Freemasonry of the Ancient Egyptians 1

Freemasonry of the Ancient Egyptians 1

Freemasonry of the Ancient Egyptians

Manly P Hall

 

PREFACE

 

t is now generally acknowledged that

the Egyptians, of all the ancient peoples,

were the most learned in the Occult

Sciences of Nature. The wisest of

philosophers from other nations vis-

ited Egypt to be initiated in the sacred

Mysteries by the priests of Thebes,

Memphis, and Hermopolis. Thales,

Solon, Pythagoras, and Plato journeyed

from Greece to the delta of the Nile in quest of knowledge. Upon returning

to their own country, these illumined men acknowledged the Egyptians to be

the wisest of mortals and the Egyptian temples to be the repositories of the

most sublime doctrines concerning the history of the Gods and the regenera-

tion of men.

 

The decline of Egypt under the Ptolemies resulted in the dissipation of

the sacred arcana and the violation of the sanctuaries of the Hermetic Gods.

 

The priests retired into the deserts and migrated to more hospitable lands. In

distant and desolate places the old rites flourished anew, and the Hierophants

still delivered judgment with the forty scrolls spread before them on the altar top.

 

 

 

 

. 101 .

 

 

 

PREFACE

 

 

 

European culture, thwarted by the Dark Ages, languished in the Patristic-

dungeons, to be freed artistically by the Renaissance and religiously by the

Reformation. It was not until the eighteenth century of the Christian era,

however, that thought, freed from bondage to sophistry and pedantics, recog-

nized and acknowledged the indebtedness that each generation owes to antiq-

uity. Eighteenth century savants sought valiantly, in the ruin of time, among

the battered monuments half buried in Egyptian sand for the lost keys to the

sacred sciences. Only scholarship can rebuild and rededicate the ruined and

desecrated shrines of the Old Wisdom.

 

Dimly perceptible in the subtle hints of classical writers, arcanely inti-

mated in symbol and fable, and thinly veiled by the great institutions of clas-

sical philosophy, the Secret Doctrine may yet be recovered to enrich and

complete that material knowledge which is the boasted power of modern men.

 

The fable of Isis and Osiris belongs to the earliest period of Egyptian

metaphysical speculation. The myth of the Dying God recurs in most of the

great World Religions. The life, death, and resurrection of the immortal-mortal

have become the prototype for numerous doctrines of human regeneration.

 

1 he Crata Repoa Rite, which has been inserted in this book, sets forth the

principal elements of the initiatory drama. Restored from ancient authorities,

though, of course, incomplete in its esoteric parts, the ritual is faintly remi-

niscent of the sublime spectacles which transpired in the subterranean cham-

bers and crypts of ancient Egyptian temples.

 

He who ponders well upon the Mystery may. perchance, discover under

the figures and symbols of the old ceremonies allusions to ever living qualities

and ever present problems.

 

MANLY P. HALL

March 18, 1937

 

 

 

CONTENTS

 

 

 

Puface iji

 

List of Illustrations / 05

 

 

 

FREEMASONRY OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS

 

1. Introduction ,

 

2. Ecyptian Magic ,

 

3. The Osirian Cycle l

 

4. The Secret Doctrine in Ecypt /

 

 

 

CRATA REPOA

 

Foreword

Crata Repoa

Commentary

 

Appendix — Initiation oj Plato

 

 

 

m

 

165

 

185

 

20 ')

 

 

 

• 102 •

 

 

 

• 103 •

 

 

 

Curieux scrutateur it la Nature entiere,

 

J’ai connu du grand tout le prineipe et la Jin.

J’ai vw lor en puissance au fond de sa riviere

J'ai saisi sa matiere et surpris son levain.

 

J’expliquai par quel art lame aux jlancs dune mere

Fait sa maison, I’emporte, et comment un pepin

Mis contre un grain de ble, sous I’humide poussiere;

L’un plante et l autre cep, sont le pain et le vin.

 

Rien netait, Dieu voulant, rien devint quelque chose,

Jen doutais, je cherchai sur quoi I’untvers pose.

Rien gardait I’equilibre et servait de soutien.

 

Enjin avec le poids de l ’e lege et du blame

Je pesai I’etemel; il appella mon drne:

 

Je mourrai, j'adorai, je ne savais plus rien.

 

 

 

— Comte de St.-Germain

 

 

 

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

 

 

 

ISIS THE MOTHER OF THE MYSTERIES 130

 

A SCENE FROM THE DRAMA OF INITIATION 156

 

THE INITIATION OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS 164

 

SPECTRAL FORMS APPROACH THE NEOPHYTE 184

 

THE PROCESSIONAL OF THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS 195

 

SYMBOLIC DEPICTION OF TYPHON 202