African Freemasonry

Death, The Liberator | Masonic Articles The spectre of death looms large over every creative work of humanity. It is the great motivator, the unknown end against which we all strive for remembrance. But is it also our greatest liberator?

"He who desires to rise to the heights of his own being must first crush and crucify his own lower nature and inclinations; he must perforce tread what elsewhere is described as the way of the Cross; and that Cross is indicated by the conjunction of those working tools (which when united form a cross); and that "way" is involved in the scrupulous performance of all that we know those working tools signify. By perfecting his conduct, by struggles against his own natural propensities, the candidate is working the rough ashlar of his own nature into the perfect cube, and I would ask you to observe also that the cube itself contains a secret, for unfolded, it itself denotes and takes the form of the cross."

~W.L. Wilmhurst

These lectures delivered by The Very Ills. Bro. Annie Besant in 1915 illustrate an intriguing perspective on world history and the evolution of civilizations. Could there be forces at play governing the events of the world that few realize even exist?

https://www.universalfreemasonry.org/en/article/east-and-west-destinies-of-nations

DIONYSIAN ARCHITECTS

The priests of Bacchus, or, as the Greeks called him, Dionysus, having devoted themselves to architectural pursuits, established about 1000 years before the Christian era a society or fraternity of builders in Asia Minor, which is styled by the ancient writers the Fraternity of Dionysian Architects, and to this society was exclusively confined the privilege of erecting temples and other public buildings.

The members of the Fraternity of Dionysian Architects were linked together by the secret ties of the Dionysian mysteries, into which they had all been initiated. Thus constituted, the Fraternity was distinguished by many peculiarities that strikingly assimilate it to our Order. In the exercise of charity, the more opulent were sacredly bound to provide for the exigencies of the poorer brethren." For the facilities of labor and government, they were divided into communities called ouvoud each of which was governed by a Master and Wardens.

They held a general assembly or grand festival once a year, which was solemnized with great pomp and splendor. They employed in their ceremonial observances many of the implements which are still to be found among Freemasons, and used, like them, a universal language, by which one Brother could distinguish another in the dark as well as in the light, and which served to unite the members scattered over India, Persia, and Syria, into one common brotherhood.

The existence of this Order in Tyre, at the time of the building of the Temple, is universally admitted; and Hiram, the widow's son, to whom Solomon entrusted the superintendence of the workmen, as an inhabitant of Tyre, and as a skillful architect and cunning and curious workman, was, very probably, one of its members. Hence, we may legitimately suppose that the Dionysians were sent by Hiram, King of Tyre, to assist King Solomon in the construction of the house he was about to dedicate to Jehovah, and that they communicated to their Jewish fellow-laborers a knowledge of the advantages of their Fraternity, and invited them to a participation in its mysteries and privileges. In this union, however, the apocryphal legend of the Dionysians would naturally give way to the true legend of the Freemasons, which was unhappily furnished by a melancholy incident that occurred at the time.

The latter part of this statement is, it is admitted, a mere speculation, but one that has met the approval of Lawrie, Oliver, and our best writers; and although this connection between the Dionysian Architects and the builders of King Solomon may not be supported by documentary evidence, the traditional theory is at least plausible, and offers nothing which is either absurd or impossible. If accepted, it supplies the necessary link which connects the Pagan with the Jewish mysteries.

The history of this association subsequent to the Solomonic era has been detailed by Masonic writers, who have derived their information sometimes from conjectural and sometimes from historical authority. About 300 B.C., they were incorporated by the kings of Pergamos at Teos, which was assigned to them as a settlement, and where they continued for centuries as an exclusive society engaged in the er****on of works of art and the celebration of their mysteries. Notwithstanding the edict of the Emperor Theodosius which abolished all mystical associations, they are said to have continued their existence down to the time of the Crusades, and during the constant communication which was kept up between the two continents passed over from Asia to Europe, where they became known as the Traveling Freemasons of the Middle Ages, into whose future history they thus became merged.

~Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry

Masonic Articles | What does it mean... Published in 1923, this article from The Builder, a Masonic magazine edited by Bro... Joseph F. Newton, was a response to an inquiry received by the magazine - a common feature of the publication. In it. Bro... Newton describes the history and origins of the term "Free an Accepted Mason" and sheds...

ELEMENTS

It was the doctrine of the old philosophers, sustained by the authority of Aristotle that there were four principles of matter—fire, air, earth, and water—which they called elements. Modern science has shown the fallacy of the theory. But it was also taught by the Cabalists, and afterward by the Rosicrucians, who, according to the Abbé de Pillars, sometimes known as Le Comte de Gabalis, peopled them with supernatural beings called, in the fire, Salamanders; in the air, Sylphs; in the earth, Gnomes; and in the water, Undines. From the Rosicrucians and the Cabalists, the doctrine passed over into some of the advanced Degrees of Freemasonry, and is especially referred to in the Ecossais or Scottish Knight of Saint Andrew, which has so often been claimed as an invention of the Chevalier Ramsay. In this Degree we find the four angels of the four elements described as Andarel, the angel of fire; Casmaran, of air; Talliad, of water; and Furlac, of earth; and the signs refer to the same elements.

- Mackey's Encyclopedia