The Origin And References Of The Hermesian Spurious Freemasonry.

THE ORIGIN AND REFERENCES OF THE HERMESIAN SPURIOUS FREEMASONRY .

BY REV GEO . OLIVER , D . D . CHAPTEB VII . FIRST SERIES OE SXJIBOLS . ( Continued from page 434 . ) To conciliate her favour most heathen

nations held public festivals at the first appearance of the new moon , and the Israelites were permitted by Jehovah to use the same practice , that they might be Aveaned from the corresponding observances amongst the Gentilesto which they were

, mordinately addicted . The custom was propagated all over the world , and did not escape the Druids of Britain and tbe Saxons of Scandinavia , who superseded tbem in the government of tbe country ,

and Avas transmitted by them from generation to generation ; so that it is scarcely extinguished even at tbe present time . In some of the counties of England it is still a custom at the neAV moon to say to each other , " It is a fine moon , God bless her ";

Avhich Avas doubtless derived from ancient superstition . In the highlands of Scotland women are in the habit of rnakine- a o curtsey to the new moon , ancl Brand asserts that some English women still retain a touch of this Gentilismwhogetting up

, , upon , and sitting astride on , a gate or stile tbe first night of the new moon , say" All hail to tbe moon , all hail to thee ! I prithee , good moon , declare to me This night , whom my husband shall be . "

And , going to bed immediately , tbey will dream of the person destined to be their future husband But iu Egypt the lunette was tbe beifet Isis , or Selene , whoso hours Avere carefully depicted in the form of this emblem ; Mryrijp 2 eA . ?/ v » 7 TOI / KOCTIOO / ; and hence tbe crescentwhether natural

, © inartificial , Avhich Avas marked on tbe side of the sacred bull Apis , an emanation of Osiris , Avas feigned to have been 2- roduced by contact with Selene' —emOi ] TIJS 2 eA . ijvns for die ci-esent in bieroglyphical language signified a female , and the heifer was highly A'enerated by the Egyptians , for Avhich reason , or , as lias been supposed , the

heifer Avas ordered to be sacrificed in the law of Moses * in opposition to the sujierstitions of Egypt . The mystics , both heathen and Christian , converted this mythological incident to a very curious purpose of superstition . Pliny says that the Selinite is a stone

containing a . figure of the moon , Avhich increases and decreases uniformly Avith the courses of that planet . { And it is also reported by Cardan , according to Sir Christopher Heydon , that Pope Clement VII . had a precious stone Avhich contained a very bright spot that changed its position uniformly with the progress of the sun in the firmament .

The art of healing depended in some measure on this superstition doAvn to a A * ery recent period ; as in the following instance of a receipt to cure the ague : — " Gather cinquefoil in a good aspect of Jupiter to the moon , and let the moon be in the mid-heaven if you canthen take a

; certain quantity of the powder in Avbite Avine . If it be not that gathered according to the rules of astrology it will possess little or no virtue . " Again , in answer to statistical enquiries of Sir John Sinclair , in the year 1791 , the Minister of

Portpatrick tells of a cave in the neighbourhood of Dnnskey , which was held in great veneration by tbe peojale for this reason : that at the change of the moon if parents bring infirm , persons , or ricketty children do undress iu it for the purpose of bathing in the adjacent stream , they will be healed of their diseases

I he ancient writers described the ark of Noah by the figure of a lunette , which tbey called Meen , and Selene . Hence the chief person of the art had the name of Meen and Menes , and was Avorsbipped in the character of Pecis Lunus . In the hieroglyphics the crescent or half circle

stood for the letter S , or HebreAv Sar , and its ideal signification was whiteness , brightness , ancl multiform , the symbol of tbe genii or spirits favourable to man . Thus in Mr . Halled ' s edition of the Mahabbarat , illustrated Avith emblematical

engravings , the good beings are painted white , and the bad ones black . NOAV Selene , or the moon Rhe , is represented in the Orphic