Tag Archives: human

Hercules

On this complex “Rose Croix d’Heredom dit de Kilwinning” (‘Rose Cross of Heredom and Kilwinning’) tracing board, we see an enormous naked man (bottom right) with his legs on either side of a water. A ship is sailing through his legs. I think this is a reference to (the strait of) Hercules (later strait of Gibraltar). I haven’t found the ritual significance yet.

BnF Smith-Lesouëf 126

Man in Gate with Lamb

Q. What is the meaning of the man in the gate with a lamb on his shoulders?
A. It means that we must watch over our needs like a shepherd over his sheep.

Thus says the Baylot collection of degrees in the degree of “Knight of the Eagle and the Sun or the Disentangled Chaos”. Not the most notable element of the image and not equally clear in every variety of the tracing board for the degree of “Chevalier du Soleil” (‘Knight of the Sun’), but mentioned early in the catechism.

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Relief

To relieve the distressed, is a duty incumbent on all men; but particularly on Masons, who are linked together by an indissoluble chain of sincere affection. To soothe the unhappy, to sympathize with their misfortunes,to compassionate their miseries, and to restore peace to their troubled minds, is the grand aim we have in view. On this basis we form our friendships and establish our connections.

Webb’s Monitor, Morris’s Edition, 1872

Brotherly Love

By the exercise of brotherly love we are taught to regard the whole human species as one family, the high and low, the rich and poor; who, as created by one Almighty Parent, and inhabitants of the same planet, are to aid, support, and protect each other.On this principle, Masonry unites men of every country, sect, and opinion, and conciliates true friendship among those who might otherwise have remained at a perpetual distance.

Webb’s Monitor, Morris’s Edition, 1872

Zodiac Man

Ravignat (see further reading) gives no source for his “88th Degree: Supreme Grand Council General of the 88th, Sovereign Grand Princes of the 88th”, 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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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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Cold Man

On this tracing board of the degree of “Vray Maître et Ecossais”, which is dated 1745, we see a human being who appears to be cold. The tracing board contains some more unusual symbols.

Also see: tunnel/vault

Bibliotheque Nationale de France – Fonds Maçonnique – FM4 (232)

Man in the Sky

Ravignat included a tracing board from Maçonnerie des Hommes because the ritual of the “65th degree: Knight of the Black Eagle Rose-Croix – Second Grade” has a passage which fits the description of the image:

In the center, is a large circle, which represents the Zodiac with Twelve Celestial Figures surrounding a corpse and which represents the dead Hiram and the Great Work which much be revived.

Maçonnerie des Hommes (1766) Kloss collection Kl.MS:XXXIV

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Man with Sword in Mouth

Ravignat has this image in the “61th Degree: Chevalier d’Orient – Knight of the East – Tschoudy and Bédarride”. I found the same image in the Fonds Gaborria, but there it is listed as the “47e degré”, but also called “Chevalier d’Occident” (a similar image is -indeed- more common on Knight of the West tracing boards). In Ravignat’s translation, this is the tracing board of the degree: “in the middle a man holding in his right hand seven stars and in his mouth a two-edged sword.”

The letters refer to virtues such as Beauty, Divinity, etc.
The two-edged sword means that the degree of “Knights Prince Jerusalem” is above other degrees (Baylot collection).

In the 14th degree (Knight of the West) of the Mirecourt collection the letters are explained, they are separate words such as Beauty, Divinity, Wisdom, etc. of course dependent on the language the ritual was written in. In the same text, the sword is called double edged and it “expresses the superiority of the Knight of the West over all other Degrees.”

In the Kloss collection there is a document (“Chevalier d’Occident et d’Orient. Avec tableau” “17e gr. REAA. (Kl.MS:XXV.82)”, the document itself says 18º) with a very similar tableau, so the image also appears to (have) feature(d) in (proto) AASR degrees.

Bibliothèque Numérique Patrimoniale, Fonds Gaborria Ms.-351

Virgo Immaculata

Apparently an image of Mother Mary and the baby Jesus, standing on a crescent moon. Thus, the image reminds of Mary as Stella Mater, mother of the stars. Tracing board for the Memphis-Misraim “Chevalier du Soleil” (51th degree) below left.

There is a very similar “Chevalier du Soleil tracing board that can be found in the Bibliotheque Nationale de France (below right). There the virgin looks a bit different and -interestingly- there she is accompanied by the word “anima”.

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Portrait

The portrait of the “Head [or Master] of all True Freemasons” is a typical element of Theosophical influence on co-Masonry. It was introduced in the 1913 third edition of the “Dharma Workings of Craft Masonry” (together with the incense ceremony and the lighting of the candles before the opening of the lodge). It has been variously placed: “above the R.W.M.’s pedestal” or “in the North”. Because the latter isn’t specified, many lodges place the portrait above an empty chair in the middle of the North “column”. Some lodges place the portrait in the North-West corner against North wall.

The man on the portrait is known by many names: Count of St. Germain, Marquess of Montferrat, Count Bellamarre, Chevalier Schoening, Count Weldon, Count Soltikoff, Manuel Doria, Graf Tzarogy, Prince Ragoczy.

In many lodges the portrait has disappeared, even Theosophically leaning lodges. Some have kept it.

Three Faced God

Tracing board of the 36th degree (“Sublime Negotiant”) of (one of the variations of) Memphis Misraim.

Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis-Misraim in Freemasonry Aprons and Tracing Boards – Murat Ozgen Ayfer (2019)