DORMER MASONIC STUDY CIRCLE #155

FOREWORD
by
W.Bro. B. C. Pottinger, LGR, President of the Circle

The essential qualification for membership of the
Dormer Masonic Study Circle is that of being a Master
Mason, a basic requirement to enable free discussion of
the three Craft Degrees, but through our printed
Transactions shines a knowledge of those degrees
variously known as "side," "ancillary," or "higher"
degrees to those who are capable of "reading between
the lines"-this is as it should be.

Under the Constitutions of the United Grand Lodge of
England, the three Craft Degrees are kept separate and
distinct from the rest, and brethren are left to find
their own particular path by virtue of natural
affinity. Nevertheless, as W.Bro. Shackleton makes
clear in his Paper, under the General Laws and
Regulations it is expressly stated that the three Craft
(or Symbolic) Degrees include the Supreme Order of the
Holy Royal Arch. Even so, less than half of the Lodges
have their own Chapter, and numerically the Chapters
are much smaller than the Lodges, reducing the ratio of
Companions to Brethren still further. In other
Constitutions, as many brethren are aware, there is a
normal progression through Mark to Royal Arch.

During the course of the last twelve months the United
Grand Lodge of England has lifted the veil to a certain
extent by releasing the information that the H.R.A. is
the completion of the Third Degree. The Governing
Council of our Circle has therefore decided to
periodically publish as Transactions, Papers dealing
with the Holy Royal Arch, though with due regard to our
obligations and in no wise wishing to detract from the
impact of the ceremony upon a Brother whom we may be
instrumental in persuading to take a further step on
the Mystic Path by a premature disclosure of the
format. To those Members who are already Companions, we
feel sure their more serious perusal will prove most
rewarding.

We are extremely fortunate in that among our archives
is a set of six Papers attributed to W.Bro. E. H.
Shackleton, who became a Member of Dormer in 1943 and
passed to the Grand Lodge Above in 1968. He was a "man
of letters" whose knowledge of the esoteric teachings
was matched with practical ability and a wise guidance
of "younger" Brethren who showed a tendency to be
attracted to dangerous byways without the
superintendence of a skilled craftsman.


In line with what was said previously this Transaction
has been edited in order to keep it within due bounds
but it still remains interesting and enlightening. The
final words are Brother Ernie's:

"As Masonic students it will repay us to peruse the
Biblical Books of Ezra and Nehemiah and the Apocryphal
Books of Esdras as we cannot fail to profit by the
instruction contained in them, because they are records
of, and testimonies to, distinct and representative
experience encountered in the inner man at different
stages of the 'great work' of self-integration."

THE HOLY ROYAL ARCH OF JERUSALEM

Freemasonry under the English Constitution, reaches its
climax and conclusion in the Order of the Holy Royal
Arch. By the Articles of Union signed at the fusion of
the "Antient" and "Modern" Grand Lodges in the year
1813 it was "declared and pronounced that pure Antient
Masonry consists of three degrees and no more, viz.,
those of the E.A., the F.C. and the Master Mason,
including the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch."
Within the compass of the four stages represented is
outlined the entire process of human regeneration.

The Royal Arch is an explanation and the completion of
the Third Degree, of which at one time it formed part
but there were good reasons for its detachment from
that which now forms the Degree of a Master Mason, the
principal being that the two parts in combination made
an inconveniently long rite.

The Ceremony of the Third Degree inculcates the
necessity of the mystical death and dramatises the
process of such death and the revival therefrom, into
newness of life. The Royal Arch carries the process a
stage further by showing its fulfilment in the
"exaltation" or apotheosis of him who has undergone it.
The Master Mason's Degree might be said to be
represented in the term of Christian theology by the
formula. "He suffered and was buried and rose again,"
whilst the equivalent of the Exaltation Ceremony is,
"He ascended into Heaven." The Royal Arch seeks to
express the new and intensified life in which the
candidate can be raised and the exalted degree of
consciousness that comes with it.

The purpose of all initiations is to lift human
consciousness from lower to higher levels by quickening
the latent spiritual potentialities in man to their
full extent through appropriate discipline. No higher
level of attainment is possible than that which aims at
union with the Divine, for in this stage the human
consciousness merges with in the Divine consciousness
and knows as God knows and that, being the level of
which the Order of the Royal Arch treats ceremonially,
it follows that freemasonry as a sacramental system
reaches its climax and conclusion in that Order.

To attain the high level aimed at, involves as an
essential prerequisite the total abnegations
renouncement and renovation of one's original nature,
the surrender of one's natural desires, tendencies and
preconceptions, by such an habitual discipline and
self-denial that by vigorous opposition to the natural
life it will gradually atrophy and die down. As it is
pointed out in the V. of the S.L. "He that loveth life
shall lose it, and he that hateth his life shall keep
it unto life eternal. Except a corn of wheat fall into
the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die it
bringeth forth much fruit." As with a seed of wheat so
with us men. If we persist in clinging to the present
natural life we are familiar with, if we refuse to
recognise that a higher quality of life is possible
here and now, or if we are unwilling to make the
necessary effort to attain it, we are like the corn of
wheat which "abideth alone;" in other words we only
succeed in frustrating our spiritual evolution. But if
we are willing to "die" in the sense indicated, and
will give the vital and Immortal Principle within us
the chance to assert itself, the germ of true life will
spring into growth in us and bear much fruit, and by
the stepping stones of initiation we will rise from our
dead selves to higher things than we can otherwise
experience.

Ihe mystical death is an inescapable law and condition
of the soul's progress; "Death to self is the portal to
true life." and there is no other way. The real secrets
of the Royal Arch Degree are veiled from all those who
do not realise this necessity of self-dying, for this
is the mystery of the Royal Arch. But since this is a
process, as you are fully aware, involving a "most
serious trial of fortitude and fidelity" and a grapple
with oneself from which many shrink, the Mystery
systems have always exhibited an example for the
instruction, encouragement and emulation of those who
are prepared to make the attempt and the necessary
sacrifice. This supreme example is called the prototype
and represents the person of some great soul who has
already trodden the same path and emerged triumphant.
It matters nothing whether the prototype be one whose
historic actuality and identity can be demonstrated, or
whether he can only be regarded as legendary or
mythical; the point being not merely to teach a
historical fact, but to enforce a spiritual principle.
In order that you may be able to see clearly that this
exhibiting of a prototype has been adhered to in the
mystery systems of all ages and among all nations, I
propose to enumerate several of the best known:-

1. In the Egyptian system the prototype was Osiris who
was slain by his malignant brother Typhon, but whose
mangled limbs were collected in a coffer from which he
emerged re-integrated and divinised.

2. In the Grecian Mysteries the prototype was Bacchus
who was torn to pieces by the Titans, and born again.

3. In Scandinavia the prototype was Balder (the Sun god
of Norse mythology) who is fated to die, and dies to
the grief of all the Gods in the Pantheon. 

4. In Graeco-Roman Europe the prototype was Mithra
(Meaning "the friend"). The story is well known of the
Roman military initiates who died at their post
accepting the teaching that we know so well in the
Craft - "he would rather suffer death than betray the
sacred trust reposed in him." 

5. In the Christian, which is the chief of all the
systems, since it comprehends and re-expresses all the
others, the greatest of the Exemplars or prototypes
died at the hands of the mob, headed by three chief
ruffians, Judas, Caiaphas, and Pilate.

6. In Freemasonry the prototype is Hiram Abiff who met
his death as a result of a conspiracy among the workmen
engaged in building the Temple, of whom there were also
three principal ruffians. In the Ritual of Freemasonry
the mystical death is dramatised more realistically
than the resurrection that follows upon it, but
nevertheless the resurrection is shown in the "Raising"
of the Candidate to the rank of Master and his "reunion
with the companions of his former toil." This "reunion"
implies the reintegration of all his old faculties and
powers in a sublimated state, in the same manner that
the limbs of Osiris were said to reunite into a new
whole and as the Christian Master withdrew his
mutilated body from the tomb and re-assumed it
transmuted into one of supernatural substance and
splendour.

The Royal Arch is designated the Supreme Degree because 
it deals with a supremely high level of thought and
instruction. The Ritual of this Degree was not compiled
to accommodate the views of the philosophically
untrained, as you will be able to find for yourselves
when you apply for admission, and those properly
instructed in the Craft Degrees are able to fully
appreciate that they are "Veiled in allegory and
illustrated by symbols." In this connection it must not
be overlooked that the candidate for Royal Arch Masonry
has technically passed already through a long period of
probation in the Craft Degrees, Which include
purification and mental discipline. During the process
of the Craft instruction the candidate is deemed to
have widened his views considerably, so that now, in
all humility, he seeks the attainment of that Wisdom
which is revealed to those that seek without hope of
material reward, and which is withheld from the worldly
wise. Therefore in this Degree we must consider the
candidate as no longer a weak, sinful puppet of fate,
who is ignorant of his own possiblities and blind to
his place in evolution, but as a man who has taken his
destiny in his own hands; has grasped the mighty scheme
of the universe and understands that this earth (the
planet in this instance) is an evolved theatre on whose
stage he shall work out his evolution according to
mathematical laws. The candidate for Royal Arch Masonry
now comprehends something of the promise made to him
"In the beginning:" "Ye shall be as Gods knowing good
and evil" (Book of Genesis-Chapter 3, verse 5.). He now
deliberately plucks the golden apples that grow high up
on the Tree of Knowledge and is determined to eat them,
no longer at the suggestion of the Serpent (symbol of
the natural senses), for he has reaped the bitter
experience of disobedience to divine guidance and can
no longer be seduced by the senses, but at the
direction of the Lord God who planted the tree in the
midst of the garden. Thus the candidate has justified
the injunction received in the First Degree "not to
attempt to extort or otherwise unduly obtain the
secrets of a superior degree," for he has now attained
the degree when he is able to partake of the knowledge
reserved for the perfected man, "patience and industry"
having "entitled him to a participation" of the
"secrets of his exalted degree." The candidate, we must
also remember, as a Master Mason is now an Initiate,
the Third Degree symbolizing thc actual process of
Initiation. The position of the Sq. and Comps. on the
V. of the S.L., in the Third Degree testify to the fact
that the inertia and negativity of his soul have become
transmuted by the positive energy and activity of the
Spirit. He is slow able to "work with both those
points" on the "foundation" (the V. of the S.L., as
divine substance) and is a vitally living and
spiritually conscious being, threefold or a trinity in
unity. As a Master Mason the candidate was further
instructed in regard to "the position of the Sq. and
Comps." that in that Degree the "whole is exhibited,
implying that he is now at liberty (or liberated) to
work with both those points in order to render the
circle of his Masonic duties complete. " This
experience has resulted in a re-arrangement in the
physical organisation of the candidate, and as a result
the "Light from Above" has descended into the
candidate, whereas before it shone only as it were in
the 'heavens," illuming the "dormer window" of his
natural intelligence. Thus in the case of the candidate
for the Royal Arch Degree the "Day Star from on high"
is deemed to have descended into the very chequer-work
material of his transient physical organisms, there to
remain permanently as the fontal source of all
consciousness. In theological language God has become
Man, and Man has become Divinised in virtue of this
descent and union. In Masonic language the Vital and
Immortal Principle resident in the candidate has at
last superseded his temporal life principle and
established him upon a new centre of incorruptible
life. This "sublime" or sublimated state is spoken of
in esoteric terms as the "squaring of the circle," and
is that problem which has baffled so many modern
mathematicians, for it is not a problem in mathematics,
but is an occult expression signifying that Deity,
symbolised by the all-containing circle, has attained
form and expression in a "square" or human soul. In the
terms of the Christian theology this is the climax, the
Mystery of the Incarnation accomplished within the
personal soul. This work accomplished in the Third
Degree is due to the action of the Geometrising
Principle, and the new centre is described as the Grand
Geometrician of man's personal universe, and this is
what Plato referred to when he wrote "God geometrises,"
for the Euclidean and Pythagorean theorems, now
regarded merely as mathematical demonstrations, were
originally expressions, veiled in mathematical glyphs,
of the esoteric science of soul-building or
Free-masonry. The consequence of the integration within
the candidate's organism of the "Sacred Symbol" is a
redistribution of his component powers, a Reformation
or re-polarisation, and the new condition is symbolised
by an equilateral triangle with a point at its centre,
which is worn, worked in gold, on the sash worn by the
Companions of the Order. The significance of this
Triangle is that the tripartite aspects of the
Companion who wears it, that is the Spiritual,
Psychical and Physical parts of him, now stand
equalised and equilibrated around their common Life
Principle. Yet each of these three divisions, spiritual
psychical and physical, although in itself a unity, is
philosophically a trinity in composition when subjected
to intellectual analysis. Thus there are three aspects
to each of the sides of the equilateral triangle, and
these three aspects are ceremonially personified in the
Chapter by nine officers. The disposition of the
Officers in the Chapter is a symbol of the candidates
perfected organismt which in accordance with the whole
scheme of Craft Symbolism is polarised due East and
West, the East signifying the spiritual pole and the
West the Soul or psychic pole. Three are situated in
the East, three in the West, and the three remaining
Officers represent the subordinate links which connect
the other two sides. Each of these triads is the reflex
of the other, yet each is an organic unity in itself.

The Constitution of the Chapter, excluding the three
Officers who are links between the East and the West,
is therefore symbolised by the interlaced triangles,
and this symbol forms the Jewel worn by the Companions.
It is sometimes referred to as the Seal of Solomon, and
exhibited on the pedestal of the Master in a Craft
Lodge.

The spirit in man in its triple aspect represents the
three high attributes of the Spirit, which are
Holiness, Royal Supremacy, and Functional Power, and it
is these three that are referred to in the Title of the
Order, which is composed of three words, Holy-Royal-
Arch. The psychical nature, which is known as the
unitary human ego is also threefold in aspect, and
these three aspects are an incarnated or physicalised
reflex of the Spirit, which is unincarnated and
overshadowing. For this reason the three aspects of the
psychical nature are designated Sojourners, because
they are but transient consociated pilgrims or
wayfarers upon the plane of impermanancy, in contrast
with the enduring life of the deathless Spirit, whose
projection they are upon this lower world. The three
aspects into which human personality is distributed
are:-

1. A passive negative subconsciousness.

2. An active positive intelligence.

3. A Coordinating principle which is central and links
the other two together.

These three combined constitute man's unitary
individuality and may perhaps be easier explained as:-

1. Subconsciousness with its passive intuitional
capacity.

2. Practical intelligence with its active and
connecting powers of thought and understanding.

3. The Ego with its central and directive power of
will, which is the principal of the three.

You will now be better able to appreciate how
Freemasonry is illustrated by symbols, for the symbol
of the interlaced triangles and their connection with a
Royal Arch Chapter is a "hieroglyphical figure" which
is not understood by the lay mind. Thus the system
adheres to "signs and symbols," and the theoretic work
is by oral transmission by means of the Ritual,
combined with ceremonial not committed to writing. By
this means perpetuated in modern Freemasonry the true
doctrine has been preserved, and this is known as the
"Secret Doctrine" or "Secret Tradition," or by the
generic title "Signs and symbols of primordial man."
The word primordial does not, of course, mean
primitive, but means "existing from the beginning," or
as we express it in Freemasonry

"From time immemorial." This is the universal sign
language which has "existed in all ages and among all
nations," and which in Masonic language had its origin
in "the East" (the Spiritual world), and "thence spread
its benign influence to the West" (the material world).
The method is technically named "Ideographic," which
means the representation of idea by means of figures or
symbols, which to the uninitiated are "veiled in
allegory." In order to give you an example of the
cryptic axioms used in the teachings of the Schools of
Initiation, I will quote from the Pythagorean system
the axiom "Every Monad is the parent of a Triad." This
when used in connection with "Divine natures" or the
spiritual, that is the Spirit in man, expressed the
same ideas of the triple aspect as we have been
discussing. This expressed the state of "being" or "to
be," and in modern times this has been philosophically
expressed in the famous proposition of the German
philosopher Hegel who framed the metaphysical
proposition that the essential ingredients of a given
truth are three in number, which are first resolvable
into thought and classified as:-

1. Thesis-the proposition containing the truth
affirmed.

2. Antithesis-the expression of a contrast to the truth
affirmed.

3. Synthesis-The operation by which the contrasts are
nnited.

Thought is then resolved into the unity of the logical
moments of:-

1. Simple apprehension.

2. Judgment.

3. Reason.

which are three purely spiritual acts, and this process
Hegel defines as "The process of the Spirit." In simple
language this is the philosophical explanation of the
religious dogma of the Trinity or "three-in-one. " In
ordinary language it means that "to be" is a spiritual
unity which is three-fold in composition when submitted
to intellectual analysis. This doctrine of the Trinity
or "three-in-one" forms part of the teaching of all
religions, whether taught openly or concealed, and in
all cases it refers to the three aspects of Deity in
manifestation and to those three aspects of Deity
reflected in man. This conception brings us to the
consideration of the doctrine of the Universe as the
Deity in manifestation (organic) termed the Macrocosm
or Great Universe, and Man as the Microcosm or the
Universe in miniature. In Freemasonry the metaphysical
Trinity is S.K.I., H.K.T. and H.A.B., and these Grand
Masters represent both the three aspects of manifested
Deity in the Greater Universe-Macrocosm-and the three
reflected aspects in Man-Microcosm.

This fundamental Trinity in religious doctrine is found
in both the exoteric and the esoteric teachings, and as
the antiquity of the system perpetuated in modern
Freemasonry is attested to by our Lectures, I wish to
draw your attention to certain facts in this connection
which are not to be found in the popular Masonic
Manuals. As students in Masonic research we shall find
that it is necessary to pay particular attention to the
Lectures of the Craft, which amplify and illustrate the
teachings communicated in the Ceremonies, and with
regard to our claim thade in the "E.A's Song"-
"Antiquity's pride we have on our side" -we shall find
that we are fully justified in this connection. As you
should know, the Lecture of the Tracing Board which
should be delivered to the Candidate after the ceremony
in each Degree, purports to give him a diagram or
"hieroglyph" of the work to be accomplished in the
Degree, for his guidance and instruction. The Tracing
Board of the First Degree is therefore important, when
considered in conjunction with the Lecture delivered to
the Candidate. This Lecture opens with the cryptic
words "The usages and customs among Freemasons have
ever borne a near affinity with those of the Ancient
Egyptians," and here we have a definite clue as to
where to look for further enlightenment. We must
however, guard against the common error of endeavouring
to interpret this statement in the light of the United
Grand Lodge of England being the lineal descendant of a
Grand Lodge in Ancient Egypt. It is the "usages and
customs," or in modern language the philosphy and the
method of its communication which are referred to, and
the Lecture next proceeds to tell us of the Ancient
Egyptians that "their philosophers being unwilling to
expose their mysteries to vulgar eyes, concealed their
particular tenets and principles of policy and
philosophy under hieroglyphical figures and expressed
their notions of government bv signs and symbols." This
is the important fact, and it concerns us as Masonic
students to know precisely how there is a "near
affinity" between the "usages and customs" of modern
Freemasons and those of the Ancient Egyptians." It is
first necessary to understand what constitutes a
"hieroglyphical figure," and the explanation is that
such a figure is a figure is a pictorial diagram 
***************
orglyph,but in the particular sense of a "hieroglyph"
it refers to a sacred glyph for "hieroglyphs" comprised
the sacred writing of the Ancient Egyptians. The method
is termed technically "ideaographic" that is the
representation of ideas by figures and symbols. The key
to the transalation of the "hieroglyphs" of Ancient
Egypt is found in the Hieratic Script, or "sacred
writing" which was used by the initiates to conceal the
esoteric doctrine from the uninitiated, and this is the
method which is employed in the modern Masonic Ritual
and Lectures. The "hieroglyphs" of modern Freemasonry,
are the appointments of the Temple of Initiation, the
symbolic Officers, and the Tracing Boards. The Ancient
Egyptians employed two scripts, namely the Hieratic and
Dcmotic, and the Demotic was the popular style used for
the orthodox religious instruction of the people.
Similarly modern Freemasonry uses two Scripts, the
Hieratic which is the interpretation of the symbols to
those studying Initiation, in the same manner as we arc
in this Study Circle, and the Demotic which is the
printed Ritual and Lectures which are published for the
information of those who accept the popular orthodox
interpretation, and you will not fail to note that
those of our Brethren who are concerned only with the
Demotic script do not observe the sacred or Hieratic
interpretation. The modern world is indebted to the
archaeological activities of a Frenchman -M. Boussard-
for a knowledge of the Hieratic and Demotic scripts,
for it was he that discovered the famous Rosetta Stone
(named after the place where it was found). This stone,
which was brought to light in the year 1799, was
important as the inscriptions were trilingual, or
written in three languages-Hieratic script, Demotic
script and Greek. The relationship between these three
furnished the key to the decipherment of Egyptian
hieroglyphics, and established the relationship of them
all-Hieratic script, Demotic script and Hieroglyphics-
to the Roman alphabet. The Hieratic script was found to
form a sacred alphabet, which on further examination
was discovered to be a system of numerals

described as the "power and potency of numbers and
figures." The importance of this discovery is that the
sound value of each letter in the sacred alphabet has
its equivalent in other languages in a figure or
figures in the calculation table. Again we must be
careful not to fall into a common error, for it is a
fact that nowadays the terms "numbers" and figures are
considered as synonymous, but this is not correct. A
"figure" is literally something made, a shape or form,
and the word is derived from the latin figura, which
means "a thing made." Thus this shape or form acts, in
the case of the figures 1, 2, 3 etc. as a symbol. The
word symbol is from the Greek - sym (together) and
ballein (to throw) and means something thrown or put
together to form a sign or picture of an idea. This is
important as Freemasonry is "illustrated by symbols."
What then is number? Here we again return to the
"usages and customs" of the Ancient Egyptians. The root
of the word number inEgyptian being nem. This word nem
translated means "that unification or wholeness which
includes all distinguishments from itself as hl
solution, and from which all spring in rhythmic
progression." In Egyptian nem and num are
interchangeable, nem signifying the ONE as all
containing' and num "the progression," the "u" being
the sound symbol of that which links and makes possible
a change of condition. Num therefore represents a
coming forth, that is an emanation from one state to
another. In modern language the roots nem and num are
translated respectively into name and number, and their
meaning is to individualism to make distinct, or to
measure. You will thus see that there is an intimate
connection between figures, numbers and names. Figures
by their shape represent the original idea, and the
names given to those figures are intended by their
sound to convey the same idea as does the figure by its
shape. Numbers are therefore names given to figures and
represent the measures, or in other words the rhythms
and thus under the generic title of numbers we get the
rhytnmic unfoldment of all things.

1 ?
In the Egyptian system of "Sacred Law," the  
fundamental or "First Trinity" is Osiris-IsisHorus, and
this Trinity represents Father-MotherSon aspects of
Deity as the Macrocosm and also the three aspects
reflected in Man the Microcosm. This is the Trinity of
which Hegel propounded as a "Being;" it is resolvable
into thought, and then to "three purely spiritual
acts." It is significant that in the Egyptian Hieratic
script the word khemt the sound symbol for the number
three, means 'to produce in the mind" or "to think out
a matter," for in both the ancient and modern
philosophies the proposition is metaphysical. The
perpetuation of the system of "philosophizing by
numbers" was by way of the Grecian Mysteries, and
therefore it should not surprise us that the Lecture on
the Tracing Board of the First Degree informs us that
Pythagoras "l ounded his system on a somewhat similar
plan." T he line of transmission is also clearly
indicated when we read that Pythagoras was Initiated in
Egypt, although the name Pythagoras does not indicate
the name of a Greek philosopher as the popular world so
confidently state. The Pythagorean system of philosophy
is described as "a kind of arithmetical mysticism, the
leading thought of which is that law, order and
agreement obtain in the affairs of nature, and that
those relations are capable of being expressed in
number and measure." This could be equally applied to
modern Freemasonry. The Pythagorean system primary
Trinity was called "The Triad" which was resolved from
the Monad or "One which includes all," and this also is
a metaphysical proposition in line with the Ancient
Egyptian and modern F reemasonry. The Lecture on the
Tracing Board continues with the words "and many others
of a more recent date have copied his example," and in
order to identify the "many others" hinted at we need
only to be av are of the transmission of the "usages
and customs" as our present day Warrants of
Constitution testily "in all ages and among all nations
of the known world." I need not again remind vou of the
G.G.O.T.U., of the Second

13

D. or of the fact that the philosophy attributed to
Plato is summed up in the axiom "God Geometrises," but
the full significance of this cannot be realised until
one studies the Royal Arch Degree, for in this Degree a
Jewel is worn by the Companions of the Order, which
forms by its intersections a given number of angles
which when reduced to their amount in right angles is
equal to the five regular Platonic bodies. The value of
the esoteric teaching of the doctrine lies in the fact
that the basis of the Platonic bodies is the
equilateral triangle, which is the symbol of the
Irinity. In the historical era the metaphysical
treatises written by the early Christian Fathers
perpetuate the true doctrine, and in modern literature
vve are indebted to the Initiate Cornelius Agrippa for
a record of these, for in his book-"De Occulta
Philosophia" published in 1533, he mention among
others, Saints Jerome, Origen, Gregory, Rabanus and
Bede. Finally, the Hebrew Philosophers of the Middle
Ages possessed the true doctrine in the Kabalah. The
Hebrew word Kabalah means "that which is received," and
the doctrine is known as " She Secret tradition in
Israel." It claims to have been transmitted orally from
the time that Moses received the "True wisdom" by its
being divinely imparted to him. In connection with
Modern Freemasonry it is significant that both Royal
Arch Freemasonry and the Kabalah date the "true wisdom"
from Moses, who in the Royal Arch Degree is referred to
as our Grand Master, Moses. The doctrine of the Kabalah
teaches that there exists an exact proportion between
ideas and words, and that words are the first forms and
articulate realisations of ideas.

Furthermore the Kabalah accepts the affinity between
"being" or the state "to be" and numbers. It recognises
a primary Trinity, and teaches that THREE is the root
of all things, because form represents Unity, matter
the Duad, and these together with the will (the bond
between them) result in a Triad. It regards all things
in manifestation or existence as constituted after the
nature of numbers, and postulates the highest Abstract
God
as the indivisible. I trust that I have made it quite
clear that there is a "near affinity" between the
different branches of the "Ancient Wisdom" which our
Lecture describes as "Ancient Egyptians," Pythagorean,
"and many other of a more recent date." Also that the
doctrine of the Trinity is

metaphysical concept.

The designation of the assembly in the Royal Arch
Degree is no longer styled a "Lodge," but is termed a
"Chapter. " The word "Chapter" is derived from the
Latin word caput which means head, and this has
reference to the capitular rank of the Royal Arch
Mason, who by virtue of his headship or supremacy over
his material nature has passed beyond mere Craftwork
and governing the I,odge of his lower nature, which he
has now made the docile instrument and servant of his
spiritual nature. Henceforth the energies of such a man
are employed primarily upon the spiritual plane. The
"head" of the sevenfold material organism of man is the
Spirit of man, and this Spirit consciously conjoined
with the Universal Spirit is deity 's supreme
instrument and vehicle in the temporal world. The
physical organism and brain of a man who has attained
the rank of a consciousness denoted by the Royal Arch
Degree will have become sublimated and keyed up to a
condition and an efficiency immensely in advance of
average humanity. Physiological processes are involved
in this sublimation which cannot be discussed at length
in this paper, but I will observe that in such a man
the entire nervous system contributes to charge certain
ganglia and light up certain brain centres in such a
way of which the ordinary man knows nothing. The
nervous system provides the storage-batteries and
conductive medium of the Spirit's energies in the same
manner that telegraph wires are the media for
transmitting electrical energies. It must not be
overlooked that the Royal Arch Degree is the completion
of the Master Mason Degree, for it is by reason of his
Mastership that the true Master Mason knows how to
control and apply those energies which culminate and
Qume to self-consciousness in his head, in his
intelligence. In

this respect we may refer to the heavily veiled
testimony in the V. of the S.L., the import of which is
concealed effectively from the uninstructed reader. I
he Gospel according to St. Matthew, Chapter 27, verse
33 records that the Passion of the Great Exemplar and
Master concluded "when they were come unto a place
called Golgotha, that is to say a place of a skull;"
this means that it terminated in the head or seat of
intelligence and in d mystery of spiritual
consciousness. Ihe same truth is also testified to in
the Craft Third I)egree, when in the Lecture on the
third l)egree Iracing ISoard, it is stated that "Ihe
sprig of Acacia was placed at the head of the grave" of
the Masonic Grand Master and prototype Hiram Abiff. l
he "Grave" is the soul of the Candidate, and the Sprig
of Acacia typifies the latent Akasa (Sanscrit - Divine
Germ) planted in that "Earth" (see Ceremony of Raising
-- earth recently disturbed) and waiting to become
quickened into activity in his intelligence, the "head"
of that plane. As the Royal Arch l)egree is a mystery
of Spiritual consciousness and deals with the opening
up of the Universal and Omniscient Mind, the cranium or
skull is given prominence in the Master Mason's
l)egree, which is intended to point the way to
"Golgotha."

Ihe work of the Royal Arch l)egree is in the same
manner as that of the former I)egrees, to be carried
out by the candidate himself, and this work to be
performed is that which is referred to in the Ancient
Greek Apotheosis as the "Twelve Labours of Hercules."
Hercules is the typical Hero of the Greek Mysteries
(the word "Hero" was used in the Greek system in the
same manner that Master is used in the Craft System to
denote spiritual rank) and the work to be accomplished
in the Supreme Degree for the fulfilment is represented
as the Labours which he must undergo before he can
claim the right to be "A son of his father." The Twelve
Labours are too long to be included in this paper, but
they are an essential part of our Masonic Instruction.
The arduousness of these Labours is also graphically
described in the great work of the Latin poet Virgil
entitled Aeneid, or

4
the story of Aeneas of Troy. The work is in twelve
parts, corresponding with the 12 labours. Even when we
are in the position to apprehend what is required of
us, it is not work to be lightly undertaken, for we are
approaching the "centre," that Holy ground of our being
upon which only the humble can walk, that "earth" which
only the meek can inherit. It is in this Ceremony that
the "'Lost Word" is discovered, and the divine root of
our being is again united with the questing mind. At
first we fail to recognise and realise the fact, as we
are in that state when 'the Light shineth in darkness
and the darkness comprehendeth it not." Presently that
darkness disappears, when "the day (the new
consciousness) dawns and the shadows (the old
mentality) fade away." After this discovery has been
made in the introverted mind, there remains the
concluding psychological process, which is to extrovert
the knowledge and bring it forward into formalised
brain consciousness, so that what the Spirit and the
soul already know interiorly, the outer mind may also
know exteriorly. Subjective awareness does not become
knowledge until it has been cerebrated and passed
through the process of distilisation in the brain and
logical understanding. When this is accomplished there
is a reciprocal and reflex action between the inner and
the outer natures, which results in the illumination of
the whole. This is described as the consummation of the
mystery. The Great Light breaks and the vital and
Immortal Principle comes to self consciousness in the
candiate; the "Glory of the Lord" is revealed in him,
and all his flesh sees it. This condition is not merely
one of illumination by the Supreme Light; it is one of
identification with it. At the outset of the Masonic
Quest the Candidate affirmed that the predominant wish
of his heart is "Light," but the impulse is not the
candidate's own; it is that of the Light itself - the
primal Light of light, the Divine Substantial
Word-seeking self development in the candidate.
Consciousness is that Light which has become
self-perceptive by polarisation within an efficient
physiological organism, and Man provides the only
organism

15

adapted to the attainment of that self-perception; but
only when that organism is purified and prepared for
the achievement. The preliminary Degrees in the Craft
system outline the disciplines and purifications
necessary, and it is left to the individual Brother to
put the work into execution, having been provided with
"guidance and instruction" and the encouragement and
example of others who are also engaged in the same work
of self "building." In each Degree the condition to be
attained is set before the Craftsman in "draft" a
"plan" and he is charged to be faithful in the
execution of his labours. In the Royal Arch Degree that
achievement is hypothetically effected. The condition
attained by the illumined candidate in this Degree is
the equivalent of what in Christian theology is known
as Beatific Vision and in the East as Samadhi. It is
also spoken of and written about as universal or cosmic
consciousness, since the candidate is deemed to have
transcended all sense of personal individualisation,
time and space, and is co-conscious with all that is.
With this symbolic attainment of the Beatific Vision
the effective part of the Royal Arch Ceremony as an
initiatory rite concludes and the candidate i s
presumed to have been exalted to that state when he is
in conscious sympathy and identity of feeling with all
that lives and feels, in virtue of that universal
charity and limitless love which is the outcome of
perceiving the unity of all in the Being of Deity. This
is the Charity which the candidate at the commencement
of his progress was told was the summit of the
Freemason's profession. The Candidate sees too that
there is a universe within as well as without him; he
realises that the earth, the heavens, and all their
contents, are externalisations, projected images, of
corresponding realities present within himself. He
understands that he himself is the measure of the
Universe; he as the microcosm sums up and contains all
that is manifested to his temporal intelligence as the
vast special universe around him. Thus he realises that
man as the perfected head of creation sums up in
himself all the lower forms of life through which
fiis organism has passed to attain that perfection.

The Twelve Labours of Hercules have a correspondence
with the Twelve Tribes of Israel which are figures of
their prototypes the Twelve Zodiacal sections of the
heavens which could not exist or be discernable to the
outward eye were they not also the phenomenalised
aspect of a reality cognisable by the inward eye. The
meaning of the word Israel is "ruling with God" and
those who are gathered beneath these emblems are not
intended to represent the tribes of a terrestrial
nation, but they are the "Tribes of God," the heavenly
hierarchies that constitute an archetypal canopy or
holy royal arch above the visible creation, and that
mediate to the visible creation the effluences of that
all-embracing triune Spirit of Power, Wisdom and Love
in which the entire composite structure lives, moves
and has its being.

The V. of the S.L. is the sacramental token of that
Living Word by whom all things were made, are still
being made, and whose life is the light of men. The
candidate who has recovered that lost word in the sense
of regaining vital organic integration into it, and
who, therefore is one with Life and Light, is thus able
to verify this old creation story in its personal
application to himself. He stands in the presence of
his own "earth,' the dense matrix out of which his
finer being has emerged and of his "heavens" or
ethereal body of substantialised radiance which now
covers him with Light as with a garment. He is now able
to discern that it was himself who at first was"without
form and void," and in virtue of that "Fiat Lux " has
at last become transformed from chaos into a form now
perfect and lucid as to become a co-conscious vehicle
of Divine Wisdom itself.

The Royal Arch ceremony is an allegorical exposition of
the spiritual process regenerating within the Candidate
himself under the urge of the inward Lord (Kurios-
Egyptian) explained in our ritual under the allegory of
Cyrus the king, and bids him depart from his captivity
and go up and re-erect the Lord's house in his native
land. It is the candidate himself who discovers amongst
the

rubble of his old self the plans and materials for the
new structure.

As you have seen the Degree deals with a supreme human
experience which none can fully appreciate without
undergoing it. It is the greatest and momentous rite in
Masonry, and no Brother who studies it comprehendingly
and in its sacramental significancecanwithhold
admiration either for the profound knowledge and
insight of the Initiate who conceived it, or for the
skill with which he compiled it and cast his knowledge
into dramatic expression. The Craft work is unfinished
without the attainment foreshadowed in the Royal Arch,
but that in turn is impossible without the discipline
of the preliminary labours. Many Brethren are hindered
in their appreciation of the high degree aimed at in
this climax of our work, and they accept the suggestion
that such an attainment is not possible while we are
here in the flesh, but 1 would remind you that such
doubt is not warranted and the whole of our Masonic
doctrine testifies to the truth of the fact that it is
possible. Contrary to the orthodox religious doctrines
which teach that advancement is the purpose of the life
hereafter, Freemasonry teaches that the possession of a
material organism is a necessary factor in advancing
the evolution of the human spirit. Freemasonry teaches
that the human organism is the vessel, the "crucible"
in which our base metal has to be transmuted into gold.
The human organism is the fulcrum furnishing the
resistance requisite for the spirit's energising into
unfoldment and selfconsciousness. Physical death is
therefore not an advancement, but an interference with
the work of regeneration. This truth is pointed out to
us in the V. of the S.L., in the words "the night
cometh when no man can work," and in the Master Mason's
Degree we are therefore urged to "perform our allotted
task while it is yet day" for physical death is the
period when the soul passes from "labour to
refreshment" until recalled to Labour once more to
carry on with the task of self-conquest. Thus in the
Royal Arch the Candidate is symbolically taught how
each separate part and faculty

lfi
of his nature, or as it were the zodiacal divisions of
his own microcosm, contributes its purified essence to
form a new organism "a new heaven and a new earth;" and
how these essences like twelve diversif ied tribes
assemble and coalesce and become fused into a unity or
new whole forming "a city that is compact together." It
is this "city," this blessed condition, which is
mystically called "Jerusalem." The antithesis of this
"heavenly city" is the confused Babylon city of this
world, of which is

written in the V. of the S.L., concerning all who are
captive in her, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be
not partakers of her sins and that ye receive
notofherplagues." (Book of Revelations, Chapter 18,
verse 4). In brief the Royal Arch Ceremony
sacramentally portrays the last phase of the mystical
journey of the exiled soul from Babylon to Jerusalem
the "passing of the veils" of matter and form, into the
glorious liberty of TT A T.C.MTT

So Mote It Be.

17