"SOME PRELIMINARY NOTES ON CRAFT SYMBOLISM"

by

W.Bro.R.A.L. HARLAND, P.M., Lodge No. 1679, 
President of the Circle.

To draw aside this veil, therefore, or more properly speaking, to penetrate
its mysteries is the object of our Masonic Lectures, and by a faithful and
appropriate attention to them we hope ultimately to become acquainted 
with all its mysteries."  (Introduction to First Lecture).

FREEMASONRY as officially defined is: "A peculiar system of morality,
veiled in allegory, and illustrated by symbols." This familiar definition, whilst
it is quite true, does not, however, greatly assist Masonic students in their
endeavour to "distinguish and appreciate the connection of our whole
system, and the relative dependence of its several parts." It is very
necessary, therefore, to bring to the notice of students that the Instruction
Lectures, which are associated with each Degree of the Craft, purport to
expound the doctrine of the system and interpret the symbols and rituals. 
Indeed, the study of these explanatory Lectures not only discloses the
entire range of symbolism used to give expression to the ancient spiritual
doctrine concealed within the architectural phraseology of modern
Freemasonry, but reveals also that the form of imagery employed is
consistent with the language both of universal tradition and of individual
genius. 

What then, is this richly authenticated language of symbolism? So far as we
can tell, it has never been methodically formulated or invented; yet it
appears with significant uniformity in all the myths and mysteries.  It is a
scheme of imagery which is based upon the permanent facts of material
existence, and of which the relevance is to the eternal truths of inner
spiritual experience.  In theory, it has a singular clarity, coherence and
precision of structure; and, in practice, it appeals immediately to our
instinctive sense of fitness.  When properly used, it furnishes a terminology
more flexible and exact than any that has been devised by the scientific
psychologist; and, when correctly interpreted, it provides the key to every
enigmatical utterance in the spheres of art, myth or ritual.  Something of
this system of symbolism, as well as the meaning and purpose of our
Masonic system as a whole, has already been outlined in previous Papers
now available to members of the Craft in general. In the present notes it is
proposed to extend the consideration of the subject in greater detail, and
especially to simplify the mode of presentation, for the benefit of Brethren
who require elementary instruction.

The attention of students is first directed to the Masonic use of the term
"Geometry ", which in the Second Section of the Second Lecture, is
declared to be "the basis on which the superstructure of Freemasonry is
erected." To the ordinary man, of course, Geometry means nothing more
than the branch of mathematics which is connected with the problems of
Euclid, a subject obviously bearing no relation to Masonic ceremonial and
ideals.  The reference in the Lectures is, however, to "the seven liberal arts
and sciences" of ancient philosophy, and in this sense Geometry is
correctly described as "the fifth and noblest of the sciences." Geometry,
according to ancient philosophy, means literally the science of
earth-measurement," but the "earth of the philosophers is metaphysical. 
From the earliest times physical matter, or "earth," has been the recognised
symbol for the primordial substance, or "soul-stuff," out of which we human
beings have been created.  Man was made, the Scriptures teach, out of
"the dust of the ground" (Genesis chapter 2, verse 7), and it is this "ground,"
or metaphysical "earth," the fundamental substance of our being, which the
philosophers stated must be "measured" in the sense of investigating and
understanding its properties. Geometry, therefore, is synonymous with
self-knowledge, "that most interesting of all human studies," and
Freemasonry is otherwise accurately defined as an art founded on the
principles of Geometry."

In the terminology of ancient philosophy earth must not be confused with
the dense physical matter of which our mortal bodies are composed. 
Dense physical matter is but corruptible impermanent stuff which merely
forms a temporary encasement of the imperishable true "earth," or
substance of human souls, and enables them to enter into sense-relations
with the physical world. The distinction must be clearly grasped and held
in mind by students, because modern Freemasonry, like ancient
philosophy, has to deal not so much with the transient outward body as
with the eternal inward being of man, although the outward body is
temporarily involved with the latter.  It is the immortal soul of man which,
in the language of building symbolism, is the ruined "temple" needing to be
rebuilt upon the principles of spiritual science; the mortal body, with its
unruly wills and affections, is the "rubble" which must be cleared from the
site before the new foundations can be set. Yet even rubble can be made
to serve useful purposes by being re-arranged and worked into the new
erection, and accordingly man's outer temporal nature can be disciplined
and utilized in the reconstruction of himself.  In order, however, to effect
such a reconstruction, man declares the old wisdom, must first have a full
understanding of the material he has to work with and to work upon. 
Stated in modern Masonic technical phraseology, he must be made
acquainted with what the Lectures call "the form of the Lodge." This is
described, in the Third Section of the First Lecture, as: "An oblong square
(parallelopipedon); in length from East to West, in breadth between North
and South, in depth from the surface of the earth to the centre, and even
as high as the heavens."

We are intended to interpret the Masonic description of "the form of the
Lodge" as alluding to the human individual.  Man himself is a Lodge; and
just as the Masonic Lodge is: "An assemblage of Brethren met to expatiate
on the mxsteries of the Craft " (First Section, First Lecture), so individual
man is a composite being made up of various properties and faculties
assembled together in him with a view to their harmonious interaction and
working out the purpose of life.  In our Masonic system the human
organism is symbolised by a square or four-sided building.  This is in
accordance with the very ancient philosophical doctrine that four is the
arithmetical symbol of everything which has manifested or physical form. 
Spirit, which is unmanifest and not physical, is expressed by the number
three and the triangle. Likewise, the Hebrew name of Deity, as known and
worshipped in this outer world, was the great unspeakable name of four
letters or Tetragrammaton, whilst the cardinal points of space are also four,
and every manifested thing is a compound of the four basic metaphysical
"elements" known to ancient philosophy as Fire, Water, Air and Earth.  The
four-sidedness of the Lodge in our Masonic system is a cryptic reminder
that the human organism is compounded of these four metaphysical
"elements" in balanced proportions.  We may note here that this symbolical
figure is explicitly used by Shakespeare in Sonnets XLIV and XLV (44 and
45), wherein he declares that his "life's composition" is made up of "four
elements," which he expressly calls Earth, Water, Air and Fire.  Scarcely
less ancient than the philosophical number, symbolism is the teaching that
the human constitution comprises not only the physical body, but also a
series of superphysical bodies or vehicles.  The chief of these were named
by the Egyptians: "Ka." "Ba" and "Khou"; by the Hebrews: "Nephesh,"
"Ruach" and "Neshamah and by the Greeks: "Psyche," "Pneuma" and
"Nous"; they denote respectively the sensitive, the rational and the intuitive
parts of man. If, for the purpose of systematic formulation, the four
"elements" of ancient philosophy are equated with the four "bodies," we get
definitions built up on a basis of natural symbolism, as follows :-

EARTH: Is a symbol suggested by the solid state of matter in the objective
Universe, and represents the condensation in which the other three
"elements" become stabilised and encased. It connotes the physical
organism of man.  This is described in our Masonic system as an "oblong"
(oblongated or duplicated square) because the physical body has its
"double," or ethereal counterpart in the etheric or astral body, which is an
extension of the physical nature, and a compound of the four "elements" in
an impalpable and more tenuous form,

WATER: is a symbol suggested by the liquid state of matter, and in
particular by the sea.  It signifies the sensuous, passional or impressional
psychic nature of man. The vehicle of the psychic nature is the "natural"
body of which St. Paul speaks in 1st Corinthians, chapter 15-44: " There is
a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." This natural body is the
equivalent of the Egyptian " Ka," the Zoharic "Nephesh," and the Greek
"Psyche."

AIR: Is a symbol suggested by the gaseous state of matter.  It represents
the rational or intellectual nature of man. Its vehicle is the "spiritual" body
alluded to by St. Paul; the Egyptian "Ba," the Zoharic "Ruach," and the
Greek "Pneuma."

FIRE: Is a symbol suggested by the supergaseous state of matter, and is
otherwise known as AETHER. It refers to the divine or intuitional part of
man.  The vehicle of the divine nature is the "heavenly" body; the Egyptian
"Khou," the Zoharic "Neshamah," and the Greek " Nous."

According to ancient philosophy, the four main bodies or vehicles in the
human constitution correspond with the four principal planes through which
consciousness rises and falls in the cycle of our subjective moods, and the
four "elements" may further be utilised for the purpose of expressing the
changing phases of psychological experience.

Ancient mystical doctrines, however, invariably schedule seven planes of
consciousness, four cardinal and three intermediate, and to complete the
series three additional symbols of the same kind are obtained by a simple
and logical extension of the analogy with the exterior world of nature, as set
out below:-

MIRE: Is a symbol suggested by the mixture of Earth and Water. It
connotes the intermediate plane between the physical and the sensuous.

MIST: Is a symbol suggested by the mixture of Water and Air, and
represents the intermediate plane between the sensuous and the rational. 
It is the symbol for the plane of intellectual error, where emotional impulses
rise like Mist from the sensuous Water to cloud and obscure the Air of
reason.

RING OF FIRE: Is a symbol suggested by an objective phenomena which
apparently divides Air and Aether, namely, by the RAINBOW.  It is the
symbol for the plane between the rational and the intuitional, which is
known as the plane of spiritual ecstasy.

The use of the RAINBOW as a symbol in this series calls for some
comment.  We can see at once that the other six symbols are in
correspondence with things with which everyone is familiar in the exterior
world.  The only remaining feature that could possibly exemplify the plane
which lies between the rational and the intuitional is the Rainbow, which,
hanging high in the heavens seems to divide the air from the aether of
space.  Granted, such a conception of the Rainbow does not accord with
the modern scientific view, but this age-old system of imagery must not be
expected to conform exactly to the teachings of present-day physical
science. It is based upon the doctrine that the "things seen," are
manifestations of the "things unseen," and ancient philosophy never lost
sight of the analogy and the relation of the inferior to the superior worlds;
and the use it makes of the Rainbow needs no other warrant than the fact
that nothing could serve as well in the seven-fold scale: EARTH, MIRE,
WATER, MIST, AIR, RING OF FIRE (RAINBOW), FIRE (AETHER).  With this
simple classification of four cardinal and three Intermediate planes of
consciousness we have likewise seven symbolical terms wherewith to
identify the traditional Seven Principles of Man.

The four sides of the Lodge have a further significance in terms of
consciousness. First, the East of the Lodge represents man's spirituality, or
his highest and most spiritual mode of consciousness, which in the majority
of men is undeveloped, but is latent and becomes active in moments of
stress and deep emotion. By way of contrast, the West (or polar opposite
of the East), represents man's normal rational understanding, the
consciousness that he employs in temporal every-day affairs, or as it is
frequently called, his "common sense." Midway between these East and
West extremes is the South, the halfway house and meeting-place of the
spiritual intuition and the rational understanding; the point where intellectual
power develops to its maximum, just as the natural Sun attains meridian
altitude in that quarter. The antipodes of the South is the North, the
traditional sphere of benightedness and ignorance, which is appropriately
related to sense Impressions received by that lowest and least reliable
mode of perception, the physical sense nature. According to mystical
philosophy, all sense impressions are illusionary, and knowledge of the
realities of life, the "noumena," can be derived only from the spiritual mode
of consciousness.  The man whose conscious life is restricted to his
physical sense nature is said to be "dead"; but when the passions and
desires of the lower nature are ruled and subdued, he becomes conscious
of the psychic world, and the psychic senses awaken; renouncing the
psychic powers, holding them to be of no enduring benefit, he is "raised"
by the Divine power ("dunamis") to the purely spiritual plane of being. In
brief, the four sides of the Lodge point to our progressive modes of
consciousnes, as follows:-

NORTH ... SENSE IMPRESSION
WEST  ... REASON
SOUTH ... INTELLECTUAL IDEATION
EAST  ... SPIRITUAL INTUITION

Man has, therefore, four possible ways of acquiring knowledge, but of these
the ordinary man uses only the first two or perhaps three, in accordance
with his development and education.  Full and perfect knowledge is
reserved for the true Master, who has all four methods at his disposal, and
it is in allusion to this high grade of attainment that in the Lodge the place
of the Master is always in the East."

The "depth" of the Lodge ("from the surface of the earth to the centre"),
refers to the "distance," or difference of degree, between the superficial
consciousness of man's earthly mentality and the supreme divine
consciousness which is resident at his spiritual "Centre." It is this "Centre,"
"the vital and immortal principle," which is the ultimate root of man's being
and affiliates him with God.  In the Hermetic and Platonist systems, "the
vital and immortal principle" was known as the "Paternal Monad " (the
parent-source of the temporal personality), and it is of interest to students
to learn that this recondite expression, "Paternal Monad," was taken over by
official religion and given a human and personal touch, and from being a
philosophical abstraction became changed into the homely phrase now
used in the Lord's Prayer and the Gospels, "the Father which is in heaven."
The gold of mystical attainment is the unon of the human with the Divine
consciousness; it is that state spoken of by the Christian Master in the
familiar words: "I and the Father are one" (St. John, chapter 10, verse 30);
and, as the symbolism of the Supreme Degree in the Craft system is
designed to illustrate, the mystcal "ascent" to "the Father" involves also an
introversion or "descent" into the deepest recesses of the sod.

The "height of the Lodge ("even as high as the heavens") implies that the
range of consciousness, when man has fully developed his potentialities,
Is Infinite.  Man, however, has yet to complete his evolution from the
rational to the intuitional level, and to scale this height is achieved: "By the
assistance of a ladder (First Lecture, Fourth Section). Innumerable are the
names by which this upward striving of the human mind and soul has been
described in the literature of all ages; it is known as the "Ladder of
Perfection"; the Ascent of the mystical Mountain"; "the Way": "the Path"; all
of which are equivalent terms for the same process. In certain of the
Mystery systems a Ladder consisting of seven steps was used to allegorize
the manner of approach to perfection.  The seven steps of this mystical
"Ladder of Perfection" were in correspondence with the seven planes of
consciousness, according to the classification of natural symbolism, and
the Ladder stretched from EARTH to AETHER; in other words, it stretched
from EARTH to HEAVEN, like the Ladder of which Jacob dreamed
(Genesis, chapter 28, verse 12).  It is written elsewhere (St. John, chapter
14, verse 2) that the Father's House has many mansions; man levels and
resting places for His creatures in their different conditions and degrees of
progress; and it is these levels, or planes and sub-planes of the Universe,
that are denoted in numerous systems, the Craft included, by the symbolic
rungs of a Ladder.  Of the planes of the Universe there are, for man in the
present state of his evolutionary unfoldment, three principal ones; the
physical plane, the plane of desire and emotion, and the mental plane
which links up with the still higher plane of the spirit.  These three levels of
the world are reproduced in man.  The physical plane corresponds with his
material physique; the plane of desire and emotion with his desire and
emotional nature; and the mental plane with his mentality which forms the
link between his physical nature and his spiritual being.  Moreover, the
Ladder, with its three principal "rounds," may be seen everywhere in Nature. 
It appears in the septenary scale of musical sound with its three dominants;
in the prismatic scale of light with its three primary colours; in the septenary
physiological changes of the human bodily organism, and in similar
periodicities known to physics and indeed to every branch of science. 
Masonically, the perfect Lodge has seven members, with three principal
Officers; and the advancement of the Third Degree candidate to the East
is by seven steps, the first three of which are given special significance.

We are now in the position to account for "Jacob's Ladder" being given
prominence in Masonic symbolism.  It should be obvious, in the light of the
foregoing, that the ascent of the "Ladder of Perfection" through the
sevenfold planes of consciousness has also three main stages; and here
we have the prototypical "Three Degrees" which figure not only in the
ancient rites, and in modern Freemasonry, but throughout the entire
tradition concerning Initiation science.  Every system of Initiation, whether
of the past or present, is divided into three clear-cut stages, and these may
be summarized as follows:-

FRST DEGREE: Is the ascent to WATER, and its implications are, therefore,
passional. Here the aspirant reaches the third step of the mystic Ladder. 
The task to be achieved in the First Degree is detachment from the
allurennents of all that is signified in the Masonic system by "monies and
metallic substances," and the purification and subdual of the bodily and
sensual tendencies.  This work of detachment and self-purification in
Freemasonry is the Entered Apprentice work, and to it is theoretically
allotted the period of seven years.  The reason for the seven years of
apprenticeship is based on the septenary principle operating in Nature.  In
the course of each seven years the material particles of the human body
become entirely changed and reconstituted.  By a course of pure living,
diet, and thought for that period, the physical organism is clarified,
sublimated and made a more efficient vehicle for the transmission of the
central inner Light.  This is the true reason for asceticism; the gradual
substitution of refined physical tissues for grosser, impure ones.

SECOND DEGREE: Is the ascent to AIR, and its implications are, therefore,
rational and spiritual.  Here the aspirant reaches the fifth step of the mystic
Ladder, and achieves inspiration. The work of the Second Degree is that of
analysis, discipline and control of the mind, the intellectual and psychic
faculties.  This extremely difficult task is, in Freemasonry assigned to the
Fellowcraft stage, to which is allotted a further five years, with the previous
seven making twelve. Because of this, in the ancient systems, the
candidate who had completed the period was said to be "twelve years old."

THIRD DEGREE: Is the ascent to AETHER (FIRE), and its implicatons are,
therefore, intuidional. Here the aspirant reaches the seventh step of the
mystic Ladder.  He "closes his eyes" in a mystical death to this world, and
attains the supreme revelation. This, the "last and greatest trial," as it is
correctly designated in the Masonic system, lies in the breaking and
surrender of the personal will, the dying down of all sense of personality
and self-hood, so that the personal will may become merged in the divine
Universal Will and the illusion of separate independent existence give way
to conscious realization of unity with the one Life that permeates the
Universe.  To attain this is to attain Mastership, involving complete
domination of the lower nature and the development in oneself of a higher
order of life and faculty.  And he who thus attained was of old said to be
of the mystical age of "thirty years."

"I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance," says John the Baptist;
"but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not
worthy to bear; he shall baptise you with, the Holy Ghost, and with fire" (St. 
Matthew, chapter 3, verse II).  In the Greek text, Ghost is "Pneuma," which
means also AIR.  To be baptised with the Holy Ghost, therefore, is
figuratively to mount the "Ladder of Perfection" to the rational plane of AIR
and receive the "divine afflatus," or that spiritual breathing-into which is the
accredited "voice" of inspiration.  These three baptisms of which John
speaks signify successive "immersions" in WATER, in AIR, in FIRE and they
are in correspondence with the traditional THREE DEGREES of Initiation.

The implications of the symbolical term WATER in mystical tradition are
many and complex. Primarily, of course, WATER is the Psyche, the
passional or sensuous principle; it is the vehicle of psychic or instinctive
vision, which is vision by reflection, as distinct from intuitive or mystical
vision, which is direct insight. Secondarily, as the sensitive and instinctive
soul, the variable "element" of WATER is the life principle animating the
physical, body, and the Mixture of EARTH and WATER constituting the
living physical body denotes what is known in mystical literature as "human
clay." At death, the life principle leaves the physical body, or, in mystical
terminology, "the WATER is poured out," and then the dry EARTH crumbles
to dust, "dust to dust returning." ("For we must needs die, and are as water
spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again "-2nd Samuel,
chapter 14, verse 14.) In sleep, which is traditionally regarded as a lesser
death, the WATER is only partially poured out, and it flows back again at
awakening; this ebb and flow of the WATER in the recurrent phenomenon
of sleep having its analogy in the exterior world in the daily tides of the sea.
("But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose
waters cast up mire and dirt" - Isaiah, chapter 57, verse 20.)

Hardly less complex than those of the WATER are the symbolical
implications of the AIR.  Of these two, AIR is traditionally masculine and
represents all that is connoted by the term "the spirit," as WATER is
feminine and signifies all that is understood by the term "the senses." And
between them there is this important distinction: that whereas the sensitive
WATER is a "separating" medium and a vehicle of the merely personal
consciousness, the spiritual AIR is a "unifying" medium and a vehicle of the
impersonal and universal consciousness.  Herein lies the true import of the
words: "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am
I in the midst of them" (St. Matthew, chapter 18, verse 20); that is, escape
from personal separation by means of spiritual communion with others is
the condition precedent to spiritual awareness.  All energy comes from one
Ultimate Source, as from God.  On the intuitional plane of AETHER it
operates as Light or Idea, but on the spiritual plane of AIR it works as Wind,
Breath, Sound, Voice or Word; and hence these latter are the forms in
which spiritual impulses are traditionally depicted.

Above and beyond the spiritual AIR is the intuitional AETHER, the plane on
which human consciousness achieves the highest and fullest apprehension
of which it is capable. In relation to the divine Mystery, the operation of
pure reason is likened in tradition to the hearing by ear, and the faculty of
intuition is compared to the seeing by eye.  For example, after suffering
many grievous trials Job is represented as saying to the Lord: "I have heard
thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee" (Job, chapter
42, verse 5).  This means that cleansed by long discipline, Job is free from
illusion, free even from the comparative limitations of reason; and, in the
words of St. Luke, "The light of the body is the eye; therefore when thine
eye is single, thy whole body is full of light" (Luke, chapter II, verse 34). 
The "singleness" of the eye consists, of course, in its steady purity of vision,
not in the literal fact that it is only one.  There are many mythological
variations of the symbolical distinction between "hearing" and "seeing"; for
instance, it is recorded that when Adam was in Eden (AIR), he heard the
Voice, but did not see the Face, of God: "And they heard the voice of the
Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day" (Genesis, chapter
3, verse 8); according to the Hebrew the "voice" was in the wind.  In the
same subjective sense we must interpret the universal tradition concerning
a Voice that speaks from behind a Veil which is lifted only in supreme
revelation.  This Veil hangs between reason and intuition, and the drawing
of it aside signifies the ascent of the consciousness from inspiration to
revelation.  The Veil itself corresponds to the RING OF FIRE (RAINBOW)
which divides the AIR from the AETHER.  It Illustrates the idea underlying
the story of Siegfried, who, being upon the mountain-top (AIR), had to pass
through the "fiery ring" before he could possess the bride Brunhilde, which
is a version of the myth of the Veiled Lady who, both in tradition and in
ritual, is the Bride of the Initiate.  The dividing Veil also corresponds to the,
"wall of fire" placed around the Heavenly Jerusalem, protecting the
Shechinah: "For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about,
and will be the glory in the midst of her" (Zechariah, chapter 2, verse 5). 
It is the Veil worn by the sacred Isis, and by the Veiled Lady of the
Kabbalah; and It is the prototype of the Veil of the Sanctuary, concealing
the mystery of that Holy of Holies of which the archetype is Heaven, and
into which none save the High Priest may enter: "And thou shalt hang up
the veil under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the veil the
ark of the testimony; and the veil shall divide unto you between the holy
place and the most holy" (Exodus, chapter 26, verse 33). Implicit in these
traditional concepts is the distinction between "Inspiration" and "Revelation,"
between the "hearing" of Truth as the "Word" on the spiritual plane of AIR,
and the "seeing" of Truth as the "Idea" on the intuitional plane of AETHER. 
This distinction has an important place in the interpretation of Craft
ceremonial and Royal Arch tradition.

In the Craft Lectures the symbolic rungs of "Jacob's Ladder" are also given
a moral significance, and made to "point out as many moral virtues" (First
Lecture, Fourth Section), the three chief ones being associated with the 
Pauline triad of FAITH, HOPE and CHARITY.  This moral interpretation is
both warranted and salutary. It is necessary at the outset to remind
aspirants that the height cannot be reached by a single bound or sudden
translation, but only as the result of continuous effort in, which every act
and thought of the daily life is concentrated upon the end in view. 
Moreover, incidental methods of developing consciousness should always
be subordinate to three primary and essential qualifications :

FAITH: Full assurance in the possibility of attaining the goal. "By Faith we
have access to the Throne of Grace, are justified, accepted, and finally
received" (First Lecture, Fourth Section).

HOPE: Persistent desire for its fulfilment. "So shall success attend us; if we
believe a thing to be impossible, our despondency may render it so, but he
who perseveres in a just cause, will ultimately overcome all his difficulties"
(First Lecture, Fourth Section).

CHARITY: An unbounded Love which, seeking God in all men and all
things, despite their outward appearances, and thinking no evil, gradually
identifies the mind and nature of the aspirant with that ultimate Good
proclaimed from "time immemorial" as the consummation of the cosmic
scheme. This is expressed Masonically: "Glory to God on high on earth
peace; goodwill towards mem." It is the best and the surest proof of the
sincerity of our religion" (First Lecture, Fourth Section).

It is wrong to assume, as some of our Brethren apparently do, that Initiation
is dependent upon intellectual attainments, scientific or academic learning,
and studious book-knowledge.  These may be, and indeed are, lesser
staves of the mystical "Ladder of Perfection"; but they are not numbered
among the principal rungs. Compare the words of St. John: "If any man will
do His will, he shall know of the doctrine." Our perpetual work lies in
striving to raise our consciousness from the level of the material to that of
the spiritual, and to unite it with the Light Supernal.  We must never forget,
however, that whilst we make this effort of struggling towards the Light, our
steadfast Faith is that the Light is also seeking us with a reciprocal Intense
desire for union.  The unitive process is mercifully gradual, coming as "a
thief in the night" (of our darkness); were its advent sudden and abrupt it
would blind rather than enlighten; and did it come to one whose organism
is not adjusted to bear the strain, its coming would confound and sear,
rather than heal, bless and sustain.  Hence the insistence of our Craft
system upon the necessity of the Candidate being "properly prepared" in
each Degree, and in possession of the proper qualifications.

To each of the traditional Three Degrees of Initiation there belongs a
specific Ordeal.  The nature of these Ordeals is determined by the nature
and significance of the three intermediate planes of consciousness, MIRE,
MIST and RING OF FIRE (RAINBOW), which are in correspondence with
three rungs of the mystical "Ladder of Perfection."

The First Degree is a preliminary purification, and consists in the ascent to
WATER, involving the Ordeal of MIRE.  It denotes the mounting of the
consciousness through the sensual to the sensuous plane; and it implies
a repudiation by the aspirant of those "carnal affections" to which the
ceremony of Baptism makes specific allusion.  At Eleusis, the Candidate for
the Mysteries was smeared with mud or clay before the purifying immersion
in water.  This smearing the subsequent Cleansings ("Katharsia") clearly
represent the passage through MIRE into WATER.

The Second Degree is traditionally the stage of Self-conflict, but in order to
understand its import and the nature of the Ordeal, we have first to
consider both the mythological and subjective connotations of MIST and
AIR.  Mythologically, MIST is Purgatory, while AIR signifies the LOWER
PARADISE from which Man fell: hence the Ordeal is one of expiation and
triumph over the temptation by which the Fall was compassed.
Subjectively, MIST is the plane or state of error, and the Ordeal usually
takes the form of "wanderings," figurative of those discursive intellectual
speculations in search of Truth which take place before the plane or state
of inspiration (AIR) is attained.  In the Eleusinian system the Candidate,
after bathing in the sea (WATER), wandered in darkness on the seashore,
ostensibly making a ritual search for the lost Persophene; he then passed
into the vestibule of the temple, where temptations were simulated by
encounters with monsters.  It may be added that, since the spiritual plane
of AIR (upon which alone the WORD is received) is the prototype of the
mythical Lost Estate, the Second Degree involves a search for the Lost
Word. Thereafter comes what Theon of Smyrna calls "Paradosis" or
"transmission of the mystery." In the New Testament account, the Baptism
of the Master and His sojourn In the Wilderness correspond to the First and
Second Degrees; hence in the Wilderness the Master was seeking for the
Word, as indeed, being "hungry" and tempted by the Devil, He repied: "Man
shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word of God" (Luke, chapter 4,
verse 4).  The temptations are signified in the Craft system by the cryptic
reference to "the attacks of the insidious."

The Third Degree is traditionally the Degree of Death it consists in the
ascent to AETHER, involving the Ordeal of the RING OF FIRE. 
Mythologically, AETHER is the Celestial Paradise, which is the habitation of
the Gods; and the fiery RING corresponds to the Veils which shroud it. 
Subjectively, AETHER is the plane of intuition, to which the consciousness
attains after passing through the fiery RING, which is the plane of spiritual
ecstasy.  Here, on this supreme plane of AETHER, which is the plane of
REVELATION, the aspirant is united (as it were, married) with the Truth he
seeks. The divine mystery is now at last seen with the eye of intuitive
certitude; and, in the ecstasy of this direct and full inward perception, the
aspirant is temporarily "dead" to the external world.  Accordingly, the ritual
Ordeal of the Third Degree is a simulated death representing that "closing
of the eyes" to all the things of this world which is a condition precedent to
divine revelation. To quote from an ancient record of Initiation: "The sleep
of the body becomes the awakening of the soul, and the closing of the
eyes true vision, and silence becomes impregnated with God" (Hermes,
Poemandres, 1, 30). We have also the testimony of Apuleius that in the final
stange of his Initiation into the Mysteries of Isis he received a "new life" and
was "born again," which suggests quite clearly that he suffered what
amounted to a ritual death. In the Eleusinian rites the Third Degree was
called - "Epopteia," which means "seeing"; this apocalypse (literally,
unveiling) figured the process of intuitional perception.  The aspirant now
"saw" that of which in the Second Degree he had "heard" and henceforward
he bore the title of "Epoptes,"  which means a seer." In brief, "Epopteia" was
the mystery visible it symbolized the process of "Revelation"; and it was
therefore the culminating feature of the Greater Initiation. The equivalent rite
in the Craft system is the Royal Arch Ceremony, which is the completion of
the Third Degree.  There is no doubt that the Third Degree in some of the
ancient Mystery systems included a ceremony of "mystical marriage." In this
ceremony the same psychological allusions were rendered in a sexual
allegory.

According to the general tradition which underlies all lnitiaton systems, the
"Bride" of the initiate is WISDOM (SOPHIA) - the "Veiled Lady" of the
Kabbalah; she is married to the Initiate himself, who, being depicted as a
seeker after Truth, is ritually a "philosopher" (a lover of Wisdom): "She is
more precious than rubies; and all the things thou canst desire are not to
be compared unto her" (Proverbs, chapter 3, verse 15)

The general results of this preliminary study of Craft symbolism, together
with the major premises to which they point, may now be summarized.  In
the first place, it becomes fairly obvious to the student that formal or ritual
Initiation is a series of Ceremonies designed to represent a reversal of the
process which is implied by the doctrine that forms the philosophic basis
of all the great world religions, and also of the Mysteries of antiquity,
namely the doctrine known popularly as the "Fall of Man." Stated
alternatively, as the myth of the "Fall" is the story of Paradise Lost, so
ceremonial Initiation is the narrative of Paradise Regained. According to
universal tradition, however, there are two Paradises, the Lower and the
Celestial; there are, therefore, two successive objectives in ritual Initiation,
(1) the recovery of the Lost Estate or Lower Paradise, and (2) the
attainment of the Celestial Paradise.  The realization of these two objectives
consists in (a) the Lesser Mysteries, and (b) the Greater Mysteries.  In the
Craft system the Three Degrees correspond to the Lesser Mysteries, and
the Royal Arch Degree to the Greater Mysteries.  We have noted that in the
symbolical scale of the "elements" the Lower Paradise is AIR and the
Celestial Paradise is AETHER; it follows that the full Initiation is signified by
an ascent through all the "elements." On the other hand, since the
"elements" themselves are symbols of planes or states of consciousness,
ritual Initiation may likewise be interpreted as a purely psychological
expedence. It figures the ascent of consciousness from material or 
physical concerns, through the passional WATER and the MIST of error, to
the AIR of pure reason, which is the plane of inspiration; and finally the
ascent (involving a death to this world) to the intuitional AETHER, which is
the plane of revelation.  Interpreted in this manner, ritual Initiation
corresponds exactly to what may be called empirical Initiation; for this
detachment of the consciousness from material and passional things is
precisely what every philosopher must achieve before the Truth he seeks
can be heard in inspiration; as he must, further, rise beyond reason before
Truth can be fully revealed to him through intuition, making him an Initiate,
a "seer." As an ascent through the "elements," or the figurative mounting of
the "Ladder of Perfection," ritual Initiation, then, is neither an arbitrary nor
a fantastic sequence of Ceremonies. It is indeed, a symbolical counterpart
of empirical Initiation; that is, of the renouncing of "the world, the flesh, and
the devil" in the pursuit of divine illumination.

Furthermore, the initiatory rites which the aspirant has to undergo before
he can participate in the "secrets" of the Mysteries are a faithful allegory of
the psychological changes which are a condition precedent to every
revelation of Truth in experience; while the symbolical testing ordeals of the
rites are an equally valid reflection of the difficulties and temptations which
will be encountered by every man who seeks salvation in the quest for
Truth.

Here the present Paper must end, although at the point where it might well
but begin.  The interpretation of Masonic symbolism, and its application to
personal life, will be continued in subsequent Papers to follow in regular
order.  One important question which arises out of the preliminary study,
however, calls for an answer immediately.  Is the conscious possession of
real Initiation attainable through the Ceremonial rites of modern
Freemasonry? We may, in the words of Shakespeare, "have immortal
longings in us," and aspire to realize them; indeed, such a nostalgia of the
heart is the necessary prerequisite to their realization; can the offices of the
Craft system of Initiation promote direct experience? The answer must
surely be: It all depends upon ourselves, and upon our individual
qualifications.  The aim of Initiation, which is Immortality or Eternal Life, is
declared in Scripture to be "the gift of God," but the bestowal of that gift is
not confined to any specific method; neither is it represented as being
conferred in a capricious manner. On the contrary, it is spoken of as
something to be arduously and intelligently laboured for and earned; and
as being given only to him who "endures to the end" of the ordained
process. What can be said with assurance is that all the great Initiation
Orders of the past were designed to assist in this dedicated work, and that
the same is equally true of our Masonic Order today. There has always
been some measure of success by these means; there has always been a
far greater proportion of failure. The maxim: "Many are the called, but few
are the chosen" is still applicable; nevertheless, the failure was and is
attributable, not to the Initiation system but rather to the members
themselves. There is no essential difference between the implications of the
modern Craft Degrees and what was taught in Egypt or at Eleusis, or in the
Hebrew Schools and other systems, only variations in detail and
elaboration.  The discipline, the technique, requisite for Initiation on the
spiritual level, are presented in the Craft system in our day, quite as
effectively as ever they were in the past, at least rudimentarily.  It is we
ourselves who may fail to apply them, we who may so misunderstand our
doctrine that we miss finding what we profess to seek, and who live in
social conditions of our own making that are inimical to the culture of the
inward life.

Finally, we should reflect upon the significance of that "ancient and
venerable exhortation" which is quoted in the Lectures: "Seek, and ye shall
find; ask, and ye shall have; knock, and it shall be opened unto you (First
Lecture, Second Section).

SO MOTE IT BE.