THE BUILDER MARCH 1919

Some Notes on Symbolism

BY BRO. SILAS H. SHEPHERD, Wisconsin

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour. 
[William Blake]

The thoughts of all the greatest and wisest men have been expressed
through mythology. 
[John Ruskin]

A myth is a narrative framed for the purpose of expressing some
general truth. A symbol is a silent myth, which impresses the truth
which it conveys not by successive stages, but at once throws
together significant images of some truth.
[Wm. Fleming]

In a symbol there is concealment and yet revelation, silence and
speech acting together some embodiment and revelation of the
infinite, made to blend itself with the finite, to stand visible
and, as it were, attainable there. 
[Thos. Carlyle]

The first learning of the world consisted chiefly of symbols. The
wisdom of the Chaldeans, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Jews, of
Zoroaster, Sanchoniathon, Pherecydds, Cyrus, Pythagoras, Socrates,
Plato and all of the ancients that is come to our land. is
symbolic. 
[Dr. Wm. Stukeley]

Symbolic representation of things sacred were coeval with religion
itself as a system of doctrine appealing to sense, and have
accompanied its transmission to ourselves from the earliest known
period of monumental history. 
[H. C. Barlow]

In the absence of a written language or form of expression capable
of conveying abstract ideas, we can readily comprehend the
necessity, among a primitive people, of a symbolic system.
[E. G. Squire]

The study of Freemasonry is essentially a study of symbolism
because Freemasonry teaches by symbolism only. Any inquiry
therefore, into the teachings of Freemasonry, should be preceded by
a comprehensive investigation of the nature of symbolism in
general, its origin and its peculiar characteristics.
[M. R. Grant]

THE scarcity of literature dealing with symbolism seems strange
when we consider its importance and how much it influences our
present life, as well as the significant function it fulfilled in
the development of human thought and culture.

Albert G. Mackey and Oliver D. Street have both written works of
great merit on the subject of Masonic symbolism which should be
more extensively read. Albert Pike was a profound scholar of
symbolism, but unfortunately only published limited editions of his
"Lectures on Symbolism." All these talented brethren have warned us
against the errors into which we are liable to fall by either
neglecting to give the symbols the spiritual significance they
deserve, or by trying to give them forced interpretations.

W. H. Rylands, a distinguished brother, also warns us saying:

Symbolism is always a difficult affair as everyone knows or at
least ought to know. When once fairly launched on the subject, it
often becomes an avalanche or torrent which may carry one away into
the open sea or more than empty space. On few questions has more
rubbish been written than that of symbolism, it is a happy hunting
ground for those who, guided by no sort of system or rule, ruled
only by their own sweet will, love to allow their fancies and
imaginations to run wild. Interpretations are given which have no
other foundation than the disordered brain of the writer and when
proof or anything approaching a definite statement is required
symbols are confused with metaphors and we are involved in a
further maze of follies and wild fancies.

While the foregoing advice is timely and needs to be always
considered, we must also consider the equally important admonition
of Albert Pike, who says:

The symbolism of Masonry is the soul of Masonry. Every symbol of a
lodge is a religious teacher, the mute teacher also of morals and
philosophy. It is in its ancient symbols and in the knowledge of
their true meanings that the pre-eminence of Freemasonry over all
other orders consists. In other respects, some of them may compete
with it, rival it, perhaps even excel it- but by its symbols it
will reign without a peer when it learns again what its symbols
mean, and that each is the embodiment of some great, old, rare
truth, and again, that to translate the symbols into the trivial
and commonplace is the blundering of mediocrity.

Freemasonry is the custodian of a system of symbolism and we can
never fully comprehend the depth of its philosophy or the height of
its spiritual significance without some knowledge of the use of
symbols in past ages.

Three theories have been advanced for the probable origin of
Masonic symbolism. First: it has come down from times antedating
the Grand Lodge era. Second: it was formulated by the brethren of
the Grand Lodge about 1717. Third: it has been an evolution, which
is still going on.

If either the second or third theories are correct the present
paper is useless, because it deals with evidence bearing out the
first theory. The evidence, from its very nature, can not be
conclusive proof. If Freemasonry is really a system of symbolic
teaching, which is generally conceded; and if this symbolism was
undergoing a process of decay in the time immediately preceding the
Grand Lodge era as R. F. Gould thinks probable, we may well seek
for the earliest recorded use of symbols in general, and
architectural and geometrical symbols in particular, as possible
aids to a better understanding of their importance and utility.

The use of tools and implements of architecture as symbols, and a
traditional history distinguish the so-called operative Freemasons
of the era preceding the revival in 1717 from the many guilds of
other crafts, and it is noteworthy that architectural and
geometrical symbols are much more in evidence as moral and
spiritual teachers than any other class of symbols. We may also
note their use many centuries ago, in much the same way Freemasonry
uses them today.

Going then to the records we possess of the earliest historic times
in China, I find clear evidence of the existence of a mystic faith
expressed in allegorical form, and illustrated, as with us, by
symbols. The secrets of this faith were orally transmitted. the
chiefs alone pretending to have full knowledge of them. I find,
moreover, that in these earliest ages this faith took a Masonic
form, the secrets being recorded in symbolic buildings like the
Tabernacle Moses put up in the desert, and the Temple his
successor, Solomon, built in Jerusalem; that the various offices in
the hierarchy of this religion were distinguished by the symbolic
jewels held by them during their terms of office, and that, as with
us at the rites of their religion they wore leather aprons, such as
have come down to us, marked with the insignia of their rank. I
find in the earliest works that have come down to us, the square
and compasses, and regulated his life thereby being then, as now,
considered to possess the secrets and to carry out the principles
of true propriety. Finally, I find one of the most ancient names by
which the Deity is spoken of in China is that of the First Builder,
or, as Masons say, the Great Architect of the Universe.

The Mysteries of this ancient Faith have now become lost, or at
best obscured, though attempts at a revival may be traced in the
proceedings of existing brotherhoods, whose various rituals and
signs are supposed to be in some measure founded on ancient rites
and symbols which have been handed down from the earliest ages.

From time immemorial we find the square and compasses used by the
Chinese writers, either together or separately, to symbolize
precisely the same phases of moral conduct as in our own system of
Freemasonry it has ever been accepted as a physical axiom in China
that "Heaven is round, Earth is square"; and among the relies of
the nature worship of old, we find the altar of Heaven at Peking
round, while the altar of Earth is square. By the marriage of
Heaven and Earth, the conjunction of the circle and the square, the
Chinese believe that all things were produced and subsequently
distributed, each according to its own proper function. And such
is, in my opinion, the undoubted origin of the terms "square and
compasses" as figuratively applied to human conduct by the earliest
ancestors of the Chinese people.

Let us not imagine that symbols have become obsolete, or that they
are not commonly used in present everyday life. The symbols used by
our remote ancestors were in many cases their only method of
conveying abstract thought, while modern invention and education
has in a pronounced manner supplemented them with facilities for
development which divert our conscious realization of the
importance of symbols.

Do we doubt the power of symbols? If so, let us take those we use
daily and analyze their power over our mental processes. The emblem
"$" signifies dollars. As a symbol it brings us to a clear
consciousness of financial affairs.. We cannot take this sign ($)
and buy anything with it; but if we have that which it symbolizes
we are able to procure equivalent values in necessities and
luxuries. As a symbol it only partially effects our emotional
nature, and is only given because of its being so generally used.

The flag of our country, Old Glory, is an emblem of the government
of the United States of America. As a symbol it brings vividly into
our mind yes, into our hearts and souls the high ideals which made
the United States of America possible. As a symbol of the high
ideals of liberty and equality it keeps us eager to maintain and
promote those ideals. For a brief moment reflect on the emotions
which have vibrated your whole body as you gazed at this symbol of
equality and liberty, and you cannot deny the power of a symbol. As
a physical object it is nothing but cloth. The colors are used in
many ways. To be sure the arrangement is very beautiful and from an
artistic viewpoint we can be justly proud of our flag; but its real
power is the wonderful things it symbolizes.

Likewise, let us consider the cross. To the Christian the cross is
a continual reminder of the great law of love which Christianity
teaches. To the Christian the cross must ever symbolize that
Fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man which the Master taught.

Both the flag as symbol of equality and liberty, which are the
foundation stones on which our country rests, and the cross, which
symbolizes divine love, are only partially understood by the great
majority. To comprehend their full significance it is necessary to
understand how political equality and liberty developed, and study
the religious aspirations of humanity. To express a sentiment of
patriotism without a real conception of the great principles which
the flag symbolizes, or profess to be a Christian and fail to love
God with all your heart and soul and your neighbor as yourself, is
to understand only partially the things they symbolize. So, too,
with the square and compasses and other pertinent symbols of
Freemasonry. They have deep significance and the power to raise the
brother from the prevailing conceptions of social relationship to
the highest ideals of brotherhood. Symbols cannot make any
impression on the human mind, except by desire and consent. Freedom
of action and even speech is sometimes restrained or prohibited,
but freedom of thought is something that is inviolable. We choose
whether to permit a symbol to influence us and to what extent.

The flag and the cross are the most potent symbols relating to
political and religious thought on this continent, but they are by
no means the only way of teaching these things. In Freemasonry,
however, symbols are the very essence of the whole system. Without
the symbols it would be of no more value than the many other
fraternal societies which promote the welfare of humanity to
limited extent. It is by these symbols and a proper understanding
of their use in our lives that Freemasonry excells. To be a member
of a Masonic lodge and not understand its symbolism is as
inconsistent as to be a citizen and not understand the principles
of government.

The object of the present essay is to direct attention to several
of the more important symbols of antiquity, as it is only by
knowledge of what they have meant to people of the past that we can
fully understand the general system of symbolism of which
Freemasonry is custodian.

The word symbol comes from a Greek word meaning "a sign by which
one knows a thing." In its general use it is a visible sign of an
ideal or quality of another object. In a religious and moral or
Masonic sense, it is a sign with a moral or spiritual significance.

Symbols, emblems and types are very commonly used as synonymous,
but must be considered as distinct in any study of symbolic
teaching. An emblem is a representation of an idea by a visible
object. A type is, more strictly speaking, one thing which is a
model for another, such as the tabernacle was a model, or type, of
King Solomon's Temple. As H. C. Barlow says in Essays on Symbolism:

Emblems, symbols and types all have this in common: they are the
representatives of something else for which they stand. Emblems and
symbols often differ only in their mode of application, thus the
palm-branch is an emblem of victory, but, taken in a Christian
sense, it is a symbol, significant of the victory of our faith, and
is given to all Christian martyrs who have thus overcome death. The
anchor may be a mere emblem of hope, but when it is put for the
hope of a Christian it becomes a symbol. So, also, the equilateral
triangle may be nothing more than the emblem of three united in
one- but, as significant of the doctrine of the Trinity, it is a
symbol of the highest order.

A symbol is of the highest order when it expresses a religious
dogma or philosophical doctrine, but of the lowest when it is put
for a received fact, either real or legendary. Thus the anchor as
a symbol of St. Clement, is of the lowest order; and so are all
those particular symbols of saints by which they are distinguished
from one another: as the sword of St. Paul the keys of St. Peter,
the knife of St. Bartholomew, the tower of St. Barbara. etc.

The Christian church is possessor of a wealth of the most
impressive symbolism. The sacraments are all symbolism of the
highest type, but alas, like Freemasonry, its votaries too often go
through the forms and ceremonies with very little conception of
their full significance. The subjects of the medieval artists were
originally symbolical, but are now simply conventional with a large
majority. The Virgin and Child was introduced as a symbol of those
holding the orthodox faith after the Council of Ephesus had
condemned the Nestorians in A. D. 431. Barlow tells us:

The dogma of the Mother of God was of Egyptian origin, it was
brought in, along with the worship of Madonna, by Cyril and his
monks of Alexandra, in the fifth century.

The earliest representations of the Madonna and Child have quite a
Greco-Egyptian character, and there is little doubt that Isis
nursing Horus was the origin of them all. The Chinese also
recognize this old pagan notion in Tienhow, the Queen of Heaven,
nursing her infant son, who is usually represented holding a lotus-
bud as the symbol of the new birth.

In a recent work entitled The Celestial Ship of the North, a vast
accumulation of material bearing on the primitive conceptions of a
divine Mother was collected. There are many traditions which point
to this Celestial Ship of the North as being symbolized by the
Great Bear, or Ursa Major. Miss Zelia Nuttall in her Archaeological
work for Harvard University has brought together much evidence in
favor of the theory that it was from this group of stars that the
Swastika was originally derived. The revolution of these stars
around the Poled Star annually with one spoke of an imaginary wheel
at equal angles at the four seasons of the year is, according to
her theory, symbolized by the Swastika.

Any study of the highest types of symbols, or those effecting the
moral and religious nature, should embrace considerable knowledge
of all the religions of antiquity. In such a study we should
endeavor to find those basic principles which are common to all
religions, and to acquire as much as possible the viewpoint of
those primitive people among which symbols were first used.

The use of symbols is prehistoric, because when man had developed
to a point where he recorded his actions and thoughts he was far
advanced. The first language of primitive man was undoubtedly a
sign language. Spoken language developed very slowly. The first
language was probably limited to things concerning physical acts
and desires, such as desire for food, shelter, clothing and to
express fear and pain, joy and happiness.

Sustenance and reproduction are the motive forces which actuate
physical man. His mental, moral and spiritual nature are dependent
on the leisure he may find from the necessities nature has imposed.
He has within him faculties which are seldom developed to their
capacity. Sustenance and reproduction have been perverted, and
selfish desire to live on what others produce, and use reproductive
natural propensities for lustful excess has diverted many of the
human race from the development of the higher phases of being.

As far back as records guide us, or traditions permit us to
speculate, a limited number of men have held the highest ideals and
helped their fellows to a better understanding of the mental, moral
and spiritual phases of life.

A primitive shepherd sending his flocks on the plains of Chaldea
gazed in amazement at the starry heavens and eventually discovered
that the sun, moon and stars had orderly and systematic movements.
He saw the return of seasons and the wonderful reproduction of
vegetable life and in his primitive way must have speculated on the
cause. The first line which primitive man saw was a circle. It was
the circle of the horizon. How long after he discovered this circle
and tried to reproduce it in miniature by the aid of two sticks
which eventually became our compasses must remain conjecture, but
we may venture purely as a probability that the circle, line and
square were the first geometrical figures used by man. It is
probable that even before this he may have made crude pictures
gradually evolved a written language.

It required a long period of time to develop both written and
spoken language to such a degree as to be capable of conveying
abstract ideas that it is almost certain that such ideas were
originally expressed by symbols.

The records of pictographs in discovered caves, inscriptions on
monuments, vases, coins and tombs have given to us the information
upon which all writers on symbolism of antiquity have based their
opinions. According to these records we may consider the swastika
as one of the most ancient of symbols. It is also one of the most
prolific and is found in almost every part of the northern
hemisphere, and in such parts of the southern as it might have been
carried by migration. The swastika is considered by many writers to
be a form of cross and, as such, to symbolize the four quarters of
the earth in times when it was believed the earth was flat and
oblong. As previously mentioned, Miss Nuttall, with many facts to
substantiate her opinion, holds that it represented the movements
of Ursa Major around Polaris, and symbolized the year.

The migration of symbols has followed the migration of peoples and
commerce. Many symbols have been used on coins and thus in commerce
the symbol has been transplanted to places where its original
significance was not understood.

Another symbol of great antiquity is the Phallus. The lingam and
yoni of ancient India and the Crux Ansata of ancient Egypt are the
most ancient we have any knowledge of. The reproductive principle
in nature seems to have led primitive man to use this symbol as the
most pertinent way of expressing his ideas of the Great Creator of
the Universe. The ideas of propriety which make it so repugnant to
us did not occur to primitive man. The following quotation from
Primitive Symbolism, by H. M. Westropp, expresses this very
clearly:

Nature to the early man was not brute matter, but a being invested
with his own personality, and endowed with the same feelings,
passions and performing the same functions. He could only conceive
the course of nature from the analogy to his own actions. By an
easy illusion the functions of human nature were transferred to
physical nature. Man not only attributed his own mind and feelings
to the powers of nature but also the functions of his nature-
generation, begetting reproduction, bringing forth; they became his
ideas of cause and effect. To the sun, the great fecundator, and
the chief cause of awakening nature into life- to the earth, the
great recipient in the bosom of which all things are produced, man
attributed the same powers and modes of reproduction as in human
nature. The human intellect being finite, man is incapable of
imagining a personal god inseparable from the functions of human
nature. Sex was given to them, the sun or sky were considered the
male, or active power- the earth, the female or passive power. The
sky was the fecundating and fertilizing power; the earth was looked
upon as the mould of nature as the recipient of seeds, the nurse of
what was produced in its bosom. An analogy was suggested in the
union of the male and female. These comparisons are found in
ancient writers.

As an example we may take this from the Greek poet and dramatist,
Aeschylus:

The bright sky loves to penetrate the earth; the earth, on her
part, aspires to the heavenly marriage. Rain falling from the
watery sky impregnates the earth, and she produces for mortals
pastures of the flocks, and the gifts of Ceres.

The later writer, Plutarch, expresses the same idea:

The sky appeared to men to perform the functions of a father, as
the earth those of a mother. The sky was the father, for it east
seed into the bosom of the earth which, on receiving them, became
fruitful and brought forth, and was the mother.

And finally we may quote Dr. Christian D. Ginsburg:

Eminent scholars who have devoted themselves to the investigation
of ancient cults, have shown to demonstration that the most
primitive idea of God was that He consisted of a dual nature,
masculine and feminine, and the connubial contact of this
androgynous deity gave birth to creation.

Vast numbers of quotations might be made to further demonstrate the
conclusions eminent scholars have arrived at regarding the
prevalence of this primitive belief and also showing that it was
general among all is primitive people in every part of the world,
even in the ancient civilizations of the western hemisphere.

All prominent writers on Symbolism have stressed the importance of
phallic symbols in the religions and philosophies of primitive
people. We feel that their importance has not been over-estimated
and that among the early ancestors of our race this particular
phase of nature's manifestations produced in their minds a
reverence which it is hard for modern people to understand.

Primitive symbols were all very close to nature. The earliest
pictographs were crude pictures of animals which were probably the
crudest and most elementary symbols. Geometrical symbols, of which
the Swastika, Cross and Crux Ansata are the most important and
interesting, were all closely allied to astrological symbols.

THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTER OF CIVILIZATION

Twentieth century modes of life make most of us quite unconscious
of nature and the great universe, except as we relax from the daily
routine and seriously contemplate it. With our primitive ancestor
it was the reverse. He lived in a world that, while it was crude in
modes of life as we know them, was simple and very close to nature.
His very existence depended on his knowledge of nature. He must
observe the sun, moon and stars and regulate his life by them. To
him the sun actually did rule the day and the moon govern the
night. In his crude way he started the study of astronomy which
eventually became astrology in which we find a most complex system
of governing influences. Constellations were named after
mythological and fanciful characters, each of which had its
particular influence on earthly affairs. Astrology and mythology
are very intimately connected and a very extended system of
symbolism was developed. The zodiac with its twelve signs is the
central figure of this system of symbolism, and although we are
prone to ridicule astrology, it has been a most potent factor in
the development of the human mind. Perhaps we do an injustice to
the ancient astrologers by judging the ideas they expressed
literally when much of all the expression of the ancients was
figurative.

Architecture was the first mechanical occupation of man. Early in
his development he learned to build crude shelter for himself and
soon after built altars for worship. He next built a temple, or
house of God, and with the tools he used probably associated moral
tenets. The first use of tools and implements of architecture was
symbols of moral virtues is lost in antiquity. They are closely
associated with religion, and so, in fact, are all the symbols that
have come down from the remote past. It was a religious sentiment
that actuated their first use and the same sentiment that
perpetuated their use. If we study them today from purely
intellectual motives, we may never under stand them.

