Freemasonry's Obsession with Empty Chairs - Rewind

Originally published February 4th, 2015

by Midnight Freemasons Founder

Todd E. Creason, 33°

Here's a little known fact about Freemasons--they are obsessed with empty chairs.  You don't have to talk very long to just about any group of Masons, and the subject of all those empty chairs comes up.  "We've got to fill those empty chairs in our Lodges!" they'll exclaim.  The Blue Lodges are worried about empty chairs.  The Scottish Rite is worried about those empty chairs.  The York Rite is worried about empty chairs.  The Shrine.  Amaranth.  Order of the Eastern Star.  "We've got to fill those blessed empty chairs!"

Grand Lodges come up with plans to increase membership.  Here in Illinois, just since I've been a Mason we've had several different ideas about how to fill those chairs.  We went from 2B1ASK1 to being able to ask somebody if they'd like to join our Fraternity.  We still have empty chairs.  One of our Grand Masters, a good friend of mine, had a great plan.  Every member should add a member to their Blue Lodge.  He was known to always have petitions in his pocket.  We did add members, but we still have empty chairs.  My York Rite Chapter back when I joined came up with a magic number of new members they'd like to add that year, and they worked tirelessly, putting on degrees, and putting guys through the Chapter.  They added a large number of new members.  I was one of those guys that went through then.  Guess what?  They still have empty chairs!

The problem is, we're asking the wrong question.  The question isn't how can we fill those chairs--the question is why are those chairs empty to begin with?

When I joined the Lodge, it was because I was looking for something.  I wanted to improve myself.  I wanted to learn new things.  I wanted to gain new skills.  I wanted to be more active in my community.  I wanted to be a part of something traditional and something ancient.  In an ever changing world, I wanted something in my life that remained steady and consistent.  And I've found all those things, but not entirely within the walls of my Lodge.  Much of what I've gained has been through my own explorations and studies into the Craft.  If it hadn't been for my own initiative I'm not sure I would have found that greater meaning that makes my Lodge attendance and participation so fulfilling.

Our chairs are empty because so many of our Lodges have gotten so involved with the business of Freemasonry, they've forgotten the purpose of the Craft--to make good men better by constantly working to improve ourselves.  We spend so much time reading minutes, and reciting committee reports, we forget that we're supposed to be learning something as well.  The expectation of our membership versus the reality of our meetings is the reason so many of our chairs are empty.

The world is a busy place, and very few men are willing to waste a couple hours of their time once or twice a month to sit through a meeting when the only thing they might learn in that meeting is that the Lodge's building insurance went up 8% from last year, and somebody needs to make sure we have enough pancake mix by Saturday's breakfast.

There's no sense in worrying about how to fill those chairs in your Lodge if you aren't willing to figure out why they are empty to begin with.  We must do better.  Like it was said in that famous movie "Field of Dreams"-- if you build it they will come.  Your Lodge will start seeing fewer and fewer empty chairs when you start giving your members, old and new, the thing we promised them in the beginning.

Light!

~TEC

Todd E. Creason, 33° is the Founder of the Midnight Freemasons blog and continues to be a regular contributor. He is the author of several books and novels, including the Famous American Freemasons series. He is a Past Master of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL), and currently serves as Secretary.  He's also a member of Homer Lodge No. 199.  He is a member the Scottish Rite Valley of Danville, the York Rite Bodies of Champaign/Urbana (IL), the Ansar Shrine (IL), Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees, Charter President of the Illini High Twelve in Champaign-Urbana (IL), and a Fellow of the Missouri Lodge of Research.  He was recently awarded the 2014 Illinois Secretary of the Year Award by the Illinois Masonic Secretaries Association.  You can contact him at: webmaster@toddcreason.org

Hiram Abiff, Solomon & Jesus - The Tie that Binds

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Robert H. Johnson

*Editors Note: Here is a fun amateur "What if?..." piece I wrote a number of years ago. It was first printed in The Working Tools Magazine, November of 2013, and later in the Knight Templar Magazine. I offer this as a hypothetical based on the works of evangelical biblical scholars and the use of Aristotelian (if this than that) argument. I hope you enjoy this revisit. 

Boaz and Ruth

Who was the “Widow’s Son”? The answer might seem easily answered, but when one reads of legends, scriptures, the Apocrypha and other historical documents, it becomes apparent that perhaps we cannot answer this question so easily.

In the writings of Masonic scholars we learn of Hiram Abiff, “The Widow’s Son”. There are others in the aforementioned various texts referred as, “The Widow’s Son”. It seems this is a title to which more than one can be named. The use of the title is actually traced back to the Grail lore traditions which speak of a descended blood line and specifically reference Ruth.

Ruth, a woman of the Moabite tribe, was married to Boaz, and she was a heroine of the Old Testament. She was also the Great Grandmother of King David-- the father of King Solomon, who built the Temple. Ruth became pregnant, and married Boaz. He was quite a bit older being 80, while Ruth was just 40. The scriptures says that Boaz dies the next day. That must have been some wedding night.

From this point on, all the descendants of Ruth, were known simply as “Sons of the Widow”. A genetic title if you will. A genealogy can be traced. Ruth gives birth to the first “Son of the Widow”, Obed, who grows up and bears his son Jesse, who bears his son David who bears his sons Solomon and Nathan.

Using the lineage given in the Gospels of the Christian Bible, Jesus the Nazarene is a descendant of Ruth, making him also, a “Son of the Widow” or “Widow’s Son”. There are forty-five generations from Ruth to Jesus. This leaves an interesting problem for us as Masons. Nowhere in the lineage mentioned in the Bible, does it refer to Hiram Abiff.

Knowing this, it seems the trail grows cold in the search for Hiram Abiff’s title of “The Widow’s Son”. The Grail legends were written in a way that lends itself to allegory and therefore, the story cannot be just assumed to mean that Hiram was literally just a son of woman who lost her husband. These legends early on establish this title and what it means, which is a descendant of Ruth or more aptly a descendant of Boaz, either the 31st or 30th generation from Adam if you rely on Luke's genealogy.

Could Hiram Abiff be related somehow to the historical Jesus the Nazarene? The Gospels again, leave a cold trail. He simply isn't mentioned at all in the genealogy given by Luke or Mathew.

When Hiram Abiff is referenced as being a “Widow’s Son”, it is somehow implying that he was of the line of Ruth, who was married to Boaz and from them, according to Luke, a continued line to King David, King Solomon and eventually to Jesus the Nazarene. Was he a distant relative or cousin?

King Solomon was also a “Widow’s Son” in the sense of being of the lineage of Ruth. Is this why King Solomon called for a Tyrian which was handpicked to be the architect of the Jewish Temple of the God of Israel? Could Solomon have hired Hiram since they were family?

Doing detective work in genealogy can be taxing enough when researching ancestry just a few generations removed from the researcher, a task made much more difficult using biblical origins as references.

The lineage of Jacob is vital to this story. Twelve generations prior to the time of King Solomon, and eight generations prior to the time of Boaz, the twelve sons of Jacob were the founders of the twelve tribes of Israel. The fourth son of Jacob, Judah, was of the line that included the wise king, and extended through him to Jesus the Nazarene. The sixth son, Naphtali, was the founder of the line that included Hiram Abiff.

It is elementary to suggest that at the time of Jacob the designation of “Widow’s Son” had not yet been used, however, in his offspring, through time until we reach the time of Ruth, and from then on, it is not so unthinkable that the lineage would have used this epithet when speaking of their heritage or when scholars were recording the history of the time or even the Gospels.

What is it about this lineage which draws the title to it? What was so special? The three largest monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam all regard it [the lineage] with reverence. After all, this lineage contains Adam, Enoch, Noah, Shem, Abraham, David, Solomon, Nathan, Zerubbabel and Jesus the Nazarene.

Perhaps the coincidence which ties this lineage together is the ability to create. According to Luke, the line starts with Elohim (The Great Architect of the Universe) and then to Adam. The Christian Bible does not specifically make any magnificent claims to what Adam had ever built, however several other men in this lineage in fact are great builders.

Enoch was the builder of the mythological underground temple consisting of nine vaults with an altar where on the “Stone of Creation” and the Tetragrammaton were said to have been hidden. These legends are featured in the York and Scottish Rites namely the 7th degree in the York Rite called “The Holy Royal Arch” and the 13th degree of the Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction, called the “Royal Arch of Solomon”. In recent years it has even been suggested that Enoch was the builder of the Great Pyramid at Giza. The ancient Egyptians are said to have known the Great Pyramid as “The Pillar of Enoch”.

A somewhat obscure reference to that is found in the Bible, “In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt…” Isaiah 19:19.
Noah of course built the mythological Ark to house all of the creations of God that were spared in the legend of the great flood.

Abraham or Abram and his son Ishmael are purported to have built the Kaaba, a cube shaped building in Arabia which is one of the holiest sites for Brothers of the Muslim faith.

King David built a city and his palace and had sons, one of whom was King Solomon, who was responsible for the Temple of Solomon, which we all know is at the center of the teachings of our noble craft. These builders in the original line or “Alpha Lineage” the line that according to Luke starts with God and leads to Jesus the Nazarene go on and on with fantastic accomplishments.

Let us not forget however that there is the allusion to the building of the spiritual temple, a spiritual artificer which Jesus the Nazarene seemed to personify and ages before then we find the same in the character Freemasonry calls its patron, Hiram Abiff. The handpicked chief architect of the Temple of God. A man to emulate in his duty and fealty to his brothers, both Hiram of Tyre and King Solomon, this is the man we learn about in our  degrees and indeed try to emulate.

The “Alpha Line” is synonymous with “The Widow’s Son”. It could merely be the separation of the generational gap and a more coded obscure way of saying “of the Tribe of Judah” without being abrasive.

It could be that the Tribe of Judah was the main branch of this line and that The Widow’s Sons are an offshoot of the original line but whose closeness to the original line needed to be preserved by means of a title given to these builders.

In the end, we will never know if Adam, Jesus the Nazarene or Hiram were truly related, however it is clear that  The Widows Son is a title given to the offspring of Ruth and her descendants. It is also clear that Freemasonry calls its patron Saint Hiram Abiff a “Widow's Son", who was a builder. The lessons taught philosophically within our Masonic system have much to do with building as well, the main difference is that we are building our spiritual temples. In the Masonic system we follow in the footsteps of Hiram Abiff, but we not only represent him, we physically become him in the degrees and in the end we all end up a “Widow’s Son”. Becoming a Master Mason we all end up being builders of fantastic hearts, minds and souls.

So brethren, I ask you, “Who is the Widow’s Son?”

Look in the mirror, and you will surely see him.

Inspired by a brief article in the Trestle board of Blackmer Lodge #442 F&AM, California by WB John R Heisner

~RHJ

RWB, Robert Johnson is the Managing Editor of the Midnight Freemasons blog. He is a Freemason out of the 1st N.E. District of Illinois. He currently serves as the Secretary of Spes Novum Lodge No. 1183 UD. He is a Past Master of Waukegan Lodge 78 and a Past District Deputy Grand Master for the 1st N.E. District of Illinois. Brother Johnson currently produces and hosts weekly Podcasts (internet radio programs) Whence Came You? & Masonic Radio Theatrewhich focus on topics relating to Freemasonry. He is also a co-host of The Masonic Roundtable, a Masonic talk show. He is a husband and father of four, works full time in the executive medical industry. He is the co-author of "It's Business Time - Adapting a Corporate Path for Freemasonry" and is currently working on a book of Masonic essays and one on Occult Anatomy to be released soon.

The Masonic Education Paradox - Rewind

Editors Note* When Steve first wrote this piece, I read it and thought, "Wow...are we just apathetic?" And today, I still wonder. You see, there does seem to be a general problem and when solved, no one cares and they go on complaining. What's the answer? I'm not sure. But read this piece and by all means, give us some ideas of why programs like this aren't appreciated or utilized. Give us some examples of how you’ve changed the education of your lodge. What have you taken it into your own hands?~RHJ

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR

The Grand Lodge of Missouri has on occasion conducted surveys asking the Brothers, among other things, what they want from Masonry. It probably won't shock you to discover the number one thing on the list is "Masonic education."

So, hats off to the Grand Lodge of Missouri — it listened to the Brothers, went to work and came up with a Masonic education program. It works this way: On a regular basis the Grand Lodge sends an information packet to each Lodge Secretary. Included within that packet is a document containing a piece on Freemasonry. Then, at a stated meeting, the Secretary, Lodge Education Officer or any Brother can read the piece and perhaps conduct a discussion afterward. Note that the program also has the added advantage that Lodges across the state are all working on the same subject simultaneously.

There you go… Masonic education handed to you on a silver platter.

What more could you ask for?

I'll tell you exactly what: you could ask for the Lodges to make use of it. I attend my share of Lodge meetings. While "reliable sources" tell me there are some Lodges that do, I have never sat in a Lodge that uses the material.

So let's recap. The number one thing Brothers want is Masonic education; the Grand Lodge provides it; and (generalizing) the Brothers don't use it. It's a bit of a paradox, isn't it? Maybe the next survey should ask, "What do you really want?"

So, I have a suggestion. If you want Masonic education more than anything, appoint yourself your own personal education officer. Read, research, write, learn everything you can; but don't stop there. Make a commitment to take it to Lodge. It doesn't take much. Maybe start by reading an article from the Midnight Freemasons Blog, or maybe an excerpt from MNF founder Todd Creason's Famous American Freemasons book. (Modesty… ahem… prevents me from mentioning you could read something from one of my books). Likely as not, just a few minutes on a subject will spark a discussion. If my experience is any indication, your Brothers will thank you for doing it. Try it: just a few minutes of Masonic education can turn a mundane meeting into a memorable meeting.

If that works, take it a step further. Ask your Brothers to do the same. Maybe think about "upping your game" and turning it into a presentation. Take it to other lodges. Ask those Brothers to do the same.

In the words of that great litterbug Arlo Guthrie, "Let's start a movement." Before you know it, we might be swimming in Masonic education.

~SLH

Bro. Steve Harrison, 33° is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is the editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine, author of the book Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, a Fellow of the Missouri Lodge of Research and also its Worshipful Master. He is a dual member of Kearney Lodge #311, St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite, Moila Shrine and a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. His latest book, Freemasons: Tales From the Craft & Freemasons at Oak Island. Both are available on amazon.com.

Masonic Artifacts Can Tell A Story - Revisit

by Midnight Freemasons contributor

Gregory J. Knott

One of the things I enjoy most is walking through antique stores looking for Masonic artifacts.  On a recent trip through Decatur, Illinois, we stopped at a very nice shop and I set upon my hunt.  They had a few items, but none of them really caught my interest until I ran across a small framed case with 3 medals in it.  Upon closer review I knew that these were Knight Templar Medals.

SK Orlando Powers

The three medals were from Beaumanoir Commandery No. 9, which was and still is at home in Decatur, Illinois.  The medal on the left is the Order of the Temple member medal, the middle is a Past Eminent Commander’s jewel and the one of the right is a drill attendance medal with a number 32 on the bar in the middle.

As I was checking out, I asked the clerk if she knew of any history of these medals.  I was in luck because she did!   It turns out they belonged to Orlando Powers, who was an early prominent settler of Decatur.  He was born in 1812 and came to Decatur in 1849 and died in July 1902.

Powers Opera House

Bro. Powers built a tremendous Opera House in 1889 at Decatur where many of the most prominent settlers of the day performed.  It burned to the ground in 1895 and was later rebuilt, but burned again in 1914.  His son built a hotel on the same site that is still run as a residential hotel today.

But it is the Powers Mansion that seems to be his real legacy today.  According to a couple of websites that I visited, the mansion seems to be haunted.  Perhaps the ghost of Orlando Powers is still looking over his house.

I couldn’t find a Masonic record for Bro. Powers.  I can only assume he belonged to a local lodge and perhaps other York Rite bodies.   

But it was purchasing these medals and learning about a man who died over 110 years ago and seeing his impact upon the Prairie of Illinois that gave me the greatest pleasure.

The Powers Mansion--haunted some say . . .

~GK

 WB Gregory J. Knott is a founding member and Senior Contributor of the Midnight Freemasons. He is a Past Master of St. Joseph Lodge No. 970 in St. Joseph (IL) and a plural member of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL), Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL) and Naval Lodge No. 4 in Washington, DC. He’s a member of the Scottish Rite, the York Rite, Eastern Star and is the Charter Secretary of the Illini High Twelve Club No. 768 in Champaign-Urbana. He is also a member of ANSAR Shrine (IL) and the Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees. Greg serves on the Board of Directors of The Masonic Society and is a member of the Scottish Rite Research Society and The Philathes Society. Greg is very involved in Boy Scouts—an Eagle Scout himself, he is a member of the National Association of Masonic Scouters. You can contact him at gknott63@gmail.com

The All Seeing Eye: Revisited

by Midnight Freemason Emeritus contributor

James E. Frey 

*Editors Note* From time to time I find myself binge-watching shows on Netflix just before bed time. I guess they really aren't shows per se, but rather, documentaries. Ancient Egypt is something I never get tired of, and when they mix in occult imagery...well, I'm hooked. Recently, this happened to me and it made me remember this great piece from Emeritus James E. Frey. Enjoy the further light! ~RHJ

My Brethren, one of the most mysterious symbols within our society is the mythical All Seeing Eye we receive in the third degree of the Ancient Craft. This symbol in ritual is mentioned as “the All seeing eye whom the sun, moon, and stars obey, and under whose watchful care comets preform their stupendous revolutions, beholds the inmost recesses of the human heart, and will reward us according to our works.” In ritual this reminds us of the obligation we owe to God, not in any religious context, but to the universality of God and mankind. As Masons the eye has had many meanings throughout our long rich history. But the true understanding and deeper meaning is a revelation of the meaning of the Master Mason’s degree.

Albert Mackey writes that the All Seeing Eye is “An important symbol of the Supreme Being, borrowed by the Freemasons from the nations of antiquity.” The All Seeing Eye is a symbol representing the watchful gaze of God. It reminds us that every thought and action is to be recorded by the Grand Architect of the Universe, and that we are bound to our obligations in spirit as well as in blood. As Masons we are to act upon the square of virtue and keep our passions in due bounds, that is what we swore to uphold on our honor as a man and a mason. This is the general exoteric explanation for this symbol in modern masonry. This is because the eye was adopted into Masonry in 1797 in Thomas Webb’s Official Freemason’s Monitor. The Masons during the enlightenment era referred to this as the Eye of Providence, which represents God’s gaze over humanity. They saw it as a symbol to represent unity of religious denominations in this new era of enlightenment which ended the dark ages and gave birth to modern democracy.

But the All Seeing Eye is found throughout history in a variety cultures and societies. This I believe is why the Masons adopted it for this reason. For instance Buddha is regularily referred to as the “Eye of the World”. In Hinduism divine providence is associated with the God Shiva, who has an all seeing third eye on his forehead, that notices everything that happens in the world, has an authority over death, rebirth and immortality. The third eye is also associated with the forehead chakra in eastern meditation teachings. In Medieval and Renaissance European iconography, the Eye often with the addition of an enclosing triangle was an explicit image of the Christian Trinity.

But within Masonry the All Seeing Eye borrows its myth from Hebrew theology. The Watchfulness of God is demonstrated in verses throughout the Old Testament, but Mackey points to the Apocryphal Book of Conversation with Moses on Mount Sinai, the eternal gaze of God is beautifully allegorized. “Then Moses said to the Lord, O Lord dost thou sleep or not? The Lord said unto Moses, I never sleep: but take a cup and fill it with water. Then Moses took a cup and filled it with water, as the Lord commanded him. Then the Lord cast into the heart of Moses the breath of slumber; so he slept, and the cup fell from his hand, and the water which was therein spilled then Moses awoke from his sleep. Then said God to Moses, I declare by my power, and by my glory, that if I were to withdraw my providence from the heavens and the earth, for longer a space of time than thou hast slept, they would at once fall to ruin and confusion, like as the cup fell from thy hand.”

This verse is pointed too because I feel it correlates one of the most important meanings to this symbol. The All Seeing Eye is more representative of the will of God, rather than God itself. In a hermetic view the eye dwells in the heavens gazing over the sun, and moon. But yet it can see into the inward receses of the human heart. This reminds us of the important hermetic lesson of ‘as above so below’ this shows that the earth and the heavens are a reflection of each other and connected through the nature of God. New ways of perceiving God and man is what lead humanity out of the dark ages and bring forth the Rosicrucian and enlightenment movements. The Masons of the enlightenment era believed it was God’s will that they give birth to democracy and the end of the feudal system. They believed Masonry was a tool for social change and social justice, to end the darkness of exploitation and the revival of the ancient ideals of the republic. This is why I believe the Speculative Masons incorporated the All Seeing Eye as an emblem, because they believed they were a working tool for the will of God.

As Masonry progressed, its focus on political philosophy faded into the esoteric studies that were believed to be hidden from the ordinary brethren. Illustrious Brother Albert Pike, 33 a masonic scholar and philosopher taught that the adepts of the order concealed of the true meaning of the symbols of the craft. Yet the true meaning of the symbols and teachings may yet be discovered through the study and reflection of the student. Pike writes,

“It is in its antique symbols and their occult meaning that the true secrets of Freemasonry consist. But these have no value if we see nothing in the symbols of the blue lodge beyond the imbecile pretenses of interpretations of them contained in our monitors. People have overlooked the truth that the symbols of antiquity were not used to reveal but to conceal. Each symbol is an enigma to be solved, and not a lesson to be read. How can the intelligent Mason fail to see that the blue degrees are but preparatory, to enlist and band together the rank and file Masonic army for purposes undisclosed to them, that they are the lesser mysteries in which the symbols are used to conceal the truth?

Every man of high intelligence initiated of the lesser mysteries but ignorant of the greater, would still have known that the former were but preparatory, and that there must be some place in which their symbols were explained and their real purposes made known.”

Great thinkers within masonry pondered the teaching and mythology of the craft and began to discover deep esoteric wisdom that stretched back to ancient Egypt. This is why within Masonry the All Seeing Eye is always mentioned to be of Egyptian origins. Some early masonic writers even declare Egypt was the origins of the craft as well. It is believed the first reference in Masonic literature to that of Egypt is from the Cooke Manuscript which reads, “During the time that the children of Israel dwelt in Egypt they learned the craft of Masonry… And from thence this worthy science was brought into France and into many other regions.”

To understand the role of Egypt in Masonry, one must understand the occult revival movement. During this time period the western world was fascinated with the occult mysteries, primarily with Egyptian mythology. Groups like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, whose three founders; Dr. William Robert Woodman, William Wynn Westcott and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers were Freemasons and members of Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (S.R.I.A.) Westcott, also a member of the Theosophical Society, which was a mystical Christian group founded by Madam Blavatsky which dedicated itself to the study of man’s relation with divinity, to name a few groups. There is no doubt that during this time Freemasonry became fascinated with the mystical and spiritual teachings of the craft as well as the Egyptian mysteries. Pike believed that Egypt had a monotheistic religion with its source from the original concept of God, Atom-Re which was the God of light which generated himself from the nothingness. Pike’s understanding of the Egyptian mysteries came mostly from the Grecian writers, which state that Egypt utilized the mysteries for initiation into their secrets. Pike writes,

“The candidates went through a ceremony representing this, in all the mysteries everywhere…the mysteries of Osiris, Isis and Horus, seem to have been the model of all other ceremonies of initiation subsequently established among the different peoples of the world”

The Egyptian mysteries were dramatic rituals that were used to provide the candidate to receive understanding of eternal life. These initiation rituals were based primarily off the legend of Osiris and Isis, to which Pike believed was the source of Hiramic legend and the mystery of the master’s word. This legend sates that Osiris, ancient King of Egypt, was the sun and the virgin Isis, his wife and sister, the moon. Typhon, his brother representing darkness and chaos, plots to kill Osiris and take the throne throwing Egypt back to chaos. Typhon traps Osiris in a coffin and throws it into the Nile, where Osiris drowns, descending to the underworld. Isis searches and finds the body, but it is stolen by Typhon who cuts it into 14 pieces and throws them into the Nile. This act is similar to masonic ritual where a body is mutilated if an oath is violated. Isis again searches this time only finding one part which is declared a substitute. By a mystical union through the God of wisdom Thoth, Isis and Osiris have a son, Horus, who defeats Typohn in battle and then assumes his father’s earthly kingdom. 

 

This scene of the raising of Osiris is particularly interesting to Pike. Horus went in solemn procession to the grave of his father Osiris. He opened it, called to his Father saying: "Stand up! Thou shalt not end, thou shalt not perish!" Osiris awakes but is only arisen by the aid of the strong grip of the lion-god he gains control of his body, and is lifted from death to life. Thereafter, by virtue of his victory over death, Osiris becomes Lord of the Land of Death, his scepter an Ank Cross, his throne a Square. This is representative of not only the true grip of a master mason, but also to the perfect ashlar which sits represented as the perfect spiritual self. Looking esoterically at the relationship between the sun, moon and master of the lodge one can see a clear parallel to Osiris, Isis and Thoth, and the relationship this has to that of Alchemy. Osiris now raised is given sovereignty over the underworld.

According to Mackey “On the same principle, the Egyptians represented Osiris their chief deity, by the symbol of an open eye, and placed this hieroglyphic of him in all temples. His symbolic name, on the monuments, was represented by the eye accompanying a throne… which may as correctly be supposed to be a representation of a square. The All seeing Eye may then be considered as a symbol of God manifested in his omnipresence”

This sense of omnipresence is interesting because we now know the All Seeing Eye to re associated with Amun-Ra as oppose to Osiris. Amun-Ra was self-created without mother or father, he is the light birthing in the darkness. All other Gods are seen as an extension of his being. This is how the eye is related in extension to Osiris. The Eye is also a symbol for Ra, a solar deity, which in Helipopolis and other area was merged with the mythology of Horus forming the deity Re-Horakhty which means "Ra, who is Horus of the Two Horizons".

This process of light out of darkness is at the heart of masonic teaching, and process of ritual death and resurrection is the root of achieving enlightenment in the masonic system. In fact it is at the root of all our mythology and teachings. In my view the All Seeing Eye is a reminder of our own inner divinity. We are all connected to each other through God. Through God we understand the deep devolution and dedication we must observe in our daily lives. Always remember that we are the reflection of the universe upon itself. So while in the gaze of the All Seeing Eye we must let our spirit be as pure and spotless as the white leather apron we were presented when we first stood neither barefoot nor clad upon the checkered floor.

~JEF