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The Hermetic Influence on Freemasonry by Brother Timothy Hogan, Past District Lecturer, Grand Lodge of Colorado A.F

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The Hermetic Influence on Freemasonry by Brother Timothy Hogan, Past District Lecturer, Grand Lodge of Colorado A.F emerald tablet The Hermetic Influence on Freemasonry by Brother Timothy Hogan, Past District Lecturer, Grand Lodge of Colorado A.F. & A.M. There is an undercurrent within likewise deemed him the inventor of all the sciences. Freemasonry which cannot be The writings attributed to him and his followers were ignored if its symbolism is to studied by philosophers and scientists alike, and he be understood. This nuance became an influence on a wide range of personalities, is related to the teachings of including Leonardo Da’ Vinci, Botticelli, Paracelsus, Hermetic Philosophy. In Masonic Giordano Bruno, Thomas More, Sir Robert Moray, terms, we can think of Hermetic Elias Ashmole, Isaac Newton, John Theophilus philosophy as “a system of Desaguliers, William Blake, Percy and Mary Shelley, hieroglyphical instruction, John Milton, Johannes Kepler, Victor Hugo, Carl Jung, taught by allegory and illustrated by symbols.” The Ralph Waldo Emerson, along with many, many others. characteristic of all hermetic tradition is that its lessons It is believed that Hermetic philosophy lays at the are revealed only to those who are “duly and truly foundation of the rituals of Freemasonry, and that prepared” to receive them. Hermetic and alchemical the very figure of Hiram himself may, in fact, be an traditions are often cited as the same thing in that both allusion to Hermes. Indeed, we find in an early French kinds of instruction involve an interpretation of the ritual (c.1800) entitled “Zwei Hochgrad-Rituale des 18. complete knowledge of man, in mind, body and spirit, Jarhunderts,” a passage where a brother impersonating discovered through the use of various symbols and Hermes explains that he has emerged from the associations, and Hermes was said to be the inventor night of the tomb and admonishes the candidate of alchemy. Of course, this is a kind of science that to, “Remember me. My true name is Mercurius for must ultimately engage the seeker in very internal and the Egyptians, Thoth for the Phoenicians, Hermes private work, in which he is protected from the outside Trismagistus for the Greeks, and all over the earth, I am by the hidden nature of the symbols themselves. Hiram, whose wonderful story has amazed you.” Given Almost all processes of this type, then, are initiatic in this early association, it is important for students of form and considered a part of the Secret Tradition. Masonry to examine this enigmatic figure that has The teachings of Hermetic philosophy, of which been so celebrated throughout history. this essay is focused, owe their origin (it is said) to Though Hermes is mentioned and quoted a the one known as Hermes, or sometimes Hermes number of times in the degrees of the AASR (SJ) of Trismagestus- the “Thrice Great.” Hermes was believed Freemasonry, the first reference to him in the Craft by some to have been a man; by others, a god. To still Degrees actually goes back to some of the earliest others, he represents a lineage of initiates. The Greek recorded charges of Freemasonry. The following Hermes was known as Mercury by the Romans, Thoth is from the “Old Charges,” also called the “Gothic by the Kemetian-Egyptians, Taaut by the Phoenicians, Manuscripts” compiled and published by Brother J. and Inki by the Sumerians. He became associated Roberts in 1722. These are a collection of manuscripts with learning and communication, and his image can which some suggest date from the late 14th century, often be found in art, poetry, and even murals in the which give the history of Freemasonry as passed down cathedrals of Notre Dame. at that time. Albert Mackey, in his Encyclopedia of Hermes became the patron saint of alchemy by Freemasonry, sources a similar origin, and mentions a the alchemists of the middle ages, who believed he similar quote in the “Grand Lodge, No.1, MS” of 1583. was the inventor of the science- though the Egyptians Here is what the “Gothic Manuscripts” say of the two continues next page Emerald Tablet, a publication of San Marcos 342 March 2014 The Hermetic Influence on Freemasonry pillars that have become such an integral part of Masonic ritual: “The one stone was called marble that cannot burn with fire. The other was called lateras that cannot drown with water. Our intent is now to tell you truly how and in what manner these stones were found whereon these crafts were written in Greek; Hermenes that was son unto Cush, and Cush was son unto Shem who was son unto Noah- this same Hermenes was afterwards called Hermes the Father of Wise Men, and he found out the two pillars of stone wherein the sciences were written and taught them forth...” Of immediate notice is the suggestion that Hermes was responsible for finding the original two pillars, which were emerald tablet designed to withstand catastrophes of water and fire, so that the Emerald Tablet is published periodically by mysteries stored within them could be preserved. It is perhaps also San Marcos Masonic Lodge 342, A.F.& A.M. fitting that one of the common names for a pillar in the ancient Opinions expressed in Emerald Tablet do Greek is a “Herme,” the very name associated with Hermes, and not necessarily reflect those of San Marcos said to share a similar name due to the veneration of him. A Lodge 342, the Grand Lodge of Texas or its Herme, or Herm, in Greek was also associated with a stone, which respective officers. took on alchemical significance. In general, it was defined as any object created to venerate Hermes, and often times they consisted http://sanmarcoslodge342.org/ of pillars with a bust of Hermes on top of them, or they were Article submissions: pillars erected at sacred sites venerating Hermes. email articles and supporting materials to: The main writings associated with Hermes have come to be [email protected] known as the Corpus Hermeticum- which literally means “body of Hermes.” The majority of these writings are in Greek, Latin, and Contributing Authors: Coptic from the first through the third centuries CE, however there John Brengle Paul Bullock were also later Arabic sources for some of these, which the Latin Robert G Davis Chuck Dunning translations came from. The main texts of the Corpus Hermeticum Timothy Hogan Al Matthews originally come from seventeen Greek treatises. However, there Pete Normand John Tobert are also various fragments in the anthology of Ioannes Stobaios, a Latin translation of the text called Asklepios found in the works of Apuleius, texts from Codex VI of the Nag Hammadi library, and more recent texts of Hermetic philosophy like the Kybalion. Nonetheless, the earliest evidence of writings and veneration of the wisdom of Hermes go back far into antiquity. Under the guise of the Egyptian Thoth, Hermes was venerated as early as 3000 BCE, and was credited with the invention of the hieroglyphic writing and the arts and sciences. He was also deemed the recorder of all human deeds throughout life. The first known reference to Hermes as the “thrice great” is in the writings of Hor of Sebennytos, recording a meeting of a council of an Ibis cult on June 1, 172 BCE. The Ibis cult of Egypt was associated with Hermes as the god Thoth, in which the minutes of the council state: “…the benefit which is performed for the ibis, the soul of Thoth, the three times great…” Esoteric tradition has suggested that the ibis bird was associated with Thoth because continues next page Emerald Tablet, a publication of San Marcos 342 March 2014 Page 2 The Hermetic Influence on Freemasonry this bird stands in the water with one leg up, holding the biggest critics to the antiquity of early Hermetic a stone. As the bird begins to fall asleep, it drops the thought having origin in Egyptian doctrine was by stone, which awakens it again. Therefore the bird Isaac Casaubon in 1614, who, of course, was writing represented wakeful meditation; and being a bird, it two centuries before Egyptian hieroglyphs had even also symbolized the ability to fly to heights, alluding been translated. Moreover, it was once believed that to transcendence. The ibis bird is also known to eat Hermetic texts were newer in age because they had snakes, and the snake was a symbol of cosmic energy- phrases and ideas in them very similar to those found which it was mastering by digesting it. in the New Testament. And indeed, Christian Gnostic As mentioned, there are a number of known thought was deemed to be Hermeticism wrapped in surviving texts of early Hermetic literature, and new packaging. However, it has been found that many Egyptian texts emphasizing the role of Thoth, some of these ideas expressed in the New Testament can being dated as early as the fourth century BCE. likewise be found on earlier Egyptian temple walls and There are also references to Hermes in the sixth Nag texts,4 again suggesting that possibly both traditions Hammadi Codex- which some date liberally to as shared a similar source in antiquity. Perhaps this solves early as the first century BCE and others to as late as the mystery as to why Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt the First Century CE. Hermes was deemed a prophet in order to give birth to Jesus? In any event, the famous by the Sabians, a culture associated with Islam, which Hermetic axiom of “As Above, So Below” can be seen has always been a kink in the theory that Islam in such phraseology as the Lord’s Prayer emphasizing condemned all forms of traditionally Pagan ideas. “on earth as it is in Heaven.” Such ideas are also later There were Latin translations of Hermetic writings in reinforced in symbolism associated with the globes in the twelfth century from Arabic sources copied from Masonic ritual, and are likewise emphasized in the 18th Greek, but it was not until 1462 that most Hermetic degree of the AASR (SJ).
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