Symbols and their meanings

[maat]

sid said:

Sid's Question: Does your floor start with a black square, or with a white one, and is there a traditional 'number' of squares?

I don't know the answer but I am looking for a number 64 in Freemasonry (see the Universe by Numbers) - anyone got the traditional chess board as their floor?

Maat

[hollandr]

Symbol

It depends if you are looking for speculative interpretations of symbols. If so you can make them up as you wish or find someone else's explorations.

If you are looking to apply symbols in a Masonic science to make changes in energy systems and individual and group consciousness you might like to browse my previous posts

CHeers

Russell

[maat]

whistler said:

My Understanding is that some of our culture goes back to MU
Then my understanding of the Freemasonry will be different to yours
and both of us may be wrong-
The thing we may have in common we are both looking for the light ;D

Hellow Whistler - just found this old posting of yours - did you know....?

"Gemini - Symbolised by the Twins or the TWO PILLARS.

A mutable air sign that corresponds to the third house and is ruled by Mercury (the messenger). Gemini directs the need to communicate and learn from others. Gemini's energies are characterized as living in the present, intelligence and shifting of perspectives. (extract from BOTA site)

www.bota.org/

It is believed by some that the ancient continent known as Lemuria (MU) existed in the Age of Gemini and it is a symbol connected with that continent.

Maat

[hollandr]

Maat

In the last month I have discovered what may be the energetic remains of a colony of Mu on what is now Chile. There seems to be a South African connection too both in terms of people and energy lines.

There seems to be some on-going agenda there in the descendants (reincarnated from original inhabitants) in Chile at present.

Some friends expect to take up residence there early next year so I hope to get ground-truthing then.

This is my first conscious connection with Lemurian groups

Cheers

Russell

[maat]

CABLE TOW - Symbolic of the "Ring-Pass-Not"

Ring-Pass-Not - By G. de Purucker

A profoundly mystical and suggestive term signifying the circle or bounds or frontiers within which is contained the consciousness of those who are still under the sway of the delusion of separateness -- and this applies whether the ring be large or small. It does not signify any one especial occasion or condition, but is a general term applicable to any state in which an entity, having reached a certain stage of evolutionary growth of the unfolding of consciousness, finds itself unable to pass into a still higher state because of some delusion under which the consciousness is laboring, be that delusion mental or spiritual. There is consciously a ring-pass-not for every globe of the planetary chain, a ring-pass-not for the planetary chain itself, a ring-pass-not for the solar system, and so forth. It is the entities who labor under the delusion who therefore actually create their own rings-pass-not, for these are not actual entitative material frontiers, but boundaries of consciousness.

A ring-pass-not furthermore may perhaps be said with great truth to be somewhat of the nature of a spiritual laya-center or point of transmission between plane and plane of consciousness.

The rings-pass-not as above said, however, have to do with phases or states of consciousness only. For instance, the ring-pass-not for the beasts is self-consciousness, i.e., the beasts have not yet been enabled to develop forth their consciousness to the point of self-consciousness or reflective consciousness except in minor degree. A dog, for example, located in a room which it desires to leave, will run to a door out of which it is accustomed to go and will sit there whining for the door to be opened. Its consciousness recognizes the point of egress, but it has not developed the self-conscious mental activity to open the door.

A general ring-pass-not for humanity is their inability to self-consciously participate in spiritual self-consciousness.


Ring-pass-not by Theosophical University Press

The limit in spiritual, intellectual, or psychological power or consciousness, beyond which an individual is unable to pass until he evokes from within the strength and the vision to carry him forwards and over the circumscribing limits set by that individual's own karma. In the Stanzas of Dzyan, the lipikas are said to circumscribe the triangle, the first one, the cube, the second one, and the pentacle within the egg, which is the ring called pass not for those who descend and ascend and for those who are progressing toward the great Day Be-With-Us. Also called the dhyanipasa (rope of the dhyanis or angels) that hedges off the phenomenal from the noumenal kosmos. The world circumscribed by this ring is signified mathematically by 31415 = 14 expressing hierarchies of dhyan-chohans. The embodying monads, and men who are ascending towards purification but have not yet quite reached the goal, can cross the ring only on the Day Be-With-Us, the day when man will have freed himself from the trammels of ignorance and recognized fully the nonseparateness of his personal ego from the universal ego, and returns into conscious at-one-ness with Brahman.

These ring-pass-not are therefore obviously not actual rings of matter, but inabilities to pass beyond the limits set by one's own strength. They refer to tangible and intangible, albeit temporarily impassible, frontiers or barriers raised by past karma and guarded by the lipikas, those cosmic spirits of extremely mystical character who are at the same time the guardians and agents of karma.

The term is variable, inasmuch as what would be the ring-pass-not for the human hierarchy would not be so to a superior hierarchy. Similarly the ring-pass-not for the beings below the human kingdom is not a boundary for humans. This has an especial reference to states of consciousness, and the majority of the human host is still unable to extend its consciousness beyond the sphere of man's immediate activities -- which thus at present form for humanity an intangible but very real ring-pass-not. There is a ring-pass-not surrounding globe D, this earth, and a ring of farther extension surrounding the earth planetary-chain, and beyond that still another surrounding the solar system, and a still larger one circumscribing the galaxy, etc.

[maat]

THE CADUCEUS OF HERMES

"The initiatory tradition shows in the symbol of the Caduceus of Hermes the ascent of the three energies which “animate” the being. The main way of transmission is the spine which goes from the coccyx to the head; the other two routes ( masculine and feminine ) go up twisting around the first one in the shape of a spiral.

Because of their spiral motion these two routes are represented with two igneous snakes which, ascending towards the head, wrap up around the stick representing the Middle Way.

The stick (or a cane with its knots) represents the spine, the middle way which leads to the top, the mind (head) of the Initiate. Once the three energies have ascended to the mind, the Wings of Freedom of the initiate burst open (see symbology of the Masonic Compass).

"The “Wings” ( conjunction of masculine and feminine ) are in this case, like the Masonic Compass, the symbolic representation of that opening of conscience seen as interior and spiritual freedom; it originates from the “communion” of the triple human essence (physical-thought-spirit) and it is found again at the end of the process of interior synthesis called major Initiation."


Extract from Gasgas' thread in 'Articles..' Three Mysteries of the Secret Masters by Athos A Altomonte.

[hollandr]

>Because of their spiral motion these two routes are represented with two igneous snakes which, ascending towards the head, wrap up around the stick representing the Middle Way.

Maat

No doubt you recall our previous conversations about crowned snakes.

Since about that time, whenever I visualise sending light through the body it appears to me as a mass of snakes.

Therefore I can say that the representing the kundalini energies as snakes is quite accurate.

Cheers

Russell

[petertaylor]

offramp said:

Here is a symbol that you will probably never see in UGLE Masonry. I think it is called The Broken Column:


Here is another version:


I think it only dates from about 1819.

So what is all that about then? It looks like Old Father Time straightening out the hair of a girl with an acacia branch standing next to a broken column. She is reading a book.

I would guess that Old Father Time represents Time and Death (because he has a scythe), the Acacia Leaf represents Hiram Abiff, the book is the bible. I have no idea what the girl is meant to be, or why Time is straightening her hair.

The Statue of the Weeping Virgin shows an old man standing behind her is thus explained:

The Statue is carved form a block of stone, the shape of a double cube and is a Monument erected to the Memory of Hiram. It consists of a broken column of white marble, supportuing an open book with a virgin weeping over them, and an urn in her left hand and a sprig of Acacia in her in her right. The figure of Time is behind her with his fingers unfulrling th eringlets in her hair.

The meaning of the Statue is a very fitting epitaph to the Masonic Degrees. It is an allegorical group, with a subtle yet definite answer for those that take th eright path through life. The clue to the whole Statue is the name of the virgin - her name was Truth. Truth alone was the daughter of Time. In other words through time you will discover the truth!

This is the interpretation of the polished Ashlar painted in the panels of Lodge Camperdown 317, Dundee, by David Paris Craig DA.

In our Lodge we further interpret the Broken Column etc. thus:

The broken column is emblematical of the chief supporter of the craft who was slain before his work was completed. Tradition records that this was the design of the monument erected to the memory of H. A. B. It is symbolical of the frailty of man and all things human. A virgin wept over the broken column with an open book before her, in her right hand there was a sprig of acacia and in her left and urn. Time stood behind her with his hands folded in the ringlets of her hair. The weeping virgin denotes the unfinished state of the temple; the open book indicates that H’s memory is an imperishable record; the urn refers to the fact that his ashes are safely deposited; and time standing with his hands in her hair suggests that time, patience and perseverance will accomplish all things.

[taylorsman]

W Bro Peter. The Broken Column is used in UGLE Craft. On the superfical level it is used as a reference to the Alms Collection taken in Lodge towards the end of the Meeting and I have heard many WMs gavel and announce, "Brethern, we will now circulate the Broken Column" and indeed some Lodges possess an actual wooden Broken Column Collection Box which is used instead of an Alms Bag.

On the deeper level, The Broken Column signifies the Dead and I have seen it used on Sympathy Cards instead of a Cross for non Christians. I have bought such cards myself when intended for the relatives of Masonic departed.

BTW Peter, someone said you had been injured in a traffic accident recently. If this is true I wish you a speedy relief from all your sufferings.

[giovanni]

In Italy there is no broken column.

However, assuming that B & J pillars are outside Temple - as they should be - I read the symbolism as follows:

The 2 pillars remind the Bren. that they are entering a new dimension, where "everything is right and perfect"; the broken pillar, vice versa, remind them that they will exit and go back to the profane world, which needs to be reconstructed by themselves in accordance to the wise teachings that they were given in the Temple.

[petertaylor]

taylorsman said:

BTW Peter, someone said you had been injured in a traffic accident recently. If this is true I wish you a speedy relief from all your sufferings.

Wrong Peter, Taylorsman! I think you're referring to Peter Niblo, he was involved in a road accident and has sustained a broken pelvis, ribs, and torn ligaments in his left leg. Quite fortunate from what I can gather.

[phil]

In Holland, a broken column is (the symbol) used as a pedestal from which one reads a lecture or important announcement to the lodge.

I often refer to the broken column as the third column in the middle between the two columns B & J in the lodge. Thus, B, J and the broken column in the middle represent the three columns of the Kabbalistic tree of life with its ten Sefiroth on their seven levels. The middle path, the centre column, the linea sacre is the true direct path that man should try to take so as to ascend to his holy ideal without deviating too much to each of the two (extreme) columns on the outside.

However, because man is a long way from attaining that holy perfection which he seeks, for me at least, the broken column represents man with his shortcomings; not quite there yet!! Still incomplete.

The depiction of father time with his daughter truth holding the urn with ashes in the one hand and the acacia representing the eternal spirit in the other and reading the bible surmounted on the broken column is often used as a monument for a dear departed brother. A man broken down before he could finish his great work.

[taylorsman]

Peter I am glad it was not you but I am very concerned to read that W Bro Niblo has suffered such injuries. How did this happen and is he on the mend? I am sure we all wish him a speedy recovery.

[petertaylor]

I picked up the info at thefreemason.com/forum/topic.asp?topic_id=3528
Apparently he's on the mend!

[hollandr]

>I don't know the answer but I am looking for a number 64 in Freemasonry (see the Universe by Numbers) - anyone got the traditional chess board as their floor?

Maat

My suspicion is that the tiled pavement should be a double square (derived fromt the traditional double cube for an altar) but I have not seen it so. Most lodges with a tiled pavement have an oblong shorter than a double square.

But see also the LDH depiction of HRA where there is a semi-circular pavement in the east connected to a rectangular pavement in the body of the lodge. I suggest this is a classic of the inheriting grand lodge (jewish) imposing its own ideas on the original sumerian/egyptian ritual


Cheers

Russell

[maat]

Hi Russell

Re: 64.... I did send the question 'out there' and guess what - I have just received a birthday pressy book on the I Ching (Book of Changes) - which has 64 hexagrams.... will be busy reading for a while..

Cheers
Maat

[maat]

Russell - started reading the I Ching....64 Hexagrams etc. How about this correlation to Masonry....

EAST - Spring - Morning - Eldest Son

SOUTH - Summer - Noon - Middle Daughter

WEST - Mid-Autumn - Late Evening - Youngest daughter

NORTH - Mid-Winter - Midnight - Middle Son

NORTH EAST - Early Spring-Early Morning- Youngest Son

I put the NE in for obvious reasons to Masons so as to compare with the E. There is more but thought this was enough to ponder upon for starters. Maybe an acquaintance with the I Ching may throw further light of the meaning of our rituals.

Of interest to some may be that 'Mother' is the SW and 'Father' is the NW.

[hollandr]

Maat

In the egyptian tradition you might have Osiris (father) in the east, Isis (mother/widow) in the west and Sekhmet (with lion head and paws) in the South.

The north may be the exit from the lodge into a higher lodge - hence the relevance of seeing the sun at midnight in the Isaic mysteries

Cheers

Russell

[maat]

The darker the surrounds the more apparent the Light becomes? Think movie theatres for a start.

The EA sits in the correct position to see the light 'reflected'.

The other thought along those lines was that at a certain stage in our development we should be prepared to step out of the light and into the shade. In our Lodge the progression is WM-IPM-Tyler... The Tyler must be a PM, possibly to illustrate the importance of that position, and being happy working alone and 'in the dark' for the betterment of all.

Maat

[hollandr]

>The EA sits in the correct position to see the light 'reflected'

Maat

Often when someone new joins our meditation group I will put them in the NE. That is next to me as I sit in the E. I put the newbie there so that they are more inside my energy field and so that I can keep an eye on them more easily during the meditation


Yes the Tyler position can be important for protection against astral entities. Hence the need for a sword - the steel edge works on the astral as well as the physical

Cheers

Russell