CHAPTER XV.

THE GOLDEN FLEECE— ROMAN EAGLE-MASONIC APRON— WHAT IT TEACHES.
IN this chapter, my dear Friends and Brothers, let me call your attention to the ceremony of the investiture of the Lamb-skin, or the white leather apron, the badge of a Mason, one of the most profound and deeply interesting symbols in Masonry, and one that is pregnant with occult meaning, one that demonstrates the ancient occult axiom of the Delphic Oracle — " Know thyself."
When first our Neophyte is invested with that most sublime em- blem, the apron, he is told that it is more ancient than the " Golden Fleece " or " Roman Eagle," and that it is more honorable than the " Star and Garter," etc., etc. Now among all those who have been so told and so invested, how many are there who understand anything at all about the Golden Fleece and Roman Eagle, or the Honor pertaining to the Star and Garter ? I will venture to say, that not one in a thousand knows anything at all about either one or the other, and still less of the profound symbology that is contained in the badge of a Mason — the white leather apron. Therefore, in order that you, my dear Brothers of all Rites, may be enabled to thoroughly understand something about these various subjects, I will write upon them for your especial edification.
In Grecian Mythology we find that Athamas, the son of the King of Thessaly, married Nephele (the cloud goddess), by whom she had a son Phrixus, and a daughter Helle. Some time afterward he fell in love with and married a mortal called Ino. This act of Athamas in taking to wife a mortal aroused intense jealousy in the heart of Nephele, and conse- quently she visited the earth with a drought, which Ino endeavored to avert by sacrificing her stepson, Phrixus, upon the Altar of Zeus Laphystius, through an oracle that she pretended to have received. But Nephele, the mother of Phrixus, who was watching over him, sent him a ram, with a golden fleece, so that both himself and sister Helle
342 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
might be enabled to make their escape from their vindictive and treach- erous stepmother, who sought to destroy them.
Phrixus and his sister now make their escape from Thessaly upon the ram ; but during their flight through the air Helle fell off and was drowned in the waters below, and the place wherein she fell has ever since borue the name " Hellespont." Phrixus arrived safely at the city of Colchis, where he offered i:p the ram as a sacrifice to Zeus as the " aider of flight " (Zeus Phyxius), and he made a present of its golden fleece to King Acetes, who hung it upon an oak in the sacred grove of Ares (the son of Zeus by Hera, the Greek name for the God of War, and which the Romans called Mars). Acetes gave Phrixus his daughter Chalciope to wife, by whom he had two sons, whom he named Cytissorus and Argus, both of whom he eventually sent back to his home. Cytis- s5rus saved the life of his grandfather Athamas from being sacrificed, and Argus built the ship Argo which was named after him.
This vessel was the celebrated ship that carried the Argonauts in their glorious expedition to recover the Golden Fleece, under the leader- ship of Jason. They eventually accomplished their purpose by the help of the king's daughter, Media, who was in love with Jason. The account of this Argonautic expedition is well worth reading, as it will give you a good account of the recovery of the wonderful Golden Fleece.
The Order of the Golden Fleece was founded by Phillip II, the Good, Duke of Burgundy, on the loth day of January, in the year 1429, on the occasion of his marriage with the Infanta, Isabella of Portugal. This Order was originally composed of thirty-one members, all of whom were *' Gentilhomnies de ttom et (Tarmes^ sans reprochey The office of Grand Master passed to the house of Hapsburg in 1477, with the acquisition of the dominions of Burgundy and the Netherlands.
In 1 5 16 Pope Leo X consented to increase the number of the Knights, includiug the Sovereign, to fifty-two, but at the present day the statutes have been changed and the Sovereign is allowed to create j\ust as many Knights as he may deem wise, providing they be Catholics and are of noble birth, but in the case of a nobleman of the Protestant belief a papal sanction would have to be given before he could be legally installed or created a Knight. After the accession of Charles V, in 1555, the Spanish-Dutch line of the house of Austria remained in possession of the
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY, 343
Order, and in the year 1700 the Emperor Charles IV and also Phillip of Spain both claimed the so/e right to dominate the Order. The Emperor Charles IV carried away the archives of the Order to Vienna, where their inauguration was solemnized in most magnificent splendor in the year 1 713. At the same time Phillip V of Spain claimed to be the legitimate head of the Order, and as Grand Master he protested against the preten- sions of the Emperor Charles IV. They wrangled a long time between themselves until the other powers interfered, when it was mutually or tacitly agreed that both powers should have and hold their right to the name, and that there should be two Orders of the Golden Fleece, known as the Spanish and the Austrian.
The decoration of the Order is a golden ram pendent by a ring which passes around its middle, and hangs from a jewel of very elaborate design, with beautiful enamelling in different colors and the whole of which is suspended from the collar of the Order. Its motto is : " Pretium non viW'' (not to be condemned is the reward of labor), and the festal day is St. Andrews.
I have not only given you an account of the Mythological idea of the Golden Fleece, but also a description of the origin of an Order of Knight- hood of the same name, which I hope will prove of interest to my very dear Brothers and Friends. I place a very high value on ancient Myth- ology, and I really believe that every intelligent man and Brother who has not had the pleasure of reading Bacon's " Essays and Wisdom of the Ancients," should most assuredly do so at their earliest convenience for each and all will find a very great amount of wisdom contained in the explanations of those so-called fables or mythological ideas of the x'lncient Greeks and Romans.
" More ancient than the Roman Eagle." — Yes, the badge of a Mason is far older than the so-called " Roman Eagle," because " The Roman Eagle" came into existence just before the Cimbrian War and previous to the commencement of the Christian Era. We learn from Xenophon and other ancient authorities, that the Eagle, with its wings displayed, represented the standards of the Persians, long before the "Roman Eagle "was even dreamed of, or Rhea Silvia fed the sacred fire upon the altar of Alba-Longa, and there is no question in my mind but that the Persians took this emblem from the ancient Assyrians, who
344 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
most assuredly carried it as their especial ensign, upon whose banners and stafifs it appeared until Imperial Babylon, " Queen city of the World," with her conquering armies bowed their mighty heads beneath the yoke of Cyrus, from whom, no doubt, he borrowed this glorious emblem, the Golden Eagle with extended wings, and placed it upon his own standards as an emblem of Victory over his enemies.
An Eagle stripped of its feathers was carried upon the staffs and standards of the ancient Egyptians as their ensign, while the Eagides or Ptolemies carried as their ensign the head of a White Eagle, stripped ; so you see that the Roman Eagle is of mere modern origin compared to its antiquity among those more ancient Empires of the world, for we find it in all ages, in every ancient nation as ah emblem holding one of the most exalted places in their mythologies. In a great many nations this glorious bird was held sacred to the Sun, and we find a great many ref- erences made to it in the Bible. Like various other symbols it is lost in the hoary ages of antiquity, and like the Cross and Svastica, it belongs to no special age of the world's historj^ ; but the ." Roman Eagle," that is very different, for the name itself shows from whence it originated.
In the year B. c. 155, Cains Marius, a farmer's son, was born at Arpinum (the' birthplace of Cicero), and became, through his own indi- vidual exertions, one of the ablest generals of his day, and just before the Cimbrian War he consecrated the Eagle, with extended wings, to be the Roman standard, at the same time doing away with the Wolf, Horse, and the Boar, that had preceded it, and thus the " Roman Eagle " was carried at the head of every Legion of the Roman Empire throughout the world. From that time forward it was known through all the wars of that empire as the " Roman Eagle " or Rome and her Eagles^ because before her mighty Legions and cohorts this king of birds was displayed and victory came to those sturdy warriors who fought under the out- stretched pinions of their glorious " Roman Eagle."
The Eagle was adopted by our own country in the year i7'-)3, and now bears upon her back the dominant coin of the world, the " Almighty Dollar," found in every country upon the face of the earth. The " Little Corporal " Napoleon I, adopted the Eagle in the year 1804. It was superseded by the Iris, or Fleur-de-lys in 1815, and it was again restored by Napoleon III in 1852.
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 345
The founding of secular chivalric orders originated during the time when Europe was in continued warfare among the different powers that dominated that continent, in imitation of the various ecclesiastic orders that preceded them. These orders were founded by the reigning sov- ereigns of the different countries for the express purpose of drawing into more friendly relations and union their prominent Knights and soldiers, so as to ally them, one with another, and at the same time for the pur- pose of rewarding those who had performed some special service to their King or their country, or to any one whom the Sovereign wished to espe- cially honor, as a mark of esteem, with a special distinction. In this way he drew them nearer and closer to him as sworn friends and companions.
Standing at the head of all the great Orders of Knighthood which still maintain their pristine reputation is that of the Most Noble Order of the Garter that was founded by King Edward III, of England, about the middle of the fourteenth century. It is very difficult to state the exact date of the founding of this order for the simple reason that the ori- ginal records were lost, and consequently the date is uncertain. The origin of this Order was, according to the legend pertaining to it, as follows :
King Edward III found a garter that had been dropped by the Countess of Salisbury at a ball. He stooped, picked it up and placed it around his leg, uear the knee. His courtiers observing the act looked with questioning eyes at the King, when he responded to their looks by saying : " Honi soit qui mal y pcnse^'' (Evil be to him who evil thinks), or as some translate it : (shamed be he who thinks evil of it.) To this finding of a garter the foundation of this noble Order is ascribed and the distin- guishing insignia, unlike other orders, is not the badge or collar, but the garter itself, consisting of a blue ribbon of velvet, edged with gold, having a golden buckle, worn upon the left leg of the gentlemen ; but when the sovereign is a woman it is always worn by her upon the left arm, and near the elbow.
The badge called the George, or Great George, is a representation of a figure of St. George in the act of killing the dragon, suspended from the collar of gold, composed of twenty-six coiled garters, connected together with links of a beautiful design. The lesser George is worn pendant from a blue ribbon over the left shoulder, which is an eight- pointed star (silver) having the cross of St. George in the middle, while
346 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
around it is the garter itself, on which is inscribed the motto of the Order. In the year 1344, on the 19th day of January, it was placed under the protection of " God, the Virgin Mary, St. George of Cappadocia and St. Edward the Confessor."
The vesture of the order consists of a mantle of blue velvet, lined with white silk, with a hood and short tunic of crimson velvet ; a black velvet hat, surmounted with a plume of white ostrich feathers, in the center of which is a tuft of black heron feathers. Its members originally consisted of the Sovereign, the Prince of Wales and twenty-five Knight companions ; but it is now open to such other English princes and foreign Sovereigns as are entitled to the honor. The usual number of Knights were about fifty, all of whom were elected by the Knight companions themselves, but now they are appointed by the reigning Sovereign.
The White Leather Apron. — The most profound philosophical secrets of Masonry have been hidden in her symbols, wherein are to be found the deepest and most sublime Truths known to the ancient Mystic Philosophers of every age. No matter to what part of the world we force our investigation we shall find a series of symbols in each and every one of them as old as the world itself, symbols that contain the most sublirlie and profound Metaphysical and Theosophical Truths known to man. A knowledge of which will enable the student to come to an understanding of himself and his own potential forces latent within his heart, which wall draw^ him closer to his God, purify his morals, ele- vate his soul and unfold to his view the sublime Truths contained in the Secret Doctrine. It will initiate him into the Wisdom of the ancient Mysteries and enable him to understand the teachings of Buddha, Zara- thustra, Hermes, Confucius, Pythagoras, Orpheus, Socrates, Plato, in fact all the ancient philosophers of every age, who taught their pupils and followers a knowledge of God, Man and Nature, through a glorious symbology. These early philosophers threw aside all dogmas and creeds and awakened the dormant intellectual qualifications of their students by song, symbols and impressive exhibitions, which aroused their imagination and brought into use the latent faculties of thinking for themselves.
NoW', my dear Brothers and Friends, I desire that each and every one of you shall have aroused within yourselves these latent faculties of under-
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 347
standing now dormant within you ; faculties that will enable each and every one of }'ou to thoroughly comprehend those sublime and glorious symbols that permeate our beloved fraternity, so that you may live to learn and learn to know and meditate upon those profound Metaphysical, Philosophical and Theosophical emblems that we see in every degree of our beloved Scottish Rite. It is a duty we owe to ourselves and our fel- low man and Brother to earnestly study, until we thoroughly comprehend the profound philosophy which permeates our beloved fraternity. In com- prehending the full depth of its sublime teachings we shall realize that it is our Duty to enlighten and instruct our brother by the wayside, by showing him not only their Ineffable beauties, but to point out the path which will lead him on to a knowledge of himself and higher planes of spiritual unfoldment.
THE WHITE APRON.
I want no Fleece of Gold. The symbol of fabled, fruitless quest, To wear such now were but an idle jest,
Worn out and old.
Give me no Eagle Roman, Type of dominion, badge of servitude ; No Emperor rules here ; however good,
He is but human.
No Garter, and no Star — Of old-world rank and wealth the symbols these, A pompous show the multitude to please ;
Leave such afar.
No Prince or Potentate Shall ever place his Order on my breast ; I would not choose to kneel at his behest
Or on him to wait.
I serve no sceptered king, I know not how to crouch at others' feet ; It is not thus, I trow, that Masons meet — •
My apron bring!
348 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY,
This lambskin, soft and white,
Means brotherhood witli neither guile nor strife •
Means single-hearted purity of life —
Our actions right.
— Sydney Free Mason.
The Masonic Apron worn in the Blue Lodge should be made from a pure, unspotted white lamb skin, for white in every country and in every age has ever been an emblem of innocence and purity ; in consequence of this fact Masonry has ever preserved this color and emblem from time immemorial. It has been used from the threshold to the summit of each and every degree of our most illustrious fraternit}^ The symbol of a perfect square stirmounted by a triaugle is far older than the Babylonian or Egyptian Mysteries, and a knowledge of this most profound symbol will instruct and lead us on to the true meaning of the wise exhortation of the Delphic Oracle ^'' Knoiv t/iysel/y
The white leather Apron should be free from all garniture or device of any kind. It shoiild never be substituted by silk, satin, fine linen or any other rich material, neither should it be decorated with rosettes or gold and silver trimmings, but just a simple, plain white lamb skin, with no distinctive decoration upon it. The only distinguishing feature about it should be the manner in which it is worn.
The Neophyte, on being invested with this sublime symbol, is taught to wear it with the bib or triangle fully displayed above the square, while in the second degree we find that the descent has been made and the apron, as now worn, represents a perfect square. In the next degree the ascent begins and we find the left hand corner of the apron changed, thus demonstrating to the Aspirant that the higher spiritual forces are beginning to dominate the lower animal propensities within, thus entirely changing the shape of the apron from the square to. the triangle.
Now as the candidate advances into the higher degrees there are certain colors and decorations placed upon the apron, as distinguishing marks, and these various devices and decorations are always symbolical of . the profound teachings that underlie the beautiful and profoitnd cere- monies. Masonry is a " progressive science," and after the Neoph3^te has demonstrated that he has thoroughly learned the first lesson taught and
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EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 349
is keeping his promise, by endeavoring, with all his will and energy to subdue his passions and improve himself in Masonry, then and then only, is he permitted to place a distinguishing mark upon the spot- less emblem by wearing it according to the ancient customs of the fraternity.
The Masonic apron is composed of a square and a triangle. The fiirst represents the Lower Quaternary or animal man, while the Triangle with the point turned upwards, as in the Entered Apprentice degree, represents the Upper Triad, the imperishable part of man. Man is a sevenfold evolving human being, whose physical body is composed of a mass of living elemental units, that are vibrating within their cells, ever coming and going, continually changing, but ever preserving the body in the self-same mould, or form, that it received from the Hiranyagarbha and Tahbic Elementals.
The Seven Principles of Man are in their exoteric classification; ist. The Physical Body. 2d. The Astral Body. 3d. The Life Princi- ple. 4th. Kama. 5th. Manas. 6th. Buddhi. 7th. Atma. (The order in which I have named the Principles is from Matter to Spirit.)
We will now consider these various principles and write upon them so that you, my dear friends and Brothers, maj^ be enabled to under- stand the true meaning that underlies the profound symbology of the Masonic apron.
The Physical body oe Man, th.& first of the Seven Principles con- tains within itself all the various organs necessary for the development of the other principles and its own existence, and is built of the self-same material as all the other forms that are manifest to our physical senses, and is what the Hindu calls Prakriti or Matter. Now this Prakriti that goes to make up the physical body of Man is the very same kind of " sfitff" that builds the waving corn, the rippling brook, the meadow and the mountain, the grasses of the field, or the dust and stones that we tramp beneath our feet. All are alike, and there is no difference between the material moleclues of the animal, or vegetable, mineral or man. They are all alike in essence and the only differentiation between them is their shape, for the molecules that go toward the upbuilding of one form are chemical compounds that are to be found in all others.
350 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
Both the Animal and the Vegetable kingdom are intimately related, one to the other, and whatever the plant has selected from the darkness of the earth or the surrounding atmosphere, is transferred and assimilated by Man, and the self-same atoms manifesting themselves in the mole- cular forms of the animals and vegetables of bygone ages, are the very same kind of cells vibrating in the organisms of our own bodies to-day.
" The molecule has in it the Seven Principles, in their Prakritic manifestations. As man, as a whole, contains every element that is found in the universe, and as there is nothing in the Macrocosm that is not in the Microcosm, so every molecule is, in its turn, the mirror of its universe, Man. It is this which renders man alone capable of conceiving the universe on this plane of existence ; he has in him the Macrocosm and the Microcosm."
Man's Physical Body has its seven aspects, each aspect representing a Principle; then each of these has its own seven sub-divisions, each sub- division in its turn representing a Principle ; and we have the " forty- nine fires '' as seen in the Ph3'sical Body. It is because of this intricate correspondence, carried out in every detail, that men will ultimately be able to come into contact with every realm of being in the Universe.
Man may be studied from the various aspects above mentioned to a very great advantage by the student who is searching for more Light and a knowledge of himself, because each aspect represents a different princi- ple, and, therefore, in his studying those different aspects or principles he will discover that his consciousness will function on these various aspects or planes of existence, states, or conditions of being. If he has aroused their latent forces and made them active and subservient to his Will, then he can pass from one plane to another and function upon just as many as he has brought into activity. There are not many men who can function upon all planes, but the potentiality of being enabled to do so is latent within every man.
Annie Besant explains consciousness working on different planes very nicely in her " Seven Principles," pages 6 and 7, wherein she saj^s : " A man may be conscious on the physical plane that is in his physical body, feeling hunger and thirst, the pain of a blow or a cut. But let the man be a soldier in the heat of battle and his consciousness will be centered in his passions, his emotions, and he may suffer a wound
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 351
without knowing it, his consciousness being away from the physical plane, acting on the plane of passions and emotions ; when the excite- ment is over, consciousness will pass back to the physical, and he will feel the pain of his wound. Let the man be a philosopher, and as he ponders over some knotty problem he will lose all consciousness of bodily wants, of emotions, of love and hatred ; his consciousness will have passed to the plane of intellect, he will be " Abstracted," z. e., drawn away from consid- erations pertaining to his bodily life and fixed on the plane of thought.
" Thus may a man live in these several conditions, one part or another of his nature being thrown into activity at any given time and an understanding of what man is, of his nature, of his powers, his possi- bilities, will be reached more easily and assimilated more usefully if he has studied along these clearly defined lines, than if he be left without analysis, a mere confused bundle of qualities and states."
According to the exoteric teachings of the ancient Egyptians Man was composed of Four Principles : — ist. The Physical Body. and. The Ka or Astral Body. 3rd. The Bi or Ba, or the Soul. 4th. The Khoo or or Luminous Spark, the God in Man (see Chap. XIII of this work.j
Man, according to the Christian idea is composed of Body, Soul and Spirit, and yet, I am very sorry to say, that there are but very few who know the difference between the Soul and the Spirit, and in fact I believe this division into Body, Soul, and Spirit, has been kept separate from the general teachings of Christianity, because a careful investigation of the three-fold division would simply prove that instead of three, there would be found seven.
Tke Astral Body or Linga Shariia is the second of the Seven Princi- ples of Man. It is composed of a far more subtle matter than that of the Physical Body, and is not perceptible to our ordinary senses, as it is made up of iVstral matter, a substance that is just beyond our physical senses, although Clairvoyants are enabled to see these bodies and describe them to us ; but we ourselves are unable to do so, because the matter of which they are composed is in a finer state than we can see or feel.
The Linga Sharira is the exact duplicate of the Physical Body, like the Ka of the ancient Egyptians (described in Chap. XIII of this work.) It is often seen at spiritualistic meetings in so-called spirit manifestations, or materializations and in order that my readers may be enabled to under-
352 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
stand the " Modus operandi " of the " spirit manifestations " I will say :
The Linga Sharira is the vehicle of the Life forces for the Physical Body and draws from the great ocean of Jiva the Prana to support the body. It gathers up the necessary properties from the surrounding kingdoms to give its counterpart, the Physical Body, the necessary life forces and energy for its continued existence. " Life " cannot pass immediately and directly from the subjective to the objective, for nature passes gradually from sphere to sphere, overleaping none. The Linga Sharira serves as the in- termediary between Prana and the Sthula Sharira (Physical Body), drawing Life from the ocean of Jiva and pumping it into the Physical Body as Prana. For Life is in reality Divinity, Parabrahman, the Universal Deity. But in order that it may manifest on the physical plane it must be assimilated to the matter of that plane ; this cannot be done directly, as the purely physical is too gross, and thus it needs a vehicle, the Linga Sharira.
If we should desire to investigate spirit manifestations we should go to some good spirit medium and watch very carefully the whole proceedings. The first thing we notice will be the medium going through a series of peculiar convulsive movements and twitchings of the various parts of the body, which very soon cease and the medium remains perfectly passive. Now, if we place our finger upon the medium's pulse we shall find it gradually dropping, and we will soon begin to realize that the life forces are leaving the physical in order to vitalize the Linga Sharira or Astral Body of the medium, which may now be seen oozing out from the left side of the body, in the shape of a greyish violet-colored vapor, that will gradu- ally form itself into a duplicate of the medium's body, feature for feature, and if left undisturbed will stand beside the medium, attached to the body by a very slender thread.
If one goes to this meeting for the purpose of seeing some loved one who has passed away and if there should be no one present among the audience with a stronger will force than theirs, they will be enabled to mould the plastic Astral Bod}^ of the medium into any form they may desire and all those who are present will recognize the various forms as they are moulded by the will power alone. In proof of this fact let me quote you from Annie Besant's "Seven Principles," page 13.
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. B53
" The Linga Sharira plays a great part in ' spiritualistic ' phenomena. Here again the clairvoyant, seeing on the Astral plane, can help us. A clairvoyant can often see the Linga Sharira oozing out of the left side of the medium, and it is this ethereal double which often appears as the ' materialized spirit,' easily moulded into various shapes b}^ the thought- currents of the sitters, and gaining strength and vitality as the medium sinks into a deep trance."
The Countess Wachtmeister, who is clairvoyant, saj'S that she has seen the same " spirit '' recognized as a near relative or friend by differ- ent sitters, each of whom saw it, according to his expectations, while to her own eyes it was the mere double of the medium. So again H. P. Blavatsky told me that when she was at the Eddy homestead, watching the remarkable series of phenomena there produced, she deliberately moulded the " spirit '' which appeared into the likeness of persons known to herself and to no one else present, and the other sitters saw the types she produced by her own will-power, moulding the plastic astral matter of the Medium's Linga Sharira. And this Principle, in the form that we now find it as the duplicate of the medium's physical body and separated from it, is devoid of consciousness and perfectly senseless on the phj'sical plane, although it contains the real organs of our senses.
I have spoken of this Principle as the centre of sensation Chapter X of this work. There is one thing I wish m}' readers to thoroughl}' un- derstand and which is that the Ethereal double, and in fact Quaternary Man, is composed of molecules that are in-souled by Atoms ; while the Upper Triad is atomic, containing all the potential forces of the lower Principles and at the same time all the higher spiritual forces that belong exclusively to Atina^ BuddJii^ Manas. I have already given 3'ou an ac- count of the death of the physical body in Chapter X ; but here let me give you an idea of what death means for this Ethereal Double, the second Principle of Man :
The phj'sical and the Ethereal Body are both on the same plane, and are both molecular in their constitution. They are interdependent one to the other, therefore death to the phj^sical bod}^ means the de- struction of the other. Just before death occurs the Ethereal counterpart oozes forth from the left side of the physical body, in the manner de- scribed above, and wben the last breath has been drawn and death claims 23
354 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
it, the thread that links the two together has broken, and those who are watching exclaim "he is dead." The Ethereal Double, now freed from its physical counterpart still remains with it, hovering around in its im- mediate neighborhood, just as the Ka of the ancient Egyptians (as already described), or as ghosts are often seen by people, either in the grave-yard or near the vault wherein the body has been deposited. It is very often seen revisiting the chamber where the death occurred and thus continues to act until the physical body disintegrates and becomes the ''dust of the earth. Just as fast as the physical body decays and passes away the Ethereal double fades out with it until all that remains of either is faint glimmering violet-colored lights hovering over the graves of the dead, only seen by clairvoyants.
Before finishing on the Linga Sharira, I desire that you, my dear readers, should know that every Principle has its seven aspects, as I have hereinbefore stated ; but, in addition to this every cell and organ in the body has its seven component parts, and the Principles are related in themselves to some special organ of the body. The Spleen belongs especially to this Second Principle, and like all the others, have their cor- respondences not only in every cell but in all the great organs of the body ; for instance : The Brain is the centre of Intellectual Conscious- ness, having seven divisions, each one of which corresponds to one of the Seven Principles of the human bod}/, and 3'et as a whole corresponds to Psycho-Intellectual Man. This assertion or statement is a positive fact and proves the great ' Truth " that every molecule is a mirror of the universe, and every microcosm the mirror of a macrocosm.
The Life Principle, " Prana," is the third of the Seven Princi- ples. Everything that exists in the Kosmos is bathed in an ocean of Jiva, or Life, and every form that we see around us, is permeated with its essence. The earth itself and all the stars glittering in the infinitude of space, are immersed in this great ocean. But that portion of Jiva that is in Man, and which permeates his whole being, is strictly speaking, Prana, or the " Breath of Life." It is what the Hebrew calls "■ Nephesch^'''' and w^hich at ovir birth is breathed into our nostrils with \h& fourth Princi- ple and these two blended together, constitute the Vital Spark, giving in- stinctual life to both animal and Quaternary Man. Prana is an infinitesi- mal portion of the great ocean of Jiva, manifesting itself in molecular
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. '355
forms and the Linga Sharira is the Upadhi or Vehicle through which this Principle acts.
H. P. Blavatsky defines this vehicle as : " Upadhi means that through which a force acts. The word ' vehicle ' is sometimes used to convey the same idea. If ' force ' be regarded as acting, ' matter ' is the Upadhi through which it acts. Thus the Lower Manas is the Upadhi through which the Higher can work ; the Linga Sharira is the Upadhi through which Prana can work. The Sthula Sharira (physical body) is the Upadhi for all the Principles acting on the physical plane.''
Nature is all one piece, and yet a unity, expressed in variety. All her changing differentiations and most extraordinary manifestations orginate from the same source. Rock, Plant, Animal, and Man have the same Life, differing only in degree ; but the force is not so distinct in the lower as it is in the higher forms. A dog has the same life as the collar he wears upon his neck, or the house that shelters him from the sun or rain; for the simple reason that there is only One Life and everj^thing' is bathed in it ; but in the dog it is manifested in a different manner from the collar, or the house, on account of their organic structure.
"All is life, and every atom of even mineral dust is a life, though beyond our comprehension and perception, because it is outside the range of the laws known to those who reject occultism." Nature streams' in one continuous flow from the Absolute ; every individual atom, even of her chaos, is peremeated by an adequate mind ; every atom has its life and guiding directing force or energy.
Life is stratified, and but dimly sensed in the mineral and stone, and yet every particle of both mineral and stone are in a state of active vibra- tion. It is filled with motion in the plant, and stands upon the boundary of instinct ; while in the animal we find it filled with instinctual life and standing upon the very threshold of reason; but in, Man we find the intellectual and truly spiritual dominating the animal propensities, which, with his reasoning faculties fully aroused, he can step across the threshold, lift the veil and stand within the presence of his God.
In him are the potential forces that will make him the highest being in Nature's evolutionary processes. He has climbed from out the dust of the earth upon every rung of the ladder of life. His body has been built from the bones and sinews of all below him ; he has fed on all things;
356 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
and existed in all forms from primordial matter to intellectual Man. The gases concentrate their forces in him, the very wind, rain, storm and sunshine hold him in solution. One of our most eminent scientists said: "He knows of Ox, Mastodon, Bird, and Plant, because he has just come out of them, and part of the egg-shell still adheres.'' The plowman, the plow, and the furrow, as well as the flowers and fruits of the field, the trees and the sunshine, which invigorates and stimulates growth, are all of the same " stuff." Prana or Life circulates throughout the physical body by way of the arteries and veins, impregnates every corpuscle with its life-giving forces, or energy, and reaches every part of the body in order to vivify and strengthen it, the heart being the medium through which it acts ; compelled to action by the L,inga Sharira, which is the vehicle of " these Pranic elements, the Devourers, which build up and destroy the human Body." It passes through the arterial system in all its wonderful ramifications, back through the veins into the heart and lungs again, and is continually forcing renewed Life and energy through all parts of the body.
Kama, or The Desire Body is the fourth of the Seven Principles and completes our Quaternary Man^ the emblem or symbol of which is the lower part of the badge of a Mason, a square. It (Kama) is often called the Animal Soul.
This Principle contains all our emotions and passions, such as love, anger, hate, jealousy, sexual desire, etc., all of which belong to the Kamic plane. This Principle is dual in its nature, for it has a desire for good and a desire for evil. It is continually lusting after things in order to gratify its animal passional nature and propensities.
What is known as desires of the Body have their origin in Tkotight^ for thought occurs before the desire is formed. But this subject will be treated in the next Principle, " Manas." When evil tendencies and impulses have been thoroughly impressed on the physical nature, they cannot be at once reversed. The molecules of the body have been, set in a Kamic direction and — though they have sufficient intelligence to dis- cern between things on their own plane, t. e. to avoid things harmful to themselves — they cannot understand a change of direction, the impulse to which comes from a higher plane. If they are too suddenly and too violently forced into a reverse action, madness or death will result.
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 357
" The Kama during life does not form a Body whicli can be sepa- rated from the physical Body. It is intermolecular, answering molecule for molecule to the physical Body and inseparable from it molecularly. Thus it is a form, yet not a form ; a form within the physical Body, but incapable of being projected outward as a form. This is the Inner, or Astral Man, in whom are located the centres of sensation, the psychic senses, and on whose intermolecular rapport witb the physical Body all sensation and purposive action depends. At death, every cell and mole- cule gives out this essence, and from it with the dregs of the Heranya- garbha is formed, the separate Kama Rnpa ; but this can never come during life."
With Kama we have built up Quaternary Man, the animal pregnant with instinct ; but devoid of reason it is simply a brute, as it were, that dwells in the house that has been fitted up for the indwelling of the Mind. It is now simply the personality, although a perfect entit}^, for it has a body with its ethereal double, its life, animal soul, and all the passions and desires of the lower animal, with just enough sense or instinct to eat when it is hungry, seek shelter from the rain or storm, and yet, with all its instinctual nature fully aroused, it is only an animal. It has no intellectual reasoning faculties and can never develop above the animal, until its Lord and Master, the Divine Thinker, enters fully into the house that has been prepared for it, and by its presence makes it Man and gives it both Mind and Will.
Manas, The Thinker or Mind is the fifth of the Seven Principles. In reaching the Upper Triad and Manas we come to one of the most difficult and complicated of the Principles to understand, more especially is this so of Lower Manas, which we will consider as a Principle in order to study its workings in the Lower Quaternary.
One of the most important points about the Lower Manas is to com- prehend the relationship existing between it and the Higher.
Manas is a Sanskrit word and comes from Man, the root of the Verb to Think, and in this we will call Manas The Thinker, instead of Mind, because this fijth Principle is the Re-incarnating Ego, the immortal, indi- vidual Man, that is described in the "Voice of the Silence" page 31, in the exhortation addressed to the Neophyte for initiation : " Have perseverance as one who doth for evermore endure. Thy shadows (personalities) live
358 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
and vanish ; that which is in thee shall live for ever, that which in thee hiows, for it is knowledge, is not fleeting life ; it is the man that was, that is, and will be, for whom the hour shall never strike."
Madame H. P. Blavatsky gives a very clear description of this in the " Key to Theosophy," page 1S3-4 : " Try to imagine a ' Spirit,' a celestial Being, whether we call it bj^ one name or another, divine in its essential nature, yet not pure enough to be one with the All, and having, in order to achieve this, to so purify its nature as to finally gain that goal. It can do so only by passing individually and personally^ i. e.^ spiritually and ph3'sically through every experience and feeling that exists in the manifold or differentiated Universe. It has, therefore, after having gained sucli experience in the lower kingdoms and having ascended higher and still higher with every rung on the ladder of being, to pass through every experience on the human planes. In its very essence it is Thought, and is therefore called in its plurality Manasa putra ' the Sons of the (Universal) Mind.'
" This individualized ' Thought ' is what we Theosophists call the real human Ego, the thinking entity imprisoned in a case of flesh and bones. This is surely a Spiritual Entity, not Matter, and such Entities are the incarnating Egos that inform the bundle of animal matter called mankind and whose names are Manasa or ' Minds.' But once impris- oned, or incarnate, their essence becomes dual ; that is to sa};-, the rays of the Eternal divine Mind, considered as individual entities, assume a two- fold attribute which is {a) their essential inherent characteristics, heaven- aspiring mind {Higher Manas), and (b) the human quality of thinking, or animal cogitation, rationalized, owing to the superiority of the human brain, the A'^?W(7-tending or Lower Manas. One gravitates toward Buddhi, the other tending downward, to the seat of passions and animal desires."
Now the house (Quaternary Man) that has been slowly built up for this " personal Ego," does not fully receive its glorious tenant at birth, like " the breath of Life," Kama-Prana, the " personality " is not ^^divid- ualized until the child has reached the sixth or seventh 3'ear of its age ; but after that time our Thinker " dons his coat of Skin " and then he or she is held morally responsible for all their acts in Thought or Deed, and passes under the Law of Karma " before which period, even according to the canon of the Church and Law, no child is deemed responsible. In
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 359
the Greek Eastern Church no child is allowed to go to confession before the age of seven, after which he is considered to have reached the age of reason."
Manas itself is a pure ray of Divine Light from the World Soul, in which there is no differentiation. It belongs to a higher plane than the gross molecular matter composing the form of Quaternary Man, and consequently cannot manifest in the physical Bod}'. In order that it may be enabled to do so Manas becomes dual by evolving a Ray from its own Divine Light, clothing itself with Astral matter and entering into the human tabernacle, and thus becoming Lower Manas, whose vehicle is the Brain.
Its subdivisions correspond and are the organs of the subdivisions of the Thinker, and the convolutions of the cerebral hemisphere are shaped by the action of Thought which is being continually changed into far more complicated convolutions by the Thinker himself. It is Lower Manas that transforms animal man into the thinking, reasoning, human being.
Our Thinker has now reincarnated, clothing itself in a new person- ality, and in doing so has taken upon itself the sting of death, for this descent of spirit into matter is the Metaphysical, Theosophical and Philosophical conception of death. The very fact of it having passed into another personality brings with it a second death and that is the death in Kama Loka, or at least that particular portion of it wdiich remains in the Kama Rupa, for just as soon as death takes possession of the physical body and this incarnation is finished Kama-Manas withdraws itself from the body and clothes itself with astral matter, that will have a conscious existence on this plane for a period of one hundred and fifty years. At the end of this period all of the unsullied portions of the IManasic Ray has disentangled itself from the Kama Rupa, taking with it all of the experi- ences gained during the earth life which are worthy of assimilation to the Higher Ego, and thus Manas again becomes One and the Kama Rupa eventually breaks up, leaving behind it a record of its misdeeds, the Tanhic Elementals.
It is during earth life, when the Divine Ray has descended into and incarnated in the flesh that it finds itself crucified between two thieves, for Kama tries to drag it down to its own animal, passional plane, or
360 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
state, and at the same time its Father in Heaven is endeavoring to influence it to higher hopes and aspirations, to purer spiritual planes of Paradise.
This is where the battle rages between good and evil, or God and the Devil, and the battle-ground within man himself. Man receives immor- tality through the conquest of his own animal passional nature, therefore you must recognize the necessity for each and every human being to learn to subdue and purify Kama, so that its force and energy may be directed by its Divine Master Manas, for if this animal within us be so trained that the material instincts within us are killed, and it becomes subject to Divine Will, then will we be assured that we shall be at one with our Father in Heaven, and like Christ, know that He and / are One.
Now do not think for one moment that by applying the forces of the subjugated Kama for the advancement of the intellectual qualifications latent within us that we kill out selfishness ; we do not, for if you only pause to consider this fact, you will find that the more intellectual you desire to become, the less spiritual you will be, for intellect by itself is purely selfishness, for this reason intellectual development is a cold, heartless desire to gratify the personal /, and it is pure and unadulterated selfishness, with not a spark of Divine Love or Compassion.
" True knowledge is of Spirit, and in Spirit alone, and cannot be acquired in any other way, except through the region of the higher mind, the only plane from which we can penetrate the depths of the all-pervad- ing Absoluteness. It is plainly to be seen that a man may be a morally good man and very intellectual, and at the same time not have the faintest glimmer of spirituality about him, in consequence of which, at death, he will be lost in the whirlpool of Kama Loka."
BuDDHi is the sixtli of the Seven Principles of Man. It has no func- tion on this physical plane, only when it is united to Manas, then it becomes Divine Consciousness. Buddhi is in itself so much higher than physical man that it cannot possibly enter into direct relationship with him^, and only through and by its reflection can it manifest itself as Lower Manas. Buddhi is the Upadhi of the One Eternal Essence ; while Manas is the Vahana of Mahat the first principle of Universal Intelligence, Divine Ideation, and yet they are both of the same Eternal Essence of the One. As such they will be — ever exist, and neither can they ever be annihilated
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 361
or destroyed, either in essence or consciousness, like the physical person- ality with its Linga Sharira and the animal soul with its Kamic elements and Kama Rupa, all of whom came from the realm of illusion (Maya), and they will most certainly return again to the realm from which they emanated, and vanish like snow in the hot rays of a summer's sun.
Atma or Atman is the seventh Principle which completes the sub- lime and profound symbol of the badge of a Mason, or white leather apron. The last three Principles are symbolized by the triangle above the square.
H. P. Blavatsky states in the " Key to Theosophy :" " Atma is no individual property of any man, but is the Divine Essence which has no body, no form, which is imponderable, invisible and indivisible, that which does not exist and yet /^, as the Buddhists say of Nirvana. It only over- shadows the mortal ; that which enters into him, and pervades the whole body, being only its Omnipresent rays, or light radiated through Buddlii^ its vehicle and direct emanation."
Let me quote you from " Mystic Masonry," by Brother J. D. Buck, 32° : " Atma, Manas, Buddhi represents Father, Son and Holy Ghost. When Christ ' ascended to the Father ' he raised his consciousness to the seventh or Atmic Plane, and became in fact (no longer in essence only) One with God.'' These three principles in man compose the Spiritual Soul ; the Immortal part of man ; while Atma-Buddhi constitute the Higher-Self, the latent or potential God in man. The lower quaternary Body, Life-Principle, Form-Body and Kama (or Desire) are symbolized by a square. To make it plain, let us say that the triangle incarnates in the square; that is, the Soul (spiritual) "descends into matter." The Body is the vehicle of Life ; Life is the vehicle of the Astral Body ; the Astral Body is the vehicle of Kama ; Kama is the vehicle of Manas ; Manas is the vehicle of Buddhi ; and Buddhi is the vehicle of Atma. This is the orderly relation or sequence of the principles. But as already shown, man is not a mere aggregation of principles, any more than he is a conglomerate aggregation of atoms, molecules or cells. Just as atoms form molecules, molecules cells, cells tissues, tissues organs and organs the whole body ; so the Principles, while preserving a similar orderly sequence in relation to each other, are at the same time organized in rela- tion to the whole. That is, the Ego, the Thinker, unites with its vehicle, the Body."
ilsramitrs of ^afefearafj-lisfjt-f^letrum-^fje JTagum-ILabjjrintfj.
363
Vhevc t9 a land where 'CtTne no count can hecp, CQherc works of men imperishable seem; Slhere, through Death's barren solitude, doth gleam
tlndying hope for them that sow and reap:
"Yea, land of life, where death is but a deep ttlarm slumber, a communicable dream, CClhcrc, from the silent grave far voices stream
Of those who tell their secrets in their sleep.
— N. D. Rawnsley.
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY, 365