I’ve been reading Brother Austin Shifrin’s latest book of Masonic essays, and hope to have a review of it published here as soon as I’m done.
But, last night, while reading his essay about the Chamber of Reflection I was really struck by one of the passages within it, and decided that I should share that passage here.
“I feel that one challenge of the scythe for the modern audience is much like that of many other biblical metaphors; being rooted in agrarian activities, and those of animal husbandry, they can be rather unfamiliar diminishing the resonance...”
“…I think that a modern man might look upon a scythe in the chamber of reflection and immediately recognize a reference to ‘The Grim Reaper’ but possibly overlook some subtler nuances inherent in the metaphor of death-as-harvest; First that the harvest is not an aggressive or punitive activity - this representation of death does not arrive with a weapon, he arrives with an implement which is part of the process of gathering that which is valuable, even precious; and second, that the harvest is an activity that takes place at a foreordained time, because the season has arrived, and the old crops must give way so that new ones may appear in the proper cycle…”
When I grew up of course the harvest of my family's farms was brought in with diesel powered tractors pulling modern implements.
But, I well remember a couple of old scythes, hanging in the barn. It’s hard to imagine how much labor would be required prior to the widespread adoption of engine powered farm equipment, but obviously they would have been used long ago, lest they wouldn’t have been there.
I never thought however when looking at representations of the Grim Reaper, or Death, or Santa Muerte, as the scythe being carried as a symbol of the harvest. I guess I didn’t consider the tool much at all. But, that’s a mistake of course, for as our Brother points out in his book, the scythe is a symbol that can teach us. In hindsight it is clear to see that the name Reaper is of course a clue as well, pointing towards the meaning of the scythe.
And of course the scythe is a Masonic symbol outside of the Chamber of Reflection as well, appearing in one of our Degrees.
I found this interpretation from Brother Shifrin very interesting, and I hope that you do as well.
Please watch for my review of his latest book Black Ink, Farther Stars to be posted here soon.
In the meantime, you can read my review of his previous book here:
Well, I must confess that I was "today" old when the concept of the scythe as just a harvesting equipment and not a weapon sunk in. We have been taught to fear "the grim reaper" by society for so long that the concept goes unquestioned.
I wonder what else goes unquestioned, that is wrong.
I never thought about the symbolism of the scythe either, and how as a harvesting tool it’s relation to the Grim Reaper. Thank you Cameron M. Bailey 💀