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<<Freemasonry teaches moral lessons and self knowledge through participation... Freemasonry
offers its members an approach to life which seeks to reinforce thoughtfulness for others, kindness in the community, honesty
in business, courtesy in society and fairness in all things... Membership is open to men of all faiths who are all faiths
who are law-abiding, of good character and who acknowledge a belief in God. Freemasonry is a multi-racial and multi-cultural
organisation... The Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons of Scotland.>>
* Rites and
pictorial representations: Significant in every ancient nation. May be found in Tibet, Japan, Himalayas, Ganges, the
buried cities of Gobi, and by the Tigris and Euphrates. They are found also at the foot of Caucasian
passes, the Red Sea, the Nile, and classic Greece and Rome, ancient Gaul and
Ireland, Peru, in the Mississippi Valley, and in Yucatan...
* The Ancient
Secret Doctrine, now preserved in the symbolic forms of Masonry, gave to the old pagodas of
China their peculiar shape. It commanded the erection of the eight-volved tower of Babel and the pyramids
in Egypt and Mexico, monuments of Europe, and temples yet partly discovered amid the
American tropics...
* Who were the First Masons? : The old Sumerians (Euphrates Valley), who were succeeded by the Semites and Chaldeans,
used the word 'imga' meaning wise, holy, and learned, to denote their wisest
sages, priests and philosophers. The Semites, transformed that word into 'mag' to suit their articulation.
From this word, 'mag', come to us through various transformations the words: Mason, Magic and Imagination. It
follows from the meaning of the word that the first Masons were the wisest, holiest, most revered of men....
...They were mental builders and magicians, since magic is the skilful use of the imaginative faculty...
The Magi of Egypt, Chaldea, and even more ancient times unquestionably were Masons."
* The Masonic Temple: The Masonic Brethren laboured in the erection
of Solomon's Temple. 'Sol' is the Latin name of the Sun-God. 'Om' is the Hindu name of deity. 'On' is the Sun-God of
Heliopolis, Egypt. Sol-Om-On represents the Grand Master of the Universe, whose most relevant symbol is the Sun, from
Whom comes all Life, Love, Energy, and Power. The Masonic Temple is therefore the mansion of the Sun, or universe itself
for the candidate Human Soul...
Astronomy was studied (the early Mason as an astronomer & his ability
to interpret the effects of celestial phenomena), and observations were carefully and systematically recorded. The Science
of mathematics was born as a factor necessary in the study of astronomy... Astrology was studied as a Sacred Science.
The original Masons, the Magi, pursued the study of the heavens by using a scientific system, and became the philosophers,
scientists, the spiritual advisers and priests. They found that there are various natural principles that express themselves
in the influence of the stars, on the earth, in the sea, in the air, and in the human body...
* King Solomon's Temple: Sol-Om-On
represents the Grand Master of the Universe, whose symbol is the Sun, from Whom comes all Life, Love, Energy, and Power.
The Masonic Temple is thus the mansion of the Sun... For the early Mason, Imagination played the most important role
in his work. He became an observer of time and of the orderly succession of the seasons, the shortening and the lengthening
of the days the time of harvest, the rise of stars with the morning Sun, etc...
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| (c) Bernard Tomas: Mural of Solomon's Temple |
...Thus, early man became the astronomer, depending his sustenance upon his ability to interpret the effects of
celestial phenomena... Astronomical observations were systematically recorded, and as a factor necessary in the study of astronomy,
the science of mathematics developed... Astrology was studied as a Sacred Science to interpret the relation
existing between the organism of man and the points in the firmament. A class of men developed who pursue the study, using
a scientific system, of the starry heavens. The were the Magi,
the original Masons...
* Building Solomon’s
Temple: The Temple of Solomon is a perfect design, revealing the Will of Deity. Man would build for his
own soul a mansion as perfect in its proportions, and as harmonious in its arrangements, as the Temple of King Solomon...
The work of later Masons was to collect truths discovered and bind them together to preserved them for future generations...
The earliest religions were purely astronomical and had an astronomical foundation... The Ancient Mason saw the physical
Sun as the center of our system from which the earth receives the energy necessary for every terrestrial manifestation
of power, organic and inorganic, vital and physical...
* The Ancient Masons, erected two columns in the porch of the Temple,
one on either side of the great Eastern Gateway. The pillar on the right (Jachin,
’He that Strengthens’ or the ever-active masculine) is the Royal Sun returning from the right, or southern
declination, and rising through the eastern horizon that bring renewed strength after the winter season. The pillar of the
left (Boaz, ’Source of Strength’ or feminine
and attractive power) represents the passive and inert north and is the left side of the Gateway of the rising sun.... The
Sun became the symbol of masculine creative energy, the Father of the Universe. And the Moon became the nourishing Mother.
The Sun is the source of all power, and the Moon is the Mother of its manifestation... The earth, womb of nature, the
point where the masculine, electric rays of the Sun are embraced by the feminine, magnetic, rays of the Moon, was represented
by the union of a vertical line and a horizontal line, i.e. a cross... The angle at which the rays of the Sun, Moon and Planets
were found to have an influence upon life and mundane affairs. Thus in astrological calculations it is necessary to
measure and record these angles...
* The Square (i.e. Euclid’s Square) embodies the idea
of a vertical line, or positive force, meeting a horizontal line, or negative force at an angle which is measured
in a single plane. In practical astrology this is the first step for the zodiacal positions of the Sun, Moon and planets are
found, and their aspects calculated, as if they all moved in the plane of the Ecliptic. It is these aspects that are found
potent in the affairs of life... The Sun, Moon and planets move describing orbits that are inclined to one another. To trace
such curved orbits and measure their inclination to each other we require the compass,
an instrument that embodies the idea of a male force meeting a female force at an angle. The right leg of the compass
was taken to signify the positive force, the left leg, a negative.
* The doctrines taught by Ancient Masonry were fully developed at
the very beginning of the seven ancient centers of civilization: Egypt, India, Crete, Peru,
Mexico, China and Chaldea. From a more ancient region which became submerged beneath the waves (Atlantis in the Atlantic, MU
in the Pacific???), was the Secret Doctrine embodied in Ancient Masonry carried by the colonists from that land before
it sank. The four chief dogmas of these spiritual doctrines and their spiritual wisdom were embodied in huge monuments
of stone, in those symbolical pictographs which we call the constellations, in the Egyptian tarot cards, in allegorical stories
found in the sacred books of the world, etc. The Ancient Masonic ritual and its symbols, while acknowledging that the planets
have an influence on man, and that knowledge is essential, also strongly emphasized, in the huge lithic monuments they left,
that life persist after death and that one must follow in life some means to achieve happiness and successful survival--->
The Planets’ influence,
Knowledge, Life after Death, and the
Pursue of Happiness.
* The Union of the Square and the Compass: The
Word Spiral and the word Spirit are both from the Latin word 'spira,' meaning, to breath. The Spiral is the breath of life.
From this spiral motion of the orbs, which causes the succession of the seasons and what it follows, comes forth all terrestrial
life manifestations... (Visit---> Symbols
and Rituals of Freemasonry: http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/symbol.html )...
 ...The spiral return of the Sun in spring banishes the ice and snow of winter and germinates
the seeds of vegetation. Later it warms them with its rays into foliage, grains and fruits, and these become the support of
higher forms of life. In Ancient Masonry this union of zodiacal motion and declination was symbolized by the union
of the compass and the square. And to indicate the germination of physical life generated by this motion an additional
symbol was placed in the center between them. A serpent in the form of the letter S
was originally used (i.e. the generative act). Later, the third Hebrew letter, Gimel, was used with the same meaning, This
later is the hieroglyph for the sign Libra, or union resulting
in pregnancy...
...The square placed below is typical of purely physical union of the sexes. The right angle has been used
from time immemorial as the symbol of discord and strife (e.g. man and woman united for selfish and carnal motives). The
compass placed above is typical of a union of souls and reciprocal love. The angle formed by the male and female
portions of the compass should approx. be 60 degrees (i.e. the astrological sextile, harmony and joy). The letter G stands for the Generation of offspring as the result of physical union... The union
of the compass and the square form a diamond, the hardest and most precious of stones. When removing the G, the God within
becomes manifest. Ancient Masons: “Search them to remove the G, that the diamond
may be clear and reflect the light of the Divine Sun in the full glory of the Holy Shekinah..."
...This condition is symbolized in Ancient Masonry by the Hebrew letter Shin
in the compass and the square. Shin indicates the completion of the Great Work, the full realization of the Holy Shekinah...
(Visit--->Phoenixmasonry Masonic Museum: http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum )...
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