This summer I’m working with other scholars from the University of Georgia, University of North Carolina and Yale University on a unique project to document what is commonly referred to as the Voodoo Village. It’s a folk-art village just south of Memphis, Tennessee that contains many objects with, what appears to be, direct connections to the Scottish Rite. The project will photograph and document the village and then offer an academic interpretation of its history and symbolism.

This is a fun break from my other projects that usually focus on people and places 300+ years ago.

I’m also working with American and European academics on a study of the late Roman Empire in England and Wales.

I hope to be able to set aside enough time this year to publish a few new pieces about Freemasonry that will shed more light on the period from 1680-1710.

If you’re interested in reading some of my favorite books about Freemasonry, history and philosophy check out my Masonic Bookshelf.

Every American Freemason will be will acquainted with the Perfect Ashlar, a Masonic symbol used in the Preston-Webb ritual. Most Masons believe that this ritual is the original used by the fraternity all the way back to 1717, when in fact it was created by Thomas Smith Webb in 1797. Another example of an American innovation to Freemasonry is the virgin weeping over the broken column. This symbol was invented by Jeremy Ladd Cross, and first propagated in his book The True Masonic Chart: Or Hieroglyphic Monitor; Containing All the Emblems Explained in the Degrees.

According to James Fenton, Past Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Michigan: “Brother Webb, a printer, got into touch with freemasonry quite early. In 1797 he attracted attention through a book titled “Freemason’s Monitor or Illustrations of Masonry”. In 1813 he became Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island. He is the real founder of the so-called American Ritus which he developed in that form like it is cultivated in America even today.” (circa 1865)

Bro. Webb was a printer, not a scholar, and he was far removed from the original source documents of Freemasonry in England when he conceived and printed his book. The American relationship with the Grand Lodges in England was still stressed due to the recent revolution and formation of the United States. Making matters worse American Freemasonry, like its British counterpart, was then divided into two factions: ‘Modern’ and ‘Antient’. The schism between the Modern and Antient Grand Lodges in England would not be resolved until 1813. The significant philosophical differences between the two distinct groups created confusion amongst the Freemasons of the day. Central to the conflict was the Royal Arch degree used by the Antient lodges. With so many different ideas about Freemasonry floating around it is not surprising that Bro. Webb would try to create a new system adopting parts of one system and grafting them onto the other.

It is also clear that he took certain liberties with the rituals and symbols in his interpretive book. In some cases he totally ignored significant symbols and entire parts of the old ritual, while at the same time adding new material from unknown sources.

It can’t be ignored that part of Webb’s motive in creating the book was profit. Much like James Anderson before him, he intended to sell his book for his own financial gain. Another motive might have been to consolidate the American ritual into a framework that was easily accessible to all of the lodges, both Modern and Antient. Being able to sell his new book to both groups would have added to the profitability of his work. This could help explain why his book appears to be a synthesis of both Modern and Antient materials.

Like many Americans of his time Webb was influenced by a misunderstanding of the origins of the Craft. Rev. James Anderson, in his Constitutions of 1723, had created a mythical history of the fraternity going back to the time of Adam. Many Freemasons of the time took this to be a real accounting of the history of Freemasonry. He was probably also confused by much of the terminology used in the rituals and symbols. For instance it is likely that he would have viewed the Masonic symbol of the Sword of State as being a direct allusion to the power and authority of the English crown. This probably explains why he left it out of his book.

In attempting to create a unified system that was devoid of British symbols of authority Webb made changes to the Masonic rituals that would have disastrous moral and philosophical consequences. The system his book creates is in opposition to both western and eastern metaphysical traditions. This is a significant imperfection of the Preston-Webb rituals.

The original philosophical system of speculative Freemasonry created in seventeenth century England was a reinterpretation of long established Judeo-Christian ideology. The significant difference being that it could be universally adopted by all people because it was devoid of any particular dogma. It used Masonic symbols to reach a system of human morality that could be agreed upon by all men. It did so in the hopes of creating a brotherhood of all mankind undivided by the specifics of any religious dogma.

Webb, however, creates an entirely new dogma through his misinterpretation of, and deviation from, the original system.

The Sword of State and the Royal Arch

The Moderns railed against the creation of the Royal Arch degree by the Antients, yet they too were familiar with this symbol. Why was there so much bitterness and heated rhetoric over the Royal Arch?

The Moderns knew the Royal Arch as the holder of the Sword of State that sat in the East with the Master of the lodge. It was a small stand into which the handle of the Sword of State was placed, holding it in an upright position. Imagine the present Royal Arch with a sword pointing upwards coming out of the capstone. It was literally the “Royal Arch” because it held the Sword of State. The idea of Freemasonry being the “Royal Art” is derived from this.

As is discussed in my paper Freemasonry: Veiled and Illustrated Freemasonry’s meaning is veiled in its allegory but revealed in its symbols. Thus, the terms “Sword of State” and “Royal Arch” are veils that cover the true meaning of the symbols. The arch is the gateway to Eden (human paradise), and the sword is that which the Bible says guarded the gateway after the fall of man into the delusion of duality (represented by the Black and White tiled floor).

The Moderns were upset because the Antients reinterpreted the symbol of the arch in the context of the vaults beneath Solomon’s Temple. They knew this was an error because the legend of Hiram and the Temple had just been added by John T. Desaguliers in 1725, but the symbol of the arch and sword predated this.

This information was either unknown to Webb, or he was reckless in his reengineering of the rituals.

The Broached Thurnel and the Apron

Both Webb and William Preston appear to have been familiar with the Broached Thurnel as an original symbol. They also seemed to realize its importance but were flummoxed by its vague definition in the rituals. Regarding the Broached Thurnel the original ritual says ” …the Broached Thurnel [was] for the entered Apprentice to learn to work upon.” They must also have known that this symbol was associated with the Northeast corner of the lodge, and that it was a white stone formed by placing a pyramid composed of equilateral triangles atop a cube. From this they incorrectly concluded that the Broached Thurnel was a symbol specific to Entered Apprentices. They then removed the symbol and replaced it with the present Entered Apprentice apron with the flap turned up, making the newly created Apprentice a living symbol of the Broached Thurnel.

The true meaning and use of the Broached Thurnel is discussed in my paper Freemasonry: A Peculiar System of Morality.

The Perpendicular and Rough Ashlars

In the earliest rituals we are presented with three symbolic stones: the Perpendicular Ashlar, Rough Ashlar and Broached Thurnel. There is no mention of a “Perfect Ashlar.” As has been pointed out by myself and other Masonic scholars, it appears that what the old rituals called the “Perpend Ashlar” (Perpendicular Ashlar) got converted by brothers Preston and Webb into the Perfect Ashlar many Masons know today.  It can now be shown that their transliteration of the old English “Perpend” into “Perfect” was incorrect. The old rituals state quite clearly that the Perpendicular Ashlar is symbolic of a gravestone sitting atop a green divot (sod).

The Rough Ashlar and Broached Thurnel are listed among the three immovable jewels: “Tarsel Board, Rough Ashlar, and Broached Thurnel.”

What is the purpose of the Rough Ashlar? According to the old rituals:

“…the Rough Ashlar for the Fellow-Craft to try their Jewels upon…”

They are to “try” their jewels upon the Rough Ashlar. Note, it does not say chip away or perfect, but to “try” their jewels upon it. This is significant because the Rough Ashlar is a symbol from antiquity that is also referred to as the “Uncut Block”. Also worth noting is this passage from the Bible.

Exodus 20:25 – And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.

When a child is born it is in a purely natural state of being (Rough Ashlar) having never been subjected to the “vices and superfluities of life.” The vices and superfluities are actually things that we do that take us further away from that pure and natural state of being that we were born into. Thus, the original ritual does not seek to perfect us through the use of the working tools but to restore us to our natural state of being.

The Fellow-Crafts, by trying their jewels upon the Rough Ashlar, symbolically learn how to recognize their natural state of being. Human beings are not meant to be Square, Level or Plum, they are living and changing at all times.

As you can see the old Natural Philosophy of Freemasonry had no need for, or use of, the Perfect Ashlar. It viewed the whole of the creation as already perfect in its natural state as created by the Great Architect of the Universe. The whole idea introduced by Preston and Webb into Masonry, that through the use of Masonic working tools a person can “Perfect” their Ashlar, is an affront to the deity. It is like saying, “Freemasonry can Perfect upon the Imperfect creation of the Great Architect.” This represents the ultimate in human arrogance, and the results of such a false and specious philosophy are readily apparent in the Craft today. ‘Perfect Ashlar Masonry’ requires strict and immutable rules and structure in order to exemplify its “perfection”. These, however, defy the natural order of the creation which is entirely dynamic. Ask any physicist and they will tell you that it is the nature of all things to be in a constant state of change, nothing is static, and exact and perfect knowledge of even elementary particles such as electrons exists only as a probability. Thus, anything that remains static in a changing environment will be swept away by natural forces and replaced by something of equal dynamics to the environment in which it exists.

The creation is such that everything has its use and place. Nothing is imperfect by design, but is perfectly suited to perform its function within the whole of the creation. Our tendency to objectify reality into separate parts has given us the false illusion that the creation is the sum of its parts when, in fact, the parts are just different perspectives of the One. The whole of the creation is unified from beginning to end, no part exists independent of another. In the words of physicist Werner Heisenberg -

[In modern physics], one has now divided the world not into different groups of objects but into different groups of connections … What can be distinguished is the kind of connection which is primarily important in a certain phenomenon … The world thus appears as a complicated tissue of events, in which connections of different kinds alternate or overlap or combine and thereby determine the texture of the whole.

Oaths and Obligations

The present oaths and obligations used in the Preston-Webb rituals share little in common with the originals taken by men like George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. About all that remains of the original oath and obligation is the symbolic penalties.

No Mason prior to the Preston-Webb ritual was required to swear blind obedience to the edicts and dictates of a Grand Lodge or Grand Master. Freemasonry was a society of free men working together for the benefit of mankind. Their oath and obligation was to secrecy and moral rectitude.

Can you imagine the Founding Fathers of the United States swearing blind obedience to any person or organization?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” – The Declaration of Independence

The Preston-Webb oaths and obligations lead to a fascist-like blind obedience to the will of others. It obligates the Mason to intellectual and spiritual slavery. The true nature of this would become apparent during the Morgan Affair of 1826. Unfortunately, Freemasons learned little from this and continued down the same path, ignoring or choosing to forget their glorious heritage of freedom and enlightenment.

The ramifications of the changes made by Preston and Webb are everywhere apparent today. Freemasonry is now often referred to as an “obedience”. If Freemasonry were an obedience then what particular religion does it serve? What is the dogma of this religion?

OBEDIENCE: The general submission which the religious vow to God, and voluntarily promise to their superiors, in order to be directed by them in the ways of perfection according to the purpose and constitutions of their Order. It consists, according to Lessius (De Justitia, II, xlvi, 37), in a man’s allowing himself to be governed throughout his life by another for the sake of God. 

Does the above sound like a definition of Freemasonry that would have been understood by Voltaire, Franklin or Washington?

James Anderson states the following in his Constitutions of 1723:

“But though in ancient times Masons were charged in every country to be of the religion of that country or nation, whatever it was, yet it is now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that religion in which all men agree, leaving their particular Opinions to themselves: that is, to be Good men and True, or Men of Honour and Honesty, by whatever Denomination or Persuasion they may be distinguished; whereby Masonry becomes the Centre of Union and the Means of conciliating true Friendship among persons that must have remained at a perpetual distance.”

Anderson points to the “religion in which all men agree” and then goes on to define this religion as “to be Good me and True, or Men of Honour and Honesty, by whatever Persuasion they may be distinguished.”  He even tells us why this simple definition is important to Freemasonry: “whereby Masonry becomes the Centre of Union and the Means of conciliating true Friendship among persons that must have remained at a perpetual distance.”

Anderson abolishes dogma and obedience in 1723 then Preston and Webb restore it seventy years later.

Any Masonic obligation that goes further than having the person agree to be good, true, honest, honorable and loyal in his friendship and actions towards others is a violation of Anderson’s Constitutions of 1723. I would add that it also violates the Ancient Landmarks of the Craft.

Conclusion

William Preston and Thomas Webb most likely acted with the best of intentions when they modified the Masonic rituals. They may have thought that they were helping to united Freemasons, or merely clarifying the content of the rituals. Sadly, neither Preston not Webb had a thorough understanding of the original system. This was in large part due to it having been an oral tradition that over time became more corrupted through repetition and misunderstanding.

Modern scholarship is beginning to shed light on the original system through research of old letters, diaries, and other MS materials. Much work is yet to be done.

It is my hope that one day Freemasonry will be restored to its oiriginal form and a new age of Enlightenment and brotherhood  will dawn for future generations.

Julian Rees was initiated in the Kirby Lodge No. 2818 in London, was Master in 1976/77 and again at the centenary of the Lodge in 1999/2000, and was Master of the German-speaking Pilgrim Lodge No. 238 in 1978/79. He was a regular contributor to the quarterly magazine Freemasonry Today. He is the author of Making Light—A Handbook for Freemasons and The Stairway of Freemasonry.

In many ways Bro. Julian is a model of the classical ancient Greek hero/philosopher. His ideas are the subject of heated debate like those of Socrates. His spiritual philosophy is neo-Platonic, and his practice of it echos the stoicism of Zeno and Marcus Aurelius. To me, he is an example of the perfect man and Mason.

For those of you who are unacquainted with Bro. Julian’s ideas and philosophy you can watch his video The Way to the Center.

Before I begin I believe it is necessary to define the terms with which we will be working, so as to avoid any confusion.

Esoteric: understood by or meant for only the select few who have special knowledge or interest.

Occult: (in early science) not apparent on mere inspection but discoverable by experimentation or observation.

And

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” – Arthur C. Clarke

I remember being an Entered Apprentice and sitting for many hours with my mentor learning the catechism of the degree. After which followed those for the Fellow-Craft and the Master Mason. On the night I first met with him to learn the Master’s catechism he sat there for a long time in complete silence just staring at me. Then he said, “There are two kinds of Masters; those of the Allegory and those of the Symbols. Which one will you be?”

“Both!” I blurted out, believing the middle path to be the wisest choice.

He frowned and looked disappointed. “I had hoped for more from you.”

I was puzzled by his reaction and could not comprehend his apparent disappoint with me.

After a short silence he continued. “Have you learned nothing from me? Tell me. What is Freemasonry?”

A long silence ensued as I carefully contemplated how to answer him. Finally, I decided to fall back on the fundamentals and said, “Freemasonry is a peculiar system of morality, veiled in allegory, and illustrated by symbols.”

“Then will you be a Master of the Allegory or the Symbols?” he asked.

“The Symbols.” I replied.

“Yes,  the Master of the Allegory is a fool, while the Master of the Symbols becomes wise. For you see, my brother, Freemasonry is an allegory within an allegory purposefully designed to trick the profane into a false sense of understanding. Its true secrets lie hidden in the esoteric meaning of its symbols, which are entirely occult to the profane, and in many cases the Mason as well.”

“Then what is the peculiar system of morality?” I asked.

“It is a system of self-discovery that, when understood, allows its students to reach a state of probity.”

“Probity?” I wasn’t sure I understood him.

“Yes, a state of complete moral and psychological integrity. To become known to one’s self is the highest virtue -actually, it IS Virtue!”

He could tell I was becoming more puzzled with each passing minute.

“What does it mean to be virtuous?” he asked.

“To be a good person with sound morals.”

He grinned at my overly simplistic response to his inquiry.

“No! It is much more. To be virtuous one must have a complete knowledge of their self because it is the foundation upon which morality must be erected, and eventually a state of probity achieved.”

“Ah, I get it. The Perfect Ashlar.” I said.

“No, not at all, that is the difference between the Master of the Allegory and the Master of the Symbols.  The Master of the Allegory believes that he perfects. He is arrogant, self-assuming, and pretentious. The Master of the Symbols understands that the only perfection lies within an understanding of the self. We cannot perfect that which is already perfected by design. It is the vices and superfluities of life that pollute and disfigure us. Is the geometry of the cosmos flawed? Do you really believe that you can perfect that which was designed by the Great Architect of the Universe? Do not waste your time with those who do!”

My mind was now reeling from overload. It was as if everything were now running in reverse.  The lodge is 180 degrees the opposite of King Solomon’s Temple… the Compasses are 60 degrees multiplied by three… 180… The Master faces the candidate… 180…  The Parallel Lines mark the Solstices… 180

“What is Freemasonry!?!?” I shouted.

He looked away from me while thinking deeply to himself, and then replied, “It is the event horizon where reason and perceived reality smash themselves into fragments upon the wall of paradox. It is the point where the Physics and the Metaphysics are conjoined.”

He is perhaps best known for his 1729 translations from the French of Charles Perrault’s Histories and Tales of Long Ago, with Morals, which later became known as Tales of Mother Goose, though Mother Goose does not appear in the book. Rather, the book is a compilation of fairy tales and fables we know today as “Sleeping Beauty,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Cinderella,” “Puss in Boots,” and other “children’s” stories. Artwork of an old crone, or witch, appeared on the frontispiece of the book, and became known as Mother Goose. (The rhymes we today call Mother Goose rhymes were of later English derivation, and then attributed to the now well-known Mother Goose.)

The wife-killing Turk called “Bluebeard” also made his English debut in this book translated by Samber, in a story titled “Blue Beard, or the Effects of Female Curiosity.” The character of Bluebeard later appears in the works of Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackaray.

Samber also translated In Praise of Drunkenness, by Albert-Henri de Sallengre. The translator (Samber) is referenced in the book as a “man of honour (a Freemason).” The subtitle of the book was “Wherein is authentically, and most evidently proved, the necessity of frequently getting drunk; and, that the practice of getting drunk is most ancient, primitive, and catholic.”

In Praise of Drunkenness contains several hints at Masonic rituals then in use in England.

Samber wrote several volumes of “dramatic” and “narrative” poetry in his native English. He also translated scholarly treatises, including his 1718 English translation about the making of eunuchs to provide singers for operas, Eunuchism Display’d, of Charles Ancillon’s 1707 Traité des Eunuchs.

Under his pen name Eugenius Philalethes, Jun. [the original Eugenius Philalethes was the pseudonym of alchemist Thomas Vaughan (1622-1666), who is believed to have been the head of the Rosicrucian Order], he wrote the 1721 Treatise on the Plague, where he gives instructions for preventing the plague. He tells what apparel to wear, how to protect one’s home, and gives instructions on diet, antidotes and medicine. Treatise on the Plague was dedicated to the Duke of Montague, who was then Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of London. The vocabulary of the book strongly hints that Samber was well-versed in hermetic teachings.

In 1721, Roger Greaves paid him to translate La Motte’s fables as One Hundred New Court Fables.

In 1724 Samber translated Venus in the Cloister: or, The Nun in Her Smock, written by either Jean Barrin or Francois de Chavigny de la Bretonniere, under the pen name L’Abbe du Prat, for printer Edmund Curll. The book described the translator as “a man of honour.” In 1725, Edmund Curll was prosecuted for publishing the book, which was considered pornographic, but not before Samber translated Chinese Tales: Or, The Wonderful Adventures of the Mandarine Fum-Hoam for him.

Lest you think Robert Samber was universally considered a “man of honor,” I offer this passage from J. M. Blom’s modern-day scholarly paper called “A German Jesuit and His Anglican Readers: The Case of Jeremiah Drexelius,” in which Samber’s one-paragraph mention plays little part except perhaps as way to pad out Blom’s otherwise dry survey of the history of British publishing:

“He [Samber] went to the English College Rome in 1705, but left there a year later to enter upon a very chequered life as hack writer, renegade Freemason, renegade Catholic and pornographer. He exploited his masonic connections in order to make money by first courting the favour of his wealthier brethren and by later ridiculing them. He made use of his Catholic background and education in a variety of ways; his translation of Roma Illustrata testifies to his knowledge of Rome and of Catholic art; his adaptation of Drexel to his knowledge of Catholic devotional stuff and its attraction among English non-Catholics; and his translation of Venus in the Cloister to his shrewd eye for the contemporary interest in smutty stories about the secrets of the convent. It is a nice irony that his role in Edmund Curll’s publication of the latter book is Samber’s only literary activity that has been noticed in the 20th century.”

The Courtier written in Italian, by Count Castiglione, was translated into English by Samber in 1724.

Bro. David Stevenson, in his excellent paper on James Anderson, the author of Anderson’s Constitutions, tells of a time when Samber was present at, and later wrote about, a Grand Lodge dinner in 1722. The Grand Lodge had tried to avoid political schism by installing officers of both supporters loyal to England and those loyal to the exiled James III. Political discussions were banned, but the band tried to “stage a coup.” Bro. Stevenson writes:

In 1722-23 Grand Lodge Freemasonry avoided political schism by accepting the need for a degree of political diversity among masons in appointments to office — even though politics could not be discussed. But though harmony was maintained, if the satirical account of the 1722 feast at which [the Duke of] Wharton [a Tory] became Grand Master is to be believed, political tensions did surface. It was a good dinner, Robert Samber (who was present) allows, though how “demolishing huge Walls of Venison Pastry” “after a very disedifying Manner” contributed to “building up a Spiritual House” he did not know. Politics and religion were not discussed, as the masons seemed to be following the advice of “that Author” (a reference to Anderson, whoseConstitutions had been published by the time Samber wrote). But at one point the band had begun to play “Let the King enjoy his own again,” a popular Jacobite (and thus seditious) tune. The Tories were getting cheeky — talking politics might be banned, but music could make a political point. The band was “immediately reprimanded by a Person of great Gravity and Science,” which surely means Desaguliers. After that, Hanoverian decorum was restored — and indeed emphasized. The bottle went merrily about and toasts were made to king, royal family, and the established “Churches” (thus carefully maintaining a British dimension by recognizing that England and Scotland had different establishments). Other toasts were drunk to prosperity to Old England “under the present Administration,” and “Love, Liberty, and Science,” an interesting trio.

Of prime interest to us is Robert Samber’s dedicatory preface to his translation of the 1715 book Long Livers, by Frenchman De Longeville Harcouet, published in England in 1722. Samber wrote the preface under his pseudonym Eugenius Philalethes, Jun. His wording indicates again his intimate knowledge of hermetic teachings, and gives indication that these teachings were a part of Masonic instruction of the time.

Samber says Freemasonry belongs to “an uninterrupted Tradition” and that individual freemasons are “living stones built [into] a spiritual house,” “a chosen Generation, a royal Priesthood” as well as “imprisoned… exiled Children” and “Sons of Science…” who are illuminated with the sublimest Mysteries and profoundest secrets.”

For your further illumination, here is Bro. Samber’s complete dedicatory preface toLong Livers:

To the
Grand Master, Masters, Wardens and Brethren
Of the
Most Ancient and Most Honourable Fraternity of the Free
Masons
Of
Great Britain and Ireland,
Brother Eugenius Philalethes
Sendeth Greeting.

Men, Brethren,

I address myself to you after this Manner, because it is the true Language of the Brotherhood, and which the primitive Christian Brethren, as well as those who were from the Beginning, made use of, as we learn from the holy Scriptures, and an uninterrupted Tradition.

I present you with the following Sheets, as belonging more properly to you than any else. By what I here say, those of you who are not worthy to look behind the Veil, may find not disagreeable or unprofitable Entertainment: and those who are so happy as to have greater Light, will discover under these Shadows somewhat truly great and noble, and worthy the serious Attention of a Genius the most elevated and sublime: The Spiritual Celestial Cube, the only true, solid and the immoveable Basis and Foundation of all Knowledge, Peace and Happiness.

I therefore, my dearest, Brethren, greet you most heartily, and am glad of this Opportunity to rejoice with you, inasmuch as it hath pleased the Almighty, One Eternal, Unalterable God, to send out his Light, and his Truth, and his vivifying Spirit, whereby the Brotherhood begins to revive again in this our Isle, and Princes seek to be of this sacred Society, which has been from the beginning, and always shall be; the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against it, but it shall continue while the Sun and Moon endureth, and till the general Consummation of all Things; for since God, my dearest Brethren, is of us, who can be against us?

This being so, I shall speak to you a few Words on this important Subject; and perhaps I am the first that ever spoke to you after this manner. I shall, as briefly as I can, present you with a true and faithful Mirrour, a Mirrour which will not, which cannot flatter (Flattery be eternally banish’d the Brotherhood), wherein you may see, or rather be remembered, what you are: and then you need not be told very much how you ought to act. And in this I shall use that Liberty and Freedom, which is our essential Difference, richly distinguishes us from all others, and is indeed the very Soul and Spirit of the Brotherhood.

The Style I shall make use of is most catholick, primitive and Christian; it is what is extracted from the sacred Scriptures. Remember that you are the Salt of the Earth, the Light of the World, and the Fire of the Universe. Ye are living Stones, built up a spiritual House, who believe and rely on the chief Lapis Angularis, which the refractory and disobedient Builders disallowed, ye are called from Darkness to Light, you are a chosen Generation, a royal Priesthood.

This makes you, my dear Brethren, fit Companions for the greatest Kings; and no wonder, since the King of Kings hath condescended to make you so to himself, compared to whom the mightiest and most haughty Princes of the Earth are but as Worms, and that not so much as we are all Sons of the same Eternal Father, by whom all Things were made; but inasmuch as we do the Will of his and our Father which is in Heaven.

You see now your high Dignity; you see what you are; act accordingly, and show yourselves (what you are) MEN, and walk worthy the high Profession to which you are called. But while I say this, do not imagine I set up for a Rabbi, Master, or Instructor, who am one of the least of you, a mere Novice, a Catechumen, and know nothing. However, do not despise my Mite, which I throw into your Treasury, since ‘tis all I have: others may do more in Quantity, but not in Proportion.

Remember then what the great End we all aim at is: Is it not to be happy here and hereafter? For they both depend on each other. The Seeds of that eternal Peace and Tranquility and everlasting Repose must be sown in this Life; and he that would glorify and enjoy the Soverign Good then, must learn to do it now, and from contemplating the Creature gradually ascend to adore the Creator.

But alas! My Brethren, what are we and our little Globe below, to that stupendous Celestial Masonry above! Where the Almighty Architect has stretched out the Heavens as a Curtain, which he has richly embroidered with Stars, and with his immortal Compasses, as from a Punctum, circumscribed the mighty ALL: is himself the Centre of all Things, yet knows no Circumference? who lets down his golden Balance, and weighs all Things according to eternal incorruptible Justice, and where Actions of the best of Men are frequently found too light; who has created infinite Worlds, for what we know, above us; and those vast Luminaries within our Ken, to which he has given Laws, and allotted them their peculiar Influences, Intelligences and Daemons. If to do all this, and believe only in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and of all Things visible and invisible, the most grand, essential, the prime, eternal, everlasting, fundamental Article of the most holy, catholick, universal, and Christian Faith (of which we are) makes one an Atheist; such, my dearest Brethren, are we all, and we glory in it. Let the Infidel and Pagan World say what they will, we shall have the Suffrage of all Christians, under whatever other Denomination distinguished, who cannot be so inconsistent with themselves, as to take Umbrage at those who believe the prime Article of their (that is our) holy Faith.

O thou Eternal One! Thou Immortal Unitt! thou Incomprehensible Monas! Never let us swerve from these everlasting Truths. Send out they Light and thy Truth, that they may lead and bring us to thy holy Hill and thy Tabernacle. We are imprisoned, who shall deliver us from the Body of this Death? We are exiled Children from our Country, when shall we return?

Here thou hast placed us as Novices and Probationers; when shall we be professed among those blessed Denizens of the Celestial Jerusalem, not built with Hands, and be reinstated in our Innocence? Here we wander in the dark gloomy Vale of Tears and the Shadow of Death, where we remember nothing, and who dares say What dost thou? Here hast thou placed us for Reasons best known to thy Almighty Justice, and thy inscrutable Counsels, into which the curious Pryer is struck blind by the radiant Majesty of thy Glories, thou inaccessible Light! thou eternal Power! Wisdom! Love!

It is the same thing in relation to the Religion we profess, which is the best that ever was, or will, or can be; for it is the Law of Nature, which is the Law of God, for God is Nature. It is to love God above all Things, and our Neighbour as ourself; this is the true, primitive, catholick, and universal Religion, agreed to be so in all Times and Ages, and confirmed by our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, who tells us, that on these hang all the Law and the Prophets.

Avoid all Companions whose ridiculing of Religion is thought witty, and more especially when the wretched discourse is turned upon the adorable Majesty of the most Holy Trinity, which is an eternal Doctrine believed by Wise Men in all Ages. The ancient Philosophers, who had no revealed Religion, no other Light but the Light of Nature, taught and believed this most sacred Truth, as I could show in a proper place as clear as the Sun. The Platonics, for example, to instance no more, acknowledge in the Godhead three Persons; the first they called the Father of the Universe, or of all Things; the second the Son and first Mind; that is, according to Plotinus and Philo, the Divine Intellect, flowing from God the Father, as Light from Light, or the Word that is spoken from the Speaker: Hence he was called the… Verbum, or Word, Light of Light, and the Splendour of god the father; and the third they called the Spirit orAnima Mundi, which Dove-like sate brooding on the Face of the Waters, and which is celestial, amatorial, genial Heat, hatchet the Universe.

And now, my Brethren, you of the higher Class, permit me a few Words, since you are but few; and these few Words I shall speak to you in Riddles, because to you it is given to know those Mysteries which are hidden from the Unworthy.

Have you not seen then, my dearest Brethren, that stupendous Bath, filled with the most limpid Water, than which no Pure can be purer, of such admirable Mechanism that makes even the greatest Philosopher gaze with Wonder and Astonishment, and is the Subject of the eternal Contemplation of the wisest Men? Its Form is a Quadrate, sublimely placed on six others, blazing all with celestial Jewels, each angularly supported with four Lions. Here repose our Mighty King and Queen (I speak foolishly, I am not worthy to be of you), the King shining in his glorious Apparel of transparent, incorruptible Gold, beset with living Sapphires; he is fair and ruddy, and feeds amongst the Lillies; his Eyes, two Carbuncles the most brilliant, darting prolifick, never-dying Fires: and his large-flowing Hair, blacker than the deepest Black, or Plumage of the long-lived Crow; his Royal Consort vested in Tissue of immortal Silver, watered with Emeralds, Pearls, and Coral. O mystical Union! O admirable Commerce!

Cast now your Eyes to the Basis of this celestial Structure, and you will discover just before it a large Bason of Porphyrian Marble, receiving from the Mouth of a Lion’s Head, to which two Bodies displayed on each side of it are conjoined, a greenish Fountain of liquid Jasper. Ponder this well, and consider. Haunt no more the Woods and Forests; (I speak as a Fool) haunt no more the fleet Hart; let the flying Eagle fly unobserved; busy yourselves no longer with the dancing Ideot, swollen Toads, and his own Tail-devouring Dragon; leave these as Elements to your Tyrones.

The object of your Wishes and Desires (some of you may perhaps have obtained it, I speak as a Fool) is that admirable thing which hath a Substance neither too firy, nor altogether earthy, nor simply watery; neither a Quality the most acute, or most obtuse, but of a middle Nature, and light to the Touch, and in some manner soft, at least not hard; not having Asperity, but even in some sort sweet to the Taste, odorous to the Smell, grateful to the Sight, agreeable and delectable to the Hearing, and pleasant to the Thought; in short, that One only Thing, besides which there is no other, and yet everywhere possible to be found, the blessed and most sacred Subject of the Square of wise Men, that is — I had almost blabbed it out, and been sacrilegiously perjured. I shall therefore speak of it with a Circumlocution yet more dark and obscure, that none but the Sons of Science, and those illuminated with the Sublime Mysteries and profound Secrets of Masonry may understand — It is then, what brings you, my dearest Brethren, to the pellucid diaphanous Palace of the true disinterested Lovers of Wisdom, that transparent Pyramid of pure Salt, more sparkling and radiant than the finest orient Ruby, in the Centre of which reposes inaccessible Light epitomized, that incorruptible celestial Fire, blazing like burning Crystal, and brighter than the Sun in his full Meridian Glories, which is that immortal, eternal, never-dying PRYOPUS, the King of Gemms, whence proceeds every thing that is great, and wise, and happy.

These Things are deeply hidden from the common View, and covered with Pavilions of thickest Darkness, that what is Sacred may not be given to Dogs, or your Pearls cast before Swine, lest they trample them under Foot, and turn again and rent you.

Eugenius Philalethes, Jun.

F.R.S.
March 1st, 1721

(NOTE: The above paper was a join effort between Bro. David Ross and Bro. Jeff Peace first published on the Burning Taper blog on May 31, 2007.)

The 47th Problem of Euclid has always been of great importance to speculative Freemasons. It is so important that it appears on the frontispiece of Anderson’s Constitution of 1723. The engraving shows two Grand Masters looking down at a drawing of the 47th Problem on the floor of a great hall. Hermes flies above them in a chariot. It is the Past Master’s Jewel in many jurisdictions and it is a symbol in the Master’s Degree.

Many Masons have speculated that this symbol has an obvious interpretation, but if Freemasonry has taught me anything it is to look past the obvious for something hidden within. Long ago, while studying the earliest known rituals I discovered that the candidate was often referred to as “Peter Gower,” or more correctly Pythagoras. This made me ask a question about the 47th Problem of Euclid. Why didn’t the early brothers refer to this by its more popular name: the Pythagorean Theorem? It’s clear from the ritual that they knew who Pythagoras was, so why not refer to his most important discovery by using his name?

Ultimately, the mystery revolves around Euclid. Who is the Euclid the ritual is referring to? Could there be another Euclid who had a different 47th Problem that would be more relevant to the early speculative Freemasons? After much research I discovered another 47th Problem of “Euclid” that many modern Masons may find of interest.

“PROP. XLVII. The human mind has an adequate knowledge of the eternal and infinite essence of God.”

Could this be what the Masonic symbol conceals?

When you consider that the early speculative Freemasons considered Freemasonry to be “a peculiar system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols,” it seems logical to conclude that hidden somewhere within the Masonic system lay hidden a system of morality that was peculiar (unique).

Slightly before speculative Freemasonry appeared on the scene a famous philosopher wrote a book of ethics (morality) that was truly peculiar (unique), it was so unique that he was labeled a heretic and copies of his book were burned. His book was peculiar in more ways than just his ideas, it was written in the same format as Euclid’s Book of Elements, it was a moral philosophy based on the logical format of Geometry.

The book is entitled simply Ethics, and its author is Benedict Spinoza. Could it be that in this book we have the peculiar system of morality referred to by the founders of speculative Freemasonry?

—Bro. Jeff Peace, Halcyon Lodge 498

In the days of the operative Masons lodges were formed in the towns and cities for the purpose of managing the trade guild and negotiating wages. In a sense lodges were similar to the present day union hall. Sometimes lodges would be established at large construction sites such as cathedrals and forts for similar purposes. Their “union card” was the secret modes of recognition.

Lodges were self-creating business entities that represented the craftsman and were Charted by state and/or local officials.

Grand Lodges were not things or places but events called by the monarch to bring all the Masters of the Craft together for the purpose of discussion and negotiation.

By the late seventeenth century the Masonic guild was in decline and they began accepting “gentleman Masons” into their lodges. The gentleman Masons were not craftsman but middle class businessmen, captains of ships, and academics.

In 1717 a unique event occurred when three of these lodges decided to from a Grand Lodge without consent of the monarch for the purpose of meeting and holding an annual feast. This is of interest because the lodges were entirely independent and sovereign. They created the Grand Lodge, and not the other way around.

They invited other independent and sovereign lodges to join their new Grand Lodge. Some did, while others did not become a part of it. The Sts’ Johns Masons flatly declined the invitation, and the Masons at York decided to establish their own Grand Lodge.

Independent lodges continued to exist apart from the Grand Lodges until late in the eighteenth century.

As Freemasonry moved from being a practical trade guild into a benevolent speculative fraternity a method was established for the creation of new lodges whereby the Grand Lodges became the issuers of Charters and not the government. It was in this way that Grand Lodge became the creator, and lost sight of the fact that it was, in fact, a creation of the lodges.

The present monolithic system of Masonic government is the exact opposite of what the original founding lodges had intended. If we are to reform Freemasonry in the 21st century we need to begin by recognizing that the lodges are sovereign, and that the Grand Lodge serves them. The Grand Master is not a benevolent dictator, but a servant of the Craft.

Masons still have the right to form independent lodges. These lodges are not clandestine or irregular. The whole concept of being clandestine and/or irregular was invented during the dispute between the Moderns and the Antients in England. It was a childish name calling game then as much as it is now.

We need more independent lodges offering new and unique insights into Freemasonry. They may choose to form new Grand Lodges based on their ideas. This is the same as it was in 1717. The most important thing is not the survival of the present Grand Lodges, but the continuation of the Craft.

This paper adopts a relatively new strategy aimed at discovering the true ‘secrets’ within the Craft. It attempts to demonstrate that Freemasonry, as we know it today, is a confusing conglomeration of materials, that when combined together, have little if any meaning or purpose. The great Masonic scholar, Ill. Bro. Albert Pike states in his work Morals & Dogma:

As Grand Master of all Symbolic Lodges, it is your especial duty to aid in restoring Masonry to its primitive purity. You have become an instructor. Masonry long wandered in error. Instead of improving, it degenerated from its primitive simplicity, and retrograded toward a system, distorted by stupidity and ignorance, which, unable to construct a beautiful machine, made a complicated one. Less than two hundred years ago, its organization was simple, and altogether moral, its emblems, allegories, and ceremonies easy to be understood, and their purpose and object readily to be seen. It was then confined to a very small number of Degrees. Its constitutions were like those of a Society of Essenes, written in the first century of our era. There could be seen the primitive Christianity, organized into Masonry, the school of Pythagoras without incongruities or absurdities; a Masonry simple and significant, in which it was not necessary to torture the mind to discover reasonable interpretations; a Masonry at once religious and philosophical, worthy of a good citizen and an enlightened philanthropist.

Innovators and inventors overturned that primitive simplicity. Ignorance engaged in the work of making Degrees, and trifles and gewgaws and pretended mysteries, absurd or hideous, usurped the place of Masonic Truth. …Eight hundred Degrees of one kind and another were invented: Infidelity and even Jesuitry were taught under the mask of Masonry. The rituals even of the respectable Degrees, copied and mutilated by ignorant men, became nonsensical and trivial; and the words so corrupted that it has hitherto been found impossible to recover many of them at all.

This paper goes further to establish the true aims of the original founders of the Craft, and to restore the integrity of a lost system of philosophy and understanding of the Cosmos. This present work is not intended as an in-depth study of all the matters in question, but more of a short outline of the methodology that must be utilized in order to uncover the true nature of Freemasonry. I hope in the future to be able to present a comprehensive work that addresses each and every aspect of this material, and bring to light what Freemasonry has lost over the ages.

First, we must establish an historical context from which to view Freemasonry. It is a well-established fact that what we now know as Freemasonry, or more specifically Speculative Freemasonry, was established sometime prior to the establishment of the Grand Lodge in London in 1717. Opinions differ as to the exact time, and range from the 15th through the 17th century. It is also well known that there existed at least two differing schools of Masonry: the ‘Moderns’ and the ‘Antients,’ and that these were at odds with one another over the true nature of the Craft. The differences between these two would remain unresolved until the formation of the United Grand Lodge of England in the early part of the 19th century. We will not address the fundamental differences in these at this time, as they are not important to the present work.

Most scholars agree that at this early stage of development Freemasonry consisted of not more than two degrees: the Entered Apprentice and the Fellow-Craft, or as it is sometimes referred the Companion. This is the first significant fact that we must keep in mind as we begin to develop an understanding of the Craft. At this early period a Fellow-Craft, or Fellow of the Craft, was a complete Freemason in every sense. He could attend Lodge and was invested with all the privileges of a Mason. It is also of some importance to consider that at this time there existed both Lodges of Entered Apprentices and Fellow-Craft Masons, and that brothers served a specific period of time as an Entered Apprentice before being allowed to progress to the degree of Fellow-Craft.

Secrecy and oaths have also, without a doubt, been a part of Speculative Freemasonry since its earliest development. Why there was a need for secrecy is not within the scope of the present work, but it is important to understand and accept that the need for secrecy was very real, and that the penalties prescribed were most likely executed without so much as a thought towards benevolence.

There is also little doubt that Masters existed from the beginning, as they are an essential part of the Lodge, and the earliest rituals. It is also apparent from the earliest manuscripts that some secret arcane word was associated with them, and that the possession of that word was of some value to its possessor. At the very least we can conclude that this word offered the Masters the ability to identify themselves to one another, as is the case with the Fellow-Crafts and Entered Apprentices with their respective secret words. We can also be quite certain that the Masters became a “Master” by virtue of the honor of being elected to sit in the East, and govern their respective Lodges. It is, however, unclear as to whether or not the Masters passed their secret word along to one another in the form of a ritual such as we have today. The first mention of a Master Mason degree appears in the mid 1720s, and its invention is attributed to John T. Desaguliers.

Two figures have, from time immemorial, been associated with the Master of a Lodge: King Solomon and Pythagoras. In some of the earliest manuscripts we find Pythagoras showing up as “Peter Gower.” Ironically, the figure that plays such an important role in the modern Master’s Degree is associated with the station of the Junior Warden. The fact that Hiram Abiff appears in the Master’s degree, and that he is associated with the Junior Warden shouldn’t really come as a surprise to the astute Mason who remembers that he began his role in the Master’s drama as the Junior Warden, and that Hiram Abiff is beneath both King Solomon and King Hiram of Tyre in social status. King Solomon plays the role of Master, King Hiram that of Senior Warden, and Hiram Abiff is the Junior Warden. All that is left to us of Pythagoras is hidden away in the symbol of the 47th Problem of Euclid, which is known to Geometricians as the Pythagorean Theorem.

Dr. Anderson, however, was well aware of the importance of Pythagoras in the ritual, and made his famous theorem a part of the frontispiece of his original Constitutions.

“The frontispiece represents a classical arcade, in the foreground of which stand two noble personages-Grand Masters-each with attendants, of whom one carries aprons and gloves. On the ground between the principal figures is a diagram of Euclid’s forty-seventh proposition with the Greek word “Eureka,” which Anderson thought at the time was an exclamation by Pythagoras when he found the forty-seventh proposition. He believed this proposition to be the “Foundation of all Masonry, sacred, civil and military”; but the exclamation is always attributed to Archimedes on solving the problem of how to test the amount of alloy in a gold crown, and Anderson appears to have confounded the two incidents. He uses the same frontispiece in the 1738 edition, but with the cunning addition of the words Pythagoras … became not only the Head of a new Religion of Patch Work but likewise of an Academy or Lodge of good Geometricians to whom he communicated a Secret, viz. That amazing Proposition which is the Foundation of all Masonry, of whatever Materials or Dimensions, called by Masons his HEUREKA.. because They think it was his own Invention.” – Unknown author

The station of Hiram Abiff and the person of Pythagoras are significant, but often overlooked pieces of the ritual that have come down to us in modern times.

The final thing that must be understood is the symbols of the Craft and their relation to speculation. This is perhaps the most misunderstood aspect of Freemasonry by the modern Craft. The misconception that the meaning of the symbols is entirely up to the speculations of the individual brother is the first step towards unprincipled confusion in the Craft. Where and when the idea that the meaning of the symbols were a matter of speculation was derived I cannot say, but the impact of this concept is obvious in the Craft today. The meaning of the symbols is not up to speculation, but leads to the path of speculative contemplation. M.W.B. John L. Travis, Past Grand Master of Masons in Georgia, once stated the following in relation to this:

“In that remarkable volume, ‘The Great Work,’ we are told that Freemasonry, in its modern form, represents but one of the many efforts of the Great School of Natural Science, the most ancient association known to men, to transmit its knowledge to men in definite scientific, crystallized form. It has ever been the object of this venerable body of adepts to advance human liberty and protect human happiness, and its genius and spirit have ever pointed the way for the practice of Fraternity and Equality, and for intellectual Liberty and religious Freedom. By this Parent School of Friends and Helpers of Mankind, we are told, Freemasonry was originally intended to stand as the direct channel through which the Spiritual wisdom of the ages might be given to the world, thus rendering Masonry really Operative instead of Speculative as it is today.

The reason why this effort failed and had to be suspended until the present (or even later unless we are worthy), is told in detail in the Masonic ceremony of initiation. If you have not yet seen this reason, keep on in your study and you will in time discover it.”

The symbols themselves are signposts that help guide a Mason through the proper speculative process. The symbols are ingeniously arranged so that they follow the progression of the first three steps referred to in the Fellow-Craft’s Staircase lecture.

An example of this is the symbol of a point within a circle between two parallel lines. The ritualistic explanation refers to subduing one’s passions through the moral guidance of the two saints John and the Volume of Sacred Law, but in the early Fellow-Craft Lodges this had a further meaning.

It must be remembered that each of the degrees held a specific purpose within the Craft. The Entered Apprentice degree was intended to teach the actual workings and traditions of a Masonic Lodge. When actual Lodges of Entered Apprentices existed they were not only exposed to the Entered Apprentice ritual many times, but also the opening and closing rituals. This was done to teach the Entered Apprentices the purpose of each station in the Lodge, the duties of its respective officers, and the function and purpose of the Lodge’s furnishings. This is altogether lost upon Freemasons of the modern era.

One of the things learned by the old Entered Apprentices was the difference and importance of Masonic Time. As all Masons are aware, the Masonic date is 4000 years different than the present Gregorian system, and the time the Lodge opens and closes does not correspond to the actual time. In fact, the original Lodges in 1717 were still on the Julian calendar, making matters even more complicated for continental Europeans who had adopted the Gregorian system in 1582. The Lodge opens, closes and performs various activities in regard to whether it is high or low twelve. In the oldest known catechisms it appears thus:

Q: “What o’clock is it?

A: “It is going to Six or going to Twelve.”

The Fellow-Crafts were taught the significance of this, and as a part of that instruction were referred to the symbol of the point within a circle. It doesn’t require much contemplation to see that this symbol is related to the summer and winter solstice, among other things. The feast days of the two Saints John fall on or about the summer and winter solstice respectively, thus the parallel lines, when placed in the third dimension clearly indicate the point of the Earth along its path around the Sun, which is symbolized by the point in the middle.

We now know the first two absolute meanings of this symbol:

• Morality, which is the first step, and is equated to Beauty
• Time, which is the second step, and is equated to Strength

The meaning of the third step, which is related to Wisdom, will not be covered at this time.

Now that we have developed a frame of reference from which to study Freemasonry we will continue-on to discovering the lost Fellow-Craft, and uncovering the true purpose and meaning of the Craft.

As was stated earlier, the purpose of the Entered Apprentice Lodge was to instruct the Entered Apprentices in the actual workings of a Lodge, but what of the Fellow-Craft ritual and Lodge? Since the Fellow-Craft degree represented a man’s status as a true Mason, it must have been very important indeed!

For all practical purposes the Fellow-Craft ritual is very similar to that of the Entered Apprentice up until the beginning of the “Staircase Lecture.” This lecture represents a paradigm shift in the direction the rituals have taken thus far. At first it appears to merely reinforce the symbolic meanings of the Master and Warden’s stations, by repeating a part of the third section of the Entered Apprentice degree in the first three steps: Wisdom, Strength and Beauty, but then something entirely new is introduced. The following five steps are the classical orders of architecture, namely: Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite. While at first glance these appear to be something perfectly acceptable to be found in a ritual for stonemasons, the modern ritual remains mysteriously silent as to their symbolic meaning, as if purposefully hiding something. The oldest surviving ritual, however, gives us a clue. It states that, “They answer to the Base, Perpendicular, Diameter, Circumference and Square.” These are then followed by the final seven steps that consist of the medieval Trivium (The Three Roads), and the ancient Quadrivium (The Four Roads), which together represent the Liberal Arts. According to Sister Miriam Joseph, a student of the great twentieth century philosopher, Dr. Mortimer Adler of the University of Chicago:

The liberal arts denote the seven branches of knowledge that initiate the young into a life of learning. …The trivium includes those aspects of the liberal arts that pertain to mind, and the quadrivium, those aspects of the liberal arts that pertain to matter.

The Trivium

1. Grammar – The art of inventing and combining symbols
2. Rhetoric – The art of communication
3. Logic – The art of thinking

The Quadrivium

1. Arithmetic – The theory of number
2. Geometry – Theory of Space
3. Music (Harmonics) – Application of the theory of number
4. Astronomy (Astrology) – application of the theory of space

The Trivium is the study of language and its usage, more specifically in the formulation of well-reasoned arguments. The Quadrivium is the study of mathematics from the elementary components of arithmetic to the most advanced forms of ancient trigonometry. The lecture, however, specifically points-out Geometry as being the most significant to Freemasons, but stops short of explaining the reasoning behind this.

The Staircase lecture is perhaps the most revealing aspect of the speculative nature of Freemasonry. The old guilds would certainly have had little, if any, use for the Trivium, since most were illiterate. The same is true for most aspects of the Quadrivium. While they would have, by necessity, had a need for basic Geometry and Arithmetic, perhaps even some Astronomy and Harmonics, it is doubtful they would have studied it in the classical sense developed by the ancient Greeks.

The Fellow-Craft ritual and its Staircase lecture are pointing Freemasons towards a classical form of education, more especially Greek, but why? The answer lies at the heart of the Age of Enlightenment, and the radical cultural, religious, political and scientific changes that were brought about during this period. Freemasonry would be one of the vehicles through which this new vision of man and the universe would be propagated throughout Europe. According to Margaret C. Jacob, professor of history at the University of Los Angeles:

The Newtonian achievement in science and natural philosophy sponsored one powerful version of enlightenment.

In general the adherents of the Newtonian Enlightenment, whether simply readers or Lodge brothers, can be identified as proponents of the new science and natural philosophy who insisted on the existence of a supernatural being separate from nature, and who also held to the concomitant social assumption. The deity imposes order in nature and society, his function resembling that of the strong, but not arbitrary, monarch.

While many of these new ideas were of Newtonian origin, I believe many of the so-called ‘Masonic Mysteries’ can be found in the texts left to us by the ancient Greeks. This is not to say that there is any direct connection between Speculative Freemasonry and the Greeks, but that the founders of our system relied heavily on their personal knowledge of the Greeks and classicism when assembling the original Speculative Masonic system. Proof of this can be found in the Master’s word, when it is studied in relation to the Staircase lecture.

The Master’s word, or replacement word, has always been a source of both mystery and imagination for the public, and in truth, for Freemasons as well. As a Freemason I am surprised that we consider it any differently than the secret words used in the other rituals, more especially because the other words have been in use much longer. Perhaps the fact that the Master’s word cannot be found in any known language, or readily related to some other part of the known ritual sets it aside as truly different, but I believe its purpose is no different than the other words. It is simply a password, although one that is far more complex in nature than the others.

In order to make sense of the Master’s word one must have followed the Staircase and become familiar with its individual steps. He must also be aware of Pythagoras (Peter Gower) and his symbolic connection to the early rituals. Finally, he must trace his steps through the second section of the Master’s degree from the time he re-entered the Lodge until the time he was ‘raised.’

If you will recall, in the oldest forms of Freemasonry there existed only the Entered Apprentice and the Fellow-Craft, the Master Mason’s degree was not yet developed. The creation of the Mater’s degree and its mysterious word are interconnected with the individual Mason’s combined understanding of Geometry and its history. It is in the Master’s degree that we are presented with the 47th Problem of Euclid, or the Pythagorean Theorem. Many of the founders of Speculative Freemasonry were members of the Royal Society, and were well read in ancient history. The founding brethren could have chosen any of Euclid’s problems as a symbol, but they specifically chose only one, and I believe with good reason. The addition of a new degree to the existing two degree system would make Freemasonry closely resemble the ancient school of Pythagoras at Croton, which had three progressive levels: Acousmatikoi, Mathematikoi, and Politikoi. By choosing the 47th problem of Euclid they were pointing us towards Pythagoras, the Peter Gower of Craft Masonry.

The Pythagoreans provided essential links to the past that the founders of Freemasonry were so desperately seeking. They needed to link the Newtonian Natural Science to the deity, and to show that this mathematical sorcery was indeed just another link to the ancient gnosis that had been long protected by vows of secrecy. The Pythagoreans would give them everything they needed, as is pointed out by Leonard Mlodinow, Ph.D, of the California Institute of Technology:

Secrecy played an important role in the Pythagorean society, perhaps based on his experience with the secret practices of the Egyptian priesthood. Or perhaps, the motivation was a desire to avoid the trouble that would be caused by revealing revolutionary ideas that might stir opposition. One of Pythagoras’ discoveries became such a secret that according to legend, the Pythagoreans forbade its revelation on penalty of death.

Impressed by such new triumphs of knowledge, one of Pythagoras’ disciples wrote that “were it not for number and its nature, nothing that exists would be clear to anybody.” A reflection of their fundamental philosophy, the Pythagoreans invented the term mathematics, from the Greek word mathema, which meant “science.”

The new degree and its mysterious word would be a major departure from the rituals left to them by the operatives. It would at once connect the new science to the past, and raise the brother from the “death and darkness” of the dogmas of the past into the “light of reason” through an understanding of natural science. The mysterious word of the new degree would therefore depart from the Judeo/Christian formulas of the past and be based on mathematics, and directly linked to the Pythagoreans. Proof of this can still be found in the Past Masters’ Jewel of the oldest jurisdictions. It is a Master’s Square with the 47th Problem of Euclid hanging below it.

The Pythagoreans also had a secret word by which they could know one another. It was, however, more than just a word, it was based on a mathematical formula. This meant that the word itself could be ever changing based on any computational point of reference, and as we will see the founders of Freemasonry incorporated such a reference into the Master’s ritual.

As I mentioned earlier, Masonic time is an important part of the early Apprentice and Fellow-Craft Lodges. This was primarily demonstrated through the use of the Wardens Columns. The Wardens Columns are a mystery to most Masons because they appear in most Lodges as nothing more than small wooden columns. In the early Lodges the columns of Jachin and Boaz were not the seven-foot pillars we have today, but the small columns placed on the Warden’s respective pedestals. These were used then much as they are today; to tell Masonic time (high twelve verses low twelve). They were also a sign of who was in charge of the Craft, the Junior Warden or the Worshipful Master and Senior Warden. This concept of Masonic time will play an important role in our understanding of the Master’s word.

If you will recall the beginning of the third section of the Master’s degree when the candidate first re-enters the Lodge. He is given the Junior Warden’s jewel and placed in this officer’s seat. He is then asked, “What is the time?” When he doesn’t know the correct response he begins his journey through the Temple, and is symbolically slain. Later, after the body is discovered by the Fellow-Crafts they inform King Solomon, “Most Worshipful King Solomon, we are but Fellow-Crafts; we therefore know nothing about the Master’s word or the Master’s Degree. There was nothing found on or about the body excepting the jewel of his office, by which his body was discovered.”

Here the ritual purposefully misleads the candidate into believing the word is lost, but upon closer observation it is clear that the word is not lost at all. King Solomon asks if they found any sign of the word, but they being only Fellow-Crafts didn’t know what to look for, and saw only the jewel of the Junior Warden. The Jewel and the station of the Junior Warden is the key to recovering the Master’s word, but Solomon simply lets them believe it is lost  by exclaiming, “My worthy brother of Tyre, as the Master’s word is now lost, the first sign given at the grave, and the first word spoken, after the body is raised, shall be adopted for the regulation of all Masters’ Lodges, until future generations shall find out the right.” The next clue given to the candidate is in the words “…until future generations shall find out the right.” Thus, implying the word could be discovered, if one simply searched for it.

The clues to recovering the lost word harkens back to the Fellow-Craft degree. If a Mason is to recover the lost word he must understand Rhetoric, because it will be used to misdirect him. He must also understand Logic, because he will need it to think back through the series of events. He will then need a knowledge of Mathematics to utilize the replacement word to form the true word of a Master Mason. His knowledge of Geometry and Pythagoras will show him how the calculation must be made. He will also need a knowledge of Astronomy, because he will need to understand the implications of the terrestrial and celestial globes atop Jachin and Boaz.

If we step back from the rituals and place them in context with both history and philosophy we will discover, as I stated earlier, that everything about them leads to a clear and purposeful understanding of the Masonic system. If we simply follow where they try to lead us we will be filled with the most useful and beneficial knowledge resulting in a complete understanding of life and the Cosmos. Even now, as the degrees are published before the public eye, I remain confident that the secrets of Freemasonry will remain preserved until mankind finally achieves that state of true enlightenment that sages throughout the ages have tried to bestow upon us.

Freemasonry is now at a critical juncture in its 300 plus year history. Most Freemasons no longer know the true secrets of our great fraternity. We must now choose whether to rekindle the flames of enlightenment within the fraternity, or to allow the darkness to fill our halls as we sink to being merely a charity and a social club.

(This talk was given at a meeting of the Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis, Atlanta, GA in 2003.)

Jeff Peace, Halcyon Lodge 490

Copyright © 2003 – All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, republished, or mirrored by any means without prior permission in writing from the copyright holder.

“This gets right to the heart of the secrets of Freemasonry and why they were kept a secret. Common moral lessons are taught to school children, but Freemasonry was teaching a Peculiar System of Morality, a system altogether different from what would be considered common. Unfortunately, most modern Masons are never exposed to this Peculiar System of Morality because it has been removed from the rituals and teachings of Freemasonry. Surely you didn’t become a Freemason to learn that it is wrong to lie, steal and murder, did you?  Albert Pike, in chapter 20 of his monumental Masonic tome Morals & Dogma offers some insight into what a Freemason was truly meant to be.” 

“The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.” -Aristotle

One of the earliest known definitions of Speculative Freemasonry given to the newly made Mason is that “Freemasonry is a Peculiar System of Morality Veiled in Allegory and Illustrated by Symbols.” The key words here are –

• Peculiar
• System
• Morality
• Veiled
• Allegory
• Illustrated
• Symbols

What is Morality? According to the Meriam-Webster dictionary Morality is:

1: a moral discourse, statement, or lesson b : a literary or other imaginative work teaching a moral lesson
2: a doctrine or system of moral conduct b plural : particular moral principles or rules of conduct
3: conformity to ideals of right human conduct
4: moral conduct : VIRTUE

What is Peculiar? Again, according to the Meriam-Webster dictionary Peculiar is:

1: characteristic of only one person, group, or thing : DISTINCTIVE
2: different from the usual or normal: a : SPECIAL, PARTICULAR b : ODD, CURIOUS c : ECCENTRIC, QUEER
synonym see CHARACTERISTIC, STRANGE

As one begins to study Freemasonry they must keep in mind that the usage of language has changed since the founding of Speculative Freemasonry in 1717. I believe that a better and more accurate modern rendering of the statement should read like this:

Freemasonry is a unique system of morality hidden within allegories and illustrated through the use of symbols.

According to this early definition Freemasonry is a Unique, Different, Curious, Eccentric, Queer, Strange, Odd, Distinctive, Special System of Conduct, Principles, Rules of Conduct, and Virtue.

I was reading a speech the other day that was being prepared for a Masonic open-house where the public would be invited into the Lodge to learn about Freemasonry. In the speech Freemasonry was defined as “a system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.” What happened to “Peculiar”?

A little further into the speech the author says, “The goal of Freemasonry is to take a good man, and by reinforcing those great moral lessons that he has learned from his parents, from his church, from life, and giving him a place and a means of acting on those lessons, make him into a better man, a better father, husband and citizen.” What is so peculiar or unique about moral lessons learned from parents, church, etc.?

This gets right to the heart of the secrets of Freemasonry and why they were kept a secret. Common moral lessons are taught to school children, but Freemasonry was teaching a Peculiar System of Morality, a system altogether different from what would be considered common. Unfortunately, most modern Masons are never exposed to this Peculiar System of Morality because it has been removed from the rituals and teachings of Freemasonry. Surely you didn’t become a Freemason to learn that it is wrong to lie, steal and murder, did you?  Albert Pike, in chapter 20 of his monumental Masonic tome Morals & Dogma offers some insight into what a Freemason was truly meant to be.

The true Mason is a practical Philosopher, who, under religious emblems, in all ages adopted by wisdom, builds upon plans traced by nature and reason the moral edifice of knowledge…. Masonry and Philosophy, without being one and the same thing, have the same object, and purpose to themselves the same end, the worship of the Grand Architect of the Universe, acquaintance and familiarity with the wonders of nature, and the happiness of humanity attained by the constant practice of all the virtues.

Notice how Pike refers to “religious emblems” and not to religion(s).  He goes on to say that a Mason “builds upon plans traced by nature and reason the moral edifice of knowledge.”  At no point does he suggest that Masonic philosophy is based on any particular religion, but instead points to nature and reason as the foundations of Masonic thought.  When Pike published this in 1871 he was clearly concerned that the “secrets” were being lost or forgotten even then.  He then says:

As Grand Master of all Symbolic Lodges, it is your especial duty to aid in restoring Masonry to its primitive purity.  You have become an instructor.  Masonry long wondered in error.  Instead of improving, it degenerated from its primitive simplicity, and retrograded toward a system, distorted by stupidity and ignorance, which, unable to construct a beautiful machine, made a complicated one.  Less than two hundred years ago, its organization was simple, and altogether moral, its emblems, allegories, and ceremonies easy to be understood, and their purpose and object readily to be seen.

Apparently, this Peculiar System of Morality was so different from that commonly accepted at the time that it was necessary to Veil (hide) it in Allegory. What is meant by “veiled”?

Veil: transitive senses : to cover, provide, obscure, or conceal with or as if with a veil

What is meant by “Allegory”?

Allegory:
1: the expression by means of symbolic fictional figures and actions of truths or generalizations about human existence; also : an instance (as in a story or painting) of such expression.
2 : a symbolic representation.

If you step back from the rituals for a moment and look closely you will see that they are actually an allegory within an allegory. The first allegory is about the Stone-Masons while the second is about ancient Stone-Masons at the building of King Solomon’s temple. We, as Freemasons, are not really Masons at all. We are merely portraying Masons in an allegory. Too many Masons get lost in the allegory and never get past it to uncover the true secrets. In our search for the truth we will remove the allegory completely to reveal that which has been lost from underneath the veils of the allegories.

It is interesting to note that within the definition of “Allegory” we find a reference to “symbol(s)”.

“…the expression by means of symbolic fictional figures and actions of truths or generalizations about human existence; a symbolic representation.”

Symbol:
1 : an authoritative summary of faith or doctrine : CREED
2 : something that stands for or suggests something else by reason of relationship, association, convention, or accidental resemblance; especially : a visible sign of something invisible <the lion is a symbol of courage>
3 : an arbitrary or conventional sign used in writing or printing relating to a particular field to represent operations, quantities, elements, relations, or qualities
4 : an object or act representing something in the unconscious mind that has been repressed <phallic symbols>
5 : an act, sound, or object having cultural significance and the capacity to excite or objectify a response.

The Peculiar System of Morality is thus hidden in stories that utilize symbols which have purposefully obscured meanings.

Why would the early Speculative Freemasons have had a need for a Peculiar System of Morality? Morality is usually at the base of a culture, society, or religion. Were they attempting to create something different (new?) within society? Perhaps this is the reason why their “secrets” are now lost to modern Masonry – they were too far outside of what would be considered commonly acceptable. Professor Margaret C. Jacob, in The Enlightenment: A Brief History with Documents states:

Most of the major philosophers of the seventeenth century were devout Christians.  Many of the people who read them were not.  When we speak of the populist origins of the Enlightenment, we inevitably speak about the clandestine and the heretical, about the deist, the pantheist, and even the atheist.

Did the founders of Freemasonry leave us any clues as to the nature of this “Peculiar System of Morality”? Absolutely! But they aren’t just lying around on the surface for any passerby to discover. In the old books and manuscripts you see Freemasonry continually described as a “Natural Philosophy,” but what exactly is a Natural Philosophy?

Sir Isaac Newton offers the following in The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy:

The Rules of Reasoning in Philosophy

RULE 1
We are to admit no more causes of natural things, than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances.

To this purpose the philosophers say, that Nature does nothing in vain, and more is in vain, when less will serve; for Nature is pleased with simplicity, and affects not the pomp of superfluous causes.

RULE II
Therefore to the same natural effects we must, as far as possible, assign the same causes.

As to respiration in a man, and in a beast; the descent of stones in Europe and in America; the light of`our culinary fire and of the sun; the reflection of light in the earth, and in the planets

RULE III
The qualities of bodies, which admit neither intension nor remission of degrees, and which are found to belong to all bodies within reach of our experiments, are to be esteemed the universal qualities of all bodies whatsoever.

For since the qualities of bodies are only known to us by experiments, we are to hold for universal, all such as universally agree with experiments; and such as are not liable to diminution, can never be quite taken away. We are certainly not to relinquish the evidence of experiments for the sake of dreams and vain fictions of our own devising; nor are we to recede from the analogy of Nature, which is wont to be simple, and always consonant to itself. We no other way know the extension of bodies, than by our senses, nor do these reach it in all bodies; but because we perceive extension in all that are sensible, therefore we ascribe it universally to all others, also. That abundance of bodies are hard we learn by experience. And because the hardness of the whole arises from the hardness of the parts, we therefore justly infer the hardness of the undivided particles not only of the bodies we feel but of all others. That all bodies are impenetrable we gather not from reason, but from sensation. The bodies which we handle we find impenetrables and thence conclude impenetrability to be a universal property of all bodies whatsoever. That all bodies are moveable, and endowed with certain powers (which we call the forces of inertia) or persevering in their motion or in their rest, we only infer from the like properties observed in the bodies which we have seen. The extension, hardness, impenetrability, mobility, and force of inertia of the whole result from the extension, hardness, impenetrability, mobility, and forces of inertia of the parts: and thence we conclude that the least particles of all bodies to be also all extended, and hard, and impenetrable, and moveable, and endowed with their proper forces of inertia. And this is the foundation of all philosophy. Moreover, that the divided but contiguous particles of bodies may be separated from one another, is a matter of observation; and, in the particles that remain undivided, our minds are able to distinguish yet lesser parts, as is mathematically demonstrated. But whether the parts so distinguished, and not yet divided, may, by the powers of nature, be actually divided and separated from one another, we cannot certainly determine. Yet had we the proof of but one experiment, that any undivided particle, in breaking a hard and solid body, suffered a division, we might by virtue of this rule, conclude, that the undivided as well as the divided particles, may be divided and actually separated into infinity.

Lastly, if it universally appears, by experiments and astronomical observations, that all bodies about the earth, gravitate toward the earth; and that in proportion to the quantity of matter which they severally contain; that the moon likewise, according to the quantity of its matter, gravitates toward the earth; that on the other hand our sea gravitates toward the moon; and all the planets mutually one toward another; and the comets in like manner towards the sun; we must, in consequence of this rule, universally allow, that all bodies whatsoever are endowed with a principle of mutual gravitation. For the argument from the appearances concludes with more force for the universal gravitation of all bodies, than for their impenetrability, of which among those in the celestial regions, we have no experiments, nor any manner of observation. Not that I affirm gravity to be essential to all bodies. By their inherent force I mean nothing but their force of` inertia. This is immutable. Their gravity is diminished as they recede from the earth.

RULE IV
In experimental philosophy we are to look upon propositions collected by general induction from phenomena as accurately or very nearly true, notwithstanding any contrary hypotheses that may be imagined, till such time as other phenomena occur, by which they may either be made more accurate, or liable to exceptions.

This rule we must follow that the argument of induction may not be evaded by hypotheses.

“Natural Philosophy” is the name by which “physics” was known in the time of Sir Isaac Newton, and well into the 19th century. By its very nature it tears away the underpinnings of theological ethics and morality and leads one to Deism, Pantheism, Panentheism or Atheism.

Since both Deism and Atheism are mentioned in Anderson’s Constitutions of 1723 as being an incorrect view of Freemasonry, it would appear that we are left with only one alternative: Pantheism.   The term “Pantheism” would not be appear in publications until 1720, and would not come into common usage until many years later.

Pantheism: God is the sum of all the energy in the Cosmos

In the chapter of the Constitutions entitled The Charges of a Freemason we find -

I. Concerning GOD and RELGION

A Mason is oblig’d by his tenure, to obey the moral Law; and if he rightly understands the Art, he will never be a stupid Atheist, nor an irreligious Libertine*.

*(The term “Irreligious Libertine” was commonly used at the time to refer to Deists.)

The question that must be asked here is what “moral Law” is Anderson referring to? Consider the fact that Anderson’s Constitutions were written after the formation of the Grand Lodge in 1717, and that they are actually an outgrowth of the allegories and myths presented in the rituals.  Anderson clearly isn’t expecting anyone to take his historical account of the lineage of Freemasonry seriously.  Thus, the Constitutions, like the rituals, must have their mythical and allegorical veils removed in order to uncover their true meaning.

In the eighteenth century Pantheism was growing in popularity thanks to works such as The Pantheistikon by John Toland. Toland’s involvement in Masonic circles is well documented by the modern historian Professor Margaret C. Jacob. These views worked quite well with Newton’s Natural Philosophy, but neither Toland nor Newton expounded upon the ethical questions related to their Natural Philosophy.

Are there any clues regarding the moral foundations of this Peculiar System of Morality? We need look no further than the immortal words of Thomas Jefferson to discover a few key components of the morals suggested by the new Natural Philosophy.

… to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them…

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness…

At first glance this Peculiar System of Morality may appear to be nothing more than humanism, but this would be to avoid the Pantheistic implications of “Nature and of Nature’s God.”  The Pantheism of the early eighteenth century is best described by its chief proponent: John Toland. In describing nature and the universe he sounds very reminiscent of the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus, or the Chinese Master Lao Tzu. The following is from the Pantheistikon (1720).

• The universe is infinite, with infinite stars and inhabited worlds.
• There is an infinite number of other worlds similar to the earth we inhabit, circling around their suns (which we call the fixed stars).
• The Universe (of which the world we know is only a very small part), is infinite in extent as well as in potential. By the continuity of all and by the contiguity of its parts it is one. In its totality it is immobile, having no space outside of itself, but in its parts it is mobile by infinite intervals.
• The universe is a unity.
• Every material thing is in all things.
• All things come from all, and all is in all things.
• The Universe is divine.
• The power and energy of All, which has created all and which governs all, having always the best goal as it aim, is God, which you may if you wish call Spirit and Soul of the Universe. This is why the Socratic Associates have been called pantheists, because according to them this soul cannot be separated from the Universe itself. (Compare with Lao Tzu)
• There is an ethereal fire. (Compare with Heraclitus)
• The ethereal fire (is) supreme because it surrounds everything, intimate because it penetrates everything. This fire is the only thing that can traverse nerves.

These views were heresy in 1720, and to some extent may still be considered so by some in the 21st century. His Pantheism, however, fit well with Newton’s Natural Philosophy and the implications of the Laws of Mechanics, so much so that many modern Physicists are beginning to reevaluate these ideas alongside those of Heraclitus and Lao Tzu.  But did the Masons of 1717 really give any consideration to Newton’s Laws of Mechanics?  Again, we shall return to Anderson’s Constitutions of 1723.

ADAM, our first Parent, created after the Image of God, the great Architect of the Universe, must have had the Liberal Sciences, particularly Geometry, written on his Heart; for ever since the Fall, we find the Principles of it in the Hearts of his Offspring, and which, in [the] process of time, have been drawn forth into a convenient Method of Proportions, by observing the Laws of Proportion taken from Mechanism: So that as the Mechanical Arts have Occasion  to the Learned to reduce the Elements of Geometry in Method, this noble Science thus reduc’d, is the Foundation of those Arts, (particularly of Masonry and Architecture) and the Rule by which they are conducted and perform’d.

Pantheist ethics are a core requirement for Newtonian science since, without them mankind will be led down the path of an objectified materialism by the philosophical implications of Newton’s discoveries and those of Descartes and Bacon before him. Newton was well aware of this potential but could not openly propose a system of ethics outside of that which was acceptable to both church and state. Freemasonry, however, would be the vehicle through which a new system of morality could be conveyed while cloaked in secrecy.

James Burke wrote an interesting book in the 1980’s entitled The Day the Universe Changed, in which he discusses the significant events of human history that have changed our view of the universe. In the middle ages Europeans viewed the earth as flat up until the time of Copernicus and Galileo. The ideas presented by these two men would literally change the universe for mankind. We would no longer logically perceive reality in the way we did prior to these discoveries. The earth was not the center of the universe, but a small planet moving around a star. In other words, perhaps we were not as special as we had once believed.

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was the next to change our view of the universe and reality. His theory of mechanics along with his development of calculus allowed us to be able to accurately predict the motions of heavenly bodies and their effect on one another. It was during this period of change that speculative Freemasonry was born.

In the seventeenth century Freemasonry was a hodge-podge of operative guild masons, alchemists, cabbalists, and “scientists”. Around the year 1700 this would be reorganized by Newton and his long-time friend John Desaguiliers, along with certain members of  the Royal Society, into a scientific-mystical school. This school was at the cutting edge of human understanding in the eighteenth century. It not only contained the most advanced scientific theories but cutting-edge social and religious ideas. Scientifically Freemasonry viewed the universe through Newtonian eyes. Socially and politically it brought the ancient Greek ideas of democracy into its organizational model. (A threatening idea to both church and state at the time.) Religiously it combined the many views of God into a single natural concept that it called the Great Architect of the Universe. In a sense Freemasonry was the first universalistic religious organization.

Newton’s Freemasonry broke with the old guild system’s organizational structure and replaced it with that of the Pythagorean school at Croton. Pythagoras’ Akousmatikoi became Entered Apprentices, his Mathematikoi became Fellow-Crafts, and his Politikoi became Master Masons.  Remnants of this structure can be found through-out the old materials.  The name of the Candidate in written copies of the rituals is “Peter Gower” (In old English this name often appears instead of the more proper “Pythagoras”).  The 47th Problem of Euclid (the Pythagorean Theorem) appears on the cover page of Anderson’s Constitutions.  The secret word of a Master Mason is Pythagorean in origin.

Newton’s Freemasonry was an attempt to fuse science with a system of spiritual morality. On the one hand it presents the universe through empirical eyes, while on the other it says that this view is imperfect (the replacement Word), and that the true Word (Heraclitean Logos), while of a mystical nature, is but another imperfect reflection of the deity and the creation. In other words, the true nature of the universe (reality) cannot be defined in written or spoken words, but only symbolized.
What then is the meaning of the Logos or Word?  According to the ideas of Heraclitus, as expressed by James Hillman:

[Heraclitus] brought language into the game of cosmological thinking.  Declarations will always be self-contradictory, relative, subjective.  “People dull their wits with gibberish, and cannot use their ears and eyes.”  “They lack the skill to listen or speak.”  You cannot know the world in the manner of natural philosophy or mathematics or deductive logic.  Because: “By cosmic rule… all things change.”  “The sun is new again, all day.” “The river where you set your foot just now is gone – those waters giving way to this, now this.”

His name for this changing flux, or process, in today’s terms, is “fire,” a metaphor for the shifting meanings of all truth.  Therefore, the verbal account, or logos, of the world is also fire.  Truth, wisdom, knowledge, reality — none can stand apart from this fire that allows no objective fixity.

When the logos is merged into Newton’s Natural Philosophy an obvious paradox is created, but an eternal truth is also revealed.  Just as Copernicus, Galileo and Newton had changed our view of the universe, so their views would also be brought down and replaced by the “fire”.  It then follows that our view of reality is relative to what we believe is true at any given point in space-time.

At first we are led to believe that Freemasonry and its Peculiar System of Morality is, therefore, of a Pantheistic nature. This theory, however, has its own problems. If it were true then why didn’t later generations of Freemasons simply apply the new term “Pantheism” to their Natural Philosophy? At first the answer may not be obvious but it becomes readily apparent when you bring the symbol of the Great Architect of the Universe into the equation. Pantheism presumes that the sum of all of the energy in the Cosmos is God, but that the energy is not sentient or self-aware, and, therefore, not in control of anything.

Newton’s views of the nature of deity were similar to Einstein’s. “God does not play dice with the universe,” is an often quoted remark of Professor Albert Einstein. Both Newton and Einstein believed that the Cosmos was sentient and self-aware. Pantheism, as it was understood in the eighteenth century, simply didn’t clearly define the philosophy of Freemasonry and, therefore, was never used to describe it. The philosophy of Freemasonry was simply “Freemasonry” because there were no other terms to describe it accurately.

As Freemasonry wandered farther and farther away from its scientific roots and merged with the occult schools of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it ceased to be the definition by which one could describe this unique system of Natural Philosophy. Modern scientists have a new term that accurately describes the Natural Philosophy of Freemasonry: Panentheism.

Panentheism: God is the sum of all the energy in the Cosmos and the whole of the energy is self-aware and sentient.

Panentheism and Freemasonry are one and the same philosophically. Both are a Natural Philosophy and both recognize the sentient nature of deity. The only thing that separates Panentheism from Freemasonry is the Peculiar System of Morality that Freemasonry possesses and Panentheism lacks.

Many will now point out that these views are not to be found in present day Masonry. This is indeed true of the modern Craft, but not so of the Freemasons of 1717. In order to understand why this is true we must venture back to the earliest Masonic rituals and note the many differences between them and what exists at the present time. As Brother Preston pointed-out –

Many of the fraternity’s records of this and the preceding reigns were lost at the Revolution: and not a few were too easily burnt in our times by some scrupulous brothers, from a fear of making discoveries prejudicial to the interests of Masonry.  – William Preston, Illustrations of Freemasonry

Preston was aware that much of the original material had been destroyed to protect the secrets from the unworthy who would only use them to destroy the Craft.

Of the early symbols it isn’t difficult to discover their meaning. Albert Pike, in chapter 20 of Morals and Dogma discussed the need for Masonry to return to this primitive simplicity whereby the symbols could be more easily interpreted.

…it is your especial duty to aid in restoring Masonry to its primitive purity.

In a way the purpose of this essay is to do just that. Let’s begin with a look at the Point within a Circle between two Parallel Lines and see how it is related to the two columns (Jachin & Boaz).

The definition given in the ritual to the Point within a Circle is a part of the Allegory and must not be confused with its intended hidden meaning. If we strip away the Allegory, but use its symbolism, we can discover the true meaning behind this symbol. First we must take the Parallel Lines and move them from the flat two dimensional Euclidian plane into the third dimension. Now we have a circle suspended between two poles. The two poles are marked by the Holy Sts. John whose feast days fall respectively on the summer and winter solstices. Thus, the point in the middle becomes the Sun and the circle the orbit of the Earth around it. The poles mark the solstices. It isn’t difficult to see why this symbol would be important in a Newtonian lodge because it is the starting point to understanding Newton’s laws of mechanics.

Jachin and Boaz work similarly to the Point within a Circle. If we strip away the allegory of the bronze pillars of the allegorical Solomon’s Temple all we have left are the celestial and terrestrial globes suspended in space. Each Fellow-Craft must pass between them before ascending the winding flight of stairs. This whole section of the Fellow-Craft ritual is about knowledge. As he passes between the two suspended globes he symbolically learns the relationship of the earth to the cosmos. While this may seem like child’s play from the modern perspective it must be considered that many people in 1717 still believed the world was flat, and the few that were educated remained ignorant of Newton’s discoveries.  This all goes back to what Anderson says in the Constitutions -

ADAM, our first Parent, created after the Image of God, the great Architect of the Universe, must have had the Liberal Sciences, particularly Geometry, written on his Heart…

I would now like to stop for a moment to illustrate to you how much the rituals have changed since 1717, and how that these changes have had a major impact on the philosophical implications of the Masonic system. If we simply consider the winding staircase of three, five and seven steps we can see how the present staircase in the ritual is literally upside-down. As the ritual tells us a lodge of Entered Apprentice Masons consists of seven, a lodge of Fellow-Crafts of five, and a lodge of Masters of 3. The staircase is meant to be a model of the Masonic system but the staircase is now upside-down!

(Observe in this early Tracing Board engraving how the steps ascend up into the Masonic temple. The last are difficult to see and are located at the station of the Worshipful Master.)

According to the original Masonic system Entered Apprentices were to study the Trivium and Quadrivium until they were well versed in language and mathematics, the Fellow-Crafts were to study the “architectural” features of the universe symbolically represented by the five orders of architecture, and Master Masons were to continually endeavor to keep the true secrets safe from all but the most worthy.  Thus the Grand Master, Hiram Abiff, refuses to give the Word (Logos) to the three ruffians.

This leads one to wonder who or what these three “ruffians” might represent.  The answer was obvious at the time the Master Mason ritual was conceived, but has since been lost because of its obscurity.  As Masonic historians know the Master’s ritual didn’t exist in the beginning, but was invented later.  The origin of the “three ruffians” in the degree lies hidden away in the works of Jean Rouset de Missy, a leading Freemason in Amsterdam, and his two partners, Charles Levier and Jan Vroese.  These three men were responsible for the publication of a secret tract entitled Traité des Trois Imposteurs (Treatise of the Three Imposters).  The treatise first surfaced in 1710 and then was widely distributed in 1719.

What renders the evil without remedy, is that after having established the false ideas men have of God, they omit nothing to engage the people to believe them, without permitting the people to examine them; on the contrary, they give the people an aversion for Philosophers or the truly Learned, for fear that the reason which they teach should make the people know the errors in which it is sunk.  The partisans of these absurdities have succeeded so well that it is dangerous to combat them.  It matters too much to these imposters that the people be ignorant, to suffer that they be disabused.  Thus one is constrained to disguise the truth, or to sacrifice oneself to the rage of the falsely Learned, or to base & interested souls.

If the people could understand into what an abyss ignorance throws them, they would soon shake off the yoke of unworthy leaders, for it is impossible to let reason act without its discovering the truth.

These imposters have sensed this so well, that to prevent the good effects which it would infallibly produce, they have had the idea of painting it to us as a monster which is not capable of inspiring any good sentiment, & although they blame in a general way those who are unreasonable, they would nevertheless be much annoyed if the truth were listened to.  Thus one sees these sworn enemies to good sense falling into continual contradictions; & it is difficult to know what they claim.  If it is true that right reason is the only light which people should follow, & if the people are not… incapable of reasoning… it is necessary that those who seek to instruct the people apply themselves to rectifying false reasonings, & to destroying prejudices; then we will see eyes gradually opening & minds convinced of this truth, that God is not at all what is ordinarily imagined.

To accomplish this, there is need neither for high speculations, nor to penetrate far into the secrets of nature.  One needs only a little good sense to judge that God is neither angry nor jealous; that justice & mercy are false titles which are attributed to him; & that what the Prophets & Apostles have said of him teaches us neither his nature nor his essence. -Traité des Trois Imposteurs (1710)

The Master Mason degree is actually a vivid warning to Masons to never give-up their secrets to the leaders of the three prevailing faiths, or else suffer the same fate as the Knights Templar before them.  This, however, must be taken in the context of the time in which the treatise and the Master Mason ritual was written.  It was a time when Christendom had ruled Europe for a thousand years with an iron fist, and that all manner of free thought was discouraged by the ever-present possibility of being roasted alive over a slow fire.

Now that you are beginning to see just how much change in the ritual has occurred let’s take a look at something that is far more serious, especially from a philosophical and moral perspective. Remember, our purpose here is to uncover the “Peculiar System of Morality”.

Modern Masons are continually exposed to the altered Entered Apprentice symbols of the Rough and Perfect Ashlar. The Perfect Ashlar, however, is nowhere to be found in the earliest rituals. How could this be? Who made these changes? Why?

In the old Entered Apprentice degree we find a symbol called the Broached Thurnel.

Q. “What are the immovable Jewels?”
A. “Tarsel Board, Rough Ashlar and Broached Thurnel.”
Q. “What are their uses?”
A. “A Tarsel Board for the Master to draw his designs upon, Rough Ashlar for the Fellow-Craft to try their Jewels upon, and the Broached Thurnel for the entered Apprentice to learn to work upon.”

Mackey quotes Parker’s “Glossary of Terms in Architecture” to describe the Broached Thurnel :

“Broach or broche is an old English term for spire, still in use in Leicestershire, where it is said to denote a spire springing from the tower without any intervening parapet. Thurnel is from the old French, “tournelle,” a turret or little tower. The Broached Thurnel,then, was the Spired Turret. It was a model on which Apprentices might learn the principles of their art because it presented to them, in its various outlines, the forms of the square and the triangle, the cube and the pyramid.”

The allegorical definition from the old ritual for the Broached Thurnel is –

“the Broached Thurnel [is] for the entered Apprentice to learn to work upon.”

Thus we can see that the Broached Thurnel is not just an old term for a Perfect Ashlar, but something altogether different. The higher symbolic meaning of this symbol will be discussed later in this paper.

“…Rough Ashlar for the Fellow-Craft to try their Jewels upon…”

Now we find this curious statement about the Fellow-Crafts (literally Fellow of the Craft, or full member of the Craft). They are to “try” their jewels upon the Rough Ashlar. Note it does not say chip away or perfect, but to “try” their jewels upon it. This is significant because the Rough Ashlar is a symbol of ancient Pantheism where it is referred to as the “Uncut Block”. Also worth noting is a passage from the Bible.

And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. -Exodus 20:25

The Fellow-Crafts could learn much about the foundations of the peculiar system of morality from the Rough Ashlar by trying their jewels upon it.  These jewels refer to the -

• Square
• Level
• Plumb

The Rough Ashlar fails to be Square.  It is not Level nor is it Plumb.  It is in its rough and natural state, the way the Great Architect of the Universe created it.  According to what remains in the modern ritual regarding this stone we learn -

The common gavel is an instrument made use of by operative masons to break off the superfluous corners of rough stones, the better to fit them for the builder’s use; but we, as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of divesting our minds and consciences of all the vices and superfluities of life, thereby fitting us, as living stones, for that spiritual building, that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Vice
1 a: moral depravity or corruption : WICKEDNESS b: a moral fault or failing c: a habitual and usually trivial defect or shortcoming: FOIBLE <suffered from the vice of curiosity>

Superfluities
1 a: EXCESS, OVERSUPPLY b: something unnecessary or superfluous
2: immoderate and especially luxurious living, habits, or desires

Most modern Masons never stop to think about the true implication of this statement because they remain lost in the allegory of the ritual.  When a child is born it is in a purely natural state of being (Rough Ashlar) having never been subjected to the “vices and superfluities of life.”  The vices and superfluities are actually things that we do that take us further away from that pure and natural state of being that we were born into.  Thus, the original ritual does not seek to perfect us through the use of the working tools but to restore us to the natural simplicity of a child.  This is made clear by the wording “…to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of divesting our minds and consciences of all the vices and superfluities of life.“  In other words it is those habits and beliefs which we have learned through our mind and accepted into our consciences that must be removed before we can experience our true spiritual nature and be restored to our natural state of being.

The Fellow-Crafts, by trying their jewels upon the Rough Ashlar, symbolically learn how to recognize their natural state of being.  Human beings are not meant to be Square, Level or Plum, they are living and changing at all times.

As you can now see the old Natural Philosophy of Freemasonry had no need for, or use of, the Perfect Ashlar.  It viewed the whole of the creation as already perfect in its natural state as created by the Great Architect of the Universe.  The whole idea proposed by modern Masonry, that through the use of Masonic working tools one can “Perfect” their Ashlar, is an affront to the deity.  It is like saying, “Freemasonry can Perfect upon the Imperfect creation of the Great Architect.”  This represents the ultimate in humanistic arrogance, and the results of such a false and specious philosophy are readily apparent in the Craft today.  ‘Perfect Ashlar Masonry’ requires strict and immutable rules and structure in order to exemplify its “perfection”.  These, however, defy the natural order of the creation that is entirely dynamic.  Ask any physicist and they will tell you that it is the nature of all things to be in a constant state of change, nothing is static, and exact and perfect knowledge of even elementary particles such as electrons exists only as a probability.  Thus, anything that remains static in a changing environment will be swept away by natural forces and replaced by something of equal dynamics to the environment in which it exists.

The creation is such that everything has its use and place.  Nothing is imperfect by design, but is perfectly suited to perform its function within the whole of the creation.  The concepts of good and evil are but opposite extremes of the same thing.  Our tendency to objectify reality into separate parts has given us the false illusion that the creation is the sum of its parts when, in fact, the parts are just different perspectives of the One.  The whole of the creation is unified from beginning to end, no part exists separately from any other.  In the words of physicist Werner Heisenberg -

[In modern physics], one has now divided the world not into different groups of objects but into different groups of connections … What can be distinguished is the kind of connection which is primarily important in a certain phenomenon … The world thus appears as a complicated tissue of events, in which connections of different kinds alternate or overlap or combine and thereby determine the texture of the whole.

Returning to our discussion of the Peculiar System of Morality we begin to realize that the Panentheistic ethics of the early Freemasons were not wholly unfounded or radical at all.  The paradoxical nature of Natural Philosophy and a Natural System of Morality is essential for balance and harmony.  The Natural Philosophy of Newton requires that we objectify everything in the creation to understand it from a rational or mental perspective.  The Natural System of Morality requires that we view everything as actually being a part of the One.  This takes us back to the words of Toland -

• The universe is a unity.
• Every material thing is in all things.
• All things come from all, and all is in all things.
• The Universe is divine.

Natural Philosophy in the absence of Panentheistic Natural Morality will, by definition, objectify all of the creation from a single point of view – that of the observer.  This makes the observer the god of his reality because everything exists only from his perspective within the whole of the creation.  This has catastrophic implications when viewed from the macro level of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity that shows that two objects moving at different velocities will perceive the same event at different points in space-time.  In other words the true reality can never be observed by any unique observer because all are seeing it either slightly differently, or in the case of vast distances the difference will be dramatic.  Only when the balancing and harmonizing effects of the Natural System of Morality are applied are we reminded of the Oneness of the whole of the creation, and the truly unique perspective of the Great Architect.

The Masonic rituals are replete with symbolism to support this conclusion, but once again we must strip away the allegory to find their true significance.  In the beginning, before the advent of physical lodge buildings, Freemasons practiced their ritual work in rented rooms, usually above a tavern.  All of the working tools, columns, and Tracing Boards were carried around in a trunk, or often-times a black coffin, which was commonly referred to as the “Ark of Traditions”.  The Tracing Boards were large canvases that were rolled-out onto the floor.  On them were painted all of the Masonic symbols related to the specific degree for which they were created.  Blue Symbolic lodges utilized three Tracing Boards, one for each symbolic degree.  The dimensions of these tracingboards is of special importance when interpreting their meaning.  They were cut to the dimensions of a Golden Rectangle (shown below).

The significance of this within a system of Natural Philosophy is obvious.  A Golden Rectangle is based on the Golden Mean – a mathematical ratio that shows-up throughout all of the cosmos.  Everything from the spiral of galaxies to the strands of DNA conform to this ratio.

Later, when lodges had acquired their own buildings the checkered pavement and tessellated boarder came to represent this ratio.  Oftentimes modern Masonry mistakes the golden rectangle for the double cube, but as we shall see the Double-Cube has its own special role to play in the symbolism of Freemasonry.

Before we can approach an understanding of the Double-Cube we have to have a better understanding of the people who joined Masonic Lodges in the early eighteenth century.  A quick look through the existing membership roles of the early lodges in London shows that they were most frequented by the upper educated middle class which consisted of scientists, antiquarians, philosophers, etc.  If we look at some of the personal works of these people and/or their personal letters, we discover that most of them were deists, atheists and pantheists.  This of course begs the question as to why modern Freemasonry requires a belief in deity, if it wasn’t required by the founders of the fraternity.  This is primarily due to a misinterpretation of Anderson’s Constitutions.  Anderson says -

A Mason is oblig’d by his tenure, to obey the moral Law; and if he rightly understands the Art, he will never be a stupid Atheist, nor an irreligious Libertine*.

A careful reading of this statement results in a fundamental question – “How could anyone ‘rightly understand the art,’ if they were not permitted to become a Mason?”  When you consider this along with the fact that many of the early Masons were acknowledged atheists, the logic follows that Anderson isn’t creating a prohibition criteria for membership, but is simply stating that Masons who truly understand the “Art” will be neither atheists nor deists.  There is additional proof of how misguided modern Masonry is regarding this issue.  In Anderson’s Constitutions this statement falls under the Charges that are read to every new Entered Apprentice Mason, and not under the Constitutional section regarding membership.

As I’m sure you are now beginning to recognize the need for secrecy in the old Masonic system, let us take a moment to examine a few key parts of the Masonic obligations.  In considering the horrific penalties of the obligations it is a curious fact that none of them say something to the extent of “and may God strike me dead if I….”  Instead the penalties are clearly to be carried-out by other Masons.  These penalties make sense when you consider the fact that you could be hanged or burned alive for questioning the doctrines of the Church, let alone teaching something that would be considered heretical.  The fact that the deity is never invoked to carry out the penalty is related to the Panentheistic view of the universe.  In other words we are a part of the cosmos that is composed of energy which is a part of the deity. To ask the deity to destroy a part of itself would be heresy to a Panentheist/Freemason.

Of course modern Masonry has no need for this level of secrecy, and those who have questioned the horrible penalties have done so justifiably.  Why do we need to keep its common system of morality a secret?

With this new understanding of the early Freemasons we can now turn our attention to the Double-Cube/Broached Thurnel, Altar, Bible, Square and Compasses.  The Bible is the source of the allegory, therefore, it can be removed from the symbolism.  This is not to say that some of the Freemasons of 1717 didn’t use the Bible for their oaths and obligations, but that it was not central to the underlying symbolism.  As a matter of fact many early Freemasons took their oaths and obligations on the Book of Constitutions or the Old Charges. I realize that this goes against the teachings of modern Masonry and everything that modern Masons have been told, but as you will soon see it is none-the-less a fact.

Some of my readers will undoubtedly be disconcerted by the removal of the Bible on the grounds that it was merely a part of the allegory.  To illustrate the allegorical nature of the Bible and its stories I would like for you to consider the fact that every Masonic lodge is situated in the opposite direction of King Solomon’s Temple.  The temple in Jerusalem faced East so that the first rays of the sun would enter in through the main doors each morning.  Masonic lodges are situated due West and are entered through doors on the western face.  If the early Freemasons had wanted us to take the Bible as anything other than a part of the allegory, it would make sense then that a lodge should be situated in the same way as the historical temple of Solomon, but in fact the exact opposite is true.

Another fact that must be considered regarding the allegorical nature of the Bible and its contributions to the rituals is the secret passwords.  Most Masons believe that the secret passwords have always been the same, but this is not true.  Before we can discuss this, however, we will need to review the two Grand Lodges in England that became engaged in the power struggle that led to the formation of the United Grand Lodge of England in 1813.

The Grand Lodge that was formed in 1717 would later come to be known as the Grand Lodge of the ‘Moderns’.  Later, in 1751, another Grand Lodge would be formed by Irish immigrants, and it would become known as the Grand Lodge of the ‘Antients’.  Ironically, the ‘Antients’ are the more modern of the two!  There are considerable differences between these two bodies, so much so that they each considered the other to be clandestine.  Below is a list of some of the main differences.

The Grand Lodge of the ‘Moderns’

• Formed in 1717
• Claimed ancient descent from the old guilds
• Their Constitutions are still recognized as authoritative
• Expensive and exclusive membership
• Membership consisted of members of the Royal Society, Artists, Scientists, Educated middle-class, aristocracy
• Changed the modes of recognition and passwords to help maintain secrecy as needed
• Conducted  lodge education in the laws of mechanics, calculus and other cutting edge ideas
• Maintained a peculiar system of morality
• Eventually taken over by the ‘Antients’ with the formation of the UGLE

The Grand Lodge of the ‘Antients’

• Formed in 1751
• Claimed ancient descent from the old guilds
• Their Constitutions are no longer recognized as authoritative
• Inexpensive and easy to join
• Membership consisted of soldiers, mercenaries, uneducated lower class, sailors, etc.
• Due to military members its lodges spread rapidly around the globe.
• Quickly grew to outnumber the ‘Moderns’
• Kept the original modes of recognition as put in place by the ‘Moderns’ in 1717
• Had special “Marks”
• Adopted the common protestant Christian morality of the era
• Added the Royal Arch degree
• Became what is today the UGLE

The fact that the ‘Moderns’ felt at liberty to change the passwords (which came directly from the Biblical allegory) at any time in order to maintain secrecy goes to prove that even the supposed sacred secret words were not nearly as sacred to the founders of Speculative Freemasonry as they were to the uneducated ‘Antients’ and their offspring – modern 21st century Freemasonry.  The real Speculatives (the ‘Moderns’) had a secret between them that was more valuable than any part of the Biblical allegory.

The altar in the center of the lodge is symbolic of the Broached Thurnel/Double-Cube (BTDC).   The Square is symbolic of the formation of the lower cubical part of the stone.

This brings us to the Compasses.  What role do they play in all of this?  Unlike the Square, no lodge officer’s jewel is the Compasses.  Of the list of weapons that are used against Hiram Abiff they are not among them. The only references regarding them are related to the circumscribing of desires, and the fact that they are dedicated to the Craft.  An unmentioned, but observed utilization of the Compasses, is upon the altar where they move step by step above the points of the Square.  The Compasses are a tool used mainly for design and not manufacture; they are the symbolic working tool of the Great Architect of the Universe.

The Compasses are intimately related to the Broached Thurnel.  They are a symbolic allusion to its triangular surfaces.  When the Compasses are placed on the altar they are always opened to sixty degrees. This is important because sixty degrees is the internal angle of every corner of an equilateral triangle. The sum of all the angles in an equilateral triangle is always 180 degrees which is also equal to half a circle. This pattern continues the theme of the lodge being 180 degrees the opposite of the historical temple of Solomon. The idea being that once a Mason had master the art his view of the cosmos would be altered by 180 degrees from that which he had previously known.

The Square and Compasses when combined in the well-known Masonic logo (above) allude to the design of the creation (Compasses) and the manifestation of it (Square).  Thus, the Freemason moves from a terrestrial and mechanical (Square) view of the creation to a deeper understanding of its fundamental unity (Compasses).

The pyramid atop the Broached Thurnel is made up of four equilateral triangles. When it is placed atop the altar and positioned such that its flat polished surfaces face the cardinal directions, then something magical happens.  The words of the ritual come to life!

S. W. – As the sun rises in the east, to open and govern the day, so rises the Worshipful Master in the east, to open and govern his Lodge, set the craft to work, and give them proper instructions.

As I pointed-out earlier, a Masonic lodge is situated exactly opposite of that of Solomon’s Temple, therefore the Worshipful Master could not possibly observe the rising of the sun in the east because he is facing west.  Yet, all Masons are repeatedly told that Masonic Light originates in the east.  Before we continue we must also consider one other aspect of the Light and its relationship to the altar.  No Mason is to ever walk or stand between the Worshipful Master and the altar because the “Three Great Lights” reside there.  So where is the real Light?

When the Broached Thurnel is upon the altar and the sun rises in the east the Worshipful Master observes its glistening rays as they are reflected off the polished surfaces of the Broached Thurnel.  At first it rises up through the cube and then into the pyramid.  Slowly it moves towards the left side of the pyramid and passes on to the Junior Warden who says -

As the sun is in the south, at high meridian, it is the beauty and glory of the day, so stands the Junior Warden in the south, the better to observe the time, call the craft from labor to refreshment, superintend them during the hours thereof, and see that the means of refreshment be not converted into intemperance or excess; and call them to labor again, that they may have pleasure and profit thereby.

With the assistance of the Broached Thurnel the Junior Warden can truly “observe the time” because High Twelve will always be when the sun’s reflection reaches at or near the apex of the pyramid.  As the sun travels past the station of the Junior Warden it sets in the west.  Note, that at no time is any light reflected to the north off the surfaces of the Broached Thurnel, therefore, the north is literally “dark”.*  Now all of the ritual nonsense starts to make a little more sense, doesn’t it?.  Stepping between the Worshipful Master and the altar would block his view of the Light!

*(This in only true for latitudes equal to or north of London. More on this and the mathematics in a future paper.)

The passage of time is of great importance in the ritual and much could be said about the columns that sit at the Warden’s stations, and about how it reveals many of the other veiled secrets, but this goes beyond the scope of the present work.

Conclusion

The “Peculiar System of Morality” of the early Speculative Freemasons was based on the universalistic views of the seventeenth century Pantheists.

• The universe is a unity.
• Every material thing is in all things.
• All things come from all, and all is in all things.
• The Universe is divine.

The great thinkers and philosophers of that era recognized a deep and serious flaw in Descartes’ Cartesian model and the objectivist empiricism that had emerged from it.  They rightly perceived that the ultimate ends of such a philosophy would be the dehumanization of mankind brought about by the spiritually destitute state that this objectification of the whole of experienced reality would render over time.  The discoveries of Newton would only go to further the value of empirical methodology, and that this would result in the fall of Christendom and its moral code.  The future of knowledge and technology appeared limitless, but in its wake a morally deprived civilization would arise.

A new religion was being born – Science. But, this new religion based its doctrines on the empirical evidence collected through observation.  Science was unlike any religion before it, in that its dogma could and would change as our knowledge of the cosmos expanded.  This meant that its morality, like its dogma, would be relative to observation.

Realizing that Judeo-Christian ethics would soon collapse under the weight of scientific inquiry these men sought desperately to find a system of morality that would at once be compatible with the new ‘religion,’ while at the same time being able to transcend its narrow empirical view of the whole of the creation.  Therefore, Freemasonry, has always rightly claimed that it is not a religion, nor is it for or against any religion, but that it is a peculiar system of morality.  I might add – a system of morality that is needed more today than at any other point in human history.

Unfortunately, the same empirical scientific methodology that it was originally envisioned to harmonize with humanity, has finally arrived at its modern era successor’s doorstep, pointing-out its many present incongruities and inconsistencies.  This was inevitable due to the fact that modern day Masonry is politically clinging to Judeo-Christian ideology, when a close inspection of its allegories and symbols lead in an entirely different direction.  On the other side, the Christian fundamentalists have replaced its old detractors – primarily the Catholic and Anglican churches.  The failure of the Grand Lodge of the ‘Moderns’ to succeed in its original mission, combined with the philosophical failures of the ‘Antients’, has left mankind entirely destitute of a complimentary system of morality that should have formed the basis of a system of ethics for empirical science.

The catastrophic effects of this moral vacuum may not, at first, be readily apparent to those unfamiliar with the issues that have evolved out of uncontrolled objectivist empiricism.  Through the knowledge we have attained we have been able to harness the power of nature and the atom, utilize natural resources on an unprecedented scale, manipulate genetics, and preserve and lengthen human life.  While many of these advances have had an overall positive impact on us as a species and on our environment, the lack of any meaningful moral restrictions has led to some of these advances spiraling out of control and leading us ever closer to the brink of destruction.  In short, our knowledge has expanded beyond our wisdom to utilize it properly.

Freemasonry is often referred to as a “Progressive Science”. Natural philosophy, by necessity, requires a progressive science in order to become a practical and reasonable world-view. Unfortunately, if mankind were to adopt the purely Cartesian logic of Descarte or Bacon we would quickly discover that it has the potential to destroy the spiritual nature of man, and perhaps even the earth. Thus, the pressing need for a peculiar system of morality to act as a system of checks and balances.

It is the human mind that sets us apart from the animals. While at first it seems to be a blessing, it can also be a curse. Because of our mind we develop perspectives of reality that may not be accurate. Only through natural philosophy and progressive science can these delusions be taken away and the true nature of the deity and the creation revealed.

The ‘Antients’ among others after them reinterpreted the concept of speculation. Under their system a Mason was to speculate on the meaning of the symbols presented to him and Freemasonry could mean whatever the Mason was capable of imagining. Under the ‘Moderns’ Freemasonry had a very specific meaning and its implications on our perspective of reality and the future were a cause for speculation; one was to speculate on the implications of the changes in one’s perspective of reality, the nature of deity, and the cosmos.

Speculate
1 a : to meditate on or ponder a subject : REFLECT b : to review something idly or casually and often inconclusively
2 : to assume a business risk in hope of gain; especially : to buy or sell in expectation of profiting from market fluctuations
transitive senses
1 : to take to be true on the basis of insufficient evidence : THEORIZE <speculated that a virus caused the disease>
2 : to be curious or doubtful about : WONDER <speculates whether it will rain all vacation>

Science
1 : the state of knowing : knowledge as distinguished from ignorance or misunderstanding
2 a : a department of systematized knowledge as an object of study <the science of theology> b : something (as a sport or technique) that may be studied or learned like systematized knowledge <have it down to a science>
3 a : knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through scientific method b : such knowledge or such a system of knowledge concerned with the physical world and its phenomena : NATURAL SCIENCE
4 : a system or method reconciling practical ends with scientific laws <culinary science>

For far too long Freemasons have wrongly believed that they were to speculate about the meanings of the symbols, when they should have been speculating about the meaning and implications of their Natural Philosophy, Progressive Science and Peculiar System of Morality.  If we just begin to speculate on the basic definitions of the Great Architect -

• The universe is a unity.
• Every material thing is in all things.
• All things come from all, and all is in all things.
• The Universe is divine.

Then we begin to realize how all is one and one is all.  With this, the meaning of the old Freemason’s statement that “Freemasonry is an ancient order dedicated to the brotherhood of all mankind under the All-Seeing Eye of God,” becomes very clear.  All of humanity is, by the very nature of the creation, one great brother/sisterhood.  We are all linked together by primordial indissoluble bonds.  The All-Seeing Eye and the “Light” are one and the same.  The Light is the divine spark that enters the great void – the nothingness, and shattering into ever smaller units forms the basic building blocks of the creation.  God is in everything, God is everything.

What does this imply about Freemasonry’s Peculiar System of Morality?  Based on this primary belief everything we do affects the whole to some greater or lesser extent.  It’s like the “Butterfly Effect” where a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil has the potential to setoff a series of events in Texas. The Peculiar System of Morality goes beyond just mankind and reaches into the far corners of the universe.  Everything is a part of the One and what we do can have far reaching effects.  The Peculiar System of Morality forces us to acknowledge moral responsibilities that extend far beyond the scope of the systems taught by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  Not only are we responsible for our actions towards one another as human beings, but also for those that impact every part of the whole of the creation.  This beautiful, strong, and wise system of morals is all that stands between us and objectifying everything in the universe.  It applies wisdom to the advances of science, and keeps us aware of how intimately connected we are to the all which is One.

Today, modern Freemasons politic among themselves over meaningless Masonic titles and silly colorful hats.  They attempt to bring value to the organization by bragging about their many charities.  For all of the good modern Freemasons have accomplished, they have ultimately failed mankind.  No amount of charity can makeup for their failure to promote the one thing of greatest value they had to offer humanity – the Peculiar System of Morality.

The Future of Freemasonry

Freemasonry, as an institution, is intimately related to its peculiar system of morality.  It is not a static entity nor can it be and survive.  Its true nature is systemically related to changing external conditions to which it responds by filling moral voids.  These voids occur over the course of time as human understanding and knowledge shift from one point to another along a natural line of development and improvement.  The present Masonic system represents an archaic view of reality that is altogether incompatible with the present level of human understanding and thought.  The notion that “the teachings of Freemasonry are timeless” is only true so long as Freemasonry progresses alongside human thought.  While it was designed to be “timeless” through its dynamic approach to reality and change, this advanced concept has been utterly lost by the present generation of Freemasons.  At first we see this problem arising out of the conservative attitudes of the organization’s elderly membership, but upon closer inspection we see the new generations of Masons caught in the same ideological trap.

Freemasonry was designed to be a self-organizing (re-organizing) system.  Its initial design was entirely cellular with only a weak central authority to settle internal disputes.  It has now shifted to a centrally controlled network that restricts its natural tendency toward change and evolution.  It is important that we understand the nature of these original self-organizing principles, if Freemasonry is to continue to exist in the future.

The first concept of self-organization is the creation of new structures and new modes of behavior in the self-organizing process.  All possible structural changes take place within a given variety pool of structures, and survival chances of the system depend on the richness, or requisite variety, of that pool.  These include the creation of novel structures and modes of behavior in the process of development, learning, and evolution.

The second common characteristic of this system of self-organization is open systems operating far from equilibrium.  A constant flow of creativity and energy through the system is necessary for self-organization to take place.  The striking emergence of new structures and new forms of behavior, which is the hallmark of self-organization, occurs only when the system is far from equilibrium.

The third characteristic of this self-organizing system is the nonlinear interconnectedness of the system’s components.  Physically this nonlinear pattern results in feedback loops.

Of these three concepts it is perhaps most difficult to comprehend the nature of the feedback loops that can, and will, occur in the developmental stages of Masonic organizations. Before I address the mechanism of these feedback loops it is necessary that we first understand the law of survival that is directly related to the first concept.

Early Freemasonry progressed through a highly dynamic process of development that, like all living natural systems, tended to be out of equilibrium.  The further from a state of equilibrium it moved the more dynamic and radical the changes within the organization became, thus, allowing for a multitude of diverse systems that met the needs of a wide variety of people.  Over time the system began to move back towards a state of static equilibrium, and as a result of this multiple new organizations were formed outside of the formal Masonic structure.  In other words Freemasonry became too rigid to contain the dynamics represented by these other systems, and they were forced to split away.  By 1775 the dynamic growth of Freemasonry was halted by its increasingly rigid structures that prevented it from moving away from a state of static equilibrium.  Needless to say over the course of the last two centuries Freemasonry has broken free of the rigid structures imposed upon it and returned to states further from equilibrium, allowing for continued growth and dynamic change.  A good example of this type of behavior is the Scottish Rite under the leadership of Albert Pike.  Pike completely redefined the Scottish Rite, and along with it Freemasonry.  And, as could be anticipated Freemasonry experienced a period of phenomenal growth and expansion.  Again, we see this same type of behavior beginning again around 1949 with the Shrine.  The Shrine redefined Freemasonry as a social club.  Unfortunately, since that time Freemasonry has remained in a static state of equilibrium that has again resulted in its present decline.

Freemasonry expands and contracts based on naturally occurring feedback loops.  There are two types of feedback loops: self-amplifying and self-regulating.  Self-amplifying feedback loops amplify or reinforce the same thing over and over again until the system in which they exist self-destructs.  Self-regulating feedback loops amplify or reinforce something until a certain state is achieved, at which point they change direction.  At the present time Freemasonry is caught in a self-amplifying feedback loop that continually reinforces the processes of a dying system that causes the rate of decay to rise at an ever increasing rate.  If we were to look back at history we would discover that when Freemasonry was expanding it was through self-regulating feedback loops.

Self-regulating feedback loops work best in living systems where they act to keep things always in a state outside of static equilibrium, and as I pointed-out earlier it is in this state that Freemasonry expands rapidly.

The End
by
Jeffrey J. Peace

Copyright © 2005 – All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, republished, or mirrored by any means without prior permission in writing from the copyright holder.

During the period following 1920 there are a multitude of lodges that have over 500 members, some with membership rolls exceeding 3,000. How is it possible that 500 men, not to mention 3,000, could actively participate in the same lodge meeting? Did these men actually know one another, or were they merely going through a fraternal exercise in order to wear a Masonic ring?

European Freemasonry did not follow the trend into mega lodges. The European form of Freemasonry remained far more intimate, with most lodges having no more than fifty members. These small lodges appear very similar in make-up to the eighteenth and nineteenth century American lodges in that they appear to follow a certain life cycle.

Some lodges in both Europe and America are very old with some dating back 275 years or so. Did these lodges buck the life cycle trend or experience a different kind of life cycle? Looking at the oldest lodges they seem to have followed an internal life cycle of rise and fall over thirty-five year periods. In other words they thrived for awhile and then almost died before beginning to grow again.

At first it appeared that these trends may have followed the cycles of public interest in Freemasonry but it turned out not to be the case. Even at times when Masonic membership declined, some of these lodges were growing. Why?

I think the answer lies in human nature and how we relate to those around us. Freemasonry is a fraternity that brings people together in one place (a lodge) for a meeting. What will be discussed at that meeting, the type of food consumed, and the level of personal comfort between the members will be determined by the nature of their relationships with one another. If the members of the lodge share little in common other than Freemasonry then the lodge will be socially dysfunctional because the members never truly relate to one another. There are many possible sources of this that include, age, income, and philosophical prejudices.

Robert Putnam’s book Bowling Alone has been used countless times by the Grand Lodges to illustrate that the present decline in Freemasonry is unavoidable because it is a relational consequence of changes in society. I am of the opinion that Putnam is a victim of his own preconceptions. Society is not becoming increasingly fragmented and separated. It is evolving and unifying in new ways that were previously unknown. Putnam wrongly assumes that the decline of social institutions of the past are primary examples of fragmentation and separation, when in fact they are merely obsolete social mechanisms that have been replaced by changes in culture and the advance of technology.

The present social model utilized by American Freemasonry was developed in the 1950′s and is a monolithic cultural relic that cannot adapt itself to the rapid pace of change. This is a result of the failure of the institution to understand the dynamic life cycle of lodges, and the changes it implemented in the 1920′s to lodge organization. The mega lodge relied on the industrial manufacturing concepts of streamlining processes. The quality of production came in a far distant second to overall quality. The object was to “manufacture” as many Masons as possible in order to increase cash flow and thereby increase the services provided to members. Lodge membership from 1920 through the present is based on the idea that the Mason doesn’t want to attend meetings, but to take advantage of the relationships created through membership (i.e. insurance salesmen) and the services afforded (Masonic insurance, old age homes, etc.). While this model may indeed have been very attractive to members before the formation of Allstate, State Farm, and senior living centers, it has little to no value in the 21st century.

Many young Masons today point the finger towards the Grand Lodges and mismanagement as the source of all the present problems. In a way they’re right. The Grand Lodges are not adapting to changes in society and culture like they once did. The Grand Lodges, however, only appear to be the source of the problem when it is, in fact, yet another symptom of the disease plaguing the fraternity. It must be remembered that the Grand Lodges are a reflection of the voting members of the lodges. The true source of the problem is at the base of the institution, not the top. Unfortunately, the decisions made back in the 1920′s and 1950′s have created a self-reinforcing loop in the system. The lodges can no longer go through their natural life cycles because of the monolithic nature of the mega lodge infrastructure of the past. There is no easy way for an aging dysfunctional lodge to split apart and form new healthy social environments. This forces men of all ages and philosophical views into the same organizational unit resulting in bickering, bitterness, and the eventual resulting loss of attendance and membership.

Now it should be becoming clear that the Grand Lodges cannot adapt or change because the lodges themselves cannot experience any life cycle changes. It is the same lodges and members forever reinforcing the same ideas over and over again.

If the lodges were experiencing normal healthy life cycles, new lodges would form dynamically out of the old, and represent the ideas of the present generation of Masons. In order for this to happen under the present system it would require a complete collapse of the organization that would be followed by a reorganization by the survivors. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that the organization could survive such an institutional collapse. It would certainly mean the loss of virtually all the temples, financial assets, and collective institutional memory.

The above scenario is becoming increasingly likely. In part because we have failed to recognize the true source of the problems we face as a fraternity. There is, however, hope that things can be changed before it’s too late. By understanding our problems and being able to formulate the right questions we might be able to turn things around. This would require an openness to change and a focused effort on the behalf of the leadership and decision makers.

I believe that this process must begin with a thorough understanding of the historical life cycles of lodges, and the abandonment of the mega lodge model of the 1920′s. Ultimately, the future of Freemasonry lies in the hands of its members. Only they can decide whether or not they are willing to make the changes necessary for the survival of the institution.