DORMER MASONIC STUDY CIRCLE #154

MEMORIAL TRANSACTION

OUR AFFINITY WITH THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS 
by W.Bro. R. W. Harwood, PPSGD.(Essex), PM 4457
Secretary of the Circle from 1970-79

Brother Ron Harwood passed to the Grand Lodge Above in December
1979, and the  immediate question that must be in your mind is the
reason why it has taken so many years  before a formal recognition
to departed merit   and merit is the operative word is made.

Our Study Circle passed through very troubled waters in 1979, for
we lost the three principal  officers and were being priced out of
the meeting place we had enjoyed (to my personal  knowledge) since
the early 1950s. Our then President had no alternative but to
resign from  office, a painful decision on his part, for purely
domestic reasons; the Treasurer was taken ill  and never recovered
his health; and Brother Ron was taken ill in the February, and
although  apparently on the road to recovery, complications set in
and he deteriorated rapidly towards  the end of the year.

The meeting place we had enjoyed for so many years did not have
adequate storage  facilities, so our Transactions, Records, and
Mailing List were kept at Brother Ron's business  premises   and
the legal people would not release them to us until the due
processes of the  law had been fulfilled. This included
correspondence sent to Brother Ron, and as many of  you know, he,
like the Secretary before him, kept in constant communication with
a large  number of Brethren. Suddenly everything stopped. We are
once again forging steadily  ahead, but such was his work load that
we have had to share it out as far as is practicable.

An indefatigable worker, completely dedicated to spreading the
Light of Dormer, he never  refused an opportunity to address a
Lodge or Chapter when a speaker was required. He  loved to present
Papers at our Meetings, but they were mainly of a length and
substance  suitable for a Lodge Meeting where a high philosophical
standard would have fallen on deaf  ears, and therefore only four
were printed as Transactions.

This present Paper was read at our October Meeting in 1977 where he
could expand and  explain as he went along according to the "feel"
of his audience. In style and presentation it  verges on the
didactic mode, but sensing behind the printed words, one can
imagine Brother  Ron as having elevated his consciousness to an
impersonal level from which he is  reminiscing from true memory and
instructing his lower self.

Wherever his ego is now somewhere in one of the forty-two regions
of Amenti having  appeared before the Neteru (Egyptian Gods
representing macrocosmic spiritual principles)  and his status
decided by the august Shenit (aspects of the Fates), he will be in
good  company, for "whoso departeth from his body goeth unto the
Hall of Ausar. The Soul passeth  from one realm unto another; it
maketh its own path, its own sorrow, its own glory. He goeth  unto
his own place and none other. "

 We can imagine him, in the words used in the Charge after Raising,
expressing "universal  benevolence, and, by the regularity of his
own behaviour, affording the best example for the  conduct of
others."

May his labours thus begun in order, be conducted in peace.

So Mote It Be.

Basil Pottinger, President   OUR AFFINITY WITH THE ANCIENT
EGYPTIANS

by W.Bro. R. W. Harwood, PPSGD (Essex)

It is said that Freemasonry has existed "from time immemorial," and
undoubtedly there are  remarkable similarities to the ceremonies of
the Ancient Mysteries. It is not suggested that  our present-day
rituals are a direct derivation from the exact forms used by the
Ancient  Egyptians, but the connection remains unbroken in that the
high doctrines and mystical  knowledge contained in our rituals
have ever been used by the great Masters. Our Craft is  continuing,
in the truest possible form, the essentials of a great inherent
faith, seeking to  arouse and develop the vital and immortal
principle, because the Raising of any and every  candidate depends
on it.

However, when our Ceremonies are practiced without knowledge and
understanding, there  is certainly doubt whether those who pass
through these Ceremonies are truly Initiated. In  fact, this is so,
for generally we are only passing men into Freemasonry instead of
passing  Freemasonry into men.

The natural question arises: "When do we start to gain knowledge
and understanding?."

When a man becomes a Freemason, whether he realises it or not, he
has taken the first  step, and if any part of all of our Ceremonies
registers in his mind   that is, beyond their  moral evaluation 
then he should be led into research. The subsequent steps forward
will  always occur at the correct time, for it is a natural law
that no progress can be made until the  aspirant is properly
prepared in his heart and humbly solicits to be admitted through
the next  door of understanding.

He must put an end to his imperfections, and be on his guard not to
contravene the eternal  laws of life. No mortal may play with
divine forces, and the powers that may be acquired  must not be
used for personal achievement. When a man feels alien to his
earthly  environment, to the greed and avarice that surround him,
to the pride and power seeking of  his acquaintances, he is
experiencing the first stages of the urge to implant his feet on
the  initial rung of the ladder of success the success of his
search for that which is lost.

 We in this Circle must not, however, think that because we have
taken some steps we are  truly Initiated, for we still have much
work to do, and to this end it would be of value to make  some
comparisons with the initiation system of the Ancient Egyptians .

Few peoples can have been more fascinated, and even governed, by
the mystical side of life  than were the Ancient Egyptians. The
mystery of death was for them as much cosmic as it  was human.
Their creed was one of resurrection and judgment. The whole of
their progress,  according to their "Book of the Dead," was marked
by references to "going in" and "coming  out," of "going in after
coming out," and passing through gates, gateways, doors and 
stairways. These are all stages of spiritual growth which show how
the Candidate on his  entrance into Light, is instructed in Wisdom,
to be justified in the Tribunal of Truth, and  rewarded with the
Jewels of Immortality after having passed in judgment before the
forty-two  judges of the Dead, known as the Gods of the Horizon
each Judge supreme in his  particular province.

It would seem that they viewed the universe as an immense
sarcophagus or coffin in which  Osiris (Lord of the Mind; God of
the Resurrection.  Ed.) lay imprisoned and deprived of his  divine
powers, just as we today hold that our "vital and immortal
principle," "the Kingdom of  God" is imprisoned within our human
bodies. There was also a judgment beyond the grave  by a God, of
whom we say in Freemasonry "will reward or punish, as we have
obeyed or  disregarded His Divine commands."

The whole of their ritual dealt with the entrance into Light and of
living after Death, of a  Passing over the Celestial Road having
made the Passage through the Tomb across the  Fields of Oahlu the
Territory of Initiation to meet the Timeless One and so become 
yesterday, today and tomorrow, a dweller in Eternity.

Our affinity with the Ancient Egyptians is very noticeable in
relation to their candidate  awaiting the Great Light in the Hall
of Wisdom when he is about to approach the Chamber of  the King,
the Chamber of the Open Tomb, for their "Book of the Dead (which is
really a book  of Life and After Death) says: "When he entereth
through the Pylons, he shall walk up the  Great Staircase into the
House of the Hidden Place."

The Gateway of Tat and Tattu of the Egyptians led to the higher
world of Amenti, the world  where the Soul was blended with
Immortal Spirit and thereafter established forever   from  the
"seen" to the "unseen." This bears a striking resemblance to our
Second Degree with its  two great pillars (pylons), the winding
staircase (the Great Staircase), and the middle  chamber (the House
of the Hidden Place).

The Egyptian oaths of fidelity incorporated penalties involving
parts of the body, as does  Freemasonry in its exoteric
presentation. The ancient races of the East were so fearful of  any
part of the body becoming parted from the whole, that these age-old
penalties which  threatened this dire happening were of enormous
import to them, and none would run the  slightest risk of incurring
such a penalty. To some extent these threats probably gave rise to 
the very elaborate ritual that arose in the Egyptian practice of
embalming and carefully  preserving the body for its great trials
of the journey to its new life. The fear of mutilation is  greatly
emphasised in the "Book of the Dead," their ritual used on these
occasions. After 

removing certain parts of the body they were preserved in canopic
jars with lids formed in the  shapes of the Four Sons of Horus,
i.e., the heads of an Ape, a Man, a Jackal and a Hawk, 
representing the four cardinal points of north, east, south and
west. This may be compared  with the penalties of the Second and
Third Degrees.

The Ancient Egyptians actually had seven degrees (these seven
degrees of the Egyptians, it  is suggested, relate to the Seven
Souls, or principles in man, which have a correspondence  with the
septenary scale identified in the major esoteric traditions ranging
from the British  Druids to the Karens of India. Ed.). Their
initiates were very carefully selected, and each  had to be
recommended by one of the existing initiates. He was then sent to
Heliopolis,  thence Memphis, and finally to Thebes; was
circumcised, subjected to a special diet, and  obliged to spend
several months in an underground place alone with his thoughts. He 
passed through what was termed the "Twelve Tortures," reminiscent
of the Twelve Labours  of Hercules which deal symbolically with the
control of the human passions, which he  likewise had to learn to
govern, and he had never to lose the idea of his God. Then, as a 
symbol of the wanderings of the unpurified Soul, he had to ascend
several ladders and  wander in darkness in a cave with many doors,
all of which were locked. After learning  certain maxims carved on
the pillars of Hermes, he was led into another cave where he was 
blindfolded and bound. After answering a series of questions he was
made to kneel before  the Hierophant to take a solemn oath of
fidelity and secrecy. When the blindfold had been  removed, further
instruction was given, mainly in the art of healing, and then a
password,  Amun, meaning be cautious. He was then classed as a
Pastophoris, an initiate of the First  Degree.

There are great similarities here with the Masonic Initiation where
the Candidate wanders in  darkness as yet ignorant of the spiritual
things that surround him. The obligation was  followed by further
instruction, testing by the Wardens, and the repetition of the
warning to  be cautious.

After the Egyptian first degree the neophyte, having proved himself
after a year of study,  underwent a severe fast, and was taken to
a room where women tried to arouse his desires.  If he resisted
their advances and passed further trials the degree of Neocoris was
conferred  on him.

In the third degree the King himself participated by offering the
Candidate a crown if he was  not prepared to face the ensuing
ordeals, and this had to be refused, whereupon the King  pretended
to smite the Candidate upon the head with an axe, which action laid
the  Candidate on the ground. He was then swathed in wrappings and
taken to a vast  subterranean chamber thickly furnished with
mummies Iying in state, and placed next to the  coffin which
apparently contained the mutilated blood-stained body of Osiris.

This hall was called the "Gates of Death," and it is of interest to
note that in the Book of Job  ch. 38, v.17, it states: "Have the
gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen  the doors
of the shadow of death?", and there are further allusions in the
V.S.L. to the  "Gates of Death . "

 Having conquered the trials of this degree the Candidate was then
led into the "Hall of  Spirits" to be judged by them. He was told:
"Never to either desire or seek revenge; to be  always ready to
help a brother in danger, even unto the risk of his own life; to
bury every  dead body; to honour his parents above all; to respect
old age and protect those weaker  than himself; and finally, always
to bear in mind the hour of death and that of resurrection  into a
new and imperishable body." Purity and chastity were recommended,
and adultery  threatened with death. The Candidate was then termed
Melanophoris, and the affinity of this  degree with Freemasonry
will readily be seen.

Also of interest is an old papyrus copied from the sarcophagus of
a King which shows Anubis  ministering to Osiris on his bier. At
the head stands Isis with her left hand uplifted in an act of 
supplication. Her prayers are answered, for Anubis is raising
Osiris with the Grip of the Lion  from his figurative tomb to
everlasting life   symbolised by the Crux Ansata in the other  hand
of Anubis.

Every Master Mason must descend into the silence of the g . . . and
pass through a figurative  death to a higher life before he can
learn of the genuine secrets, which, when properly  understood,
will take him into the mystic world of the seer where the bond of
fellowship binds  all together, where differences disappear and the
pairs of opposites, symbolised by the two  hands, join together in
a world transcending earthly knowledge.

Masonically speaking, no matter how far westwards we may travel, we
shall not find the  genuine secrets of a Master Mason except at the
centre of our own being. On the five points  of fellowship we hear
the words of the death of the builder, the Creator of Beautiful
Form,  and then only in a whisper, for they are only substitutions.
The genuine secrets cannot even  be whispered, for they are only
found in the silence within each one of us, within our Centre,  for
there is only one Centre, but paradoxically the Centre is equally
distant from and equally  near to us all.

We cannot pierce the gloom which rests on the prospect of futurity
unless we have a strong  eternal Faith founded in Truth which,
together with that vital and immortal divine principle  within us,
enables us to refuse the crown of material life, trampling the King
of Terrors  beneath our feet, and lifting our eyes to that Morning
Star.

The Star was given to a follower of Horus after he had been led
into Paradise. The Book of  the Dead had given the deceased the
knowledge of the Powers of the East, of which the  Morning Star is
one, and this Star became his guide through the Elysian Fields. In
like  manner, the Morning Star is only a herald of the true Light.

Deep within us all is that Light "the Light that lighteth every man
that cometh into the  world." It is not a symbol but a reality, and
we have the inherent power to develop the ability  to participate
in and express this reality. From the darkness of the tomb appear
the symbols  of frail mortality, which in solemn silence speak to
the heart with a power far beyond human  eloquence. These symbols
awaken feelings too lofty to be explained in mere words. They  pose
a problem that science cannot solve, and they conceal a secret
which we will all  eventually know but will be unable to reveal. In
their dread presence the human soul hangs  over the infinite abyss
and gazes into the misty realms of eternity.

 But the way lies before all of us, and we are all embarked on this
long and lonely pilgrimage,  all towards the one goal. As we
realise the immensity of the Work we appreciate why we are  told in
our Third Degree ritual to "Be careful to perform your allotted
task while it is yet day."

Returning to our Ancient Egyptian Initiate, after experiencing the
Third Degree, he spent  eighteen months studying in the Temple. He
was then permitted to undergo the trials of the  Fourth Degree, and
armed with a sword and shield, had to defend himself against a
group of  assailants who wore hideous masks.

He was overpowered and dragged into another room where all the
Initiates were assembled  with the King, the head of the Order.
After further trials he was given the name of the Great  Lawgiver,
"Iao," and became a Christophoris.

The Fifth Degree consisted of instruction in Alchemy and the
important symbolism of "fire." A  drama occurred during which Seth,
as a horrible monster, was slain. Seth, he was taught,  was the
personification of fire, without which nothing in this world could
be accomplished. He  was therefore shown that he must learn how to
use this fire by subduing its violence. After  this degree the
Candidate was given the rank of Balahate.

In the Sixth Degree he was led to what was called the Gates of
Death, through which he  passed into the room where he had
previously endured the trials of the Third Degree, and  which was
full of mummies and coffins, the working place of the Parakistes
and the Horoi  who opened and embalmed corpses. He was told that
some of the coffins contained the  mortal remains of those
Initiates who had betrayed their trust. Having been threatened with 
the same end if he should break his oath, he took another
obligation and then passed  through the Gate of the Gods, where he
was taught a ritual dance representing the course of  the planets.
Further instruction followed in Astronomy. In this degree, as in
the Third, the  reference alluded to Osiris, whose death symbolised
the short dark days of winter when the  sun lost its power and
warmth, having been slain by the powers of evil and darkness, all 
nature mourning the loss. The title given to the Aspirant after
this sixth degree was that of  Astronomer.

In the Seventh Degree the Candidate was led into a place called
Maneras where he was  initiated into the final mysteries and given
a Tau cross which, at his death, would be laid  upon his breast. He
was now a Prophet or Hierophant. In the course of this final
initiation,  the Aspirant's soul was guided by the Hierophant
through the lower regions of the astral  world. If he came through
this successfully he "had the right of releasing seven suffering 
souls." Then, clothed only in his radiant body, he soared into
spiritual regions and received  "The Word."

In those days, in any one country only one Initiate had the right
to know this word, and the  Hierophant who communicated it was
deemed to have put an end to his earthly life.  Symbolically, it
was the transfer of "Life, spiritual and divine." This "Life" was
called the "Sa  of Life" (Sa means "vital fluid," and the first
principle (attained to at the seventh initiation) of  man's
sevenfold principles is the Ren, meaning Secret Name, derived from
Celestial  Waters presumably from Nu, wife of Tum and mother of Ra.
Ed.). In this final initiation 

there was performed the mystery of the death of Chrestos in the
mortal body with its animal  passions, and the subsequent
resurrection of the spiritual man as an enlightened Christos,  at
the moment when the rays of the morning sun poured down on the
entranced body of the  Candidate, supposedly to recall him to life,
or to his rebirth.

The central doctrine of the Ancient Egyptian lore was that the
Divine Power dwelt in every  man, even the lowest and most
degraded, and they called that power the Hidden Light,  which was
a manifestation of the manifold power of God. The search for the
Lost Word given  to the Egyptian Aspirant in the Seventh Degree was
more the search for this Hidden Light,  Divine Power, or Truth.

Similarly, the search for this Word or Genuine Secrets in
Freemasonry, is a search for this  Great Force, an understanding of
that Force, an appreciation of Divine Power and of Truth.  "In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God." It is  the Word of Creation; "Let there be Light, and there
was Light. "

In the Egyptian notions, as in those of all other faiths founded on
philosophy, man was not  merely a union of soul and body, but a
trinity of spirit, soul and body.

(Brother Ron was not very explicit at this point, possibly because
he had already partially  dealt with the principles involved, and
perhaps with his wider knowledge of the subject he  thought the
principles sufficiently self-evident for the context of this Paper.
To my limited  understanding of the Egyptian system the spiritual,
or subjective, part of Man was triadic,  consisting of the Ren, or
Secret Name, derived from Celestial Waters; the Sekhem, Power or 
Life, the Gift of the Sun; and the Khu, Angel, the Light in the
Mind or Spiritual Intelligence.  ("Ancient Evenings" by Norman
Mailer). Bearing in mind that Pythagoras and Plato, to name  but
two Greek Initiates who studied under the Ancient Egyptians, it is
not surprising that in  the Platonic system the subjective realm of
spirit was triadic also comprising Being (or  causal), Life (or
archetypal), and Intellect (or creative)   in Masonic terminology
The Most  High, the Geometrician and the Architect. Ed.).

Their doctrine made man, in his objective nature, consist of a Ba
(higher soul), Khaba or  Khaibit (astral soul or shadow), and Ka
(animal soul or life principle of the physical body). He  also had
an Akh (worldly intelligence), and a Khat (physical body) which was
also called  Sekhu when life had departed from it at death and the
freed consciousness entered the Sah  or Sahu, the body or vehicle
of regeneration, during the complete separation brought about  by
the process of embalming.

The functions of this last principle (the Sah or Sahu), the
Egyptians believed, commenced  only after the death of the body,
when the soul after due purification continued to revisit the  body
in its mummified condition. Hence their reason for burial with
worldly possessions,  food, etc. This astral soul eventually became
a God, absorbed into the Soul of the World, as  they termed it. It
became transformed into one of the creative deities, "the God of
Phtah," the  Creator of the World.

In the Egyptian Funeral Ritual, the good or purified soul, in
conjunction with its higher spirit,  was more or less the victim of
the dark influence of the dragon Apophis. If the soul had 

attained final knowledge of the heavenly and infernal mysteries,
i.e. the gnosis, or complete  reunion with the spirit, it would
triumph over its enemies; if not, then the soul could not  escape
its "second death." This is mentioned in Revelations ch.21, v.8. as
"Their part in the  lake which burneth with fire and brimstone:
which is the second death." This death was  thought to be the
gradual dissolution of the astral form into its primal elements.

The Egyptian philosophy propounded that a man who led a naturally
pure and virtuous life  would not suffer this second death, only a
delay in the world of spirits, until he found himself  sufficiently
purified to be accepted by the Mighty Host. But, if he was
otherwise, then his  soul, as a half-animal principle, became
paralysed and grew unconscious of its subjective  half the Lord and
in proportion to the sensuous development of the brain and nerves, 
sooner or later lost sight of its divine mission on earth.
(Somewhat like the fable of the  vampire: the brain fed, lived and
grew in strength at the expense of its spiritual parent). Then  the
already half-conscious soul, now fully intoxicated by the pleasures
of earthly life, became  senseless and beyond hope of redemption.
It became powerless to discern the splendour of  its higher spirit,
to hear the warning voice of its guardian Angel, and its God. It
aimed solely  at the development and fuller comprehension of
natural, earthly life, and thus could only  discover the mysteries
of physical nature. It ignored all that could not be demonstrated
by  either its organs of action or sensation. It was virtually
dead, and was finally annihilated. The  whole essence of the soul
was absorbed into the vital system of the physical man.

Today, Brethren, we meet many who fall into this classification,
indeed few do not, and if this  Egyptian philosophy is correct,
then we would be wise not to dwell too long in their company  lest
we be deterred from our task.

Perhaps, at this stage, we should now examine the names of the most
important Egyptian  Gods. The myth of Osiris was the great central
legend of Egyptian mysticism. Horus was  regarded as the
regenerated spirit of man. Isis unveiled herself revealing the
mysteries of  human existence.

Osiris was the personification of the Logos. His shadow was called
Seth by the Ancient  Egyptians   the Greek equivalent of the dark
aspect in their pantheon of Gods called  Typhon. Seth was termed
the terrestrial and material envelope of Osiris who was the 
indwelling spirit. In the Egyptian Mysteries Osiris was the symbol
of the universe as an ideal,  and Seth was the personification of
the same universe in the material sense. Seth, in other  words,
represented the four lower principles of man constituting his
personality, as with the  lower rectangular part of the apron of
the Craft, while Osiris was the symbol of the higher  triad of man,
as with the upper triangular flap of the apron. The square and the
triangle being  emblematically the conflicting principles both in
the universe and man, Seth was therefore  regarded as the obstacle,
the opposition, the resistance, that hindered man in his spiritual 
development. The Book of the Dead charges this "friend of darkness"
as being the one who  "steals reason from the soul," which is
probably justified as Seth personifies the passions  which, many
times, make man an unreasonable being.

In the Ancient Egyptian "traditional history," Seth kills his
brother Osiris and cuts him into  fourteen pieces. Seth then
remained in darkness, sunk in evil. The murder of Osiris 
esoterically meant the destruction of spirituality in the human
soul which became dominated 

by its passions. The Egyptians viewed Seth as the god of evil, and
of the storm, hurricane,  and burning sand of the desert. The goat
was considered an animal sacred to Seth and  probably led to the
goat-headed figures representing the Devil, and they often
confessed  their sins over this animal before driving it away into
the desert. The word "scapegoat" was  derived from this practice,
but see also Lev. ch. 16, v.10.

Horus was called the "avenger" of his father Osiris, for as he grew
older he waged an  endless and ruthless fight against Seth. In this
instance, Horus represents the human soul  which, having attained
a certain maturity, continually fights its lower nature. In this
struggle  Seth is said to tear out the eyes of Horus and Horus
emasculates Seth. But as Seth is the  "fire" which man cannot
dispense with and which he must not destroy but learn to control, 
Thoth (Thrice-Greatest, also known as Tahuti) (translated into
Greek as Hermes  Trismegistus) personified Divine Intelligence, and
was called Lord of Wisdom and Magic.  Being endowed with complete
knowledge and wisdom he was worshipped as the inventor  and patron
of all the arts and sciences (Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology.
Ed.) - intervenes to give back vision to Horus and virility to
Seth.

The Eye of Horus is what is now referred to as the "third eye," or
the "eye of understanding,"  for with the knowledge that we must
live with our passions comes the understanding that the  opposites
of the world and in ourselves, signified by the mosaic flooring of
the Lodge, the  blacks and whites within ourselves, have to be
balanced and stabilised so that they may  provide the necessary
flux for the perfection of man. The Eye of Horus projected the "Sa
of  Life," which was regarded as being a luminous fluid, and was
shown as ostrich feathers in  the kingly head-dress and on the
heads of some gods. This fluid was thought to enter into  the
Pharaohs, thus making them divine. Hence the Pharaohs enormous
power over the  people.

The Pharaoh was usually elected from among the priests and warriors
and was embraced  during his enthronement by the reigning king or
by the high priest. Two further priests  purified him with the
"water of life," and this ceremony was performed a number of times 
during his reign, for the aim of this ceremony was to "charge" the
Pharaoh with the "Sa of  Life." In many papyri of those days we
find the words "Water is thrown upon you by the Eye  of Horus,"
which probably meant that this Sa fluid was projected upon the
Pharaoh by the  Third Eye of the Priests. This would explain the
bas-reliefs which show two Gods or  Hierophants, one with the head
of a hawk and the other with the head of an ibis, in the act of 
pouring a double stream of water (the water of life and rebirth) on
to a person standing  between them. In the streams of water are
portrayed a series of small ansata crosses, further  indicating
that the streams were not meant to represent just water.

The Third Eye was understood to be connected to the top of the
head, a centre of force  recognised in the East as a chakra to
which the electro-spiritual force (or Kundalini) rises up  the
spine from the chakra at its base. A pillar, called Djed or Dad,
with its four capitals, was  raised with the help of ropes during
the crowning of the Pharaoh, and was probably the  symbolic
representation of this channel of the Serpent Fire or Kundalini in
the axis of the  backbone, with its erection into the vertical
position representing the awakening of this force  or power in the
newly crowned Pharaoh, and the four capitals representing his
rulership over  the four elements of Air, Fire, Water and Earth.

 The Pharaoh received two crowns, the White Crown (symbol of
purity) of Upper Egypt or the  South, and the Red Crown (symbol of
earthly power) of Lower Egypt or the North. Together  they formed
the Pschent, which not only symbolised the union of the two
countries, but also  the presence of Deity in death as in life, on
earth as in heaven. It was therefore the symbol of  the union of
two worlds, the visible and the invisible, and the symbol of the
dual role of  Pharaoh exercising his functions in both these
worlds. Immediately after putting on the  Pschent, the Pharaoh sat
on a throne which was in the figure of Isis (the hieroglyph of the 
name Isis is a throne), and this had the allegory of sitting on the
knees of the goddess in  order to be treated as her son and to be
"suckled" by her, or in other words, to receive power  and wisdom
from the Mother of the World.

(This has a correspondence, in principle, to the Installation of a
Master of a Lodge into the  Chair of King Solomon. During the Inner
Working the incoming Master is invested with the  Master's Collar,
the highest honour the Lodge may confer on its elected ruler, and
as the  lesser cannot confer a greater power it is a badge of
office. After the new Master has been  placed in the Chair the
Installing Master then hands him the gavel as an emblem of power 
the power received by the first Master at the Lodge's Consecration.
But the outgoing Master  cannot confer the Wisdom of King Solomon,
for this is incommunicable, and has to be  attained by the
individual effort of each Master. Ed.).

Like her husband Osiris, Isis had a lower aspect personified by her
sister Nephthys, the wife  of Seth. Nephthys represented the lower
Astral Light, the dark side, while her son Anubis  was the Lord of
Hades, or the "nether world. ' He introduced the souls of the dead
into that  world and was related to sexual generation, which might
indicate that Hades meant the  human womb as well as the astral
world, implying a belief in reincarnation.

The Ancient Egyptians believed in this doctrine and esoterically
subdivided man into seven  principles, these being the physical
body, the vital principle, the etheric double, the lower  mind, the
higher mind or soul, the spirit of fire, and finally the divine
principle or ultimate  divinity. Exoterically, to the ordinary
people, or "popular world," they divided man into three  parts, the
gross body (physical body and the vital principle), the soul (the
etheric double, the  lower mind and the higher mind), and the
spirit (spirit or fire and divine principle). In their  magic
practices they evoked only the soul.

We find in the Lecture on the First Tracing Board, closely
concerned as it is with the  Egyptians and their tenets and
principles of policy and philosophy, that when speaking of the 
attainment of the summit of a Freemasons profession, that is, the
culmination of the work  upon himself, it states that "it is
figuratively speaking, an ethereal mansion, veiled from  mortal
eyes by the starry firmament, emblematically depicted in our Lodges
by seven stars."  It is pointing out that to reach at-one-ment with
the Creator is the same as living in an  ethereal mansion, or in a
body which is less dense and more spiritual than the gross body, 
and that this aim is depicted in our Lodges, or in other words, in
our bodies, by the seven  stars or principles, previously explained
with reference to the Ancient Egyptians.

Obviously, as it states, this condition is "veiled from mortal
eyes," and can only be discerned  by the "eye of understanding,"
the Eye of Horus. The acquisition of this "eye" was therefore a 

decisive step in spiritual ascent. The Egyptians held that
henceforward the aspirant was in  harmony with the laws of cosmic
equilibrium, then personified by Maat, the Goddess of  Justice and
Truth. This goddess was always present at the judgment of the dead,
when on  one side of a large pair of scales Anubis or Horus placed
the dead man's heart and on the  other the representation of the
Goddess Maat, an ostrich feather. If they balanced the dead  man
was deemed to be "justified," that is, he was regarded as having
played the part of earth  assigned to him by the divine order, or
as we would say, "he performed his allotted task  while it was yet
day." This thought was uppermost in the minds of most of the
Ancient  Egyptians, for even at banquets a wooden figure
representing a corpse in a coffin would be  shown to the
participants as a reminder of death and the subsequent judgment. It
is difficult  to determine whether this deterred the guests from
eating too much or even enjoying  themselves!

The Lecture on the First Tracing Board continues with the words,
"without which number no  Lodge is perfect" when referring to the
seven stars, and if we substitute our own selves for  the word
Lodge in this excellent Lecture, we will see that indeed we cannot
be perfect  without the full knowledge and co-operation of all our
seven principles.

There is no doubt that the Ancient Egyptians had a profound
knowledge of the invisible  worlds, and that their embalmed mummies
were not an attempt to retain the body here on  earth, but were
images of resurrection, symbols of immortality. Their
representations of  animals and insects in papyri, paintings and
sculptures did not mean that they worshipped  cats, dogs and other
animals and insects. Cats, for example, were held sacred because of 
the connection they held between them and the Goddess Bastet, who
defended Ra against  Apophis, the Serpent of Evil. Bastet was
represented by a woman's form with the head of a  cat, and holding
a sistrum an ancient form of rattle in her right hand, which was
used to  produce magnetic currents and sounds during the Ceremony
of Isis. The Egyptians also held  that the unjustified souls, after
the judgment of the dead, wandered over the lower regions of  the
astral world, and exorcist priests were used to prevent their
mischievous activities  against the living.

The Egyptian mystics viewed the spiritual ascent as the union of
the human soul with the  Divine, this mystical union being the
result of the "embrace" of man by the Divine, and  consequently the
God Ra was called the Great Embracer. The regeneration of man was 
visualised as the penetration into him of the Divine Light,
symbolised by the rays of the sun.  They called this divinised soul
the Great Cat, for they believed the soul had destroyed its 
imperfections in the same way that cats destroy small birds and
rodents that invade its  territory.

The journey of the Sun God Ra was given as an allegory in the
initiation teachings. In this  myth, the Sun appeared each morning
at the Eastern horizon behind Mount Nanu, passed  between two
sycamores, and sailed into the sky towards the West in Meandjet,
the "ship of  the millions of years." At night the sun continued
its journey below the horizon in another  vessel called Sektet in
which it crossed the Douat, or invisible world. Having travelled 
through the twelve regions of this invisible world, the sun
reappeared in the East at the dawn  of the following day. During
the twelve hours of this nightly passage the thresholds of twelve 
doors were crossed, doors and pairs of pillars (pylons) being
symbols of the initiatory stages 

of the soul's journey to at-one-ment with his Creator as
progressive changes in  consciousness, and the twelve depicting the
twelve "trials" of rulership before the human  soul can become a
permanent resident in the higher regions of the astral world
without the  necessity of reincarnating. (Rev. ch. 21, v.10/12: And
he carried me away in the spirit to a  great and high mountain, and
shewed me that great city . . . and had twelve gates. Ed.).

The desire of every Egyptian aspirant was to become one of the crew
of this solar vessel, but  only those who had divinised themselves
and had become followers of Ra were admitted.  Once accepted, it
was recognised that they would participate in the government of the
solar  system. The "Sa of Life" or "Ra's Liquid," the source of
their power, would appear to be the  spiritual energy called
Kundalini by the Hindus, or as others later called it, the
Philosophers  Stone, or the Elixir of Life. This energy was
expected to confer health, power and happiness.

It is of interest to note that the passage of this solar vessel was
depicted on Egyptian  sarcophagi and in manuscripts by a moon-
shaped boat over two parallel wavy lines. As the  symbol for
wavelength in modern science equates with these two parallel wavy
lines, we  could conjecture that the Egyptians may have been
portraying space or the aether by this  symbol, as everything
proceeds through space in the form of waves. Their inner meaning of 
this symbol could have been that when the aspirant reaches a higher
form of consciousness  the vibration or wavelength of the aspirant
changes accordingly.

Their symbol of the Sun was the "point within the circle," for as
exoterically it represents the  physical sun, so esoterically it
represents the spiritual sun, the symbol of the Logos, the  Divine
Word, or manifestation of God, the very basis of life. The Circle
indicates that the  human soul is also cyclic in manifestation
towards its appointed goal. Motion is inseparable  from life, and
thus the law of cycles applies equally to the solar system, the
planets, and  man.

The Egyptian Mystery teaching was very closely guarded and
difficult to infiltrate. However,  at times, it was conferred upon
foreigners. Moses was said to be learned in the Egyptian  Mysteries
and passed the secrets on to the Jewish priests, who preserved it
in more or less  original form even until the days of David and
Solomon. King Solomon built his Temple on  Egyptian Masonic lines
as a symbol and centre of Masonic work. It was intended to 
incorporate a set of measurements that would illustrate geometry
and astronomy similar to  those used by the Egyptians when building
the Great Pyramid at Gizeh. It would appear that  Solomon did not
succeed in preserving the tradition in its entirety, probably
because some of  the earlier secrets were lost. The ceremonies and
the ornamentation were fairly well  preserved, but the inner
meaning, to a great extent, was lost. Up to the time of building
the  Temple, Solomon's attention had been directed to the "Great
House of Light" at Gizeh, but  then Solomon attempted to focus
attention on his own Temple, built at the behest of his  father,
David, to a plan providing the appropriate setting for an original
form of what is now  the Traditional History in the Craft Third
Degree, which he substituted for the traditional  Osiris legend.
Solomon must have Judaised his ritual, substituting Hebrew words
for the  Egyptian, only sometimes succeeding in preserving the
original meaning, as he would no  doubt wish to bring Jewish
practice into line with that of his nearest neighbours, for many 
Mystery cults formed around the land of the Jews, starting with the
original Osiris story but 

adapting it to local thought and conditions, and being influenced,
no doubt, by stories of  Adonis and Tammuz.

Some Pharaohs   and they would seem to have been in the minority
changed to other  gods if the change was more favourable to their
personal ambitions. It is important to note  that, in many cases,
these gods had at least two meanings, generally one referring to
the  material conduct of their followers and the other to their
spiritual conduct the exoteric and  the esoteric. Hence, all
Egyptians knew their gods and their representations according to
the  extent of their spiritual progress.

This, of course, applies today in Freemasonry. There are those
outside the Craft who know  of it, but know little of what it
represents. Sadly, there are those even within Freemasonry  who
know little more than those outside, but who also know only little
of what it represents.  But the format that Freemasonry presents to
its Members, as with the Egyptian Mysteries, is  veiled in allegory
and symbolism, and is as difficult to enter or understand as those
earlier  Mysteries were. The true secrets of Freemasonry are as
closed to its Members as those of  the Ancient Mysteries were to
the outsiders, for it is only when a Mason realises that the 
predominant wish of his heart really is "Light" that the secrets
begin to unfold..

Cosmically, all human life begins its quest of Light and Truth in
a state of darkness, not  knowing the nature, purpose or destiny of
Life. Men are born blind and have drunk of the  waters of Lethe or
forgetfulness before descending to birth in the flesh. They fumble
in  darkness, not knowing for what they are searching, until the
pain, sorrow and disillusionment  of this worldly existence shows
them that they are chasing shadows, unreality, and they  grope for
the Light they cannot yet see. Later, when experience causes them
to reject outer  interests and they search inwardly they begin to
glimpse a flicker of Light.

Where does the seeker commence his search for Light? He could
investigate the symbols  and allegory of Freemasonry, many of which
can be traced back to the Ancient Egyptians.  The Tau, for example,
signified the welding into one, one of the material and one of the 
spiritual aspects of Man. The base horizontal line represents the
material plane and the  upright or vertical line represents the
spiritual. This sign was apparently used well before the  Christian
era, as a sign of recognition between initiates and adepts.

The initiate, carrying his hand to his forehead, would say: "To
thee," then he added "belong,"  and continue, while carrying his
hand to the breast, "the kingdom," then to the left shoulder, 
"justice," to the right shoulder, "and mercy," then joining the two
hands together added,  "throughout the generating cycles." Hinting
here, that man must undergo a number of cycles  (or lives) during
regeneration.

The change on the apron from rosettes to taus when a Mason has
passed through the Chair  of a Lodge should indicate that he is now
spiritually aware and fully master of his own  faculties. The apron
itself is a rectangle or square with a triangular flap above it
whilst still an  Entered Apprentice, and we are reminded that the
pyramids built by the Ancient Egyptians  were triangular-sided
standing upon a square base. The lowering of the flap of the
Masonic  apron in the subsequent degree indicates that the spirit
has been awakened within the  material body. It is of interest to
note that some of the pyramids had passageways driven at 

angles downwards through the sides of the pyramid and into the
base, often from each side,  thus forming a downward triangle into
the base.

The triangle, of course, was considered by the Egyptians, as
sacred, and the number of  perfection, and so highly prized was it
by the ancients that it became amongst them an object  of worship.
They called it a god, affirming that it represented the animal,
vegetable and  mineral kingdoms, and termed it also the Soul of
Nature. Often within the triangle there  would be inscribed an eye
the "All Seeing Eye" to emphasise its divine nature.  Ladders were
used in explanations, as with Jacob's Ladder, and they had various 
interpretations. When an initiate was told "to raise the ladder of
Seth," he was not only  expected to conform to a series of virtues,
but to evoke the fire of the spirit, the kundalini,  which was said
to rise up the "ladder" of the spinal column.

Much of the Ancient Egyptian lore was gained from the East, and
similarly their hierophants  would teach the initiate from behind
a curtain, thus representing the presiding but invisible  deity.
This is continued in some of the other degrees of Freemasonry .

It is said in our First Tracing Board Lecture, after referring to
the Ancient Egyptians, that  "Pythagoras seems to have established
his system on a similar plan," and it is recognised  that he
travelled to many parts of the world in formulating his philosophy.
Thomas Taylor, the  English Platonist, says: "Since Pythagoras, as
Iamblichus informs us, was initiated in all the  Mysteries of
Byblus and Tyre, in the sacred operations of the Syrians and in the
Mysteries of  the Phoenicians; and also spent two and twenty years
in the adyta of the Temples in Egypt,  associated with the
magicians of Babylon and was instructed in their venerable
knowledge, it  is not at all surprising that he was skilled in
magic, or theurgy, and was therefore able to  perform things that
surpassed ordinary human powers, and which, to the vulgar, appeared 
incredible . "

As has been stated before, Pythagoras was probably his title rather
than his real name. He  was obviously closely connected with the
Egyptian and Ancient Mysteries, and taught much  of the secret
wisdom: the theory of reincarnation, the necessity for a return to
a simple  system of diet without meat, the rule of justice in the
whole universe, and the certainty of the  ultimate attainment of
perfection by all beings regardless of failures in past
incarnations.

We are now able to perceive why symbols were used to convey the
Secret Wisdom, for the  understanding of them should obviously be
universal. No doubt the translation from one  language to another
has sometimes obscured the real meaning of a symbol, but 
nevertheless the symbol remains capable of its true interpretation
for ever. The Egyptians  also obtained many of their symbols from
other Eastern cultures, and taught their meaning to  their own
aspirants, as did Pythagoras when he set up his own school at
Crotona, at which,  after a long period of instruction,
philosophical discussions took place with particular regard  to the
application of known truths to the local circumstances of material
life.

Intended Initiates, as in Freemasonry, were taught to be cautious,
and to observe secrecy  about the higher esoteric meanings of their
symbols   but to enable them to act propitiously  in outer society,
certain philosophies were written around these symbols. As an
example, the  alternating square stones of the flooring of their
temples, as black and white squares of our 

Lodge floors, were explained as the opposites of life, and that
these opposites were the  balance necessary for a soul to be able
to incarnate into a body of materiality. Apart from the  obvious
opposites of light and darkness, life and death, good and evil, and
so on, they dwelt  upon the more philosophical side of life in
order to create a code of behaviour so that the  opposites could be
balanced within themselves.

A number of examples of this balancing within ourselves may be
given:

Silence-Speech: We have already mentioned silence and its opposite
speech. To keep silent  is divine and brings blessings on all
concerned, if we do so where and when we should.  However, if we
remain silent when we should speak, perhaps when just a word could
prevent  danger to another, then silence becomes evil. We should
also speak when we are prepared  and have the knowledge to do so.
If we speak in the wrong place at the wrong time, the  divine gift
is changed into idle chatter and gossip.

Receptivity-Resistance: We must learn to be receptive and yet to
resist influence.  Receptivity is divine if we are flexible and
open to all that is high and beautiful, good and  true in other
words, if we are receptive to the will of the Great Architect, and
allow His will  to operate within us. Yet we must have the ability
to resist unflinchingly all low influences.

Obedience-Ruling: Obedience has to be learned, and yet we must
rule. Every co-worker in  the great Divine Plan must give absolute
obedience to the Will of God which acts through  our innermost
convictions, and this is the only form of obedience that is truly
good. To obey  against our own convictions, purely for reasons of
cowardice, fear, material gain, or just  merely to be good in
others' eyes, is for low personal reasons and is servile and evil.
To rule,  however, means to give to those weaker than ourselves,
some of our will power that they  may take up the challenge of life
and learn to work for themselves. Anyone who rules without  the
love of his Brethren, or for selfish motives, imposes his will upon
others, thus violating  their right of self-determination, and
turns the divine act of ruling into the evil of tyranny. 
Retribution is inevitable to those who practise this evil.

Humility-Self Confidence: We must bear our life with humility
towards the Divine, and the  Higher Self that animates us,
realising that all good, beautiful and true attributes belong to 
Him who created us, that this perishable frame is but an instrument
for manifesting divinity,  and that by itself it is but an empty
shell. We must subject ourselves humbly to this divinity,  which
manifests itself throughout the universe, never subordinating
ourselves to earthly  powers or forms, for this brings about weak
and cowardly self-humiliation and violation of our  eternal being.
Conversely, we must show self-confidence, not in what we think are
our own  powers and qualities, but in the knowledge that what we
have is His, and represents that  inner union or at-one-ment with
the Great Architect, our only true being, our only eternal 
Reality.

Speed-Circumspection: We have to learn to choose quickly the best
of a number of different  possibilities. Situations can arise when
a moment's delay can mean missing a unique, non- recurring
opportunity. When we act immediately with complete concentration
and presence  of mind, the power to decide can be divine. But
acting without these attributes turns this  divine power into evil
haste, and therefore we must learn circumspection. Before any
action, 

we should control our temper, show patience and allow the decision
to ripen within us. "Let  Prudence direct you, Temperance chasten
you, Fortitude support you, and Justice be the  guide of all your
actions."

Acceptance-Differentiation: In the progression of the Divine Plan
we must accept all that fate  brings us. Our worth is not judged by
external appearances, but by our degree of divine  manifestation.
Worldly degradations or humiliations cannot destroy, or even
reduce, our  inner values, and similarly praise or glorification
will not make them greater. For this reason  we must never be
affected by the way we are treated by those in ignorance. We should
be  content with our lot, be it poverty or riches, low or high
position, regarding either of them as  just a means to an end. None
of these things must be allowed to change our inner attitudes. 
Learning to accept everything in this way is divine. However, never
let this acceptance drift  into indifference or a cowardly lack of
character. Learn when to defend this divinity from  humiliation,
and when to withdraw modestly from glorification by others.
Differentiate  between what is beautiful and that which is ugly,
remembering to probe beneath external  appearances before deciding.
Distinguish between the good and the bad, the true from the  false,
the divine from the satanic.

War-Peace: We must have the ability to fight with all our energy,
and with the Sword of Truth  fight the shadows of error so that
Divine victory can be attained. But never let this willingness  to
fight develop into stupid quarrels. We can only fight with
spiritual weapons to bring peace  to the earth, to restore unity.
But this love of peace must not be allowed to sink into the 
cowardly comfort of not wanting to fight for Divine victory.

Caution-Courage: We must possess courage and not fear any danger,
and courageously  face any difficulty, fending off any attack
against the divine goal we have set ourselves. But  this must not
deteriorate into recklessness, and therefore caution must go hand
in hand with  courage.

Possess Nothing   Command Everything: Whether we are poor or rich,
we must remember  that nothing, absolutely nothing, belongs to us.
On the contrary, everything is on loan to us  from God, and we only
require to use that which is necessary to complete our task. We 
should not worry about our needs in this life, for we will always
receive as much as we need,  according to the Book of Life. Always
remember, we possess nothing, but whilst having this  divine
positive attitude we must not slide into the error of hating
material things we must not  expect others to maintain us without
work on our own part. Matter is a manifestation of God,  but it is
our destiny to rule over this matter from the divine centre within
ourselves.

Freedom from Ties-Loyalty: We must not become attached in the wrong
way to anyone.  Never love the external person but the divine
within that person, who is also an instrument  for the
manifestation of God. Love God in everyone, and then you will not
be attached in the  wrong way. But freedom from ties must not breed
indifference and apathy towards others. Be  loyal to those who seek
the same goal but express the divine within themselves in a way 
different to our particular way.

Recognising all these opposing forces within ourselves which will
work in harmony when we  know how to control them, we should then
learn to use our abilities for others, and in 

animating these abilities with spiritual forces, raise them to a
climax of brilliance as to  manifest the spirit to the highest
degree. This must never awaken vanity in us, nor develop  into self
complacency, nor the base desire to show off. "Let your light so
shine before men  that they may see your good works and glorify
your Father which is in heaven." (Mat. ch. 5,  v.16). Each must
find a way for himself, but as in the days of the Ancient
Egyptians, the  signposts are not wanting for those who choose to
raise their eyes from this plane of matter.  We learn, as they did,
"to make a daily advancement in knowledge" by the age-old method 
of Concentration, Meditation, and Contemplation. These we must
apply to our Ceremonies,  and to Tools and other symbols, just as
those Ancients did, seeking ever to find their inner  significance.

At no time in the era of recorded history has the application of
these methods been more  difficult than it is today in the Western
World, but at no time has so much help been available  to those who
conscientiously attempt to apply them. Perhaps the time is nearer
than we think  when men will at last seek the Middle Chamber of
their own Temple, as did those  Fellowcrafts of old, and so receive
the wages of Truth.

So Mote It Be.