Section 14

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Rite of Circumambulation

THE rite of circumambulation will supply us with
another ritualistic symbol, in which we may again
trace the identity of the origin of Freemasonry
with that of the religious and mystical ceremonies of
the ancients.

"Circumambulation^' is the name given by students
of sacred archaeology to that religious rite in the ancient
initiations which consisted in a formal procession around
the altar or other holy and consecrated object.

The prevalence of this rite among the ancients ap-
pears to have been universal, and it originally (as we
shall have occasion to show) alluded to the apparent
course of the sun in the firmament, which is from east
to west by the way of the south.

In ancient Greece, when the priests were engaged in
the rites of sacrifice, they and the people always walked
three times around the altar while chanting a sacred
hymn or ode. Sometimes, while the people stood
around the altar, the rite of circumambulation was per-
formed by the priest alone, who, turning towards the
right hand, went around it, and sprinkled it with meal
and holy water.

In making this circumambulation, it was considered
absolutely necessary that the right side should always

141

142 Symbolism of Freemasonry

be next to the altar, and consequently, that the pro-
cession should move from the east to the south, then to
the west, next to the north, and afterwards to the east
again. It was in this way that the apparent revolution
was represented.

This ceremony the Greeks called moving €/c Sefta ev
Se^ta, from the right to the rights which was the direction
of the motion, and the Romans applied to it the term
dextrovorsum, or dextrorsum, which signifies the same
thing. Thus Plautus makes Palinurus, a character in
his comedy of Curculio, say, **If you would do reverence
to the gods, you must turn to the right hand." Gro-
novius, in commenting on this passage of Plautus, says,
*'In worshipping and praying to the gods they were
accustomed to turn to the right hand J ^

A hymn of Callimachus has been preserved, which is
said to have been chanted by the priests of Apollo at
Delos, while performing this ceremony of circumam-
bulation, the substance of which is, ''We imitate the
example of the sun, and follow his benevolent course."

It will be observed that this circumambulation
around the altar was accompanied by the singing or
chanting of a sacred ode. Of the three parts of the
ode, the strophe, the antistrophe, and the epode, each
was to be sung at a particular part of the procession.
The analogy between this chanting of an ode by the
ancients and the recitation of a passage of Scripture in
the Masonic circumambulation, will be at once apparent.

Among the Romans, the ceremony of circumambula-
tion was always used in the rites of sacrifice, of ex-
piation or purification. Thus Virgil describes Cory-
nseus as purifying his companions, at the funeral of
Misenus, by passing three times around them while
aspersing them with the lustral waters. To do so con-

Rite of Circumambulation 143

veniently, it was necessary that he should have moved
with his right hand towards them.

Idem ter socio3 pura circumtiilit unda,
Spargens rore levi et ramo felicis olivfR.

^JiJneid, vi. 229.
Thrice with pure water compassed he the crew,
Sprinkling, with olive branch, the gentle dew.

In fact, so common was it to unite the ceremony of
circumambulation with that of expiation or purification,
or, in other words, to make a circuitous procession in
performing the latter rite, that the term lustrare, whose
primitive meaning is ''to purifj^," came at last to be
synonymous with circuire, to walk around anything.
Thus a purification and a circumambulation were often
expressed by the same word.

Among the Hindoos, the same rite of circumambula-
tion has always been practised. As an instance, we
may cite the ceremonies which are to be performed by a
Brahmin upon first rising from bed in the morning, an
accurate account of which has been given by Colebrooke
in the Asiatic Researches. The priest, having first
adored the sun while directing his face to the east, then
walks towards the west by the way of the south, saying,
at the same time, "I follow the course of the sun,''
which he thus explains: "As the sun in his course
moves round the world by the way of the south, so do
I follow that luminary, to obtain the benefit arising
from a journey round the earth by the way of the
south."!

Lastly, we may refer to the preservation of this rite
among the Druids, whose "mystical dance" around the

* See a paper "On the Religious Ceremonies of the Hindus " by
H. T. Colebrooke, in the "Asiatic Researches," vol. vi. p. 357.

144 Symbolism of Freemasonry

cairn, or sacred stones, was nothing more or less than
the rite of circumambulation. On these occasions the
priest always made three circuits, from east to west, by
the right hand, around the altar or cairn j accompanied
by all the worshippers.

So sacred was the rite once considered, that we learn
from Toland^ that in the Scottish Isles, once a principal
seat of the Druidical religion, the people ''never come to
the ancient sacrificing and fire -hallowing cairns, but
they walk three times around them, from east to west,
according to the course of the sun." This sanctified
tour, or round by the south, he observes, is called
Deiseal, as the contrary, or unhallowed one by the
north, is called Tuapholl. And he further remarks,
that this word Deiseal was derived "from Deas, the
right (understanding hand) and soil, one of the ancient
names of the sun, the right hand in this round being
ever next the heap of stones."

We might pursue these researches further, and trace
this rite of circumambulation to other nations of an-
tiquity. But we conceive that enough has been said to
show its universality, as well as the tenacity with which
the essential ceremony of performing the motion a
mystical number of times, and always by the right
hand, from the east, through the south, to the west,
was preserved. And we think that this singular analogy
to the same rite in Freemasonry must lead us to the
legitimate conclusion, that the common source of all
these rites is to be found in the identical origin of the
Spurious Freemasonry or pagan mysteries, and the
pure, Primitive Freemasonry, from which the former
seceded only to be deteriorated.

1 "Critical History of the Celtic Religion and Learning," Letter
ii. § xvii.

Rite of Circumambulation 145

In reviewing what has been said on this subject, it
will at once be perceived that the essence of the ancient
rite consisted in making the circumambulation around
the altar, from the east to the south, from the south to
the west, thence to the north, and to the east again.

Now in this fact the Masonic rite of circumambu-
lation strictly agrees with the ancient one.

But this circuit by the right hand, it is admitted,
was done as a representation of the sun's motion. It
was a symbol of the sun's apparent course around the
earth.

Here again we have in Freemasonry that old and
often-repeated allusion to sun-worship, which has al-
ready been seen in our studies of the officers of a Lodge,
and in the point within a circle. And as the circumam-
bulation is made around the Lodge, just as the sun was
supposed to move around the earth, we are brought
back to the original symbolism with which we com-
menced— that the Lodge is a symbol of the world.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Rite of Intrusting, and the Symbolism of Light

THE rite of intrusting to which we are now about
to direct our attention, will supply us with many
important and interesting symbols. There is an
important period in the ceremony of Masonic initia-
tion, when the candidate is about to receive a full com-
munication of the mysteries through which he has
passed, and to which the trials and labors which he has
undergone can only entitle him. This ceremony is
technically called the rite of intrusting, because it is
then that the aspirant begins to be intrusted with that
for the possession of which he was seeking. ^ It is equiva?
lent to what, in the ancient Mysteries, was called the
* 'autopsy,"^ or the seeing of what only the initiated
were permitted to behold.

This rite of intrusting is, of course, divided into sev-
eral parts or periods; for the aporreta, or secret things

* Dr. Oliver, referring to the "twelve grand points in Freema-
sonry," which formed a part of the old English lectures, says, ''When
the candidate was intrusted, he represented Asher, for he was then
presented with the glorious fruit of Masonic knowledge, as Asher
was represented by fatness and royal dainties." — "Historical Land-
marks," vol. i. lect. xi. p. 313.

'From the Greek avroxpia, signifying a seeing with one's own
eyes. The candidate, who had previously been called a mystes, or a
blind man, from nvco, to shut the eyes, began at this point to change
his title to that of an epopt, or an eye-witness.

146

Rite of Intrusting and Symbolism of Light 147

of Freemasonry, are not to be given at once, but in
gradual progression. It begins, however, with the com-
munication of Light, which, although but a preparation
for the development of the mysteries which are to fol-
low, must be considered as one of the most important
symbols in the whole science of Masonic symbolism.
So important, indeed, is it, and so much does it per-
vade with its influence and its relations the whole Ma-
sonic system, that Freemasonry itself anciently received,
among other appellations, that of Lux, or Light, to
signify that it is to be regarded as that sublime doctrine
of Divine Truth by which the path of him who has
attained it is to be illuminated in his pilgrimage of life.
The Hebrew cosraogonist commences his description
of the creation by the declaration that ''God said. Let
there be light, and there was light" — a phrase which,
in the more emphatic form that it has received in the
original language of "Be light, and light was,"^ is said
to have won the praise, for its sublimity, of the greatest
of Grecian critics. ''The singularly emphatic sum-
mons," says a profound writer,^ "by which light is
called into existence, is probably owing to the pre-
eminent utility and glory of that element, together with
its mysterious nature, which made it seem as

The God of this new world,

and won for it the earliest adoration of mankind."

Light was, in accordance with this old religious sen-
timent, the great object of attainment in all the ancient
religious Mysteries. It was there, as it is now, in Free-
masonry, made the symbol of truth and knowledge. This

* *11i5 "^rr^l mfc^ *^TX^ Yehi aur va yehi aur.

' Robert William Mackay, "Progress of the Intellec^t," vol. i. p. 93.

148 Symbolism op Freemasonry

was always its ancient symbolism, and we must never
lose sight of this emblematic meaning, when we are
considering the nature and signification of Masonic
light.

When the candidate makes a demand for light, it is
not merely for that material light which is to remove a
physical darkness; that is only the outward form,
which conceals the inward symbolism. He craves an
intellectual illumination which will dispel the darkness
of mental and moral ignorance, and bring to his view,
as an eyewitness, the sublime truths of religion, phil-
osophy, and science, which it is the great design of
Freemasonry to teach.

In all the ancient systems this reverence for light, as
the symbol of truth, was predominant. In the Mys-
teries of every nation, the candidate was made to pass,
during his initiation, through scenes of utter darkness,
and at length terminated his trials by an admission to
the splendidly-illuminated sacellum, or sanctuary. Here
he was said to have attained pure and perfect light,
and here he received the necessary instructions which
were to invest him with that knowledge of the divine
truth which it had been the object of all his labors to
gain, and the design of the institution, into which he
had been initiated, to bestow.

Lights therefore, became synonymous with truth
and knowledge, and darkness with falsehood and igno-
rance. We shall find this symbolism pervading not
only the institutions, but the very languages, of an-
tiquity.

Thus, among the Hebrews, the word AUR, in the
singular, signified lights but in the plural, AURIM, it
denoted the revelation of the divine will; and the
aurim and ihumminij literally the lights and truths^ con-

Rite of Intrusting and Symbolism of Light 149

stituted a part of the breastplate whence the high priest
obtained oracular responses to the questions which he
proposed.^

There is a peculiarity about the word "light,'' in the
old Egyptian language, which is well worth considera-
tion in this connection. Among the Egyptians, the
hare was the hieroglyphic of eyes that are open; and it
was adopted because that timid animal was supposed
never to close his organs of vision, being always on the
watch for his enemies. The hare was afterwards
adopted by the priests as a symbol of the mental illum-
ination or mystic light which was revealed to the
neophytes, in the contemplation of divine truth, during
the progress of their initiation.

According to Champollion, the hare was also the
symbol of Osiris, their chief god; thus showing the
intimate connection which they believed to exist be-
tween the process of initiation into their sacred rites
and the contemplation of the divine nature.

But the Hebrew word for hare is ARNaBeT. Now,

this is compounded of the two words AUR, lights and

NaBaT, to behold, and therefore the word which in the

Egyptian denoted initiation, in the Hebrew signified to

behold the light. In two nations so intimately connected

in history as the Hebrew and the Egyptian, such a

coincidence could not have been accidental. It shows

the prevalence of the sentiment, at that period, that the

communication of light was the prominent design of

^ "And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim
and the Thummim." — Exodus, xxviii. 30. The Egyptian judges
also wore breastplates, on which was represented the figure of Ra,
the sun, and Thme, the goddess of Truth, representing, says Gliddon,
*'Ra, or the sun, in a double capacity — physical and intellectual
light; and Thme, in a double capacity — ^justice and truth." —
"Ancient Egypt," p. 33.

150 Symbolism of Freemasonry

the Mysteries — so prominent that the one was made
the synonym of the other. ^

The worship of Hght, either in its pure essence or in
the forms of sun-worship and fire-worship, because the
sun and the fire were causes of fight, was among the
earfiest and most universal superstitions of the world.
Light was considered as the primordial source of all that
was holy and intelligent; and darkness, as its opposite,
was viewed as but another name for evil and ignorance.

Dr. Beard, in an article on this subject, in Kitto's
Cyclopcedia of Biblical Literature, attributes this view
of the divine nature of light, which was entertained by
the nations of the East, to the fact that, in that part
of the world, light **has a clearness and brilliancy, is
accompanied by an intensity of heat, and is followed
in its influence by a largeness of good, of which the
inhabitants of less genial climates have no conception.
Light easily and naturally became, in consequence, with
Orientals, a representative of the highest human good.
All the more joyous emotions of the mind, all the
pleasing sensations of the frame, all the happy hours of
domestic intercourse, were described under imagery
derived from light. The transition was natural — from
earthly to heavenly, from corporeal to spiritual things;
and so light came to typify true religion and the felicity
which it imparts.

''But as light not only came from God, but also

makes man's way clear before him, so it was employed

to signify moral truth, and preeminently that divine

* We owe this interesting discovery to F. Portal, who has given
it in his elaborate work on "Egyptian symbols as compared with
those of the Hebrews." To those who cannot consult the original
work in French, there is an excellent translation by Bro. John W.
Simons, of New York, and which will be found in the thirtieth
volume of the "Universal Masonic Library."

Rite of Intrusting and Symbolism of Light 151

system of truth which is set forth in the Bible, from its
earHest gleamings onward to the perfect day of the
Great Sun of Righteousness."

We are incHned to beHeve that in this passage the
learned author has erred, not in the definition of the
symbol, but in his deduction of its origin. Light be-
came the object of religious veneration, not because of
the brilliancy and clearness of a particular sky, nor the
warmth and genial influence of a particular climate —
for the worship was universal, in Scandinavia as in
India — but because it was the natural and inevitable
result of the worship of the sun, the chief deity of Sa-
bianism — a faith which pervaded to an extraordinary
extent the whole religious sentiment of antiquity.^

Light was venerated because it was an emanation
from the sun, and, in the materialism of the ancient
faith, light and darkness were both personified as posi-
tive existences, the one being the enemy of the other.
Two principles were thus supposed to reign over the
world, antagonistic to each other, and each alternate-
ly presiding over the destinies of mankind.

The remarks of Duncan on this subject are well
worth perusal.