The very real conspiracy against Freemasonry

reply to post by MCoG1980



If you don't get an answer to your question here, this would be a great subject for a new thread. It would be a refreshing change to "masons are bad, mkay".

I would like to make a statement here.
It is indeed true that me and Augustus are one and the same.

Were you fooled? I attempted to alter my posting style as much as I could.

I also borrowed about three fifty from Masonic Light.
I'll be sure to get it back to him. I'm good for it.

[edit on 11-5-2009 by Skyfloating]

reply to post by Skyfloating


Oh yes. As serious as a judge in a rainstorm.

Of course... it may also be these funky fruit snacks I've just finished eating...

[edit on 11-5-2009 by RuneSpider]

nevermind...I just reviewed the last two pages...

Im double-fooled. You dont sound anything like the Augustus and I edited away the embarrassment.

[edit on 11-5-2009 by Skyfloating]

reply to post by Skyfloating


Ah, but obviously the fact that I sound nothing like Augustus must therefore mean I am indeed Augustus, trying not to sound like Augustus Masonicus.

It's simple logic.

Originally posted by RuneSpider
Ah, but obviously the fact that I sound nothing like Augustus must therefore mean I am indeed Augustus, trying not to sound like Augustus Masonicus.

But what if I told you I like Karate and have a career in Tech Support? Are you starting to wonder about yourself?

All kidding aside, the most accurate way to tell if you are me would be to look into the mirror and if you do not see a reflection then you most likely are me.




And related to Bill Schnoebelen.




Sorry.















[edit on 11-5-2009 by AugustusMasonicus]

reply to post by AugustusMasonicus


I don't have a mirror nearby, but I think I am related to my Uncle Bill, by marriage at least.

Don't be sorry, he's very good at his model ships. They're very special.

I guess that means we are not the same person though... Darn. I was really convinced there for a moment.

Originally posted by RuneSpider
I would like to make a statement here.
It is indeed true that me and Augustus are one and the same.

Were you fooled? I attempted to alter my posting style as much as I could.

I also borrowed about three fifty from Masonic Light.
I'll be sure to get it back to him. I'm good for it.

tree fity! It was about that time I realized he was the loch ness monsta.

Originally posted by network dude
I look forward to seeing some of the other symbols explained as I have yet to see them in a masonic context.

OK, I'll do one...

The hexagram (interlocking triangles) go back way before Freemasonry, and have been adopted by Freemasonry, and also by many religions such as Judaism and others, and denotes God.

So, first a bit of history about the symbol...

The hexagram within a circle dates its origins back to the Brahmins in the highland plateu north of the Hindu-Kush.

According to the Brahmins:

The equilateral triangle, Trikum, represents Brahma, the Triune god, with his visible attendants, Vishnu (water) and Siva (Fire).

The triangle with its point turned upwards, as flames dart upwards to the sky, denote Siva, the Spirit of fire.

The triangle with its point turned downwards, as rain falls to the earth, denote Vishnu, the Spirit of water.

The two triangles interlaced, called Sherkum, represent Vishnu and Siva, being the visible spirits, and therefore denoting Brahma, the Triune god.

The encircling ring is an emblem of eternity and infinity.

The hexagram was later adopted by many as a symbol for God.

Now, you asked how the hexagram fits in to a Masonic context. The position of the square and compasses in the symbol for freemasonry makes up the entire hexagram, except for two parallel lines. In early Masonry, the square and compass, when placed on the Volume of the Sacred Law, were placed so that the top and bottom of the pages of the bible made up the two missing parallel lines of the hexagram. (with the S&C overlapping the pages.)

(Recall that the two parallel lines in the ritual represent Moses and King Solomon, and are therefore an allusion to the VSL.)





So where did the Square and compass symbol originate? In Masonry, the square and compasses themselves are placed the way they are because originally, their placement on the VSL would make up the hexagram, a symbol denoting God.

Thus, symbolically, the square and compass were incomplete, except when they were placed on the VSL, as in open lodge.

[edit on 12/5/2009 by Saurus]

OK, a little bit extra here about the Brahmin symbols for those interested in the history/symbolism...

In the same Brahmin teachings, the point within a circle was called Purm, which represented the inner essence of Brahm, from which "all emanates, and around which all revolves."

Put together the S&C, the parallel lines, and the point within a circle, and there is the perfect, complete symbol for the inner essence of god, by the ancient Brahmin teachings.

This ancient symbol of the interlaced triangle with the point within a circle (purm) is found on many ancient Indian monuments, such as on the tomb of Hamayun, and on the gateway of the fort of Agra, to name a few...

[edit on 12/5/2009 by Saurus]

reply to post by Saurus


The expertise is commendable

reply to post by Skyfloating


Many thanks.

I discovered the history of the symbols when I stumbled across a copy of an old book written and presented by Bro. F. Finlayson to the Quator Coronati Lodge No. 2076 on 1 January, 1889 (120 years ago). I have researched the topic heavily since then, by looking through old Masonic books and papers.

I have just found a preview of this valuable old manuscript online:
Legends and Symbols of Freemasonry

I would recommend that anybody (especially Freemasons) interested in Masonic Symbolism should get hold of and read a copy of this book immediately. It is one of the most fascinating accounts of Masonic history and symbolism that I have ever read.

[edit on 12/5/2009 by Saurus]

My thanks to everyone who tried to help, it is the pew ends in the cathedral i am interested in though - i think they are all masonic symbols and they all represent something:

I'll start with what i could find, i know next to nothing on this sort of stuff hence why i wanted your expert opinions, i can only go by the info i dredge up from the net - this is what i was able to find but is still abit to get my head around - might mean more to you guys (sky, wasn't sure how much i could quote) let me know what you think if you would:

Tau Crosses and swastika:

www.flickr.com...

www.flickr.com...

www.flickr.com...

The Symbols denoting the Holy Trinity are of great antiquity:- 1.

The First Person is represented by a Circle with a central Point. Let me remind you that, when we ask where we hope to find the genuine secrets which have been lost, we are answered “With the Centre”; not on, or at, or in the Centre, but with the Centre. In other words, within that infinity represented by this Symbol, that which we represent as a central point is everywhere, the circumference is nowhere. From the Centre the Life rays out through the planes of consciousness, burying itself in that it may conquer Matter on all levels. From this self-sought tomb it arises and returns to the Centre with the results of its accumulated experiences. It gains the point when the urge is felt “I will arise and go to my Father.” Thus, no point can be said to be upon the circumference, because each and every point is always with the Centre, although it may have, in time and space, veiled its elf so that the Centre is lost to sight.

The Second Person is symbolized by the same Circle with a horizontal diameter, denoting its balanced nature, Spirit and Matter, Very God and Very Man.

The Third Person is shown as the Circle enclosing the Greek Cross, equi-armed, a vertical diameter added to the former symbol. It represents spirit in manifestation, crucified on the cross of Matter. It is composed of Two separate and distinct symbols, 1. With the lower semicircle only divided, it is Spirit upon the Tau cross of Matter 2. With the upper semi-circle only divided, Spirit upon the Tau Cross of spirit. The one denotes Limitation, Involution, the other denotes Triumph, Evolution. The latter is the Nimbus of Christ Triumphant, in art.

When, in the former, spirit rises above Matter and subdues it, the resultant symbol is a circle-handled cross and, as it draws away from the Material level; the handle elongates into the Loop. Here is the CRUX ANSATA, or Ankh Cross. The same symbol appears also, and the two phases are seen in the Egyptian Scarab and Ankh. It appears also, whether accidentally or by design, in the position of the hands of the of the Celebrant at the Christian Eucharist between the Consecration and the final Ablutions.

From the equi-armed, so-called Greek, Cross, on which is based the symbol of the Third Person, have develoyed various forms of the Cross. Most of these indicate the Activity of the Third Person, The Swastika, the Maltese Cross and so on. One point might be of interest, which is illustrated in the loop of the “Absolute Key of Occult Science,” shown in the frontispiece of Papust’ “The Tarot of the Bohemians.” Here we have the letters TARO distributed equidistantly round the Circle, that is to say, at the f our points of a Cross. This arrangement appears also on the 10th card of the Major Pack, the Wheel of Fortune. The word TAROT would indicate that Man emerges from Immortality and passes through Birth, Life and Death and back into Immortality. The “T” or Tau, is here that Immortality which is Perfect Light and Perfect Darkness, the Occupant of the Northern position in the Lodge. The Wards of this Key are three in number; 1, colored Red and marked DEU S, God; 2, White or Yellow and mark HOMO, Man; and 3, Blue, marked TORA or ROTA, the Universe or Wheel. It is noteworthy that Man, standing at the bottom of the Wheel, reads the letters as ROTA, the Disc or Potter’s Wheel.

The Tau Cross is the Mark mentioned in Ezekiel IX,4, where the Lord says to the Angel, “Go through the midst of th City, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a MARK upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.” The Vulgate roads “sigma Thau,” which is literally translated in the Douay Version as “mark Thau.”

As the junior officers in a H.R.A. Chapter wear the Master’s Square as the badge of their office and the candidate also is invested therewith, it follows that they are all entitled to this Tau of Spirit. The W.M. wears it three times repeated on his apron to indicate that he has completely triumphed over the Personality. He should be, as we say, one who has reached complete self-control or self-mastery, as a condition of competency to rule over others. Originally one had to be an I.M. before presenting oneself for exaltation in the Chapter. A relic of this is found in our printed rituals in the Craft, wherein it is usual to find the response, s.m.i,b., put into the mouth of a P.M In the Chapter a word is gained, the vibratory qualities of which make it an exact equivalent of the ancient sacred Name, usually represented by the letters A.U.M. This AUM or Om in later times becomes confused with the Egyptian AMEM, which is used in the Churches to-day. Still later, in Masonry, the response came to be given by all and the qualification for the Chapter was reduced. Then this response, which only a P.M. who was also a R.A. mason could legally pronounce, was changed into the non-committal and safe substitute, s.m.i.b.

Now I want to consider one more symbolic Cross, up to which all this has been leading, the Traditional Form of what is called the “True Cross”. We fine the dimensions given in Chapter 2 of the “Travels of Sir John Maundeville,” and quoted by R. A. Lidstone in his “Studies in Symbology.” The Cross is made of wood, of timbers of 9 inch square section. The Upright measures 144 inches (8 cubits). The top of the Cross-bar is 27 inches from the top of the Upright and the Crossed-bar is 63 inches long. Thus the Upright is composed of 16 nine-inch cubic units and the Cross-bar of 7 units, that unit numbered “4” being common to both. The whole symbol comprises 22 cubes.

source: www.masonicworld.com...

five petal rose:

www.flickr.com...

seal of luther??

The Rosicrucians
Interest in the "wisdom" of antiquity did not flounder after the Renaissance, but was continued by a mysterious order known as the Rosicrucians who claimed descent from the Templars, and who played an important part in the Protestant Reformation. The rose of the Rosicrucians both represented the Kabbalistic rose of the Song of Solomon, with five petals, like a pentagram, referring to Venus, and meant "red cross", in reference to the red cross of the Templars. It was noted that Luther used as his personal seal the symbol of a rose and a cross, and Valentin Andrea, the reputed author of the Rosicrucian Manifestos, which began to appear in 1614, was known to be one of his close friends and supporters.


As detailed by Frances Yates, in the Rosicrucian Enlightenment, the Rosicrucian movement was part of a conspiracy to bolster the emerging Protestant movement against the Catholic Church and its Habsburg supporters. The movement was focused on the important dynastic alliance forged through the marriage of Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of King James of England, and Frederick, Elector of the Palatinate of the Rhine. Interestingly, occult historian Laurence Gardner explains that the Stuart lineage were the representative of the so-called Grail bloodline of the Merovingians, which survived in Scotland, and descended from King Arthur.


In 1619, the Protestants offered the crown of Bohemia to Frederick, arounsing the reaction of the Habsburgs that precipiated the Thirty Years War. The Rosicrucian movement was utterly routed, by many of its members managed to flee to Europe, where they were responsible for the early formation of Royal Society. It was from these circles that the Freemasons emerged, and their activity in England contributed to the Cromwell Revolution, which toppled the reign of Charles, who was eventually replaced by Charles II Stuart.

When James II, King Charles II's brother and successor, was also forced to leave the throne, bringing to an end the Stuart succession. Though the throne was then offered jointly to William of Orange and his wife Mary, James' daughter, who were both of Stuart lineage, the Scots were disappointed at the loss of a Stuart monarch. It was these disaffected representatives of the Stuart cause, who sprouted Freemasonry in France, which established itself as a separate Grand Orient Lodge, and continued to support the Stuart cause.

source: www.thedyinggod.com...


STILL ADDING TO THIS POST....MORE TO COME>>>

[edit on 14-5-2009 by MCoG1980]

still on with the 5 petal rose - when i was at a christening the other day i noticed this in the decoration around the edges of the church roof - inside - along with other symbols - might have to go back to take some photos

anyways back to the topic:

Early roses had only five petals, and legend says the original color was always white. The ancient Greeks believed that roses turned red when Venus chased after her lover, Adonis, and pricked her finger on a thorny bush in her haste to reach him. According to Christian documents, the blood of the crucified Christ spilled down onto a white rosebush growing at the foot of the cross and ever afterwards, rose blossoms were red instead of white.
The simple structure of the early roses featured a fairly large golden center with the five petals blown wide open. The descendants of these roses are still grown today and sold in nurseries as “shrub roses.” They have lots of short-stemmed flowers and lots of thorns and not much perfume.

It appears that roses changed little in structure until fairly recently. When the British houses of Lancaster and York were fussing over who really deserved to control the monarchy, each family used a rose (red for the Lancastrians and white for the Yorkists) as its symbol. Their artistic renditions of the rose in heraldry, battle flags, and shields show, for both families, virtually identical versions of the five-petaled wild rose, wide open. When Henry VII came to power at the end of the War of the Roses in 1485, he “married” the warring factions by combining their red and white roses to create the two-tone Tudor Rose, the symbol of his reign and also the symbol of England today.

source: www.themasonictrowel.com...


Pomegrante:

www.flickr.com...

Enriched with ... Lilywork and Pomegranates




Both lilywork and pomegranates are named in the Bible in descriptions of the pillars outside the Temple (I Kings: 7 and 2 Chronicles: 3). The pomegranate (Punica granatlim) was widely grown in the Middle East in those days and it does indeed produce a large number of seeds. There are several references in the Bible and perhaps most interestingly is one in the Old Testament (Exodus 28:33). Here the robes of the ephod (of Aaron and other priests) were of blue and 'upon the hem of it thou should make pomegranates of blue, and of purple and of scarlet.

source:
www.masonicworld.com...


beehive:

www.flickr.com...

In a masonic pamphlet written about 1725 and often attributed to Jonathan Swift, bees and a beehive are discussed. By the seventeenth century brethren they were considered an emblem of industry recommending the practice of that virtue to all created things from the highest seraph in Heaven to the lowest reptile in the dust.' The beehive was regularly seen as a masonic symbol from the middle of the eighteenth century onwards, on tracing boards, certificates, jewels, glass and pottery. The Lodge of Emulation (now No.21) adopted it as its emblem more than two centuries ago and still uses it. But, at the Union of 1813, it was one of several symbols (others were the hourglass, the scythe and the ark) which were abandoned. It remains, however, as an emblem in Scottish Craft Freemasonry and many American rituals preserve explanations that had at one time been current in England.




Conclusion




The genuine symbols of our masonic Craft are there for all to see. It is often a good thing for each brother to contemplate them and, having done so, to work out his own interpretations and this I have to some extent practiced for myself[ We all, of course, learn much from the ritual explanations and can if we so desire turn to the writings of those who have made a particular study of symbolism. My own experience, as I have committed myself to paper, is that our symbols, in providing visual reminders of the lessons learned in lodge, enable a freemason to carry those lessons into and so enrich his daily life.

source:www.masonicworld.com...

[edit on 14-5-2009 by MCoG1980]

reply to post by network dude

Man I'm an overachiever; I go to Lodge at least once a week.

reply to post by KSigMason


You must be a busy man. We have months like that but not all the time.
Are you active in any other group or is that just blue lodge goings on?

Where did Free Masons originate from?

reply to post by genma


Traditionally, they originated from the Stone Mason guilds.

Every person who studies Masonry, however, will put forth their own pet theory about Masonry.
Some would claim they are descended from the Templars, though there's evidence they predate the Templars.

The solid part of Freemason history can be traced back to 1717, where modern Masonry took it's start.

Masonry existed before then, there's evidence in the form of some documents but it's difficult to state for certain before that point.

[edit on 16-5-2009 by RuneSpider]

reply to post by network dude

I am also in the York Rite. I am also thinking about getting involved with the Youth groups.

As a Worshipful Master I think it is a duty to visit the other Lodges so I do and also we have to have weekly meetings since we are backed-up on degree work. I have three FC's that are ready for the 3rd degree. I have a couple of EA's ready to be passed to FC.