My new laptop arrived this afternoon, so this is my first post with a new machine. We’ll see how it goes! Actually the keyboard is going to take a wee bit of getting used too. It’s stiffer than on my old Pixelbook.
“We do not assert that this legend (The Hiramic Legend) is true. We only know that it has come to us by tradition. At what time the legend of the death of Hiram took the place of the older legends in the mysteries of Persia, India, and Egypt, we have no information. Nor is it important for us to know. For Masonry is a succession of allegories, the mere vehicles of great lessons in morality and philosophy.”
The above quote is from Albert Pike's Magnum Opus. It communicates a belief, fairly widely held, that Freemasonry is a continuation of the Ancient Mysteries.
That it is just the current successor of those earlier Mysteries. That the lessons taught by it are the same lessons taught in the Ancient Mysteries, that those lessons have remained constant, only the details of the legend itself have changed.
Absolutely. The Hiram character can be replaced by Persephone in the Eleusinian mysteries, Osiris in the Egyptians mysteries, Christ in Christianity, and so forth and so forth.
The MM degree didn't make it's way into the fraternity until (I think) around 1726. Until that time, the highest degree was "A fellow of the craft". The legend of Hiram Abiff was created at that time. The entire point of the degree is the importance of Integrity.
The degrees of masonry make more than a few assertions that are, frankly, hogwash, but that's fine as they are made to simply make points.
Yes, I believe we are one of the current successors of the Western Mystical Tradition (WMT). No, I don’t believe we are in possession of our mysteries through a continuous intentional transmission of those mysteries from one organization to the next.
I have walked the entire spectrum on this question. At first glance I believed we MUST be the living incarnation of the ancient mystery schools, and somewhere there was a cabal of adepts responsible for the conscious transmission of that tradition. I mean it seems so obvious, our rituals, our customs, our legends, they all fall in line.
That ended for me, after years of research, reading, even travelling, and NOT finding one bread crumb of such a transmission. I found this uncomfortable as the elements of the WMT were present, clearly. It seemed more magical to believe that the WMT had manifested in Masonry without a transmission, than with it. Yet, the data I followed led me to the conclusion it did not happen.
So, how do I think it happened? I believe that if you took a random group of human beings, transported them to another planet, and allowed that group to evolve a society independently eventually that society would manifest something identifiable as the WMT. It’s in our genes. It’s part of who we are. Before the globalization of culture, we see secret societies, often expressing many similar beliefs, goals and modes of operations occurring around the world. It's part of being human. It’s something that emerges from our consciousness when we live in groups.
There is a whole science emerging on this subject, and its fascinating. The simplest example is the layout of a city. Regardless of culture, regardless of date, all human cities are laid out basically the same way. So much so that if you were to arrive in a city you have never visited, you could with confidence ask for the ‘business district’, the ‘city market’, or the ‘red light’ district. There is no law of physics or biology that requires these functions to be grouped in districts, yet they are. You will find relationships between the spatial distribution of functions that are common in all human cities. This is because we have hard wired in us a city layout that ‘just makes sense’.
Given the impulse in humans to have a mystical tradition, It is my opinion that our fraternal ancestors drifted slowly from operative to speculative work. They incorporated elements of the WMT as they encountered them, probably often from men initiated from those traditions, or who were aware of them. The blue print for this process emerges from human consciousness itself. The mythology developed is a story quilted from history, mythology and the creative writing that provides a necessary story to underpin our Fraternity’s existence. I think as we progress the story becomes less important, but the underlying message becomes more important.
Myths evolved with time. The reason for this is to accomodate the myth to the mental maturity of humanity at said moment. So in order to find an origin we need to look at the elements that compose the myth and then back track and look for similarities or posible links. Of course at some moment the evidence is not physical and live as a theory.
The Hiram legend gives us a clue of a possible egyptian background.
I believe that without the mysteries and history Masonrywould be like a ship without its propellers or ruder and going nowhere until evenyually the deep six. So I support the use of them.
Today’s discussion point iont he third degree ritual of great interest to me.
The Hiramic legend may be the essential part of today’s third degree -Master Mason. But it was not always so.
At the time of the formation of the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster there were only two degrees, Entered Apprentice and Fellow of the Craft. These degrees were in practice, for some time ,by the Operative Masons in Scotland.
Somewhere between 1710 and 1723 a third degree was being conferred in Scotland and then in 1726 a revised third degree was presented as a play in England. It is believed it was developed by Desagulier and friends after he visited Edinburgh Lodge #1 and observed their degrees.
We know from documents at the time (Rituals and lodge minutes) that the current third degree was formed by taking a part of the Fellowcraft degree and constructing the Hiram Legend around it.
These points are all disussed in my paper "How Part of the Fellowcraft Degree became the base for the Master Degree" in which I offered the following conclusion:
1. There was a third degree in existence and practiced in a Scottish lodge sometime between
1710 and 1723.
2. The main character was not Hiram Abiff and not known, but ( surmise) probably Noah.
3. Desaguliers and friends changed the main character from Noah to Hiram Abiff sometime
between 1725 and 1738.
4. The first ever presentation of the current third degree was put on in a theatre as a play and
not in a masonic lodge in 1726.
5. It is suggested, by Bro. Robert Cooper, that they replaced Noah by Hiram Abiff to avoid
trouble with the church because Noah 'belonged' to the Church whereas Hiram Abiff is a
masonic invention.
6. It has also been suggested that the Hiran Abiff legend was invented by jacobites and was
a represenatation of the exicution of the britisk King Charles 1 in 1649.
Absolutely. The Hiram character can be replaced by Persephone in the Eleusinian mysteries, Osiris in the Egyptians mysteries, Christ in Christianity, and so forth and so forth.
No.
The MM degree didn't make it's way into the fraternity until (I think) around 1726. Until that time, the highest degree was "A fellow of the craft". The legend of Hiram Abiff was created at that time. The entire point of the degree is the importance of Integrity.
The degrees of masonry make more than a few assertions that are, frankly, hogwash, but that's fine as they are made to simply make points.
Oh my, this is a can of worms!
Yes, I believe we are one of the current successors of the Western Mystical Tradition (WMT). No, I don’t believe we are in possession of our mysteries through a continuous intentional transmission of those mysteries from one organization to the next.
I have walked the entire spectrum on this question. At first glance I believed we MUST be the living incarnation of the ancient mystery schools, and somewhere there was a cabal of adepts responsible for the conscious transmission of that tradition. I mean it seems so obvious, our rituals, our customs, our legends, they all fall in line.
That ended for me, after years of research, reading, even travelling, and NOT finding one bread crumb of such a transmission. I found this uncomfortable as the elements of the WMT were present, clearly. It seemed more magical to believe that the WMT had manifested in Masonry without a transmission, than with it. Yet, the data I followed led me to the conclusion it did not happen.
So, how do I think it happened? I believe that if you took a random group of human beings, transported them to another planet, and allowed that group to evolve a society independently eventually that society would manifest something identifiable as the WMT. It’s in our genes. It’s part of who we are. Before the globalization of culture, we see secret societies, often expressing many similar beliefs, goals and modes of operations occurring around the world. It's part of being human. It’s something that emerges from our consciousness when we live in groups.
There is a whole science emerging on this subject, and its fascinating. The simplest example is the layout of a city. Regardless of culture, regardless of date, all human cities are laid out basically the same way. So much so that if you were to arrive in a city you have never visited, you could with confidence ask for the ‘business district’, the ‘city market’, or the ‘red light’ district. There is no law of physics or biology that requires these functions to be grouped in districts, yet they are. You will find relationships between the spatial distribution of functions that are common in all human cities. This is because we have hard wired in us a city layout that ‘just makes sense’.
Given the impulse in humans to have a mystical tradition, It is my opinion that our fraternal ancestors drifted slowly from operative to speculative work. They incorporated elements of the WMT as they encountered them, probably often from men initiated from those traditions, or who were aware of them. The blue print for this process emerges from human consciousness itself. The mythology developed is a story quilted from history, mythology and the creative writing that provides a necessary story to underpin our Fraternity’s existence. I think as we progress the story becomes less important, but the underlying message becomes more important.
BTW, unrelated to the discussion. If any of you are at the Esoteric Conference next week, I'd love to meet you! in real life!
Myths evolved with time. The reason for this is to accomodate the myth to the mental maturity of humanity at said moment. So in order to find an origin we need to look at the elements that compose the myth and then back track and look for similarities or posible links. Of course at some moment the evidence is not physical and live as a theory.
The Hiram legend gives us a clue of a possible egyptian background.
I believe that without the mysteries and history Masonrywould be like a ship without its propellers or ruder and going nowhere until evenyually the deep six. So I support the use of them.
Today’s discussion point iont he third degree ritual of great interest to me.
The Hiramic legend may be the essential part of today’s third degree -Master Mason. But it was not always so.
At the time of the formation of the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster there were only two degrees, Entered Apprentice and Fellow of the Craft. These degrees were in practice, for some time ,by the Operative Masons in Scotland.
Somewhere between 1710 and 1723 a third degree was being conferred in Scotland and then in 1726 a revised third degree was presented as a play in England. It is believed it was developed by Desagulier and friends after he visited Edinburgh Lodge #1 and observed their degrees.
We know from documents at the time (Rituals and lodge minutes) that the current third degree was formed by taking a part of the Fellowcraft degree and constructing the Hiram Legend around it.
These points are all disussed in my paper "How Part of the Fellowcraft Degree became the base for the Master Degree" in which I offered the following conclusion:
1. There was a third degree in existence and practiced in a Scottish lodge sometime between
1710 and 1723.
2. The main character was not Hiram Abiff and not known, but ( surmise) probably Noah.
3. Desaguliers and friends changed the main character from Noah to Hiram Abiff sometime
between 1725 and 1738.
4. The first ever presentation of the current third degree was put on in a theatre as a play and
not in a masonic lodge in 1726.
5. It is suggested, by Bro. Robert Cooper, that they replaced Noah by Hiram Abiff to avoid
trouble with the church because Noah 'belonged' to the Church whereas Hiram Abiff is a
masonic invention.
6. It has also been suggested that the Hiran Abiff legend was invented by jacobites and was
a represenatation of the exicution of the britisk King Charles 1 in 1649.