12-22-2020, 08:11 PM
Although the liberal arts were intended for philosophers, many of the mystic and allegorical aspects of the sciences also became an integral part of the trades associated with them. Geometry, ‘measurement of the earth’, became the revered art of the stonemason guilds. While Boethius championed music as the ultimate philosophy, geometry was viewed by others as the ultimate branch of numerical knowledge in understanding the Creator and His creation, for geometry, the unique three-dimensional application of number, was the highest form of arithmetic. It was thought that since God could not have created the structure of the universe without creating the laws of geometry, it had to be the most important. God was the ‘Great Architect of the Universe’ and therefore every other art was subject to geometry. The heavens and the earth could not be ordered without three dimensional measurements, alchemy was closely bound with the study of astronomy and the materials of the earth, and therefore also tied to geometry. Music and words were bound by rhythm, and since that too was bound by logic and proportion, which required the use of reason symbolised in rational and unchanging numbers in addition to measurement, it followed that geometry, the art of the Freemasons, had to be master of all the liberal arts.
The term ‘freemason’ arose circa the 1200s AD and was originally used to describe those stonemasons that were skilled in carving ‘freestone’ that did not splinter in the process, such as limestone. Later, ‘Freemason’ defined a stonemason who was free to work his trade wherever he chose without any restrictions imposed upon him by the trade unions or builders’ guilds. In most cases, medieval masons worked in lodges where much of the preliminary labour of drawing plans and hewing rough stones was carried out. Soon, guilds were formed with a master mason as leader, the term ‘lodge’ was continued and later used in reference to a guild, or a group of stonemasons. Each step from apprentice to master mason was accompanied by various ‘rites of passage’, ‘graduation’ rituals so to speak emphasizing the mystic knowledge gained with each step of becoming a stonemason and mystic philosopher of geometry.
Stone masonry, also inseparable with architecture at the time, had the unique privilege of being associated with kings, princes, and with the philosophers and theologians of the Church since most of the master stonemasons’ skills were channeled into building castles, palaces, municipal buildings, and of course, churches and cathedrals. As a result, many of the allegorical and mystical parables of the Church became closely entwined with the geometric mysticism of the stonemasons’ lodges. As the Scriptures declare Christ is the rejected Stone that became the cornerstone of the Church, every member was also a ‘living stone’ that constituted the heavenly kingdom and represented in the physical stones of a church; therefore, as the masons had the unique privilege of fashioning each and every stone, it is not surprising that they also incorporated this visual symbolism into their craft, viewing each member as a living ‘stone’ or ‘block’ that constituted their mystic lodge. The tools of their trade also held an allegorical significance concerning the path to Christian perfection. A ladder represented the spiritual steps leading up to heaven, while the plumb-line, geometrical compass and rule were symbolic reminders of how a man should live his life with moderation and moral balance. The gavel and hammer used to trim down and polish an ashlar or rough stone displayed the patience and labour required to transform one’s fallen and base nature into a perfectly hewn stone worthy of the heavenly Kingdom. The trowel was symbolic of laying the perfected stone in place, that is, within the Christian society of the Church, while mortar represented the charity, peace and brotherly love that keeps the ‘stone’ secure. In all, the freemason’s trade was an allegorical parable made visible in construction tools similar to the chemical hunt for the spiritual quintessence, or ‘philosopher’s stone’ of alchemy.
As we can see, freemasonry was not regarded as an ‘evil’ organization in the beginning and was closely associated with the Church. We cannot help but recall Lord Elrond’s observation in Lord of the Rings, “... nothing is evil in the beginning,” including the Dark Lord Sauron. Indeed, the freemasons adopted many Christian symbols, including the Eye of Divine Providence set within the triangle of the Trinity as the number three was considered a mystically important number in geometry. However, several factors began to contribute to the growing division between Church and the Mystic Lodge. One of the first troublesome issues emerged when freemasons continually added pagan myths and belief systems into the ‘history’ of their craft in their zeal to discover when mankind first practised the noble liberal art of geometric-stonemasonry. A number of the earliest surviving stonemasons’ charters display a curious mishmash of texts, inventive retellings of Biblical history, anachronistic accounts of secular history in addition to speculative myths concerning the foundation of the seven liberal sciences, all that were later combined with pagan philosophy as the years progressed. Many guild charters listed the ill-omened Tower of Babel as the first Biblical mention of organized stone masonry. Masonic legends grew from this supposed beginning, in particular, a strange account that a prophecy had already existed before the deluge warning mankind it would be destroyed by fire or water. Not knowing which would strike first, humanity had preserved knowledge of the seven sciences in two pillars, one that could withstand fire, the other water, hence the sciences were saved for posterity and allowed proud King Nimrod to build his mighty edifice. How they arrived at this legend is a mystery, some Masonic researchers note the ancient historian Josephus first mentioned this legend and wrote that it was Adam who had warned his son Seth what would happen, accrediting Seth with the construction of the two pillars. However, Josephus could have confused this story with the Egyptian pharaoh Sethos, or Seth, who raised memorial columns in the countries he conquered. Masons then traced the ‘history’ of their craft from Babel to the patriarch Abraham, who according to their legends taught the arts to the Egyptians, who in turn passed it on to the Greek philosophers, eventually arriving at the history of Solomon’s temple. After ancient Israel, masonry was then introduced into Europe, France receives particular attention in several guild charters. This ‘history’ of their origins was often incorporated into the various graduation rituals of ‘raising a mason’ from apprentice to Master Mason.
The temple of Solomon also features in Masonic pseudo-history and has its own curious collection of legends connected with it. For instance, freemasons associated the mythical two pillars of ‘Seth’ with the pillars of Wisdom and Strength in the Biblical temple. Another strange legend is that of ‘Hiram Abif’, the widow’s son, who helped King Solomon in its construction. In the Bible, King Hiram of Tyre sends King Solomon his own father also named Hiram to help with the construction of the building. (2 Paralipomenon 2:13) His father Hiram, the son of a widow from the daughters of the tribe of Dan, was skilled in every craft concerning building, metalwork, engraving, and rare materials. However, the freemasons concocted a strange tale that non-masons tried to enter the lodge to learn the secrets of the masons and discover the hidden plans for the temple: when ‘Hiram Abif’ refused to reveal the secret password or ‘Mason’s Word’ allowing admittance into their exclusive workspace, he was murdered and became a martyr for sacred wisdom. There is no proof this ever happened, but for the freemasons the legend was a symbol of Christ’s death and resurrection as the ‘Word’ of God, the Divine geometric Logos of ‘ratio’, ‘word’ and ‘proportion’.
The term ‘freemason’ arose circa the 1200s AD and was originally used to describe those stonemasons that were skilled in carving ‘freestone’ that did not splinter in the process, such as limestone. Later, ‘Freemason’ defined a stonemason who was free to work his trade wherever he chose without any restrictions imposed upon him by the trade unions or builders’ guilds. In most cases, medieval masons worked in lodges where much of the preliminary labour of drawing plans and hewing rough stones was carried out. Soon, guilds were formed with a master mason as leader, the term ‘lodge’ was continued and later used in reference to a guild, or a group of stonemasons. Each step from apprentice to master mason was accompanied by various ‘rites of passage’, ‘graduation’ rituals so to speak emphasizing the mystic knowledge gained with each step of becoming a stonemason and mystic philosopher of geometry.
Stone masonry, also inseparable with architecture at the time, had the unique privilege of being associated with kings, princes, and with the philosophers and theologians of the Church since most of the master stonemasons’ skills were channeled into building castles, palaces, municipal buildings, and of course, churches and cathedrals. As a result, many of the allegorical and mystical parables of the Church became closely entwined with the geometric mysticism of the stonemasons’ lodges. As the Scriptures declare Christ is the rejected Stone that became the cornerstone of the Church, every member was also a ‘living stone’ that constituted the heavenly kingdom and represented in the physical stones of a church; therefore, as the masons had the unique privilege of fashioning each and every stone, it is not surprising that they also incorporated this visual symbolism into their craft, viewing each member as a living ‘stone’ or ‘block’ that constituted their mystic lodge. The tools of their trade also held an allegorical significance concerning the path to Christian perfection. A ladder represented the spiritual steps leading up to heaven, while the plumb-line, geometrical compass and rule were symbolic reminders of how a man should live his life with moderation and moral balance. The gavel and hammer used to trim down and polish an ashlar or rough stone displayed the patience and labour required to transform one’s fallen and base nature into a perfectly hewn stone worthy of the heavenly Kingdom. The trowel was symbolic of laying the perfected stone in place, that is, within the Christian society of the Church, while mortar represented the charity, peace and brotherly love that keeps the ‘stone’ secure. In all, the freemason’s trade was an allegorical parable made visible in construction tools similar to the chemical hunt for the spiritual quintessence, or ‘philosopher’s stone’ of alchemy.
As we can see, freemasonry was not regarded as an ‘evil’ organization in the beginning and was closely associated with the Church. We cannot help but recall Lord Elrond’s observation in Lord of the Rings, “... nothing is evil in the beginning,” including the Dark Lord Sauron. Indeed, the freemasons adopted many Christian symbols, including the Eye of Divine Providence set within the triangle of the Trinity as the number three was considered a mystically important number in geometry. However, several factors began to contribute to the growing division between Church and the Mystic Lodge. One of the first troublesome issues emerged when freemasons continually added pagan myths and belief systems into the ‘history’ of their craft in their zeal to discover when mankind first practised the noble liberal art of geometric-stonemasonry. A number of the earliest surviving stonemasons’ charters display a curious mishmash of texts, inventive retellings of Biblical history, anachronistic accounts of secular history in addition to speculative myths concerning the foundation of the seven liberal sciences, all that were later combined with pagan philosophy as the years progressed. Many guild charters listed the ill-omened Tower of Babel as the first Biblical mention of organized stone masonry. Masonic legends grew from this supposed beginning, in particular, a strange account that a prophecy had already existed before the deluge warning mankind it would be destroyed by fire or water. Not knowing which would strike first, humanity had preserved knowledge of the seven sciences in two pillars, one that could withstand fire, the other water, hence the sciences were saved for posterity and allowed proud King Nimrod to build his mighty edifice. How they arrived at this legend is a mystery, some Masonic researchers note the ancient historian Josephus first mentioned this legend and wrote that it was Adam who had warned his son Seth what would happen, accrediting Seth with the construction of the two pillars. However, Josephus could have confused this story with the Egyptian pharaoh Sethos, or Seth, who raised memorial columns in the countries he conquered. Masons then traced the ‘history’ of their craft from Babel to the patriarch Abraham, who according to their legends taught the arts to the Egyptians, who in turn passed it on to the Greek philosophers, eventually arriving at the history of Solomon’s temple. After ancient Israel, masonry was then introduced into Europe, France receives particular attention in several guild charters. This ‘history’ of their origins was often incorporated into the various graduation rituals of ‘raising a mason’ from apprentice to Master Mason.
The temple of Solomon also features in Masonic pseudo-history and has its own curious collection of legends connected with it. For instance, freemasons associated the mythical two pillars of ‘Seth’ with the pillars of Wisdom and Strength in the Biblical temple. Another strange legend is that of ‘Hiram Abif’, the widow’s son, who helped King Solomon in its construction. In the Bible, King Hiram of Tyre sends King Solomon his own father also named Hiram to help with the construction of the building. (2 Paralipomenon 2:13) His father Hiram, the son of a widow from the daughters of the tribe of Dan, was skilled in every craft concerning building, metalwork, engraving, and rare materials. However, the freemasons concocted a strange tale that non-masons tried to enter the lodge to learn the secrets of the masons and discover the hidden plans for the temple: when ‘Hiram Abif’ refused to reveal the secret password or ‘Mason’s Word’ allowing admittance into their exclusive workspace, he was murdered and became a martyr for sacred wisdom. There is no proof this ever happened, but for the freemasons the legend was a symbol of Christ’s death and resurrection as the ‘Word’ of God, the Divine geometric Logos of ‘ratio’, ‘word’ and ‘proportion’.