears in the distance, seen faintly through the second portal. The third portal is of course close to his pedestal; but as it is exactly similar in shape to the second, though differing in color, no attempt is made to represent it.

It is the quality of discrimination between the higher and the lower, between the real and the unreal, which has enabled the candidate to pass scatheless through these regions of the astral world. The J.D., seeking passage for his charge, tells the elementals that he is a blinded child of mortality, seeking immortality. Passing through their regions in the course of his pilgrimage to the higher planes, the candidate is prepared to give up all that belongs to them - all that matter which appertains to these levels, earth to earth and water to water. In this region after death must linger all those who cling to the low grade of emotional existence that embodies itself in this order of matter; only when they have become purified through suffering, and are ready to give up their low emotions, can they shake off this matter from their astral bodies, and pass to higher parts of the astral plane. The candidate will not linger here, for discrimination has taught him that there are better things. He must henceforth be recognized as one of the brothers of light and immortality, not in a state of darkness so far as this level is concerned.

The second symbolical journey is similar to the first, except that the noise is gentle instead of harsh. The candidate is still in the astral world, but in the middle part of it, which is much finer and subtler than that through which he has come. This is the place of the common human emotions; the former was rather that of blind passion. The desires that attach ordinary men to the matter of these middle regions are by no means reprehensible, but on the other hand they are not uplifting. All the pleasures of the body that are not coarse or gross build their tenements here, for the abiding of the souls of the dead until they have tired of these things, and are ready to pass onwards. I have given an account of these regions and the people living in them in The Astral Plane and The Other Side of Death, and The First Lieutenant Sovereign Grand Commander of the Co-Masonic Order, the Very Illustrious Bro. Annie Besant has also dealt with them at length in The Ancient Wisdom.

The candidate arrives at the third portal, near the pedestal of the W.S.W., who is its guardian. There, facing east, he is introduced to the elementals of the air, who guard the right side of the portal, and facing west, to the elementals of the fire, who guard its left side.

Desirelessness is the quality which can pass him through the allurements of this region, so that once more he gives to the elementals what he carries that belongs to them, and passes on, their friend, to whom they will be ever ready to lend their treasures, because they know him as a Brother of Light who will not keep them for himself, but will use them well and return them in due season.

Of this journey it is explained by the W.S.W. that in the ancient Mysteries, as the candidate left the gloomy caverns behind him, he passed into a quiet region, symbolizing the higher sub-planes of the underworld, whereinto the rougher, harsher sounds did not penetrate, though still there was some disharmony amid the souls.

It is not inappropriate that life in the astral plane after death should be thought of as a journey, or a series of journeys. The "dead" person does go through a series of well-marked changes, as his astral body becomes more and more purified by the elimination of its denser grades of matter. During life the man's emotions have been acting like magnets, drawing into the astral body coarse astral matter of the lower regions when they have been base, and fine matter of the higher levels when they have been lofty. After death the man has to sojourn on each of these levels in turn until he has eliminated its grade of matter from his astral body. The Mason who knows this meaning of the symbolical journeys will be prepared after death to use his will so as to vanquish his lower emotions, free himself quickly of the heavier matter, and pass rapidly onward into the heaven-world.

The third symbolical journey is trodden in the perfect silence that typifies the highest part of the astral plane, on the very borders of the heaven-world. At the end of this the R.W.M. tells the candidate that the dead man whose experience he has been repeating had at this stage reached the threshold of the heavenly world, where perfect silence lulled the weary senses and calm peace enfolded him. The lower world lay below him; before him the joys of heaven; and in the interspace was silence. This was, and is, his experience in the true Mysteries; it was symbolized by utter silence in the mysteries of Egypt and Greece; in Freemasonry it is kept in memory in the silence of the third symbolical journey.

At this point the journeys end. No further elementals or portals are mentioned in the ceremony, though there are seven orders in all, and many ancient peoples have recognized them in their worship by bowing to the devas of the N., S., E. and W., the zenith, the nadir and the center of all. The candidate is not going beyond that particular region of the astral plane on this occasion; he is merely being introduced to a world which he will have to visit many times before he can traverse it readily, and live and work there with perfect ease. In this stage of his career he symbolizes the pupil on the probationary path, and must practise the three qualities of discrimination, desirelessness and good-conduct or self-control, which will make him free of the emotional plane, as he was free of the physical plane before he entered the Lodge. Further information as to these requirements will be found in At the Feet of the Master, by J. Krishnamurti, The Path of Discipleship, by the V .·.·. Ills .·.·. Bro .·. Annie Besant, and my own book The Masters and the Path.

Three kinds of dangers these qualities will help him to overcome - dangers from the outside world, dangers from his own lower nature, and dangers from within himself, that is, from his own virtues, if they be unbalanced. The s … d at his b … typified the first of these; later on he will find the s … of his own lower nature in place of it, and later still the c … s that typify the triangle of his higher self, whose very virtues may be exaggerated to become his undoing unless he is ever watchful to keep poise and calmness, and to walk on that Middle Way which the Lord Buddha has described as the path of safety.

In course of time the candidate, through the practice of these three qualifications, will be able to range the entire plane at will. For this activity discrimination will give him the mental power, desirelessness the emotional power, and good conduct the will-power; and in the highest part of the region no ceremony will ever be needed in order that he may pass through without hindrance, for everything there is instantly responsive and obedient to the enlightened human will. The Brothers of Light are easily recognized there.

This portion of the ritual is mainly derived from the symbolic or blue degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, but does not appear in the working of the Grand Lodge of England. In the Scottish Rite ritual worked in Lodges under the auspices of the Supreme Council of France the three symbolical journeys exist, with noise and clashing of swords in the first, with a "cliquetis d'armes blanches" in the second, and perfect silence in the third, but there is no invocation of the elementals, although the journeys are compared to the ancient trials by earth, air, fire and water.

An interesting confirmation of the use of these trials or journeys is given in the transactions of the A.Q.C., in an account of his own initiation by Robert Guillemand, the man who killed Lord Nelson at Trafalgar by shooting him from a French ship. He was initiated during the siege of Strasburg, and tile account, which is dated 1807, says:

It took place accordingly, with all the splendour circumstances admitted, in a hut about 15 ft. in length and 6 in breadth, where there was no room to stand up, but which served as a Temple notwithstanding. After having made my journeys, which were not very long ones, undergone the trials by fire and water, and the usual tricks, received the signs, words, touches, and other forms, the adjutant, who was our orator, addressed me a very fine speech, in which he explained to me the sublimity of the character I had just obtained, creating me a child of the Light.

In masculine Masonry in England swords are not brought into the Lodge, and in the days when gentlemen used to wear swords, they left them outside; but with the Co-Masons they are used in Lodge as powerful instruments of love in the practical magic of the ritual.

THE O …

The candidate is now standing in the north-west corner facing the east, and the W.S.W. presents him to the R.W.M. as one properly prepared to be made a Freemason. At this point he is given an opportunity to withdraw if he so chooses, but having declared his determination to go forward without fear or rashness, he is led to the altar, the place of Light, by the p … s … s. The first s … is taken with the l … f … pointing forward, and the r … f … is brought up to it at right angles, h … to h … - a s … about n … i … long. The 1 … f …, is first moved because it is nearest the heart, and should remind the candidate to let love have the primary authority in all his decisions. The second and third s … are similar, but of t …, and f … i … respectively. Three s … s there must be, because the qualifications are three; the quality of love is sometimes counted as a fourth, but really it must permeate them all, and when it is strong it will carry the disciple up into the higher path of the next degree.

There are two reasons for the length of these three s … s. Each one carries a man forward further than the preceding one. That is the way of evolution. Every step that is taken adds to a man's strength, so that his next step will be both stronger and longer. Always something is gained but nothing is lost, so that his speed increases on this path by arithmetical progression, and later on he may expect geometrical progression and even progression by squares, in his advance.

Again, nine, twelve and fifteen are in the proportions three, four and five, which reminds us of the Pythagorean theorem, which is of constant use to the human architect, and presumably in some greater way in the plans of the G.A. Himself. To the P.M. especially belongs the use of this great tool, but even now the E.A. should learn to reverence it and aspire to use it later on.

While the candidate k … s at the a … to take his O. some Brethren from the seats in the west of the Lodge usually stand round behind the candidate, forming a hollow square touching the corners of the altar, with their s … pointing towards the candidate while the Master takes from him his O. While standing in this attitude each Bro. should fig his attention upon the candidate, and should endeavor to pour forth upon him with all his strength the blessing which, as a M.M., it is within his right and power to give.

Many candidates are surprised at the terrible solemnity of the O., which has come down to us from the Middle Ages. In those times the Masons were teaching facts about the inner life and the nature of man for knowing which the Church would have burnt them alive, and there was thus great need for secrecy, to an extent that excuses the strong language used in the O., especially when it is remembered that had one person revealed anything, it would have placed all the rest of the Lodge in danger of being judicially murdered.

The recitation of the O. being completed, the Brethren standing round bring their swords to the carry, that is, upright in the hand, with the elbow in the form of a s …, and the Brethren in their seats in the east stretch out their r … a … horizontally in blessing, and swords and arms are both raised as all sing, "May the vow be kept". When these words are uttered every Bro. should wish with all his force that the candidate may have the strength to keep the vow which he has just taken.

The R.W.M. now creates, receives, and constitutes the candidate an E.A.F., with k … s with the g … upon the f … s … placed upon his s … s and h … in turn. Though the R.W.M. confers the degree, he is of course acting on behalf of the H.O.A.T.F., and is a channel for his power. Obviously also the three touches of the f … s … convey different aspects of that power, corresponding to the three Aspects of the blessed Trinity, the first conveying strength to the brain, the second love to the heart, and the third executive ability to the right arm. The general effect of this down pouring of force is to widen somewhat the channel of communication between the ego and the personality of the candidate - another example of the curious correspondence between the admission to this degree and the ordination of the sub-deacon.* (*See The Science of the Sacraments, p. 315.)

Now that the solemn O. of secrecy has been taken the h … k is removed and the blessing of light is restored to the candidate. In commenting upon this Bro. J. S. M. Ward says:

Notice the word restored. Mystical re-birth marks the beginning of our journey towards the light, of our ascent towards God, but it is a restoration - a journey back to Him from whom we came. Exactly the same procedure is followed in the initiatory rites of the Turkish dervishes. Among them the incident is followed by a beautiful exposition of the mystical meaning of Light. It is the divine light, emblem of God Himself, and of divine inspiration. It is present not only in the sacred writings, but in every true believer's heart. The light of the sun itself is but a faint similitude of the divine light of God's love through which and in which we have our being.

THE E …1 I … s

On being restored to the blessing of light, the eye of the new A. falls upon the t … g … e … l … s in Freemasonry. The furniture of the Lodge here reappears under this new name, but as we have already discussed the matter in Chapter III, we need not repeat here the explanation of the symbology involved.

In the Co-Masonic ritual the R.W.M. now raises the newly-made brother to his feet and turns him round so that he sees for the first time the Brethren with their s … s at the carry. He explains to him that he must not regard this martial display as a menace, but as a symbol of the protection with which Freemasonry henceforth surrounds him. The Brethren then return to their seats.

The neophyte is led to the north, facing the W.J.W., and stands there, within the cella, subject to the special force which plays in that region, while the R.W.M. stands in front of him and instructs him. First the Master draws the candidate's attention to the three great columns upon which a Lodge of Freemasonry symbolically rests - those of the R.W.M. and his two Wardens, symbolizing respectively wisdom, strength and beauty or harmony. These have already been explained in Chapter II. In the masculine ritual this explanation of the three columns is put somewhat differently, as they are there described as the three lesser lights, which are explained to be the sun, the moon and the Master of the Lodge. This connects up modern Masonry with much old symbology in which the moon and the sun largely figure.

THE S … AND P …

In this situation the R.W.M. also instructs the N. in the s … s of this degree, a s …, a g … and a w … The s … in this degree is often supposed to be related to the p … mentioned in the O., but the s …, existed long before the p …, which was invented to fit it. Among the Egyptians the same p … existed, and even before them among the Nilotic negroes in Egypt, and probably in other places as well. It mattered enormously to an ancient Egyptian that his body should be cast into the waves, and that he should not be decently buried with the proper rites, which he believed would set him free from the physical body, to which otherwise he might be tied. In the ghost stories of Homer, in the Iliad and the Odyssey, in nearly all cases when unhappy ghosts returned they did so because they wanted their bodies to be buried with proper rites, in order that they might be set free. The same idea appears in Hindu thought, as, for example, in the Garuda Purana, in the story of the ghost of Sudeva, who was released by King Babhruvahana. This neglect of ceremonial would not matter to us in modern times, because we have not those ideas; but it is a literal fact that after death a man's own thought could keep him bound in that way until he knew or believed that his body had been properly interred. So this was a very ancient p … In reality the s … refers to a certain chakra and its working, as I have already explained. It is, of course, not permissible to describe the g …, but it will not be difficult for a Freemason to understand that it implies the repression of the astral body, which is the first of the superphysical principles of man.

EXAMINATION AND INVESTITURE

The J.D. next takes the N. to the pedestals of the W.J.W. and the W.S.W. for examination of his knowledge of the s … g … and w …, and he stands before each for a little while, during the series of questions and answers, within the beehive form which has been described in Chapter IV. While he is standing in that place, the force of the inner planes plays upon him with concentrated intensity, and strengthens him in the qualifications which he has to develop.

At the command of the R.W.M. the W.S.W. now invests the new Bro. with the distinguishing badge of a Freemason, the a …, which has already been described in Chapter IV. Having thus invested the neophyte, the W.S.W. delivers a little homily, in which he refers to the great antiquity and dignity of this symbol, and the R.W.M. adds to this a remark on the importance of not entering the Lodge if one Bro. is at variance with another. On this point Bro. J.S.M. Ward makes the following very suggestive remarks:

At first sight this may seem a somewhat unnecessary charge. Normally well-conducted gentlemen are not likely to start an unseemly wrangle in Lodge, even if they are at enmity; and should two men so far forget the common decency of life as to do so, the R.W.M. has ample power to deal with the situation. The real significance of the injunction is that it implies that the mere presence of two brethren who are at variance will disturb the harmonious atmosphere of the meeting. This is a purely spiritual atmosphere, and the belief that such disturbance would occur without any open disagreement is correct. In short, such differences disturb the spiritual atmosphere, preventing concentration, and can be detected by sensitive individuals. Every Lodge has an atmosphere of its own, and any sensitive man who comes to it can detect it. I have myself noticed the different atmospheres of various Lodges, and also variations in that of my own. Too much regard therefore cannot be paid to this rule, and if it is ignored the Lodge will certainly suffer.* (*The E. A. Handbook, pp. 78, 79.)

After this advice has been given, the new A, is directed to his seat in the north-east part of the Lodge, that being the point of the compass where the Egyptians believed that the sun began his journey when he was first created.

THE WORKING TOOLS

The interpretation given to the working tools of the E.A. in ordinary Craft Masonry is explained to the new Bro. by the W.J.W. at his initiation. This officer does it because he is in charge of the chamber where the E. A.s work.

In masculine Craft Masonry the t … f … i … g … is described as indicating a measure of time, to remind him that the hours of his day are to be spent not in mere carelessness or selfishness, but partly in meditation and study, and partly in labor, refreshment and sleep; in Co-Masonry we add "but all in the service of humanity". It is also explained that this symbol indicates that accuracy and precision are essential for the proper conduct of our lives.

The E.A. is further taught that the c … g …, reminds us that skill without exertion is of little avail, and that labor is the lot of man. It also represents the force of conscience, which should keep down all vain and unbecoming thoughts, so that our feelings and actions may be pure and unpolluted. Thirdly, comes the c … l, which points out that education and perseverance are necessary to establish perfection, and that the rude material of our natures receives its polish and refinement from repeated efforts alone.

In ancient Egypt rather a different signification was given to these tools - a little nearer to the original, since it is obvious that education and conscience are not exactly tools for a man to use. It will be noticed that all three are specially connected with the shaping of the stone. As the operative mason shapes the rough ashlar into the perfect ashlar by removing the excrescences and smoothing and measuring it, so must the E.A. in speculative masonry train himself perfectly in morality. In ancient Egypt the apprentice remained in that condition usually for seven years, until he satisfied those in authority that he was fit to pass on to the second degree. In the present day the qualifications have become little more than the lapse of time and the answering of certain questions.

In early Christianity there were three recognized stages through which everyone had to pass who wished to make progress - purification, illumination and perfection. St. Paul said: "We speak wisdom among them that are perfect." This is often misunderstood. Obviously, if the people were perfect in the modern sense of the term, they would not need to be taught at all. These words are not used in their ordinary sense; they are technical terms used in connection with the Mysteries, and well known by all educated people of that period as being so used. What St. Paul said was: "We teach the gnosis, the secret wisdom, only to those who have attained the degree of perfection," or, as a Mason would put it, the degree of the M.M., because those three stages correspond in a general way to the three degrees in Masonry. Nowadays, the Christian Church seems to stop at the first stage - purification - and to regard it as its greatest work to make people saints. That is indeed a very high and noble thing, but in the older days of Christianity, to make a man a saint was only a preliminary stage. St. Clement of Alexandria, one of the greatest of the Christian Fathers, says: "Purity - that is only a negative virtue valuable chiefly as a condition of insight." When the man had made himself perfectly pure and holy in his life, he was eligible for the second stage, that of illumination, and only after he was fully illuminated could he pass on to the stage of perfection, and so become a channel for God's power.

EGYPTIAN INTERPRETATION OF THE WORKING TOOLS

In ancient Egypt the t … f … r i … g …, or as it was then, the t … f … e i … g … or sacred cubit of the great pyramid, was nearly the same as ours. Their unit of measure, the inch, was derived from the accurate knowledge which the Egyptians had of the polar diameter of the earth, one five-hundred-millionth division of this being the pyramid inch. Our English inch of the present day was derived, through Greece and Rome, from this Egyptian measure, but it is not quite the same unit as that which was used in the building of the great pyramid. In the course of time it has been made a little shorter; it has lost about one thousandth part of itself, so that the pyramid inch is 1.0011 of the English inch. It is only in the last century that men have come to know the length of the equatorial diameter of the earth, but the polar diameter was known long ago.
Many countries still retain measures of length derived from the pyramid inch, but in France the decimal system was adopted. There they have the meter, which was intended to be one ten-millionth part of a quadrant of the earth, measured over the surface from the pole to the equator. Later they discovered that this measure was not perfectly accurate, so a meter is now a conventional length standardized by a bar kept in Paris, just as a standard yard is kept in London.

Scientific knowledge in that ancient land was in some respects fully as advanced as our own indeed even more advanced than was ours until very recently. The Mysteries included a thorough and liberal education, and especial stress seems to have been laid upon chemistry, astronomy and geodesy. In the very early ages when the great pyramid, the House of Light, was built, a vast amount of information was already in the possession of those who erected that stupendous monument, and they so designed its proportions as to enshrine within it in what they hoped was an indestructible form a great deal of this invaluable knowledge. For example, the perimeter of the base (36,524 pyramid inches) is to the height (5,813 pyramid inches) as is the circumference of a circle to its radius, i.e., mathematically 2p. It is interesting, too, that the base circuit measures in pyramid inches exactly the number of days in a hundred years. The exact size of the earth is also indicated there, as well as a number of other calculations connected with the solar system. Many of these have been carefully worked out by R. A. Proctor, the English astronomer, and Sir Gaston Maspero, the French Egyptologist, to whom I was introduced by Madame Blavatsky. Davidson and Aldersmith, in The Great Pyramid, present a large amount of information on this subject. They remark:

The external features, dimensions and units of the Great Pyramid, when studied in plan, will be found to give precisely and accurately every essential value of the earth's orbit and its motions. This includes the values of the sidereal and solar years, the mean sun-distance, the sun's diameter, and the maximum and minimum values of the eccentricity of the earth's orbit.* (*Op. cit., p. 95.)

The great pyramid was a house for initiations, and if some criminal Muhammadan fanatics had not destroyed the outer casing of it we should still have there, enshrined in stone, measurements of many astronomical phenomena more accurate than any that were available to us until the last century. It is only recently that reliable measurements have been obtained by European astronomers of the average distance of the earth from the sun. When I was a boy we were taught that it was ninety-six million miles; then they got it down to ninety-three million; later, calculations were made from very careful measurements of the mean equatorial horizontal solar parallax, taken at the time of the transits of Venus in 1874 and 1882, and they estimated it at ninety-two and a half million miles. I remember that Mr. Gladstone announced that in the House of Commons, and it aroused great interest at the time. In the eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica it is given as 92,998,000 miles. The ancient Egyptians made it 92,996,08 miles; who shall say that they may not have been nearer to the truth than we?

In ancient Egypt the t … f … i … g … was taken as the symbol of instinct. I am using there a word which is generally applied only to animals, and I do not want it to be misunderstood. By instinct was meant an inner feeling - the instinctive feeling that we have with regard to things. To this they attached a great deal of importance. They considered it as having two sides - the negative or the receptive, which gives us the feeling as to whether a thing is good or bad, or suitable or unsuitable for us - and an active side which we should now call taste; that is, the knowing exactly what is the right thing to have and to do, and what things will go together, will fit and harmonize. In relation to our fellow-creatures that would be tact. So the meaning of this idea of instinct was much wider than that of the present day.

In those days people - at least in Egypt, in Crete, in Greece - lived very close to nature, in the sunshine and fresh air, and they enjoyed those things in a way which we see now only perhaps among great poets and artists. They were nearer to the heart of things, and therefore their instincts were much more trustworthy than those of most people at the present day. Instinct was thus with them a definite tool to be used in the shaping and building of character. A good deal of that has been lost, as modern people have for so long led such artificial lives and have usually allowed their reason to override their instinct, even when that reason has had little material on which to found its judgments. I have myself had these instincts on many occasions, and I believe the experience is quite common; sometimes I have put them aside as not prompted by reason, as many men do, but in the long run I have always been sorry for not paying more respect to them. The instinct is not dead, and when encouraged can be revived by many people to quite a large extent.

The Egyptians took the c … l to symbolize the intellect, which they regarded as a keen-edged instrument. They considered that the man who used his intellect would be able to remove the excrescences of superstition from the beliefs which presented themselves to him, until he became a perfect ashlar, when his thought would be well-defined and true. The c … g … was considered to be the divine force behind the c …, and was interpreted as the will. This must not, of course, be confused with the Master's g … 1, with which it has nothing in common, from which it differs even in shape. The distinction is also made clear by the fact that this tool is always spoken of as the c … g …

In his work, The Magic of Freemasonry, Major A. E. Powell has made an interesting study of the working tools of the first degree, in a chapter specially devoted to them. He takes the t … f … i … g … as a symbol of the wisdom of the R.W.M., who has to measure and plan as he rules, the g … as an emblem of the strength of the W.S.W., it being the instrument for the transmission of force, and the c … for the beauty of the W.J.W., it being the tool used for shaping the material. He points out that all our accurate or scientific knowledge is based on measurement, symbolized by the t … f … i … g …, that all our work in life is done by the movement of matter, effected by our energy which gives blows to it, for which the g … is the symbol, and that the c … is typical of the concentration of our purpose, as it cleaves through matter. Thus, he says, we know with the t … f … i … g …, we feel with the c …, and we act with the g … Each of these tools, he adds, must be taken as typical of a class - the t … f … i … g … for all measuring instruments, the g … for all implements and machines for applying force, the c … for all tools used for cutting and penetrating matter.

Back to The Hidden Life in Freemasonry [ Next ] [ Previous ]