EGG. The mundane egg is a well-recognized symbol of the world. "The ancient pagans," says Faber, "in almost every part of the globe, were wont to symbolize the world by an egg. Hence this symbol is introduced into the cosmogony of nearly all nations; and there are few persons, even among those who have not made mythology their study, to whom the Mundane Egg is not perfectly familiar. It was employed not only to represent the earth, but also the universe in its largest extent." Origin of Pag.
Idolatry, i. 175.
EGG AND LUNETTE. The egg, being a symbol not only of the resurrection, but also of the world rescued from destruction by the Noachic ark, and the lunette, or horizontal crescent, being a symbol of the Great Father, represented by Noah, the egg and lunette combined, which was the hieroglyphic of the god Lunus, at Heliopolis, was a symbol of the world proceeding from the Great Father.
EGYPT. Egypt has been considered as the cradle not only of the sciences, but of the religions of the ancient world. Although a monarchy, with a king nominally at the head of the state, the government really was in the hands of the priests, who were the sole depositaries of learning, and were alone acquainted with the religious formularies that in Egypt controlled all the public and private actions of the life of every inhabitant.
ELEPHANTA. An island in the Bay of Bombay, celebrated for the stupendous caverns artificially excavated out of the solid rock, which were appropriated to the initiations in the ancient Indian Mysteries.
ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES. Of all the Mysteries of the ancients these were the most popular. They were celebrated at the village of Eleusis, near Athens, and were dedicated to Demeter. In them the loss and the restoration of Persephone were scenically represented, and the doctrines of the unity of God and the immortality of the soul were taught. See Demeter.
ENTERED APPRENTICE. The first degree of Ancient Craft Masonry, analogous to the aspirant in the Lesser Mysteries.
It is viewed as a symbol of childhood, and is considered as a preparation and purification for something higher.
EPOPT. (From the Greek [Greek: e)po/Ptês], an eye witness.) One who, having been initiated in the Greater Mysteries of paganism, has seen the aporrheta.
ERA OF MASONRY. The legendary statement that the origin of Masonry is coeval with the beginning of the world, is only a philosophical myth to indicate the eternal nature of its principles.
ERICA. The tree heath; a sacred plant among the Egyptians, and used in the Osirian Mysteries as the symbol of immortality, and the analogue of the masonic acacia.
ESSENES. A society or sect of the Jews, who combined labor with religious exercises, whose organization partook of a secret character, and who have been claimed to be the descendants of the builders of the temple of Solomon.
EUCLID. The masonic legend which refers to Euclid is altogether historically untrue. It is really a philosophical myth intended to convey a masonic truth.
EURESIS. (From the Greek [Greek: ey)/resis], a discovery.) That part of the initiation in the ancient Mysteries which represented the finding of the body of the god or hero whose death was the subject of the initiation.
The euresis has been adopted in Freemasonry, and forms an essential part of the ritual of the third degree.
EVERGREEN. A symbol of the immortality of the soul.
Planted by the Hebrews and other ancient peoples at the heads of graves.
For this purpose the Hebrews preferred the acacia, because its wood was incorruptible, and because, as the material of the ark, it was already considered as a sacred plant.
EYE, ALL-SEEING. A symbol of the omniscient and watchful providence of God. It is a very ancient symbol, and is supposed by some to be a relic of the primitive sun-worship. Volney says (Les Ruines, p. 186) that in most of the ancient languages of Asia, the eye and the sun are expressed by the same word. Among the Egyptians the eye was the symbol of their supreme god, Osiris, or the sun.
F
FABER. The works of the Rev. G.S. Faber, on the Origin of Pagan Idolatry, and on the Cabiri, are valuable contributions to the science of mythology.
They abound in matters of interest to the investigator of masonic symbolism and philosophy, but should be read with a careful view of the preconceived theory of the learned author, who refers everything in the ancient religions to the influences of the Noachic cataclysm, and the arkite worship which he supposes to have resulted from it.
FELLOW CRAFT. The second degree of Ancient Craft Masonry, analogous to the mystes in the ancient Mysteries.
The symbol of a youth setting forth on the journey of life.
FETICHISM. The worship of uncouth and misshapen idols, practised only by the most ignorant and debased peoples, and to be found at this day among some of the least civilized of the negro tribes of Africa. "Their fetiches," says Du Chaillu, speaking of some of the African races, "consisted of fingers and tails of monkeys; of human hair, skin, teeth, bones; of clay, old nails, copper chains; shells, feathers, claws, and skulls of birds; pieces of iron, copper, or wood; seeds of plants, ashes of various substances, and I cannot tell what more." Equatorial Africa, p. 93.
FIFTEEN. A sacred number, symbolic of the name of God, because the letters of the holy name JAH are equal, in the Hebrew mode of numeration by the letters of the alphabet, to fifteen; for [Hebrew: yod] is equal to ten, and [Hebrew: heh] is equal to five. Hence, from veneration for this sacred name, the Hebrews do not, in ordinary computations, when they wish to express the number 15, make use of these two letters, but of two others, which are equivalent to 9 and 6.
FORTY-SEVENTH PROBLEM. The forty-seventh problem of the first book of Euclid is, that in any right-angled triangle the square which is described upon the side subtending the right angle is equal to the squares described upon the sides which contain the right angle. It is said to have been discovered by Pythagoras while in Egypt, but was most probably taught to him by the priests of that country, in whose rites he had been initiated; it is a symbol of the production of the world by the generative and prolific powers of the Creator; hence the Egyptians made the perpendicular and base the representatives of Osiris and Isis, while the hypothenuse represented their child Horus. Dr. Lardner says (Com. on Euclid, p. 60) of this problem, "Whether we consider the forty-seventh proposition with reference to the peculiar and beautiful relation established by it, or to its innumerable uses in every department of mathematical science, or to its fertility in the consequences derivable from it, it must certainly be esteemed the most celebrated and important in the whole of the elements, if not in the whole range of mathematical science."
FOURTEEN. Some symbologists have referred the fourteen pieces into which the mutilated body of Osiris was divided, and the fourteen days during which the body of the builder was buried, to the fourteen days of the disappearance of the moon. The Sabian worshippers of "the hosts of heaven" were impressed with the alternate appearance and disappearance of the moon, which at length became a symbol of death and resurrection. Hence fourteen was a sacred number. As such it was viewed in the Osirian Mysteries, and may have been introduced into Freemasonry with other relics of the old worship of the sun and planets.
FREEMASONRY, DEFINITION OF. See Definition.
FREEMASONS, TRAVELLING. The travelling Freemasons were a society existing in the middle ages, and consisting of learned men and prelates, under whom were operative masons. The operative masons performed the labors of the craft, and travelling from country to country, were engaged in the construction of cathedrals, monasteries, and castles. "There are few points in the history of the middle ages," says Godwin, "more pleasing to look back upon than the existence of the associated masons; they are the bright spot in the general darkness of that period; the patch of verdure when all around is barren." The Builder, ix. 463
G
G. The use of the letter G in the Fellow Craft's degree is an anachronism.
It is really a corruption of, or perhaps rather a substitution for, the Hebrew letter (yod), which is the initial of the ineffable name. As such
, it is a symbol of the life-giving and life-sustaining power of God.
G.A.O.T.U. A masonic abbreviation used as a symbol of the name of God, and signifying the Grand Architect of the Universe. It was adopted by the Freemasons in accordance with a similar practice among all the nations of antiquity of noting the Divine Name by a symbol.
GAVEL. What is called in Masonry a common gavel is a stone-cutter's hammer; it is one of the working tools of an Entered Apprentice, and is a symbol of the purification of the heart.
GLOVES. On the continent of Europe they are given to candidates at the same time that they are invested with the apron; the same custom formerly prevailed in England; but although the investiture of the gloves is abandoned as a ceremony both there and in America, they are worn as a part of masonic clothing.
They are a symbol of purification of life.
In the middle ages gloves were worn by operative masons.
GOD, UNITY OF. See Unity of God.
GOD, NAME OF. See Name.
GOLGOTHA. In Hebrew and Syriac it means a skull; a name of Mount Calvary, and so called, probably, because it was the place of public execution. The Latin Calvaria, whence Mount Calvary, means also a skull.
GRAVE. In the Master's degree, a symbol which is the analogue of the pastos, or couch, in the ancient Mysteries.
The symbolism has been Christianized by some masonic writers, and the grave has thus been referred to the sepulchre of Christ.
GRIPS AND SIGNS. They are valuable only for social purposes as modes of recognition.
H
HAND. The hand is a symbol of human actions; pure hands symbolize pure actions, and impure or unclean hands symbolize impure actions.
HARE. Among the Egyptians the hare was a hieroglyphic of eyes that are open, and was the symbol of initiation into the Mysteries of Osiris. The Hebrew word for hare is arnabet, and this is compounded of two words that signify to behold the light. The connection of ideas is apparent.
HELLENISM. The religion of the Helles, or ancient Greeks who immediately succeeded the Pelasgians in the settlement of that country. It was, in consequence of the introduction of the poetic element, more refined than the old Pelasgic worship for which it was substituted. Its myths were more philosophical and less gross than those of the religion to which it succeeded.
HERMAE. Stones of a cubical form, which were originally unhewn, by which the Greeks at first represented all their deities. They came in the progress of time to be especially dedicated by the Greeks to the god Hermes, whence the name, and by the Romans to the god Terminus, who presided over landmarks.
HERO WORSHIP. The worship of men deified after death. It is a theory of some, both ancient and modern writers, that all the pagan gods were once human beings, and that the legends and traditions of mythology are mere embellishments of the acts of these personages when alive. It was the doctrine taught by Euhemerus among the ancients, and has been maintained among the moderns by such distinguished authorities as Bochart, Bryant, Voss, and Banier.
HERMETIC PHILOSOPHY. The system of the Alchemists, the Adepts, or seekers of the philosopher's stone. No system has been more misunderstood than this. It was secret, esoteric, and highly symbolical. No one has so well revealed its true design as E.A. Hitchcock, who, in his delightful work entitled "Remarks upon Alchemy and the Alchemists," says, "The genuine Alchemists were religious men, who passed their time in legitimate pursuits, earning an honest subsistence, and in religious contemplation, studying how to realize in themselves the union of the divine and human nature, expressed in man by an enlightened submission to God's will; and they thought out and published, after a manner of their own, a method of attaining or entering upon this state, as the only rest of the soul." There is a very great similarity between their doctrines and those of the Freemasons; so much so that the two associations have sometimes been confounded.
HIEROPHANT. (From the Greek [Greek: i(eros], holy, sacred, and [Greek: phai/nô] to show.) One who instructs in sacred things; the explainer of the aporrheta, or secret doctrines, to the initiates in the ancient Mysteries. He was the presiding officer, and his rank and duties were analogous to those of the master of a masonic lodge.
HIRAM ABIF. The architect of Solomon's temple. The word "Abif" signifies in Hebrew "his father," and is used by the writer of Second Chronicles (iv. 16) when he says, "These things did Hiram his father [in the original Hiram Abif ] do for King Solomon.".
The legend relating to him is of no value as a mere narrative, but of vast importance in a symbolical point of view, as illustrating a great philosophical and religious truth; namely, the dogma of the immortality of the soul.
Hence, Hiram Abif is the symbol of man in the abstract sense, or human nature, as developed in the life here and in the life to come.
HIRAM OF TYRE. The king of Tyre, the friend and ally of King Solomon, whom he supplied with men and materials for building the temple. In the recent, or what I am inclined to call the grand lecturer's symbolism of Masonry (a sort of symbolism for which I have very little veneration), Hiram of Tyre is styled the symbol of strength, as Hiram Abif is of beauty. But I doubt the antiquity or authenticity of any such symbolism. Hiram of Tyre can only be considered, historically, as being necessary to complete the myth and symbolism of Hiram Abif. The king of Tyre is an historical personage, and there is no necessity for transforming him into a symbol, while his historical character lends credit and validity to the philosophical myth of the third degree of Masonry.
HIRAM THE BUILDER. An epithet of Hiram Abif. For the full significance of the term, see the word Builder.
HO-HI. A cabalistic pronunciation of the tetragrammaton, or ineffable name of God; it is most probably the true one; and as it literally means HE-SHE, it is supposed to denote the hermaphroditic essence of Jehovah, as containing within himself the male and the female principle,--the generative and the prolific energy of creation.
HO. The sacred name of God among the Druids. Bryant supposes that by it they intended the Great Father Noah; but it is very possible that it was a modification of the Hebrew tetragrammaton, being the last syllable read cabalistically (see ho-hi); if so, it signified the great male principle of nature. But HU is claimed by Talmudic writers to be one of the names of God; and the passage in Isaiah xlii. 8, in the original ani Jehovah, Hu shemi, which is in the common version "I am the LORD; that is my name," they interpret, "I am Jehovah; my name is Hu."
HUTCHINSON, WILLIAM. A distinguished masonic writer of England, who lived in the eighteenth century. He is the author of "The Spirit of Masonry," published in 1775. This was the first English work of any importance that sought to give a scientific interpretation of the symbols of Freemasonry; it is, in fact, the earliest attempt of any kind to treat Freemasonry as a science of symbolism. Hutchinson, however, has to some extent impaired the value of his labors by contending that the institution is exclusively Christian in its character and design.
I
IH-HO. See Ho-hi.
IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. This is one of the two religious dogmas which have always been taught in Speculative Masonry.
It was also taught in all the Rites and Mysteries of antiquity.
The doctrine was taught as an abstract proposition by the ancient priesthood of the Pure or Primitive Freemasonry of antiquity, but was conveyed to the mind of the initiate, and impressed upon him by a scenic representation in the ancient Mysteries, or the Spurious Freemasonry of the ancients.
INCOMMUNICABLE NAME. The tetragrammaton, so called because it was not common to, and could not be bestowed upon, nor shared by, any other being.
It was proper to the true God alone. Thus Drusius (Tetragrammaton, sive de Nomine Dei proprio, p. 108) says, "Nomen quatuor literarum proprie et absolute non tribui nisi Deo vero. Unde doctores catholici dicunt incommunicabile [not common] esse creaturae."
INEFFABLE NAME. The tetragrammaton. So called because it is ineffabile, or unpronounceable. See Tetragrammaton.
INTRUSTING, RITE OF. That pa
rt of the ceremony of initiation which consists in communicating to the aspirant or candidate the aporrheta, or secrets of the mystery.
INUNCTION. The act of anointing. This was a religious ceremony practised from the earliest times. By the pouring on of oil, persons and things were consecrated to sacred purposes.
INVESTITURE, RITE OF. That part of the ceremony of initiation which consists of clothing the candidate masonically. It is a symbol of purity.
ISH CHOTZEB. Hebrew, hewers of stones. The Fellow Crafts at the temple of Solomon. (2 Chron. ii. 2.).
ISH SABAL. Hebrew, bearers of burdens. The Apprentices at the temple of Solomon. (2 Chron. ii. 2.).
J
JAH. It is in Hebrew [Hebrew: yod-heh] whence Maimonides calls it "the two-lettered name," and derives it from the tetragrammaton, of which it is an abbreviation. Others have denied this, and assert that Jah is a name independent of Jehovah, but expressing the same idea of the divine essenee. See Gataker, De Nom. Tetrag..
JEHOVAH. The incommunicable, ineffable name of God, in Hebrew [Hebrew: yod-heh-vau-heh], and called, from the four letters of which it consists, the tetragrammaton, or four-lettered name.
L
LABOR. Since the article on the Symbolism of Labor was written, I have met with an address delivered in 1868 by brother Troué, before St. Peter's Lodge in Martinico, which contains sentiments on the relation of Masonry to labor which are well worth a translation from the original French. See Bulletin du Grand Orient de France, December, 1868.
"Our name of Mason, and our emblems, distinctly announce that our object is the elevation of labor.
"We do not, as masons, consider labor as a punishment inflicted on man; but on the contrary, we elevate it in our thought to the height of a religious act, which is the most acceptable to God because it is the most useful to man and to society.
"We decorate ourselves with the emblems of labor to affirm that our doctrine is an incessant protest against the stigma branded on the law of labor, and which an error of apprehension, proceeding from the ignorance of men in primitive times has erected into a dogma; an error that has resulted in the production of this anti-social phenomenon which we meet with every day; namely, that the degradation of the workman is the greater as his labor is more severe, and the elevation of the idler is higher as his idleness is more complete. But the study of the laws which maintain order in nature, released from the fetters of preconceived ideas, has led the Freemasons to that doctrine, far more moral than the contrary belief, that labor is not an expiation, but a law of harmony, from the subjection to which man cannot be released without impairing his own happiness, and deranging the order of creation. The design of Freemasons is, then, the rehabilitation of labor, which is indicated by the apron which we wear, and the gavel, the trowel, and the level, which are found among our symbols."
The Symbolism of Freemasonry by Albert G. Mackey Page 25
