Masonic rituals live on
His Masonic gavel is on display at the Capitol Visitor Center. Until this inauguration, Washington's Masonic Bible - on which he swore his obligations as a Freemason - was used for the presidential oath of office. President-elect Barack Obama will use Abraham Lincoln's Bible.
The worshipful master administered the Masonic oaths. This was adapted to the president vowing to serve his country in an oath administered by the top justice of the Supreme Court.
I learned all this from Garrison Courtney, a 30-something government worker who gives Masonic tours of the District in his spare time. He is worshipful master at the Cincinnatus Lodge in Georgetown. Contrary to public perceptions of Masons being older white guys, current local membership is a racially and religiously mixed group of Gen-X men, he says.
They have, he adds, gotten a bad rap as a secretive organization.
"If people have questions, we will tell them," he says. "We're pretty open as an organization."
Calling themselves a "spiritual organization," Masons need only believe in a Supreme Being. Masons have grown nationally in recent years, he said, with 38 lodges in the District alone.
The late President Gerald R. Ford was the last presidential Mason.
"We actually had a Masonic procession to his casket while he was lying in state at the Capitol," Mr. Courtney said.
The inaugural parade, he tells me, began as a Masonic procession [a parade of Masonic notables] from the still-unfinished White House to Capitol Hill, where Washington traveled on Sept. 18, 1793, to lay the cornerstone for the Capitol. Lafayette Park was the site of a makeshift Masonic lodge, in which the Scottish stonemasons - then working on the executive mansion - lived.
Washington also ensured the boundaries of the District - each 10 miles along - formed a perfect square, which symbolizes ultimate virtue in Masonry.
"The whole idea behind the building of Washington was to convey the message about the new experiment, a new way of thinking the Founding Fathers had in mind," said Akram Elias, past grandmaster of all the District's lodges.
Whole books have been written about the Masonic imagery on buildings around the District. Many of their cornerstones were laid with Masonic ceremonies involving oil, wine and corn.
"All five statues in front of the White House are Freemasons," Mr. Courtney said. "Every single one of the statues on Virginia Avenue are as well. Masonry is ingrained in the city and in the American culture."
THE Masonic Temple God
Toronto Star, Canada -
Out to the second-floor balcony of New York City's Federal Hall he strode on April 30, 1789, placing his hand on a Bible borrowed from the nearby Masonic ...
The Advertiser, UK -
The opening, to launch the 250th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the Masonic province of Norfolk, revealed a spectacular complex of pristine ...
LA City Beat, CA -
The altogether lovely music – tender-hearted, full of pathos and yearning – overcomes the jumble of ancient rituals embedded in this foible-meets-fable, ...
Gather.com, MA -
Eliminate the teachings of Judaism from the Masonic ritual and what is left?"11 Zionist world leaders, men in influential positions with the various Masonic ...
Gather.com, MA -
In honoring and worshipping the sun in their rituals, Freemasonry and Illuminism defy God. The Bible's Job displayed great wisdom by uttering these words ...
Gather.com, MA -
(Duncan's Masonic Ritual and Monitor, p. 161) Separating the fingers has its own interpretation, often being the sign of choice for cabalists who employ the ...
Up to Their Necks in Mischief
Gather.com, MA -
Aldrin, a Freemason, was said to have conducted a bizarre Masonic ritual on the moon. In the article in Psychology Today, triangles are everywhere, ...
Triangles Up, Triangles Down, Triangles, Triangles All Around
Gather.com, MA -
claim that the Masonic rituals and teachings come from the "mysteries" of ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, Persians and others. ...
That Ravenous Dark Bird —Sublime Mysteries of the llluminati's ... Gather.com, MA - In Masonic symbolism, Knight observes, this duality is expressed by the square and compass.4 One of the highest degree rituals in Scottish Rite Freemasonry ... |
Gather.com, MA -
In her highly regarded encyclopedia of symbols entitled Masonic and Occult Symbols Illustrated, Dr. Cathy Burns explores the meaning of the "V" sign. ...
Gather.com, MA -
In the practice of tantric yoga (sex rituals), the OK sign is a token of ecstasy, spiritual and physical. In ancient Sumeria and Persia, charms and amulets ...
Gather.com, MA -
The British flag also is interesting in its masonic design of the Osiris X intersecting a horizontally elongated cross. The lightning bolt has long been a ...
Kansas City Star, MO -
Their rituals are laden with symbols of national purpose, continuity and unity. For 220 years, they have marked the peaceful transfer of power, ...
No comments:
Post a Comment