Masonry And Magic.

trophe occurs , and it falls ; a painful sensation compresses it , a strange coldness seizes it ; it gives a last sigh , which is changed into a first cry . It is dead to tho lifo of the embryo , and born into the life of man !

In tho lifo of an embryo it seemed as though the placenta was its body . That was , in fact , its special embryonic body , a body of no use to its new life in this world , and which is therefore rejected as an impurity .

Our body , used in this human life , is a second envelope , useless to our next life : therefore we reject it also , at the moment of our second birth . Human life , compared to tho next life , is but an

embryonate . When bad passions end us prematurely , nature makes an abortion , we are prematurely born into eternity , exposed to that terrible dissolution Avhich S . John calls the second death . "

The next arcanum , according to old writers on occult metaphysics , is expressed by the two words " Coagula " and " Solve , " corresponding to the active and passive principles of nature , to the male and female divisions in creation , to the mystic columns of Solomon ' s porch , JACHIN and

BOAZ . Those , with the grand Arcanum , constitute the Magic triangle , and are formulated by Levi , into a fundamental dogma , THE EQUILIBRIUM OF FORCES . And in tho

symbol of this again , as superior triangle penetrating and interlaced with inferior triangle—we find tho complete key of Art Magical , for our Royal Arch degree—the Seal of Solomon .

Given a knowledge of the grand Arcanum , the Astral Light or Psychic force ; the effort of the Magician must be , firstly to gather it , to concentrate it for use , Coagula , and then to use it scientifically , always in duo equilibrium ,

to distribute it in the desired direction—Solve . These arcana , the equilateral triangle seems to have symbolised in the ancient theogonies : expressing the secret of which initiates were the possessors , by which the Gods were influenced and occult forces subordinated to the will of man .

Numbers of old fables or parables referred to this subject and the vicissitudes of its pursuit , conveying veiled counsel and warning , even by the voyage of Jason and th <» amours of Psyche . Concurrent with the material , there runs a divine life

through humanity . Human intellect has had its morning , its meridian is approaching , and its decline ( by all analogy ) may follow ; but the divine part of man , the supra-mundane , must remain related to its source . The first in the order of natural laws is the law of AFFINITY .

The five-pointed star of our third degree , the pentagram of the Mngi , is characterised by Levi as the symbol of the intelligence which governs the four elementary powers by unity ; the prototype of balanced Light ( of our Light in equilibrio ) , a ray of light descending from and returning to

its every point . This , says he , represents the supreme athanor of nature , the body of man . A magnetic stream parts in two rays from the head , from each hand and from each foot . Each positive ray is balanced by a negative ray ; the head is connected with the two feet , each hand

with a hand and a foot , each foot with a hand and with the head . This is the sign of the Magician ' s power . The fact of positive aud negative magnetic currents from the human frame is well-known to professors of animal magnetism ; but wc are not aware whether scientific experiment has confirmed the accuracy of the foregoing .

The pentagram , says Levi , w hen broken or irregularly traced , represents intoxication by the Astral Light , abnormal and irregular projections of the great magic agent , and their consequences in all kinds of wickedness and folly , called the Seal of Lucifer . ( To le continued . )

Masonry And Ancient Mysteries.

MASONRY AND ANCIENT MYSTERIES .

[ COMMUNICATED . ]

IF we attempt to establish a connection between the far past and the present , we must bear in mind that the ancients have left us few memorials beyond their ruins and inscriptions . Their rains indicate an amount of knowledge

beyond our own ; their inscriptions are sometimes m a character wc do not yet understand , sometimes in a character wo have partly deciphered , and sometimes in hieroglyp hics , which , though we partly understand , may contain

Masonry And Ancient Mysteries.

signs , bearing secret symbols and meanings known only to the priesthood , and lost , at their extinction , to the world tor ever ; so that , in endeavouring to trace a connection between

modern Freemasonry and tho ancient mysteries , we have many difficulties to encounter . There cannot be a doubt that " free " or speculative Masonry is intimately connected with , and descended from practical Masonry .

Our word Mason has a very simple origin , being , it is said , derived from Macon , French , from Mas ., an old word , signifying a house ; thus a Mason is one who makes houses . As men in the early ages of society were destitute of those methods of diffusing knowledge which we now enjoy ; and

even of those which were used in Greece and Rome , where the art of printing was unknown , the few discoveries in art and science then made wero principally confided to the priesthood . In those ages the pursuit of science must have been a secondary consideration . Architecture could

only bo preceded by agriculture ; the first architects , therefore , would be the first philosophers . In order to preserve amongst themselves that information which they alone collected , appropriate words and signs would be

communicated to its members , significant ceremonies would be performed at their institutions , that their engagements to secrecy might be impressed upon their minds , and greater regard excited for the information they were to receive .

Nor is this mere speculation , there exist at this day , in the deserts of Egypt , such architectural monuments as must havo been reared in those early ages which precede the records of authentic history : and the erection of those stupendous fabrics must have required an acquaintance

with the mechanical arts which is not in the possession of modern architects . " It is an undoubted fact , also , that there existed in those days a particular association of men to whom scientific knowledge was confined , and who resembled the society of Freemasons in everything but the name .

In Egypt and the countries of Asia which lie contiguous to that favoured kingdom , the arts and sciences were cultivated with success , while other nations were involved in obscurity and ignorance ; it is here , therefore , that Freemasonry would flourish , and here only can we discover marks of its existence in the remotest ages .

It is extremely probable that the first and only objects of the societies of Masons was the mutual communication of knowledge connected with their profession , and that those only would gain admittance into thoir Order whose labours were subsidiary to those of the architect . But when the

ambition or vanity of the Egyptian priests prompted them to erect huge and expensive fabrics for celebrating the worship of their gods , or perpetuating the memory of their kings , they would naturally desire to participate in that scientific knowledge which was possessed by the

architects then employed , and as their Orderseldom failed , among a superstitious people , to gain the object of their ambition , they would , in this case , succeed in their attempts , and be initiated into the mysteries as well as instructed in the scienco of Freemasons . These remarks will not only

assist us in discovering the source from which the Egyptian priests derived that knowledge for which they have been so highly celebrated , they will also aid us in accounting for those changes which were superinduced on the forms of Freemasonry , and for the admission of men into the Order

whose professions had no connection with the royal art . When the Egyptian priesthood had in this manner procured admission into tho fraternity , they connected the mythology of their country , and their metaphysical

speculations concerning the nature of God and the condition of man , with an association formed for the exclusive purpose of scientific improvement , and produced that combination of science and theology which in after ages formed such a conspicuous part of the principles of Freemasonry .

The knowledge of the Egyptians was carefully concealed from the vulgar , and when the priests did condescend to communicate it to tho learned men of other nations it was conferred in symbol and hieroglyphics , accompanied with particular rites and ceremonies , marking the value of the

gifts they bestowed . What those ceremonies were we are , at this distance of time , unable to determine , but as the Eleusinian and other mysteries had their origin in Egypt , wo may be able perhaps to discover the quality of the fountain by examining the nature of the stream .

The first colony of the Egyptians that arrived in Greece was conducted by Inachus about 1970 years before Christ , and about 300 years afterwards he was followed by Cecrops , Cadmus , and Dunaus . The savage inhabitants of Greece beheld with astonishment the magical tricks of the