Tag Archives: nature

Rain

This is the cover of the luxury 1812 12th edition of the famous Illustrations of Freemasonry of William Preston (1742-1818) which was first published in 1772 and revised and enlarged three years later.

The cover shows a tracing board. There are even letters saying E, S, W, N around it. Some say that the image can be found in the book, but I have not one edition (and there are many online) with the image in it. Rather it appears to have been the frontispiece of the book Masonic Miscellanies by Stephen Jones, published in 1797.

On the right you see what appears to be a shower coming down on an ear of corn. Is this a bit of an odd way to portray the second degree password or it this actually supposed to be rain coming from the cherubs up there? I have found no better explanation yet.

The cover of the 1812 edition of Preston’s book can be found online on several places.

Burnt stone

Fonds Maçonnique document FM4 (85) contains a degree called: “Le Chevalier du Phenix” (‘the Knight of the Phoenix’) which has an interesting symbol in the middle. It is described in the text (translated of course) like this:

The square that you see under this plate is an allegorical sign of the four elements that were necessary for the creation of the world.
The circle which is enclosed in this quarry is the union of these four elements to help in this creation.
The triangle which this circle contains is the first mover of all things, it is the great Tetragrammaton, it is the alpha and omega, [test in a word the whole] of the whole.
This burnt stone which is found in the triangle is a part of this great whole, which part can communicate its divine virtue to a thousand other parts, in short, it is this Gordian knot that the wise and true lover of the good can destroy.

Fonds Maçonnique FM4 (85)

Earth, Cross, Adonai

Q. What is the meaning of the globe?
A. The world that we inhabit and of which Freemasons are the adornment.
Q. What is the meaning of Adonai?
A. It is the name God gave Adam to pronounce during his prayers and which our father pronounced in a trembling voice.
Q. What is the meaning of the words lux ex tenebris?
A. That the Freemason enlightened by reason easily penetrates the darkness of ignorance and superstition.
Q. What is the meaning of the river on the globe?
A. Which reflects the utility of the passions that man needs in the course of his life, just as water is of use to the earth to make it fertile.
Q. What is the meaning of the by two snakes encircled cross on the globe?
A. It shows that we should not always respect the flat prejudices and be careful not to let the bottom of our hearts know on the subject of religion and not always agree with the foolish and idiotic pundits of religious mysteries.

Baylot collection of degrees in the degree: “Knight of the Eagle and the Sun or the disentangled Chaos”.

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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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Eagle

Besides the famous double headed eagle and the eagle with a crown, Masonic symbolism also features an eagle proper.

The 21th degree (‘Knight of the Rose Cross’) of the Mirecourt collection, describes the eagle as “the symbol of the supreme being”.

Fairly frequent in old ritual texts is a black eagle. There are several rituals of degrees called “Chevalier de l’Aigle Noir” (‘Knight of the black Eagle’) with variations to the name (and degree).

Tracing Board of the Real Night of the Black Eagle or Unknown Master Philosopher Maçonnerie des Hommes (1766) Kl.MS:XXXIV Vol. VI

Peacock

under the altar are beasts expressing the vices as peacock, cameleon and lion;

And later:

Q. What do the animals signify represented under it?
A. That shows us that before entering into such a beautiful quarry, one has to tred down all vices.

Thus says the Latomia document 175-t-e. This document is a translation of Cayers Maçonniques (National Library of Australia, MS 1097/44), which is the first volume of Maçonnerie des Hommes, the other five volumes are in the Kloss collection in Den Haag in the Netherlands.

The concerning degree is called “Apprentice Mason of Practice” and is the fourth degree presented in this volume (after Entered Apprentis, Fellowcraft and Master Mason).

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Horse

A horse on a tracing board for the degree: “Sublime Ecossais de Franville”. I think this means ‘sublime Scot from Franville’. There is a town called Franville right in the middle of the Peche national Park (somewhat straight North there is a place called “l’Aigle” by the way (‘the eagle’)). Otherwise I wouldn’t know what the word means.

The tracing board actually shows two horses:

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Skull with Three Roses

Our records tell us about the death’s head, the butterfly and the grasshopper: The death’s head, from whose nostrils and eye sockets three roses sprout, signifying that the decomposition of one body promotes the generation and growth of the other. The butterfly and the grasshopper each have their own special meaning, but both testify to the diversity, splendour and richness of the creatures in terms of form, movement and strength.

Translated quote from Die St. Andreas-Grade by F. Possart (1877/8).

Feddersen (Die Arbeitstafel in der Freimaurerei Band I (1982) SO/18) from around 1860

Temple of Wisdom

What a complex and weird drawing from Rite des Sophisiens. Below it says: “du Temple de la Sagesse”, ‘Temple of Wisdom’. The “Ordre sacré des Sophisiens” (‘sacred order of Sophisiens’) was a proto (some say: pseudo) organisation of Egyptian Freemasonry in the first half of the 18th century in France.

Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Fonds Maçonnique, FM 4 (15): Rituels. Rite des Sophisiens. Livre d’or du rite

Banner with Cow and Cat

Image from the Rite des Sophisiens, a proto (according to some: “pseudo”) Egyptian French order from the first half of the 18th century. On the banner we see a cow’s head and on top, is that a cat’s head?

Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Fonds Maçonnique, FM 4 (15): Rituels. Rite des Sophisiens. Livre d’or du rite

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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