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Article ON SYMBOLS AND SYMBOLISM, ← Page 16 of 18 →
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On Symbols And Symbolism,
Baphometi front ! cjusdem expressus . " Tlie illogical nature of his conclusions may also be deduced from the following example : Baphomet , according to his interpretation , is Baphos-Mcte , the Baptism of mete or knowledge ; and as in the latter word this T is a principal letter , it stands for the w ord mete itself : " Hoc T igitur character Baphometis et sic ut pars pro toto
iustrumeiitum vitas et sapientia 3 genetricem significabat . " It is , however , open to very great doubt whether this famed symbol had ever any connection whatsoever with the order of the Templars . Hollar ' s etching in Dugdalc ' s " Warwickshire , " ivith a mystic cross upon a staff , rests , I believe , upon no authentic cotemporary authoritythough it has received a warrant of
, truth from the great archaeologist Scott , in the beautiful fiction of "Ivanhoe , " chap . viii . "On an elevated seat directly before the accused , sat the Grand Master of the Temple , in full and ample robes of flowing white , holding in his hand the mystic staff , wdiich bore the symbol of the order . "
But even if the Tau were incontestably proved the impure emblem that Von Hammer would have us believe , it would proA r e nothing against the order , at aU events in connection Avith this staff , which , as figured by Dugdale , is a symbol drawn from the deepest recesses of Hindoo theogony ; it is the famous chatra or ivheel exhibited in one of the manifold hands of
almost every Indian deity celebrated in the Vedas ancl Ivorshipped by Brahmins . This wheel , without its two initial aspirates w and h , was transferred by colonies from those eastern climes , when they migrated to the north , into their language and country , as Ule , Chile , Jule , the great festival of their opening yearat once a thanksgiAing for past benefitsand a confident
, , hope of the future . This Gule-feast was , we knoAV , the grand celebration of the god Thor , under the name of Baal , of which the Beltine superstitions still prevalent in Scotland and Ireland give verbal evidence , ancl which even the substitution of the great Christian festival of Christmas has not been able entirely to supersede .
It would , therefore , be consolatory to all good Masons if the purity of tlieir ritual and of conjoined societies could be proved unstained by an emblem of which both origin and significance , as in the Tau , are so equivocal . Of its universality , hoAvever , besides the proofs already given , another very remarkable instance maybe given . In Stephen ' s "Travels in Central America "
we find the Tau emblem ornamenting the edifices of the ruined cities of Palenque : those enigmatical remains of an unknoAvn people ancl period , Avhose accounts have to be thoroughly investigated before we can be said to know the true history of our globe or the progress of mankind in origin and civilization .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Symbols And Symbolism,
Baphometi front ! cjusdem expressus . " Tlie illogical nature of his conclusions may also be deduced from the following example : Baphomet , according to his interpretation , is Baphos-Mcte , the Baptism of mete or knowledge ; and as in the latter word this T is a principal letter , it stands for the w ord mete itself : " Hoc T igitur character Baphometis et sic ut pars pro toto
iustrumeiitum vitas et sapientia 3 genetricem significabat . " It is , however , open to very great doubt whether this famed symbol had ever any connection whatsoever with the order of the Templars . Hollar ' s etching in Dugdalc ' s " Warwickshire , " ivith a mystic cross upon a staff , rests , I believe , upon no authentic cotemporary authoritythough it has received a warrant of
, truth from the great archaeologist Scott , in the beautiful fiction of "Ivanhoe , " chap . viii . "On an elevated seat directly before the accused , sat the Grand Master of the Temple , in full and ample robes of flowing white , holding in his hand the mystic staff , wdiich bore the symbol of the order . "
But even if the Tau were incontestably proved the impure emblem that Von Hammer would have us believe , it would proA r e nothing against the order , at aU events in connection Avith this staff , which , as figured by Dugdale , is a symbol drawn from the deepest recesses of Hindoo theogony ; it is the famous chatra or ivheel exhibited in one of the manifold hands of
almost every Indian deity celebrated in the Vedas ancl Ivorshipped by Brahmins . This wheel , without its two initial aspirates w and h , was transferred by colonies from those eastern climes , when they migrated to the north , into their language and country , as Ule , Chile , Jule , the great festival of their opening yearat once a thanksgiAing for past benefitsand a confident
, , hope of the future . This Gule-feast was , we knoAV , the grand celebration of the god Thor , under the name of Baal , of which the Beltine superstitions still prevalent in Scotland and Ireland give verbal evidence , ancl which even the substitution of the great Christian festival of Christmas has not been able entirely to supersede .
It would , therefore , be consolatory to all good Masons if the purity of tlieir ritual and of conjoined societies could be proved unstained by an emblem of which both origin and significance , as in the Tau , are so equivocal . Of its universality , hoAvever , besides the proofs already given , another very remarkable instance maybe given . In Stephen ' s "Travels in Central America "
we find the Tau emblem ornamenting the edifices of the ruined cities of Palenque : those enigmatical remains of an unknoAvn people ancl period , Avhose accounts have to be thoroughly investigated before we can be said to know the true history of our globe or the progress of mankind in origin and civilization .