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Jacob's ladder in Masonic lore signifies the Path of Initiation leading from earth to heaven. The various rounds of the ladder represent steps or degrees by which an illumined candidate ascends from terrestrial to celestial spheres.
The term "Ineffable Degrees" is fittingly applied to the higher Masonic steps. It is in these that the symbolism becomes so completely spiritual and the ceremonials so extended and magnificent that the very atmosphere seems surcharged with the light and fragrance of another world. "When a candidate attains unto these higher degrees he should possess spiritual power sufficient to leave his impress or his 'mark' upon all places, persons or things which he contacts."
Albert Pike thus admonishes the candidates who endeavor to walk the way of spirit: "If you will advance, gird up your loins for the struggle! For the way is long and toilsome. Pleasure, all smiles, will beckon you on the one hand, and Indolence will invite yoµ to sleep among the flowers, on the other. Prepare, by secrecy, obedience and fidelity, to resist the allurements of both."
In the higher Masonic Degrees the Ark of the Covenant plays a most important part. The mystic Mason understands th'at this is not because of the many traditions associated with this sacred shrine, but for the reason that each and every piece of furniture within the Ark represents a certain spiritual aptitude latent within the candidate himself, and which will awaken and function as he learns to tread the Path of Illumination.
In this series it has been stressed frequently that the fundamental message of Mystic Masonry is expressed in the biblical affirmation: "Ye are the temple of the living God." This precept is taught in many different ways throughout all Masonic Degrees, from Apprentice to Knight of the Double Eagle.
The twelve princes of Israel were appointed to bring the Ark of the Convent into Jerusalem. They assembled at a feast in the month of Ethanim-the name used in the old calendar for the seventh month, the sacred season of the Autumn Equinox. The Levites carried the Ark, but the priests always covered it to shield it from the gaze of the public. As the mystic insignia of an initiate life, it was the central feature of the ceremony. At that time it contained nothing but the two Tablets of the Law, placed therein by Moses at Horeb, when the children of Israel came up from Egypt.
An esoteric manual relates that whenever the sacred Ark was in dire peril a golden lion appeared to guard it, bearing in his mouth a golden key. When the high priest appeared the lion would lay the key at his feet.
When a candidate dedicates his body to the quest for wjsdom, as exemplified by Solomon, he has only the Tables of the Law; that is, esoteric concepts of Truth. He himself must find the "staff that buds" and cause it to bloom by awakening his own spiritual centers and thus filling the "pot of manna" with the golden fluid of his own conserved life force. Before he can do this his own holy temple has been completed, and he is found worthy to dwell within its Holy of Holies beneath the glory cloud (his own luminous aura) and to be surrounded by the radiance- of Cherubim (the guidance and protection of angelic presences).
All incidents associated with the Ark bear the same intimate and immediate relationship to the life of present-day man that they had for those in whose time they occurred. Every neophyte must discover the Holy of Holies within himself before he can pass behind the veil separating the seen from the unseen, the temporal from the eternal.
The Fourth and Fifth Masonic Degrees of the Scottish Rite are termed Secret Master and Perfect Master respectively. Both should envision a high type of spiritual attainment. A candidate for these Degrees must be able to place his mark upon each piece of finished material before it can be fitted into its proper place in the Temple. These marks, according to legend, are the Square, Level and Perpendicular as used under the direction of King Solomon.
The letter "G" — which holds such an important place with the Masonic fraternity — is now transformed into the perfect Circle. Incompleteness has given way to completeness. In the far-radiating light that emanates from his Holy of Holies, the candidate catches a glorious vision of the perfected Whole.
One of the prime reasons for putting forth this series on Mystic Masonry is to elucidate and emphasize the wonders of man's own temple, his physical body. All the transcendent truths of Masonry are inscribed therein. As stated elsewhere in this series, a Triangle is one of its most significant symbols. Within the human head, the Holy of Holies of man's physical stature, the triangle extends from the eyes, which form its base, to the pineal gland or "third eye" that forms its apex. When a candidate learns to truly "live the life," this triangle, inscribed in lines of eternal light, becomes his spiritual signature.
In the Sixth and Seventh Degrees Masonic ceremonialism reaches a climax in pageantry of magnificent splendor. The Sixth Degree is concerned with Temple dedication. King Solomon's Temple was begun during the sacred out pouring of the Spring Equinox, and its dedication occurred during the flood tide of the Autumn Equinox. The dedication's climax was a down-pouring of fire which filled the Temple with such light that the priests were unable to enter therein. During this baptism of splendor one of the Masters was caught up into the heights on wings of transcendent fire.
Every Mystery Temple sounds its own particular keynote. The Temple of Solomon vibrated to the lovely psalm: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; that the King of Glory shall come in."
Masonry represents the Fire Path of Initiation, and the fire phenomenon is symbolic of the Fire Initiation. In the process of cleansing and purifying by fire, one's lower nature is transformed through the spiritualizing or Christing of the mind. This Degree is held before the Tabernacle, with the golden doors open, and it is here that the candidate learns that God is light.
The Seventh Degree has been designated the sublime and august climax of ancient Masonry. In its legendary lore and imposing ceremonialism, this Degree teaches the same truths as those on which the Ancient Mysteries were based. The candidate is told how a worker drops his trowel through a hole in the floor and, in a search to recover it amid the rubbish beneath the floor, he discovers a golden casket with a keyhole in the form of a letter "G." It is then recalled that the Grand Master Hiram wore a G-shaped key over his heart, and that when his body was found the impress of the letter was indelibly stamped thereon. The murderers had thrown the key into the debris, where the Brothers found it. Not knowing what use to make of it, they put it in the archives of the Temple, and when uncovered it fitted perfectly the golden lock. The casket was opened and found to contain the precious Lost Word. The mystic meaning of the letter "G" has been considered at some length in an earlier published brochure on Mystic Masonry. The above legend is based on the sacred teaching of regeneration, the "lost word" of all true spiritual development regardless of place, time or creed.
The action of the Seventh Degree takes place in the very heart of the Temple. At last the candidate reaches the high and noble goal for which he has so long striven. He has become one with the innermost workings of love. A golden crown, symbolic of the halo of an illumined one, is intimately connected with this Degree.
The Ninth and Thirteenth Degrees are concerned with the Royal Arch of King Solomon's Temple. They contain some of the most holy ceremonials of the Scottish Rite. To repeat, the Thirteenth Degree is designated as the Royal Arch of Solomon. A part of the ceremony connected with this Degree included the dedication of the capstone, and it is said that Solomon invited only the holiest of the workmen to take part in this notable event.
There is a very old Masonic legend stating that the biblical Master Initiate, Enoch, made excavations through the entire nine layers of the Earth. In each of these excavations he placed a four-square door, and in the ninth door he set a golden triangle bearing the mystic four-letter name of Diety. He then fashioned two columns wherein he placed secret instructions on how to find the nine excavations with their closely guarded four-square doors; in other words, how to pass through Earth's nine layers and so reach its central core.
Methuselah, Enoch's eldest son, had charge of the work performed in the land of Canaan, at Jerusalem. But even Methuselah was not permitted to know the secret his father had concealed under the ninth arch; in other words he had not passed through the last of the nine Lesser Mysteries. The golden triangular plate inscribed by Enoch was erected on a pedestal of white marble beneath the lowest of the nine arches. No one can pronounce the sacred name of God inscribed on this golden triangle until full $piritual equilibrium has been established in his higher consciousness. Moses hinted at this divine consummation when he revealed the name of God as "I AM THAT." This is the mystic cry of the Initiate when, having explored the nine outer arches of the universe and their reflection in the nine arches within himself, he finally discovers THE ONE seated above the highest arch to be the self-same identity as THE ONE below the lowest arch, namely, "I AM THAT."
Warned of the impending deluge and fearing that all true knowledge might perish, Enoch built two pillars upon the highest mountain, one of bronze to resist water and one of brick to resist fire. On the brick pillar he placed a hieroglyph denoting that a precious treasure had been set beneath the subterranean arches. On the bronze pillar he inscribed esoteric truths as concealed in Masonry. The brick pillar was destroyed by the Deluge, but the bronze one escaped. The antiquity of Masonry dates therefrom.
The Ninth Degree of the Ancient Mysteries marked a very definite point in spiritual attainment, for the first nine Degrees were the Lesser Mysteries. The Lord Christ came bringing the four Greater Degrees of the Mysteries, the Christ Mysteries. When an illumined candidate has passed through the nine Lesser Mysteries by means of the mystic name engraved upon the golden triangle in the ninth of Earth's layers, he is worthy to enter into the heart of Earth, where he will meet the Lord Christ face to face and receive Initiation into the Greater Mysteries. The Degrees as outlined in the Scottish Rite should prepare a worthy candidate for this sublime work.
The various strata of Earth, from circumference to center, constitute the Path of Initiation. This is the reason why there is almost nothing about the inner structure of the planet in books dealing with occult subjects. Nothing but a mere outline is given concerning these strata. Initiates are taught how to suspend the law of levitation when functioning in their soul-bodies, and how to pass through these nine terrestrial layers.
At the age of thirty-three Christ Jesus had taken the 3 x 3 equals 9 initiatory Degrees and descended to the center of Earth. Both Hiram Aqiff and Solomon were reborn that they might receive from Him, through the strong grip of the Lion's Paw, the next Degree of the Christian Mysteries.
To this day every Initiate has the serpent symbol on his brow and is known to his brethren as "the Son of a Widow." The serpent is not fully unfolded until the ninth arch of the Lesser Mysteries has been passed and candidates have become aspirants to the Greater Mysteries. The Lodge of Phree Messen (Children of Light) of ancient Egypt is now transferred to various branches of the post-Atlantean race.
Again, turning to Albert Pike we learn that the occult science of the ancient Magi was concealed under the shadow of the Mysteries as outlined by early Christians and Gnostics. In the higher Rites of Masonry it was enveloped in enigmas that seemed impenetrable. This sublime alchemy was the science of Abraham, of Orpheus, of Confucius and of Zoroaster. Its secrets were engraven on the stones of Hermes Trismegistus of Egypt and of Enoch, according to the legends of Masonry.
In Morals and Dogma, Albert Pike writes relative to the Royal Arch Degree: "Wherefore riothing forbids you to consider the whole legend of this Degree, like that of the Master's, an allegory, representing the perpetuation of the knowledge of the True God in the sanctuaries of initiation. By the subterranean vaults you may understand the places of initiation, which in the ancient ceremonies were generally underground. The Temple of Solomon presented a symbolic image of the Universe; and resembled, in its arrangements and furniture, all the temples of the ancient nations that practiced the mysteries."
Further: "The three Masters, Adoniram, Joabert, and Stolkin, are types of the true Mason who seeks for knowledge from pure motives, and that he may be the better enabled to serve and benefit his fellow-men; the discontented and presumptuous Master, who were buried in the ruins of the arches, represent those who strive to acquire knowledge for unholy purposes, to gain power over their fellows, to gratify their pride, their vanity, or their ambition.
"The Lion that guarded the Arch and held in his mouth the key wherewith to open it, figuratively represents Solomon, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, who preserved and communicated the key to the true knowledge of God, of His laws, and of the profound mysteries of the moral arid physical Universe."
There is, perhaps, a more profound meaning to the above. Astronomically, the Royal Arch is formed of the signs which are above the horizon from the Spring Equinox until the Autumn Equinox, namely from Aries to Libra. Thus Cancer, the sign of Initiation, is located in the midheaven or apex of the Royal Arch. In the Mysteries this capstone is removed and the candidate himself is substituted in its stead, thus becoming the living stone which must 'become the chief stone of the Temple. Peter had attained to this high degree of illumination when his name was changed from Simon to Petros (stone). Peter had now become the living stone upon which the Initiations of the early Church were founded.
It has been noted that Hiram represents the Sun in its transit of the twelve zodiacal signs. The Royal Arch Degree signifies the white glory of the Summer Solstice when the Sun reaches its most exhalted position in the heavens and all realms, both terrestrial and celestial, are flooded with its transcendent glory. This marks the spiritual climax of the year.
The stone of Foundation is one of the most important and abstruse of all Masonic symbols. Belonging to the higher Degrees, it makes its first appearance in that of the Royal Arch, and is connected with the building of King Solomon's Temple. It is said that a stone placed in this Temple was also used in the construction of the Second Temple, where it was placed in the Holy of Holies. It was a perfect cube and bore the name of Tetragrammaton, the ineffable name of God. It was deposited with sacred and solemn ceremonies in the very center of the most sacred place where the Ark was over-shadowed by the Shekinah. Legend states that this stone was taken from Paradise by Adam, then was passed on by his son Seth to Noah, and that Noah made sacrifice on it after the Deluge. Noah left it on Mt. Ararat where it was found by Abraham. Eventually it was used by Jacob as the pillow whereon he had his celebrated vision. Moses took it out of Egypt at the time of the Exodus and, still according to legend, David found it while excavating for the Temple.
Royal Arch Masons know these traditions are reconciled in Masonic lore, in which an Ark and Stone of Foundation play so important a part. An Initiate of this Degree is known as a "Knight of the Ninth Arch of the Ancient and Accepted Rite."
The lower Degrees of Masonry are centered in the Temple of King Solomon; the higher Degrees, in the Temple of Zerubbabel. After the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity lasting some four hundred and seventy years, the captives, through the assistance of Cyrus, King of Persia, were permitted to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild their Temple. Cyrus was a mystic Mason of high degree. That he was an advanced member of the Persian Mysteries accounts for his interest and cooperation in the reconstruction work under Zerubbabel.
The journey from Babylon to Jerusalem (an important factor in Masonic symbolism) represents the pilgrimage from sense to soul. Forty-two thousand persons started on the journey. In esoteric numerology the number 6 (4 plus 2) indicates the beginning of a new life. They were four and one-half months enroute. As the perfect square the number 4 stands for spirit and 5 for personality; four and a half would mean a fluctuating between the two.
The Temple was started at the time of the Autumn Equinox and was completed in the season of the Spring Equinox. The work of transmutation usually begins in sorrow but reaches its culmination in joy.
It is impossible in a work of such limited scope to consider all the advanced Masonic Degrees in relation to their magnificent symbolism. In fact, it is possible to touch only the highlights.
— Corinne Heline
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Contemporary Mystic Christianity |
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