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Post by Tamrin on Jul 8, 2008 7:23:13 GMT 10
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Post by Tamrin on Jul 12, 2008 13:22:42 GMT 10
Observations:- A popular Masonic motif, especially in the U.S.A.
- Features a woman with a broken column, arguably signifying the fate of the asherim
- Kronos (time) is featured, reminiscent of the hope of a Master Mason that time and circumstance should restore the genuine secrets.
- The woman’s loose hair (often held and thereby emphasised by Kronos) signifies a maiden (virgin), although she is usually connected with Masonic widows. This may allude to the widow of the harvest sacrifice becoming the bride of his successor.*
- She holds aloft a sprig of acacia, associated with the initial, indecent internment of Hiram Abiff and also associated with the branch which, in a vision, Ezekiel saw each participant holding to their nose, in the temple (Ezekiel 8:17).
References:* Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy, 2002, Jesus and the Lost Goddess: The Secret Teachings of the Original Christians[/i], Thorsons, London, pp.24/5 The most important characters in these allegorical initiation myths were the lost and redeemed Goddess and the dying and resurrecting Godman. Regional variations on these two mighty figures are found throughout the ancient world. In Egypt they were known as Isis and Osiris, in Greece as Persephone and Dionysus, in Syria as Aphrodite and Adonis, in Asia Minor as Cybele and Attis, in Mesopotamia as Ishtar and Marduk, in Persia as the Magna Mater and Mithras, in the area around Judea as Asherah and Baal. The Pagan Gnostics were aware that all these different Goddesses and Godmen were essentially two universal mythic archetypes. They sometimes used the general name ‘Great Mother’ to denote the Goddess and ‘Osiris-Dionysus’ to denote the Godman. * We also find, Freemasonry's 25° of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, (Knight of the Brazen Serpent), usually only conferred in passing to the 30°, or exemplified: The cross is an Egyptian ankh entwined with a serpent. The apron features the Pleiades, the Hyades, Orion and Capella constellations. Two sashes or cordons are worn. Jim Tresner 33°, informs us: The names on the cordons include the names of many of the gods and goddesses who appear in the ancient vegetation myths, stories which usually centered around a goddess and her lover who must die each year in order for the earth to bring forth a harvest.
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Post by Tamrin on Aug 10, 2008 16:57:07 GMT 10
Statue entitled Marianne
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Post by Tamrin on Aug 31, 2008 15:33:45 GMT 10
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Post by Tamrin on May 26, 2009 20:30:49 GMT 10
Today, however, I had one of those lightbulb moments when the lecturer spoke about the broken column in the SS, the one erected to the memory of HAB. This apt composition (but not its parts) is apparently peculiar to the Preston-Webb ("American Rite"): THE DOOLITTLE PICTURES (Engraver of the Cross Masonic Chart)[Excerpt - Short Course Bulletine, September 1936, California Grand Lodge - Linked Above]
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Post by Tamrin on May 26, 2009 21:32:30 GMT 10
The explanatory gloss given by Cross, in relation to his composition, is seen to be fortuitously apt!? Perhaps we need to keep in mind its correspondence with Egyptian legend and a similar Continental example.
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Post by Gaslight on May 27, 2009 0:26:46 GMT 10
This apt composition (but not its parts) is apparently peculiar to the Preston-Webb ("American Rite"): I haven't seen this composition before. It seems to cram in images and symbols from all three degrees. One of my lodges (the one using a revised version of Preston-Webb) used to have a full set of lantern slides, the remnants of which I discovered last year during an inventory of Temple assets. I tried scanning the slides but the results were disappointing. The colours had faded too much, and there were too many scratches. One of the slides was of the broken column, etc. These days we use a 'standard' set of three canvas rolls, one for each degree, and published by some Masonic firm in Cincinnati, I believe. Generations of lecturers had forgotten or ignored these rolls, but I revived their use when I began to give the lectures myself, even though the images didn't match our ritual exactly. The image of the broken column, weeping virgin, and Time with scythe is much larger and much clearer than on the image you posted.
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Post by Tamrin on May 27, 2009 7:11:57 GMT 10
Bro. Gaslight,The "composition" to which I intended to refer was that of "The Monument," (which at first sight, seems to derive from the US): With the broken column; with the open book; with the virgin / widow; with the urn and sprig of acacia; and Father Time (Kronos); with wings, scythe and hourglass, examining her hair. The image in that post is of Doolittle's Cross Masonic Chart, in which some say "The Monument" was first represented. The chart obviously included diverse other emblems from the Craft Degrees and beyond. I apologise for not being clearer. I understand the photograph below, in which "The Monument" is represented, is from Japan: Are you familiar with this particular scene?
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Post by Gaslight on May 27, 2009 11:28:53 GMT 10
I understand the photograph below, in which "The Monument" is represented, is from Japan: Are you familiar with this particular scene? Yes, indeed. It's the porch or entrance of the Tokyo Masonic Center, located within the shadow of the Tokyo Tower. The Center houses both the Grand Lodge of Japan and the Tokyo Masonic Association, the latter being a registered NPO set up to manage the income accruing from the land on which TMC stands -- mostly for charity purposes. The Center also houses a modernistic "Blue Room" that provides a home for three or four lodges, and is probably more famous than the porch. I never paid much attention to the stained glass or relief on any of my few visits to the TMC, but have often seen it when I check the Grand Lodge of Japan website. I'm ashamed to say I never noticed the relief and its significance until it popped up on this thread.
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Post by Tamrin on May 27, 2009 19:00:13 GMT 10
I never paid much attention to the stained glass or relief on any of my few visits to the TMC, but have often seen it when I check the Grand Lodge of Japan website. I'm ashamed to say I never noticed the relief and its significance until it popped up on this thread. Among the hardest mysteries to solve are those where the solution is "hidden" in plain sight.
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