"THE KABBALAH AND FREEMASONRY"

by
W.Bro. Rev. J.N. Cleland, M.A., D.D., P.P.Gr.Ch. (Kent).

In his Prestonian Lecture ("Medieval Master Masons and their
Secrets") for the year 1933, V.Bro.Rev.W.Covey-Crump, M.A., Gr.
Chaplin (England), brought to the notice of the Craft the very
important influence which was exercised by the school of
Kabbalistic thought at the time of the formation of the 1717 Grant
Lodge. Bro. Covey-Crump subsequently expanded his thesis in a Paper
delivered before the Masonic Study society in London.  Apart from
this preliminary treatment of the subjects the study of the Kabbal
ah and its connection and parallels with Freemasonry has been
neglected, with the result that little is known of it by members of
our Order.  I have therefore, in the present Paper, endeavoured to
repair the deficiency, and I trust that such light as I have been
able to throw on the subject will be of assistance to other
Brethren who are also students of the inner meaning of our Craft
and its rituals.

At the outset, I would like to say that in my opinion it is
doubtful whether any Kabbalistic doctrines or ideas were actually
introduced into the Masonic system by such of our reformers (using
that word according to its fundamental meaning) as Ashmole, Fludd,
Montague, Desaguliers and the many others who were associated with
the inauguration of the Premier Grand Lodge.  Rather, would I
suggest that the Grand Lodge era represents the coalescence of a
number of parallel channels through which the basic princi ples of
the Ancient Wisdom had been transmitted through the Middle Ages,
and which it was than decided under reservations to reveal to a
section of the thinking public. This view receives confirmation
from the works of authors who have previously written concerning
the same subject, for nearly all of them admit that Kabbalism had
some influence on the decisions made during the period of
transition from Operative to Speculative. Even Bro. Robert Frete
Gould, over cautious as he is, concedes that Freemasonry might have
received "no slight tinge" from those students of the Kabbalah who
have been identified as being n umbered among the leading minds of
our Order.  These students, he informs us, were possibly more
numerous than is generally supposed and the larger the number the
greater is the probability that some of the more influential among
them did indoctrinate their brethren with their peculiar wisdom"
(Gould's History).  To sum up, the available evidence warrants the
conclusion that long before the emergence of Speculative
Freemasonry as an organised Society, the root principles of t he
Ancient Wisdom appear to have been grafted upon the decaying
symbolism of the Guild and Fellowship of Operative Masonry in
Kabbalistic guise. However, before proceeding to demonstrate this
close connection which undoubtedly exists between the Kabbalah and
Freemasonry, I must give some indication of what the Kabbalah
really is because the average Masonic student has only a hazy idea
for what purpose the doctrine was evolved.

According to the definition contained in the Oxford Dictionary the
Kabbalah is, "Jewish oral tradition; mystic interpretation;
esoteric doctrine; occult lore". A better and more explicit
definition perhaps, is: "the Kabbalah is the Judaic veil which
hides from the vulgar gaze the wisdom of Israel". The word Kabbalah
(however spelt) is derived from the Hebrew QBLH, the literal
interpretation of which is, "an unwritten or oral tradition", from
the Hebrew verb QBL - "to receive". In other words, a Kabbalist ma
y be described as a student of the hidden meaning of Scriptures,
which he interprets by the aid of what is known as the symbolical
Kabbalah.  It will not be possible in this Paper to go into the
history of the various schools of Hebrew mystics from whom the
Kabbalistic tradition issued, but nevertheless it will be necessary
to refer briefly to some of them. Among the best known are the
Essenes who are described by Philo as "eminently worship pers of
God", by which he means to imply that they essayed to keep their
minds in a priestly state of holiness. Plato, speaking of the
Essenes, also states that "they study only that philosophy which
pertains to the existence of God and the beginning of all things,
otherwise they devote all their attention to ethics, using as their
instructors the laws of their fathers, which, without the
outpouring of the Divine Spirit, the human mind could not have
devised...... for, following their ancient traditions, they attai
ned their philosophy by means of allegorical interpretation s ....
of the love of God they exhibit myriads of examples, inasmuch as
they strive for a continued uninterrupted life of purity and
holiness; no one possesses a house absolutely as his own, one which
at the same time does not belong to all; for, in addition to living
together in companies, their houses are open also to their
adhorants coming from other quarters.  They have one storehouse for
all, and the same diet; their garments belong to all in common, and
their meals are taken in common." From this desc ription, we may be
pardoned if we commend them as excellent examples of the true
practice of Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth. The following
characteristics of the Essenes are important in regard to our
modern Freemasonry, and should be carefully noted:-

1..The great stress which they laid upon Fellowship.

2..Their distinction from the general populace by their higher
sanctity.

3..Their devotion to the study of the knowledge of God, and of the
beginning of all things.

4..Their love of allegorical interpretation.

These characteristics surely present a fair picture of Freemasonry
as it ought to be.  Another significant mystical group were known
as the HASHAIM ("the secret ones").  The members of this group
reserved a room in their houses for the reception of a charity box,
where money could be deposited or withdrawn in the utmost privacy;
the contents of these charity boxes were collected and distributed
by Almoners appointed for the purpose. A third group were the
VATIKIN ("men of firm principles"), who are further described as
"men who were meek and carried out the Commandment from pure love";
meekness here stands for something infinitely higher than the moral
idea popularly associated with that term, and its attainment could
only be realised after a long and strenuous training.

One of the most interesting phases of Hebrew mystical thought is
that known as the MERKABAH ("Chariot") Mysticism, which is
peculiarly associated with the interpretation of the first chapter
of the Book of Ezekiel.  And here, I would call attention to a very
curious prohibition existing in regard to the inner meaning of the
first chapters of the Book of Genesis. It was absolutely forbidden
to explain the secret doctrine to more than one person at a time,
and in the case of the Morkabah lore it was also forb idden to
divulge "even to one by himself unless he be a sage and of an
original turn of mind." This prohibition is referred to by Rabbi
Zeera, who, writing in the third century A.D. declares, "we may not
divulge even the first words of the chapters unless it be a chief
of the Beth Din - "House of Judgment", a technical term for the
Jewish Court of Law - or, to one whose heart is tempered by age and
responsibility." Expressed Masonically the prohibition a pplied to
all those who were not "of mature age, sound judgment and strict
morals". In the Merkabah lore ministering Angels figure
prominently, especially one named Sandalphon (a corruption of the
Greek Sunadelphon - meaning co-brother), and this is significant
from the point of view of Freemasonry.  The idea of the Word of God
becoming transformed into an angel and performing tasks among men
is also found in the Logos doctrine expounded by Philo, and forms
the proem of the Gospel according to St. John. It is likewi se
clearly linked with the conception of the Spiritual Marriage (human
and divine) which figures largely in the Alchemic and Rosicrucian
philosophies. We may also note that in the Old Testament, Israel is
consistently alluded to as the "Bride", while God is represented as
the ideal "Bridegroom", arrayed in garments displaying the dignity
of manhood, and here, in the profoundest mystical sense, we have a
direct link with our Masonic tradition of the quest for the Lost
Word.

The later Rabbinical epoch (circa 700-1100 A.D. was productive of a
large mystical literature, one branch of which, the HEKALOT
("Halls") is reputed to have had for its origin and inspiration
YOREDE MERKABAH ("Riders in the Chariot").  According to Dr. Louis
Ginsberg these mystics were able "by various manipulations to enter
into a state of auto-hypnosis in which they declared they saw
heaven open before them and beheld its mysteries". The same writer
also affirms: "It was also believed that he only could u ndertake
this Merkabah-ride who was in possession of all religious
knowledge, observed all the commandments and precepts, and was
almost superhuman in the purity of his life.  This, however, was
regarded usually as a matter of theory, and less perfect men also
attempted, by fasting and prayer, to free their senses from the
impressions of the outer world, and succeeded in entering into a
state of ecstasy in which they recounted their heavenly visions".
Abelson ("Jewish Mysticism"), quoting this, points out t hat much
of the belief still survives. Modern research assigns a much
earlier date to the origin of Morkabah mysticism, and it may well
be that it is a syncretism of Hebrew, Mithraic and Neo-Platonic
elements.

The Kabbalah is the ancient Chaldean Sacred Doctrine, an occult
tradition handed down by oral transmissions but which, although
accepting tradition, is not in itself composed only of traditional
teachings. It was once a fundamental science, not-withstanding the
undoubted fact that it is now disfigured by the additions and
accretions of centuries, and by the interpolation of western
Occultists, more especially those of Christian mystics. Originally
the Kabbalah was communicated only verbally, or "from mouth to
ear", and this became known as the Theoretic Kabbalah.  There also
came into being a Practical Kabbalah which concerned itself largely
with the interpretation of the letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, as
images or types of sounds, of numbers and of ideals. History
bristles with the names of learned and intellectual men who were
students of the Kabbalah, including Paracelsus, Henry Kunrath,
Jacob Boehme, Robert Fludd, the two Van Helmonts and Cornel ius
Agrippa.  There are to be found Cardinals, Abbots and ev en Popes
among the Churchmen, and exponents of almost every branch of
science and learning have numbered in the ranks, ranging from
Masters of the Art to the merest dabblers.  The origin of the
Kabbalah is lost in the mists of antiquity, but there is evidence,
even documentary, as far back as the Rabbis of the Second Temple,
515 B.C. Before that date we have no proof of written records, and
there is no hint of an author, nor any trace of its first tea
chers. Nevertheless, we do know that the Kabbalah must ha ve
existed for centuries in a very complete form before anything was
committed to writing, or otherwise recorded.  One curious point to
note is the way in which the Kabbalistic tradition has run parallel
to, and yet kept distant from, the exoteric Pentateuch (the first
five books of the Old Testament), and also from the enormous mass
of commentaries thereon, the Mishna and Gemara, which together form
the Talmud.  The phenomenon is to be observed in I ndia also, where
the esoteric treatises, the Upanishds, gr ew alongside the purely
exoteric Brahmans and Puranas.  Indeed, it must be recognised that
there has been, and always will be, a hidden side to Religion; even
in the Church of Rome the name, if not the fact, still is retained
in the term, "The Discipline of the Secret." We now pass to a
consideration of some of the main Kabbalistic works. First and
foremost must be placed the SEPHER YETZIRAH (the "Book of
Formation"), which is by far the oldest work extant in the Hebrew
language. This Book outlines a philosophical scheme of Creation,
bringing out parallels between the origin of the world, the Sun,
the Planets, the chemical elements, and man; it also deals with the
senses and other parts of the make-up of man. Herein the twenty-t
wo letters of the Hebrew Alphabet are divided into a Triad, a
Heptad and a Dodecad; three Mother letters, the foundation of the
Alphabet, and representing Air, Fire and Water, from which three
basic elements all Nature took form; seven Double letters, each
expressing a double significance, and representing the seven
Planets and other septenaries; twelve Single or Simple letters
corresponding to the months of the year, the Zodiacal Signs, and
human organs. The Sepher Yetzirah is mentioned in both the Jerusa
lem and Babylonian Talmuds, and is written in that peculiar
Neo-Hebraic language used in the Mishna commentaries on the
Pentateuch. Next in importance is the ZOHAR (the "Book of
Splendour" or "of Light"), its very name recalling at once the
emphasis which is laid upon the search for "Light" in our modern
Freemasonry, as well as the association with "Light" as the central
fact and object of quest and worship in ancient Egypt. The Zohar is
a collection of separate treatises relating to souls, angels,
cosmogon y and to God. There are many other Kabbalistic treatises,
but the two books I have mentioned are the most important.

A study of the Kabbalah reveals a two-fold division; one part
devoted to dogmatic and doctrinal research and known as the
"Dogmatic Kabbalah", the other concerning itself with the practical
or magical aspect and described as the "Practical Kabbalah". Both
of these branches have produced many outstanding figures, and both
of them have their representatives living today. The Dogmatic
Kabbalah deals largely with philosophical conceptions of God, of
Angels, and of other Beings presumably more spiritual than Man ; it
considers the human soul and its aspects and parts, and is devoted
also to a study of pre-existence, reincarnation and the division of
the various planes of existence. The Practical Kabbalah is
concerned with the mystical and allegorical interpretation of the
Old Testament, dealing exhaustively with each phrase, word and
letter, and the connection between the letters and numbers and the
different modes of their inter-relation.  It also lays down the
main principles of the three great sections of the Sc ience of
NOTARICON and TEMURA. Further, the Practical Kabbalah contains
instructions for the making and use of amulets, magic squares, the
use of the Divine Names and those of the various Orders of angels.
One of the principal concepts found in the Kabbalah is the idea of
spiritual wisdom being reached by thirty-two paths, comprising ten
numbers and twenty-two letters; the ten SEPHIROTH ("Holy Voices")
chanting by the Crystal Sea, and the twenty-two Occu lt Forces of
the Universe.

No exposition of Hebrew mysticism would be complete without a
reference to the SHECHINAH mysticism. The Hebrew Scriptures contain
two basic elements of Theological teaching: God conceived of as
Father, and conceived of as King. Being anxious to exclude
oppressors of their people,  the Rabbis at first limited the
conception of the Fatherhood of God to Jews, but as the course of
Hebrew history advanced and the mystical tradition widened, a more
spiritualised conception gradually emerged, and the idea of Divin e
Parenthood became linked with that of a Kingdom comprising the
Elect of God called out from all the nations.  None the less, in
the Rabbinical Schools the two conceptions, the Fatherhood and the
Kingdom of God, found expression in the strict fellowship within
the communal life, and this was the basis of the Shechinah
mysticism. The word Shechinah is derived from the Hebrew root
SHACHAN (to dwell), and it symbolises that "Divine-human fellow
ship which only fails when the human partner is in sin." It involv
es what, in the words of Brother Lawrence, is described as  "the
Practice of the Presence of God".  A famous Hebrew exponent
declares that, "the Shechinah only resides with him who is at once
wise, strong and wealthy; where wise indicates the perfection of
spirituality; strong shows out the perfection of physical
qualities, and wealthy - or, as we are accustomed to call it -
beautiful, denotes the perfection of the moral qualities." In the o
ld Testament (Numbers, chapter 5. verses 24-26), the blessing prono
unced by the priest is given in the terms of Shechinah mysticism;
"the Lord bless thee, and keep thee; the Lord make his face to
shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up His
countenance - upon thee and give thee peace".  One of the best
illustrations of underlying meaning of the Shechinah is contained
in the passage which occurs in the Book of Exodus (chapter 20,
verse 18); "All the people saw". the voice of God in vario us
forms, for this links up the Hebrew conception with the Greek Log
os or Word.  This idea of visible speech appears quite often in
Scripture and mystical literature, and the implication is that the
phenomenon was not a vocal vibration, but was, as it were, a ray of
virtue so exceedingly brilliant as to be beyond the capacity of the
rational faculty.  The same idea is also sometimes expressed in
terms of smell, as Aaron's Rod is said to have smelt the Shechinah.

Kabbalisticly the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet are
used to illustrate - or veil - the Theosophic or doctrinal element.
The three letters which play the principal part in this are, ALEPH,
MEM and SHIN, and these are called Mother letters because they
signify the three divisions into which the alphabet naturally
falls:-

(1)..MUTES, possessing of themselves no sound except in combination
with a vowel.  "M" will be found to be merely a compression of the
lips.

(2)..SIBILANTS, or hissing sounds, denoted by SH.

(3)..ASPIRATES, which the ancient Theosophists hold to be
intermediate between the other two groups.  "A" was taken to
represent this group.

All other letters were held to be born from the three Mothers, and
these were associated with the three primordial elements; Mem with
WATER, because the chief product of water is fish, and fish are the
mute creation; Shin with FIRE, from the hissing of the flames; and
Aleph with AIR, as having an airy, vacant pronunciation, holding
the balance between mute and sibilant, as air holds the balance
between fire and water. Speaking of the Mother letters, the Sepher
Yetzirah says of them: "The heavens were produc ed from Fire; the
earth from Water; and the air from the Spirit is as a reconciler
between the Fire and the Water ... from the Fire was made heat,
from the Water was made cold, and from the Air was produced the
temperate state, again a mediator between them." From the three
Mother letters come forth seven Double letters: BETH, GIMEL,
DALETH, KAPH, PE, RESH and TAU, each embodying the characteristics
of the sacred Planets, and just as each have a double aspect and
influence, so the seven double letters have two aspects, or their
hard and soft sounds, which modify the meaning of the words in
which they are used.  There are finally twelve simple letters which
are associated with the twelve signs of the Zodiac: HEH, VAU, ZAIN,
CHETH, TETH, YOD, LAMED, NUN, SAMECH, OIN, TZADDI and QOPH, These
Simple letters give special force to the words in which they are
used, modified by the varying power of the Double letters in the
word, just as the twelve Houses give significance t o a Horoscope,
but are modified by the posit ion of the Planets in each House.
Hence, the twelve simple letters represent the twelve properties or
potencies which make up the earth's aura, while the seven double
letters, like the seven Planets, represent the seven ELOHIM
oppressed through the seven Nature notes, and the seven colours
into which the One Light (or Yod) is broken up. It is significant
to note that the division of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew
alphabet into groups of three, seven and twelve letters res
pectively, corresponds to the number of units shown on the three
parts of the traditional form of the "True Cross", viz. three units
the upper arm, seven the cross-bar, and twelve the upright below
the cross-bar.

We may now consider the Kabbalah in the light of the two main
divisions, the Dogmatic and the Practical, but must not lose sight
of the fact that the whole teaching is based upon the assumption
that every sentence, phrase, word and letter of the Hebrew
Pentateuch is Divinely inspired, and that no "Jod nor tittle" may
be changed or neglected. One of the most famous of the 17th.
century Rabbins, Rabbi Menassek ben Israel, compares the Mosaic
books to the body of man, the Mishna (commentaries) to his soul;
and the Kabbalah to the spirit inhabiting the soul. Simon ben
Yochai says: "Woe unto the man who sees in the Torah nothing but
simple narratives and ordinary words, for if, in truth, it
contained only that, we should have been able, even today, also to
compose a Torah which would be, in very much another way, worthy of
regard. In order to find simple statements we should only have to
betake ourselves to the ordinary legislators, among whom we could
find valuable words in even greater quantity. It would suf fice us
to imitate them and to make a law after their words and example.
But it is not thus. Every word of the Torah contains an elevated
sense and a sublime mystery". He also affirms: "The narratives of
the law are but the garments of the Law. Woe unto him who takes
this garment for the Law itself! It is in this sense, that David
spoke saying, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous
things out of thy Law" (Psalm 119, verse 18). There are fools who,
seeing a man covered with a beautiful garment, look no further than
that; and yet that which gives a worth to the garment is his body,
and what is more precious than that, his soul. The Law, too, has
its body. There are precepts which one might call the body of the
law.  The ordinary narratives which are intermingled are the
garments with which the body is covered.  Simpletons have regard
only to the garments or narratives of the Law.... the better
instructed pay no regard to the garment, but to the body wh ich it
encloses. Finally, the wise, the servants of the Supreme King, they
who inhabit the heights of Sinai, are concerned only with the soul
which is the foundation of all else, which is the real Law." I have
already mentioned that there are three methods of interpretation
applicable to the Practical Kabbalah, and as much in Freemasonry is
undoubtedly concealed under Kabbalistic veils, it is desirable that
students should know something about them.  The following is
therefore a brief explanation suitable as an in troduction for
beginners:-

(1)..GEMATRIA: is the method of interpretation by means of which a
name or word of a certain numerical value is related to others of
the same value.  In this manner numbers become associated with
ideas.  An example commonly given is MShICh (Messiah) which
numerically is 358, which is also the numerical value of IBA ShILH
("Shiloh shall come" - Genesis, chapter 49, verse 10). The letter
value of Shin is 300, and this became an emblem of Divinity because
Ruach Elohim (RUCh ALHIM), "The spirit of the Living Go d," is also
300 when interpreted numerically.

(2)..NOTARICON: or Abbreviation, takes two forms: (a) .. A word is
formed from the initials or finals of a sentence.  For example in
the Book of Deuteronomy (chapter 30, verse 12), Moses asks, "Who
shall go up for us to Heaven?" - MI IOLH LNV HShMILH -  the
initials spelling MILH, meaning Circumcision, and the finals IHVH,
the Holy Name or Tetregrammaton. For this reason it is claimed that
Circumcision is a feature of the way to God in heaven.

(b)..Is the reverse of this process.

(3)..TEMURA: is more complicated and it has led to a great variety
of modes of interpretation. Many commonly used cyphers are based
upon its permutations, and one example is that of writing half of
the alphabet, and under it, the other half reversed, then
substituting the English A for Z. The Hebrew A for T, and so on.
Each such permutation has a name, the complete series being known
as the combinations of "Tziruph." Again, a square of 22 by 22 is
frequently used, the letters of the Hebrew alphabet being pl aced
in each square in order up and down, and then read across or
diagonally. The well known Playfair Cypher is based upon this
principle, is based upon this principle, as also is the so-called
Mark Degree Cypher (the Kabbalah of Nine Chambers), which is
incidentally, used in the M.M.T.B. Other developments involve
numerical expansions and contractions, and of these the best known
is probably the Tetrogrammaton (JHVH) expressed numerically as 26,
or reduced to a digit - 8 (JHVH in numbers is 10,5,6,5 i.e. 2 6,
which reduced is 2 plus 6, 3).  According to this method the Holy
One, blessed be His Name, is recognised as a Trinity, because God
Almighty - AL ShDI - is 3, 4, 5, which totals 12, and reduces to 3,
a triad. Masonic students will not fail to note the connection here
with the Pythagorean 3 - 4 - 5 triangle as a symbol of three-fold
Deity.  By repeating the Tetragrammaton four times the 3 - 4 - 5
triangle becomes an important glyph; one complet e name is placed
in the centre, and the other three are mixed and divided into words
of 3, 4 and 5, corresponding to the sides of the triangle, and
reading HIH, HVVH, VIHIH) the whole reading JEHOVAH - that was, is,
and is to be.

It will not be possible, within the limits of the present Paper, to
describe the Dogmatic Kabbalah in detail, and I must therefore
confine myself to quoting from the seven ideals of Kabbalism as
these are summarised by Dr. Wynn Westcott:-

(1)..God, the Holy One, the Supreme Incomprehensible One, AIN SUPH,
is not the direct Creator of the world.  Everything proceeded from
the primordial source by successive emanations, each reaching a
lower level than the preceding one.  Hence, the Universe is, in
fact, God manifested, the last and farthest removed production
being matter, which is therefore seen as that which is deprived of
perfection.

(2)..All that is known or perceived is formed upon the type-model
of the Sephiroth.

(3)..Human souls have pre-existence in the higher worlds even
before the origination of our world.

(4)..Before incarnation they now dwell in the Upper hall or
Treasury, wherein it is decided what body each shall enter.

(5)..Each soul, after spending its life or lives on earth, must
undergo purification before it is ready to be re-absorbed into the
Infinite God.

(6)..One life on earth is seldom sufficient. Two are necessary for
almost all, and, if the second is a failure, a third is required,
but the weak soul is linked to a stronger soul which acts as
helper.

(7)..When all pro-existent souls which have incarnated on earth
have reached perfection, the Evil Angels will also be raised to
perfection, and all lives merged in the One Life of Deity by the
"Kiss of Love"  from the mouth of the Holy One, and the manifested
Universe will be no more until it pleases the Deity to re-vivify it
by His Divine fiat.

There is, as I have previously stated, much more in the Dogmatic
Kabbalah than is evident from the foregoing, but we cannot in this
place enlarge upon it as this would necessitate a careful study of
the divisions and appurtenances of the Four World and many other
technicalities.  The doctrine of Emanations alone, which involves a
complete review of the Sephiroth and their links and offices,
requires a detailed treatment quite outside the scope of a Paper of
this nature.

To return to Freemasonry and the formation of the premier Grand
Lodge in the year 1717, although much is obscure, one thing at
least is certain, namely that at this period the inner Christian
tradition was given peculiar emphasis, being expressed under
numerical and Kabbalistic veils. It is, for instance, significant
to find that the number 888, which in the Greek Kabbalah is the
number of the Christ manifest as Jesus, has some very curious
connections with Speculative Freemasonry.  The title ENTERED APPREN
TICE MASON is made up of three words, each of which adds up to 8,
so that when a Candidate becomes an E.A,, he appears, "ipso facto",
as a potential Anointed One, a possible Salvator. In order to
become a Mason at all he has, unknown to himself, to be in
possession of a pass-word leading to the E.A., Degree, and each of
the two forms in which this pass appears add up to 8, giving, with
the newly-made Mason himself, again 888.  But we can go further, to
something still more obvious; the very first W.T. with which he is
presented, a tool which summarises his whole life on earth and
hereafter, is the 21 inch gauge, divided, in a thoroughly
unpractical manner, if you come to think of it, into three portions
expressing the same mystic number - 888. The number 8 is, of
course, definitely a number signifying Matter, in contrast to 9, as
the number of Spirit. We may  also note that the term "twenty-four
inch gauge" spelt out fully adds up to 98, a combination of the
numbers of Spirit and Matter, and reduces to 17, wh ich again is 8.
The Apron with which the Candidate is invested is 10, and thus a
symbol of the Tetractys, but, as the lamb-skin it appears as 27,
the number of the perfect man, 72, reversed, or reflected, or
brought into manifestation,  yet still reducing to the spiritual
number 9.  A curious point arises in connection with the
Candidate's affirmation that the "predominant wish of his heart" is
for "Light". Light is 29, reducing to 11. The word "three" spe lt
out is also 29, or 11, and the phrase "Three Less er Lights" gives
29, 24, and 30, reducing to 2, 6 and 3, which total 11. "Great" is
also 24 and "Emblematical" is 42, so that "Three Great Lights" and
"Three Emblematical Lights"  are each 11. Bible, Square and
Compasses, commuted separately give 21, 27 and 29. a total of 77,
or 7 multiplied by 11. "White" is associated with perfection of
light, and also with the stones and the Apron, and "white" is 11.
With regard to 9 and 8 as types of Spirit and Matter, w e may note
that the two Great Pillars, which are e mblematical of these two
states (B signifying Matter, and J Spirit) add up to respectively,
even in our English spelling, to 3 and 9, as 17 and 27. In Hebrew
they are BO-AZ and IK-IN, the syllables being 72-8 and 30-60, and
30 multiplied by 60 is 1800, while 72 multiplied by 8 is 576, and
1800 multiplied by 576 equals 1,036,800, or 10 Kali Yugas, the
Great Cycles of the Hindus calculated in solar years.  The digits
of the syllables 3,6,7,2,8 add to 26, the number of t he
Tetragrammaton (JHVH), and this is th e "Centre" which is 14, a
variant of the same name. Another hint of Christian doctrine
appears in the spelling of Solomon, under the type of the division
of 1800, as SIMN, or 60, 30, 40, 50, compared with LOVE as 3645.
Those digits represent the Pythagorean triangle, 3 and 4 being
perpendicular and base, 6 the area contained in these two joined at
right angles, and 5 the resultant hypotenuse. The material
investiture of the Candidate is accentuated by the fact that Hir am
King of Tyre reduces to 89, Solomon King of Israel is 94 (reducing
to the mystic 13), and Hiram Abiff is linked with the Tetractys in
the perfect balance 55 equals 10. It is worth mentioning here, that
if the vibrations of the musical scale (or any other scale for that
matter) are reduced to proportionate whole numbers, the least
possible, we get 24, 27, 30, 32, 36, 40, 45, 48.  These give us two

Pythagorean triangles based on 6 and 9; viz. 24, 32, 40 and 27, 36,
47 linked by a balancing number involving t he trinity of the
Tetractys, 3 multi plied by 10, or 30. The intervals in the scale
are 1/8, 1/9, 1/15, 1/9, 1/8, 1/15, and if the denominators are
added again we find the number of perfect man, 72.

We cannot possibly deal with the whole of the numerology of the
Craft on this occasion, but I can recommend the application of
Kabbalistic principles to Freemasonry as a most fascinating study,
and even more so if you can go into Greek and Hebrew equivalents as
well. V.W.Bro. Covey-Crump pointed out some of these in his
Prestonian Lecture, noting that while number of men joined
Freemasonry in the early days of the 1717 revival in order to
obtain knowledge of interest to Rosicrucians and Kabbalists, others
i ntroduced such secrets.  He also suggested that the ladder and
other symbols were introduced at that period, and that there was a
transition from two pillars only (J and B) to the three of today,
associated with Wisdom, Strength and Beauty; at any rate these,
together with the All-Seeing Eye, became more prominent about that
time.  The latter is interesting, by the way.  All Seeing is 38
equals 11 and Eye is 17 equals 8, giving the idea of Light
manifest; the total is 55 (38 plus 17), the same balance as in H.
Abiff, and reducing to the Tetractys - 10. So we find a very strong
accent on Gematric, and are reminded of the saying attributed to
Pythagoras, "Omnia in numeris sita sint", (all things exist in
number).  I will now quote some of the examples given by V.W. Bro.
Covey-Crump, expanding these where necessary.

The Middle Chamber of K.S.T. is assumed to be a perfect square. The
Greek is MESON TAMEION which is 481 (29 ^2 ), and AKE which is 29,
and means a Point. The Hebrew is TZELA TIKUNAH which equals 676 (26
^ 2 ) and JHVH equals 25. Curiously enough the English equivalent
"The Middle Chamber of King Solomon's Temple works out at 169,
which is 13 ^ 2 ) a point which he did not reach.

The Altar of Incense, which used to stand in the middle of the
Lodge - and still does in some Lodges is a double cube. The Greek
TO THUSIASTERION which equals 1728 12 ^ 3 or 6 ^ 3 multiplied by 2
^ 3.

Jacob's ladder furnishes another example; the three named rungs are
Faith, Hope and Charity, and Faith and Hope are 26 each, while
Charity is 39 i.e. 3 multiplied by 13.  The Greek PISTIS is 800,
ELPIS is 325, and AGAPE is 93; added together they total 1,218
which divided into two equal parts viz. 609 gives the Greek ASTER
ORTHRINOS, meaning Blazing Star (609 plus 609). If, from 1,218 we
take our cube of 6, which has always been associated with the
Perpend Ashlar, and 6 being the area of the 345 triangle, w e get
1,218 minus 216 which equals 1,002, the value of the Greek HE
KLIMAX IAKOB, the Ladder of Jacob, itself, in English, a curious
balance of 6, as 66.  The Perfect Ashlar is enclosed in 6 squares,
and 1,002 is one half of 2,004, the sum of the four elements, fire,
air, earth and water.  Our three Pillars are, in Greek, KALLOS
(Beauty), 351; ISCHUS (Strength), 1,410, and SOPHIA (Wisdom), 781.
Added together, these give 2,542, which joins the vis ible and
invisible worlds, because 2,542 is 1,271 multiplied by 2, and 1271
is the value of KOSMOS (600), plus, PARADEISOS (671). In English
the Pillars are 29, 39 and 20, which when added gives 88 (balanced
8), the equivalent to the balance of Faith and Hope, each of which
being 26 reduces to 8. Wisdom (29), as the summit reduces to 11,
the equivalent, as we have seen, to Light.

The Three Grand Principles of our Order are, in Greek,
PHILADELPHIA, 1,091; EPARKIA, 222; and ALETHEIA, 64, giving a total
of 1,377, which is 3 X 459.  ARETAI AGLEI (Bright Virtues) also
gives 159, and it should be noted that 459 is 3 X 153, an important
Gospel (N.T.) number, as for instance, in the story of the fishes
caught in the unbroken net by the Apostles after the Resurrection.

The Sacred symbol, usually represented by the letter "G", is
equivalent, from one point of view, to JHVH, which is depicted on
the F.C.T.B., over the top of the stair.  It is probable that the
17th. and 18th.  Century worthies responsible for the modern Craft
had in mind the Pythagorean Tetractys, with ten Yods, Commas or
Dots; as a Disciple says, "Sea! What you thought to be four, was
really ten", This is the great Distributed Name, referred to by the
Hebrews, and already mentioned in this paper, as SHEMHA MPHORESH.
By the distribution of JHVH in place of the Yods, the
unpronounceable 10 becomes 72, denoting the absolute of perfection,
as the perfect man was of 72 inches stature. In gradual revelation
it becomes a single Yod, as seen over the G.M.'s Chair in the Grand
Temple of the U.G.L. of England. It is constantly found as a Yod
within an equilateral triangle, as in Cornelius Agrippa and
Athanasius Kircher. 72 is Perfect God and Perfect Man, and, redu
ced to 9, Perfect Spirit in both; here 9 is Deity and 8 is Man, and
8 X 9 equals 72.  To Companions of the H.R.A. this should have a
special appeal, and I might also add, that the names of the Three
Principals in the Chapter added together give 648, which is 72 X 9,
as well as 81 X 8; the Greek TELETE (perfection) is 648.

There is a true maxim that, "All things are made by measure, weight
and number".  Suffice it to say, that at the beginning of the Grand
Lodge era there was a group of mystics and students of arcane
wisdom who styled themselves "The Acception". a title which reduces
to 11 numerically, and is equivalent to the Kabbalah, as the
received or accepted doctrine, which may account for the fact that
the organisation perpetuating these truths and building them into a
regular system adopted the name, "Free and Accepte d Mason"; KABAL
is literally "man who is perfect", in the sister languages Hebrew
and Arabic.  However, I am of the opinion that; not only were the
Founders of Speculative Freemasonry deeply versed in Kabbalistic
lore, but they also had much more than an inkling of that great
body of teaching known variously as the Ancient Wisdom, the Secret
Doctrine and Theou Sophia.  It is, perhaps, unnecessary to add that
the Ancient Wisdom is the foundation upon which h as been built
every Religious or Philosophical syst em the world has known.

As a fitting conclusion to my Paper; I would like to close this
study of one particular facet of the diamond of Truth with the
Benediction known as that of the First Ray.  It calls down a
blessing from those of our Brethren who have gone before us and
have attained to that perfection which is the aim of every
enlightened and earnest Freemason, and, above all from Him, who is
the Master of the Great White Lodge, whence comes all Truth and all
Power to Initiate, to membership of which we should all most humbl
y aspire. He is the One Initiator, though He uses many Brethren of
lesser rank to be His Messengers and Channels of His Power:-

"May the Holy Ones, whose pupils you aspire to become, show you the
Light you seek, give you the strong aid of their Compassion and
their Wisdom.

There is a Peace that passeth understanding.  It abides in the
hearts of those who live in the eternal.  There is a Power that
makes all things now.  It lives and moves in those who know the
Self as One. May that Peace brood over you, that Power uplift you,
till you stand where the ONE INITIATOR is invoked, till you see His
STAR shine forth".

AMEN.    S.M.I.B.

Peace be to all Beings.

us