Freemasonry & bees

[Tamrin]

Freemasonry & bees

[Excerpt - Grand Lodge of British Columbia & Yukon - Linked Above]

The bee and the hive have long been symbols of industry and regeneration, wisdom and obedience, with a place in Egyption, Roman and Christian symbolism. The hive is often seen in Masonic illustrations of the 18th and 19th century and both Clovis and Napoleon adopted the bee as their symbol. Although "the bee was among the Egyptians the symbol of an obedient people, because, says Horapollo, 'of all insects, the bee alone had a king.'1, its use in Freemasonry was secondary to any number of other symbols based on the working tools of a stone mason.

"Looking at the regulated labor of these insects when congregated in their hive, it is not surprising that a beehive should have been deemed an appropriate emblem of systematized industry. Freemasonry has therefore adopted the beehive as a symbol of industry, a virtue taught in the instructions, which says that a Master Mason 'works that he may receive wages, the better to support himself and family, and contribute to the relief of a worthy, distressed brother, his widow and orphans...' The ark has already been shown to have been an emblem common to Freemasonry and the Ancient Mysteries, as a symbol of regeneration - of the second birth from death to life. Now, in the Mysteries, a hive was a type of the ark. 'Hence,' says Faber (Origin of Pagan Idolatry, volume ii, page 133), 'both the diluvian priestess and the regenerated souls were called bees; hence, bees were feigned to be produced from the carcass of a cow, which also symbolized the ark; and hence, as the great father was esteemed an infernal god, honey was much used both in funeral rites and in the Mysteries.

Image - Lodge St. Andrew #518

[/i][/url][/center]

[Tamrin]

THE BEEHIVE

Anon.

Monitorially, a symbol of industry and co-operation. By implication, a symbol also of social obligation, or reciprocal love and friendship.

Perhaps the bee is no more industrious than the ant. Certainly the organisation of many ant tribes and armies in their labours either of building or of distribution seem to indicate a high degree of industry and co-operation. Indeed, in all nature may be found examples of labour devoted to a specific end. Birds build nests, animals hunt and seek caves and trees for hibernation, various organisms migrate from cold to warm countries and back again, etc. But to many the bee is traditionally the symbol of hard work to a common end and perhaps chosen by the ritual fathers because operative builders all laboured to a common end in erecting a great cathedral.

Social obligations as a part of the symbol is seen in the harmonious working together of many units to a single end, and reciprocal love and friendship in the fact that in most crowded hives, bees live in peace and harmony with their fellows.

Victorian Society Depicted as a Beehive

[Gaslight]

As a PM of two lodges, I've had to memorise two different rituals. One of them makes no mention of the beehive whatsoever; the other includes it in a list of Masonic symbols introduced in the third degree, then instructs the candidate to refer to the monitor for details.

For me, a 'symbol' that exists only in words and has to be explained in yet more words is not much of a symbol.

After spending half a lifetime reading thousands of books on religion, philosophy, mysticism and esotericism I ended up none the wiser.

Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument
About it and about: but evermore
Came out by the same door where in I went.

Rubaiyat XXVII

Which is why I decided that an initiatory system that used symbols, not words, to transmit the transcendent was worth more than a library of books, and why I knocked on the door of Masonry.

What I found fell short of my expectations. The rituals I've read, memorised, edited and studied are, for the most part, confused and corrupt. A far cry from my image of a body of symbolic knowledge carefully passed down through the centuries.

(If you haven't noticed, I'm in pessimistic rant mode at the moment )

One of my lodges has switched rituals twice in ten years, and is considering switching again. Many of the Brethren are clearly unhappy with the latest candidate, so I decided to go back to square one and see what was wrong with the first, a ritual used from the end of the War to around 1990. I've been working through it, editing as I go along, and it's truly depressing. Bits and pieces cobbled together from numerous places, some of them straight from Emulation or Scottish Standard, others from Webb. Here and there are lines I haven't seen in any other ritual, with encoded words that will probably remain a mystery forever, as the Brethren responsible for putting them there are long gone.

Working my way through the chairs of the Royal Arch and Cryptic Council, I found myself more and more put off by the Judaic background. I'm neither Jewish nor Christian and don't relish the thought of having to study the Old Testament to understand the relevance of the RA and CC rituals. The same goes, to a lesser extent, for much of the material in the three degrees.

[Tamrin]

The beehive is not featured in our rituals, nor am I in favour of its inclusion. I feel its symbolism is primarily that of industrious, hierarchical activity, controlled by a central, hive mind. This may be a conspiracy theorist's notion of Freemasonry but it is not held by anyone with much experience of the Craft or of one holding dear the individualistic, democratic values still unfolding from the Age of Enlightenment.

[Gaslight]

Aug 15, 2010 14:11:35 GMT 10 Tamrin said:

The beehive is not featured in our rituals, nor am I in favour of its inclusion. I feel its symbolism is primarily that of industrious, hierarchical activity, controlled by a central, hive mind. This may be a conspiracy theorist's notion of Freemasonry but it is not held by anyone with much experience of the Craft or of one holding dear the individualistic, democratic values still unfolding from the Age of Enlightenment.

Some of those individualistic, democratic values have unfolded as far as to render parts of our ritual obsolete. Whenever I deliver the Charge in the First Degree, one line sticks in my throat: the one about "... never losing sight of the allegiance due to the sovereign of your native land, ever remembering that nature has implanted in your breast a sacred and indissoluble attachment towards that country whence you derived your birth and infant nurture."

I know that the 'sovereign' part can be adjusted for nations with presidents, but the second part doesn't apply to me and perhaps hundreds of thousands of others. The place of my birth was accidental. Within days I was being carried on a train slowly wending its way across Europe, crossing border after border. The language and culture of my family are different from those of the land whence I derived my infant nurture. In fine, I was stateless for almost 16 years.

The elegance of the Charge suggests that it dates back to the early days of Masonry. Perhaps the Brethren of that time never imagined a future of shifting borders, mass exoduses of child refugees, and multi-lingual multi-cultural citizens bearing two or three passports.

[maximus]

That bit was thrown in there to appease the Hanoverians and to assure the Crown that Masonry was no longer a primarily Jacobite organization.

[Tamrin]

Aug 15, 2010 23:02:06 GMT 10 Gaslight said:

I know that the 'sovereign' part can be adjusted for nations with presidents, but the second part doesn't apply to me and perhaps hundreds of thousands of others. The place of my birth was accidental. Within days I was being carried on a train slowly wending its way across Europe, crossing border after border. The language and culture of my family are different from those of the land whence I derived my infant nurture. In fine, I was stateless for almost 16 years.

Thank you for making that important point. Indeed, with the unfolding of enlightenment values (akin to the Catholic notion of the Development of Doctrine), one might suggest that devotion to the global brotherhood of humanity is to be valued above and beyond blind, parochial devotion to king and country.

With Freemasonry ideally being universally spread over the surface of the Earth and its lodges being welcoming of visiting Brethren, it follows that the Craft is a suitable model for international sanctuary. I hope you have found it so.

[Tamrin]

Aug 16, 2010 2:10:59 GMT 10 @maximus said:

That bit was thrown in there to appease the Hanoverians and to assure the Crown that Masonry was no longer a primarily Jacobite organization.

Very likely: In doing so, we managed to survive the measures taken to suppress other suspect fraternities.

[Gaslight]

Aug 16, 2010 6:53:48 GMT 10 Tamrin said:

With Freemasonry ideally being universally spread over the surface of the Earth and its lodges being welcoming of visiting Brethren, it follows that the Craft is a suitable model for international sanctuary. I hope you have found it so.

An international sanctuary, yes, in the sense of a home-from-home for expatriate Brethren. We have several of those in my two lodges.

However, depending on the jurisdiction (Japan hosts four or five), insularity and jingoism are still in evidence, especially at the Grand Lodge level. The Grand Lodge of Japan was founded and controlled by US Masons, and it wasn't until many years later that they finally agreed to remove the Star and Stripes from lodge rooms (after a transitional period when both Japanese and US flags were tolerated.)

Fifty years later, the US bases are still here in Japan, the US Masonic presence at GL level is still strong, and GL politics consists of a constant tug-of-war between the US and Japanese cliques.

I also see a strong US influence on what little esoteric Masonry there is in Japan. Paranoia, probably, but I sometimes think the 'esoteric' Brethren are quietly recruiting for AMORC and other US groups.