BEDickey
Premium Member
Greetings all. My name is Brandon, soon to be an Entered Apprentice. What drew me Masonry is its links to my religion, a modern day incarnation of Hermeticism. I will spare most religious talk as this is not the place for it but I will point out what I see as interesting links.
I will start with that most well known of symbols, the Square and Compasses. Everyone here knows its Masonic meaning, here is an interesting new view. One of the main maxims of Hermeticism is "That which is above corresponds that what is below, that which is below corresponds to what is above, to accomplish the One Thing" which is Unity with the Divine. The Square and Compasses bares this perfectly. The compasses point up, also the compasses are used to draw circles, an ancient symbol of planets, or the Sun, or "God". The Square points down and is used in construction. Many ancient structures built by Masons were aligned to the stars and the planets, to bring their order and harmony down to Earth.
In Hermeticism we study the 4 Hermetic arts, Tarot, Astrology, Qabalah, and Numerology. We all know numbers are important to Freemasonry, so Numerology and it's cousin Sacred Geometry are easy links. Qabalah has is roots in Egypt, home of the greatest Masons in history, and not the Jewish religion, as they forbid the worship of "graven images". A quick look at a few cards in the Rider-Waite Tarot will show the links there, Arcanum II The High Priestess has Jachin and Boaz, along with pomegranates in the shape of the Qabalah. 3 out of 4 of the Cardinal Virtues of Masonry are represented by cards, Temperance, Fortitude, and Justice being cards XIV, VIII, and XI respectively. The Scottish Rite 15th degree is "Knight of the Sword", the Tarot also has a Knight of Swords. It also makes has the "Chapter of Rose Croix" and the 18th degree is "Knight Rose Croix". Both are reference to the "Rosicrucians", an older order of Christian mystics who studied these same Arts. Indeed even the sacred Tetragrammaton is used extensively in the Tarot, when in proper order a deck displays it in many ways at once. Astronomy is very portent as well, as it allowed the Masons of old to align their buildings to the Luminaries(planets, stars, constellations, ect).
I hope this is as informative for everyone as it was for me writing it, for the second time. Truth be told i found out my IPod had copied everything to memory, so was just a matter of cut and paste mostly.
Good day to all and I look forward to calling you all "Brother" very soon.
Brandon
I will start with that most well known of symbols, the Square and Compasses. Everyone here knows its Masonic meaning, here is an interesting new view. One of the main maxims of Hermeticism is "That which is above corresponds that what is below, that which is below corresponds to what is above, to accomplish the One Thing" which is Unity with the Divine. The Square and Compasses bares this perfectly. The compasses point up, also the compasses are used to draw circles, an ancient symbol of planets, or the Sun, or "God". The Square points down and is used in construction. Many ancient structures built by Masons were aligned to the stars and the planets, to bring their order and harmony down to Earth.
In Hermeticism we study the 4 Hermetic arts, Tarot, Astrology, Qabalah, and Numerology. We all know numbers are important to Freemasonry, so Numerology and it's cousin Sacred Geometry are easy links. Qabalah has is roots in Egypt, home of the greatest Masons in history, and not the Jewish religion, as they forbid the worship of "graven images". A quick look at a few cards in the Rider-Waite Tarot will show the links there, Arcanum II The High Priestess has Jachin and Boaz, along with pomegranates in the shape of the Qabalah. 3 out of 4 of the Cardinal Virtues of Masonry are represented by cards, Temperance, Fortitude, and Justice being cards XIV, VIII, and XI respectively. The Scottish Rite 15th degree is "Knight of the Sword", the Tarot also has a Knight of Swords. It also makes has the "Chapter of Rose Croix" and the 18th degree is "Knight Rose Croix". Both are reference to the "Rosicrucians", an older order of Christian mystics who studied these same Arts. Indeed even the sacred Tetragrammaton is used extensively in the Tarot, when in proper order a deck displays it in many ways at once. Astronomy is very portent as well, as it allowed the Masons of old to align their buildings to the Luminaries(planets, stars, constellations, ect).
I hope this is as informative for everyone as it was for me writing it, for the second time. Truth be told i found out my IPod had copied everything to memory, so was just a matter of cut and paste mostly.
Good day to all and I look forward to calling you all "Brother" very soon.
Brandon