COMMITTEE ON LECTURES
BULLETIN NO. 15
THE SYMBOLISM OF THE
STATIONS
FOREWORD
BY
SUGGESTION from many Brethren Bulletin No. 14, “Some Masonic Titles,” is now
followed by Bulletin No. 15, “THE SYMBOLISM OF THE STATIONS.” Naturally, in
tracing the symbolism of the stations, we have to go back before discussion of
titles to the origin of the stations. It
is their symbolism more than the stations that engages our attention in Bulletin
No. 15.
Manifestly
there can not be presented in a few pages all that can be found in the works of
Masonic students quoted. About all
that can be offered is “the gist of the matter,” yet sufficient to direct
Brethren interested to further Masonic study. Enough is included in the
following pages to demonstrate the fact that Masonry carries ancient traditions
of deep significance.
One
thing is certain — Bulletin No. 15 interprets the ceremonies and rituals of
Masonry more fully to the Mason, if he will recall them in detail as he studies
what is herein said of Masonic Symbolism. It
may be the key that will unlock a vast store of information regarding what a
Mason should know about Masonry.
COMMITTEE
ON LECTURES.
THE
SYMBOLISM OF THE STATIONS
THERE
is an intimate relation between the recitals of the Stations in the opening and
closing ceremonies of the Lodge, and the rituals of the three Degrees. If
the Mason will carefully note the recitals and the rituals he will obtain more
than a mere intimation of the Symbolism of the Stations, placed as they are in
the East, West, and South. And this
Symbolism will complete the Symbolism of the Lodge, discussed in a previous
Bulletin in which the East, West and South are important.
In
his remarkable book, “The Arcana of Freemasonry,” Churchward, the
outstanding student of the Egyptian Mysteries and Cults, has shown that these
three cardinal points have not been selected for the Stations of the Lodge in a
haphazard manner, but have been bequeathed to Freemasonry, as it were, by those
Mysteries and Cults, which preceded all religions and fraternities. In
the modern church and in several secret fraternal orders, the Symbolism today is
practically the same as thousands of years ago when men first faced the East in
prayer and bewailed the setting Sun in ceremonies that began in the West.
In
the Sola cult worshippers of the Sun in all their ceremonies faced the East,
though those ceremonies continued throughout the day. So,
too, did the devotees of Adonis and the worshippers of Mithra in Persia. Significant
is it that Moses when he led the Israelites out of Egypt placed the camp of
Judah in the East, and later in the Wilderness the Tabernacle “due east and
west.” Solomon built his Temple
with strict regard for those points. In the early days of the Christian church
worshippers faced the East for there the Star appeared, and thence the Wise Men
came; and, at first, Christians built their churches so that their altars would
stand in the East, just as ancient pagans did in building their temples. As a
Christian fraternity Freemasonry has done the same.
By
the ancient Egyptians the sun was worshipped as the source of light, heat,
energy and power. It was the giver
of life and the sustainer of life, and life was all, for their intellectual and
spiritual wants were few. Their
physical needs were much more numerous and far greater.
As the sun was mainly instrumental in supplying these they worshipped the
sun. As ages passed, however, and
men attained larger mental development, they inquired, reasoned, and endeavored
to account for more than physical phenomena. So
in the Mysteries effort was made to satisfy metal and spiritual needs,
especially in the solution of past, present and future; and, in lieu of a more
inspiring deity, people still worshipped the sun, then other gods of various
attributes, virtues and powers.
And
man had not developed an intellectual conception of deity even when Moses, as
the servant of the unseen God, assumed his mission to the Israelites. Indeed,
when the Founder of the Christian religion came He was compelled to observe the
East thereby exalting it as a means to an end in the advancement of man’s
conception of the spiritual life. As
the revelation of deity still grew in the minds and hearts of men, the true God
gained recognition, and wisdom, justice, love, fraternity enlightened men’s
lives. From its beginning
Speculative Masonry has followed the church dedicating itself to God the source
of all good, and inculcating the doctrines taught by the Founder of the church.
And
Masonry exalted the East as did the Church, in its temples raising the station
of Master above all other stations that he might view the Lodge and rule it with
justice and equity; and be a light to it in the discernment and dissemination of
Masonic truth, a burning bush of inspiration to Masonic endeavor, an untiring
exemplar of Masonic principles and a brilliant exponent of Masonic love. In
this orientation of the Master’s station, it was Speculative Masonry’s
intention, at first strictly adhered to, to place in the East only Master Masons
whose Masonic lives and attainments emphasized its symbolism.
Anderson’s
Constitutions of 1723 say: “All
preferment among Masons is grounded upon real worth and personal merit only;
that so the Lord may be well served, the Brethren not put to shame, nor the
Royal Craft despised.”
In
the constitution of new Lodges in the Eighteenth Century the Deputy assured the
Grand Master that the Brother suggested as Master is “of good morals and great
skill, true and trusty, and a lover of the whole fraternity, wheresoever
dispersed over the face of the earth”; and the Master is charged to “work
diligently, live creditably, and act honorably by all men . . . to promote the
general good of the Fraternity, to cultivate the social virtues, and to
propagate the knowledge of the Art.”
Hutchinson
contended that as the Master in Operative Masonry taught the apprentice, so the
Master of a Lodge of Speculative Masons “must teach its members how to acquire
and practice those virtues, both moral and spiritual, that develop highest
character and noblest manhood.”
Both
Preston and Oliver took very much the same view, and, in one of his lectures,
Webb said: “The Master to his Lodge is as the Sun to the universe.” Whether
or not this comparison influenced our ritual, it is worth noting that the charge
to the Master at installation contains the following:
“For
a pattern of imitation consider the Sun, which, rising in the East, regularly
diffuses light and life to all within its system; in like manner it is your
province to spread the Light of Freemasonry among the Brethren of the Lodge.”
And
to quote from the charge to the Master of another jurisdiction:
“As
one of the lesser lights of our Lodge it is your first duty through familiarity
with the Great Light of Masonry to enlighten your Brethren in the art of
building temples not made with hands.”
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IN
THE ancient cults and rites the priests in performing ceremonies had, as
Churchward points out, assistants of lesser rank. This is shown not only in
inscriptions but also by carvings on tombs and monuments.
Invariably, however, these assistants, in performing their functions,
were stationed at either side of the priests. Especially was this true during
initiation into the Mysteries.
And
these assistants advanced in rank ultimately becoming priests, not by routine
but by merit, when vacancies in the priesthood occurred. They
were allotted specific duties, among them the preparation and instruction of
novices. They also attended to the
utensils and the offerings. They
opened and closed the ceremonies.
This
division of service characterized the old Hebrew ceremonials, and it is
reasonable to assume that the Hebrews borrowed the customs of the Egyptian
Mysteries. There is certainly a
similarity that is not easily explained in any other way. And
the Hebrew customs were handed down in some form to the Christian church.
But
there is no evidence that the Masters of primitive Operative Masonic Lodges, if
we may call them such, had assistants comparable with Wardens. The
Collegia did not have three stations in their ceremonials, neither did the
Comacines, the Stonemetzens, nor the Companions. We
do not find Wardens until we come to English Operative Masonry, and then they
did not occupy stations in their assemblies, except when they presided over
them.
While
development of the ceremonies of English and Scotch Operative Lodges may have
“stationed” Wardens before 1717 we have no positive proof of this. No
authentic history of Masonry names three stations in the Lodge before that date;
neither does it indicate that Lodge formation was the work of Speculative
Masons. A splendid work on this
subject is “The Origin of the Three Degrees,” by Meechren and Kress,
published in “The Builder.”
Two
of the three moving spirits in the founding of Speculative Masonry were profound
scholars. One of them was a natural born ritualist conversant with the
ceremonials of the Cults and Mysteries. Another
was an ardent advocate of the doctrine that Masonry was the most ancient of all
secret rites. It is reasonable to
assume that the former desiring to give substance to the doctrine of the latter
created three stations instead of one, and assigned two to Wardens as the
assistants of the Master, following after the ceremonials of the Cults, the
Mysteries, and the church.
However,
he could not fully carry out such purpose, because of the influence of Operative
customs. So the lesser lights became
“the sun, moon and Worshipful Master.” The
sun from the Solar Cult, the moon from the Luna Cult, and the Worshipful Master
from the Stella Cult — the moon and the Worshipful Master shining by reflected
light, as will be noted by repeating the ritual pertaining thereto. There
could be no reference to the Wardens here, and place was made for them in the
opening and closing ceremonies.
But
the West and South were given symbolism from their cardinal points of the
compass. Mackey says: “Although
the West, as one of the four cardinal points, holds an honorable position as the
station of the Senior Warden, and of the pillar of strength that supports the
Lodge, yet, being the place of the sun’s setting and opposed to the East, it,
in Masonic symbolism, represents the place of darkness and ignorance.” In
the Legend of the Craft, contained in the old Masonic Constitutions, there is
always reference to the emigration of the Masons from Egypt eastward to the
“land of behest,” or Jerusalem. Masons
today travel from the West to the East in search of light.
Later
students of Masonic symbolism, however, think that Mackey’s interpretation of
the West does not fully present its symbolism. They
go back to the ceremonials of the sun worshippers and therein find that the West
was regarded as symbolic of hope, the worshippers hoping at the setting sun,
that it would again appear in the East. Such
symbolism more exactly accords with Speculative ritual in that Masonry is a
means to the end of the development of manhood. One has said that “in years we
may go West, but in knowledge, understanding and moral and spiritual
enlightenment we go East.”
Tribute
to the beliefs of the ancients is paid by the station in the South. They
held that in the South there was warmth, plentifulness, beauty, because the sun
at high meridian shed its rays there directly. At
high meridian they rested and refreshed themselves with food and wine, the wine
itself symbolical of cheerfulness and joy. It
was in the South, in the temples of these ancients, that the altars for fruits
were erected, and the statues of the gods of abundance and harvest were built.
And
it was in the South that, in several of the rites, masters of ceremonies were
stationed, when they announced the feast, a solemn pronouncement followed by
mirth and joyous festivities — one writer says: “Spread the glad tydings.”
However this may be it is evident
that as the East symbolizes Light, the West darkness, the South symbolizes
beauty and joy.
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THERE
are Masonic students who apply to the stations in the Lodge, the symbolism of
the sacred number Three. If it be
conceded that Masonic ceremonies were fashioned wholly after those of the
church, there might be some merit to this contention. Yet,
while Dr. Desaguliers was an Episcopalian, Dr. Anderson was a Presbyterian, and,
considering the religious jealousies of their time, it is not likely that church
formation would become Lodge formation, rather that a compromise would be
sought.
Besides
the Trinity has existed from time immemorial. This is pointed out by Churchward,
Breasted, and others in their discussion of the subject. Churchward
points to the fact that the pigmies of Africa regarded the sun as the father,
the moon as the mother, and the stars as their children. Breasted
shows that the Cults and Mysteries had their trinities. We
all know that the church has its trinity. But
it does not necessarily follow that “three” in the Masonic Lodge, or in its
ceremonials, has a trinity of the same significance, especially not in the three
stations, contentions of churchmen to the contrary notwithstanding.
Rather,
effort has been made to show the three stations go back beyond the church,
beyond the Christian trinity, to ages long before, when men gave symbolic
meaning to ideas and things, in their undertaking to express their beliefs and
to teach them to others. In these
stations and their symbolism there is evidence that Freemasonry may be traced by
history, tradition, customs and usages to the remotest ages of the world.
Whatever
ordinary conception of the three stations may be, we may not come to a full
understanding of Masonry without knowledge of their symbolism which in our
ritual and ceremonies is, tersely stated — The East as a source of Light in
our labors to attain manhood; the West as the judge of the efficiency of our
labors in character building; and the South as the source of encouragement and
cheer in our journey from ignorance to enlightenment.
The
publication of this was approved by RWGM William S. Snyder.
It was prepared by Frederick E. Manson, P.M.
This
was scanned into MSWORD using OCR from an old pamphlet that I found. I
then attempted to correct the mistakes made by the OCR program.
I think I got it back to the original text. FJA