Masonic Celestial Mysteries.

MASONIC CELESTIAL MYSTERIES .

By Bro . HENRY MELVILLE . LABOE OaiuiA YmciT . PAPBE VI . The following figure of OL . PTOLOMAI . Colonae Agrippinae MDXXXVII is well worthy of consideration .

The twelve signs of the zodiac are definitely named , and the letter A implies the astronomical commencement of the yearly cycle as at present in Aries . In the Gemini are the sun and planets ,

and to all appearances in a very confused order r equiring explanation . In the centre are the four elements , earth , water , air , and fire , these constitute our globe , next thereto is the attendant Luna , the moon . According to the figure , Venus and

Mars are the planets nearest the sun , the next distant to Venus is Mercury , and as regards the earth and moon the nearest planet is Mercury . Thus the whole planetary system is deranged . Erom time immemorial , astronomers have known

that the nearest planet to the sun is Mercury , and they also knew that the earth revolved round the sun . They were aware that custom had rendered it expedient for astronomical purposes to depict the apparent motion of the sun rather than the

actual motion of the earth . The sun therefore is intentionally wrongly placed in the figure , and should as regards truth , be made to change places with the earth and moon . Astronomers in

former ages , always wrote in the classic languages and the esoteric knowledge , so well understood by themselves , was exoteric confusion to the multitude , and so it remains to the unitiated in celestial Masonry .

The zodiac is so called from the living creatures it contains . Ezekiel , meaning " the strength of God or strong God , " is , astronomically , Hercules or Hiram . He writes " the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another . *

The signs do touch one another , and the wheels or circles or orbits of the planets are wheels within wheels . Then at the opening of the year is Memra , the word ,+ the whirlwind , % and there is the Cherub Antiuou ' s head and shoulders rising

above the equator with the great wings of the eagle ( Aquila )§ As regards Ptolomy ' s figure it should be remembered that if the sun is in the Gemini , the earth and moon must be in the opposite sign , Sagittarius . The figure bears date 1537 ,

aud about a hundred years afterwards one Galelei Galeleo endeavoured to correct the system of placing the earth in the sun's position , but , asmight be expected , he failed in endeavouring to establish the alteration . This Galeleo affair is

mere astronomical fable , and the nam es Galelei Galeleo are probably rooted in the Hebrew , Gol , " the wheel , " or Gilgal , " revolution of the wheel , "" but this enquiry must be left for others . The astronomical name being a synonyme , the period

of the death of Galeleo may also be fiction , and . 1642 are celebrated celestial numerals indicating the termination of the year , or revolution of al Gol .

The sun rises in the east and sets m the west , this is an admitted fact ; but this admitted fact is sheer falsehood , for the sun never rises in the east and never sets in the west . That the sun appears , from our earth to rise in the eastern horizon , and

set in the western , is certainly true , and at the equinoxes the sun appears to rise due east and set due west . Modern astronomers persist in making the sun revolve annually round the earth . Ask auy astronomer when it is the vernal equinox ,, and he will tell you it is when the sun enters Aries . * Ask him when it is summer , and the answer will ,