Esoteric Lessons in Architecture

All I can really say is WOW!!!!!

It’s almost 4 hours long…..but damn it’s good!!!!!

Secrets in Plain Sight!

 

A Message to Masons and Non Masons From the Guy on the $100 Bill

A Charge To The Fraternity by Benjamin Franklin, starring Richard Easton Grand Lodge Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Portugal

Don’t Let the Lunar Eclipse Pass You By

 

“WM (Sun, Spirit):  Brother SW.  Why in the west?

SW (Moon, Soul):As the Sun is in the west at the close of the day, so stands the SW in the west to assist the WM with the opening and closing of the lodge, pay the craft their wages that none may be dissatisfied, harmony being the support of all institutions, especially this of ours.”

 

How appropriate.  In just a few hours a Total Eclipse of the Moon will take place.  This means of course that the moon will be full and that the path of the moon will pass in the earth’s shadow.  The last Total Lunar Eclipse was about 3 years ago.  There is no debate that the affect of an eclipse is powerful but subtle.  If you are caught up in the mundane things of the world and don’t spend any time traveling and journeying within yourself, then you probably won’t even notice anything special.  But those who “travel in foreign lands” will feel this special time.  It’s extra special because it is taking place right at the beginning of the Winter Solstice.  This hasn’t happened since 1554 AD.  Why is this all so special (especially to Master Masons)?

Well, let me break it down for you.  Sun = spirit.  Moon = soul.  Earth = body.  As MMs, we should already be aware of the obvious:  the Moon has no light but it reflects the light of the Sun.  The Moon also affects water (emotions).  Thus our souls (Moon) reflects wisdom/knowledge/understanding (light) from our spirits (Sun), while also being responsible for our emotions (water).  When the moon is full, it is reflecting the maximum possible light.  All though the moon can be seen during the day during other moon phase, a full moon can only be seen after the Sun sets (obviously because they are opposite each other).

Now is appropriate to explain day and night symbolism.  “As the sun rules the day and the moon governs the night….: is a Masonic statement that often escapes true understanding and meaning.  “Day” means your waking consciousness. Night means your subconscious.  The sun ruling the day, refers to the spirit having dominion over the consciousness.  The moon governing the night refers to the soul having dominion over the sub consciousness.

Therefore, full moons are special to the psyche of humans because it is a time when the spirit/conscious and soul/subconscious are basking in each other’s glory.  It’s a time when the consciousness can very easily delve into the subconscious, because they are directly opposite each other.  Many people, animals, hospitals and police departments around the world know how people act different during the full moon.  Mystics have known for a long time that a full moon is an appropriate time to work on their sub conscious directly via their consciousness.

The specialness of a Total Lunar Eclipse is that the earth will pass between this monthly reunion of “fullness” between the Sun and the Moon.  Let me restate that this way:  your body will pass between your spirit and your soul.  In other words, your body will temporary “block” the return reflected light from the moon.Your conscious can examine your subconscious in a meditative or dream state without any interference from your subconscious.  This is helpful because it will allow you to examine self in a unique way.

The full moon that will happen tomorrow December 21, 2010 at 12:32 AM CST is a very special and powerful time to do this because it is also the Winter Solstice.   I can’t begin to tell you the reverence for the Winter Solstice among all religions.  Our Christmas, the Pagan Yule and the Jewish Hanukah are all celebrations that actually celebrate the Winter Solstice.  As Master Masons,  “Riding the Goat” during the Third Degree of Freemasonry is all about the Winter Solstice.  “Riding the Goat” actually refers to the fact that the Sun enters the “goat” constellation of Capricorn as we Mason’s re-enact the dying Sun God that has been slain awaiting to be resurrected 3 days later as the Sun comes back to life and starts to move forward.  This is KEY to understanding not only Freemasonry, but all religions.  The dying God represents the alchemical process of self improvement. It is the lower half of man that needs to die in order for the spirit of God to resurrect with in him  The Third Degree of Freemasonry is about using our working tools (which I will collectively call our conscious) to build a structure with a foundation (our subconscious). 

If these are the things that you subscribe to and you want to do a little self improvement or even manifestations, then this Total Eclipse is just too good to pass up.

A Masonic Allegory Part II - The Resurrection of the Sun

In silence with averted head

by night the "evil three" have fled.

And cold and stiff the body lies

Beneath the gloomy winter skies.

Yet had you been a watcher there.

That dismal night beside the dead.

Had you that night been kneeling there,

Beside the dead in tears and prayer.

You might have seen, amid the air,

A flickering, dim, auroral light,

Which hovered on the midnight air,

And, seeing in the gloomy sky

This mystic strange, celestial light

Contending with the powers of night.

You might have taken hope thereby.

There was, alas! no watcher there

To mark this radiance in the air.

To gaze with earnest, tearful eye

Upon this radiance in the sky.

There was no watcher there, alas!

To ask in anxious whispers low,

"Will not this light still brighter grow,

Or will it from the heavens pass

And leave me plunged in deeper gloom

Beside this cold and lonely tomb?"

Meanwhile the light increased--although

Beside the grave no mourner stood

Amid the lonesome solitude--

And as with tints of blue and gold,

And flashes of prismatic flame,

It lighted up the midnight cold,

Along the plain in beauty came

A shining and majestic form,

And as it came the winter's storm

As if abashed, its fury checked.

No more above and round the path,

Beneath the wind's tempestuous wrath,

The snowy billows heave and toss;

A sacred calm as he draws nigh

Pervades at once the earth and sky.

His robe was blue, its borders decked

With evergreen and scarlet moss;

His hands upon each other rest,

Due north and south, due east and west;

The open palms together pressed

As if engaged in silent prayer.

He thus had formed with pious care

The holy symbol of the cross.

A lamb doth close beside him go,

Whose whiter fleece rebukes the snow:

These things sufficiently proclaim

His mystic office and his name.

Beside the grave he comes and stands,

Still praying there with folded hands;

And, while he prays, see drawing near

Another shinning form appear,

His right hand on his bosom pressed,

As if by bitter grief distressed,

The other pointing to the skies,

And, as he weeps, each radiant tear,

That from his sad and earnest eyes

Falls on the earth, is transformed there

To violets blue and blossoms fair,

That sweetly perfume all the air.

A third one now appears in sight,

Arrayed in royal robes of light,

A "lordly lion" walks in pride.

More glorious far, and at his side

And he who came in glory last

Between the others gently passed.

And, looking down upon the dead,

With level, open palms outspread,

A holy benediction said.

This done, the first one, by command,

The dead god taketh by the hand:

At once through all the body flies

The same warm flush that marks the skies.

The shrunken features, cold and white,

A moment shine with life and light.

A moment only--'tis in vain:

Unconquered Death resumes his reign.

So doth a solitary wave

Leap up amid the lonely night,

And catch a gleam of life and light,

And then sink helpless in its grave.

To raise the god the first thus failed--

The powers of darkness yet prevailed;

So to the second he gives place,

Who, like the first one, by command,

The sun-god taketh by the hand

And, looking downward in his face

With pleading voice and earnest eyes,

On Phoebus calls and bids him rise.

Though at his touch the blood unbound.

With rapid current red and warm

Runs swiftly through the prostrate form,

Yet silent on the frozen ground

The god lies in a trance profound,

Devoid of motion, deaf to sound.

Alas! alas! what doth remain?

Shall death and darkness ever reign,

And night eternal hide the day?

Then said the third one, "Let us pray."

And full of faith and strong intent,

His prayer to IH. VAH. upward went.

"Amen" was said--"so mote it be!"

And then the last one of the three

Arose and stretching forth his hand,

Calls on the dead, and gives command

In IH. VAH.'s name to rise and stand.

Then up rose Phoebus in his pride,

With the "lordly lion" by his side,

And earth and sky with his glory shone

As again he sat on his golden throne.

For the voice of God is nature's law,

And strong was the grip of the lion's paw.

A Masonic Allegory Part I The Death of the Sun

 

When down the zodiacal arch

The summer sun resumes his march,

Descending from the summit high

With eager step he hastens by

The "lordly lion" of July

And clasps the virgin in his arms.

Through all the golden August days

The sun the ardent lover plays,

A captive to her dazzling charms.

But when the harvest time is o'er,

When they gathered grapes perfume the air

And ruddy wine begins to pour,

The god resumes his way once more;

And, weeping in her wild despair,

He leaves the royal virgin there.

What cares he now for Virgo's woes,

As down the starry path he goes

With scornful step, until, at last,

The equinoctial gate is passed?

Two misty columns black with storms,

While overhead there hangs between

A lurid thunder cloud, which forms

The frowning archway of the gate--

The gloomy equinoctial gate,

An evil place for travelers late,

Where envious Libra lurks unseen;

And near the portal lies in wait

September, filled with deadly hate.

With stately step the god draws nigh,

Yet such is his majestic mien,

That whether he shall strike or fly,

The trembling ruffian hardly knows,

As Phoebus through the gateway goes.

But, as the shining form came near,

The wretch's hate subdued his fear,

And, nerving up his arm at length,

He aimed a blow with all his strength

Full at the god as he went by.

In anger Phoebus turned his head--

Away the trembling coward fled.

The god, though smarting with the blow,

Disdains to follow up his foe:

And down the zodiacal path

Pursues his gloomy way in wrath.

Still blacker turn the autumn skies,

and red Antares, evil star,

Points out the place, more fatal far,

Where fell October ambushed lies.

The Sun, as if he scorned his foes,

In pride and glory onward goes.

Not he from deadly Scorpio flies,

Nor pauses he, nor backward turns,

Though redder yet Antares burns,

And darker yet his pathway grows.

Meanwhile October, from his lair,

On Phoebus rushes unaware,

His murderous purpose now confessed,

And smites the sun-god in the breast,

A ghastly wound the villain makes--

With horrid joy his weapon shakes;

And, as he sees the god depart,

His hand upon his bosom pressed,

Believes the blow has reached the heart.

Along his way the sun-god goes,

Unmindful where the path may lead,

While from his breast the life-blood flows.

The clouds around him gather now,

The crown of light fades from his brow.

And soon, advancing 'mid the night,

The Archer on his pallid steed,

With bended bow, appears in sight.

November, bolder than the rest,

Hides not behind the gloomy west:

But, striding right across the path,

Defies the god and scorns his wrath;

And, raising high his frowning crest,

These haughty words to him addressed:

"September and October, both,

You have escaped and still survive;

But I have sworn a deadly oath,

By me you cannot pass alive.

That which I promise I perform.

For I am he who, 'mid the storm,

Rides on the pallid horse of death."

While even thus the spectre spoke,

He drew his arrow to the head--

The god received the fatal stroke,

And at the Archer's feet feel dead.

Soon as the sun's expiring breath

Had vanished in the ether dim,

December came and looked on him;

And looking, not a word he saith,

But o'er the dead doth gently throw

A spangled winding sheet of snow.

And when the winding sheet was placed,

Comes evil Janus, double-faced,

A monster like those seen in sleep.

An old "seafaring man" is he,

As many others understand,

Who carries water from the deep

And pours it out upon the land.

Now February next appears,

With frozen locks and icy tears,

A specter cruel, cold, and dumb,

From polar regions newly come.

These three by turns the body bear

At night along the west, to where

A flickering gleam above the snows

A dim electric radiance throws,

A nebular magnetic light,

Which, flashing upward through the night,

Reveals the vernal equinox,

And him whose potent spell unlocks

The gates of spring.

An evergreen

Close by this spot is blooming seen.

'Tis there they halt amid the snow--

Unlawful 'tis to go farther go--

And, having left their burden there,

They vanish in the midnight air.

Yet on this very night next year

Will this same evil three appear,

And bring along amid the gloom

Another body for the tomb

But still the evergreen shall wave

Above the dark and dismal grave,

For ever there a token sure

That, long as Nature shall endure,

Despite of all the wicked powers

That rule the wintry midnight hours,

The sun shall from the grave arise,

And tread again the summer skies.