THE BUILDER MAY 1918
THE ACACIA

BY BRO. H. A. KINGSBURY, CONNECTICUT

Many a Mason fails to realize that the Acacia, both in its
occurrence as the Sprig of Acacia and its occurrence as the proper
material of the Horns of the Masonic Altar, is a symbol--an example
of the symbolism of natural objects and, more specifically, an
example of the symbolism of plants. Therefore, two suggestions for
interesting study offered by Masonry are neglected far more often
than they are heeded. This is hardly the place for the making of a
full investigation of either of these two fields of research, and
no investigation will be attempted. The most that will be
endeavored is a brief review of certain phases of the significances
of some few plants, with particular reference to the Acacia.

The practice of assigning certain symbolic meanings and peculiar
significances to plants has come down to us from a time so distant
"that memory of man runneth not to the contrary" and, although so
far as present-day usage is concerned much has been lost, we
moderns yet follow the practice to no inconsiderable extent. To
cite but a few examples: the olive is recognized by us as the
symbol of peace, the laurel of victory, the rosemary of
remembrance, and the oak of sturdiness and strength.

The symbolistic systems of nearly all the ancient peoples included
examples of the symbolism of plants. Among the Egyptians the names
of women, except those of Egyptian queens, were, in the
hieroglyphics, terminated, or accompanied by, a representation of
a bouquet of the flowers of the papyrus. The bunch of papyrus was
also the generic determination of the names of all plants, herbs
and flowers. The bean symbolized unclean things--a conception
adopted by the Pythagoreans and, therefore, of particular interest
to the Mason--the apparent reason for assigning this significance
to the bean being that the name of that vegetable, in the Hebrew,
is the same, except for a difference in gender, as that of the
nomadic people, which people were an abomination to the Egyptians.

Referring further to the conceptions of the Egyptians; the fig tree
was, Portal in his "Egyptian Symbols" supposes, the symbol of
marriage. The lily or lotus was the symbol of initiation or the
birth of celestial light, indeed, on some of the monuments of Egypt
the god Phree, the sun, is pictured as rising from the cup of a
lotus; this symbolical meaning--that the lotus is the symbol of the
birth of celestial light--was probably assigned to the plant by the
Egyptians because of the fact that the flower opens at the rising
of the sun and closes at the close of day.

In the legend taught in the Adonisian Mysteries, Venus placed the
body of the dead Adonis on a bed of lettuce. In the Druidical
Mysteries the mistletoe was a sacred plant. In the Grecian
Mysteries the myrtle was of peculiar significance. In the Mysteries
of Dionysus the ivy was a sacred emblem. And in the Egyptian
Mysteries of Osiris and Isis the heath was held in veneration,
this-being due to the following circumstance:

It is related, in a certain legend taught in the Mysteries of
Osiris and Isis, that Isis, after a long search for the body of her
husband, the god Osiris murdered by Typhoon, discovered the body
buried on the brow of a hill; there was a heath plant growing near
by. Hence, in the mysteries which Isis established to commemorate
the death and resurrection of Osiris, the heath plant was adopted
as sacred on the strength of the fact that it had pointed out to
Isis, in her search, the spot where the body of Osiris lay
concealed. Let us now consider the Acacia.

Among the Hebrews, in early biblical times, the Acacia or, as it is
rendered in the Scriptures, the Shittah, was set apart from the
other trees of the forest as the one from whose wood various
objects having a special religious significance should be
constructed. So that, as told in the Scriptures, Acacia was the
wood from which were made the sanctuary of the temple, the Ark of
the Covenant, the table for the shew bread, and all the articles of
the sacred furniture that ought properly to be constructed from
wood, including the Horns of the Altar. So, this tree comes to the
Mason endowed with a special and peculiar importance and with a
history that well qualifies it for that important place which it
occupies in the symbolistic system of Masonry.

To the Mason the symbolic significance of the Acacia has a double
aspect, as the tree is the symbol Both of Innocence and of
Immortality of the Soul. Its character as a symbol of Innocence is
dependent upon the two-fold meaning of the Greek word for Acacia as
that word signifies both the Acacia and the moral quality of
innocence or purity of life. It must be confessed that had not this
conception--depending as it does merely upon the double meaning of
a word--the sanction of Brother Albert Mackey, it might seem to
some a straining after the symbolical hardly necessary or called
for, in a symbolistic system so rich in clear and straightforward
conceptions as is Masonry.

But, however it may be with the assigning to the Acacia the
character of a symbol of Innocence, the preeminent symbolic
significance of the Acacia--that it is the symbol of Immortality of
the Soul--is both natural and beautiful, being based upon and
derived from the fact that the Acacia is an evergreen.

As the evergreen never yields to the Changing Seasons or gives up
its hold on Life under the attacks of Winter, so the Soul never
yields to the Vicissitudes of Mortal Life or surrenders its
existence under the attacks of Death.

The Acacia, then, presents to the Mason's attention an example of
the symbolism of natural objects and so points the way to
interesting fields of investigation; reiterates that lesson taught
by every investigation of Masonic symbolism--that practically
everything in Masonry has a veiled significance not apparent at
first glance, and not intended to be so apparent, but designedly so
veiled in order that the Mason, to arrive at a basic knowledge of
his craft, must exert himself-- and, finally, it presents
symbolically one of the Great Teachings of Masonry--Immortality of
the Soul.


A MASON'S PRAYER

Dedicated to Pleasantville Lodge, Pleasantville, New York on the
occasion of the public installation of officers, by Linda Germond
Baker, the daughter of a former member of Gavel, Bro. Gilbert A.
Germond, who lived as he should and has gone to the Higher Temple.

To the Father of brothers, the Giver of good, 
To the Master of nations, the Worker in wood, 
To the great elder Brother who lived as he should--
We come;

For power to be stewards to earn a "well-done," 
For love to be brothers and follow that One, 
The Man among fishers, the carpenter's Son-- 
We look;

For help to be Masons in heart and in deed, 
For will to be craftsmen through life, quick to heed 
The Grand Master's bidding, where'er it may lead-- 
We pray;

Till, when Masons ever, with honors so high 
That man's sweetest thinking can them but espy, 
We bring to the altar, with Hosanna cry, Our lives.
