Tag Archives: nature

Dog

Below you see “First and second boards of the Elu of the Nine degree, featuring the dog. Boards from the collection of Baron von Löwen.” (1) (In the manuscript itself it says: “Elu de g. Chevalier de C.”) This 9th degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite appears to be a merge of the “Little Elu (Petit Élu) and Elu of Perignan (Élu de Pérignan), also called Elu of the Unknown (Élu de l’Inconnu).” It is probably there where the dog came from.

The old ‘elect’ degrees have become the ‘vengeance’ degrees of the AASR. The dog alternally is the guard of the cave of the first found murderer of Hiram or the dog of the pilgrim (perignan) who led the masters to that very murderer.

Continue reading

Phoenix

The Phoenix is not really a Masonic symbol, but it does appear in a Masonic context every now and then. The image above is the emblem of a lodge with the name, there is the famous Phoenixmasonry museum and library and last, but not least, the double headed eagle of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite is sometimes portrayed as rising from the fire. Sometimes it is even bluntly called “Phoenix”. As a symbol, the phoenix refers to renewal, perhaps even immortality or eternity.

Forgetmenot

The Myosotis is not really a Masonic symbol, but (as Jews) Freemasons put it on their cloths during WWII as a subtle token of their membership. It has been used as such ever since.

Child

There is a fascinating book called Mutus Liber Latomorum, subtitled Le Livre Muet des Franc-Maçons. I suppose the French ‘the silent book of the Free-Masons’ is supposed to be a translation of the Latin title. The book appears to have been originally published (without a title?) in 1765 and should not be confused with the famous alchemical book Mutus Liber from 1677. It was republished in 1993 by J.C. Bailly and some say that it was him who came up with the tile. The republication supposedly contains: “two symbolic and historical studies: one by Philippe Morbach and the other by Didier Kahn, as well as the illustrations presented here”. These studies are not available on the website or a PDF of the book that I found. The original is in possession of the Grand Orient de France.

Continue reading

Hebrew

There is a lot of crudely written Hebrew in Freemasonry. Not only words are garbled, but the copies from copies, often from handwritten copies, by people who don’t know Hebrew, makes that on many places you see letters that hardly resemble Hebrew. What also doesn’t help is that there are variations in ritual texts. The image above is from the “ineffable” degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Some Hebrew are recognisable, others less so. From some texts that use this image, you can know what Hebrew letters are meant. The same emblem in another AASR system has Latin characters that do not correspond to the Hebrew above.

Continue reading

Butterfly

Butterfly from a tracing board of what Feddersen calls the order of the Trusted Brethern of Andreas. He has examples from Denmark (SD/18) and Germany (SO/14). They are from around 1860.

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

Freimaurer Wiki says of the butterfly: “Symbol of resurrection (the caterpillar transforms into a colourful, almost weightless butterfly), symbol of the soul.” The butterfly is not as rare as initially seems. It even appears in some 24th degree Scottish Rite rituals. It is also: “a symbol of the success of the endeavour to free oneself from sensual fetters, under God’s power and assistance, as well as by way of transformation”. (1901 instructions regarding the “Andreas Logen” of the Großen Landesloge der Freimaurer von Deutschland.)

Also interesting (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.

Continue reading

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.

Continue reading

Cloud

Apparently the German Masonic reformer Schröder designed this minimalist tracing board around 1815. I don’t know the significance of the cloud. The image can be found in Feddersen (D/71).

Obviously it became part of the Schroeder ‘type of Freemasonry’, as clouds are still part of the Brazilian “Rito Schröder” emblem below left.

Interestingly, clouds can also be seen on this tracing board of the Gold- und Rosenkreuzer (one of three tracing boards used in the 1st degree).

Continue reading

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.

Continue reading