giovanni
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odi profanum vulgus, et arceo
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Post by giovanni on Sept 6, 2005 5:50:58 GMT
Maat,
frankly speaking: no, I never thought to the pillars in connection with the labours of Hercules and with the Zodiac. Thanks for the clue.
Once I read a great piece on this latter item written by a Bro. of my lodge, a keen psychologist.
I often thought to the pillars as the markers of the limit. The sense of which is very important in our life, either as initiates or as profanes. Everyday we come across limits, and we need much wisdom to determine if we can proceed further or not.
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Post by alkistis on Sept 9, 2005 13:07:22 GMT
Upon the two Freemasons seek the Light - and that is exactly what we are when we move up the 'waveband' - I mean literally. Freemasonry is telling us HOW to move up the 'waveband' - religions (at their core) tell us how to do the same thing. I liked the question someone posed on this forum in the past day or two (sorry forgot who you were but I LOVED it) - "when you find the Light what do you do with it?" Hmmmm - Maat (I'm still working on that one and doing the best I can in the meantime). I have some thoughts on this question, but i am not pretending that this is 'THE ANSWER'[/i So well, i thought that a very important key is to think in breathing terms and terms of rhythm. Things are not static. When the master mason reaches the chair of the grand Master what is he doing with this position? I am not expecting, given his wisdom, to just sit on the chair... So as the day follows the night, after having reached the light, it is coming the moment when we are in the darkness again; and then, we have to work our way out in the light again. But, when we found the light once, we are a bit more experienced in the next case, in the next path, when we have to found the light out of the darkness. Also, the one who ahs the light in his palm, helps those who are week and ignorant yet to follow him in the way out from the darknes in the kight. As a teenager i read a short story by Maxim Gorky in which this kind of picture was givenvery nicely. Rhyhtm and breath ... Or even the rhythm of the breath. That is our whole life, that is the secret of the life of our Universe... In and out, dark and light, repeatedly. That never ends. As we have to be always aware in the fight of the good against the evil that is never won for good and for ever. It is like the perpetual building of the Temple. the Temple is never complete and we have always to work on it and new aprentices and masters are always requested. A symbol of it is the broken pediment and the broken column.
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giovanni
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Post by giovanni on Sept 9, 2005 13:33:01 GMT
Alkistis:
totally agreed!
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ricardo
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Australia
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Post by ricardo on Sept 9, 2005 14:40:12 GMT
Maat, frankly speaking: no, I never thought to the pillars in connection with the labours of Hercules and with the Zodiac. Thanks for the clue. Once I read a great piece on this latter item written by a Bro. of my lodge, a keen psychologist. I often thought to the pillars as the markers of the limit. The sense of which is very important in our life, either as initiates or as profanes. Everyday we come across limits, and we need much wisdom to determine if we can proceed further or not. Hmmmm, the compasses are more about describing boundaries, I thought. There is an interesting article about pillars at freemasonry.bcy.ca/texts/pillars.htmlAt a meeting open to the public for the installation of a new Grand Master, the GJW is asked whom he represents - ...., the Prince of the People, on Mount Tabor. The SGW when asked states that he represents ......, the Assistant High Priest, on Mount Sinai. Consider the significance of those two mountains. Also, their respective directions from the porch of King Solomon's Temple. The Pillars of Hercules (see above, pub sign at 7 Greek Street in London, near Foyles bookshop) were located at the eastern entrance of the Straits of Gibraltar (thinking of them I am reminded of the Strait of Messina, home of Scylla and Charybdis). And in an Italian Lodge I seem to recall that the statue of Hercules is situated in the west, close to the two pillars inside the entry porch. Just down from Freemasons Hall in London one can find a bar - Hercules Pillars - at 18 Great Queen Street. Is this just a coincidence?
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giovanni
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odi profanum vulgus, et arceo
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Post by giovanni on Sept 9, 2005 15:59:01 GMT
Bro. Ricardo,
can we say that the pillars mark an ideal threshold?
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ricardo
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Australia
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Post by ricardo on Sept 9, 2005 16:19:24 GMT
Bro. Ricardo, can we say that the pillars mark an ideal threshold? Perhaps the threshold to the getting of wisdom --- or knowledge of the useful arts and sciences. Remember one of the old legends of the Craft, the story of the sons of Lamech: "According to the fourth chapter of Genesis, before Noah's flood, there was a man called Lamech who had two wives, one called Ada and the other Zillah. The first wife Ada bore him two sons, Jabal and Jubal, and the second wife Zillah bore him a son and a daughter, tubal-Cain and Naamah. These four children found the beginning of all the crafts in the world. Jabel, the eldest son, found the craft of Geometry, and he was the first person to divide lands and flocks of sheep and lambs, and he was also the first to build a house of wood and stone. Jubal found the craft of Music, Tubal-Cain the craft of the Smith and Naamah the craft of Weaving. Now these children knew that God would take vengeance upon the earth, either by fire or water, and in order that their discoveries might be preserved to future generations they wrote them upon two pillars of stone; on of marble, which would not burn in fire, and the other of lattress, which would not drown in water." (And Noah was the son of another Lamech.)
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giovanni
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odi profanum vulgus, et arceo
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Post by giovanni on Sept 9, 2005 16:29:42 GMT
The threshold to enter into a new dimension
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Post by sid on Sept 10, 2005 6:18:44 GMT
Greetings, Bro. Ricardo, can we say that the pillars mark an ideal threshold? May I suggest that the 2 pillars represent the completed Temple, much in the same way as the floor tiles together? Regards, Sid
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giovanni
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odi profanum vulgus, et arceo
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Post by giovanni on Sept 10, 2005 6:33:39 GMT
Sid,
a masonic temple is never finished!
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Post by maat on Sept 11, 2005 23:23:14 GMT
Rhythm and breath ... Or even the rhythm of the breath. That is our whole life, that is the secret of the life of our Universe... In and out, dark and light, repeatedly. That never ends. As we have to be always aware in the fight of the good against the evil that is never won for good and for ever. It is like the perpetual building of the Temple. the Temple is never complete and we have always to work on it and new apprentices and masters are always requested. A symbol of it is the broken pediment and the broken column. A warm welcome to this wonderful Forum Alkistis - I really enjoyed your post. Over the weekend I started to prepare a talk on the symbolism of the black and white squares in a Lodge room. My source on this occasion was the Kybalion - there are three Principles mentioned therein that can be illustrated very well by the checkerboard. The Principle of Polarity, Rhythm and Causation. You post above puts it in a nutshell! I look forward to reading more on your thoughts. Cheers Maat
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Post by maat on Sept 11, 2005 23:31:00 GMT
Hi Ricardo
Thanks for posting that picture of Hercules between the Pillars - I had not seen that before. You link was interesting also.
One thought on your statement "... the compasses are more about describing boundaries, I thought."
What about the circle which is bounded by the parallel lines? (or two pillars?).
Maat
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Post by hollandr on Sept 12, 2005 1:38:15 GMT
Maat
2 parallel vertical lines with a point (and sometimes a circle) in the middle is said to be a sign of Vishnu.
If the lines are horizontal, it is sign of Shiva
According to A Churchward
Cheers
Russell
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giovanni
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Post by giovanni on Sept 14, 2005 7:58:31 GMT
Russell
why Churchward says this?
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Post by hollandr on Sept 14, 2005 8:43:51 GMT
Giovanni
Apparently those signs were used by Hindus to represent the particular gods. The one for Vishnu is very similar to that used in our lodges to indicate the Point within the Circle.
Of course one could equally go to Jewish traditions and examine the Point within the Triangle
Cheers
Russell
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giovanni
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Post by giovanni on Sept 14, 2005 8:49:26 GMT
I guess: Vishnu (like Apollo) represents stability and beauty, so the vertical; Shiva is the destroyer who pulls down, so the horizontal.
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Post by vadro on Sept 23, 2005 12:59:37 GMT
I would llike to mention the following:
From the bible, King James Version
2 Kings 25: 17
The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the chapiter upon it was brass: and the height of the chapiter three cubits; and the wreathed work, and pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass: and like unto these had the second pillar with wreathed work.
1 Kings 7:21-22
And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz.
1 Kings 7:22
And upon the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished
-------- The symbols are obviously taken from the Book of the Sacred Law, and this is reflected also in Anderson's Constitution, but this is only the essoteric structure and one can see many different esoteric meaning in these pillars, as we can see in the various posts. The Pillars may also mean the boarder between the dark and the light, between the Profane (Pro-fanum) and the Initiated, giving Strength and Stability to the Temple.
S&F
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