| Free Indeed - Part 7 : Vulcan in Freemasonry Parts 4, 5, and 6 of this report traced the basic story of Vulcan in Greek and Roman false religion and showed some major invocations of his spirit in the iconography of the U.S. Capitol, the city of Birmingham, Alabama, and in the Capitol Building of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, Pa., as well as in the literary, if not the plastic, iconography of Pittsburgh. Part 7 will attempt to show that the spirit of Vulcan is also invoked in the rites and symbology of one of the major strongholds of idolatry in the U.S.: Freemasonry. American Freemasonry operates through a masquerade in which it pretends to be a kind of Boy Scouts for grown ups; it claims to be little more than a civic club that goes a little farther and tries to make "good men better." The idolatrous roots, rites, and symbols of Freemasonry are complex and arcane. I will not treat them broadly here but only narrowly as they include Vulcan and his related themes of technology as rebellion and hubris, of building a human temple opposed to the real Temple of God. (For more complete information about Freemasonry see the archives of this listserv or the links in Gary DeVeau's recent post.) We read in the Bible, shortly after the fall of man, the story of Cain and Abel. Cain's offering (worship) was unacceptable; his brother Abel's was acceptable. Instead of repenting and offering up authentic worship on God's terms, Cain internalized the rejection of his offering. In his anger and jealousy he conceived and carried out the first murder. Through Cain and his descendants are founded the first city, the tower of Babel, and the origins of technology. The Bible does not state that founding the city was bad in and of itself, nor can we draw the conclusion that all towers are evil based on the one example of the Tower of Babel. Likewise, the earth was created with the potential for man to manipulate its materials into tools and other artifices, which clearly can be used for good or for evil. Nevertheless, I believe that every arena of human endeavor, perhaps even every facet of the physical universe, was qualitatively altered by the fall. Cities, towers, and technology may not be any more fallen than, say, sexuality, marriage, family relationships, physical health, mental health, the arts, but neither are they less fallen. All of these arenas in general and any one instance of them in specific may also hold redemptive gifts and certainly has the potential to be redeemed by coming into the Kingdom of God (through redeemed humans); however, in their current "natural" state they are fallen. One of Cain's descendants was named Tubal Cain. We know from Genesis 4 that he was a forger of tools and other metal items. His half-brother Jubal is named as the father of music, while Jabal is the father of those who live in tents and keep flocks. Tubal Cain also had a sister called Naamah. This is really about all we know from the Bible about these people. According to many traditions, Naamah is considered to be the first weaver, or sometimes the originator of other domestic arts. There are many stories about the descendants of Cain, and especially about the descendants of Tubal Cain, but these are inventions; they are not scriptural. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ According to several sources, the Masonic password for the third degree is the name Tubal Cain. According to one source, the Masonic writer Manly P. Hall has stated that, "The Mason must 'follow in the footsteps of his forefather, Tubal-Cain, who with the mighty strength of the war god hammered his sword into a plowshare.' " http://www.cuttingedge.org/free11.html This same web resource contains the following information which appears to be documented to Masonic sources. (note: I have not been able to obtain any of these print sources to verify their accuracy) : "In the Masonic Quiz Book, the candidate is asked this question: "Who was Tubal Cain?" Answer: "He is the Vulcan of the pagans." [William P. Peterson, Editor, Masonic Quiz Book: "Ask Me Brother", Chicago, Illinois, Charles T. Power Company, 1950, p. 18, 88, 131, 213; also found in John Yarker, The Arcane Schools: A Review of their Origin and Antiquity: With a General History of Freemasonry and Its Relation to the Theosophic Scientific and Philosophic Mysteries, Belfast, Ireland, William Tait, 1909, p. 30; also found in A. R. Chambers, Editor, Questions and Answers, 1972, p. 237; also found in Malcom Duncan, Duncan's Ritual of Freemasonry, New York, David McKay Company, Inc., n.d. 3rd Edition, p. 94.] http://www.cuttingedge.org/free11.html +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Another website quotes Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry relating the two: "Mackey�s Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry says that ... Tubal-cain is none other than the Roman god Vulcan as is thusly related, "Hephaistos, it will be observed, is the Greek of the god who was called by the Romans Vulcan. ... and the apparent similarity of names as well as occupations, have led some writers of the last, and even of the present, century to derive Vulcan from Tubal Cain by a process not very devious and therefore familiar to etymologists. By the omission in Tubal Cain of the initial T, which is the Phenician article, and its valueless vowel, we get Balcan, which, by the interchangeable nature of B and V, is easily transformed to Vulcan" (Vol 2., 1060).He further writes, "It might seem that Tubal is an attribute compounded of the definite particle T and the word Baal, signifying Lord. Tubal Cain would then signify the Lord Cain. Again, Dhu or du, in Arabic, signifies Lord, and we trace the same signification of this affix in its various interchangeable forms of Du, Tu, and Di, in many Semitic words" (Ibid.). Mackey further reveals that it was Tubal-cain who made the sharpened instruments of warfare." http://members.cox.net/thomasahobbs/yea_11-5.htm ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This Masonic site also identifies Tubal Cain with Vulcan: http://www.hiram.net/dormer/dorm72.html "Vulcan is, of course, named in the Craft, appearing as Tual-Cain or, as we say, Tubal Cain, who, be it particularly noted, comes to us in his particular guise as the First Artificer in Metals, conveying the same meaning as that other well-known title, "the first among many brethren" and, as such, the first to succeed in the grand experiment of transmutation, with which, in its various aspects we will have to deal more fully in due course." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The well-known occultist, Madame Blavatsky, equates Tubal Cain with the false god Vulcan in several passages in her works. Here is one instance: [[Vol. 2, Page]] 390 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. ... ** Tubal-Cain is a Kabir, "an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron"; or -- if this will please better -- he is one with Hephaestos or Vulcan; Jabal is taken from the Kabiri -- instructors in agriculture, "such as have cattle," and Jubal is "the father of all those who handle the harp," he, or they who fabricated the harp for Kronos and the trident for Poseidon.*** http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/sd/sd2-1-22.htm Blavatsky also offers at least one possible etymology for the name Vulcan (also spelled Vulcain or Volcain) as derived from Cain or Tubal Cain. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Alexander Hislop, in the Two Babylons, links Vulcan and the Greek form of his name, Hephaestus, with Cain, with Tubal Cain, with the rebellion of the fall, and with the scattering after the tower of Babel. I am not competent to judge the etymologies of this or any of the above sources, but I think it is telling that such diverse writers would attempt to tie the origin of the name Vulcan with Tubal Cain. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Whether or not the name Vulcan is linguistically derived from the name Tubal Cain, it is clear that at least some Freemasons and other occultists associate the two, and this is not a difficult leap to make considering the shared profession of the two. We know from scripture that Tubal Cain was a forger of metals and a crafter of tools. We know that Vulcan is the false god of the forge. There is more in the Masonic lore of Tubal Cain and in the Roman story of Vulcan, however, that ties the two to the spirit behind Freemasonry and to each other. (It is important for us as Christians and as mappers to continue to distinguish between the very limited information we have in the Bible about the real person of Tubal Cain and the myths or lies about him that are told in other sources.) According to this story, which probably originates from the 19th century French writer, occultist, and purported Grand Nautonnier of the Priory of Sion, Gerard de Nerval, Tubal Cain was the ancestor of Hiram of Tyre, who built Solomon's Temple. This Masonic site associates the story with the Rosicrucians and with a lecture given by Rudolf Steiner in Germany sometime between 1904-1906: http://www.lapisangularis.org/templeleg.html ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The poem by Richard Realf, "Hymn of Pittsburgh," quoted in its entirety in Part 6 of this report, also identifies Vulcan with Tubal Cain, and with the curse on the soil resulting from the fall of man. "My father was mighty Vulcan I am Smith of the land and sea, The cunning spirit of Tubal Cain ..." "I drip with the sweats of toil, I quell and scepter the savage wastes And charm the curse from the soil ..." Notice that in this excerpt the false claim is made that Vulcan charms the curse from the soil. The curse on the soil was a direct result of the fall. The consequences of this curse include the requirement to work the land with the sweat of the brow in order to make it yield food. However, there was a further curse on Cain himself, that the ground would no longer yield any at all crops for him. It is neither a real person, Cain or Tubal Cain, nor a false god, Vulcan or any other demon, who can remove the curse of sin, but only the blood of Jesus Christ. The false god Vulcan and his sister Minerva are together the patron false gods of the entire realm of work, all the crafts, and many domains of human knowledge, including metal working, mining, architecture, engineering, all of science, and traditional female or domestic crafts such as weaving and sewing. They are not usually associated directly with agriculture. Freemasonry appears to identify itself with Vulcan. As far as I have read, Vulcan is not specifically associated with stone masons, but is the demon named as reigning over all architecture and engineering. Freemasons have an entire false system built around obsession with the Temple of Solomon. They have additions, legends, and lies added to the information actually given in scripture. Just as Satan is obsessed with his jealousy of the Bride of Christ, and manifests this through his counterfeit version, the Queen of Heaven, he is also obsessed with the role of Redeemed Humanity as the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Each of us is individually the Temple of the Holy Spirit, but we also know that together we are being fitted together into a building. Each of us is a living stone, being fitted together carefully by the Builder who knows each of us so well. Living stones are not hewn stones. They are not identical; they are not bricks. The Temple of Solomon itself was a type of this building we are being fitted into. In a certain sense, the Temple of Solomon was a failure as a place of worship. Even during the reign of Solomon himself, idolatry returned. In a later period, we read in the vision of Ezekial about the idols set up in the temple itself. This fixation on the physical temple and the building of it has many aspects. However, it seems to me that the main one is diversion from the real point, from the real Temple. The centrality of the Cornerstone ceremony in Masonic rites is a perversion of the centrality of the REAL Cornerstone, Jesus Christ, in the REAL temple that God is building. The living stones line themselves up with Jesus, and He is shaped that way because of His nature, because of His righteousness, not because He has been hewn into shape by the hands of men. The Masonic "Architect of the Universe" is not the Yahweh of the Bible, is not Jesus, and is not the builder who is fitting the redeemed together, living stones making a living Temple of the Holy Spirit. Images of Vulcan in government buildings and other public monuments are not simply decorations or "allegorical figures." This demon, who is honored in the U.S. Capitol, is at the heart of the idolatrous system of Freemasonry. He and his sister Minerva also have a long history in the roots of Western Civilization as they sprang up in ancient Greece and Rome. Although the main focus of this report is on Minerva and False Liberty, this section on Vulcan was intended to give a fuller picture of the place of these demons in our national iconography, as well to illustrate the relevance of these false gods from Greece and Rome to active idolatry systems, specifically Freemasonry. The image of the blacksmith is mentioned twice in the book of Isaiah. In Chapter 44 he is listed along with other craftsmen who make idols. In Chapter 54, God declares that He is the One who created even the enemy, but the enemy's rule is limited, and ultimately will not prevail: "See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc; no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and this is their vindication from me, declares the Lord." Isaiah 54: 16-17 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Free Indeed - Part 8 : Back to Minerva Free Indeed - Home |