A Son of the Light: 3009

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Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Masonic New Year Dates

HAPPY NEW YEAR

TO THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS' - HAPPY 881

TO THE ROYAL AND SELECT MASTER'S - HAPPY 3009

TO THE ROYAL ARCH - HAPPY 2539

TO THE ANCIENT CRAFT - HAPPY 6009

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A Few Wise Words by Brother W.L. Wilmshurst

It is absurd to think that a vast organization like Masonry was ordained merely to teach to grown-up men of the world the symbolical meaning of a few simple builders' tools, or to impress upon us such elementary virtues as temperance and justice:—the children in every village school are taught such things; or to enforce such simple principles of morals as brotherly love, which every church and every religion teaches; or as relief, which is practiced quite as much by non-Masons as by us; or of truth, which every infant learns upon its mother's knee. There is surely, too, no need for us to join a secret society to be taught that the volume of the Sacred Law is a fountain of truth and instruction; or to go through the great and elaborate ceremony of the third degree merely to learn that we have each to die. The Craft whose work we are taught to honor with the name of a "science," a "royal art," has surely some larger end in view than merely inculcating the practice of social virtues common to all the world and by no means the monopoly of Freemasons. Surely, then, it behooves us to acquaint ourselves with what that larger end consists, to enquire why the fulfillment of that purpose is worthy to be called a science, and to ascertain what are those "mysteries" to which our doctrine promises we may ultimately attain if we apply ourselves assiduously enough to understanding what Masonry is capable of teaching us.
The Meaning of Masonry, by W.L. Wilmshurst, [1922]

"Now imagine me standing in lodge with my head bowed in prayer between Brother Mohammed Bokhary and Brother Arjun Melwani. To neither of them is the Great Architect of the Universe perceived as the Holy Trinity. To Brother Bokhary He has been revealed as Allah; to Brother Melwani He is probably perceived as Vishnu. Since I believe that there is only one God, I am confronted with three possibilities:
They are praying to the devil whilst I am praying to God;
They are praying to nothing, as their gods do not exist;
They are praying to the same God as I, yet their understanding of His nature is partly incomplete (as indeed is mine--1 Cor 13:12)
It is without hesitation that I accept the third possibility."

Christopher Haffner - Workman Unashamed, The Testimony of a Christian Freemason.

The Mystery of the Ages

It is well known that the Freemasons of the present day not only claim, through their accredited Lecturers, Dr. Oliver and others, that Freemasonry has come down from the Essenes, but they assert that the Essenes were in possession of what they call the Temple Secrets in the days of Solomon. Thus they were alike the forerunners of the Jewish Kabbalists and of the Christian Gnostics, but what is more surprising than all is, that out of Essenism has sprung Islam, and in this last development of its tenets and practices are still preserved many of its principal Rites and ceremonies.
We read in the Anacalypsis concerning them as follows: "The Essenes were a fraternity of Hermetists. The Cabala based on the Laws of Manu solves the Esoterism of every religion. The doctrines of Zoroaster, Pythagoras, Plato, are all contained in the Jewish Cabala. Alone among all the Books of the Bible Genesis belongs to an immense antiquity We know that the Essenes existed in Syria as well as in Egypt, and the same system probably prevailed in both. The Essenes in each case were the professors of the highest order of the Cabala, the perfecti."
The Mystery of the Ages Contained in the Secret Doctrine of All Religions
By Marie Sinclair Caithness, countess of Marie Caithness
Published by C.L.H. Wallace, 1887

Please Read

After listening to Masonic Central’s interview with Brother Brent Morris I checked out what titles the Scottish Rite of the Southern Jurisdiction had up for sale. I purchased the Master Craftsman course, which included Arturo de Hoyos’s huge “Scottish Rite Ritual”, I also bought “Symbolism of the Blue Degrees of Freemasonry: Albert Pike's Esoterika”. Both titles are incredible! Do yourself a favor buy them.
Esoterika contains the complete text of Albert Pike's never-before-published esoteric study of the symbols of Blue Lodge Degrees. Subjects include "The Compasses and the Square," "The Weapons and Blows of the Assassins," "The Three Grips," "The Substitute for the Masters Word," "The 47th Problem of Euclid," "The Truth," "Is the Cable-tow a Symbol?," "Corner Stones," "The Ladder of Jacob," "Tubal Cain," "Shibboleth," and "Solomon and Hiram."

The Avatamsaka Sutra - Indra's Net

Far away in the heavenly abode of the great god Indra, there is a wonderful net, which has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a manner that it, stretches out indefinitely in all directions. In accordance with the extravagant tastes of deities, the artificer has hung a single glittering jewel at the net’s every node, and since the net itself is infinite in dimension, the jewels are infinite in number. There hang the jewels, glittering like stars of the first magnitude, a remarkable sight.
If we now arbitrarily select one of these jewels for inspection and look closely at it, we will discover that in its polished surface there are reflected all the other jewels in the net, infinite in number. Not only that, but also each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel is also reflecting all the other jewels, so that the process of reflection is infinite.

The Lost Word

Among the ancient Middle Eastern cults the power of the Word (or Name) was considered the most important part of magic. Isis obtained her magical power after getting the sun god Ra to divulge his secret name to her. The actual pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton, the four-lettered name of God in Hebrew, is considered to be so powerful that the world itself could become undone by its utterance. In the Gospel of John, we are told that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”Later Jesus is identified as being The Word, and among Coptic and other Christian magicians the utterance of his name is said to give power over the visible and invisible worlds.This notion of magical phrases, charms, incantations, and a name or word above all other utterances that would give supreme authority has always been the quest for magicians and mystics alike. Yet this quest must not be thought of as purely one of and for power (although that is a side effect of it) but rather as the search for the deepest secrets within creations – and therefore within one’s very being. To know the Word is to know God, and to know God is to know the beginning and end –-the Alpha and Omega –-of all things, including and above all one’s very essence.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Masonic New Year Dates

La Vérité ("Truth")

Please Check Out - Barchiel-- An angel who resides in the Fourth Heaven...

A Son of the Light

A Note From The Author

Bodhisattva’s in Action

The Mandala of Freemasonry #1

A Few Wise Words by Brother W.L. Wilmshurst

Blog Archive

Mark Mason

Old Blogs of Interest

The Mandala of Freemasonry #2

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Masonic Blogs

I must admit, I truly enjoy the following blog. It does have a tendency to get a little political.

Duly & Truly Prepared Followers

Masonic Central

The Mandala of Freemasonry #3

Well Worth Visiting

In The Works

For Those That Tend To Be Paranoid

Masonic Podcasts of the Highest Recommendation

The Mystery of the Ages

Give A Couple of These Titles a Look - You May Find Some Light

BlogCatalog

A Son of the Light

Please Read

The Avatamsaka Sutra - Indra's Net

Executed Today

The Lost Word

Freemasonry Day 2008 Portsmouth, NH (By Barchiel)