The Path of the Freemasons: A Collection of Inspired Masonic Wisdom
Some esoteric scholars suggest that this statement was later made by Andreae in order to shield himself from the wrath of the religious and political institutions of the day, which were intolerant of free speech and the idea of a "universal reformation", which the manifestos called for. An example of the rosicrucian, rosy cross symbol predating the early rosicrucian manifestoes is that shown on the central panel of Herbaville Triptych, which is Byzantine and comes from the 10th or 11th century. In his work "Silentium Post Clamores" , rosicrucian, Michel Maier — , described rosicrucianism as having arisen from a " Primordial Tradition " in the following statement: By promising a spiritual transformation at a time of great turmoil, the manifestos influenced many figures to seek esoteric knowledge.
Seventeenth-century occult philosophers such as Michael Maier , Robert Fludd , and Thomas Vaughan interested themselves in the Rosicrucian world view. In later centuries, many esoteric societies have claimed to derive from the original Rosicrucians. Rosicrucianism is symbolized by the Rosy Cross or Rose Cross. The largest and most influential of these societies has been the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn , which consisted of several well known members of society.
The other is the Rosicrucian Order, A. C , an international, initiatic Fraternity, which involves itself in several educational and cultural activities, worldwide. Between and , three anonymous manifestos were published, first in Germany and later throughout Europe. The Fama Fraternitatis presents the legend of a German doctor and mystic philosopher referred to as "Father Brother C.
The year is presented as being the birth year of "our Christian Father", and it is stated that he lived years. After studying in the Middle East under various masters, possibly adhering to Sufism , [7] he was unable to spread the knowledge he had acquired to prominent European scientists and philosophers. During Rosenkreuz's lifetime, the order was said to comprise no more than eight members, each a doctor and a sworn bachelor. Each member undertook an oath to heal the sick, but without payment, to maintain a secret fellowship, and to find a replacement for himself before he died.
Three such generations had supposedly passed between c. The manifestos were and are not taken literally by many but rather regarded either as hoaxes or as allegorical statements. The manifestos directly state: It is evident that the first Rosicrucian manifesto was influenced by the work of the respected hermetic philosopher Heinrich Khunrath , of Hamburg , author of the Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae , who was in turn influenced by John Dee , author of the Monas Hieroglyphica The invitation to the royal wedding in the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz opens with Dee's philosophical key, the Monas Hieroglyphica symbol.
The writer also claimed the brotherhood possessed a book that resembled the works of Paracelsus. Adam Haslmayr a close friend of Karl Widemann who collected Paracelsus' work , wrote him a letter about Rosicrucian people who revealed the Theophrastiam, on December 24, Their literature announced them as moral and religious reformers. They used the techniques of chemistry alchemy and of the sciences generally as media through which to publicize their opinions and beliefs.
In his autobiography, Johann Valentin Andreae — claimed that the anonymously published Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz was one of his works, and he subsequently described it as a ludibrium. In his later works, he makes alchemy an object of ridicule and places it along with music, art, theater and astrology in the category of less serious sciences. According to some sources, his role in the origin of the Rosicrucian legend is controversial. In the early 17th century, the manifestos caused excitement throughout Europe by declaring the existence of a secret brotherhood of alchemists and sages who were preparing to transform the arts, sciences, religion, and political and intellectual landscape of Europe.
Wars of politics and religion ravaged the continent. The works were re-issued several times, followed by numerous pamphlets, favorable or otherwise. Between and , about manuscripts and books were published which discussed the Rosicrucian documents. The peak of the "Rosicrucianism furore" was reached when two mysterious posters appeared on the walls of Paris in within a few days of each other.
The first said "We, the Deputies of the Higher College of the Rose-Croix, do make our stay, visibly and invisibly, in this city Some later works impacting Rosicrucianism were the Opus magocabalisticum et theosophicum by George von Welling —of alchemical and paracelsian inspiration—and the Aureum Vellus oder Goldenes Vliess by Hermann Fictuld in He also was one of the most prominent defenders of the Rosicrucians, clearly transmitting details about the "Brothers of the Rose Cross" in his writings.
Maier made the firm statement that the Brothers of R. Researchers of Maier's writings point out that he never claimed to have produced gold, nor did Heinrich Khunrath or any of the other "Rosicrucianists". Their writings point toward a symbolic and spiritual alchemy, rather than an operative one. In a combination of direct and veiled styles, these writings conveyed the nine stages of the involutive-evolutive transmutation of the threefold body of the human being, the threefold soul and the threefold spirit , among other esoteric knowledge related to the "Path of Initiation".
In , Sigmund Richter , founder of the secret society of the Golden and Rosy Cross , also suggested the Rosicrucians had migrated eastward. They were based on the occult, inspired by the mystery of this "College of Invisibles". Some modern scholars, for example Adam McLean and Giordano Berti , assume that among the first followers of the Rose Cross there was also the German theologian Daniel Cramer , who in published a bizarre treatise entitled "Societas Jesus et Rosae Crucis Vera" The True Society of Jesus and the Rosy Cross , containing 40 emblematic figures accompanied by biblical quotations.
The literary works of the 16th and 17th centuries were full of enigmatic passages containing references to the Rose Cross , as in the following somewhat modernized:. For what we do presage is not in grosse, For we are brethren of the Rosie Crosse; We have the Mason Word and second sight, Things for to come we can foretell aright.
The idea of such an order, exemplified by the network of astronomers, professors, mathematicians, and natural philosophers in 16th-century Europe promoted by such men as Johannes Kepler , Georg Joachim Rheticus , John Dee and Tycho Brahe , gave rise to the Invisible College. This was the precursor to the Royal Society founded in Among these were Robert Boyle , who wrote: I had the opportunity of being acquainted with divers worthy persons, inquisitive natural philosophy, and other parts of human learning; and particularly of what hath been called the New Philosophy or Experimental Philosophy.
We did by agreements, divers of us, meet weekly in London on a certain day and hour, under a certain penalty, and a weekly contribution for the charge of experiments, with certain rules agreed amongst us, to treat and discourse of such affairs According to Jean Pierre Bayard , [20] two Rosicrucian-inspired Masonic rites emerged toward the end of 18th century, the Rectified Scottish Rite , widespread in Central Europe where there was a strong presence of the "Golden and Rosy Cross", and the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite , first practised in France, in which the 18th degree is called Knight of the Rose Croix.
The change from "operative" to "speculative" Masonry occurred between the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 18th century. Two of the earliest speculative Masons for whom a record of initiation exists were Sir Robert Moray and Elias Ashmole. Robert Vanloo states that earlier 17th century Rosicrucianism had a considerable influence on Anglo-Saxon Masonry.
Hans Schick sees in the works of Comenius — the ideal of the newly born English Masonry before the foundation of the Grand Lodge in Comenius was in England during Under the leadership of Hermann Fictuld the group reformed itself extensively in and again in because of political pressure. We must also make this examination if we are to discover whether or not they have an accepted Masonry built up through the practise of the rites that we observe.
The last proposition we may dismiss, for what means had the red man of knowing of the special rites of an order that up to was in a state of crystallization and evolution and whose lectures had not yet become fixed? A thorough examination will reveal that the Indians had indeed a Freemasonry but not the Accepted Masonry. But we may perhaps understand our Masonry better if we understand more of the Indian's Freemasonry. First let us examine the inherent capacity of the higher members of the various Indian tribes to receive the teachings of Masonry, and such of their fundamental beliefs as may be in harmony with it.
With the Iroquoian family of Indians at least, the sacred number is four.
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We find that there are four basic beliefs of the Iroquois. Other tribes and nations of Red Men held these same truths as supremely evident. The Red Man believed a Supreme Deity. Many authorities have denied this, perhaps for three reasons. Confusion of terms may have led to misunderstanding. The words that the explorer translated gods, spirits, powers , may have seemed to have precluded a Supreme God, Spirit or Power. But, we may well believe that in some instances at least the ignorance of the informant or of the inquirer or both led to the failure to discover a statement of a Supreme Power.
And, thirdly, sad to say, in some cases there seems to be a prejudice against admitting that natural man can know of one God, in order to emphasize the degradation of the unregenerate.
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But though the native Indian spoke of spirits of nature and of gods, those who were instructed by the sages of their race knew that there was one Supreme Spirit who governed and directed all others. The Indian would no more think of denying the existence of a Supreme Being than he would of disputing his own existance. The first presupposed the latter and thus with the religious leaders and the initiate the Great Spirit was called Our Creator. The practise of virtue was demanded of every red man. He must be just in his dealings with his fellows, truthful, charitable, considerate.
He must also be stoical, slow to anger and slow to admit of personal discomfort. He must at all times recognize his dependance upon the Maker of all and was taught to enter upon no great or important undertaking without first thanking the Maker for the strength that gave him power to perform the deed he willed. Thus the Pawnee sang in his ritual:. Mighty One, Above us in blue, silent sky! We, standing, wait thy bidding here. The Iroquois recognizing his helplessness without the presence of his Maker waged his holy wars against the jealous tribes about him in order to bring them into the League of the Everlasting Peace.
The Iroquois were assailing the forts of the Eries and calling out for a surrender.
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The haughty Eries yelled back in defiance, "We shall not surrender so long as our strong weapons fight for us. So, before he acts the Iroquois chants his prayer:. One of the strongest beliefs of the red man was in a future life. Call the place of that life what you will,—the "World Beyond the Sky", the "Happy Hunting Ground", or the "Abode of the Creator",—to the red man it was heaven. That present conduct would affect the future life was believed.
If there is one belief above another that affects the conduct of the Indian it is his belief in the universal kinship of all created things. Man was not only the brother of man because a supreme Father had created both, but every animal, plant and rock, as well as every force of nature was believed to sustain a certain relation to man. The deer and the bear were brothers, and "very near man.
Thus the red man thought it quite rational to speak to them as friends and brothers. No animal was killed in a wanton way and every animal slain for meat or pelt was propitiated by a chant asking its pardon for the deed, since it had seemed a necessity for the hunter to have the meat and skin of the "brother. To the red man the creatures of the earth were kinsmen, but in a different form, as suited the Creator's purpose, and none might be destroyed without reason and sacrifice.
Even the pharmaceutical plants of the forest were not taken without a thank offering and the planting of the seed in the hole from which the root or stem had been pulled.
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This feeling of fraternity worked out in many other ways, as by the organization of numerous fraternities and societies, by the knitting of the clan system and by the ties of a complex social organization. There were binding laws and customs that governed every social action and regulated conduct. So much impressed was Rodger Williams with the kindness and courteous action of the Indians among whom he lived that he wrote:.
If Nature's Sons, both wild and tame, Humane and courteous be: How ill becomes it Sonnes of God To want Humanity? It was the influence of this feeling of brotherhood that made hospitality the universal rule among the Indians. Every stranger who came with honest intent found a welcome and a home. There was no hunger that all did not share, no feast that was not open to everyone. No orphan need fear the lack of home or care for his clansmen provided for him.
Among many tribes the custom of having a sworn brother was observed. Each was responsible for the punishment of any encroachment or injury upon the other. Companies of these brothers often united in associations, which in no uncertain sense were fraternities.
Among many of the Indian tribes there were ceremonial societies and fraternities that exercised a considerable influence. The Jesuits in their missionary tours among the Hurons early in the 17th century made note of the cofraternities among the tribes of Canada. In later years the publications of several learned societies and institutions have given us the records of ethnologists and anthropologists by which we learn of the very great number of native societies, associations and fraternities.
We cannot mention them all, but it would be a mistake not to call attention to the fraternities of the Zuni and other pueblo dwelling peoples. These had elaborate lodge rooms or kivas and their altars were decorated and dedicated to the powers of nature. They taught their initiates the philosophies of their respective cults and exacted certain promises and obligations. Among the Pawnees were a number of important societies, one of the most important being the Hako.
The Navahos had their cults and the Ojibwa of the north had their Mide Wiwin. Likewise the Iroquois had and still have their Ho-noh-che-noh-gaah, their Ha-dih-dos and their Society of Charm Holders, and many others. The Indians in some instances drew moral lessons and analogies from the art of building their long houses and other dwellings, but for the most part their symbolism was drawn from the study of the Temple of Nature. They knew of no Hebrew legends or records, and the names of Zerubbabel, Solomon , Hiram of Tyre, or of Aaron were strange to them.
There can be no doubt that certain Indian societies had secret words that their members might use in conversation or as signals. The possession of ritualistic words that belonged exclusively to the cult or fraternity was jealously guarded. With the Indians words had a significance entirely apart from their meaning. Words were things; names were things.
The Path of the Freemasons: A Collection of Inspired Masonic Wisdom
So deeply was this doctrine inculcated that a man's very name could be taken from him by the proper authorities. He could likewise be forbidden to utter certain words, because words and names were property, and might be used or shared only by those justly entitled to receive the same. The Masonry of the Indians as builders and as philosophers dealing with moral truths grew out of their experiences with nature and with the actions of human kind. The wise men of the tribes knew that a band of men pledged to uphold morality and to enact rituals showing its advantages would constitute a dynamic influence.
Except in the south-west the Indians erected no great buildings of stone. In the north-west, especialy along the coast, there were elaborate buildings of wood, built in the familiar log cabin style, but having carved pillars, posts and heraldic devices. Not strange to relate, perhaps, is the fact that in these two areas where building and craftsmanship was so highly specialized, numerous fraternities existed.
In other regions, especially in the area of the great plains, the dwellings were more simple. On the east coast and extending well into the Mississippi valley on the eastern side many of the Indian nations were village and town dwellers living in bark covered houses, some of them large and roomy. The Iroquoian peoples, for example, had "long houses" built of poles, tree trunks and bark.
Their towns were surrounded by stockades of tree trunks, sometimes three rows being used. Unlike the Indians of the plains who must move as the buffalo herds moved, the east coast Indians were more or less sedentary. They were thus able to build up a compact form of government and to evolve a well knit system of social organization. In digging into the earth where once arose these ancient towns of the red men we discover the durable artifacts made by their craftsmen. Working only with tools of stone and bone they made many beautiful objects, the form and symmetry of which excites the admiration and applause of modern observers.
The archeological museums of America contain numerous examples of the Indian's handiwork. From these things we learn that the native American of old had a keen eye, a skillful hand and a sense of balance and harmony of form that is scarcely equalled today. Take any well made and polished hatchet-head of stone sometimes called celts, and often erroneously "skinning stones" , and by placing it on a smooth, level surface you will discover that it can be spun on one side, the axis being plainly visible and the balance perfect.
Here is a demonstration of a studied attempt to perfect the art of balance and of symmetry. The Indian's knowledge of form is proven by an inspection of their implements. They produced polished spheres, oviods, crescents, circles, squares, circular disks, triangles, hemi-spheres, pyramids, etc.
In drawing geometrical designs, however, they seldom went beyond an octagon. The Indian, it will be seen, had his form of the plumb, the level, the square and the compasses. There will be some who will state that the Indians never made objects that reveal craftsmanship but that such things are the work of the "mound builders. Indians built the mounds and made all aboriginal artifacts found in them.
Documents have been discovered that prove that the French and Spanish explorers saw the Indians erecting mounds. All archeological authorities now know that America had no "mysterious race that was vanquished by the Indians. It would be an interesting thing to trace out the various forms of religious belief held by the American natives, but though there are those competent to write upon this subject, it is so vast in its extent that no individual writer has yet dared the attempt.
We have briefly outlined the essential features of the Indian's belief, but of the numerous customs and rites we have yet suggested little. Perhaps an outline of the religious rites of a single nation or stock will suffice. Let us take the Iroquois. To the Iroquois the world was the handiwork of a Creator.
It was believed that life came to the earth from the heaven world in the form of a woman ready to give to life a girl child. The great Turtle of the black chaos seeing a rift in the sky above called out to the water creatures of the darkness and told them of the event bidding them to try to bring some substance that would grow if placed upon his shell.
At length after many creatures had perished one deposited the earthy substance on the turtle's back and the substance grew. Then the night birds flew upward and received the sky-mother on an island formed by their interlaced wings. With great gentleness she was placed upon the earthy back of the Turtle. As she rested there a girl child was born who immediately grew and became mature. All was dark until the sky-mother stuck the stalk of the Flower of Light in the soil. The first born then commenced to go round and round the island finding that it became larger each time she tried the journey.
One of her latter journeys took longer than others for the island had grown very near a place called East. She paused on the shore and a warm wind came and whispered to her. She felt it encircle her and lift her from her feet but her heart was thrilled with a strange ecstacy. She went back to the camp of her mother and told of the strange experience, but the Sky Mother only wept. After a season the First-Born-of-Earth gave birth to two boys, one called the Light One and the other the Dark One who had a heart of flint.
In giving birth to the twins the mother died leaving them to the care of the Sky Mother. The boys grew to maturity immediately and demanded to know their father. One was kind and built things; the other was ferocious and destroyed anything that came his way. Good Minded cared for the grave of his mother and watered it because the Sky Mother had told him to do so. He watched over it with great devotion until he was rewarded by seeing plants spring from the grave. The tobacco came from the head, the corn from her breasts, the pumpkin from her waist and the edible tubers and beans from her feet.
Good Mind then asked his mother where he should go to find his father and was told to journey to the east sea and cross to a mountain rising from the water. This, after great difficulty, he did. As he stood at the base of the mountain he called, "My Father, where art thou? Then came the voice, "A Son of Mine shall swim the cataract from the base to the top.
Then again the voice sounded, "A Son of Mine shall wrestle with the hurricane. There in repose was a being so infinitely brilliant that Good Minded could scarcely see. Then the Father gave to Good Mind the power to make the earth grow with all manner of plants and trees. In a package he placed the magical dust that would become animal life. Long the Father spoke to his Son and then bade him depart. When Good Minded returned to the Earth Island and told his Grandmother, the Sky Woman, where he had been and what power he had received, Bad Minded became very jealous and by an ingenious plan sought to destroy him.
But after a lengthy battle the Bad Minded was vanquished and put in a deep cavity in the earth along with all the perverted and distorted creatures he had made from the good creatures.
And the evil creatures were banished because they chose to be evil rather than as they had been created. Then the Good Minded took the face of his mother and flung it into the heavens and it became the moon. And at that time a new light far more brilliant appeared; it was the Sun. So came the sun to rule the day and the moon to give hope to the night.
And when all things had been perfected, Good Minded looked into a pool of water and saw his own face. He took a handful of clay and molded his image and it became a man. There were many pre-humans on the Earth then and they were subdued and told their function. They were forbidden to molest men. When all this was finished, the Sky Mother said to her grandson, "We must return to the world above the sky, our Ga-o-ya-geh. Such is the Indian's Genesis, and though briefly told, there will be few who cannot see in it a wonderful symbolism and a real recognition of man's divine origin.
The last great test of the Good Minded, we observe, is not alone to overcome earth and water and fire and air, which are material, but to banish evil and all its distortions. By a series of religious tales, such as this, the Iroquois were taught the great essentials of moral life and a recognition of man's relation to his Creator. The Iroquois was religious in every act of his life, for was not the Creator in all that he had created? Sin thus became a thing that man could commit against himself, against his fellows, human and non-human, and against the interests of the tribe.
It was not believed that the Creator could be sinned against for he was above an injury by man. Nor was it possible for a sin to be forgiven for effect always follows action. What we have done we have done and not even divinity can say it was not done, nor can the effects be wiped away. For the guilty there was no escape through forgiveness by the Creator. Sins against self and society must be paid for by restitution in some form. The religious ceremonies of the Iroquois were many but the great ceremonies were those of the seasonal thanksgiving, of which there were six each year.
Gratitude to the Creator was the underlying principle of the red man's religion. One of the stanzas in the Thanksgiving rite is:. For all that He has Created and should offer thanks, For all the things from below up to himself in the sky-world, We who are here gathered in assembly thank our Creator,— Yea, all his creatures who are living here in this earth-world.
Most of the members of the various Iroquois tribes,—the Seneca, the Cayuga, the Onondaga, the Oneida and the Mohawk are now Christians, living as white men do. But so great a hold have the old rites and religion of their ancestors upon some that the old beliefs still hold among a considerable portion of the Onondagas and Senecas in New York state and Canada.
What you have read in the pages that have been written was told to a great Mason, long before he made his journey to the land of the Senecas and witnessed their ceremonies. Two other friends of the Senecas had been invited; Ho-skwi-sa-oh and Ga-jee-wa, thus forming the mystic triangle. The candidates were told to listen. The legend of the Ancient Guards was told. The complete relation would make a lengthy document, though I am sure that you would find it a marvelous tale. Red Hand was a young chief whose life was blameless for he was Ho-ya-di-wa-doh.
He had received certain mysterious knowledge that made the covetous envy him, but so brave and kind was Red Hand that he was admired and loved by men and warriors. Red Hand had a place where he spoke to the Great Mystery, and because the Great Mystery spoke to him he was kind to every brother of the earth,—every tree, every rock, every animal. He fed the hungry birds in winter time.
When the wolves were hungry he gave them meat; when the deer were hungry he gave them grass and moss. The children loved him because he gave them trinkets; the old people were grateful to him because he knew of oils that cured their lameness; the warriors admired him because he had power to lead them against the enemy that sought to destroy them. Down to the south country in the valley of the Ohio went a war party to punish the foe.
The Leader went apart to seek the chief of the enemy and while he stood alone a poisoned arrow struck him and he fell.