Ancient Masonic Hieroglyphs.

ANCIENT MASONIC HIEROGLYPHS .

LONDON , SATURDAY , DECEMBER 23 , 1 S 65 .

BY BRO . ANDREW OASSARD , 38 ° . The figure illustrated in the accompanying woodcut represents the most sublime of all ancient ecrets , known originally by the name of Bahunicd

and Kraruf , i . e ., the secret of the nature of the world , or the secret of secrets , and the beginning and end , or alpha and omega of all things . It would be impossible to do more than scanty justice to the paramount importance of this figure ,

in an article the space of which is necessarily limited . Brethren anxious to enter deeper into the subject may consult Kircher ' s " Treatise on Hieroglyphs , " based on a most important MS . he found in Malta amongst the Turks , which had

been translated by the Syrian , Aben Vahschia , into Turkish from the original Chaldean and Arab languages , and deposited by him , in 214 , in the Treasury Chamber of Abdolmelic . The accompanying figure is one of the most

important of those known in Arabian as belonging to the alphabet of Hermes , who , according to Oriental history , was the King of the ancient Egyptians , and it is evidently the one Kircher calls anima murdi ; but this name has never been

explained . Its original name is Jlahumed or Balmmid , for which the Arabian translation is Kraruf . But it is demonstrated that it was invented by Hermes , and belongs to his alphabet or else to the Tpi ^ yarTos of the ancient Hellenes , which was kept in close secrecy by his descendants >

it is possible , also , that it belongs to the triple frame of the Indians . The Hermesians used to communicate their secret knowledge and sciences to their disciples only , for fear lest " arts and sciences might be

vulgarised and perverted . " By means of their alphabet they concealed their secrets and valuable treasure , which were impenetrable to all save the " sons of the li ° ht of truth and learning . " O O Those initiated in the mysteries of the school

of Hermetic philosophy were divided into different classes , but all recognised Hermes the Great as their common head and chief . In order to avoid all intercourse with strangers , by which the essential secrecy of their sciences might be

jeopardised , " they formed matrimonial alliances with none but daughters of the same race ( the initiated ) , all of whom were considered as members and integral parts of one and the same family . " And it is positively asserted that no

stranger ever invaded the stronghold of those well-founded secrets which they alone possessed . These Hermesians were the authors of those

works known as the "Bdris , or Books of Enoch . They built temples dedicated to the Divinity ; they professed the unity of God ,, and blessed the name of the "Supreme Creator of all things . " The few adepts of the Hermetic

secrets * who have lived down to the present day are to be found in some islands adjacent to the confines of China , t and they are still adhering to the same doctrines that are taught in our own temples nowadays , viz ., the preaching and

practising of the purest morals , and of the most wholesome philosophy , the sublime principles of which were inculcated to them by their forefathers , and have been handed to them from age to a ° e . We cannot venture here to expatiate on the

antiquity ofthe Hermetic mysteries and philosophy , or on the mysterious feeling of veneration entertained for the Bahumed or Kraruf by the initiated . It would be superfluous also to repeat all that has been said and written on the Apis of Egypt ,

revived by the Israelites in their veneration oi the Kraruf , ancl preserved to the present day in the mysteries of the Drusiaus . Suffice it to draw the attention of the reader to the peculiar and intimate relationship existing between the institutions of