Masonic Symbols Spiritually Interpreted

EOM Ida Mingle

The eternal Principles of Being are symbolized in the world of effects. Many of these symbols are found in Masonry. This is not to say that Masons necessarily know how to spiritually interpret their symbols. The secret societies and the churches are representatives of the literal forms or symbols standing for Principles of Life which can be interpreted only from the spiritual standpoint. To spiritually discern anything one must have lived through the law of the letter.

"The letter killeth, but the spirit maketh alive."

This is to say that so long as one is attached to the letter of anything, as in the performance of rites and ceremonies, spiritual realization of the Principles employed is not possible. It is only when one turns from the letter or symbol in a desire to know the underlying Principles that the spiritual understanding is opened, and one perceives that the Principles of Being are preserved in the race by the many ceremonial rites common to its fraternal and religious societies. Masonry is a symblical representation of the mystical operations of the Christ Spirit in consciousness.

General Meaning and Development of Masonry

Masonry has undergone many changes from its original occult meaning, but it is still full of mystical lore that is without creed or dogma, being universal in its application. In its spiritual application, Masonry is not confined to Masons, for typing the mystical Path of Life and the unfoldment of the Christ Self, Masonry is outworked by anyone who enters the Path, though until one has forsaken allegiance to the limited aspects of mortal existence, such as particular creeds, cults and lodge affiliations, he is not eligible to know the universal truths underlying all things. The Church of Christ, the Church of the Bride, to arise at mortality's close, will be made up of the Master Masons, those who have entered the Temple of the Body and have gone through the regenerative processes necessary toward building the immortal body.

Those who follow Christ in the regeneration are expected to have worked out the thirty-three degrees, becoming the Grand Master of the Temple, having graduated from the "Chamber G" into the consciousness of eternal Life. The Chamber G is the consciousness of Generation in which man is expected to progress himself unto the gaining of his powers in self-control and mastery. The last three degrees of the Mystic Path reverse Generation with Regeneration, and crown the ego as the Grand Master of the Great Work. The age of Jesus at the time of his triumph is representative of the thirty-three degrees gained in conscious Love and Life, these being the means by which one enters the Inner Kingdom and becomes the Grand Master of the Universe to progress other souls in a like attainment.

The word Masonry suggests the builder, who, with Compass and Square, lays the foundation not built by hands, but the Temple of the Body. Solomon, symbolical of the intelligence, builds the temple, but is ever directed by the Master Builder, symbolized by Hiram Abiff, who is a figure used to indicate Christ, the governing Spirit, that directs the progressing intelligence into a full realization of Truth, which includes a comprehension of the Body as the Temple of God.

Masonry can be traced to the Atlantean civilization, the ancient ruins of the world portraying the symbols of Inner Masonry or the Creative Principles that underlie the nature of Man and the Universe. The Sphinx of Egyptian civilization, together with the Great Pyramid, are witnesses of the principles of Masonry now treasured in the hearts of many. The Great Pyramid is a symbolical representation of the Grand Man of the Kosmos, whose spiritual identity is within every initiate opened to the activities of the Divine Law whereby the Principles of Regeneration are transforming him into the image and likeness Man of Gods' creation.

Specific Masonic Symbols Spiritually Interpreted

A symbol is a representation in form of a spiritual truth. The spiritual truth is gained through the Spirit of Truth and not through the symbol. The writer is not very familiar with Masonic symbols, as symbols, but understanding the Creative Principles and their operations, can see the Divine Intelligence making itself known to men by means of the symbols they employ.

"For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity."

Romans 1:20 RV

The Lodge in which the Entered Apprentice is expected to work out his salvation and come to know himself is the consciousness. He is first required to believe in a power called God. He is admonished to gain knowledge from experience. He is told of the three precious jewels to be gained:

"A listening ear, a silent tongue, and a faithful heart."

The work of the Entered Apprentice is equivalent to the ego working through the lower self to gain the higher. John the Baptist, whose loins are girded about, and whose appetite is reduced to simplicity and control, represents the gained result of self-consciousness. The Entered Apprentice is required to take the "rough ashlar" and prepare it for the Fellow Craft expression. This is to say that he is to take his own rough, untutored and uncontrolled self and prepare it for the higher work of life, gaining himself as the result of the work. Every ego is bound by the "cabletow" of limitation in the development of the lesser self. The Entered Apprentice is not capable of transmuting the stone or "ashlar," but he is expected to beautify it. This is gained as moral character, wherein the forces of the lover self are brought to the plane of Service and Fraternity.

The Three Degrees of the Blue Lodge represent the development of spirit, soul, and body, the three Qualities of Being, through the planes of the lower self. Three is the symbol of inner completion and marks the graduation into another plane of expression. The floor of this lodge with its black and white squares represents the activities of evil (black) and good (white) forces with which one must cope to know himself.

• 1 st Degree
  Presents the initiate, undeveloped and unillunined, at the Door of Life.
  
  
• 2ud Degree
  Teaches that knowledge alone makes man the master of himself.
  
  
• 3rd Degree
  Symbolizes the seeking after immortality and an understanding of the secret side of life.
  
  
• 4th Degree
  Symbolizes the development of fraternal love, patriotic duty, and self-respect.
  
  
• 5th Degree
  Typifying the fifth round of the Ladder of Life, decrees unselfish expression wherein one works for Principle and not for greed.
  
  
• 6th Degree
  That which promotes peace and harmony.
  
  
• 7th Degree
  Develops the idea of Justice.
  
  
• 8th Degree
  Teaches the right of the workman to receive his own good.
  
  
• 9th, 10th, and 11^th Degrees
  Mystical and are meant to convey spiritual truths. They are represented by a dagger and a bloody head slashed from the body of a sleeping man. The man asleep symbolizes to mortal sense liberty and justice, and that beheading must take place before a higher expression of Life can arise. Spiritually interpreted, the sleeping man is mortal consciousness, which must undergo a change of intelligence (lose the head or old state of mental development) before Truth, the Spirit of Christ, can arise in the soul. This is comparable to the Bible story of the beheading of John, which represents the passing over to a higher plan of expression of the intelligence and love gained in the lower self.
  
  
• 12th Degree
  Jesus' unfoldment, beginning at the age of twelve, represents the Principles symbolized. At this point the ego has passed beyond the work of the tools (square, level, plumb, and trowel), and is ready to spiritually discern the activities of life heretofore worked out by means of labor in self-consciousness.
  
  
• 13th Degree
  Identifies the "two pole stars," which, spiritually interpreted, represent the male and female qualities developed in the twelve degrees, and is One of a new state of unfoldment. This One is Christ gained, that is, consciousness ready to unfold through Christ rather than through the powers of self.
  
  
• 14th Degree
  Symbolizes the universality of Truth and the development of tolerance, for, beholding the Spirit of Truth as the one teacher, all things are seen as right in their time and place to further the unfoldment of the Christ Self. For until one has gained this consciousness he is not a true Builder (Mason) of the Temple of God.
  
  
• 15th Degree
  Indicates that the letter is superseded by the spirit.
  
  
• 16th Degree
  Develops loyalty to Principles at any cost.
  
  
• 17th Degree
  Brings consciousness of purity as well as the capacity to perceive that true peace and understanding are possible only when one is master of his own forces.
  
  
• 18th Degree
  Develops the spirit of reconciliation between opposing forces.
  
  
• 19th Degree
  Places the Power of God to accomplish that which is hoped for above the power of men.
  
  
• 20th Degree
  Indicates the supremacy of reason over terror and superstition.
  
  
• 21st and 22^nd Degrees
  Indicates the development of Universal Liberty and work as a means of growth.
  
  
• 23rd Degree
  Resurrects the esoteric mysteries, placing the key to the inner secrets of Life in the hands of the Initiate.
  
  
• 24th and 25^th Degrees
  Supports his progression.
  
  
• 26th Degree
  The Initiate brought into the consciousness of the unity of all in the Divine Powers.
  
  
• 27th Degree
  Symbolizes the Warrior of Truth wherein one becomes a soldier of the Cross.
  
  
• 28th Degree
  Reveals the final instructions leading to Freedom.
  
  
• 29th, 30^th, 31^st, and 32 nd Degrees
  These four degrees four-square the spirit, soul, body, and mind to the Principles of Being.
  
  
• 33rd Degree
  The polarized ego identified, whose forces represent the unit 6, the worked-out Creative Principles of biblical narrative. This is the Man of the Sabbath Day, the spiritual being gained.

That this progression is not worked out in Masonry is due to the fact that it is only a symbolical representation of Principles of Being that work out in the Initiates of the School of Life for which the Masonic Lodge stands. All rites, whether of the Masonic Lodge or of its positive complement, the Catholic Church, are dead letters, that is, symbols of Truths to be unfolded by means of the inward Spirit. Man is the Temple of God, hence the church in which the spiritual rites are performed. Jesus Christ is the High Priest who presides over the initiation, though is supported in the work by Bohaz and Jakin, the female and male poles of being through which the Creative Principles are unfolded.

Relation of the Body-Temple to Masonic Lore

The Principles of Masonry, symbolical of the progression of the ego from darkness to Christ, have their application to the body consciousness, this being the temple which is built with the tools of self, and which is eventually reared as an eternal monument to God. The Great Pyramid, symbolical of the body consciousness, reveals the regenerative processes going on in the initiate who has come under the Christ authority and is being spiritually born. The door to the body-temple is the spleen, the central point of the birth and death of the cellular organism. When these positive and negative forces are polarized, that is, equalized, the mist of the Body-Temple to be raised from the dead arises. There are ascending and descending forces in the operation of Christ, those going into the generative region (Chamber G) forming hell. From this center the energies penetrate the lower limbs, raising the qualities of animal forces. The spinal column with its 33 bones represents Jacob's Ladder of Life and is symbolically portrayed in the thirty-three degrees of Masonry. The ascending forces by way of the spine reach the King and Queen's Chambers, identified as the Pineal and Pituitary Bodies of the cerebrum. The Grand Master of the Temple presides at the top-head, the Christ Center of consciousness, though the jurisdiction of the Queen extends to the cheat region, a point in the spine just below the middle of the shoulders being the connecting link of I and Am which form the Son, the child of God.

The last three Degrees of Masonry symbolize the entrance of the Christ Spirit into consciousness to effect rebirth, this being the regeneration incidental to the raising of the sexual forces to their spiritual equivalents. The 31^st Degree represents the unity of the King and Queen in the Law of the Cross or Christ, with the 32^nd Degree revealing the Secrets of the Universe, which involve the understanding of the powers of evil in conjunction with Christ to bring forth the substance-body, that is, the resurrected Christ Self. The 33^rd Degree comes through the Laws of God, hence is symbolized in Masonry as conferred through honor. It is the attainment of Christ consciousness which is the identification of spiritual being - a new creature of Christ Mind and Body.

Other Masonic Symbols Interpreted

All the Masonic symbols are operative in their principles in the unfoldment of consciousness of man, though not until self-consciousness has merged with the Christ Spirit and is one aware of the purposes of life and the unfoldment of Divine Principles. The apron of white lambskin is the purity to be gained in the mastery of the sexual forces, for their regeneration is the opening of the Creative Principles and the fashioning of the spiritual nature and being. This apron is referred to in Gen. 3:7. The square is polarized forces of spirit, soul, body, and mind, though applying to the masculine Principles of Being. The compass applies to the feminine forces of consciousness. The "golden door" is the entrance to the mysteries of Soul, the "inner tabernacle" is the spiritual body. The "hidden manna" is the Spirit Force (Creative) out of which all is fashioned, though until it is eaten in the Lord it does not form the spiritual being of Man. Solomon's temple is the organism of man wherein mind is the building. However, the Master Workman, Hiram Abiff, stands back of the outer builder, symbolical of the Spirit that directs the course of conscious unfoldment. The Queen of Sheba, who seeks to know the mysteries of the temple, and who comes to Solomon by night, is the outer Soul or feminine forces that must make contact with the lord of nature, the masculine forces, before the Divine Love can be gained that permits entrance into the inner courts of the temple. Sheba is the door to the lower forces of love whereby the initiate meets and masters the unredeemed nature.

The Shulamite woman, the wife that Solomon forsakes, is the opposite of the Queen of Sheba, she typing the Divine Love quality with which the ego is conjoined (married) when purity has been gained. This is the "wife of his youth," the Woman fashioned by God as a helpmeet to man, but who can only mate with the outer nature when it has been raised to the plane of the spiritual. Sheba is the viper, the development of love in the sensations of the flesh, but when materiality has been developed to its cosmical limit the ego is expected to be initiated into the mysteries of the Christ progression and to be born of Woman as a spiritual type of being. The "three assassins" of Masonic lore represent the slayers of the forces of the spirit, soul, and body which must be slain on the material plane before the spiritual realities of Life can be gained. The "Forty-seventh Problem" of Masonry is worked out in the School of Life when one knows himself through the Mystery of Sex, it being preliminary to knowing oneself in the Mystery of Christ.

Tubal Cain is a conspicuous figure in Masonry and hides the art of alchemy and transmutation, incidental to spiritual birth. It is through Tubal Cain that Hiram Abiff is enabled to take the plunge through the molten sea. The molten sea represents the forces of consciousness in the Fire of Transmutation into which the Christ ego is plunged for regeneration and redemption. It is mentioned in the Bible as the "wrath of God" that comes at the end of the world to dissolve the mortal elements and to fashion the kingdom of heaven. Fire and Water are the Cosmical Principles of Being that effect transmutation and redemption. They represent the Father-Mother Principles whose unity brings forth the child of God, that is, the resurrected being. It is through Tubal Cain that the Passover from mortality to immortality is effected.

The three gates in Masonic lore symbolize the entrance to the planes of spirit, soul, and body. The south gate is the soul plane, the west the bodily plane, and the east the spirit plane. The three important officers symbolize the keepers or Heads of the Gates, the lords of the planes of progression. The three ruffians represent the Word or Christ inverted on its three planes of expression, for in reality the Divine Principles are reversed on the material plane, hence the forces of evil with which one must cope to gain the spiritual qualities. But the blows of the "ruffians" open the Centers of Power (throat), Love (cheat region) and Wisdom (forehead), and one grows in knowledge and grace through meeting the adverse forces. At the end of self-consciousness development of the ego must be carried out at the east gate (spirit), there to die with Christ, drawing to himself the hells of the universe, and be buried in the tomb of mortality's dissolution before he can arise triumphantly into the embodiment of the Christ Self.

Summary

It has not been the writer's intention to go into the literal details of Masoury. They are unimportant except for the spiritual truths they suggest, and even these truths must come through a comprehension of the unfoldment of Divine Principles in consciousness and not through masonic lore. But to indicate the spirit back of the symbols, this discourse is entered into. It also explains that the agitation's arising between those of the catholic faith and those of masonic affiliation come because of the spiritual import of the symbols. One set of symbols is no better than the other unless the underlying truths are known. When they are known and practiced there will be no masonic lodges or catholic churches over which to agitate, for:

"all shall know Him, from the least unto the greatest of then."

The Immortal Order of Life will reveal one organization, spiritual man. We live in a symbolical world, the business of life being the attainment of the spiritual realities underlying the formed things. This is consummated in the understanding of man's spiritual nature and the laws that govern his being. All that is in the world is but a projection of the forces of consciousness of man whereby one sees himself as he is; though this is absolutely possible only through seeing the Christ of himself. Now that the Christ Spirit is converting the symbolical organism of man into realities of being, it is well to also convert through understanding other symbols of material importance, thus coming into the Wisdom and Love of God. It is in the attainment of the godly Wisdom and Love that consciousness is perfected in Christ and becomes itself the manifestation of the Temple of God. Man is the Master Mason who is expected to become a living embodiment of the Divine Principles. This is the Temple built upon the Rock.

Author's Note: The author avers that she has not come into this knowledge through any Mason, but through the Spirit of Truth that makes all things known in their season of uncovering. The truth about Masonry cannot hurt it, and it will destroy the many delusions about it by which light may overcome darkness and greater freedom and love express.