AN OBJECTIVE VIEW OF FREEMASONRY (XVII)- ALL THOSE OCCULT AND SCARY SYMBOLS
By a blog reader
It is a favourite tactic of the sensationalists to allege that Freemasonry makes use of ‘occult symbols’ as somehow proof of its sinister motives. Now forget for a moment that the word occult simply means secret and therefore a synonym for the word mystery, the fact that they get away with the dishonest claim that these symbols are in any way sinister is solely due to the fact that modern post-Christian society is highly ignorant of symbology – particularly of that which was once its own.
The Christian Medieval age was awash with symbols, and most of medieval society was highly conversant with them. It is therefore entirely unsurprising that stone mason guilds, themselves a product of the age, and perhaps even more importantly, given that it was the stone masons who largely enshrined these symbols in architecture, would adopt them.
The fact is that there is nothing untoward whatsoever with the symbols used by Regular Freemasonry – indeed all of them can be traced to Christianity or the Bible.
The symbol undoubtedly most associated with Freemasonry are the square and compasses which symbolize the union of heaven and earth – ‘as above so below’. The thing that those unfamiliar with symbology are entirely unaware of is that the same, indeed identical symbology, is present in most of our village squares. Yes, in the architecture of our churches themselves. Most of the Churches are domes on squares – with the domes representing heaven and the square representing earth and guess what, domes are circumscribed by compasses, and squares are laid out, well, by squares. Furthermore, if you had to join the points of the compass and square you will get the Star of David which is yet another symbol that represents the relationship between man and God, of the covenant between heaven and earth. David was of course none other than the Father of Solomon whose temple is of course so central to Masonic legend.
In the Masonic symbol, you will find the letter G interspersed between the compass and the square. The G stands for both God and Geometry. As I have explained already, the concept of God as an architect is also a highly Christian notion. Geometry was a fundamental subject of higher medieval education known as the Quadrivium not least because most medieval scholars, believed that God created the universe according to geometric and harmonic principles, and therefore science—particularly geometry and astronomy—was linked directly to the divine. To seek these principles, therefore, would be to seek God Himself.
The square and compasses symbolically represent the same thing as a dome on a square.
The next symbol which likewise stirs so much apprehension is the all-seeing eye – or more accurately the eye of providence. You know that symbol that appears on the dollar bill and which therefore must mean the USA is a masonic and occult creation.
But yet again this only betrays a deep ignorance of the symbol which is in effect, Christian. I will not delve here into the mottos Annuit cœptis and Novus ordo seclorum which simply mean “Providence favors our undertakings” and “the beginning of a new era” respectively – with the latter obviously referring to American Independence.
I will focus on the eye of providence as an integral aspect of Masonic symbology, where it is often depicted enclosed in a triangle. The simple fact is that the association of an eye with the concept of Divine Providence is deeply Christianity. In late medieval and renaissance iconography, the Eye, surrounded by a triangle, was an explicit symbol of the Christian Holy Trinity. It is meant to represent divine providence whereby the eye of the omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent God watches constantly over humanity.
The symbol can be literally found in a multitude, and I mean a multitude of churches.
Eye of Providence – Santa Maria Maggiore
Eye of Providence – Kazan Cathedral – Saint Petersburg
Onto another symbol, sometimes represented in Masonic lodges – the dreaded pentagram. Hate to disappoint you but this is yet another and indeed a very ancient Christian symbol.
The pentagram was used in ancient times as a Christian symbol for the five senses or of the five wounds of Christ. The pentagram also plays an important symbolic role in the 14th-century English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, in which the symbol decorates the shield of the hero, Gawain. The unnamed poet credits the symbol’s origin to King Solomon ( Solomon again, now why would the masons be interested in that !!), The Pentagram also represents the five joys that Mary had of Jesus, and exemplifies the five virtues associated with knighthood, which were generosity, friendship, chastity, chivalry, and piety. It is only in the late nineteenth century that the Pentagram particularly in inverted form (which incidentally in Medieval Symbolism meant the descent of the Holy Spirit) became to be associated with magic, the occult, and even later with Satanism. This is where a little knowledge is far more dangerous than none. Applying the Dan Brown logical fallacies so common with knee jerk anti-masons – all these medieval churches, were not built by Christian stonemasons – but by devil-worshipping occultists.
It is sad and pathetic.
Perhaps now you understand why I am so critical of self-styled ‘masonic experts’ who spend so many hours ‘studying Freemasonry’ – but never bothered to understand either its true origins, its ethos or its symbolic language.
Pentagram in Amiens Cathedral Rose Window
Pentagram – St Bartholomew Church, Soria, Spain
Pentagram – Adderbury Church – Oxfordshire
Other symbols you might observe in a Masonic hall would certainly include the sun and the moon – and what the heck are they there for?
Well, yawn – they are Christian symbols too –
The sun symbol represents hope in the Christian faith, since it is a symbol of the resurrection of Jesus. The rising sun is a beautiful religious symbol for God as its light illuminates the path of life while the moon symbolizes the ephemeral nature of human life and history.
Depiction of sun and moon symbology in Christian churches
I hope you get the drift by now – if one wants to understand Freemasonry – one must first understand medieval guilds and then medieval symbology before succumbing to the nonsense espoused by those who understand neither.