Secrets and Practices of the Freemasons: Sacred Mysteries, Rituals and Symbols Revealed - Jean-Louis de Biasi 2011
From Renaissance to the New World
The Widow’s Sons
Florence, Rebirth of the Light
The Tradition was veiled during the Middle Ages but it did not totally disappear. Most people were no longer aware of the ancient wisdom or other beliefs. Christianity imposed its unilateral vision of the world, abolishing all the scientific and medical knowledge that had existed previously. Under Christianity’s literal interpretation of Biblical texts, other theories or practices contrary to the official texts or dogmas were not tolerated. It was the same on the intellectual level because only monks and theologians were authorized to study other subjects. There was no role for rational thought, for the mind always had to be in the service of faith and its only use was to prove the truth of the revealed writings. Independent thinking was dangerous because it could lead to awareness of contradictions to the literal interpretation of scripture.
But not everyone had forgotten the ancient traditions. Many in rural areas still practiced magick, used traditional medicines and herbal remedies, and followed customs linked to the old celebrations. The church was aware of this and opted to include what could not be erased, as was the case with the date of December 25, the celebration of Sol Invictus, birth of Mithra, which became Christmas. The death sentence was often the answer of the church to men and especially women who continued to obscure the old ways.
But the gold chain of the initiates transmitting secret knowledge and rituals that had been given to them in the sixth century had not disappeared. The light of the ancient philosophy of mysteries was always alive. It is very plausible that the Grand Master in the fifteenth century was a Greek scholar, Giorgios Gemistos Pletho. This remarkable man had gathered a group of followers in the city of Mistra who secretly practiced the ancient traditional rituals. Hermetic and Neoplatonic teachings were preserved and transmitted in the traditional way. Publicly Christian, Pletho as a scholar and theologian was regularly consulted on important points.
At that time, the Christian church was divided in two groups, the Western Church (Catholic) and Eastern Church (Orthodox). Both groups were looking for a common position in order to find a solution to their conflicts. Come of Medicis, chief of Florence,[20] in 1439 called together a council to resolve the conflict. Among the Greeks invited was eighty-five-year-old Pletho. Knowing Christian tradition as well as Greek, he was capable of breaking through the theological subtleties in which the Christian theologians had locked themselves. But his real goal had nothing to do with that of the council. As leader of this Neoplatonic school, he sought to secure the resurgence and continuity of the ancient Hermetic and Ogdoadic Traditions. Deeply Platonic, he transmitted a vision renewed by Hellenism, purified by Neoplatonism, and able to avoid moral and spiritual decline.
During his stay in Florence, Pletho was regularly received by Come of Medicis. He managed many philosophical debates outside the council. At the instigation of Come, he opened a school, dividing the students into Exoteric (those who were linked to Christian doctrine and could not accept the totality of the teachings) and Esoteric (those who were initiated to the teaching of emanations and to complete Hermetic knowledge). This school included practices, rituals, initiations, and philosophical teaching. Plato’s Academy, closed for centuries, could come back to life.
Pletho’s school continued its activities secretly until some years later, and in 1459, Marsilio Ficino, son of the personal doctor of Come, founded the first new Platonic Academy. The headquarters was the Villa Careggi, near Florence. For many years, the intellectual elite and the best artists met, lived, and worked there. It was a real nondenominational monastery opened to all talented men without discrimination of religion. Texts missing or hidden until then were translated and published. The Corpus of Hermes, the Chaldaic Oracles, Plato’s writings, and several other sacred writings were once again revealed.
The academicians dedicated themselves to the search for truth and studied in an atmosphere of complete freedom. Their only obligation was to respect the freedom of others. To be accepted, the “Brethren in Plato,” members of the academy, must above all be good, honest, and have the desire to cultivate the best in humanity. As Ficino wrote: “Friendship is the Union of will and desires. The academicians’ brothers must have the same purpose. If this goal is wealth, honors and pure science, there cannot be friendship, because these purposes cause on the contrary jealousy, vainglory, desire and hate. True friendship is possible only between brothers who search for the good together.”[21]
You can imagine this sentence as a moral statement of Freemasonry and its real origin.
The brothers worked nonstop to awaken the Hermetic Tradition from the Neoplatonic philosophers and, through them, all of Ptolemaic Egypt. They gave new life to the gold chain into which they all had just been introduced. Besides Marsilio Ficino, the founder of the academy, Pico della Mirandola, Fortuna, Giovani Cavalcanti, Alessandro de Rinaldo Braccesi, and, of course, Come of Medicis himself, were the first and the most renowned of the academicians. Campanella, Giordano Bruno, Dante, and others were also connected to this fraternity.
These ancient sacred mysteries were composed of aspects that I can summarize in two parts:
1. The symbolic and philosophical part
2. The theurgic and religious part
These two parts further involved moral, ritual, mystical, and epicurean dimensions. This school remained complete for almost three centuries, but was progressively divided into these two parts. The first part would give birth to Freemasonry and the second to Hermetic theurgic orders.[22] It was quite common for the initiates and chiefs of these schools to stay connected. Their shared history and use of philosophy and rituals are important to the study of this book.
During the centuries that began with the Renaissance (in the fifteenth century), they continued to restore the forgotten values of freedom, awareness, and development of science. Giordano Bruno was the last to be burnt by the Catholic Church for his ideas, but this work discreetly continued. The Christian Qabalah sometimes clothed the initiates’ studies, but their writings show us that there was no barrier between the ancient and biblical myths. Among the initiates were artists, architects, writers, etc. Desiring to manifest their tradition, their creations revealed, through codes and symbols, the presence of this heritage. We can see this in drawings, paintings, sculptures, and architecture. The Freemasonry created by these initiates incorporated such codes, accurately showing its true origin. It was these Renaissance initiates who started to build the New World, which America would bring into reality some centuries later.
The Symbolic Architecture
It is impossible to study here all the symbolic aspects of the Hermetic Tradition manifested during the Renaissance that continue to have an effect today, so I will examine only the symbols pertinent to this study of the Masonic Tradition that you can find again and again in the symbolic architecture of Washington DC.
The number 8 is related to a very important architectural form, the octagon. Religious and symbolic buildings have incorporated this octagonal pattern throughout history. It is not possible to identify the first buildings to be constructed according this octagonal layout, but they were immediately connected to the symbolism of this number.
In Athens, the Tower of the Winds, also called a horologion (“timepiece”), is an octagonal Pentelic marble clock tower; it stands over twelve meters high and eight meters square on the Roman agora in Athens. It was built by Andronicos, from Kyrrhos (in Macedonia) around 50 BCE or even earlier, and before the rest of the forum. At the top of each of the eight sides, there is a relief representation of a wind, symbolized by a male figure with the appropriate attributes and its name inscribed on the stone. All align exactly to the compass, and above each figure the names of the eight winds were written in large Greek letters.
The earliest baptisteries were copied from the ancient thermæ, or baths, with a font in the center, allowing room for the baptism candidates, as well as for spectators. The font, like the building, was octagonal. In Italy there are several examples of octagonal baptisteries. The ones in Milan and Ravenna are from the fifth century and have the same symbolic shape. Christians connected very early specific symbolism to the number 8 as the number of regeneration, just as baptism signaled redemption in Christ. Jesus rose from the dead on the eighth day of the Passion and the world began on the eighth day after Creation. The symbolism used by Christianity is very close to the seven planets followed by the eighth sphere. The number 8 is a real state of consciousness symbolized by a veil opening onto an upper world.
Figure 18: Florence’s Baptistery
If we look carefully at the octagonal layout of the baptistery, we can see that it is connected to a Templar Cross Patee (four spear-headed arms symbolizing solar light), which can be easily formed within the confines of the octagon. This special cross is also connected to the Rose-Cross Tradition. Historians said that this octagonal shape came from the construction of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem[23] at the top of the rock where Solomon’s Temple was built. This place remains a model for all Templar masons. In the Middle Ages, Christians and Muslims believed that the Dome of the Rock was the Temple of Solomon. The Templars incorporated this octagonal shape in building their churches, as for example in Tomar, Portugal and its octagonal chapel called the chorola. This shape became the standard for Templar buildings. A typical design is an octagon within a circle, eight arches within a round circle. Firstly, its eight walls formed a superior edifice of structural stability; secondly, it called to mind the overall shape of the Templar Cross Patee; and finally, the octagon, especially when combined within the circle, formed a sacred geometry that reminds us of the ancient Hermetic text allowing the passage from the Eighth to the Ninth (the circle). The octagonal shapes usually represent the link between God (the circle is a symbol of eternity) and Earth (the square). This symbol can also be found in Christianity as the eight-pointed star that guided the magi toward Bethlehem, mythical birthplace of Christ. A splendid mosaic of Ravenna, Italy shows it very well.
Many writings showed this mythical relationship between Templars and Freemasonry, and especially the Scottish Rite. Many degrees speak of this filiation and involve this brotherhood. Myths and rituals follow from it, as you will see in the practical part of this. This octagonal shape persisted throughout the Middle Ages because of this important symbolic number.
Florence was the center where these Ancient Mysteries were reactivated. Various buildings of the city reveal this symbolic architecture. Undoubtedly the most significant is the cathedral of the city, Il Duomo. This religious place is composed of two buildings: the first is the cathedral itself and its famous octagonal dome; the second is the baptistery close to the cathedral. The Baptistery of San Giovanni was built with marble from a temple of Mars and remains from an Etruscan city of this area, Fesiole. The baptistery has a wonderful octagonal shape built according to the tradition. It is one of the oldest astronomical places in the city of Florence and is a gnomon, which demonstrates the apparent motion of the Sun. Through a hole in the dome, solar radiation lights the signs of the zodiac engraved on marble, thus tracing the path of the Sun during the year. At the summer solstice, the Sun lights its representation in the center of the zodiac. Late in the thirteenth century, following a reconstruction of the floor, the marble was moved to the eastern part of the baptistery where today it is no longer possible to assess its accuracy. The body of the astrologer reposes beneath the pavement of the baptistery, where the spot is marked by a slab with the signs of the zodiac.
It is interesting to point out that the representation on the floor puts the Sun in the center of the zodiac (and not Earth). So this representation is heliocentric, the theory so violently fought by the Church, which remained faithful to the geocentric text of the Bible. The Sun is surrounded with a cryptic sentence: “In giro torte sol ciclos et rotor igne.” It is a mixture of old Italian and Latin that translates as, “I am the Sun, I am this wheel moved by fire, which twisting moves the spheres.” The sentence emphasizes the importance given to the solar star.
In adition to its octagonal architecture, this baptistery contains other representations painted on the walls, which were not much studied until recently. I cannot describe them, but it is interesting to see the important group of double squares interlaced, which as we discussed are associated with the number 8. This whole place was built in order to illustrate the symbolic and mystical power of the number 8.
Florence emphasizes this close relation to Hermeticism through the number 8. The circular dome of the cathedral (one of the biggest in the world) was built on an octagonal base. The Medicis’ mausoleum was built with the same layout.
During the Renaissance, in Germany, Albrecht Dürer was a prolific artist. Among other professions, he was a philosopher, an alchemist, and a student of the mystery traditions—the epitomy of the Renaissance man. Dürer, and the Renaissance in general, play a very significant role in The Lost Symbol. Dürer’s art incorporated much mystery tradition symbolism, the likes of which have not been adequately explained. Dan Brown used the famous painting by Dürer called Melancholia as a plot point in the novel. But it is very interesting to note that Dürer made many drawings of the Mantegna Tarot, the only tarot on which he ever worked.
As clearly recorded by the historians of tarot (Heinrich Brockhaus, for example), it was during the council of Mantua, held between June 1459 and January 1460, that Bessarion,[24] Nicholas de Cusa, and Pope Pious II secretly conceived of the idea of the Tarot of Mantegna.[25] This deck was different from the more widely known system that was synthesized into the Tarot of Marseilles. The Tarot of Mantegna (named for the artist Andrea Mantegna) includes fifty pictures, organized in five groups of ten. The fifth group, the Most Divine, includes the seven planetary gods in the Chaldean order (including the fixed stars). Of course, the eighth is the sphere of the fixed stars followed by the ninth, the Primum Mobile, and the tenth is the Prima Causa (“First Cause”), which shows a perfect representation of the Hermetic system.
It is possible now to understand why Dürer so well represents this tradition and how he can be connected to a system containing many esoteric keys that are blatantly Neoplatonic and Hermetic in origin.
[1]. The Ptolemaic period began with the reign of Ptolemeus Lagos, faithful companion of Alexander the Great, and lasted until the end of Egyptian Empire (from 323 to 30 BCE).
[2]. Apuleus, Apology.
[3]. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, V, 9.
[4]. Iamblicus, Life of Pythagoras.
[5]. Proclus, Commentary on Plato’s Parmenides I, trans. by Glenn R. Morrow and John M. Dillon (Princeton University Press).
[6]. A group of eight. This number of 4 + 4 is a symbol you can find as a footprint or signature throughout the story of the Tradition.
[7]. This hill was named after an early Alexandria resident named Shuter.
[8]. The Parthenon is the well-known temple built on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. A perfect replica of this sacred building can be visited in Nashville, Tennessee. It is another manifestation of the Tradition on United States soil.
[9] . http://www.gwmemorial.org/
[10]. 1 Kings 7:14.
[11]. In Latin we find the same meaning: “E terris enim et ad caelum recursura diuinitas linqueturque Aegyptus terraque, sedes religionum quae fuit, uiduata numinum praesentia destituetur.”
[12]. The Perfect Sermon, or the Asclepius, trans. by G. R. S. Mead. Part 9:24.
[13]. The Perfect Sermon, or the Asclepius, trans. by G. R. S. Mead. Part 9:25-2.
[14]. Homer, the Iliad, Book 8, trans. by Samuel Butler.
[15]. Françoise Bonardel, L’hermétisme.
[16]. Jean-Baptiste Porta, of Naples, is famous for his book about physiognomy written in 1586. At the age of fifteen, he wrote three books about Natural Magick, printed in 1563.
[17]. These glasses have a massive stem to give the possibility to hurt the table and create a loud noise called “battery.” This sound acts as an element of the ritual.
[18]. The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth, trans. by James Brashler, Peter A. Dirkse, and Douglas M. Parrott.
[19]. Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma.
[20]20. A famous Italian city in the Tuscany area.
[21]. Marsile Ficin, Opera Omnia, vol. 1.
[22]. The Order of Aurum Solis is undoubtedly one of the very few survivors (http://www.aurumsolis.info) of this second way.
[23]. The Dome of the Rock is the oldest Islamic monument, built from 688 to 691 CE.
[24]. In 1431, Bessarion was received as a monk into the circle of the initiates of Mistra. He studied with Pletho and was initiated into the secret Ogdoadic and Hermetic doctrines.
[25]. This Mantegna Tarot is a part of my forthcoming book, The Divine Arcana of the Aurum Solis: Using Tarot Talismans for Ritual and Initiation. The Mantegna Tarot deck can also be found at www.llewellyn.com.