Waite The Secret Tradition In Freemasonry, Volume 2

1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-3-8496-0502-5
Verlag: Jazzybee Verlag
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 437 Seiten

This is volume two of one of the most interesting and profound historical works about Freemasonry. It is a very rare book and published as ebook exclusively. As a bonus this edition includes a very detailed essay about Freemasonry and its origins, written by Hermann Gruber. Contents: Freemasonry - Its Origin And History I. Name And Definition Ii. Origin And Early History Iii. Fundamental Principles And Spirit Iv. Propagation And Evolution Of Masonry

Autoren/Hrsg.

Waite, Arthur Edward

Leseproben

IV - MASONIC SYSTEMS OF ALCHEMICAL DEGREES AND, SECONDLY, THE HERMETIC RITE OF BARON TSCHOUDY

BETWEEN the system of Pernety, the Benedictine, alchemist and convert of Swedenborg, and the Grades referred to Baron Tschoudy, alchemist and exponent of High-Grade theories which recall those of Masonic Templary, there is the correspondence by antithesis which may be held to subsist between the mystery of the New Jerusalem drawn into Ritual and the mystery of chivalry exalted into Grades of Adeptship. As in the one case we have learned something to our purpose from the literary memorials of Pernety, so in the other we shall obtain an adequate idea of Baron Tschoudy's particular dedications by reference to his chief work, called L'Étoile Flamboyant, which for two or more generations after his period was held in considerable repute and passed through several editions. It has been mentioned by writers in England, but without suggesting that there was any familiarity with the text. There is a good deal of extrinsic matter which can be set aside for our purpose, and the rest lies within a manageable compass. I propose to consider it briefly under three heads, being (a) its theory concerning the origin of Masonry; (b) its connection ab origine with chivalry; and (c) its Hermetic purpose and relations.

The theory supposes, but with no reference to authority outside the personal warrants of the author, that there existed from time immemorial an instituted body described - for purposes of concealment apparently - under the title of Knights of the Morning and of Palestine. They were ancestors, fathers and authors of Masonry. Their date is not specified and their secret is not to be betrayed, but their antiquity was such that they were witnesses of all the vicissitudes which the kingdom of Judah had successively experienced. They had long expected that a star of peace would, in the words of Saint-Martin, rise over their country, their life and the life of that afflicted, rejected nation to which, in some obscure manner, it would appear that they always belonged. For themselves, at the uncertain period with which the thesis is concerned, they were still for the most part under the obedience of the Old Law. They were, moreover, dispersed in different secret retreats, wherein they awaited such a change on the face of things as would reinstate them in their ancient patrimony and would enable them there to erect a third holy Temple wherein they might reassume their original functions. These are not precisely intimated, but the scheme presupposed a restoration of sovereignty in Israel, and it is suggested that their work would be about the person of the king. They were not, therefore, a priestly caste, yet their particular liturgy is mentioned. A time came when they believed that the term of their exile was approaching; this was occasioned by the preaching of the first Crusade, and more especially by the scheme for the safeguard of the Holy Places. The Knights of Palestine thereupon issued from their hidden retreats in the desert of the Thebaid, and they joined themselves to a remnant of their brethren who had remained in Jerusalem. The majority of these had abjured the principles of Jewish religion and followed the lights of the Christian faith. Their example led the others to adopt the same course; they were, if possible, more anxious than ever for the restoration of the Temple, but now no longer to reinstitute the old sacrifices. Theirs would be the offices of mercy which the immolation of the Unspotted Victim had substituted for the old rites. It is said at the same time that they continued to respect those rites and to retain them in some obscure and seemingly modified way. The inference is that there is here a veiled reference (a) to some sect of Johannite Christians, (b) to the assumed perpetuation and conversion of a body like the Essenes, or (c) an independent presentation of Werner's strange story concerning the Sons of the Valley, who were the secret instructors and protectors at a distance of the Knights Templar till they were led at last to abandon them. The result of this was that the chivalry perished at the hands of Pope and King.

Recognizing, as they are said to have done, that the rebuilding of the Temple was, under different aspects, the essential purpose of the first Crusade, the so-called Knights of the Morning, when the time came to make known their presence, represented that they were descendants of the first Masonic Craftsmen who had worked at the Temple of Solomon, and that they alone were the depositories of the true plans. It was in this manner that they were integrated in the alleged scheme of construction, that which they had in mind on the surface being a speculative architecture, which is said, however, to have disguised a more glorious intent. Presumably the suggestion here is that the Crusading Knights were drafted into a spiritual work in place of one which they had devised on the external plane. In any case, their instructors assumed the name of Freemasons; the Christian chivalry was drawn towards an association which continued in a measure to subsist isolated and retired amidst the great hordes of ambition; and for their further protection, as well as for the maintenance of their designs, the common cause adopted a fixed method of reception, of which Masonry is a reflection only. There were signs, pass-words and such modes of recognition; of all these the three Craft Grades are the nearest remaining memorial.

It was in this manner that the Masonic institution arose; the Knights of Palestine were therefore the first and the true Masons; they seem to have been distinct from that system which the author of this thesis claimed to sustain and admire under the name of the Écossais Grades of St. Andrew; it is said that the Order of Palestine is not in competition with these and is indeed quite independent an intimation that in some form it had continued to modern times.

Such being the origin of the speculative art of building, it follows that it arose - by the hypothesis - in the midst of Crusading chivalry, but, while in it, was not fully identified therewith. The secret purpose in view is not so far disclosed, and the legend of the genesis breaks off at this point abruptly; we are left to imagine what followed in respect of the entrance of Masonic art into Europe and all its subsequent history. It will be seen (a) that the hypothesis has a considerable unacknowledged debt to the Chevalier Ramsay; (b) that, as I have shown elsewhere, it is a memorial of Secret Tradition subsisting secretly in Palestine; (c) that it makes no reference to the Knights Templar as such; and I may add (d) that the only Order to which there is any allusion, and then on a single occasion, is that of St. John of Jerusalem - another derivation from Ramsay.

And now in respect of the hidden purpose, it is said without equivocation that the concern of the brethren in Jerusalem was research into Nature, profound meditation on its causes and effects, the design to develop and perfect Nature by means of art, for the simple purpose apparently of procuring resources which would enable the questers to prosecute that part of their design which has not passed into expression. The treatise attributed to Morien, which deals with the transmutation of metals, is said to be the work of one of the brethren, otherwise the ascetics, dwelling in the Thebaid. The inference is that, in the view of Baron Tschoudy, the art of Masonry is in reality the Hermetic art, behind which, however, there lies an undeclared mystery. We shall see presently whether there is any reason to suppose that this mystery corresponds to the spiritual side of the Hermetic secret. Regarded as a Masonic hypothesis, I suppose that in conception and expression it would be probably the worst of its kind, were it meant to be taken literally. It is obviously not, and my remaining point is to determine what the author understands by Alchemy, if anything, outside the transmutation of metals.

I may mention, in the first place, that the Thebaid solitary Morien is really Morienus Romanus; his description notwithstanding, he is supposed to have written in Arabic, from which language his tract was translated into Latin by Robertus Castrensis. It is from this source that it came within the horizon of Baron Tschoudy. The original is unknown, but the author is understood to have been a Syrian monk whose proper name was Morianos; and the Latin text, though it is in no sense really a translation, is considered a genuine reflection of eastern Alchemy. It is entitled Liber de Compositione Alchemiae and is a discourse between Morien, Kalid the King of Egypt, and Galip the King's slave, or captive. It is an account of the search for the Hermetic Mastery on the part of the monarch, and of the manner in which the secret was communicated to him by the adept hermit. The instruction reiterates the old story that the matter of alchemical philosophy is one, though its names are many. It is a substance that is prized by the adepts, but is held as worthless by common men in their folly. The method of its treatment follows and a description of the vessel which is used. It is idle to recite these particulars, as the matter is naturally not specified, and though the work appears to be physical, there is no real criterion of judgment concerning its nature.

It is, however, on the basis of this tract that Baron Tschoudy has raised the superstructure of an Hermetic and...