At last night’s Rummer & Grapes gathering over zoom, we discussed various Masonic symbols, and what they mean to us. Touched upon briefly in that conversation, but not discussed in detail was the memorial marker erected in the Temple to honor Hiram. We are informed:
“Masonic tradition informs us that there was erected to his memory a Masonic monument, consisting of ‘a beautiful virgin, weeping over a broken column; before her was a book open; in her right hand a sprig of acacia, in her left an urn; behind her stands Time, unfolding and counting the, ringlets of her hair.’
The beautiful virgin weeping over the broken column denotes the unfinished state of the Temple, likewise the untimely death of our Grand Master, Hiram Abiff; the book open before her, that his virtues lay on perpetual record; the sprig of acacia in her right hand, the divinity of the body; the urn in her left, that his ashes were therein safely deposited, under the "Sanctum Sanctorum, or Holy of Holies," of King Solomon's Temple. Time, unfolding the ringlets of her hair, denoted that time, patience, and perseverance accomplish all things.”
What important lesson(a) about the Master Mason Degree can the symbol as explained above teach us?
Let’s chat about it…
For those who might not know, the photo above is taken in the San Juan Islands, and once each year San Juan Lodge performs a Fellowcraft Degree within that structure. If you haven’t seen that particular Degree, I highly recommend it.
What puzzles me is that you would think the writers of the rituals and lectures would be aware that under Jewish law cremation is forbidden?
As far as the symbolism is concerned, it basically contains many of the things I use a Memento Mori to encapsulate. Death can come at any time so live your life as if every day will be your last. That you should try and leave a legacy behind so that you do "Live Respected, Die Regretted".
I think that's why so many brothers bequeath money to the craft (especially in the appendant bodies like the Shrine) Also, to become Life members, it's nice to know that I would continue to give back to the lodge even after I'm gone, even if it's just a few pennies out of an anonymous pool of cash.
For me personally, the one thing I would hate to have happen is to die like my Brother did. Alone, with no children, and nothing left behind that he even existed.
To many, Father Time consoling the mourning virgin represents a life of someone taken too early. The acacia represents the immortality of the soul, whereas the urn represents the loss of the physical body placed on the broken pillar; indicating a “pillar of the community” was destroyed.
The said figure illustrates Chronos (Father Time) and Rhea (morning virgin). This story can best be found in the Eleusinian Mysteries that entails the abduction of Persephone by the king of the underworld in a cycle of three phases: the descent (loss), the search, and the ascent. Likewise, this is alluded to in Masonry as the lost word, the search, and the ascent (raising from the dead).
In any organized religion or mystical organization there are two ends of the stick to every meaning; the literal story and the allegory. If we want to understand the meaning while looking at the literal or historic version, we are holding the wrong end of the stick. Take for example the three ruffians and their associated objects and place of assault, as pointed out by Albert Pike. This was not a historical representation but alludes to the self and society today.
As noted in “According to Light on Masonry,” written by bro. De Hoyos, 2008.
Albert Pike has made several references to the symbolism of the Ruffians as well as to the weapons they chose to utilize in the recounting of the murder of H.A. Pike identified the three Brothers who are the greatest enemies of individual welfare and social progress as Kingcraft, Priestcraft, and the ignorant Mob-Mind. Together they conspire to destroy liberty, without which man cannot advance in self-improvement.
1. Instrument: 24” gauge, from the Latin “regula,” meaning “to govern.” Area: the throat, from where we speak, symbolizing the silencing of freedom of speech. Pike asserts that the first Ruffian represents Royalty which “fears the patriot” and sends these men “to the scaffold.”
2. Instrument: square, from the Latin “norma,” meaning “rule of conduct.” Area: heart, as the heart is the seat of convictions, faith and conscience so the blow is struck to suppress thoughts, opinions and liberty. ” Representative of Canon Law which “claims the right to define and enact what all men shall believe.” He offers that the angle of a square is symbolically where the spiritual and temporal powers of the Church unite.
3. Instrument: hammer, from the Latin “Malleus,” meaning “crush.” Area: Forehead, the area or seat of the intellect, stifling thought and constitutional freedom. This is a force which is organized and directed by a singular will which is both blind and unreasoning. It is the symbol of brute force as embodied in military despotism and in anarchy.
In Manly P. Hall’s work “The Lost Keys of Freemasonry” (1923), he presents the idea that the three ruffians are symbolic of “the three expressions of our own lower self which are in truth the murders of the good within ourselves” (Hall, 1923, p. 21).
Three great Greek thinkers searched until they found the three causes of sin in the hearts of men. In other words, they hunted in the mountains of the mind until they found the Ruffians. Socrates said that the chief ruffian is Ignorance — that is, no man in his right mind does evil unless he is so blinded by ignorance that he does not see the right. No man, he said, seeing good and evil side by side, will choose evil unless he is too blind to see its results. An enlightened self-interest would stop him. Therefore, his remedy for the ills of life is knowledge — "more light," a clearer insight.
Even so, said Plato; it is all true as far as it goes. But the fact is that men do see right and wrong clearly, and yet in a dark mood they do wrong in spite of knowledge. When the mind is calm and clear the right is plain, but a storm of passion stirs up sediments in the bottom of the mind, and it is so cloudy that clear vision fails. The life of man is like driving a team of horses, one tame and the other wild. So long as the wild horse is held firmly, all goes well. But, often enough, the wild horse gets loose causing a run-away and a wreck.
But that is not all, said Aristotle. We do not get to the bottom of truth to the matter until we admit the fact and possibility — in ourselves and in our fellows — of a moral perversity, a spirit of sheer mischief, which does wrong, deliberately and in face of right, calmly and with devilish cunning, for the sake of wrong and for love of it. Here, truly, is the real Ruffian most to be feared—a desperate character he is, who can only be overcome by Divine help.
What puzzles me is that you would think the writers of the rituals and lectures would be aware that under Jewish law cremation is forbidden?
As far as the symbolism is concerned, it basically contains many of the things I use a Memento Mori to encapsulate. Death can come at any time so live your life as if every day will be your last. That you should try and leave a legacy behind so that you do "Live Respected, Die Regretted".
I think that's why so many brothers bequeath money to the craft (especially in the appendant bodies like the Shrine) Also, to become Life members, it's nice to know that I would continue to give back to the lodge even after I'm gone, even if it's just a few pennies out of an anonymous pool of cash.
For me personally, the one thing I would hate to have happen is to die like my Brother did. Alone, with no children, and nothing left behind that he even existed.
To many, Father Time consoling the mourning virgin represents a life of someone taken too early. The acacia represents the immortality of the soul, whereas the urn represents the loss of the physical body placed on the broken pillar; indicating a “pillar of the community” was destroyed.
The said figure illustrates Chronos (Father Time) and Rhea (morning virgin). This story can best be found in the Eleusinian Mysteries that entails the abduction of Persephone by the king of the underworld in a cycle of three phases: the descent (loss), the search, and the ascent. Likewise, this is alluded to in Masonry as the lost word, the search, and the ascent (raising from the dead).
In any organized religion or mystical organization there are two ends of the stick to every meaning; the literal story and the allegory. If we want to understand the meaning while looking at the literal or historic version, we are holding the wrong end of the stick. Take for example the three ruffians and their associated objects and place of assault, as pointed out by Albert Pike. This was not a historical representation but alludes to the self and society today.
As noted in “According to Light on Masonry,” written by bro. De Hoyos, 2008.
Albert Pike has made several references to the symbolism of the Ruffians as well as to the weapons they chose to utilize in the recounting of the murder of H.A. Pike identified the three Brothers who are the greatest enemies of individual welfare and social progress as Kingcraft, Priestcraft, and the ignorant Mob-Mind. Together they conspire to destroy liberty, without which man cannot advance in self-improvement.
1. Instrument: 24” gauge, from the Latin “regula,” meaning “to govern.” Area: the throat, from where we speak, symbolizing the silencing of freedom of speech. Pike asserts that the first Ruffian represents Royalty which “fears the patriot” and sends these men “to the scaffold.”
2. Instrument: square, from the Latin “norma,” meaning “rule of conduct.” Area: heart, as the heart is the seat of convictions, faith and conscience so the blow is struck to suppress thoughts, opinions and liberty. ” Representative of Canon Law which “claims the right to define and enact what all men shall believe.” He offers that the angle of a square is symbolically where the spiritual and temporal powers of the Church unite.
3. Instrument: hammer, from the Latin “Malleus,” meaning “crush.” Area: Forehead, the area or seat of the intellect, stifling thought and constitutional freedom. This is a force which is organized and directed by a singular will which is both blind and unreasoning. It is the symbol of brute force as embodied in military despotism and in anarchy.
In Manly P. Hall’s work “The Lost Keys of Freemasonry” (1923), he presents the idea that the three ruffians are symbolic of “the three expressions of our own lower self which are in truth the murders of the good within ourselves” (Hall, 1923, p. 21).
Three great Greek thinkers searched until they found the three causes of sin in the hearts of men. In other words, they hunted in the mountains of the mind until they found the Ruffians. Socrates said that the chief ruffian is Ignorance — that is, no man in his right mind does evil unless he is so blinded by ignorance that he does not see the right. No man, he said, seeing good and evil side by side, will choose evil unless he is too blind to see its results. An enlightened self-interest would stop him. Therefore, his remedy for the ills of life is knowledge — "more light," a clearer insight.
Even so, said Plato; it is all true as far as it goes. But the fact is that men do see right and wrong clearly, and yet in a dark mood they do wrong in spite of knowledge. When the mind is calm and clear the right is plain, but a storm of passion stirs up sediments in the bottom of the mind, and it is so cloudy that clear vision fails. The life of man is like driving a team of horses, one tame and the other wild. So long as the wild horse is held firmly, all goes well. But, often enough, the wild horse gets loose causing a run-away and a wreck.
But that is not all, said Aristotle. We do not get to the bottom of truth to the matter until we admit the fact and possibility — in ourselves and in our fellows — of a moral perversity, a spirit of sheer mischief, which does wrong, deliberately and in face of right, calmly and with devilish cunning, for the sake of wrong and for love of it. Here, truly, is the real Ruffian most to be feared—a desperate character he is, who can only be overcome by Divine help.