In masonic parlance it is asserted that every Lodge convenes somewhere within King Solomon's Temple. That Temple has three principal divisions: the outer court, the inner court and the Holy of Holies. Members of the First (Apprentice) Degree meet in the outer court; of the Second (Fellow-Craft) Degree assemble in the inner court; those of the Third (Master) Degree convene within the Holy of Holies. Symbolically speaking, the outer court represents the material world; the inner court, the spiritual world; the Holy of Holies, the highest heaven.
The way to King Solomon's Temple was by a narrow and precarious path. This, the initiatory Path, is always narrow and difficult. The Book of Books tells us "Straight is the gate, and narrow is the way... and few there be that find it." The admonition given a masonic candidate is "Blessed is he that findeth the way and thrice blessed is he who learns to walk therein."
Jacob's ladder is a familiar symbol in Masonry. It also typifies the path of spiritual progression. This ladder extended from earth to heaven, its rounds representing the various steps of degrees that lead from the terrestrial place to the celestial.
The ladder has always been symbolic of Initiation in many lands. In the Mithraic Mysteries of Persia this ladder possessed seven rounds which were termed gates. These rounds were formed of the metals that were attributed to the planets which guided each degree. The first round was made of lead, the metal of Saturn. This degree opened the gate of the nether world (purgatory). The second round belonged to Mercury (quicksilver) and led into the higher etheric realms. The third round was copper (Venus), and opened the door to the spiritual plane. The fourth round was formed of tin (Jupiter) and led to the realms of bliss. The fifth round was of iron (Mars) and led to the world of birth. The sixth round of silver (Moon) opened the gate to the highest spiritual plane. The seventh round was gold (Sun). Here was formed complete union with the Truth.
In India the Mysteries of Brahma also had a seven round ladder with similar meaning and the Ash-Tree of Scandinavia was of like significance.
In the higher degrees of Masonry is the ladder of Kadosh which holds a like reference. In the Fellowcraft degree three rounds of the Ladder represent faith, hope and charity.
The Kabala states that four rounds of the ladder represent the four elements. The masculine elements of Fire and Air represent the ascent; the feminine elements of Earth and Water, the descent. The early Rabbis stated that Jacob's Ladder typifies the human mind and that its Angels are high celestial throughts which are engendered during the times of exalted meditation and contemplation.
Entrance to the inner chamber of Solomon's Temple was by means of a winding stairway formed of three, five and seven steps. So too in a masonic Lodge-room. No serious student of Albert Pike's Morals and Dogma can fail to observe the importance placed upon the significance of numbers. Three is termed the perfect number because it represents the Trinity that is fundamental to practically all world religions. The Hindu Trinity is composed of the Creator, the Preserver and the Destroyer while the Christian Trinity is Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Within man, three is indicative of something new formed by the union of one and two. The character of this new quality or factor causes man to ally himself with either the constructive or the destructive force. If he chooses the constructive, he will go on to ultimate victory; if the destructive he will eventually leave the path, disillusioned and embittered.
Five is the number of seeking and searching. It is the number of change, leading sometimes to triumph, sometimes to defeat. If a candidate be faithful and persistent, five will eventually lead him to seven, the number of accomplishment, fulfillment, completion, for it is also the number of divine rest.
The number three represents dedication to the quest. The number five contains the various steps during the questing. The number seven is the final reaching of the goal.
In very early English Masonry there was a further division of nine and eleven steps to the winding stair, these numbers also being significant because of their numerical values. Nine is the number of humanity and of initiation. Eleven is the number of polarity and of mastership.
Such, in part, is the mystery of the stairway.
Every candidate is admonished that he must enter the inner chamber of King Solomon's Temple for the sake of the letter G. This letter is one of the most familiar emblems of Masonry. Candidates are also informed that the letter G refers to God, the great Geometrician of the universe. For the Mystic Mason, however, this letter has another profound meaning. To him it means generation. Adam and Eve, who typify early humanity, were expelled from the Garden of Eden (that same inner realm represented by the Holy of Holies) because they misused the sacred life force within themselves. It was not until after man's expulsion to the physical world, where he took on a coat of flesh, that the present mode of generation, with its attendant pain and sorrow, came into practice. Then it was that a flaming Archangel was placed at the entrance to the Garden of Eden to guard its sacred precincts so that man could not enter therein until he had transmuted generation into regeneration.
It has been previously stated that inner work connected with the Second Degree is largely concerned with purification, yet few Masons have any concept of this fact. The Second Degree is a soul Degree. A candidate must be able to investigate and study the splendors of inner worlds before he can fully realize the mystical import of this Degree. When sufficiently developed, purification becomes a dynamic soul-power which aids in the awakening of those extra-sensory powers of perception so essential to inner-place work-faculties such as clairvoyance (extended sight), clairaudience (extended hearing), mental telepathy (ability to contact others who are separated in time or space), and the powers requisite for invisible helpership, which have already been discussed in some detail.
The following doggerel is derived from ancient Masonry, yet it is quite apropos to the present day:
Further on in this ancient doggerel is the statement that only males shall be qualified to understand the meaning of this letter.
The above mentioned spiritual faculties, which are latent in all mankind but are functioning in comparatively few individuals at the present time, constitute the "wages" that a Second Degree candidate receives in the inner chamber of the Temple. This means he has acquired the ability to function consciously in inner spiritual realms.
Perhaps the most distinguishing features of King Solomon's Temple were the two great pillars that adorned the porch, and between which every candidate had to pass as he journeyed toward the Light. These two columns have been part of every Mystery Temple the world has ever.known. Throughout the ages they have borne many names. They have been known as the Columns of the Sun and Moon, and of Fire and Water. In Masonry they are the Columns of Jachin and Boaz. Jachin represents the masculine pole of spirit or the head, the center of reason. Boaz typifies the feminine pole or the heart, center of love. When by reason of spiritual living, these two poles of spirit are brought into a harmonious relationship, reason will be illuminated by love and love will be stabilized by reason.
The decorative motif about the frieze of Jachin and Boaz is formed of pomegranate blossoms, the flower of desire, and lilies, the flower of spirit. Everyone knows the struggle within himself between the force of desire which seeks to bind him to earth and the force of spirit which would lift him upward to the stars. This struggle between the higher and lower nature is experienced by every human being. It is the great Krishna-Arjuna war so familiar to us all, a war which must be fought over and over until we are sufficiently illumined to realize the supreme joy and glory of spiritual emancipation.
A candidate for the Second Degree is informed that his "working tools" are the Square, the Level and the Plumb. The Plumb (perpendicular) is a masculine emblem. The Level (horizontal) is a feminine emblem. A combination of these two emblems forms a cross, the most familiar religious symbol of the present Piscean Age, and a symbol of sorrow, pain and death. It proclaims the inequality existent throughout the human race, between its masculine and feminine principles. So long as this inequality endures, sorrow, pain and death will be the lot of mankind.
There is also a uniting of the Plumb and the Level in the Square. When Masons are admonished to "meet on the Square" it means they are to eventually attain the supreme ideal of polarity. As has been stressed, polarity is a fundamental teaching of all Mystery Schools. Masonic instruction had its origin in the Mysteries, hence it is centered in the attainment of polarity. Combinations of its many symbols, from the First Degree through the Thirty-second, emphasize in many ways and forms this sublime ideal of equilibrium between the masculine and the feminine poles in man.
The speculative Mason is called upon to place all his working tools in the Column of Jachin; hence, only the objective (masculine) pole is active. Its work, focused in the physical world, is an esoteric ceremonialism understood by few. Its monuments are orphanages and hospitals. The Column of Boaz is bare and empty. The soul of Masonry is neglected and forgotten. Its institutions are mere form; they contain no spiritual power. The true Holy of Holies is closed and its altar lights are extinguished.
The word Fellow-Craft means fellowship in the Craft. Fellowship is a fundamental of all group service. Neglect of this factor has caused the failure of innumerable orders. So many students are eager to gain occult knowledge, and others so yearn to occupy positions of prominence and posts of leadership, that the necessity for cultivating harmonious relationships between members is utterly ignored. The Blessed Master stressed this need when he said, "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you." And his foremost Disciple, John, wrote later: "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another." These words are a tragic commentary on the state of humanity today, a state which indicates the rapidly waning influence of the Christ light in the life of mankind. On every side it is brother against brother, man against man, nation against nation. Before there can be a just and lasting peace those who gather around the peace table must have their minds filled with the Christ light and their hearts radiant with the Christ love-which means that every delegate will consider the good of others on an equal basis with the good for himself and those he represents.
In his lecture to the Fellow-Craft, Albert Pike, the illumined Master Mason, lists a number of attributes essential to high spiritual living. Among these attributes are humility, service, faith, harmony (good fellowship). We quote: "In your studies as a Fellow-Craft you must be guided by Reason, Love and Faith...Reason is far from being the only guide, in morals or in political science. Love or loving-kindness must keep it company, to exclude fanaticism, intolerance, and persecution...We must not listen to reason alone. Force comes more from Faith and Love...Reason must hold the helm; but these supply the motive power. They are the wings of the soul...If the Deity had been merely and only All-wise and All-mighty, He would never have created the Universe...The Fellow-Craft is especially taught by this not to become wise in his own conceit (for)...Humility becomes a Mason...Pride is not the heritage of man. Humility should dwell with frailty, and atone for ignorance, error and imperfection...
"Neither should a Mason be over-anxious for office and honor, however certainly he may feel that he has the capacity to serve the State. He should neither seek nor spurn honors. It is good to enjoy the blessings of fortune; it is better to submit without a pang to their loss...Let no Fellow-Craft imagine that the work of the lowly and uninfluential is not worth doing. There is no legal limit to the possible influences of a good deed or a wise word or a generous effort."
In all English literature there is, perhaps, no more beautiful description of oneness with God and his creation than that given in Albert Pike's lecture to the Fellow-Craft; and because, at this time of stress and crisis, it is necessary for men to realize as never before the all-pervading Presence, we are quoting at length from this lecture. No serious student can fail to receive a renewed aspiration and heightened inspiration from frequent contemplation of his beautiful words.
"Algebra applies to the clouds; the radiance of the star benefits the rose; no thinker would dare to say that the perfume of the hawthorn is useless to the constellation. Who, then, can calculate the path of the molecule? How do we know that the creation of worlds is not determined by the fall of grains of sand? Who, then, understands the reciprocal flow and ebb of the infinitely great and the infinitely small; the echoing of causes in the abysses of beginning, and the avalanches of creation? A fleshworm is of account; the small is great; the great is small; all is in equilibrium in necessity. There are marvelous relations between being and things; in this inexhaustible Whole, from sun to grub, there is no scorn; all need each other. Light does not carry terrestrial perfumes into the azure depths, without knowing what it does with them; night. distributes the stellar essence to the sleeping plants. Every bird that flies has a thread of the Inifinite in its claw. Germination includes the hatching of a meteor and the tap of a swallow's bill, breaking the egg; and it leads forward the birth of an earth-worm and the advent of a Socrates. Where the telescope ends the microscope begins. Which of them the grander view? A bit of mould is a Pleiad of flowers — a nebula is an ant hill of stars."
— Corinne Heline
