Secrets and Practices of the Freemasons: Sacred Mysteries, Rituals and Symbols Revealed - Jean-Louis de Biasi 2011
Building a New World
Spirit of Freemasonry
The City
Along with many other books, The Lost Symbol shows Washington DC as a special place, built with a real purpose as the capital of a new independent country. From this grand vision and this powerful desire, wise men rose to give life to this idea. But unlike the beginnings of humanity, these men had personal backgrounds and came with their own knowledge and cultural heritage.
It is difficult to imagine someone abandoning his or her own culture and finding common ground large enough to accept different beliefs while at the same time proposing something to share. It was a big challenge, but the founders had the will to create more than a simple assemblage of independent parts. Such an important creation as independence required extremely strong founders and corresponding symbolic acts. Such was the case with the Declaration of Independence, and the search for and founding of a federal capital.
The personality of the architects and city planners is important to any project and its development. It is often their vision that gives dynamism and a special ambition. In this case, it was architect Pierre Charles L’Enfant, chosen by George Washington. Even though he was fired after one year, his influence and the work he had done provided a definitive plan for the city. Principles, maps, and overall organization had charted the future of the city. In fact, L’Enfant had given birth to a movement and a desire that was more powerful than himself: building a capital in the New World as expression of an ideal, the visible manifestation of the nation’s desire to be raised to a universal reference.
Well-versed in classical culture, L’Enfant gave substance to a philosophical and humanist vision. Like some of those who worked on the conception of Washington DC, L’Enfant was not a Freemason. Nor was Thomas Jefferson. It is interesting to wonder how these noninitiates were able to work according to principles close to those of Masonry and how they succeeded in keeping the Masonic way of thinking. There are several reasons for this, but one of the first was the morals and intellectual principles they used for their work. The scholars, artists, and Freemasons of this epoch were influenced by the Renaissance and the “philosophy of the lights” that followed from it.
Before the revolutionary storm destroyed the French monarchy, the United States and France developed a new nation-model through American and French cultural interactions. I can name John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson for their influence. The presence of Benjamin Franklin in a lodge (notably in the Lodge of Nine Sisters in Paris) next to French intellectuals such as Voltaire, as well as contacts between Thomas Jefferson and Condorcet, were very important in this exchange of ideas.
Let us remember that Masonry came from England, then at war with the fledgling United States. It did not mean that the rituals and lessons of the brotherhood had to be rejected, but undoubtedly Masonry in America ceased being strictly British and adopted the original and truly ideal American philosophy that has gained worldwide influence.
Masonry became really American when regular Grand Lodges were created in each state. This shows that the founders of Washington DC, Freemasons or not, used the same philosophy and consciously and unconsciously received the influence of this intellectual and initiatic inheritance, which finds its body in the earth and the stone of the federal capital.
The first Freemasons, connecting their doctrine to the ancient master-builders, used what was familiar to them. This was the case with the Roman Vitruvius, a famous architect with a huge influence. Freemasons read his text on architecture, and even non-Masons like L’Enfant and Thomas Jefferson used this book as a main reference.
While it was necessary for the Founding Fathers to put aside old ideas about monarchies and military empires in establishing the democratic principles underlying the new nation’s government, they were able to turn to the ancient symbolic principles of Masonry in the placement and building of the new capital. In their development of the District of Columbia and orientation of the city, they turned to the hidden principles used by the architects in respect to the occult tradition. But an important city conceived according to the principles of classical architecture must be developed around its center. This is what was called in the past the forum. It was around this place that the “temples of the Gods, protectors of the city, also those of Zeus (Jupiter), Hera (Juno), and Athena (Minerva), should be on some eminence which commands a view of the greater part of the city. The temple of Hermes (Mercury) should be also in the forum.”[1]
Figure 19: Vitruvius’s gnomon traditionally used to organize a new city
The Mall is the central place, the forum, surrounded by the buildings sacred to the nation and the manifestation of its power. The Temple of the Gods, the protectors of the city, the Capitol is at the place recommended by the traditional rules. Its site on the east of the Mall (forum) is also used to emphasize its symbolic purpose as the major temple of the city. As required, Hermes’ temple is very close, and the Library of Congress is the best identification possible for it considering the architectural keys.
A strange process was at work in this city. It seems that everything was progressively built according to a hidden grid and an original purpose. This real synchronicity demonstrates an intention greater than its creators. Following the text quoted above, there are two other important buildings identified with this hidden grid. Vitruvius wrote “the temple of Ares (Mars) should be out of the city, in the neighboring country.” The Pentagon fits this description quite accurately.
Rooted in a traditional and symbolic grid connected to the ancient divinities, the federal capital became a powerful center of the new nation. It is difficult to understand and explain the hidden forces that would create over time the power hub that is Washington DC. This power is the same as that coming from a sacred place, creating a real icon for this purpose. This was the case for the city and for the buildings, as you will see now.
The Architecture
the cornerstones
Every important building has a special ceremony at the beginning of its construction. Of course this is the case for a building with a symbolic or sacred purpose. These ceremonies are not ordinary and their origins can be found early in the Western Tradition.
The installation of the cornerstone joins the space on which the building is built to the intention of the builders. Putting a stone in the ground was always considered a magical act and those who understand the use of geomantic and geobiologic architectural processes know that both the place and the moment are decisive elements. We saw that in the activation of the sacred space of the District of Columbia and the center of the Capitol Building. I can say that placing this cornerstone is the materialization of the building’s beginning, just as a human being receives the planetary influences of his or her moment of birth. This action will influence the construction and completion of all parts of the building. This same process also works on larger areas such as the Mall, regardless of the architects themselves. Invisible energies have a function and an action linking the intention of the master-builders and the place where the building is built.
An interesting but invisible pattern is manifested by the various cornerstones buried and dedicated according to the same rituals and with the same importance in the most important buildings of the capital. Undoubtedly rituals were performed according to Masonic ritual. It is important to realize that these rituals were (and are) not religious or congregational, but symbolic and Masonic. It is a very unique example in history that a capital was systematically consecrated by Masonic rituals in order to create a powerful and universal marker in the new American egregore.
Before going further, it is necessary to recall an important element explained in the first chapter of this book. I compared the cornerstone, the hidden stone of philosophers and alchemists, to the soul of the man hidden in the mortal body. This soul/stone points out the divine presence, which gives immortality to the microcosm, giving the man the capability to manifest his divine destiny. It’s the same for a building; every construction has a hidden stone that gives it a soul that interacts with its destiny. Some buildings have a real life that can manifest part of their consecrators’ intention. It is the ritual performed, and the inscriptions, messages, and memorabilia deposited in the cornerstone, that are all decisive elements.
The origin of this Masonic tradition is extremely ancient and symbolic. In Mesopotamia, as well as in Egypt, the priests included different elements like statues, jewels, precious metals, documents, and even food in the cornerstones. The inclusions in Egypt were very similar to the Masonic way. The cornerstone of the White House has a brass plate announcing the date and names of the participants, and invocation of a blessing. It was the same for the cornerstone of the Capitol. There’s a story about the Jefferson Pier Stone (not exactly a cornerstone) that tells how Jefferson and his wife were present at the foundation ceremony and Mrs. Jefferson put her thimble under the pier as a symbolic gift.
The placing of a cornerstone was just one part ofan eight-part set of rituals composed in Egypt. In ancient buildings, the foundation stone was placed at the northeast (some Masonic rituals choose northwest) corner of the structure, which was considered an auspicious position. In the Capitol, it is possible that the cornerstone was buried in the southeast corner of the north wing.
Freemasons today emphasize the nonmagical and nonreligious character of this ceremony. The meaning of these declarations is not that the ritual is not effective or sacred; rather it is to say that the Master of the Lodge conducting this ceremony is not a religious man performing a special sacrament in the sense of the monotheistic religions. Nevertheless, he is performing a sacred act, a ritual that has real power to change something in an intended way.
Associating different biblical references (corn, wine) with the hidden Egyptian and Hermetic origins, Masonry composed this interesting ritual that has been used since the eighteenth century. These elements are the standard used for the original ceremonies performed at the laying of the foundation of different buildings in Washington DC. Contemporary ceremonies are not much different as can readily be seen all around the country and world.
The ceremonies performed at the founding of the federal capital show deeper consequences than these symbolic elements. Despite the fact the new nation was composed of many different religious congregations, the Founding Fathers found a way to consecrate the shape of the city using sacred and symbolic acts without involving religious power. Masonry was the perfect solution, since it shows that the sacred can be disconnected from religion without a loss of purpose. In some ways, Freemasons acted like priests, and the use of a sacred ritual without sacramental aspects founded a republican standard in which everyone was able to find a place. Even the prayer shows an open mind, calling upon the “All-bounteous Author of Nature” and not a precisely named god. Masonry began to appear with a patriotic significance in a way very close to the Hermetic philosophy. Since this time, Masonic ceremonies have continued to be used in the great buildings of different states.
the temple of the gods: the capitol
The Capitol Building, is one of the major symbols of the American nation, home of the new form of government created by the Founding Fathers. Its architecture is the perfect expression of the presence of tradition in the modern world. It is a manifestation of this original will—majestic, powerful, and symbolic without appearing pompous.
In its situation to the east of the Mall, the Capitol can be seen as the temple of the protector gods of the city, something Dan Brown commented on in The Lost Symbol.
The Capitol Building is perfectly oriented to the four directions. The best place to see this is standing at the center of the rotunda (where the action of The Lost Symbol begins). Four arches open in the four directions. Surrounding this symbolic heart, and in utilizing the powerful number 8, are eight large paintings representing eight symbolic steps of American history. Just above this wonderful rotunda, we see Constantino Brumidi’s The Apotheosis of Washington showing the first president raised to heaven and sitting in the usual place of the supreme god, here between the representations of Liberty (right) and Victory (left). Interestingly, there are also seven representations of ancient divinities on the outer circle: Athena, Poseidon, Hermes, Hephaestus, Demeter, and Ares.
According to traditional symbolism, the gods as designated protectors of the city would be located at the rotunda’s highest point. “The heights of those of Zeus (Jupiter) and the celestial Gods are to be as high as they may conveniently be.”[2] When we look up to this symbolic sky, instead of Zeus (Jupiter) we see George Washington. These representations of the divine are a real invocation of their powers. In the manner of a talisman, which concentrates and attracts the power of the signs and symbols, the dome has the power to invoke the divinities protecting the city.
But the power of this place is not limited. The energy must radiate, and the reality of this symbol can be seen because the Capitol is the place in Washington with the maximum number of streets radiating from it. The statute of Freedom above the dome, facing east and the sunrise, emphasizes again the personality of this power given by the Founding Fathers.
The temple of Hermes equates to the Library of Congress. Vitruvius pointed out in his book that the temple of Hermes had to be close to the forum and the temple of the protector gods. From this point of view, the Library of Congress has a symbolic place and is a very important structure for the Masonic and Hermetic traditions. It is fascinating to see so many symbols present in a single building. All seems in perfect coherence. If I identified the Capitol as the central place of the American nation, it is possible to say that the Library of Congress is the central place for the illumination of humanity.
I had spoken earlier about the number 8, its symbolic value, and the representations associated with it. We will see how powerful is the link between this building and the influence of the number 8. In the Great Hall, the design on the marble floor is very interesting in regard to the symbolic standard of the tradition. In the center there is the Sun in its ancient form of a large eight-rayed orb, which aligns with the four cardinal directions and the direction of the main axes of the building. Surrounding this bright Sun is a square and the twelve zodiacal signs. Note the very close similarity to Florence’s Baptistery, which was the definitive structure illustrating the esoteric meaning of the number 8. The Sun on the floor, the rays, the zodiac, the double squares present on the floor in the corridors, these all synthesize the traditional teaching.
The inspiration of the architects and artists involved in the construction of the main building can be directly found in the classical Greek and Roman period. As expected, several Hermetic symbols can be found in this “Hermetic Temple.” The main reading room is octagonal in shape. This form is the pure and discrete expression of the Hermetic Tradition, and its culmination. The architecture of this monumental room is a close copy of Florence’s Baptistery. When the photos of both places are put side by side, the inspiration for the main reading room becomes clear. The columns of the first level and the pillars of the second level are exactly the same.
Above the room, the ceiling imagery is not as religious as in the Baptistery. Here, the purpose is a powerful and symbolic representation, called by the Hermetists Religio Mentis, which glorifies at every step the faithful union of the mind and spirituality, the material and the spiritual. This building is the perfect representation of the Hermetic vision “as above, so below,” the union of the earth and heaven, using harmony and beauty to rise to the ideal world.
Above the main reading room, the upper lantern, with its eight windows, creates eight shining stars illuminating a zodiac surrounding a female figure sybolizing human understanding. The situation, the symbol of the veil, and the zodiac remind us of the Hermetic representation of Isis. It is not a surprise to see her in this place.
It is interesting to note that the Library of Congress was named for Thomas Jefferson, who designed an octagonal house at his private retreat and plantation house, Poplar Forest.
Now we can understand better why Dan Brown wrote in The Lost Symbol that Washington DC was laid out and constructed using astrological and cosmological signs and symbols, by men who paid close attention to the earth and the heavens above.
the temple of demeter: scottish rite buildings
Undoubtedly the House of the Temple plays a central role in The Lost Symbol. But there are some errors in the story. For example, it seems that some initiations, including those in the first three degrees, were performed in this temple. This isn’t correct because these initiations are always performed in a Blue Lodge, a Masonic temple yone can visit in many places in the United States.
The House of the Temple is the headquarters of the Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction and the place of the administrative meetings of the Council. According to Vitruvius, “The temple of Demeter (Ceres) should be in a solitary spot out of the city.” The followers of Eleusis in Greece were among the most famous initiatic mystery schools of antiquity. Their connection with the initiations in Masonry is clear, and the Scottish Rite Center can be seen as this initiatic place.
In this building there is an auditorium where the Scottish Rite gives “classes.” During two days, candidates are gathered and participate in the different initiations from the 4th to the 32nd degrees. Some of these degrees are performed in full ritual. During these ceremonies, the initiates sit on bleachers in the auditorium. On the stage, the initiatic ritual is played by officers/actors with a candidate who represents all those present in the auditorium. Sometimes all present stand up and pronounce sacred words and oaths. The power of evocation of the initiations is huge. This representation of the sacred mysteries is deeply moving and the performance can really touch the soul of the initiates.
Some persons may be surprised by this way of initiating many candidates at the same time, thinking that every initiation must be individual, as is generally the case. But this ancient group ritual was the method used for centuries in the famous Mysteries of Eleusis and has been kept alive by the American Scottish Rite. During this group ritual, the initiates gathered to receive the “Grand Mysteries.” After swearing to keep these rituals secret, the initiate was able to enter the main sacred temple, the Telesterion. The details of these initiations were, in fact, generally kept secret. However, the writings of converted Christians and the help of archaeology give us enough elements to have a good idea of the process. It is interesting to note that the Telesterion was a large room with bleachers. Mysteries transmitting initiatic teachings on the origin and destiny of the soul were performed by priests in the center of the sacred space with the candidates surrounding the stage. Sometimes during the ceremony, they had to get up, move, pronounce sentences, etc. Sacred gestures were shown and holy words communicated. Lighting and sound technology added power to the celebration of these rituals.
It is always fascinating to see respectable traditions that remain active for millennia and can be found today under a new body with a quite similar purpose. Masonry sometimes works in a miraculous and surprising way.