# Freemasonry and Hermeticism



## BEDickey (Oct 26, 2011)

Greetings all. My name is Brandon, soon to be an Entered Apprentice. What drew me Masonry is its links to my religion, a modern day incarnation of Hermeticism. I will spare most religious talk as this is not the place for it but I will point out what I see as interesting links.

I will start with that most well known of symbols, the Square and Compasses. Everyone here knows its Masonic meaning, here is an interesting new view. One of the main maxims of Hermeticism is "That which is above corresponds that what is below, that which is below corresponds to what is above, to accomplish the One Thing" which is Unity with the Divine. The Square and Compasses bares this perfectly. The compasses point up, also the compasses are used to draw circles, an ancient symbol of planets, or the Sun, or "God". The Square points down and is used in construction. Many ancient structures built by Masons were aligned to the stars and the planets, to bring their order and harmony down to Earth.

In Hermeticism we study the 4 Hermetic arts, Tarot, Astrology, Qabalah, and Numerology. We all know numbers are important to Freemasonry, so Numerology and it's cousin Sacred Geometry are easy links. Qabalah has is roots in Egypt, home of the greatest Masons in history, and not the Jewish religion, as they forbid the worship of "graven images". A quick look at a few cards in the Rider-Waite Tarot will show the links there, Arcanum II The High Priestess has Jachin and Boaz, along with pomegranates in the shape of the Qabalah. 3 out of 4 of the Cardinal Virtues of Masonry are represented by cards, Temperance, Fortitude, and Justice being cards XIV, VIII, and XI respectively. The Scottish Rite 15th degree is "Knight of the Sword", the Tarot also has a Knight of Swords. It also makes has the "Chapter of Rose Croix" and the 18th degree is "Knight Rose Croix". Both are reference to the "Rosicrucians", an older order of Christian mystics who studied these same Arts. Indeed even the sacred Tetragrammaton is used extensively in the Tarot, when in proper order a deck displays it in many ways at once. Astronomy is very portent as well, as it allowed the Masons of old to align their buildings to the Luminaries(planets, stars, constellations, ect). 
I hope this is as informative for everyone as it was for me writing it, for the second time. Truth be told i found out my IPod had copied everything to memory, so was just a matter of cut and paste mostly.
Good day to all and I look forward to calling you all "Brother" very soon.
Brandon


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## LukeD (Oct 29, 2011)

After you are raised, check out "The Alchemical Keys to Masonic Ritual" by Timothy Hogan. Great book.


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## BEDickey (Oct 30, 2011)

*awesome!*

Awesome! Thanks for the recommendation. It will be hard to wait but it's for the best I'm sure, so I will.


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## LukeD (Oct 30, 2011)

Waiting just makes it better. Plus, it's written in a way that makes more sense once you have gone through the first 3 degrees.  Trust me, it will mean more if you do.  Let me know when the day comes, it will be an interesting conversation when you finish the book. Also, it's an easy read, may take only a day or two to finish it.


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## Morris (Aug 29, 2014)

LukeD said:


> After you are raised, check out "The Alchemical Keys to Masonic Ritual" by Timothy Hogan. Great book.


Just finished this book, wow, what a great read!


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## Warrior1256 (Aug 29, 2014)

Wow, this thread is VERY interesting.


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## pointwithinacircle2 (Aug 29, 2014)

LukeD said:


> After you are raised, check out "The Alchemical Keys to Masonic Ritual" by Timothy Hogan. Great book.


I got lucky.  I was too cheap to pay shipping from Amazon on my books by Cliff Porter and this one was recommended as "people who bought your books also bought this" so I added it to get my total over the free shipping limit.  SCORE!


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## Morris (Aug 31, 2014)

pointwithinacircle2 said:


> I got lucky.  I was too cheap to pay shipping from Amazon on my books by Cliff Porter and this one was recommended as "people who bought your books also bought this" so I added it to get my total over the free shipping limit.  SCORE!


I just started Bro Hogan's follow up book Entering the Chain of Union. I really enjoy his style.


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## Morris (Oct 20, 2014)

pointwithinacircle2 said:


> I got lucky.  I was too cheap to pay shipping from Amazon on my books by Cliff Porter and this one was recommended as "people who bought your books also bought this" so I added it to get my total over the free shipping limit.  SCORE!


What did you think?


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## pointwithinacircle2 (Oct 20, 2014)

Morris said:


> What did you think?


I thought it was a great explanation of concept.  I have been fortunate enough to attend a T.O. Lodge and I found that refreshing as well.


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## pointwithinacircle2 (Oct 25, 2014)

Morris said:


> What did you think?


I just realized that I replied to the wrong question.    You meant what did I think of "The Alchemical Keys to Masonic Ritual".  

I have been interested in alchemy for about ten years.  Lacking a mentor, I have mostly tried to learn about the it by reading books on the subject.  Unfortunately the vast majority of these books seem to be written in a coded fashion that requires a key to understand.  (To paraphrase a well known and well respected alchemist; "the left earlobe is electric and the tip of the nose is magnetic" - duh, WHAT!)

Of the books that I have read, Timothy Hogan's has the best (and perhaps the only) explanation of how to apply alchemy to my life in a practical manner.  I found the explanations to be clear and easy to relate to.  I felt that it offered a cohesive and internally congruent system of thought.  Reflection on this system of thought has led me to a deeper understanding of Masonic symbolism, which was my goal in the first place.


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## BryanMaloney (Oct 28, 2014)

The alchemy I'm most familiar with is in the "Book of Quintessence". It's a manual on how to create high-proof ethanol, using high-falutin' language. It then gets into all the wonderful effects you will feel if you take it for various ailments. There was a good deal of that in the old alchemetical literature.


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## n8blanchard (Nov 14, 2014)

You may also like "The Golden Builders".


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