The Masonic Degrees' Handbook by J. S. M. Ward

Author:J. S. M. Ward [Ward, J. S. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783849630348
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
Published: 2013-10-17T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER V - THE TRACING BOARD

The main teaching of the second degree is contained in the picture of the tracing board, and with regard to at any rate some of the incidents and facts an allegorical meaning is evident.

The first important architectural feature mentioned is a pair of columns, stated to have been set up at the porch way or entrance of the Temple. These pillars seem always to have had a peculiar fascination for our Masonic ancestors, and even in the early days of the Comacines we find them setting up B. and J. in the porch of the mediaeval church at Wurzburg, but their symbolical history runs back very much further even than the days of King Solomon..s Temple. The two p..rs Tat and Tattu are found in the early papyri of the Book of the Dead in Egypt, and appear to have had the meaning of "in s." and " to e. firmly," but even in the primitive initiation rites of the Yaos, in Nyasaland, the boys, after various adventures, have to pass between two p....rs. The original meaning of these p...rs was undoubtedly phallic, and in rites dealing with whence we come are obviously appropriate. The use of the word s. in a ceremony which, like these Yao rites, aims at increasing the procreative powers of the members of the tribe by a magical ritual, is obvious, but at a later date more ethical meanings were naturally grafted on to the basic one. That this original idea was not forgotten when the twin columns were set up by King Solomon is clear from the description of the chapters. The net work, denoting union, combined with the my work, denoting virginity, and the subsequent references to the pomegranates with their abundant seeds, convey the same lesson, as do certain other adornments of the columns, but already other more evolved ideas had been grafted on to the age-old symbols. Thus, the fact that they were formed hollow in order to serve as archives for Freemasonry, for therein were deposited, etc., seems to refer to the doctrine of re-incarnation. The constitutional rolls in this case are the effect of his past lives which are already latent in the child. At any rate it is clear that there must be an allegory here, for if intended to be accepted literally the statement is absurd. No sensible person would really put the constitutional rolls inside a hollow p........r, they would be placed in the monuments room of the Temple.

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