The Egyptian Mysteries and their Influence on the Craft

The Egyptian Mysteries and their Influence on the Craft

I am acquainted, for instance, with an Egyptian ceremonial system, some 5,000 years old, which taught precisely the same things as Masonry does, but in the terms of shipbuilding instead of in the terms of architecture. - W. L. Wilmshurst

Introduction In Masonic Ritual and in histories of the Order, Freemasonry is said to have existed from time immemorial Some researchers insist on a literal understanding of this statement and, lacking hard evidence of Masonic Lodges in ancient civilizations, they discount this notion. I offer, instead, the premise that the concepts and ideology that make up modern Masonry have their origins in the various Mystery Schools of the Ancient World, with the most ancient being those of Egypt.

The Mystery Schools In Masonic Ritual and in histories of the Order, Freemasonry is said to have existed from time immemorial Some researchers insist on a literal understanding of this statement and, lacking hard evidence of Masonic Lodges in ancient civilizations, they discount this notion. I offer, instead, the premise that the concepts and ideology that make up modern Masonry have their origins in the various Mystery Schools of the Ancient World, with the most ancient being those of Egypt.

Regardless of the origin of the modern lodge, or of the name "Freemason," we can, after freeing the symbolism of modern adaptations, discern in Freemasonry the outline of the teachings of the ancient mysteries of Egypt. - G.H. Steinmetz

An Example of the Stages (from the Crata Repoa) 0. Aspirant (candidate for admission); earth PREPARATION-purification of the body and development over control over physical appetites. Preliminary testing in emotional response, intelligence, will power and obedience. 1. Pastophoris (apprentice/neophyte); water BAPTISM-Purification of the emotions. Development of love and mastery of the emotions. 2. Neocoris (craftsman/disciple); Air TRANSFIGURATION-Purification of the mind. Development of understanding and mastery of thoughts. 3. Melanophoris (Master/Initiate); Fire CRUCIFIXION-Development and mastery of the will power and ability to act in service in any conditions of life. Experience of humility, death and the underworld. 4. Chistophores (adept); Earth RESURRECTION- Emergence into a higher life and consciousness. Defeat and mastery of all self illusion and vanity (Gorgon). Investment with the powers and attributes of an adept. 5. Balahate (Philosopher/master); Water ASCENSION-Defeat and mastery of the Typhonic energies of life. Mastery of the processes of life (Alchemistry) 6. Maawr (seer/priest); Air UNIFICATION- "astronomer before the gates of the gods." Discovery and knowledge of the Divine principles and their spiritual plan. 7. Saphenath Pancar (prophet/illuminated one) ENTHRONEMENT- "The man who knows the mysteries" Full illumination and unification with divinity.

What Was Taught? (G.M. James citing Diodorus, Herodotus and Clement of Alexandria, C.H. Vail) We can look at the education of the Priests to discern the currculum in the various Temples Besides the requirement that each Priest was to master one or more of the Books of Hermes, they taught/specialized in: Music, Sacred hymns, achievements of the Pharaoh Astronomy Hieroglyphics, Cosmography, Geography, topography of Egypt, sacred utensils and furniture, Surveying Justice and Law, Libation Offerings, Funeral Embalming, and Ritual Slaughter of Animals Sacred-Theology and Higher Esoteric Theology Physiology, Male and Female Diseases, Anatomy, Drugs, and Medical instruments Literature, Statistics They were trained in secret language systems and mathematical symbolism, including a spoken language only understood by the initiated. Numerical Values assigned to Letters (Gematria) and Geometric figures (Sacred Geometry). Architecture, masonry, carpentry, engineering, sculpture, metallurgy, agriculture, mining and forestry. Art (drawing and painting). Social Order and its Protection Specific Education for Neophytes covered the Seven Liberal Arts and the Virtues.

Egyptian vs. Greek Initiation (Wim van den Dungen citing Morenz, Piankoff, Mercer, Frankfort, Faulkner, Assmann, Hornung, and Allen) Stressing the difference between the Greek and the Pharaonic perspective on initiation (from the Latin "initio", introduce into a new life): The Egyptians maintained a series of rituals aimed at "a constantly renewed regeneration" (Hornung, 2001, p.14). At best, the Greeks induced the point of death in order to glimpse into its darkness, to "see the goddess" and renew, but they had no "science of the Hades" as in the Amduat (Underworld). The active continuity between life and death found in Egypt, contradicts the closed and separated interpretation of the Greeks, fostering "escapism" (the "body" as a "prison" out of which one needs to escape). In Egypt, no "new" life was necessary. Death could bring "more" life. For both life and the afterlife depended on identical conditions : offerings; either directly to the deities through Pharaoh or indirectly to the Ka of the deceased. If dualism fits the Greeks, triadism is Egyptian.

The Great Pyramid

It remains with the Craft itself whether it shall enter upon its own heritage as a lineal successor of the ancient Mysteries and Wisdom-- teaching, or whether, by failing so to do, it will undergo the inevitable fate of everything that is but a form from which its native spirit has departed. - W. L. Wilmshurst