Tag Archives: alchemy

Rebis

Ravignat (see further reading) gives no source for his “90th Degree: Supreme Grand Council General of the 90th and Last Degree, Sovereign Grand Princes of the 90th”, but I think it (partly) comes from Fonds Gaborria Ms.-372: “Rite de Misraïm. Les 3 suprêmes conseils du système d’Arcano, Arcanorum des 88e, 89e et 90e degrés, 17e classe” which contains three “Arcana Arcanorum” degrees.

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Circle, Triangle, Star of David, Planets

A somewhat alchemical-looking image with a circle, wherein is a triangle, which contains a Star of David with what appears to be the symbols of the planets Mars, moon, Mercury, Saturn and Venus.

The image above comes from the Fonds Gaborria, 53th degree “Chevalier. Sublime Philosophe”. Ravignat has the image with his translation of the 64th degree “Chevalier Sublime Philosophe”.

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Cross on Circle

The tracing board below comes from the “Fonds Gaborria” which can be found online on the website of the Bibliotheque Numirique Patrimoniale, Ms.-353, a Memphis Misraim ritual for the 51th degree “Chevalier du Alch. Myst.” It contains a cross on a circle and a cross on a circle on a crescent moon, along with some Alchemical symbols.

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Grasshopper

Feddersen calls this (below) a tracing board of the order of the Trusted Brethren of Andreas. It was supposedly in use around 1860, but no longer nowadays.

I have been going through my German rituals, but grasshopper (“Heuschrecke” or “Heupferd”) appears in several rituals, not just ‘high degrees’. One ritual says (translated from German):

the symbols of God-likeness, still need clarification and still require the exercise of the doctrinal concepts contained in them. The locust, however, shows in connection with this that we cannot come to God by our own strength and reason.

Also:

The butterfly and the grasshopper each have their own special meaning, but both testify to the diversity, splendour and richness of the creatures, both in terms of form, movement and strength.

And interestingly (Die St. Andreasgrade F. Possart 1877/8):

The grasshopper here represents the place of the rough stone, after working it into a cube we, like the butterfly, strip off our shell and turn towards the light in the east.

German “Andreaslogen” are Swedish-type “Scottish” (high degree) lodges.

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Alchemy

Clearly alchemical symbols are not common in Freemasonry. An exception is the ‘room of contemplation’, also ‘room of preparation’ or ‘dark room’. This is a fairly common practice for European initiations. After French usage the room is often adorned with alchemical symbolism and symbols of mortality. Bread, salt, the symbol of sulphur, the anagram VITRIOL, etc.

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