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AND BEQUEATHED TO
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Rosicruclans, their rites and mysteries:

1924 025 077 664

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is in

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THE

ROSICRUCI ANS
WITH CHAPTERS

ON THE ANCIENT FIRE- AND SERPENT-WORSHIPERS, AND EXPLANATIONS OF THE MYSTIC SYMBOLS REPRESENTED IN THE MONUMENTS AND TALISMANS OF THE PRIMEVAL
PHILOSOPHERS.

By

HARGRAVE JENNINGS,
;

AUTHOR OF *'tHE INDIAN RELIGIONS

OR, RESULTS OF

THE MYSTERIOUS BHUDDISM,'

ETC. ETC.

"Vnto

the very points and prickes, here are to be found great mlsteries."

Nicholas.

Flamiitel, 1399.

"Quod
alia

Quinam et quales ipsi sint? Cur, inter sit Castellum in quo Fratres degunt ? nomina, appelletur Fratres? cur Ckucis ? cur Ros>e-Ckucis TGassendns, 1630.

ILLUSTRATED BY

NEARLY THREE HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS.

LONDON: JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, PICCADILLY, W.

1870.
[All rights reserved.}

JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN,

A MARK OF RESPECT,

DEDICATE THIS BOOK.

HARGRAVE JENNINGS.

*** It
publisher
;

is

somewhat unusual,

I believe, for

an author

to dedicate in his

a book to

his,

but the unflagging industry of Mr.

Hotten,

double capacity of

author and bookseller, has always surprised me, and as some testimony to 'this

and to the fact that he has found or made time to write or edit some seven-and-twenty different works, I have, without asking his permission, much
activity,
pleaSLU'e in

penning the above.'

PREFACE.

|HIS

book, which

now

leaves our hands, con-

centrates in a small compass the results

of

very considerable labour, and

study of very
dead.

the

diligent

many books

in languages living apd

It purports to be a history (for the first time

treated seriously in English) of the famous Order of

the

" Rose-Cross," or of the " Rosicrucians."

No

student of the occult philosophy need, however, fear

that

we

shall not

most carefully keep guard

over
those

standing
and
with

sentry (so
recondite
subject.

to

speak)

other

more
our

systems

which are

connected

An

accomplished author of our

that,

own
is

period has

remarked

" He who

deals in the secrets of magic,

or in the secrets of the

human mind,

too

often
is

looked upon with jealous eyes by the world, which

no great conjuror."

viii

PEEFACE.

How

is it

that, after centuries of doubt or denial,

it,

how happens
nothing of
it,

in face of the reason that can

make

the

common

sense that rejects, and the

it

science which can demonstrate

as impossible,

the
in

supernatural
the modern

still

has hold in the

human
it

not to say

mind?
is

How

happens

that the most

terrible fear

the fear of the invisible ?

this, too,

when we
is

are on all hands assured that the visible alone

that which

we have

to dread

The

ordinary reason

exhorts us to dismiss our fears.

that
superstition "miracle,"
beliefs
is

That thing " magic,"

now banished wholly

from the

of this clear-seeing, educated age.

told,

" Miracle," we are

fancy.

never had a place in the world

It
is

only in men's delusions.

It

nothing more than a

never was any thing more than a supersti-

tion arising

from ignorance.
fear?
It
is

What

is

a shrinking from possible

harm, either to the body, or to that thing which

we

denominate the mind that

is

in us.

The body

shrinks
leaf,

with instinctive nervous alarm, like the sensitive

when

its

easy, comfortable exercise or sensations are

disturbed.

Our book, inasmuch

as

it

deals

seriously with strange things and with deep mysteries,

:

or professes to deal

needs the means of interpretation in the full attention of the reader otherwise, little will be made, or can

come, of it.

It

is,

in brief, a history of the alchemical

philosophers, written with a serious explanatory purpose, and for the first time impartially stated since the

PBEFACE.
days of James the First and Charles the First.
is

ix

This

really

what the book pretends

to

be

and notliing

more.

It should

be mentioned that the peculiar views

and deductions to be found herein were hinted at for the first time by the same Author in the year 1858,

when

work

entitled Curious

Things of the Outside

World was produced.

Let

it

be understood, however, that the Author

distinctly excepts against being in

fied

any manner

identi-

with

all

the opinions, religious or otherwise,

this book.

which are to be found in

are, indeed,
full justice to

Some

of

them

most extraordinary; but,

in order to do

the speculations of the Hermetic Brethren,

he has put forward their ideas with as much of their

original force as he

was able

and, in some parts of his

book, he believes he has urged them with such apparent

warmth, that they

his

will very likely

seem

to

have been he can

own most urgent

convictions.

As

far as

succeed in being so considered, the Author wishes to be

regarded simply as the Historian of the Rosicrucians,

or as an Essayist on their strange, mysterious beliefs.

Whether he

will succeed in engaging the attention

of modern readers to a consideration of this time-

honoured philosophy remains to be seen ; but

is

this

he

assured

of,

that the admiration of

all

students and

reflective

minds will be excited by the unrivalled

powers of thinking of the Kosicrucians.

tion,

The
is

applica-

proper or otherwise, of these powers

a matter

altogether beside the present inquiry.

PBEFAOE.
The Author has
chiefly chosen for exposition the

Latin writings

of the

great

English

Rosicrucian,

Robert Flood, or Fludd (Robertus de Fluctibus), who

lived in the times of
First.

James the First and Charles the

Our
1653:
"I

final

remarks shall be those of a very famous

Brother of the "R.C.," writing under the date of

will

now

cloze up," saith he,

" with the dox-

ology of a most excellent, renowned Philocryphus

'

Soli

Deo Laus
in

et

Potentia

!
licet

Amen

Mbecurio, qui pedibus

carens decurrit aqua,

et

metallice vmiversaliter operatur.^ "

London, January

zotJi,

1870.

I'T'
fi\i

I,

.'

'"1.1

Viiir-V'ir'

V,,

CONTENTS.
--

CHAPTER THE

FIRST.
p.\nB
1

CkITICS op the ROSIORUCIANS CRITICISED

CHAPTER THE SECOND.

Singular Adventure in Staffordshire
6

CHAPTER THE THHtD.

Insupficienct OF

Worldly Objects

13

CHAPTER THE FOURTH.

The Hermetic Philosophers
20

CHAPTER THE
An Historical Adventure

FIFTH.
28

xii

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE THE SIXTH.

The Hekmetic Bkethren

p^^^

33

CHAPTEE THE SEVENTH.

Mythic History of the Fleue-de-Lis
40

CHAPTER THE EIGHTH.

Sacked Fire
.

56

CHAPTEE THE NINTH.

Firb-Theosophy of the Persians
67

CHAPTEE THE TENTH.

Ideas or the Eosi crucians as to the Chaeactbr of Fire
77

CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH.

Monuments raised to Fire-Worship in all Countries
.

89

CHAPTEE THE TWELFTH.

Druidical Stones and their Worship
105

CHAPTEE THE THIRTEENTH.

Inquiry as TO the Possibility OF Miracle
.
. .

.121

CHAPTEE THE FOUETEENTH.

Can Evidence be depended upon
Reasoning
?

Examination op Hume's

uy

CONTENTS.

xiii

CHAPTEE THE FIFTEENTH.

PAGE

Footsteps op the RosicRnciANs amidst Architectheal Objects

138

CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH.

The Rodnd Towers op Ireland
146

CHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTH.

Prismatic Intestituke OF the Microcosm
.

.15*

CHAPTER THE EIGHTEENTH.

Cabalistic Interpretations BT the Gnostics
.
.

-157

CHAPTER THE NINETEENTH.

Mystic Christian Fighees and Talismans

....

168

CHAPTER THE TWENTIETH.

The " Rosy Cross" in Indian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Medieval Monuments
177

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIRST.

Myth op the
guises

Scorpion, or the Snake, in its many Dis185

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND.

Ominous Character op the Colour "White" to English

Royalty

'89

xi

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-THIKDu

The Beliefs op the Eosicrucians Meahing of Lights and
OF Commemokatith Flambeaux, in all Worship
.

PAGE

'99

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FOURTH.

The Great Pyramid
^'4

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIFTH.

History of the

Tower or Steeple

222

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SIXTH.

Presence op the Rosicrucians in Heathen and Christian Architecture
245

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SEVENTH.

The Rosicrucians amidst Ancient Mysteries and
Orders op Knighthood
in

the
255

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-EIGHTH.

ROSICRUCIANISM IN StRANGE SYMBOLS
273

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-NINTH.

Connection between the Templars and Gnosticism
.

288

CHAPTER THE THIRTIETH

RosiCRUciAN Origin op the Order of the Garter
.

^03

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER THE THHlTY-rmST.

EOSICEUCIAN SUPPOSED MeANS OF MaGIC SiGiLS, AND Figures

PAGE

THROnGH

SiGKS,
3 '6

CHAPTER THE lAST.

Astro -Theosophical System of the Rosicrucians Alchemic MAaiSTEEiuji

The
325

THE ROSICRUCIANS.

Badge of the Grand Master of the Templars.

CHAPTER THE
CRITICS OF

FIRST.
CRITICISED.

THE ROSICRUCIANS

HAT modem
nay,
to

science, spite of its

is

assumptions and

of its intolerant dogmatism, a great extent,

often

much
to

at fault

thing is mind of thinking persons. Thus thoughtful people, who choose to separate themselves from the crowd, and who do not,
a very yain
itself

conclusion that

presents

the

altogether give in with

such edifying submission to the

indoctrination

of the scientific classes,

notwithstanding
They
see that

that these latter have the support generally of that which,

by a wide term,

is

called the "press" in this country,

quietly decline reliance on

modern

science.

there are

numerous shortcomings of teachers in medicine,

frequently,

which

fails

though always with

its

answer,

in theology,

which chooses rather that men should

sleep,

though not the right

all

than consider waking,

;

sleep,

^nay,

in

the branches of

human knowledge

the fashion in regard

THE BOSIOEUCIANS.
by
the light of

to which is to disparage the ancient schools of thought

exposing what are called their errors by

modem

assumed

infallible discovery.

It never once occurs to these

eager, conceited professors that they themselves

may possibly
is

have learned wrongly,

underrated because they do not understand

entirely because the light of the

that the old knowledge they decry and

it,

that,

modern world

is

so brilliant

in them, so dark to them, as eclipsed in this artificial light,

is

the older and better and truer sunshine nearer to the

:

ancients

because time itself was newer to the old peoples

first
first

of the world, and because the circumstances of the

making of time were more understood in the then

divine disclosure,
as man's reason insists it must.
Shelley, the poet, who, if

granting that time ever had a beginning,

he had not been so great

as

a poet, would have been perhaps equally eminent as

a metaphysician,

that

is,

when age and

that most

experience had
crudities
least,

ripened and corrected his

original brilliant

of

used to declare thinking men spend the

thought,
to have

men

at

most

latter half of their life in unlearn-

ing the mistakes of the preceding half.

This he declares

been the
test,

fact in his

own

experience

which
The

was,

even for this

twenty-nine

a very brief one; for SheUey was only

early

when

his lamentable death occurred.

departure of three brilliant poetic spirits of our fathers'

period, at the

same time that

it

is

veiy melancholy,

is

worthy

of deep remark.

Shelley was, as

twenty-nine; Byron was only thirty-six;

we have said, John Keatsin

some

respects the

the three

was only twenty-four.

most poetically intense and abstract of

And

in these short several

lifetimes,

measuring so few years, these distinguished persons had achieved that which resulted in the enrolment of their

names in a nation's catalogue in a grand branch of human

EBBONEOUS JUDGMENTS.
attainment.

They

live in lasting records,

is

they grow in
the case with

honour, and their names do not fade, as

those reputations which have been unduly magnified, but

which give way to time.

tions will be diminution.

Perhaps the

lot of

some con-

temporaneous accepted important, not to say

great, reputa-

Time

is

not only an avenger,

but a very judicious corrector.

We

are so convinced of the irresistible dominancy, all

the world over, of opinions, and of the dicta relative to this

or that merit, or this or that truth, propounded by people

with names and of influence in our good, readily believing

England, and of the power of supposed authority ia matters

of taste

and

literary acceptance,

that

we

desire to

warn

querists against the statements

it is

about the fraternity

for

not a body

of the
all

Eosicrucians appearing ia

all

the

published accounts, whether of this

country or abroad.

We

have examined

these supposed notices and explana-

tions of

who

the Eosicrucians were in biographical works,

in encyclopaedias

and

histories,

and we find them

all

pre-

judiced and misrepresenting, really telling no truth, and

only displaying a great amount of mischievous ignorance.

They
which

are, besides, in
is

the main copied from each other

notably the case with the early encyclopedias.

Old Fuller, who has some notices of Eobert Flood, a noted

English
his

member

of the order of Eosicrucians, fully admits

ignorance of

whom

the brotherhood comprised, and

of their constitution or purpose.

AH

generally received
:

accounts, therefore, are wrong, principally for three reasons

first,
;

through ignorance secondly, through prejudice; thirdly,

as instigated
it is

by

distrust, disUke,

dogma

that the subject

and envy, ^for in criticism must be always under the

critic,

never that, by a chance, the subject

may be above

the critic

that

is,

above the

critic's

grasp and compre-

4
hension.

THE BOSICBUaiANS.
But suppose the
this obstinacy
criticised
?

choose to except to the

ability of the critic to

judge of him

From
and
is

and conceit

arise

such underrating

false

comment

as is implied in the following, which

extracted from the Eneyclopcedm Britannica,

which account

is

copied again into several other encyclopaedias, and repeated

into smaller
fidelity

works with pertinacious, with even malicious,

the Eosicrucians, and
all their fanatical

"In

fine,

de-

scendants, agree in proposing the most crude and incom-

prehensible notions and ideas in the most obscure, quaint,

and unusual expressions."

" Eosicrucians."

Encyclopaedia, Britannica : article,

During the age of James the

First, Charles the First,

eren during the Protectorate, and again in the time of

Charles the Second, the singular doctrines of the Eosicrucians attracted a large

amount of
Sundry

attention,

and excited
was

much keen

controversy.

replies or " apologies" ap-

peared on the part of the Eosicrucians.

Among them

a most able work published in Latin by Dr. Eobert Flood,

at Leyden, in

1616.

It is a small, closely printed, very

learned octavo, entitled. Apologia Gompendiaria Fraternitatis

de Rosea Gruce, &c., and abounds in knowledge.
It is an

exceedingly rare work

but there

is

a copy in the British

Museum.
the Lock"
ideas.

All this long period was

marked by considerable
Pope's " Eape of

speculation regarding these Eosicrucians.

is

founded upon some of their fanciful cabalistic

The

Spectator contains notices of the mystic society

and, to prove the public curiosity concerning the Eosicrucians,

and a strange incident, the

we

are going to supply

pajrticulars of which from the best sources now for the

first

time,

we may

state that there is included, in

one number

of Addison's elegant series of papers called the Spectator, a

TSE " SPEOTATOBr

Tesumption of a notice, and some after-comment, upon the

supposed discovery of the burial-place in England of one of
these mighty men, the Rosicrucians. following purport, as nearly as
it

The

story is to the

can be gathered.

"We
;

have written

much more

fully of it

from other sources

for

the Spectator's account is very full of errors, and was evidently

gained afar

off,

and merely from hearsay, as

ineffective,

it

were.

It

is,

besides, poor

and

gathered from no authority,

force
;

and produced with no dramatic

beliefs of the Eosicrucians

for the life

and the

were very dramatic, at the same

time that the latter were very true, although generally

disbelieved.

Obeliscus one of the

Nails of the Passion,"

The Crux-Ansata.

CHAPTER THE SECOND.

SINGULAR ADVENTURE IN STAFFORDSHIRE.
fR.

PLOT, who was

a Tery well-known and reliable

man, and a painstaking antiquary and writer of

natural history, in his History of Staffordshire, published

by him in the time of Charles the Second,

relates the

following strange story

That a countryman was employed,

certain dull
in a valley,

at the close of a
field

summer's day, in digging a trench in a

round which the country rose into sombre,

silent

woods, vocal only with the quaint cries of the infrequent

magpies.
It

was some

little

time after the sun had sunk,

and the countryman was just about giving over his labour
for the day.

Dr. Plot says that, in one or two otthe last

languid strokes of his pick, the rustic came upon something

stony and hard, which struck a spark, clearly visible in the
increasing gloom.

At

this surprise,

he resumed his labour,

and, curiously enough, found a large, flat stone in the centre

of the

field.

This

field

was

far

or "cotes," as they were called, with

away from any of the farms which the now almost

was sparingly dotted. In a short time, he cleared the stone free of the grass and weeds which had
twilight country

grown over

it;

and

it

proved to be a large, oblong

slab.

CRYPT OF A B08I0BVCIAN.
For half an hour the comitryman essayed to
stone in vain.

with an immense iron ring fixed at one end in a socket.

stir

this

At

last

he bethought himself' of some yards

;

of rope which he had lying near amongst his tools

and

these he converted, being an ingenious, inquisitive, inventive

man, into a tackle

sling

by means of which, and by passing the round a bent tree in a line with the axis of the stone,
last of the light,

he contrived, in the
penditure of
surprise,
toil,

and with much

then,

ex-

to

raise

it.

And

greatly to his

he saw a large, deep, hollow place, buried in dark-

ness, which,

when

his eyes grew accustomed a

little to it,

he

discovered was the top-story to a stone staircase, seemingly

of extraordinary depth, for he saw nothing below.

The

country-fellow had not the slightest idea of where this could

lead to
;

but being a man, though a rustic and a clown, of

courage, and most probably urged by his idea that the staircase led to.

some

secret repository
first

where treasure lay buried,

he descended the
in vain

few steps cautiously, and tried to peer

This seemed impenetrable
vast, cold distance below.

down

into the darkness.

but there was some object at a

Looking up to the
the evening star

fresh air,

and seeing the

star

Venus

shining
it,

suddenly like a planet, in enstill

couraging, unexpected brilliancy, although the sky had

some sunset-light in
broken, staircase.

the puzzled
fair,

man

left

the upper

ground, and descended silently a

though a somewhat

Here, at an angle, as near as he could

judge, of a hundred feet underground, he

came upon a

square landing-place, with a niche in the waU; and then

he saw a further long

to the first staircase,

staircase,
still

descending at right angles

and

going down into deep, cold

darkness.

The man

cast a glance upward, as if questioning

the small segment of light from the upper world which shot

down whether he should continue

his search, or desist

and

THE BOSIOBUCIANS.
All was stillest of the
fear.

return.

no reason particularly to
in

about him but he saw imagining that he would So,

still
;

some way soon penetrate the mystery, and feeling in the

first

darkness by his hands upon the wall, and by his toes

on each

step,

he resolutely descended

and he

deliberately
felt

counted two hundred and twenty

steps.

He

no

diflB-

culty in his breathing, except a certain sort of aromatic

smell of distant incense, that he thought Egyptian, coming

up now and then from below,

subterranean, world.

as if

from another, though a

heard of them,

" the world of the

fits

" Possibly," thought he,

for

he had
I

mining gnomes ; and

which
is

am

breaking in upon their

secrets,

forbidden for

man."

The
and

rustic,

though courageous, was

superstitious.

But, notwithstanding some

of fear, the countryman

went
face
;

on,

at a

much

lower angle he met a wall in his

to the right, with singular credit

but,

making a turn

to his nerres, the explorer

went down again.

And now

he

saw

at a rast distance below, at the foot of a deeper stair-

case of stone, a steady though a pale light.

This was shining

up

as if

from a

star,

or coming from the centre of the earth.

Cheered by this
frightened
artificial,

light,

though absolutely astounded^nay,

at

thus discovering light, whether natural or

in the deep bowels of the earth, the

man
it

again

descended, meeting a thin,

humid traU

of light, as

looked,

mounting up the centre

ing old
stairs,

line of the shining

though moulder-

human
it

foot for very

which apparently had not been pressed by a many ages. He thought now, although

creeping

was probably only the wind in some hidden recess, or down some gallery, that he heard a murmur over-

head, as if of the uncertain rumble of horses and of heavy wagons, or lumbering wains. Next moment, all subsided
into total stillness
if in
;

answer to the strange sound.

but the distant light seemed to flicker as Half a dozen times he

TSE UNDEBGROUND CHAMBER.

paused, and turned as if he would remount
his
life

almost
evil

flee for

upward, as he thought

for this

might be the

secret

haunt of robbers, or the dreadful abode of

spirits.

What

if,

in a few moments, he should

come upon some

scene to affright, or alight in the midst of desperate ruffians,

or be caught

by murderers
but

He

listened eagerly.
Still

He now

almost bitterly repented his descent.

at a distance,
still

the light streamed

there was no sound to interpret the

or to display the character of this

meaning of the

light,

mysterious place, in which the countryman found himself

entangled hopelessly.

The
at
last,

discoTerer

by

this time stood still with fear.

But

summoning

courage, and recommending himself

devoutly to God, he determined to complete his discovery.

Above, he had been working in no strange place

the field

he well knew, the woods were very familiar to him, and his

own hamlet and

his family were only a few miles distant.

He now
and the
built

hastily,

and more in

fear

than through courage,

stairs
;

noisily with his feet descended the remainder of the

light

grew brighter and brighter

as he approached,

until at last, at another turn, he came

upon a square chamber,

up of large hewn stones. He stopped, silent and awestruck. Here was a flagged pavement and a somewhat lofty
roof, gathering

up into a centre
this poor

in the groins of which was

a rose, carved exquisitely in some^ dark stone, or in marble.

But what was

man's fright when, making another

sudden turn, from between the jambs, and from under the
large archivolt of a G-othic stone portal, light streamed out

over

him with
and

inexpressible brilliancy, shining over every

thing,

lighting

up the
!

place with brilliant radiance, like

an intense golden sunset

He

started back.

Then his limbs

figru-e

shook and bent under him as he gazed with terror at the of a man, whose face was hidden, as he sat in a

lo

THE B0SI0RUCIAN8.

studious attitude in a stone chair, reading in a great book,

with his elbow resting on a table like a rectangular altar, in the light of a large, ancient iron lamp, suspended by a
thick chain to the middle of the roof.

A cry of alarm,

which

he could not suppress, escaped from the scared discoverer, who involuntarily advanced one pace, beside himself with
terror.

He

was now within the illuminated chamber.

As
;

his foot fell

on the

stone, the figure

started bolt upright

from

his seated position, as if in

awful astonishment.

He
if in

erected his

hooded head, and

showed himself
Doubtful

as
if

anger about to question the intruder.

what he
terrific

saw were a

reality, or

whether he was not in some

dream, the countryman advanced, without being aware of

it,

another audacious step.

if

out a long arm, as

in warning

The hooded man now thrust and in a moment the

;

discoverer perceived that his

hand was armed with an

it as if

iron

Mton, and that he pointed

further approach.

tremendously to forbid

Now, however, the poor man, not being

fear,

in a condition either to reason or to restrain himself, with a

cry,

and in a passion of

took a third fatal step

stone,

and

as to

his foot descended

on the groaning

which seemed

give

way

for a

moment under him,

the dreadful man, or

image, raised his arm high like a machine, and with his

truncheon struck a prodigious blow upon the lamp, shattering

it

into a thousand pieces,

and leaving the place in utter

There

darkness.

This was the end of this terrifyiug adventure.

was

total silence

now, far and near.

Only a long, low roU

snatches, as if making
sleep, as if

of thunder, or a noise similar to thunder, seemed to begin

from a distance, and then

turns
;

to

move with

and

it

then rumbled sullenly to

through

unknown, inaccessible passages.

passages

What
It

nobody ever

found out.

if any was only suspected

these were

E VEB-B UBNINO
cians,

LAMPS.
way

that this hidden place referred in some

to the Eosicra-

and that the mysterious people of that famous order

their scientific secrets.

had there concealed some of

place
in
Staffordshire

The
as

became

afterwards

famed
for

the

sepulchre of one of the brotherhood,

whom,

want of a
call

more

distinct recognition or

name, the people chose to

;

" Rosicrucius," in general reference to his order

the circumstance of the lamp, and
its

and from

sudden extinguishment

by the

figure that

started up, it

was supposed that some

Eosicrucian had determined to inform posterity that he had

penetrated to the secret of the making of the ever-burning

lamps of the ancients,

though,

at the

moment

that he dis-

played his knowledge, he took effectual means that no one should reap any advantage from
it.

The

Spectator, in

No. 379,

for Thursday,
is

May

15th, 1712,

under the signature of " X," which

understood to be that
is

of BudgeU, has the following account of that which

there to be designated " Eosicrucius's Sepulchre
:"

chosen

" Eosicrucius, say his disciples, made use of this method

to show the world that he had reinvented the ever-burning lamps of the ancients, though he was resolved no one should reap any advantage from the discovery."

We

have chosen the above story as the introduction to

our curious history.

Christian Rosencreutz died in 1484.

To account
1

for

Eosicrucianism not having been heard of until

604,

it

has

been asserted that this supposed first founder of Eosicrucianism bound his disciples not to reveal any of his doctrines until a period of one his death.

hundred and twenty years

after

The
in their

ancient

Eomans are said sepulchres many ages by

to have preserved lights

the oilimss of gold, (here

steps in the art of the Eosicrucians), resolved

by hermetic

12

THE BOSICBUOIANS.
;

methods into a liquid substance

and

it is

reported that at

the dissolution of monasteries, in the time of

Henry the

Eighth, there was a lamp found that had then burnt in a

tomb from about three hundred years

twelve hundred years.
are to be seen in the

after Christ

nearly

Two Museum
tomb

bf these subterranean lamps

of Earities at Leyden, in

Holland.

One

of these lamps, in the papacy of Paul the of Tullia, Cicero's daughter,

Third, was found in the

which had been shut up

fifteen

hundred and

fifty

years

(Second edition of N. Bailey's $tXdAoyos, 1731)-

I.

2. a.

4. s.

__

7.

lrc\/Nf<;
8.q. 10
Hinge-Point "Virgo-Scorpio."

II.

12.

(Ezekiers Wheel.)

Mark

of the "Triune."

CHAPTER THE THIRD.

INSUFFICIENCY OF
[IT is

WORLDLY

OBJECTS.

a constant and very plausible charge offered by

the general world against the possession of the

power of gold-making as claimed by the alchemists,

who were a
libly use
it,

practical branch of the Eosicrucians, that if

infal-

such supposed power were in their hands, they would

and that quickly enough;

is

for the acquisition

all

of riches and power, say they,

this idea proceeds

the desire of

men.

But
in-

upon an ignorance of the character and

and
results

inclinations of real philosophers,

from an

veterate prejudice relative to them.

Before

we judge

of

these, let us acquire a knowledge of the natural inclinations

of very deeply learned men.

attained to

Philosophers,

when they have

much knowledge,

hold that the ordering of men,

the following of them about by subservient people, and the

continual glitter about them of the fine things of this world,
are, after all,
life is

but of mean and melancholy account, because

so brief,

and

this

accidental preeminence
little

is

very

transitory.

Splendour, show, and bowing

delight the

raised

and abstract mind.

is

That

circuit

formed by the own-

ing of money and riches

circumscribed by the possessor's

own

ken.

What

is

outside of this sight

may

just as well

be enjoyed by another person as by the owner, since all is the thinking only granting that a man has suflBcient for
I

THE B OSIGE UOIANS.

morrow, indeed, take thought
one of every thing that

his daily wants, letting the "

for itself."

One

dinner a day, one bed for one night, in the

alternations of sun
is

and
is

dai-kness,

agreeable to (or

desirable for)

man,

is

sufficient for

any one man.

A man's

troubles are iacreased

by the mulis

tiplication even of his enjoyments, because

he

then beset

with anxiety as to their repetition or maintenance.

duction,

Ee-

and not
it is all

multiplication,

is

his

poHcy, because
in

thinking of
this world.

that can affect

him about any thing

By

the time that the deep, philosophical chemist has

penetrated to the control and conversion of the ultimate

elements, so as to have in his view the secret operations of

Nature, and to have caught Nature, as

it

were, preparing

her presentments behind the scenes, he

is

no more

to be

amused with vain book-physics.

subtle processes of Nature,

After his spying into the

he cannot be contented with the

not worldly possessions, honour,
children, but

ordinary toys of men

for are

rank, money, even wives

and numerous or any

toys in a certain sense

Where

sink they

unknown
fire

sets in

which awaits every

man

when the great He who can work

as Nature works

causing the sunshine, so to speak, to light

in itself, and to breed and propagate upon the atmosphere in which it bums

up independently

precious things

causing the growing supernatural soul to work amidst the

seeds of gold, and to purge the material, devUish

mass

until

the excrement

is expelled,

and

it

springs in health into con-

densating, solid splendour, a produce again to be sown, to

fructify into

fresh harvests
this,

the

alchemist, or

prince of

chemists,

who can do
is

laughs at the hoards of kino's.

is

By

the time that the artist

thus so

much more than

the

usual man,

he the

less desirous of

the gratifying things to

the ordinary man.

Grandeur fades to him before such high

QVMSTIONS AS TO UTILITIES.
intellectual grandeur.

15

He
;

is
is

nearer to the angels, and the

world has sunk below. His

of the clouds of the sky

the sky, and the bright shapes

is

which he

going to convert,

perhaps, into prisms, showering solid jewels.

leave to

He

can well

common man
them

his acres of

spotted over

like

mud, and the turbid pools the shining, showy discs of a snake.

Man, under these enlightened philosophical circumstances, will only value the unseen kingdoms glimpses of the im-

mortal glories of which he has obtained in his magic reveries.

What can

the longest ordinary man's

life

give to such a
gratification, as

gifted thinker ?

Man's senses and

their

long as the inlets and avenues of perception remain

imagination to play upon them
eyes to find

world's

music, so long as the strings cling tight, for the air of

them

man's
is

appetites with
life

downward

mortality, with an exit into the

shadows while the sun

up

the longest

can but give

him

repetition to satiety of these things,

tire of the

^repetitions until

he seems almost to

common

sun.

To some minds,
ordinary attractions.

this world does not present such extra-

The very

possession of the heights of

there,
felt

knowledge induces rather stay up

than descent.

amidst the

stars,

Every man almost has

for miles
!

the exaltation of
hill,

a great height, when he has achieved the top of a high

and looks out and over

because he has his

and miles.

How

very

little

the world looks under him

He

is

obliged to descend,

home under
high up.

there.

But he
it

quits the

upper regions with reluctance, although

frightening to
stay so
stars,

is

somewhat
giddy by

You become

looking up at the

which then seem

to be so

much

nearer as to be attainable.

Limited as

it is, life

itself very brief, very empty, very

much

disposed to repeat dull things, gathering up from

about you in folds Uke a dream, or flowing on like a sleep-

i6

THE BOSIOMUCIANS.
sea,

inducing river to the

carrying faces seen and snatched

away, and obliterating voices which change into echoes life, at its very best, ought to be the stoicism of the spectator, vpho feels that

he has come here somehow, though for

;

what purpose he knows not

a comedy in
life,

and he

is

rather

amused

as at
per-

than engaged as in a business.

life

Even

petual youth, and

prolonged, with pleasures infinite,

life,

even the fancied ever-during

thinking

would,

to the

deeply

who had

risen,

as

it

were, over

life,

and to that
self-

strangely gifted being

who had

in himself the

power of

perpetuation (like the Wandering Jew), seem vain.

Man

can be conceived as tiring of the sun

ness even.

tiriag of conscious-

What an

expression

is

that,

"forgotten by

The only beiug through whom the scythe of the great destroyer passes scatheless That life, as a phantom, which is the only conceivable terrible doom of the " WanDeath
!"
!

derer"

(if

such a magical being ever existed)

whom

as a

locomotive symbol, to be perpetuated through the ages, the

earth, at the

command

of the Saviom-, refused to hide, and

in.

of

whom

a legend

soon hushed

again

now and

then

rises to the

popular whisper

We only adduce these remarks to show that, in the face of the spectator of the great ultimate, mysterious man, children are no necessity, but an anxiety, estates are a
is the oft-told tale to- the weaiying ear. can be the spectator of the ages, has no particulars in ordinary life. He has nothing which can interest him.

burden, " business"

He who

He can have no precise and consolidated likings, or affections, or admirations, or even aversions, because the world is as a

himits small mechanism is an artificial show, of which (given the knowledge of the wheels) he can predicate as to the movements safely.
toy-shop to

To

return for a

moment

to the idea of the "

Wandering

THE WANDEBING JEW.

Jew,"

17

wMch some

hare supposed to be derived from the

claim of the Eosicrucians to the possession of a secret means

of renewing youth, and to the escape of the notion of
it

from out their writings.

tale

Even supposing
traveller,

that this strange

was

true,

nothing can be imagined more melancholy

than the state of this lone

secret

moving with

his awful

through the world, and seeing generations,

like leaves,

perishing from about him.

traveller of a long day, to

He counts the years like the whom the evening will never
dif-

come, though he sees his temporary companions, at the

ferent hours of the day, depart appropriately to their several

homes by the wayside.

To him

the childhood of his com-

panions seems to turn to old age in an hour.

the far-off ancestors of his contemporaries.

He remembers
Fashions
all.

fleet,

but your unsuspected youth

is,

is

accommodated to

Yours

indeed, the persecution of the day-life, which will not let

fall

you

to sleep.

Your
is

friends of

any period disappear.

is

The assurance

of the vanity of all things turned.

the stone as into

face)

which your heart

Gray hairs (and the old

have nothing with you, though you see them appearing

upon

all

others.

Familiar objects disappear from about

you, and yon and the sun seem the only things that survive
as old friends.

Indeed,

it

may be

doubtful whether, to this

supposed

man

of the ages, the generations would not seem

to be produced out of the

ground by the sun,

like flowers or

plants

so as

mere matter of mould would

it

all flesh

appear,

with a phenomenon going with

uprightness as

in the article of the figure's

set its

man;

it

having so strangely

face

against the stars, unlike the creatures

horizontally.

doomed

to

move

We make
have been

these observations to show that, notwithstand-

ing the opinions of the world to the contrary, there

may
the

men who

have possessed these

gifts,

that
c

is,

ig

THE R0SI0BUCIAN8.

power of making gold and of pei-petuating tlieir liyes, yet that the exercise of these powers was forborne
also

and
;

and

that their secrets of production have most carefully

lest less

been kept,

wise

men

should (to speak in figure)

have "rushed in where they feared to tread," and have

abused where the philosophers even would not use
spising wealth, which they c6uld not enjoy,

de-

and declining a

perpetuated
life

life,

which would only add to their weariness,

a mistake to suppose that this
all.

being only a repetition of the same suns, already found

too long.

For

it is

life is so

equally enjoyable by

There

is

a sublime sorrow of the

ages, as of the lone ocean.

The philosophers knew

and that rich

that possession blunted desire,

men may be poor men. A remarkable answer was made by a man who, to all appearance, possessed superabundantly the advantages of life wealth, honour, wife,
children, "troops of friends," even health,
his
lij

day; but in

night he lived another

life,

for in it

was presented
"

another picture, and that unfailingly uncomfortable, even

to this

good

man

exchanging joy

for horror.

My friend,"
man upon
Dreams

replied he to an inquirer, " never congratulate a

his happiness until

you become aware how he

which

sleeps.

are as that baleful country into

I pass every night of

my

life

and what can be said to a man who dreams conevery person leads two

stantly that he is with the devil ?"

There was no answering

lives,

this, for

altogether independent of each other,

life,

the nights both full of

the days and though the night, with the

may be of an opposite order. The world's circummay afford you solace and gratification even happinessin the day; but you may be very miserable, notdreams,
stances

withstanding,

if it

happen that you have persecution in

your dreams.

Here the world's advantages are of no use to

DREAMS.

19

yon, for you are delivered over helpless, night after night,
'in

your sleep

and you must

whom
all

have sleep

to the dominion
for
life's

of other powers,

your guards cannot keep out, kind than the ordinary

their inlet is quite of another

access.

We

advise you, then, to beware of this dark door

itself,

the other will perhaps take care of

things upon you
:

letting in

no ugly

but the former may.

Colossal Head.

(British

Museum.)

The Hebrew "Shin."

CHAPTER THE FOURTH.

THE HERMETIC PHILOSOPHERS.

jjHEEE was among

whose productions

the sages a writer, Artephius,

are
"very

famous

among

the

Hermetic Philosophers,

insomuch that the noble

Olaus Borrichius, an excellent writer and a most candid

critic,

recommends these books

to the

attentive perusal

of those

who would

acquire knowledge

of this

sublime

philosophy.

He

is

said to have invented a cabalistic

magnet

which possessed the extraordinary property of secretly attracting the aura, or mysterious spirit of
cence, out of

human

efflores-

young men
inspiration,

and these benign and healthful

springs of
himself,

life

he gathered up, and applied by his art to

transudation,
or otherwise,

by

so

that he concentred in his

own

body, waning in age, the

accumulated rejuvenescence of

many young
life

people: the'

individual owners of which new, fresh

suffered in pro-

portion to the extent in which he preyed vitally upon them,

and some of them were exhausted by

died.

this enchanter,

and

This was because their fresh young vitality had

been unconsciously drawn out of them in his baneful, devouring society, which was unsuspected because
delightful.
it

was

Now,

this

seems absurd; but

it

is

not so

absurd as we suppose.
Sacred history affords some authority to this kind of

OOUL T MEDICAMENTS.
opinion.

"We

all

are acquainted with the history of Kins;

David, to whom, when he grew old and stricken in years,

Abishag, the Shunamite, was brought

as " very fair ;"

damsel described
his

and we are told that she " lay in

heat,"

bosom,"

and that thereby he " gat Kings

which means
This

vital heat,

but that the king " knew her not."

I
i.

latter clause in

4,

all

the larger

critics,

including those

who

speak in the commentaries of Munster, Grotius, Vossius,

and

others, interpret in the

same way.

The

seraglios of the

Mohammedans have more

ably,

of this less lustful meaning, prob-

than

is

coinOionly supposed.

The

ancient physicians

appear to have been thoroughly acquainted with the advantages of the companionship, without indulgence, of the
to the old in the renewal of their vital powers.

young

The
criminal
It

elixir of life

was

also

prepared by other and

less

means than those singular Ones hinted above.

secret

was produced out of the

chemical laboratories
chemist, Robert

of Nature by some adepts.

The famous

Boyle, mentions a preparation in his works, of which Dr.

Le Fevre gave him an account

in the presence of a fariious

physician and of another learned man.

An

intimate friend

of the physician, as Boyle relates, had given, out of curiosity,

a small quantity of this medicated wine to an bid female

domestic

and

this,

being agreeable to the

partalcen of for ten or twelve days

taste, had been by the woman, who

was near seventy years of age, but whom the doctor did not inform what the liquor was, nor what he was expecting
that
it

might
;

effect.

gi-eat

change did occur with this

greater activity, a sort

old

woman

for she acquired

much

of bloom came to her countenance, her face was becoming

much more
gationes

agreeable; and beyond this, as a

still

more

decided step backward to her youthful period, certain pur-

came upon her again with

sufBciently severe in-

22

THE BOSlORUaiANS.
much:
so that the doctor,

dications to frighten her very

greatly surprised at his success, was compelled to forego

his farther experiments,
this miraculous

and to suppress
for fear

all

mention of

new

cordial,

of alarming people

with novelties,in regard to which they are very tenacious,

having prejudices.
But,
fl-ith

respect to centenarians,

some persons have

been mentioned as having survived for hundreds of years, moving as occasion demanded from country to country;

when the time

they should
their names,
sons,

arrived that in the natural course of things

die,

or be expected to die, merely changing

and reappearing in another place as new perthey having long survived all who knew them, and

thus being safe fi-om the risk of discovery.

The Eosicrucians
and they adopted
" Learn to
it is

always most jealously guarded these secrets, speaking in

enigmas and parables for the most part

as their

motto the advice of one of their number, one of

;

the Gnostics of the early Christian period

all,

know

but keep thyself unknown."

Further,

not generally

known

that the true Rosicrucians

bound themselves to ob-

ligations of poverty

and chastity in the world, with certain

dispensations and remissions that fully answered their pur-

pose

for they

were not necessarily solitary people

on the
freely

contrary, they were fi-equently gregarious,

and mixed

with

all classes.

Their notions of poverty, or comparative poverty, were

different

from those that usually prevail.

They

felt

that

neither monarchs, nor the wealth of monarchs, could aggrandise those

all

who

already esteemed themselves the superiors of

children of

men

and

therefore,

though declining

riches,

they were voluntary in the renunciation of them.

They

held to chastity, because, entertaining some peculiar notions

about the real position in creation of the female sex, the

THE STRANGER AT VENIOE.

celibate state to

23

Enlightened or Illuminated Brothers held the monastic or

be greatly that more consonant with the

intentions of Providence, since in every thing possible to

man's

frail

nature they sought to trample on the pollutions

of this his state in flesh.

They

trusted the great lines of

Nature, not in the whole, but in part, as they believed

Nature was in certain senses a betrayer, and that she was

not wholly the benevolent power to endow, as accorded

with the prevailing notion.

We

wish not to discuss more

amply than this the extremely refined and abstruse protesting views of these fantastic religionists,

who ignored Nature.

limit is quite

We
up

have drawn to ourselves a certain frontier of reticence,

to

which we may

freely

comment
it

and the

extended enough for the present popular purpose,

though

we

absolutely refuse to overpass

with too distinct explana-

tion, or to enlarge farther

on the strange persuasions of the

Kosicrucians.

There is related, upon excellent authority, to have happened an extraordinary incident at Venice, that made a
very great
stir

among

the talkers in that ancient place,

as

and which we

will here supply at length,

due to so

mysterious and amusing an

episode.

Every one who has

visited Venice in these days,

and

still

more those of the

on

old-fashioned time

who have put

their experience of it

record, are aware that freedom

and ease among persons

prevail there to an extent
is difficult to

who make a good appearance

that, in this reserved and diifident country,

This doubt of respectability until conviction disrealise. arms has a certain constrained and unamiable effect on
our English manners, though it occasionally secures us from imposition, at the expense perhaps of our accessibility. A stranger who arrived in Venice one summer, towards the

end of the seventeenth century, and who took up his

24

THE BOSICBUOIANS.
by the

residence in one of the best sections of the town,

considerable figure which he made, and through his

own

manners, which were pohshed, composed, and elegant, was admitted into the best company,

this

though he came with

no

introductions, nor did any

body exactly know who or

was exceedingly well proportioned, his face oval and long, his forehead ample and pale, and the

what he was.

His

figure

intellectual faculties

were surprisingly brought out, and in

distinguished prominence.

His hair was long, dark, and

flowing; his smile inexpressibly fascinating, yet sad; and

the deep light of his eyes seemed laden, to the attention

sometimes of those noting him, with the sentiments and

the expeiience of the historic periods.

But

his conversation,

when he chose

to converse,
;

and his attainments and know;

to avoid saying too

ledge, were marvellous

though he seemed always striving

to keep himself back,

and

much, yet
the

not with an ostentatious reticence.

He went by

name
an

of Signor Gualdi, and was looked upon as a plain private

gentleman, of moderate independent estate.

interesting character, in short.

He was

This gentleman remained at Venice for some months and was known by the name of the " Sober Signior" among
the
life,

common

people,

on account of the regularity of his

for

the composed simphcity of his manners, and the quiet;

ness of his costume

he always wore dark clothes, and

Three things were remarked of him during his stay at Venice. The first was, that he had a small collection of fine pictures, which
he readily showed to every body that desired
that he was perfectly yersed in
all it
;

these of a plain, unpretending style.

the next,

arts

and

sciences,

and

spoke always with such minute particularity as astonished nay, silenced all who heard him, because he seemed to

have been present at the things which he related, making

A STEANQE STORY.
And

25

the most unexpected corrections in small facts sometimes.

it

was, in the third place, observed that he never

wrote or received any

letter, never desired any credit, but always paid for every thing in ready money, and made no

use of bankers,
ever,

bills

of exchange, or letters of credit.

How-

he always seemed to have enough, and he lived respectably, though with no attempt at splendour or show.
Signor Gualdi met, shortly after his arrival at Venice,

one day, at the coffee-house which he was in the habit of

frequenting, a Venetian nobleman of sociable manners,

who

was very fond of art; and

sundry discussions
;

this

pair used to

engage in

and they had many conversations conAcquaintance ripened into

cerning the various objects and pursuits which were interesting to

both of them.
;

friendly esteem

and the nobleman invited Signor Gualdi

whereat

to his private house,

^foirhe was-

a widower

Signor
beautiful

Gualdi

iirst

met the Hobleman's daughter, a very

eighteen^ of

young maiden of

much

intelligence,

and of
just

great accomplishments.

The nobleman's daughter was

introduced at her father's house

from a convent, or pension,

This young
society,

where she had been educated by the nuns.

lady, in short,

from constantly being in his

fell

and

listening to his narratives, gradually

in love with the

mysterious stranger,

much

for the reasons of

Desdemona;

though Signor Gualdi was no swarthy. Moor, but only a

well-educated gerrtlemao

thinker rath-er than a doer.

At

times, indeed, his countenance seemed t

;

grow splendid

in expression

and he boasted

certaiidy

wondrous discourse

and a strange and weird fascination would grow up about him, as it were, when he became more than usually pleased and animated.
Altogether,

when you were set thinking about

gifts
;

him, he seemed a puzzling person, and of rare

though

when mixing with the crowd you would

scarcely distinguish

26

TEE EOSICMUCIANS.

him from the crowd; nor would you observe him, unless there was something akin to him in you excited by his talk.
few remarks on the imputed character of these Rosicrucians. And in regard to them, however

And now

for a

their existence is disbelieved, the matters of fact

we meet

with, sprinkled

but very sparinglyin the history of these

we
disbelieve,

hermetic people, are so astonishing, and at the same time

are preferred with such confidence, that if

which

it is impossible to avoid,

and that from the

pre-

posterous nature of their pretensions,

we
is

cannot escape
it,

the conviction that, if there

is

not foundation for

their

impudence
as

is

most audacious.

They speak of

all

mankind
idea,

infinitely

beneath them; their pride

beyond

although they are most humble in exterior.

in poverty,

They
They

gloiy

and declare that

it is

the state ordered for

riches.

them
decline

and
all

this

though they boast universal

affections, or

human

submit to them as advisable escapes

obligations,

only^appearances of loving

which are assumed

a world which

for convenient acceptance, or for passing in

is

composed of them, or of their supposal.

They mingle
criticise

most gracefully in the society of women, with hearts wholly

incapable of softness in this direction
;

and they

them in

their

own minds
They

as altogether another order of

beings from men.

in their exterior;

are

most simple and

self- value

deferential
fills

and yet the

self- glorying

which

their

hearts

ceases its
skies.

expansion
point,

only with the they

ai-e

boundless

Up

to a

certain

the

sincerest people

in the world;

but rock

is

soft to their

impenetrability afterwards.

In comparison with the herthe side of the sages, the most

metic adepts, monarchs are poor, and their greatest accumulations are contemptible.

By

learned are mere dolts and blockheads.

They make no movement towards fame, because they abnegate and disdain it. If

THE " ILL UMINA TED."

they become famous,
it is

27

in spite of themselves

they seek

no honours, because there can be no

to such people.

gratification in
is

honours

Their greatest wish

to steal unnoticed

through the world, and to amuse themselves with the world

because they are in
it,

and because they find

;

it

about them.

Thus, towards mankind they are negative towards every thingelse, positive; self-contained, self-illuminated, self-every

thing;

but always prepared to do good, wherever possible or

safe.

To
mates

this

immeasurable exaltation, what standard of mea?

sure, or

what appreciation, can you apply

in the idea of
is
it.

Ordinary

esti-

fail

Either the state of these occult

it is

philosophers
absurdity.

the height of sublimity, or

to

the height of

Not being competent

understand them or

their claims, the world insists that these are futile.

result entirely depends

The

upon there being

fact or fancy in the

ideas of the hermetic philosophers.

The puzzling

part of

the investigation
writers

is,

that the treatises of these profound

most acute discourse upon difficult subjects, and contain splendid passages upon all subjects, upon the nature of metals, upon medical science, upon the

abound

in the

unsupposed properties of simples, upon theological and ontological speculations, and upon science and objects of
thought generally,

upon

all

these

matters they enlarge

to the reader splendidly.

The Mythical "Tor"

of Babel.

Egyptian "Crux.'

CHAPTER THE
|UT

FIFTH.

AN HISTORICAL ADVENTURE.
to return to Signor Gualdi,

from

whom we

have

notwithstanding made no impertinent digression,

since he

was eventually suspected to be one of "the

Strange people of

whom we

are treating.

This was from

mysterious circumstances which occurred afterwards in relation to him, and which are in print.

cient intimacy with Signor Gualdi to say to

The Venetian nobleman was now on a footing of suffihim one evening, at his own house, that he understood that he had a fine collection of pictures, atid that, if agreeable, he would pay him
a visit one day for the purpose of viewing them.

The

noble-

man's daughter, who was present, and who was pensively

looking

down upon

the table thinking deeply of something

this^

that the Signior had just said, raised her eyes eagerly at

expression of wish by her father, and, as accorded with her

feelings, she appeared,

though she spoke not, to be desirous

It

to

make one

of the party to see the pictures.

was natural

that she should secretly rejoice at this opportunity of be-

coming more intimately acquainted with the domestic life of one whom she had grown to regard with feelings of
powerful interest.
his guest,

She

felt

that the mere fact of being

his,

and under the roof which was

would seem

THE MTSTEEIOUS FOETBAIT.

to bring her nearer to
it

29

him

and, as

common

with lovers,

seemed that their being thus together would, in feeling

Signor Gualdi was veryand readily invited the nobleman to his house,

at least, appear to identify both.

polite,

and

also extended the invitation to the

young

lady, should

she feel disposed to accompany her father, since he divined

from the expression of her face that she was wishful to that
effect.

The day
all sides

for the visit

was then named, and the

Signior took his departure with the expressions of

ship on

Mend-

which usually ended their meetings.

from this arrangement, that on the day
received by the Signior with
his

It followed

appointed the father and daughter went to Signor Gualdi's

house.
ness,

They were
and

warm

kind-

and were shown over

distiaction.

rooms with every mark of

friendliness

Gualdi's pictures vrith great attention

The nobleman viewed Signor and when he had com;

pleted his tour, he expressed his satisfaction by telling the

Signior that he had never seen a finer collection, considering

the

number of own chamber,

pieces.

They were now

in Signor Gualdi's

the

last of his set of rooms,

and they were

was
to allow

just on the point of turning to go out, and Gualdi

removing the tapestry from before the door to widen the

egress,

when the nobleman, who had paused

him

thus to clear the way, by chance cast his eyes upwards over

the door, where there hung a picture evidently of the stranger

himself.

The Venetian looked upon

fell
;

it

with doubt, and after

if

a while his face

but

it

soon cleared, as

with

relief.

The

gaze of the daughter was also

now

riveted

upon the
it

picture,

which was very

like Gualdi;

but she regarded

with a blush.

The

Venetian looked from the picture to

It

Gualdi, and back again from Gualdi to the pictm-e.

was

some time before he spoke. "That picture was intended

for you, sir," said

he at

3o

THE R OSIOR UOIANS.

hesitating, to Signer Gualdi.

last,

slight cold

change
reply

passed over the eyes of the stranger; but he only

made

by a low bow.

"

You
sir,

look a moderately young

man,to

be

candid with you,

I should say about

forty-five, or there-

abouts ; and yet I know, by certain means of which I will

not

Titian,

now further speak, that this who has been dead nearly
is

picture

is

by the hand of
grave smile.

a couple of hundred years.

polite,

How
" It

this possible?"

he added, with a

is

not easy," said Signer Gualdi quietly, "to

arC' possible,
;

know

all

things that

for very frequently mistakes

are

made concerning such but there is

in

certainly nothing strange

my

being like a picture painted by Titian."

The

noble-

man

easily perceived

by his

manner, and by a momentary

felt offence.

cloud upon his brow, that the stranger

The

daughter clung to her father's arm, secretly afraid that this

little

unexpected demur might pass into coolness, and end

with a consummation of estrangement, which she feared

excessively; she dreaded the rupture of their intimacy with

the stranger ; and, contradictory as

it

may

seem, she wanted

to withdraw, even without the point she dreaded being cleared

up

into renewed pleasant confidence.

However, this

little

temporary misunderstanding was soon put an end to by

Signer Gualdi himself,
his ordinary

who

in a

moment

or two resumed

manner

and he saw the father and daughter

his

down-stairs,

and forth to the entrance of his house, with

usual composed politeness,

lielp

though the nobleman could not

and his daughter experienced
;

some

feeling of restraint,

a considerable amount of mortification

and she could not

she did, she looked

look at Signer Gualdi,

too

or

rather,

when

much.
This
little

occurrence remained in the

felt

mind of the

nobleman.

His daughter

lonely

and

dissatisfied after-

wards, eager for the restoration of the same friendly feeling

" /.

ES 3IEM0IRES HISTORIQ UES."

with Signer Gualdi, and revolving in her mind numberless schemes to achieve it. The Venetian betook himself in
the evening to the usual coffee-house; and he could not
forbear speaking of the incident
collected there.

among

the group of people

Their curiosity was roused, and one or two

resolved to satisiy themselves by looking at the picture attentively the next

morning.

But

to obtain an opportunity to
it

see the picture

on this next morning,

was necessary to see

the Signior Gualdi somewhere, and to have his invitation to

his lodgings for the purpose.

The only
;

likely place to

meet

with him was at the coffee-house

"went

and thither the gentlemen

it

at the usual time, hoping, as

was the Signior's

so.

habit to present himself, that he would do

But he did

not come,

nor

had he been heard of from the time of

for the first time almost that

the visit of the nobleman the day before to the Signior's

house,

which absence,

he had

been in Venice, surprised every body.

But

as they did not

meet with him

sure,

at the coffee-house,

as they thought

was

one

of the persons

who had

the oftenest conversed

freer in his acquaint-

with the

Signio]',

and therefore was the

ance, undertook to go to his lodgings and inquire after him,

which he did
house,

but he was answered by the owner of the

to

who came

the

street-door to respond to the

questioner, that the Signior

had gone, having quitted Venice

that morning early, and that he had locked

up

his pictures

with certain orders, and had taken the key of his rooms with him. This
affair

made
it

a great noise at the time in Venice

and an account of

found

its

way

into

most of the newsIn these news-

papers of the year in which

papers,

it

occurred.

and

elsewhere, an outline of the foregoing particulars

may be

seen.

The account of the

Signior Gualdi will also

be met with in Les Memoires histortques for the year 1687,

32

THE BOSIOBUOIANS.
i.

tome

p. 365.

The

chief particulars of our ovra narrative

are extracted

from an old book in our collection treating of

well- attested relations of the sages,

and of

life

protracted by
;

their art for several centuries

" Hermippus Eedivivus

or,

the Sage's

Triumph over Old Age and the Grave.

London.

Second Edition, much enlarged. Printed for

'

J. Nourse, at the

Lamb,' against Catherine Street in the Strand, in the year

749-"

And

thus

much

for the history of

Signer Gualdi, who

was suspected to be a Eosicrucian.

We

shall

have further interesting notices of these un-

accountable people as

we

jsroceed.

The Egyptian Eve trampling the Dragon.

xDP
The "Labarum."

CHAPTER THE

SIXTH.

THE HERMETIC BRETHREN.

HE

following passages occur in a letter published

E.G.,

by some anonymous members of the

the most famous

and are

adduced in a translation from the Latin by one of

men

of the order,

who

addressed from the

University of Oxford about the period of Oliver Cromwell

to

which university the great English Rosicrucian, Robertus

de Eluctibus (Robert Flood), also belonged, in the time of

James the First and Charles the First.

visits to

We have made repeated

lies buried.

the church where Robert Flood

"Every man
for treasures,

naturally desires superiority.

Men

wish

and to seem great in the eyes of the world.

all

God, indeed, created

give

things to the end that

there
is

man might
idlj',

Him

thanks.

But

no individual thinks of his

proper duties; he secretly desires to spend his days

and would enjoy riches without any previous labour or

danger.

When

we" (professors of abstruse

sciences) " speak,

men

either revile or contemn, they either

envy or laugh.

we would we could, because they judge us by themselves and when we debate of it, and enlarge upon shall finish by teaching them how it, they imagine we to make gold by ajt, or furnish them with it already made.
discourse of gold, they assume that
it if

When we

assuredly produce
;

34.

THE B08I0RU0IANS.
wherefore or

And

why should we
?

teach
it

them the way

to these

mighty possessions
live

Shall

be to the end that

!

men may

pompously in the eyes of the world; swagger

and make wars; be violent when they are contradicted; tm-n usurers, gluttons, and drunkards abandon themselves
;

to lust?

Now,

all

these things

deface

and

defile

man,

and the holy temple of man's body, and are plainly against
the ordinances of God.
also the

For

this

dream of the world,

it is

as

body

or vehicle

through which

made

manifest,

the Lord intended to be pure.

the divine arrangement, that

to the earth.
attraction,

And it was not purposed, in men should grow again down

his feet, instead of abandon-

It is for other purposes that the stars, in their

have raised
'

man on

ing

him

to the

all-fours'

that were the imperfect tentatives

of nature until

life,

through the supernatural impulse, rose

level

above

its original

condemned

base and
do
virrap

relegate.

"We
who
who

of the secret knowledge

ourselves in

mystery, to avoid the objurgation and importunity of those

conceive that

we cannot be philosophers
There

unless
is

we

put

.:

our knowledge to some worldly use.

thinks about us

scarcely one

who

does not believe that our society

has no existence; because, as he truly declares, he never

met any

of us.

And

he concludes that there

is

no such
to be
to

brotherhood because, in his vanity, we seek not

our fellow.

him

We

do not come, as he assuredly expects,

that conspicuous stage upon which, like himself, as he desires

the gaze of the vulgar, every fool miay enter

winning

wonder,

if

the man's appetite be that empty

it,

he has obtained
Dr.

crying out,

'

I^o,

and, when " this is also vanity !'

;

way

Edmund

Dickenson, physician to King Charles the

Second, a professed seeker of the hermetic knowledge, pro-

duced a book

entitled,

De Quinta

Essentia FMlosophorum
in

which was printed at Oxford in 1686, and a second time

THE MOST on OSS.

1

35

705.

There was a third edition of

it

printed in

Germany ia
latter

72 1.

In correspondence with a French adept, the

explains the reasons

why
As

the Brothers of the Eosy Cross

to the universal medicine, Elixir

concealed themselves.
Vitce,

or potable form of the preternatural menstruum, he

positively asserts that it is ia the hands of the " Illuminated," but that,

by the time they discover

it,
;

they have ceased

for

to desire its uses, being far above

them

and as to Mfe

centuries, beiag wishful for other things, they decliue availing

themselves of it.

He adds,

that the adepts are obliged to con-

ceal themselves for the sake of safety, because they

would be
this

abandoned in the consolations of the uitercourse of

world
(if they

were not, indeed, exposed to worse

risks),

sup-

posing that their gifts were proven to the conviction of the

bystanders as more than

human when
;

they would become

simply abhorrent.

Thus, there are excellent reasons for their

conduct

they proceed with the utmost caution, and instead

is

of making a display of their powers, as vain-glory

least distinguishing characteristic of these great

the

men, they

studiously evade the idea that they have any extraordinary

or sepai-ate knowledge.

They

live

simply as mere spectators

disciples, converts,
life,

in the world, and

they desire to

make no

nor confidants.
to relationships

They

submit to the obligations of

and

enjoying the fellowship

and only preserve

of none, admiring
all

none, following none, but themselves.

are excellent citizens,
their

They obey

codes,

silence in regard to

own

private beliefs, giving the world the benefit of their

;

acquirements up to a certain pomt

seeking only sympathy at

some angles of
This

their multiform character, but shutting out

curiosity where they do not wish its imperative eyes.

the reason that the Rosicrucians passed through the world mostly uimoticed, and that people generally disbelieve that there were such persons ; or beUeve that, if there
is

36

TEE B OSICB UOIA NS.

we do not understandin
isai,

were, their pretensions are an imposition. It is easy to discredit

things which

nature compels

us to reject
reason.

all

propositions which do not consist with our

The

true artist is supposed to avoid all suspicion,

even on the part of those nearest to him.

possibility of the renewal of
life,

And
it

granting the
it

and supposing also that

was the desire of the hermetic philosopher,

difficult for

would not be

him

so to order his arrangements as that he

should seem to die in one place (to keep up the character of

the natural manner of his
life),

by withdrawing himself,

to

reappear in another as a

seemed most convenient to

thing
is

new person at the time that him for the purpose. For every
;

easy to those with

money nor
if

will the

world inquire
ad-

with too resolute a curiosity,

dress,

you have coolness and

and

if

you have the

art of accounting for things.

The

man

of this order also

is solus,

and without wife or children

to embarrass to follow

him

in the private disposition of his affairs, or

him

too closely into his by-comers.

Thus

it

will be
all

seen that philosophers

may

live in the world,

and have
of,

these gifts, and yet be never heard of

as they themselves wish or suggest.

or, if

heard

only

As an

instance of the unexpected risks which, a

member

of this order

may run

if

he turns his attention to the prac-

tical side of his studies, spite of all his precautions,

we may

cite the accident

which happened to a famous Englishman,

who

disguised himself under the

name

of Eugenius Phila-

lethes,

but whose real name

is

said to be

Thomas Vanghan,'
sell

He

tells

us of himself, that going to a goldsmith to

twelve hundred marks' worth of gold, the

first sight,

man

told him, at

that

it

never came out of the mines, but was the

it

production of art, as

was not of the standard of any known

offerer

kingdom

which proved so sudden a dilemma to the

it

of the gold, that he withdrew immediately, leaving

behind

THOMAS VAUGHAN.
him.
It

57
is

naturally follows from this, that it

not only

necessary to have gold, but that the gold shall be marketable, as otherwise it is utterly useless for the purposes of

conversion into

money

in this world.

Thomas Vaughan,

who was a

scholar of Oxford,

and was vehemently attacked

in his lifetime, and

if there ever

who certainly was a Eosicrucian adept was one, led a wandering life, and fell often

into great dangers from the mere suspicion that he possessed

exti-aordinary secrets.

He was bom,

as

we

learn from his

writings,

about the year 1612, which makes him a con-

temporary of the great English Eosicrucian, Eobert Flood

and what

is

the strangest part of his history, as

1

we

find

remarked by a writer in
those of his fraternity"

749,

is,

that he

is

so the author adds

"to be

" believed by
living

even now; and a person of great credit at Nuremberg, in

Germany,

afiBrms that

he conversed with him but a year or

two ago.

Nay,

it is

farther asserted," continues the author,

is

"that this very individual

in Europe, and that he

the president of the Illuminated

as such in
all their

sits

annual

meetings."

Thomas Vaughan, according

to the report of

the philosopher Eobert Boyle, and of others

who knew

him, was a
morals.

man

of remarkable piety, and of unstained

He

has written and edited several invaluable works

upon the
Regis

secrets of the philosophers,

; :

some of which are in

our possession

among others Introitus apertus ad occlusum Palatium; Lumen de Lumine; Magia Adamica; Anima
other learned books
;

Magim Abscondita, and

advancing very

peculiar theories concerning the seen and the unseen. These

books were disbelieved at the time, and remain

dited, principally because they treat of eccentric

discre-

and seem-

ingly impossible things.

It

is,

however, certain that

go but a very

little

way

out of the usual track before

we we

encounter puzzling matters, which

may

well

set

us in-

38

THE BOSIORUCIANS.
some
sus-

vestigating our knowledge, and looking with

picion

upon

its

grounds, spite of

all

the pompous claims

of

modem

philosophers,

who

are continually,

on account

of their conceitedness,

making sad mistakes.

" Progress and enlightenment are prerogatives to which

no generation

in particular can lay a special claim," says a

modem

writer,

speaking of railways and their invention.

is

" Intelligence like that of the Stephensons

bom

again

and again, at lengthened intervals

giants in

and

it

is

only these
perfection

wisdom who know how to carry on to

the knowledge which centuries have been piling up before

them.

But the age in which such men are

cast is often units

equal to appreciate the genius which seeks to elevate

aspu-ation.

Thus

it

was in

8zo that Mr. "William Brougham

proposed to consign George Stephenson to Bedlam, for being

the greatest benefactor of his time.

But now that we have

difficulty
;'

adopted somewhat fully his rejected ideas of steam-locomotion

and high
forced

rates of speed,
us,

which were with so much

'

upon

we complacently call ourselves enlightened

safe in

and doubtless we are tolerably

longer live to contradict us."

doing

so, considering

\that the Stephensons, and similar scientific visionaries, no

We

might add, that

the

Eosicrucians hold their critics in light esteem.

If such is the disbelief of science of every-day use, what

chance of credit has the abstraser knowledge, and those

assertions of

power which contradict our most ordinary ideas

?

of possibility

Common

sense will answer,

none

at

all.

And

yet

all

human

conclusions and resolutions

upon

points

which have been considered beyond the possibility of contradiction have been sometimes at fault. The most politic
course
is

not too vigorously to take our stand upon any

thing, but simply to say that our

knowledge

is

limited,

that absolute truth

is

alone in the knowledge of God, and

THE PHILOSOPHER HUME.

that no more truth
is

39

vouchsafed to
uses,

man

than he knows

how

to use

most of his
perverted.

even of his

little

quantum

of

truih, being

He must
As

await other states for

greater light, and to

become a higher creature

should that
is

be his happy destiny.

is

to certainty in this world, there

none

^nor

can there be any.

is

Whether there

any thing

outside of

man

uncertain.

Hume

has pointed out that

there is

no sequence between one and two.

Other philosoall

phers have ingeniously detected that our senses are

or
all

one,

none.

Man is the picture painted upon external matter,

is

and external matter

picture.

the individuality that surveys the

In the world of physics, colours are tones in other

senses,

and tones are colours; sevenfold in

either case, as

the planetary influences are septenary

which, in the ideas

of the Eosicrucians, produce both.

'Vesica

Piscis.*'

Talisman of the Jaina Kings.

CHAPTER THE SEVENTH.

MYTHIC HISTORY OF THE FLEUR-DE-LIS.

|HE

maypole

is

uphallos.

The ribbons depending

through which the mayseven
prismatic

from the

discus, or ring,

pole pierces,
colours

should be of the

those

of the rainbow (or Rigne-heau).

According

to the Gnostics

and

their

Remains, Ancient and Modem, a

work by the Eey.

C.

W.

King, M.A., published in

864,

Horapollo has preserved a talisman, or Gnostic gem, in

yellow jasper, which
presents the

engraved figure of a
first

" Cynocephalus, crowned, with idton erect, adoring the

appearance of the new moon."

The
India.

phallic worship
It
constitutes,
chief, if

prevailed,
as

at

one time,

all

over

Mr. Sellon

asserts, to this

day

one of the
religion.

not the leading, dogmas of the Hindoo

has degenerated into gross and sensual

Though
it

it

superstition,

was originally intended as the worship of the

in

creative principle

Nature.

Innumerable curious parall

ticulars lie scattered

up and down, in
It is only

countries of the

world, relating to this worship,

its grossness, it is.
ality,

mad as it in modem

seems

bad

as,

in

times that sensu-

and not sublimity, has been

actively associated vith this

rites

worship, however.

There was a time when the

connected

with

it

were grand and solemn enough.

The

general diffuloni,

sion of these notions regarding the Phalli

and the

and

ORIGIN OF THE FLEUB-DE-LIS.

4.1

of the sacred mystic suggestions implied in both, as well as the

inflections in design of these unlikely, repulsive figures for

serious -worship, prove that there

was something very extrathe origin of them.

ordinary,

and quite beyond

belief, in

The

religion of the Phallos (and of its twin

all

emblem) is to be traced
amongst the Hiudoos,
forms an integral part

over the East.

It appears to be the earliest worship prac-

tised

by man.

It prevailed not only

Assyrians, Babylonians, Mexicans, Etruscans, Greeks, and

Eomans,
Africa.

in ancient times, but it

still

of the worship of India, Thibet, China, Siam, Japan, and

We

cannot, therefore, afford to ignore this,

it

when

we

discover

to be a religion so widely spread, and reap-

pearing so unexpectedly, not only ia the countries with

which we are contemporaneously acquainted, but

those old countries of which
or nothing at all
;

also

in

we

in reality

know very
is

little,

for all history reads doubtfully.

In the Temph-Herrmi of Nicolai, there

an account

of a Gnostic gem, or talisman, which represents a " Cynocephalus," vrith a lunar disc on his head, standing in the
act of adoration, with sceptrum displayed, before a

column

engraved with

letters,

and supporting a
in
fact,

triangle.

This latter
triangle

architectural figure

is,

an obelisk.

The

symbolises one of the Pillars of Hermes (Hercules).

Cynocephalus was sacred to him.

The

Pillars of

The Hermes
Boaz.''

have been Judaised into Solomon's "Jachin and So says Herz, in regard to "Masonic Insignia."

We

will

explain something, later in our book, of these interesting

sexual images, set

up

for adoration so strangely.

We now
elaborate

propose to deduce a very original and a very

or descent, of the famous arms of

genealogy,

France, the Flmrs-d&-Lis, " Lucifera," Lisses, Luces, " Lucies,"

Bees,

Scarabs,

Scara-bees, or

Imperial "Bees" of

Charlemagne, and of Napoleon the first and Napoleon the

4*

THE ROSICRUGIANS.

assurance, add) the

Third, from a very extraordinary and (we will, in the fallest most unexpected point of view. The

real beginning of these inexpressibly sublime

arms

(or this
it is

" badge"), although in

itself,

and apart from

its

purpose,

the most refined, but mysteriously grand, in the world, contradictory as

it

may

seem,

is also

the most ignoble.

It has

for been the crux of the antiquaries centuries We would rather be excused the mentioning of
!

and of the heralds

t*he

peculiar item

which has thus been held up

throughout the world.

to the highest
suifi-

honour

(heraldically)

It will be

cient to say that mystically, ia its theological, Gnostic allusion,

it is

the grandest device that armory ever saw

are quaUfied to apprehend our hidden

and

those
will

who

meaning

read correctly and perceive our end

by the time

that they

have terminated this strange section of our history of Eosicrucianism

for to it it refers particularly.

Scarabaei, Lucifera (" Light-bringers"),

Lis, Lily, Lucia, Lucy,

Luce, Fleur-de-

Lux, Lu(+)x.

The Luce
jack

is

the old-fashioned

name

for the " pike" or

certaiii
(in-

fish

famous

for the profuse generation of a

insect, as some fishermen

know

ftiU well.

This once

credible as it

may

seem) formed an object of worship,

it

for

the sake of the inexpressibly sublime things which

bolised.

symoff,

Although so mean

itself,

and although

so far

this implied the beginning of all sublunary things.

The

bees of Charlemagne, the bees of the Empire

in

Prance, are " scarabs," or figures of the same afBnity as

the

Bourbon "
blazoned

lilies."

They deduce from

or blue

common

ancestor.

Now, the colour

is azure,

heraldic on which they are always em-

^which
it

is

the colour of the

sea,

which

is salt.

In an anagram

Following on this allusion,

gris !" is a very ancient

may be expressed as " C." we may say that "Ventre-saintexpletive, or oath.

French barbarous

STRANGE MYTHS.
it is

43

Literally (which, in the occult sense, is always obscurely),

the " Sacred blue (or gray) womb,"

which

is

absurd.

Now, the reference and the meaning of this we will confidently commit to the penetration of those among, our readers who can surmise it and also the apparently circuitous deductions, which are yet to come, to be made by us.
;

Blue

is

the colour of the " Vii-gin Maria."

Maria, Mary,

mare, mar, mara, means the "bitterness," or the "saltness,"

of the sea.

Blue
(

is

expressive of the

Hellenic, Isidian,

Ionian, Fonian

Foni-Indian) "Watery, Female, and MoonIt runs

like Principle in the universal theogony.

through

aU the mythologies.

The "Lady-Bird,"

or

"Lady- Cow"
it

(there is

no

re-

semblance between a Iwd and a cow,

may be remarked

en passant, except in this strangely occult, almost ridiculous,

aflSnity),

and the

rustic

rhyme among the children concernaway home

ing

it,

may

be here remembered
!

" Lady-Bird, Lady-Bird, fly

Your House

is

on
all

fire

yoiar children at home

are inextricably

!"

Such may be heard in

is

parts of

England when a lady-bird

embodied
the
;

seen by the children.

^like

Myths

specks and straws and

flies

in amber

amidst
all

sayiags and rhymes of the

common

people

countries

and they are there preserved

for Very

many

generations, re-

appearing to recognition after the lapse sometimes of centuries.

Now, how do we explain and re-render the above The "Lady-Bird" is the "Virgin Maria," rude couplet? Isis, the "Mother and Producer of Nature;" the "House"
the " Ecliptic"

is

it is
;

figuratively "

on

fire,"

or " of fire," are the

in the path of the sun

and the " children

at

home"

" months" produced in the house of the sun, or the solar

year, or the " signs of the zodiac"

^which

were originally

" ten," and not " twelve," each sign answering to one of the

44
letters of the

THE BOSICBUCIANS.
primeval alphabet, which were in

number " ten."

Thus, re-read, the lines run

"Lady-Bird, Lady-Bird" {Oolumba, or Dove), "fly away home! Your House is of Fire your Children are Ten I"

The name of the

Bird"
is

flyiug insect called in

England " Lady-

B&U-ci-Dim in French, which means "God-creature,"

or " God's creature."

magic green of Venus.

Smaragd. " Burning Fire-Fly," whose house

are ten, is

The Napoleonic green is the mythic, The Emerald is the Smaragdus, or The name of the insect Bamabee, Bambee,
is

of

fire,

whose children

Red

Gkafe/r,

Rother-Kaef&r, Sonnm-Kaefer, Unser;

Frawen Kohlein, in German

Little

it is

" Sun-Chafer," "

Cow,"

Isis,

or lo, or
is fire

ow, in English.
some languages)

Our Lady's The children

its

Tenne {Tin, or Tkn,

in

are the earliest

" Ten Signs" in the Zodiacal Heavens

each " Sign" with

and
Chifflet's

Ten Decans,

or Decumens, or "Leaders of Hosts."

They

are also astronomically called " Stalls," or " Stables."

We

may

here refer to Porphyry, Horapollo,

Gnostic

Gems.

The Speckled

Beetle was flung into hot water to

avert storms (Pliny, Nat. Hist. lib. xxxvii. ch. x.).

The

antiquary Pignorius has a beetle "crowned with the sun

and encircled with the serpent."

illustrations published

Amongst the Gnostic

is

by Abraham Gorlseus

that of a

talisman of the more abstruse Gnostics

an

onyx carved

with a " beetle which threatens to gnaw at a thunderbolt."

See Notes and Queries
:

" Bee Mythology."

The

" Lilies" are said not to have appeared in the French

arms until the time of Philip Augustus.

See Montfaugon's

Monumens

Monarchie frangaise, Paris, 1729. Also Jean-fJacques Chifflet, Anastasis de Child&ric, 1655. See also Notes and Qmries, 1856, London, 2d Series, for some
de
la

learned papers on the " Fleur-de-lis."

In the early armorial

THE "LISSE8" OF FRANCE.

as "iasects," semeed (seeded), or spotted, on the blue

45

bearings of the Prankish kings, the "liHes" are represented

field.

These

are,

in their origin, the scarabcei of the Orientals

they were dignified by the Egyptians as the emblems of the " Enlightened." If the reader exammes carefally the
sculpture in the British

Museum

representing the Mithraic

Sacrifice of the Bull, with its mystic

accompaniments (No.

14,

G-rand Central Saloon), he will perceive the scaraiceus, or crab,

playing a pecuhar part in the particulars of the grand

strangely typified, and also so remotely.

rite so

The motto

placed

which are the arms of France, runs as follows: "Lilia non laborant, neque nent." This is also
"lilies,"

under the

(as all

know) the

legend, or motto, accompanying the royal

order of knighthood denominated that of the " Saint-Esprit,"

in France.

"We are immediately

now recalled to those

exceed-

ingly obscure, but very significant, words of our Saviour,

which have always seemed very erroneously interpreted, on

account of their obvious contradictions " Consider the
:

lilies

of

the

field,

how they grow; they toil not,

neither do they spin."*

Now,

in regard to this part of the text,

what does the

judi-

cious speculator think of the following Rosicrucian gloss, or

explanation

Lilia non laborant (like bees)

neqtie

nent,

"neither do they spin" (like spiders).

as

Now
toil

of the "lisses,"

we
To

shall elect to call them.

-,

They

not like " bees"

'{scarabcei)

neither do they

s;pin

like " spiders" {arachnidai).

be ivise is to
all

be enlightened.

Lux

is

the Logos
is

by

whom

things were made; and the Logos

Masit

* The
field,

full

quotatioh
gi-ow
;

is

the following
toil not,

" Consider the lihes of the

:

how they

they

neither do they spin

and yet

say unto you. That even Solomon" (here steps in some of the lore

of the Masonic order) " in all his glory was not arrayed" (or exalted, or original) "like one dignified, as it is more correctly rendered out of the of these" (St. Matt. vi. 28).

46
E.s.t
:

THE BOSICBUOIANS.
|0.a-.T=6oo
;

Again,

L=5o,

;=6,

and Lux makes Lucis; then LX, i<;=666. 8=300=666. i=io, {i^ 5=300,
"^

The

Fleur-de-lis is the Lotus (water-rose), the flower

sacred to the Imx, or the Sul, or the Sun.

The "Auri-

flamme" (the flame of

standard of France.
It

fire,

or fire of gold) was the earliest

It

was afterwards called Oriflamme. and

its

was the sacred

flag of France,

colour was red

the heraldic, or " Eosicrucian," red, signifying gold.

three "Lotuses," or "Lisses," were the

The

coat of arms

emblems of the Trimurti, the three persons of the triple generative power, or of the Sun, or "Lux." \l7li/, sh,
"Shilo,"
is

T=6=666.
Thus
"

probably rU/, 5*7=360, or ^=600, X=5o=io, This is Silo, or Selo. " I have no doubt it was
Hvti'CD)-"

the invocation iu the Psalms called 'Selah,'

asserts the learned

and judicious Godfrey Higgins.

of

The Holie Church

Eome

herself doth

compare the

incomprehensible generation of the Sonne of

God from
in
so

His Father, together with His birth out of the pure and
undefiled Virgine Marie, unto the Bees,
verie deede a great blasphemie, if the bees

great valour and virtue" (value and dignity).

which were were not of "Beehive

Described,
its

of the

Eomish Church :" Hone's Ancient Mysteries

p. 283.

In the second edition of Nineveh and

Palaces, by

Bonomi (London, Ingram,

the divinity Ilus
is

1853), p. 138, the head-dress of

an egg-shaped cap, terminating at the

top in & fleur-de-lis ; at p. 149, the

Dagon

of Scripture has

the same; at

p. 201,

fig.

98, the same ornament appears;

at p. 202, fig. 99, a bearded figure has the ''usual flmr-delis."

In the same page, the

tiaras of

two bearded
p.

figures

are

surmounted with

fleurs-de-lis.

At

332,

fig.

211,
at

the Assyrian helmet

P- 334.
fig-

is

surmounted with a

fleur-de-lis ;

217, the head-dress of the figure ih the Assyrian

THE SOABABMUS.
standard has & fleur-de-lis ; at p. 340,
resembles a flmr-de-lis; at p.
35,0,
fig.

47
245, the bronze

fig.

254, an Egyptian

example of the god Nilus, as on the thrones of PharaohNecho, exhibits the fleur-de-Us.
Vert, or green,

and

azure, or blue, are the colours

on

which respectively the golden "bees," or the

are emblazoned.

silver "lisses,"

The Egyptian Scaralmi

are

frequently
or verd-

cut in stone, generally in green -coloured basalt,

antique.

Some have

hieroglyphics on them, which are

more

rare

others are quite plain.

In the tombs of Thebes, Belzoni There

is

found scarabm with Jmman heads.

bolical figure

hardly any sym-

which recurs so often in Egyptian sculpture or

painting as the scarahceus, or beetle, and perhaps scarcely

any one which

it

is

so difiicult to explain.

He

is

often

represented with a ball between his fore-legs, which some

take for a symbol of the world, or the sun.

He may

be

an emblem of
Zodiac
is

fertility.

The "crab" on

the Denderah

by some supposed to be a "beetle" {Egyptian

It is for

Antiquities).

some of the preceding reasons that

is

one of the mystic names of Lucifer, or the Devil,

the
anti-

"Lord
quaries,

of Flies," for which strange appellation

all
it

and other learned decipherers, have found

figure

im-

possible to account.

Of the
remarked.

of the Fleur-de-Luce, Fleur-de-Lis, or

Flower-de-iwce {Lus, Luz, Loose), the following

may be

On

its

sublime, abstract side,

it is

the symbol of

the mighty self-producing, self-begetting Generative Power

deified in

many myths.

We may

make

a question, in the

lower sense, in this regard, of the word " loose," namely,

wanton, and the word "lech," or "leche," and "lecher,"

&c.

Consider

also,

in the solemn

and

terrible sense, the

name

Crom-Lech, or "crown," or " arched hand," or "gate,"

of death.

The

Druidical stones were generally called orom-

4&
lechs \yhen placed

THE BOSIOBUCIANS.
in.

groups of two,* with a

copinff

or capstone

over, similarly to the

form of the Greek

letter

pi (n,

w),

which was imitated from that temple of stones which we

call

a cromlech.

Cromlechs were the

called from a
is

altars of the Druids,

and were

so

Hebrew word

signifying "to bow."

There

a Druidic temple at Toulouse, in France, exhibiting

many
flat

of these curious Druidical stones.

stone, ten feet long, six feet wide,

There

is

a large,

one foot thick, at

in

St.

David's,

Pembrokeshire.

It

is

called

Cymric "Lech

Lagar, the speaking stone."

We may

speculate

upon the

word " Lich, Lych, Lech"

There

in this connection,

and the terms

" Lich-gate," or " Lech-gate," as also the name of " Lichfield."

is

a porch or gateway, mostly at the entrance of oldis called is

fashioned churchyards, which

the " Lyke-Porcb," or

" Litch-Porch." Lmg, or iMk,

ing the same as

a word in the Danish signify-

Lyk

in the Dutch,

and Leiche in the German.

Thus comes

the

word " Lich-gate."

Lkh

in the Anglo-Saxon
ii.

means a " dead body."

See Notes and Queries, yol.

p. 4.

The " Lych-gates" were

as a sort of triumphal arches {Pro-

pykm)

placed before the church, as the outwork called the

"Propylaeum" was advanced before the Egyptian and the

Grecian temples.

They

are found, in the form of separate

arches, before the gates even of Chinese cities,

and they

are

there generally called " triumphal arches."

Propylxm which

is

name

of Hecate, Dis, Chronos, or the

II,

to

sinister deity the Fropy

Mum (as also, properly, the Lychominous import. Fro, or " beits

gate) is dedicated.
fore," the " Lmum."

Hence
in

its

Every Egyptian temple has

Propylon.

The Pyramid also

Nubia has

one.

"We refer to the ground-

* The whole forming a " capital,"

"cancel," or "chancel,"
office of

hence

" chapter," " chapitre,"- " chapel,"

our word, and the sublime judicial

"Chancellor," and " Chancery.''

TBE GNOSTia " ABRAXAS."

plans of the Temples of Denderali, Upper Egypt
of Luxor, Thebes
; ;

+9

the Temple
;

the Temple of Edfou,

(or

Upper Egypt

the

Temple of Camae
volume,

Kamak), Thebes.
General) Vallancey, in the fourth

Colonel (afterwards
p.

80, of his

General Warlcs, cited in the

Celtic

Druids, p. 223 (a valuable book by Godfrey Higgins), says:

"In Cornwall they caU

Logan-Stone.

it" {i.e. the rocking- stone)

"the

Borlase, in his Hidarij of Cornish Antiquities,

declares that he does not understand the

meaning of

this

term Logan, as applied to the Druidical stones.

Had

Dr.

Borlase been acquainted with the Irish MSS.," significantly

adds Colonel Vallancey, "he would have found that the

Druidical oracular stone called Loglian, which yet retains
its

name

in Cornwall,

is

the Irish Logh-oun, or stone into which

the Druids pretended that the Logh, or divine essence, de-

scended when they consulted

it

as

an

oracle."

Sanchoniathon, the Phoenician, says that Ouranus contrivedi

in

Bcetulia,

"stones that moved as having

life."

Stukeley's Aiury, p. 97,

may be

here referred to for further

proofs of the mystic origin of these stones, and also the

Celtic

Druids of Godfrey Higgins, in contradiction to those

infer that these "poised stones" simply

who would
The

mark

lurial-places.

Basilidans were called by the orthodox Docet^, or

Illusionists.

The Deity of the

Gnostics was called "Abraxas"

in Latin, and " Abrasax" in Greek.

dition for rescued

Their last

state, or

con-

sensitive entities, as

they termed souls, was

the " Pleroma," or " Fulness of Light." This agrees precisely

with the doctrines of the Buddhists, or Bhuddists. The reThe Pythagulating, presiding genius was the Pantheus.
gorean record quoted by Porphyry
(

Vit.

Pythag.) states that

the " numerals of Pythagoras were hieroglyphical symbols by means whereof he explained ideas concerning the nature of

50

TEE B08ICBUCIANS.
ten

things."

That these symbols were ten in number, the

original signs of the zodiac,

alphabet, appears

and

the ten Utters of the primeval'

vii. 7).

from Aristotle {Met.

"

Some

phi-

losophers hold," he says, "that ideas

and numbers are of the

See Tfie Gnostics

same nature, and amount

to ten in all."

and

their

Remains,

p. Z29.

But

to return to the

arms of France, which are the

" Fleurs-de-Lis," and to the small representatiye creature

(sublime enough, as the farthest-off symbol which they are

imagined in their greatness to indicate).

A Bible
is

presented

to Charles the Second, a.d. 869, has a miniature of this

monarch and
head

his

court.

His throne

terminated with

three flowers of the form of " fleurs-de-lis sans pied."

is

On

his

a crown "ferm^e

h,

fleurons d'or, relevez et recourbez

d'une maniSre singuliSre." of Prayers shows

Another miniature in the Book

a throne surmounted by a sort of
of " fleurs

him on
is

"

fleur-de-lis sans pied."

His crown

is

comme de

lis,"

and

tlie

rote

fastened with a rose, " d'oii sortent trois

pistils

en forme de fleurs-de-lis." His sceptre terminates in a

fleur-de-lis.

Notes and Queries.

Sylvanus Morgan, an old-fashioned herald abounding in suggestive disclosures, has the following " Sir William Wise
:

having lent to the king, Henry VIII., his signet to

letter,

seal a
:

(they

who having powdered" {semeed, or spotted) " eremites" were emmets ants) " engray'd in the seale, the king

paused and lookit thereat, considering."

We may here query

WiUiam Wise
Wise
bear

whether the

field

of the coat of arms of Sir

;"

was not " ermine

this fur,

for several of the families of

also.

and

it is

not unlikely that he did so

!'

"
'

Why, how now. Wise

lice
'

quoth the king.

'

What !

hast thou

here

?'

'

An,

if it like
;

your majestie,' quoth

for

Sir William,
I part

by giviag the louse arms with the French king, in that he giveth the.
is

a louse

a rich coat

THE ENGLISH "BMOAD ASSOW."

flour-de-lice:

51

Whereat the king

heartily laugh'd, to hear

how

prettily so byting a taunt (namely, proceeding

from a

prince) was so suddenly turned to so pleasaunte a conceit."

%tsmh\irsi's History of Ireland, in Holinshed's Ghron.

Nares

thinks that Shakspeare,

who

is

known

to hare been a reader

of Holinshed, took his conceit of the " white lowses which do

become an old coat well," in the Merry Wives of Windsor^ from this anecdote. See Heraldic Anomalies, vol. ist, p. 204
also,

Lower's Curiosities of Heraldry,

p.

82 (1845).

It

may

here be mentioned, that the

mark

signifying the royal property

(as it is used in France), similarly to the token, or symbol, or

"brand," denoting the royal domain, the property, or the

sign upon royal chattels (the "broad arrow"), as used in

England,
" Lis

is

the " Lis," or the " Fleur-de-Lis."

is

The mark
called the

by which criminals are " branded" in France

Fleur-de-Lis."
arrow," the

The English "broad

royal property,
is

mark

or sign of the

variously depicted, similarly to the follow-

ing marks

Fig.

1.

rig-

z-

^'g-

3-

^^S-

4-

Fig-

5-

In figs, i These are the Three Nails of the Passion. are unmistakably so, with the points downand 2 they
wards.
Figs. 3

and 4 have the

significant horizonal

mark

which, in the

iirst

centuries of Christianity, stood for the

Second (with feminine meanings) Person of the Trinity

but the points of the spikes {spim, or thorns) are gathered

upwards in the

centre.

In fig.

there are

still

the three nails

but a suggestive similarity to be

is

remarked in this figure

a disposition resembling the crvx-ansala

an

incessant

52

THE B OSIGB UCIANS.

always reappearing in Egyptian
sculptures

symbol,

and

hieroglyphics.
letter "

There

is also

a likeness to the mysterious chapter of Genesis

is said to

Tau."

The whole

first

be contained in this latter emblem.

Three bent

spikes, or nails, are

unmistakably the same

symbol that Belus often holds in his extended hand on

the

Babylonian cylinders, afterwards

discovered

by the

Jewish cabalists in the points of the letter

"Shin" and by the mediaeval mystics in the

" Three Nails of the Cross."

The Gnostics

and

their

Remains, Ancient and MedicRval,

p. 208.

This

figure,

which

is clearly

nail, has

also characteristics,

which

will

be remarkedlike^
;

in

its

upper portion, which suggest a

ness to the obelisk, pin, spike, upright, or

*
The Hebrew

phallus.
letter

"Shin"

or

the Hebraic numeration.

"Sin" counts for 300 in Each s^ica, or spike,

may be taken

to signify 100, or ten tens.

We

have strong hints here of the origin of the decimal

system, which reigns through the universal laws
The letter

of Computation as a substratum, basis, or principle.

This

powerfal

symbol, also, is

full of

secret important

meanings.

It will

be remarked as the

symbol or figure assigned ia the formal zodiacs of aU

countries, whether original zodiacs, or

whether produced

in

figure-imitations

by

tradition.

The marks

or symbols of the

zodiacal signs, " Vu'go-Scorpio," are closely similar to each

Virgo.

Libra.

Scorpio.

THE BEAUSEANT" OF THE TEMPLARS.

'

53

other, with certain differences,

which we recommend

to the

judicious consideration of close and experienced observers.

Fig.
8.

The Templar Banner

the famous

" Beaus^ant."

Fig.

9.

or

rather

the
as

k
moon
of the post-diluvian world.
Fig. 9
is

New Moon,
thus
:

])

Fig. 8 is the symbol, or hook, of Saturn, the colour of whom,

in the heraldic configuration, is sab., sable, or black, divided,

party per pale, with the opening light of the

first

crescent

the same grandly

re-

mystic banner, denominated Beauseant (" Beau-Seant"),

vealing a whole occult theosophy to the initiate, which the

leaders of the Templars undoubtedly were.

The

difference

between these two

of the ensign

figures, fig. 8
fig.

and

fig. 9, is,

that the " fly"

marked

is

bifurcated (or cloven) ia the

"lighted" part.

We
the "

subjoin the representation of the wondrous banner of

Poor Soldiers of the Temple," as depicted abundantly on

the spandrels of the arches of the Temple Church, London.

11111111

Mil

E
A.

V
Fig- 10.

B e

V
Fig. II

54-

THE R08ICBU0IANS.

Von Hammer's Mystery of Baphormt Revealed contains much suggestive matter relative to these mysterious Templars.
The
Parisian " Tmipliers" assert that there
letter
is

a connection
characters,

between the recent Niskhi

and the " Cufic"

and that the origin of the

is

secrets of the order of the

Temple

contemporary with the prevalence of the latter alphabet.

here refer to the work entitled, Mysterium Baphometk
seu,

We

Revelatum ;

Fratres MiliVm Templi, qua Gnostici et quidem

Ophiani, apostasm, idololatrm, et quidem impuritatis convicti

per ipsa eorum monwnenta, published in the Mines de T Orient,

vol. vi.

This treatise

is

illustrated with

numerous admirably
Amidst

executed copperplates of magical statuettes, architectural

ornaments, mystical inscriptions, vases, and coins.

these there
or maxima),
others,
is

a bearded,

je,i female, figure,

" Mete" (magna,

whom Von Hammer,

makes the same and

is

following Theodosius and " Sophia" of the Ophites. as the

Some

particulars referring to these subjects are contained

their

in The Gnostics

Remains, Ancient ami Medimval;

total ignorance

although there

an evident

on the

part

of the author, throughout his book, as to the purpose and

jects: to

meaning of the whole of these remote and mysterious subwhich he is, however, constantly referring, without

the merit of even feeling his

way

correctly.

It

is

well

known

that the preservation of Gnostic symbols

by

Free-

masons was, and remains so to

this day, exceedingly sedulous.-

We

will terminate this part of

our long dissertation,

descent,
"fleurs-

which commenced with the explanation of the

or the genealogy, or the generation, of the
de-lis" of

famous

France,the noblest and sublimest symbol, in its occult or mysterious meaning, which the " monarch sun" ever saw displayed to it, inexpressibly mean as the " Lis" seems

we

will finish,

we

say,

thus

far,

by commenting in a

very

original

and unexpected, but

strictly corroborative,

manner

THE "DOZEN WHITE LUCES."

upon some words of Shakspeare which have
passed wholly without remark or explanation.

55

hitherto been

"We

may

premise by recalling that the

luce is

a pike {pic),

or Jack:

Jac, lacc

{B and /

are complementary in this

mythic

sense), Bacc, Bacche, Bacchus.

Shakspeare's well-

known lampoon,

or satirical ballad,

upon the name of " Lucy"

this side of the subject:
it."

may be

cited as illustrative proof

"

on

Lucy

is

lowsie, as some volke miscalle

The

zodiacal sign for February is the " fishes."

Now, the

observances of St. Valentine's Day, which point to courtship

and to sexual
Lucys
lately

love, or to loving invitation, bear direct re-

ference to the " fishes," in a certain sense.

The arms of the

as

they are at present to be seen, and where

we

saw them, beautifully restored upon the great entrance-

gates of Charlecote Hall, or Place, near Stratford- super- Avon

are " three luces or

"The dozen
" Shallow. It
is

pikes, hauriant, argent."

white luces" are observed upon with family

pride by Shallow (Lucy), in the

Merry Wives of Windsor

an old

coat.

" Evans. The dozen white louses do become an old coat

well."
effect,

The

significant part of the passage follows, to this

sly art of

though deeply hidden in the

our knowing,

but reticent, Shakspeare: "It agrees well passant" (we

would here read passim, " every where," which makes clear " It is a familiar beast to Man, and signifies sense).
love" (the generative act).
sc. I.

Merry Wives of Windsor,

act

i.

"We

commend

the above history of the " Fleur-de-Lis" to

the thoughtful attention of our readers.

?
Sign of the Pliinet Venus.

CHAPTER THE EIGHTH.

SACRED FIRE.

[HE

appearance of

God

to mortals

seems always

to

have been in brightness and great

glory, whether

He was
kind.

angry and in displeasure, or benign and

Scripture.

These appearances are often mentioned in

appeared on
it

When God

Mount

Sinai, it is said, "

1

The Lord
when
Israel,

descended upon
says, "

in Fire" (Exodus xix.

8).

And

Moses repeats the history of this to the children of

he

The Lord spake unto yon out

iv. 12).

of the midst of the

of
^

Fire" (Deuteronomy

So

it

was when the Angel

fire

the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of

out of the

midst of the bush

"

bush was not consumed" (Exodus

The bush burned with Fire, and the iii. 3). The appearances
or,

of the Angel of God's presence, or that Divine Person who represented God, were always in brightness words, the Shechinah was always
;

in other
glory.
to

surrounded with

This seems to have given occasion to those of old

imagine

fire to

be what God dwelt

in.

" Ipse" (Darius) "solem Mithren,

sacrumque
gloria

et

sternum

invocans Ignem, ut

illis

dignam vetere
inspirarent."

majoremque
1.

monumentis fortitudinem
c.

Q.

Curtius,

iv.

13.

Whether

it

was that any

fire

proceeded from God, and

as

burnt up the oblation in the

first sacrifices,

some ingenious

SOLOMON'S TEMPLE.
men have
conjectured,

57

we know
case.

not.

It is certain that in
fire

after ages this

was the

"We are sure that a

from

the Lord consumed upon the altar the burnt offering of

Aaron (Leviticus

ix. 24) ; and so it did the sacrifice of Gideon, " both the flesh and the unleavened cakes" (Judges

vi. zi).

When David

"built an altar unto the Lord, and

offered burnt offerings

and peace-offerings, and called upon

the Lord,
altar of

He

answered him from heaven by Fire, upon the

(i Chronicles xxi. 26).

burnt offerings"

The same

thing happened at the dedication of Solomon's temple:

came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord
Fire
filled

"The

the house" {2 Chronicles

vii. 1).

And much

about a

hundred years afterwards, when Elijah made that extraordinary sacrifice in proof that Baal was no god, "
of the

The Fire
and the

Lord

fell

and consumed the burnt

sacrifice,

wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water
that was in the trench" (i Kings
xviii. 38.).

And
as
:

if

we go

back long before the times of Moses, as early

days,

Abraham's

we meet with an instance of the same sort "It came when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace and a bumiag lamp, that passed
to pass that

between these pieces" (Genesis xv.

17).

The
which
is

first

appearances of God, then, being in glory

fire

or,

the same thing, in light or

sacrifices in so
fire,

and He showing
instances

His acceptance of

many

by con-

suming them with

hence

it

was that the Eastern people,

fell

and particularly the Persians,

itself,

into the worsliip of fire to be the

or rather they conceived

fire

symbol of
or by,
fire.

God's presence, and they worshiped

God

in,

From

the Assyrians, or ChaldaBans, or Persians, this worship

ward among the Greeks

was propagated southward among the Egyptians, and westand by them it was brought into
;

J8

THE B 08IOR UCIA NS.

The Greeks were wont
to

Italy.

meet together to worship

and there they consulted for the public good and there was a constant fire kept upon the altai-,. which was dignified by the name of Vesta by some. The and so Ovid fire itself was properly Vesta
in their Prytaneia,
; ;

"Nee

te aliud

Vestam, quam vivam intelligere flammam."

The Prytaneia were

fire

the atria of the temples, wherein a

wae kept that was never suffered to go out. On the change in architectural forme from the pyramidal (or the
the upright, or vertical),

horizontal) to the obeliscar (or

the flames were transferred from the altars, or cubes, to the

summits of the typical uprights, or towers

of the candles, such as

or to the tops
in Catholic

wc

see

them used now

worship, and which are called " tapers," from their tapering

or pyramidal form, and which are supposed always to indicate the divine presence or influence.

This, through the

is

symbolism that there

last exalted

is

in the living light, which

the

show of

fluent or of inflamed brilliant matter,

celestial

passing off into the

light (or occult
fire),

unknown and unseen world of

to

which

all

the fonns of things tend,

and in which even idea

meaning, and evolves
escape and to wing away.
Vesta, or the
fire,

itself passes

from recognition

as

spiring

up, as all flame

does, to

was worshiped in circular temples, which

of

were the images, or the miniatures, of the "temple"

the world, with
its

dome, or cope, of

stars.

It

was in

the

atria of the temples,

and in the presence of and before the

that the forms of ceremonial worship
It is certain that

above-mentioned

lights,

were always observed.

shiped at Troy
;

Vesta was wor-

and ^neas brought her into Italy

"

manibus

vittas,

Vestamque

poteiitem,

^ternumque

adytis effert penetralibus Ignem."

^neid,

ii.

296.

VESTAL FIBES.

J9

Numa

settled an order of Virgin Priestesses,

it

whose business
iire.

and care

was constantly

to maintain the holy

it

And

long before Numa's days, we find

honourable,

not only customary, but

among

the Albans to appoint the best-bom

virgins to be priestesses of Vesta, and to keep

stant,

up the con-

unextinguished

fire.

When

Virgil speaks {^neid,

iy.

200) of

Ia,rbas, in

AMca,
:

as building a

hundred temples and a hundred

" vigilemque sacraverat

altars,

he says

Iguem,

Excubias Divuiii seternas,"

And
the

that he

had " consecrated a

fire

that never went out."

fire,

he

calls these

temples and these lights, or this

"perpetual watches," or "watch-lights," or proof of the

presence,

of the gods.

By which

expressions he means,

that places and things were constantly protected and so-

lemnised where such lights bnmed, and that the

or angel-defenders, " camped," as
it

celestials,

were,

and were sure

altars,

to

be met with thickly, where these flames upon the

and

these torches or lights about the temples, were studiously

and incessantly maintained.

Thus the custom seems

earliest antiquity to

to have been general from the

fire,

maintain a constant

as conceiving

the Gods present there.

And

this
it

was not only the opinion

extended
all

of the inhabitants in Judsea, but

Greece, Italy, Egypt, and

over Persia,

most other nations of the world.

in honour of

Porphyry imagined that the reason why the most ancient

mortals kept up a constant, ever-burning
fire

the immortal Gods was because Fire was most like the

Gods.
fire

He

says that the ancients kept an unextinguished

in their temples to the

Gods because
so the true

it it

was most

like

them.

Fire was not like the Gods, but

was what they

appeared in to mortals.

And

God always

ap-

6o

THE E 08ICB UCIANS.

;

peared in brightness and gloiy

yet no one would say that

brightness was most like the true God, but was most like

the Sheehinah, in which

God

appeared.

And

hence the
fire

custom arose of keeping up an imextiaguished

ancient temples.

in the

Vesta

is

properly an Oriental word, derived from the

Hebrew ^i^,
same

As" Fire."
The

Thence the word Astarte, in the

signification of the

Phoenician dialect.

term

is

the

as the irip aa-^e^ov, the

^nis mternus, the perpetual

either Vesta or Vulcan,

fire itself.

They that worshiped

or the master-power of nature whicli is

known under

those

names, were properly Fire-worshipers.

God, then, being wont to appear in Fire, and being conceived to dwell in Fire, the notion spread universally, and

was universally admitted.

of the

First, then, it

was not

at all out

way

to think of engaging in friendship with

God by

the

same means as they contracted friendship with one

another.

And

since they to

whom God

appeared saw

Him

appear in Fire,
appearances.

and they acquainted others with such His

conceived to dwell in Fire.

He was

By degrees,
in

therefore, the world

came to be over- curious

the

fire

that was constantly to be kept up, and in things to be

sacrificed;
till

and they proceeded from one step to another,

at length they filled

up the measure of by

their aberra-

tions,

which were in

reality instigated

their zeal, and

by

their intense desire to mitigate the displeasure of their

divinities

for religion

was much more intense as a

feeling

iu early days

by passing

into dreadful ceremonies in relast possible

gard to this

fire,

which they reverenced as the

its

physical form of divinity, not only in

gi-andeur

and power,

but also in
sacrifices

its purity.

It arose

from this view that human

came

to be offered to the deities in

many

parts of

the world, particularly in Phoenicia, and in the colonies

THE "MORNING STAE"

derived from thence into Africa' and other places.
intensity of their minds, children were sacrificed
parents, as being the best

6,

In the

by

then-

and dearest oblations that could be made, and the strongest arguments that nothing ought to be
withheld from God.

This was expiation for that sad

result,

the consequence of the original curse, issuing from the fatal

curiosity concerning the bitter fruit of that forbidden "Tree,"
" whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe,

With

loss of

Eden,"

according to Milton.
lesser

That sense of shame in

all

all its

forms

and

larger,

and with

the references inseparably

allied to

propagation in

all its

multitudinous cunning (so

tissues reach,

to speak), wherever the

condemned material

puzzled the thoughtful ancients.

This they considered the

convicted " Adversary," or Lucifer, " Lord of Light"

is,

material light
!

" Eldest Son of the Morning.''

its

that

Morning,

indeed

dawning with

beams from behind that forbidden

Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

What

is this

shame, urged the philosophers, this reddening, however

good and

beautiful,

and

especially the

ornament of the
real,
first

young and of

children,

who

are

newest from the

glowing countenance of Deity, with the bloom of the

angelic world scarcely yet fading from oif their cherub faces,

gradually darkening and hardening in the degradation and

iniquity of being here as presences in the world, although the

most glorious amidst the forms of flesh

which
is

the characteristic singly of

other creatures are sinless in

the feeling of

that correctly

? What is this shame, hmnan creatures ? AU this respect, and know not looked at strange thing

which men

call "

shame," something which

it is

not right

that the sun even should see, and therefore stin-ing the

6i blood,

THE BOSIOBUCIANS.
and reddening the
to
face,

and

conflising the speech,

and causing man

self,

hang down

his head,
:

and

to hide

himfirst

as

if guilty

of something

even as our guilty

parents, having lost the unconsciousness of their child-like,

innocent

first

state

that

of sinless virginity
all at

hid

them-

selves in the

umbrage of Paradise,

once convicted to

the certainty that they must hide, because they were exposed
in the face of that original intention regarding

them having

been broken.
" Suffer the
little

children to

come unto Me, and

forbid

them
tion,

not, for of such is the

is,

kingdom of heaven."
come up
for salva-

That

the innocent children should

who, though suffering under the mortal liability incurred

first sin

by all flesh in that

has empoisoned

(and incident in the first fall, which

yet free by the nature of that
state.

all nature), are

ungrown

possibility,

and from their immature

They

know not

the shame of the condition adult, and therefore

they bear not the badge of men.

To

recur for a

moment

to the theory of

human

sacrifices

which once largely prevailed.

which we see constantly in

Interwoven inseparably with

the forms of architecture from the earliest times, proofs of

classical buildings particularly,

and

in the Italian modifications displayed in the cities of

Europe, was the habit of exposing as talismans the

bers (and particularly the heads) of
is

memThis
full-

human

sacrifices.

observable in the innumerable masks (or heads

faced) placed on the keystones of arches or portals.

They

are either deified mortals or demi-gods.

Sometimes, but

very rarely (because

it

is

a sinister ^a?Mmm), the head of

Medusa
idea, as

is

seen.

Exposure of the heads of criminals on

of protecting, protesting, or ap-

town-gates, over bridges, or over arches, follows the same

ranging in the

list

peaUng Palladia, which

are supposed to possess the

same

JA COB'S FILL AS.

63

objurgating or propitiating power as the wild, winged creatures

children

of the air

affixed in

penitential,

magic

brand or exposure on the doors of bams, or on the outside of

rustic buildings.

All this

is

ceremonial

sacrifice,

addressed to

the harmful gods, and meant occultly for the eyes of the observant, but invisible,

wandering angels, who move through

the ways of men, and unwitted
active there

the
of

worldthreading unseen
all

by them, and most abundant and most

of

where

the mother of
fluences
stars
;

them

is

in the ascendant with her in-

or

when Night

is

abroad, throned in her cope of

letters, fii'om their first judiciary arrangement in the

heavens, spelling out continually

tions.

new

astrological combinaas she

;

For Astrology was the mother,

was the preinto whatever

cursor, of

Astronomy, and was once a power

mean

roads the exercise of the art of her servants has strayed

now, in unworthy and indign divination, and in the base

proffer of supposed

Gypsy

arts.

The pyramidal
its

or triangular form which Fire assumes in

is

ascent to heaven

in the monolithic typology used to

signify the great generative power.

"We have only to look

at Stonehenge, EUora, the Babel-towers of Central America,

the gigantic ruins scattered

see

all

over Tartary and India, to

how

gloriously they symbolised the majesty of the

Supreme.

To

these uprights, obelisks, or Uihoi, of the old

world, including the Bethel, or Jacob's Pillar, or Pillow,

raised in the Plain of

"Luz," we

will add, as the

com-

memorative or reminding shape of the fire, the Pyramids of Egypt, the Millenarius, Gnomon, Mete- Stone, or Mark,
called

"London

Stone,"

all

Crosses raised at the junction

of four roads,

ail

Market-Crosses, the

Bound Towers of

Ireland, and, in all the changeful aspects of their genealogy,

all

spires

and towers, in their grand hieroglyphic proall

clamation,

over the world.

64-

THE BOSICBUOIANS.
(v)
Aries,

(b) Taurus, (n) Gemini,

first

(as) Cancer,

(a)

Leo,
(.in

(trji)

Virgo, are the six

" Signs;" and they collectively

their annual succession)

form the " Macrocosmos" of the

Cabalists.

Then

succeeds the " turning-point," " balances,"

or " nave" {navel), of the astronomical wheel, represented

by

the sign "Libra" {^), which, be

it

remembered, was added

inventive)

by the imaginative (and

Greeks.

therefore, practically,

The

foregoing, up to " Libra," represent the " assix

cending signs," or

of the spokes, so to speak, of the

annual zodiacal wheel, circling to the zenith or vertex.

last six " Signs" of the zodiac are called "

The

descending signs,"

and they are the

monthly

sinister,

autumnal, or changing, in reverse,

spaces, each of thirty degrees;

and again comprising

six rat^^Vof this celestial wheel, or this " Ezekiel's Wheel."

The

turning-point

is

" Virgo-Scorpio," which, until separated in the

mythical interruption from without at the " junction-point,"

between ascent and descent, were the same "single

sign."

The
as,

wing of this grand zodiacal " army," or " host of heaven," drawn up in battle array, and headed
latter half (or left

by a

figure,

we

shall choose to say

by the " Archangel

in
to

Michael," or the Sun, at the centre, or in the " champion," or " conquering, point") is called by the Cabalists and there-

by the Eosicrucians the abstract " Microcosmos," which "Microcosm," or "Little "World," in opposition
fore

the " Macrocosm," or " Great World,"

as

is

to be found " Man,"

produced in it from the operations from above, and to be saved in the " Great Sacrifice" (Crucifixion- Act), the phenomena of the being (Man), taking place " in the mythic return
of the world."
All this
is

incomprehensible, except in the;

strange mysticism of the Gnostics and the Cabalists

and the

whole theory requires a key of explanation to render it intelligible: which key is only darkly referred to as possible,*;
but refused absolutely, by these extraordinary men, as
not.

-ASCENDING AND DESCENDING "SIGNS."

permissible to be disclosed.

6S

As

they, however, were very

fond of diagrams and mystic

figures, of

which they

left

many

in those rarities (mostly ill-executed, but each wonder-

fnUy suggestive) called "Gruostic gems," we will supply a

seeming elucidation of this their astrological assumption
of

"what was
(,v)

earliest;"

for

which see the

succeeding

figure.

Libra (the Balances) leads again

oflF

as the "hinge:

point," introducing the six winter signs,

which are
(icf )

(.fl:)

Libra

again,

(nx)

Scorpio,

(f)

Sagittarius,

Capricomus,

(:r) Aquarius,

and (x)
Fig. 12.

Pisces.

(A.)

"Ezekiers Wheel."

TSn^^m
Macrocosmos
(ascending).
/!,

WW^
8.q. 10
11.12^
Microcosmos (descending).

Turning-point

Libra.

(The sign "Libra" was added

by the Greeks.)

The

first six signs,

or ascending signs, are re-

presented

by the
six

celestial perpendicular, or descend^'^-

ing ray, as thus

'^

The

last

signs,

or

descending signs,

are reprei
,

sented by the terrestrial ground-line, or horizontal,

or "equatorial" (symbol, or sigma), as thus
:

^ig. 14.

The union

of these (at the intersection of these rays) at

66

THE MOSICBUOIANS.

the junction-point, or middle point, forms the " Cross," as

thus
Figjis.
(B.)

"Goss."

(C.)

Fig. 17.

Fig. 16.

Fig. 18.

In figure C, the union of

cross.

fig.

16 and

fig.

17 forms the
is

Fig. 18 is the

mundane

circle.

Tig. 19

the astroof

nomical cross upon the mundane

fig. 18, fig. 17,

circle.

The union

and

fig. 16,

in this respective order, gives the

sculptures,

crux-ansata, so continual in all the Egyptian

which mark or sign

as below.

is also

the symbol of the Planet Venus,

?
Fig. 21. Fig. ao.

Mark

of the Planet Venus.

The Crux-Ansata.
is

Their origin

thus traced clearly to the same original

sorts

meanings, which reappear under aU

of disguise^
all the

and are varied in ionmnerable ingenious ways, in

mythologies

incessantly

disclosing,

and

inviting,

and

b&

continually evading, discovery.

ticularly

This absruse mark

par-

abounds in the Egyptian temples, where every

figure presents
it.

object

and every

Its real

meaning

is,'

however, intended to be buried in profound darkness.

m
From the
Breast of a

Mummy,

(Museum, Lond. Univ.)

CHAPTER THE NINTH.

FIRE-THEOSOPHY OF THE PERSIANS.

SHE

Fire-Philosophers, or

PhUosopMper

ignem, were

a fanatical sect of philosophers,

who

appeared to-

wards the close of the sixteenth century. They made a figure in almost aU the countries of Europe. They declared
that the intimate essences of natural things were only to be

cess.

known by the trying efforts of fire, directed in a chemical proThe Theosophists also insisted that human reason was
a dangerous and deceitful guide
;

that

no

real progress could

it
;

be made in knowledge or in religion by

vital

and that to

all

that

is,

supernatural

purpose

it

was a vain thing.

They taught
celsists

that diyine and supernatural illumination was

the only means of arriving at truth.

Their

name

of Pai-a-

was derived from Paracelsus, the eminent physician

and

cheinist,
sect.

who was

the chief ornament of this

extra^

ordinary

In England, Eobert Flood, or Fludd, was

their great advocate

and exponent.

Eivier,

who wrote

in

France; Severinus, an author of Denmark; Kunrath, an

eminent physician of Dresden

and Daniel Hoffmann, pro-

fessor of divinity in the University of Hehnstadt,

have

also

treated largely on Paracelsus and on

his system.

Philippus Aureolus Theophi-aetus Paracelsus was

bom

68

THE BOSICRVCIANS.
1493,
at

in

Einsiedeln,

a small town of the canton of

Schwitz, distant some leagues from Zurich.

Having passed

a troubled, migratory, and changeful

life,

this great chemist,

and very original thinker, died on the 24th of September 1541,

in the Hospital of St. Stephen, in the forty-eighth year of his
age.

His works may be enumerated as follow,

editions: Basil, 1575, in 8vo; lb.
;

i.

The
2.

Ger-

man

i,

1589-90, in 10

vols. 4to

and Strasbourg, 1603-1 8, in 4

:

vols, folio.

The

Latin editions
fort,
folio.

Opera omnia Medtco-chymico-chirurgim, Franc-

1603, in 10 vols. 4to; and Geneva, 1658, in 3 vols,

3.

The French

editions:

La Orand

Ghinirgerie de

Paracelse, Lyons, 1593

and 1603, in 4to; and Montbfliard,

la Folie

1608, in 8to.
torn.' vii.
;

See Adelung, Histoire de

Humaim,
;"

Biographie UniverselU, article " Paracelse

and

Sprengel, Histoire Pragmatique de la Medecine, tom.

iii.

"Akia

to the school of the ancient Fire-Behevers, aad

of the magnetists of a later period," says the learned Dr.

Ennemoser, ia his History of Magic (most ably rendered

iato

EngUsh by William Howitt), " of the same

and searchers into the
well, are the

cast as these

speculators

mysteries of nature,

drawing from the same

Theosophists of the

sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

mistry,

These practised

che-

by which they asserted that they could explore

the
all

profoundest secrets of nature.

As

they strove, above

earthly knowledge, after the divine,

light

and sought the

divine

and

fire,

through which

all

men can

acquire the true

wisdom, they were called the Fire-Philosophers {philosophi

per ignem).

The most

distinguished of these are Theo-

phrastus Paracelsus,
later,

Adam von

Boden, Oswald Croll;

and,

Valentine Weigel,

Eobert Flood, or Fludd, Jacob

Bohmen, Peter Poket, &c."

refer to the Medico-surgical

Under

this

Essays of

head we may also Hemmann, pubhshed

at Berlin in 1778

and

Pfaff's Astrology.

ZOBOASTEB AND THE MAGI.

As
soul a
fire,

69

a great general principle, the Theosophists called the

taken from the eternal ocean of

light.

In regard to the supematural

widest sense

using the word

all

in its

it

may

be said that "

the difficulty in
lies

admitting the strange things told us

in

the non:

admission of an internal causal world as absolutely real

is said,

it

in intellectually admitting, because the influence of

the arts proves that men's feelings always have admitted,

and do

still

admit, this reality."

is,

The Platonic philosophy of vision

that

it is

the view

of objects really existing in interior light, which assume

form, not according to arbitrary laws, but according to the
state of

mind.

This interior

light, if

we imderstand
is

Plato,

unites with exterior light in the eye,

and

thus drawn into

a sensual or imaginative activity

light is separated,
It
is,

but when the outward

it

reposes in its

own

serene atmosphere.

then, in this state of interior repose, that the usual

class of religious, or

what are

called inspired, visions occur.

It is the

same

light of eternity so frequently alluded to in

;

books that treat of mysterious subjects

to Pimander, Zoroaster,

the light revealed

and

all

the sages of the East, as

the emanation of the spiritual sun.

in his Divine Vision or Contemplation,

Bohmen

writes of

it

and Molinos in

his

^iritual Guide,

whose work
We

is

the ground of Quietism

Quietism being the foundation of the religion of the people

called Friends or Quakers, as also of the other mystic or

meditative sects.

enlarge from a very learned, candid,

Sciences.

and

instructive

book upon the Occult

Eagard
less,
il il

Fire, then, with other eyes

than with those soulit as

incm-ious ones, with which thou hast looked upon

the most ordinary thing.

11 11

Thou

hast forgotten what

it is

or rather thou hast never known.

Chemists are silent

too loud for

about

it

or,

may we

not say that

it is

them ?

70

THE BOSIGBUGIANS.
it

Therefore shall they speak fearfully of

in whispers.

Phi-

losophers talk of it as anatomists discourse of the constituents

(or the parts) of the

human body
be.

as a piece of mechanism,
clock, say

wondrous though

it

Such the wheels of the

they in their ingenious expounding of the " whys" and the

" wh^efores" (and the mechanics
this mysterious thing,

and the mathematics) of

it,

with a supernatural soul in

called

world.
larger

Such

is

the chain, such are the balances, such the

;

and the smaller mechanical forces

it

such the " Timeit

;

blood," as
is

were, that is sent circulating through

bells.

such
for

the striking, with an infinity of

this world,

man,

and

it is

greatly like

him
it,

It is

made

^that is,

mean,

they would add.

their thinkings.

And
But

they do think

if

they dare add

is this all ?

Is this the

sum

of that

casketed lamp of the

human body ?

unthinking world's machine

thou Man
a Light?

thine
!

own

body, thou

Or, in the fabric

of this clay lamp (lacquered in thy man's Imperial splendours),

bnmeth

there not
!

Describe that, ye

Doctors of Physics

Unwind

the starry limbs of that phenoscalpel

menon, ye heavy-browed, doctorial wielders of the

its

usefal, however, as

ye be, in that " upholstery warehouse"

of nature to which bodies and their

make be

refen-ed

by

the
at

materiahsts as the godless origin of every thing.

heart, ye dissectors of fibres

Touch

and of valves

of sinews and

of leaves (hands, perchance); of the vein-work, of the muscles,

as bark-integument
steel tools
;

of

tlie

trunk

Split

and

pare, as with

and wedge,

this portent,

this

"Tree" (human

though

it be), round which ye cluster to examine, about which ye gather, with your " persuasions," to wind into the

innermost secret
into

of.

Cyclops

meaning

this portent,

one-eyed and savage break Man, on your science-wheels

I
.

Note the goings of the

Fire, as

he creepeth, serpentineth^
i-eddening, glowing,

riseth, slinketh, broadeneth.

Note him

FJBE-WOBSBIP.
whitening.
that
is

71
;

Tremble at
it,

Ms

face, dilating

at the

meaning

growiag into
!

to you.

See that spark from the

blacksmith's anvil

struck, as an iusect, out of a sky con-

taiaing a whole cloud of such.

Eare

locusts,

of which

Pharaoh and the

Cities of the Plain read of old the secret

One, two, three sparks;

dozens
is

come:

faster

and

faster

the fiery squadrons follow, until, in a short while, a whole

possible

army of that hungry thing

up; but

for battle, for food for it

Fire glances
acres should

soon warned in again!

lest

glow in the growing advance.

thing is bound as in matter-chains.

outside of
all

Think that this Think that He is

all

things,

and deep in the inside of

things

and that thou and thy world

are only the thing letwem:

and

that outside and inside are both identical, couldst thou un-

derstand the supernatural truths!

Reverence Fire

(for its
it

meaning), and tremble at

chained,

it;

though in the Earth

be

and the foot of the Archangel Michael

like

upon the Dragon

the

Avert the face from it, be upon it Magi turned, dreading, and (as the Symbol) before bowed askance. So much for this great thing Fire
!

as
it

Observe the multiform shapes of fire

the spires, the
falls

the flame-wreaths,

stars,

the spots, the cascades, and the mighty

roar,

of

it

where the
is as

when

it

grows high in Imperial

masterdom,

that of Niagai'a.

Think what

it

can do,

what

it is.

Watch

the trail of sparks, struck, as in that

spouting arch, from the metal shoes of the trampling horse.

It
is

as

a letter of the great alphabet.

streets, even,

The

familiar

London
thou so

can give thee the Persian's God:

though in thy pleasures, and in thy commerce-operations,

oft forgettest thine
?

own God. Whence

off,

liberated are
;

those sparks
sparks,

as stars, afar

of a whole sky of flame

;

deep down

in possibility, though close to us

;

in their meaning, though small in their show

as

great

distant

71

THE B0SICBUCIAN8.
; animate
children
of, in

single ships of whole fiery fleets

thy

human

conception, a dreadful, but, in reality, a great

world, of which thou knowest nothing.

They

fall, foodless,

on the rejecting, barren, and (on the outside) the coldest But in each stone, flinty and chilling as the outside stone.
is, is

a heart of

fire,

to strike at which is to bid

gush

forth

the waters, as

it

were, of very Fire, like waters of the rock!

Truly, out of sparks can be displayed a whole acreage of

fireworks.

Forests can be conceived of flame

the fire; grandest things

things

soul-things
if,

^palaces of

last

thiags

aU

"Wonder no longer, then,

the ancient Persians,
that they saw "

rejected so long as an idolatry,,

and their masters the Magi,

concluding
eleit

ment,

fell

AU" down and worshiped

in this supematurally magnificent

it
;

making of
;

the

Tisible representation of the very truest

but

yet, in

man's

speculation,

and in his philosophies,

^nay,

in his commonest

reason,

impossible

God

God being

every where, and in

US, and, indeed, us, in the

sible to

God-lighted

man

and impos-

be contemplated or known outside,

being All
were, of
all

Lights and flames, and the

fire

torches, as it

fire (all

in this world, the last background on which

things

are painted),

world

may be
world
:

considered as "lancets" of another

circles,

^the last

enclosed

by the thick

walls

(which, however, ly fhs fire are kept from closing) of this

world.

As

fire

waves and brandishes,

it

vrill

the walls of this

it.

world wave, and, as

were, undulate from about

In smoke

and disruption,

or combustion of matter, we witness a

as of the edges of the matter*s fire, like it in.

phenomenon of the burning

rings of this world, in which world

a spot

that

dense and hard thing, matter, holding

is

Oxygen, which

the finest of

air,

and

is

the means of the quickest burning

out, or the supernatural (in this world) exhilaration of animal

THE NATURE OF FIRE.

life,

73
all,

or extenuation of the Solid

and, above

the height-

ening of the capacity of the Human, as being the quintessence of matter

:

this

oxygen

is

the thing which feeds

fire

the most overwhelmingly.

Nor would
it

the specks and spots

and

stars of fire stop in this dense

world-medium,

tissue or sea of things,

could

in

this

farther

and farther fasten

upon and devour the solids: eating, as it were, through them. But as this thick world is a thing the thickest, it
presses out, thrusts, or gravitates upon,

and

stifles,

in its too

great weight

and conquers not only that

liveliest, subtlest,
air,

thinnest element of the solids, the finest

by whatever

chemical
called
;

name

oxygen, azote, azone, or

fact,
is

what not

it

may be
its

which, in

merely the nomenclature of

naming of the ingredients which make the thing (but not the thing). The denseness of the world not
composition, the

only conquers

this,

we

repeat

but, so to figure
fire
:

it,

matter

stamps upon,

effaces,

and treads out

which,

else,

would

bum

on, back, as in the beginning of things, or into

its

itself,

consuming, as in
offwr than
it,

great revenge of any thing being created

all

the mighty worlds which, in Creation, were

it.

permitted out of

This

is

the teaching of the ancient

Fire- Philosophers (reestabUshed and restored, to the days of

comprehension of them, in the conclusions of the Rosicrucians, or Tlluminati, of later times),

who claimed

to have

discovered the Eternal Fire, or to have found out " God"

in the " Immortal Light."

There are
matter
;

all

grades or gradations of the density of

coheres

but

it all

by the one law of

gravitation.
itself,

Now,
it is

this gravitation is mistaken for a force of

when

nothing but the sympathy, or the taking away of the

It is

supposed thing between two other things.

sympathy

(or appetite) seeking its food, or as the closing together of

two

like things.

It is not because one

mass of matter

is

74

TBE BOSICBUCIANS.
attractive

more ponderable or
senses,

than another (out of our

and in

reality),

but that they are the same, with

different amounts of affection, and that Hke seeks like, not Now, this thing recognising or knowing that between.

which

is,

as it were, slipped between,

and which we

strike

into show of itself, or into aresurprised and driven out of It is as the letter by which matter its ambushis Fire.
spells itself out

so to speak.

Now, matter
and
is

is

only to be finally forced asunder by heat

last^
it is

flame being the bright, subtle something which comes

the expansion,
fruit,

crown, or glory of heat

the vivid and visible soul, essence, and spirit of heat

last

the

evolvement before rending,

again of
all

and before the forcible

closing
sires,

the

centre -speeding weights, or deis

of matter.

Flame

as the expandiug-out (or even

it is

exploding) flower to this

growing thing, heat:

as the
itX

bubble of

it

^the fruit (to

which before we have likened

it.

or seed, in the outside

Hand upon

Given the

super-

natural Flora, heat is as the gorgeous plant, and flame

the glorying flower; and as growth

is

greater out of the

greater matrix, or matter of growing, so the thicker the material of fire (as

we may roughly figure

it,

though we hope we
fire be,

shall

be understood), so the stronger shall the

it

of necessity the fiercer wiU

be perceived to be

and

^result

being according to power.

things

Thus we get more of fire that is, heat there being more of the thing Fire
:

out of the hard

in them.

Trituration, mechanical division, multiplication, cutting

up, precipitating, or compounding, are states into which the

forces outside can place matter, without searching into and

securing
chains,

its

bond, and gathering up (into hand off

it.

it) its

and mastering
it

These changes can be wrought

it

in

matter, and, as

were,

can be taken in pieces

and

OPERATIONS OF FIBK
all this

75

dissolution of it

may be

effected without our getting

as at the fire-blood of our subject.

But Fire
house

disjoints,

as it were,
it

all

the hinges of the

ablaze the dense

^laps

out the coherence of

thing, matter
light

^makes
By

sets

the dark metals run like waters of

conjures
!

the black devils out of the minerals, and,

to our astonishment, shows

angel- white

them much

libelled, blinding,

Fire we can lay our hand upon the soUds,

part them, powder them, melt them, fine them, drive

them

out to more and more delicate and impalpable texture

firing their invisible molecules, or imponderables, into cloud,

into mist, into gas

out of touch, into hearing out of seeing, into smelling

out of
;

hearing, into seeing

out of

smelling, into nothing

into

real

NoTHmsnot

even into

the last blue sky.

These are the potent operations of Fire

the crucible into which

we can

cast all the worlds,

and find

them, in their last evolution, not even smoke.

These are

physical and scientific facts which there can be no gain-

saying

which were seen and found out long ago, ages ago,
first,

in the reveries

and then in the

practice, of the great

Magnetists, and those

who were

called the Fire-PhUosophers,

of

whom we
What
is

have spoken before.

that mysterious and inscrutable operation, the

striking fire from flint ?

FamiKar as

it is,

who remarks

it ?

Where, in that hardest,

closest pressing together of matter

where the granulation compresses, shining even

ness, into the solidest

ia its hard-

Jaminm of

cold, darkest blue,

and

streaky, core-like, agate-resembling white

fire,

lie

the seeds of

spiritual flame-seeds to the so stony fruit ?

flint,

In what folds

of the

in the block of

it

speckled and spotted in what tissue

in what crouch the

man) on
its

iavisible recess

fire-sparks ?

to issue, in showers,

on the stroke of iron

on the so sudden
stony doors

clattering (as of the crowbars of

76

THE B0SICBUCIAN8.
its

Stone caving the thing Fire, unseen, as

Stroke warning the magical thing forth.
that trail of
fire

sepulchre;

Whence comes
secret,

from the cold bosom of the hard,

unexploding flint?
breast
;

children

as

from what hard, rocky

fire-birth
!

yet hiding

its so sacred,

sudden

Who

and what science-philosopher

can

explain this wondrous

darting forth of the hidden something, which he shall try in

vain to arrest, but which, like a

spirit,

escapes

him ?

If

we

ask what

fire is,

of the

men

of science, they are at

fault.

They

will tell us that it is a

phenomenon, that their voit.

cabularies can give

no further account of
that can be said of

They
that

will

explain to us that

all

it is,

it is

last affection of matter, to the results of

which (in the world

comes, and the

of man) they can only

testify,

but of whose coming and of

it

whose going

of the

place from which

it

whereabout to which

goeth

they are

entirely ignorant,

and would

The foregoing^however feebly expressedare the views

give a world to

know

of the famous Rosi crucians* respecting the nature of this

supposed familiar, but yet puzzling, thing

Fire.
reveries.

We will proceed to
They
and
are very singular.

some of their further mystic

But the consideration of these

difficult.

is

exceedingly abstract
,

The whole

subject

is

abstruse in the highest

degree.
In regard to the singular name of the Eosicrucians, it may be here stated that the Chemists, according to their arcana derive the Dew from the Latin Bos, and in the figure of a cross (-)-) they trace
the three
lettex-s

.'

which compose the word Lux, Light.

Mosheim is

positive as to the accuracy of his information.

Standard of Constantine.

CHAPTER THE TENTH.

IDEAS OF

THE ROSICRUCIANS AS TO THE CHARACTER OF

FIRE.

PARK surrenders out of the world, when it disappears

to us, in the universal ocean of Invisible Fire.
is its

That

disappearance.
really darkness

It quits us in the supposed

light,

but

to it

of

all

is

as fire-born, the last level

to

to reappear in the true light, which is

us darkness.
is

This

hard to understand.

But, as the real

the direct

contrary of the apparent, so that which shows as light to us

is

darkness in the supernatural

is

and that which

:

is light

to

the supernatural

darkness to us

matter being darkness,

light is material
Spirit of
it
;

and soul

light.
it

For we know that

and,
is

beiag material,

must be dark.

For the

God

not material, and therefore, not being material,

cannot

be light to

us,

and

therefore darkness to God.

it is

Just as
is at rest,

(until discovered otherwise) the world

that

and the sun and the heavenly bodies in daily motion

instead of the very reverse being the fact.

This

is

the

belief of the oldest Theosophists, the founders of magical

knowledge in the East, and the discoverers of the Gods also the doctrine of the Fire-Philosophers, and of the
Eosicmcians, or Uluminati,

who taught

that

all

knowable

things (both of the soul and of the body) were evolved out of Fire, and finally resolvable into it; and that Fire was

78

THE BOSICBUaiANS.
God as that down into it, and
:

the last and only-to-be-known

all all

things were
things were

capable of being searched

capable of being thought up into

it.

Fire,

they found

when, as
also, as

it

were, they took this world, solid, to pieces (and

metaphysicians, distributed and divided the

for

mind

of

man, seeking
ideas)

that invisible God-thing,

found, in their

coherence of
supernatural

fire,

these thinkers

light of mind, to be the latent, nameless matter started out

of the

tissues

out of the
an.A flash

mind with

certainly

out of the

body,

presumably

groan, disturbance, hard motion,

it),

(when forced

to sight of

instantly disappearing,
closing-violently-

and relapsing, and hiding its Godhood in the

again solid matter
as into the forcefully

resuming mind.

Matter, the agent whose remonstrance at disturbance out of

its

Rest was, in the winds, murmur, noises,

;

cries, as it were,

of air

in the waters, rolling

and roaring

in the piled floors

of the sky, and their furniture, clouds, circumvolvence, contest,

and war, and thunders

(defiant to nature,
;

but groans

to
as

God), and intolerable Ughtning-rendings

matter tearing

a garment, to close supematurally together again, as the

Solid, fettered
it,

and chained

devil-boundin the Hand upon

or
is

"To Be!"
penance.
fire is

In this sense, aU noise (as the rousing

All motion

conjuration of matter by the outside forces) is the agony of

its

pain, all activity punishment

and

the secret, lowest

that

is,

foundation-spread
is

tiling,

the ultimate of aU things, which

roll, for

disclosed

when

the clouds of things

an instant,

off

it, as the blue

sky shows, in
of clouds
floor over
is

its

fragments, like turquoises,

when the canopy

it.

wind-torn, speck-Kke, from off

Fire

is that

which the coats or

layers, or the

spun kingdoms

of matter, or of the subsidences of the past periods of time

(which
gulf of

is built
it
:

up of objects),

are laid

tissues

woven over

in one of which last, "We Are.

To which

Fire

STBANGE IDEAS OF THE FIEE-PMILOSOPHEBS.

in the rending

79

we only become sensible when we start it by blows or force, up of atoms, and in the blasting out of them
flies,

that which holds them, which then, as Secret Spirit, springs

compelled to sight, and as instantly

mortal eyes, which receive
other side.
it (in

except to the im-

the supernatural) on the

every thing into Fire, and that

The Fire-Philosophers maintained that we transcend we lose it there in the flash

fire

the escape of

being as the door through which every

side.

thing disappears to the other

In their very peculiar

the exception, and

peculations, and in this stupendous and supernatural view

of the universe, where

is,

we think

that

fire is

as it were, spotted over the world (in reality, to go out wJien

it

goes out), they held that the direct contrary was the truth,
all

and that we, and

torches (as

things, were spotted upon fire; and that

when we put it out, or win when we enkindle fire, which is our master in the truth, making itself, in our beliefs (in our human needs), the slave. Thus fire, when it
of
fire it

we conquer patches only

were) out of the great flame,

is

put out, only goes into the under world, and the matter-

flags close over it like a grave-stone.

When we

witness Fire,

we

are as if peeping only

through

a door into another world.

Into this,

all

the (consumed

into microscopical smallness) things of this world, the

com-

pressed and concentrate matter-heaps of defunct tides of

Being and of Time, are in combustion rushing: kingdoms

of the floors of the things passed through

up

to this

moment

held in suspense in the invisible inner worlds.

All roars

through the hollow.

this Fire,

AH that
is

is

mastered in the operations of

it

and that

rushing through the hollow made by

in the partition-world of the

Knowable

across, and out

on

the other side, into the

Unknowable

seeks, in the Fire, its

last and most perfect evolution into Absolute Nothing, bb a

8o

TSE BOSICBVCIANS.
his feet, in his chains,

bound prisoner urges to

for

and shrieks

freedom when he

is

smitten.

In

Fire,

we

witness a grand

phenomenon of the subsidiary

inner,

(or further,

and under, and

and multiplied) birth and death, and the supernatural

from the human sensefields.

transit of microscopic worlds, passing

worlds to other levels and into newer

Then
is

it is

that

the Last Spirit, of which they are composed,

before us
;

playing
its rings

and playing, into

all

last extinction,
its

out of

of this-side matter:

which matter, in

various stages

of thickening,
inside God.
It

is

as the flux of the Supernatural Fire, or

win appear no wonder now,

it

if

the above abstractions

be caught by the Thinker, how

was that the early people

(and the founders of Fire- Worship) considered that they

saw God, standing

find as
fire
;

face to face with

Himthat

is,

with

all

that, in their innermost possibility of thought, they could

God

in Fire.
is it

Which

Fire

is

not our vulgar, gross

neither

the purest material fire, which has something

still

of the base, bright lights of the world

est

about

it

^bright-

though they be in the matter which makes them the

;

Lightest to the material sight

rious,

but

it is

an

occult, myste-

or inner

not

even magnetic, but a supematm-al

Fire

a real, sensible, and the only possible Mind, or God,

as containing all things,

and as the soul of

all

things

into

whose inexpressibly
though
fiery,

intense,
all

and all-devouring and

divine,

gulf,

the worlds in succession, like ripe

all
:

fruit to the ground, and

things, fall,back into whose

side, as

arms of Immortal Light

ceiving them,
all things,

on the other

again

re-

thrown

off as the

smoke

off light,

again

fall
'

At the shortest, then, the theory of the Magi may be summed up thus. When, as we think, fire is spotted over aU the world, as we have said, it is we who make the mis-

HEBMETIO FIEE.
take, necessitated in our
is

8i

man's nature
as,

and we are that which

spotted over

it

just
:

while we think

we move, we

are

moved; and we conclude the senses

are in the senses

are ia us, while

we
of

every thing

out

of this world
it.

being
all.

the very opposite of that which

these mighty thinkers
reason,

we take

The views

amounted to the suppression of human

It

and the

institution of magic, or Godhead, as

will be seen at once that this

knowledge was possible but

for

for the very few.

It is only

fit

men when

they seek to

pass out of the world, and to approach

to their natures

the nearer according

God.
in which that essence of things, called

The hollow world

bustion,

Fire, plays, in its escape, in violent agitation,

is,

to us,

com-

is

deep down inside of us: that

;

deep-sunk

inside of the time-stages

of which rings of being (sub-

sidences of spirit)

we

are, in

the

flesh,

show of thiags,

in the outer.
dogma

that

is,

in the

human
it is

It is exceedingly difiicult,
intelligible
;

through language, to make this idea

the real mystic

but

of the ancient Guebres, or the Fire-

Believers, the successors of the Buddhists, or,

perly, Bhuddists.

more pro-

What

is

explosion?

It is the lancing into the layers of

worldSj whereinto

we

force,
;

through turning the edges out

and driving through and

in surprisal of the reluctant, lazy,

secret nature, exposing the hidden, magically micro-

scopical stores of things, passed inwards out of the

accumu-

lated rings of worlds, out of the (within)

supernaturally

buried wealth, rolled Being.

in,

of the past, in the procession of

to

What

is

smoke but the disrupted vapour-world

?

The truth is, say the Fire-Philosophers, in the rousing of fire we suddenly come upon Nature, and start her violently out of her ambush of things, evoking
the started soul-fire

her secretest and immortal face to us.

Therefore

is this

82

THE BOSICEUCIANS.
man and
;

knowledge not to be known generally of

being as the magic casket in which

it is

to

be assumed at the safest in the disbelief of

lief

it

that disbe-

it is

locked.

The

keys are only for the Gods, or for godlike

spirits.

This

is

the true view of the reUgion of the leaders of the

ancient Fire-BeUevers, and of the

modem

Eluminati.

We

shall proceed to demonstrate, in the chapters fol-

lowing, other strange things, hitherto wholly unsuspected in

the philosophical short-sight of the

modem

metaphysicians.
impossible that

We

imagine that

it will

be said that

it is

any rehgionists could have seriously entertained such extraordinary doctrines

it
;

but, incredible as

it

may seem,

requires

much

preparation to understand them,

because
it

is

certainly true, that it is only in this

manner

the ideas of
largely,

the divinity of

fire,

which we know once prevailed

can be made

intelligible,

we mean,
We

to the philosopher,

knows how properly

the

to value

the ancient thinkers,

shall shortly

who who

were as giants in the earth.

show that
remain,
still

monuments

raised to this

strange faith

still

and

that, surviving

from the heathen times, the forms

mingle and lurk largely amidst the Christian European

tutions

insti-

the

traces of the idolatry, if not the idolatry itself.

spires,

Obelisks,

minarets, tall towers, upright

crosses,

stones

(Menhirs),
culars

monumental

and architectural perpendiall

of every description,

and, generally speaking,

erections conspicuous for height

and slimness, were

repre-

sentatives of the sworded, or of the pyramidal. Fire.

They

bespoke, wherever found, and in whatever age, the idea of

the First Principle, or the male generative emblem.

Having

given, as

we hope, some new views

of the doctrine

of Universal Fire, and shown that there has been error in

imagining that the Persians and the ancient Fire- Worshipers were idolaters simply of fire, inasmuch as, in bowing

REVERIES OF THE MAGI.

down
before
it,

83

they only regarded Fire as a symbol, or visible

sign, or thing placed as standing for the Deity,

having, la
greater

onr preceding chapters, disposed the mind of the reader to

consider as a matter of solemnity, and of

much

general significance, this strange fact of Fire- Worship, and

endeavoured to show

it

as a portentous,

first,

all-embracing

as aU-genuine principle,

we

will proceed to exemplify the

wide-spread roots of the Fire-Faith.

recognise
it

In

fact,

we seem

to

every where.

Instead of

ia

their superstitionsmaking of fire their

God, they obtained

Him^that
all

is,

all

Him by which we
;

mean,

that the
it.

that we can realise of human reason can find

of the Last Principle

out of
all

Already, in their thoughts,

;

had the Magi exhausted

they, in their great

possible theologies

already had

wisdom, searched through physics

their

power to this end (as not being distracted by world's objects)

being

much

greater than that of the

modern

faith-teachers

and doctors ; already, in

their" reveries, in their observations

(deep within their deep souls)

upon the nature of themselves,

and of the microcosm of a world in which they found themselves, had the Magi transcended. They had arrived at a new world in their speculations and deductions upon facts, upon all the things behind which (to men) make these facts.

Already, in their determined climbing into the heights of

thought, had these Titans of

mical,

mind

achieved, past the cos-

through the shadowy borders of Eeal and Unreal,

For,
is

into Magic.

Magic wholly

false ?

Passing through these mind-worlds, and coming out, as

we may
them

figure

it,

at the other

side,
all

penetrating into the

secrets of things,

they evaporated

Powers, and resolved

this,

finally into the

;

Last Fire.

Beyond

they found

nothing

as into this they resolved

all things.

And

then,

on the Throne of the Visible, they placed this in the world,

84-

THE BOSIOBUaiANS.

Invisible
senses, as
is,

Fire:

the sense-thing to be worshiped in the

the last thing of them, and the king of

them, that
Fire,
visible

that which

we know

as the

phenomenon, Burning
having the

^the

Spiritual Fire being impalpable, as

its

only for

shadow

the Ghostly Fire not being even to be

its

thought upon; thought being

medium

of apprehension

when
it

it

itself

had slipped; the waves of apprehension of

only flowing back

when

it

being intuitionhad vanished.

is

We

only

know

that a thought

in us

when the thought

is

ofF the object

and in us: another thought being, at that

has gone out of us, and so on
;

simultaneous instant, in the object, to be taken up by us

only

when the

first

but not

befirre

to be taken

up by us

that thought being

all

all of Us,

and a deceptive and unreal thing to pass at

to us through
it

the reason, and there being no resemblance between

its original
;

and

the true thing being " Inspiration," or "

all

God

in us," excluding

matter or reason, which

is

only built

up of matter.

It is

most

difficult to

frame language in

regard to these things.

Eeason can only unmake God;

He

is

only possible ia His

seizing of us,

and " in possession."

own development, or in His Thus Paracelsus and his

Reason become our master,

disciples declare that

Human

that

is,

in its perfection, but not used as our servant,

it

transforms, as

were, into the Devil,

and

exercises his office

'

in leading us away

from the throne of

seeming
better;

Spiritual Light

other, and, in the world,

in his false and

deluding World-Light, or Matter-Light, really showing himself

God.

This view of the

Human

Reason, intellectually

trusted, transforming into the

Angel of Darkness, and effacing

texts of

God out
Scripture.

of the world,

is

borne out by a thousand

It is equally in the beliefs

and in the

tradi-

tions of all nations

and of
is

all

time, as

we

shall

by and
of

by show.

Real Light

God's shadow, or the soul

MITHBA AND AHBIMANES.

matter; the one
very blacker.
is

85
is

the very brighter, as the other

the

Thus, the worshipers of the Sun, or Light,

or Fire, whether in the Old or the

New

Worlds, worshiped

not Sun, or Light, or Fire, otherwise they would have worshiped the Deyil, he
rather they adored the

being

all

conceivable Light

but

image that

Unknown Great was possible to man of any

God, in the last

thing

the

Fire.

And

they chose that as His shadow, as the very oj^osite

of that which

He really was
; ;

honouring the Master through

His Servant

bowing before the manifestation, Eldest of

paying homage to the
spirit of the

Time, for the Timeless

Devil-World, or rather to Beginning and End, on which

was the foot of the All, that the All, or the Last, might
be worshiped
;

propitiating the Evil Principle in

its finite

shows, because (as by that alone a world could be made,

whose making

is

alone Comparison)

it

was permitted as a
dissipating as before

means of God, and therefore the operation of God Downwards, as part of Him, though

Upwards

Him,

before Him in whose

:

presence Evil, or Comparison,

or Difference, or Time, or Space, or any thing, should be

Impossible

real

God being not

to be thought upon.

But

it

was not only

in the quickening Spirit of Divinity

that these things could be seen.

Otherwise than in

faith,

we
ex-

can hope that they shall

plain

now

in our weak attempts to

and
absolute.

them

be

gathered as not contradictory, and merely

vital

intellectual,

and seen as

They need the

elevation of the

mind

in the sense of "inspiration," and not

the quickening and the sharpening of the Intellect, as seek-

ing wings
only of

devil-pinionswherewith to
own
laws, where, of course,
it

sail into

the region

its

will

not find God.

Then

step in the mathematics, then the senses, then the

reason, then the very perfection of matter-work, or this world's work, sets in, engines of which the Satanic Powers

86

TSE EOSICBUCIANS.
The Evil
Spirit conjures, as

shall realise the work.

even by

holy command,

the translucent sky.

The

Archangelic, clear,

child-like rendering-up in intuitive belief,intense in its

own

sun,is Faith.
temptations
it is

Lucifer

fills

the scope of belief with imi"With these

rival,

tative, dazzling clouds,

and built splendours.

sought to dissuade, sought to

sought

to put out Saints'

farther
glory.

and

truer, because a

sight sought even to surpass in seeming a more solid and a more sensible,

The

apostate, real-bom Lucifer is so

named

as the

intensest Spirit of Light, because he is of the things that

perish,

of Matter

and of the things that to Miud

^have the most of glory
!

because they are

Thus
is

all

one of the

names of the

Devil, the very eldest-born

and brightest Star

of Light, that of the veiy morning and beginning of all things

the
real

clearest, brightest, purest, as

being

soul-like, of Nature
is

but only of Natui-e.

Eeal Law, or Nature,

the Devil

Reason

is

the Devil.
find,

Now we
the Fire-Grod
shall say

shall

with a

little

patience,

that this

transcendental, beyond-Hmit-or-knowledge ancient belief of

is

to be laid

hand upon

as,

in a manner,

we

world

ia

in

aU the

stories

and theologies of the ancient

a thing vidth the trees

aU the countries (and they, indeed, are aU)

where belief has grown,

yea,

as

and

plants, as out of the very ground,

in

all

the conti-

nents

and

in both worlds.

And

out

of this great fact

of its universal dissipation, as a matter of history the most

innate and coexistent, shall

as being of truth ?
vitally

we not assume
East, so
;

this fire-doctrine

as a thing reaUy, fundamentally,

and

true

As

in the

in the "West

as in
post-

the old time, so in the

new

as in the preadamite

and

diluvian worlds, so in the

modern and

latter-day world;

surviving through the ages, buried in the foundations of

empires, locked in the rocks, hoarded in legends, main-

THE FIRE-EELIGION UNIVERSAL.

traditions,

87

tained in monuments, preserved in beliefs, suggested in

borne

amidst the roads of the multitude in

emblems, gathered up
dishonoured jewel

as the recurring, unremarked, superrites,

naturally comscant, and yet secret, evadiag, encrusted, and

in

spoken

(to those capable of the

comprehension) in the

field of hieroglyphics,

dimly glowing

up

to a fitful suspicion of it in the sacred rites of all peoples,

figured forth in the religions, symbolised in a hundred ways

attested, prenoted, bodied forth ia occult body, as far as

body
and

can

in
we

fine,

in multitudinous fashions and forms forcibly

soliciting the sharpness of sight directed to its discoTery,

spelt over a floor as underplacing all things,

we

recognise,

we

espy,

descry,

and we may,
will like

lastly,

admit the mysterious

it ?

sacredness of Fire.

For why should we not admit

Of course, it mean any thing

fire.

not for a moment be supposed that we

or in

its

nature similar to

ordinary

"We hope that no one

will

be so absurd as to suppose

that this in any

element for

manner could be the mysterious and sacred which we are contesting. Where we are seeking
would be simply sinking back
into vulgar

to transcend, this

While we are seeking to convict and dethrone this world's reason as the real devil, this would be distinctly Of common sense, except for comdeifying common sense.
reason.

mon-sense objects, we make no account.

We

have rather

in awed contemplation the divine, ineffable, transcendental Spirit the Immortal Fervour into which the whole World

evolves.

We
its

have the mystery of the Holy

Spirit in view,

called

by

many names.
seek, in transcend-

It is because theologies will contest concerning divers

names of the same thing, that we therefore

ing, but to identify.

It is because

men

will dispute about

all

forms, that

we seek

philosophically to show that

forms

are impossible,

that,

when we take the human

reason into

88

TBE BOSICBUCIANS.
all

account,
great

forms of belief are

religion.

alike.

Reason has been the

if this

enemy of

Let ns see

world's reason

cannot be mastered.

We are now about in

new

light

to treat of facts,
all

and

of Tarious historical monuments.

They

bear reference to

this universal story of the mystic Fire.

"We claim to be the

first

to point out

how

strikingly
it

and yet how, at the same time, without any suspicion of

intelligible forms, of the

these emblems and remains, in so many curious and un-

magic religion are found in the

Christian churches.

Rose Window, or Catherine-Wheel Window. (From Laon Cathedral, France.

From

the Vaults of the

Temple of Solomon,

at Jerusalem.

CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH.

MONUMENTS RAISED TO KIRE-WORSHIP
|E think that we
shall

IN ALL COUNTRIES.

be able

fully, in

our succeeding

chapters, to place

beyond contradiction an extraIt

is,

ordinary discovery.

that the whole round

of disputed emblems which so puzzle antiquaries, and which

are
as"

found in

all

countries,

point to the belief in Fire

seek to show that the Fire-

the First Principle.

We

Worship was the very

earliest,

from the immemorial times,

religion,

that
tion to

it it

was the foundation

is

that

the attestaover

preserved in
rites

monuments

scattered all
all creeds,

the globe,

that the
it,

and usages of

down
us,

even to our own day, and in every -day use about

bear reference to

that problems and puzzles in

clear
all

religion,

which cannot be otherwise explained, stand

and evident

when regarded

in this

new

light,

that in

this "

the Christian

varieties of belief as truly as in

Bhuddism, in MohamMystery of Fire"

medanism, in Heathenism of

all

kinds, whether eastern, or

western, or northern, or southern

stands ever general, recurring, and conspicuous,

in being so,

and that
beyond
all

beyond

all
it,

measure, old, and

general,

so,

modern

or any idea of

as universal, in fact, as

man

hipiself,

and the thoughts of man,

and

as being that

90

THE BOSICBUCIANS.

beyond which, in science and in natural philosophy, we cannot

farther go,

it

must carry truth with

it,
:

however
that
is,

diflBcult

to comprehend,

and however unsuspected

as really

being the manifestation and Spirit of God, and

founding and annihilation of Atheism

Affirmatively

Revelation.
offer to

to the conthe atten-

we

shall

now, therefore,

tion of the reader the universal scattering of the Fire-Monu-

ments, taking up at the outset certain positions about them.

Narrowly considered,

it will

be found that

all religions

transcend up into this spiritual Pire-Ploor, on which, to

speak metaphysically, the phases of Time were

Fire,
it is

laid.

Material

which

is

the brighter as the matter which constitutes

is

the blacker,

the shadow (so to express, or to speak,

necessarily with "words,"

spirit)

which have no meaning in the

it

of the

" Spirit-Light," which invests itself in

in

as the

mask

which alone

it

can be possible.

Thus,

material light being the very opposite of God, the Egyptians

who were undoubtedly acquainted with the Fire-Revelation could not represent God as They therefore expressed
light.

their Idea of Deity

by Darkness.

Their chief adoration was

forth under

paid to Darkness,

They bodied the Eternal

Darkness.

In the early times before the Deluge,

of which " phetrue,

nomenon," as there remains a brighter or fainter tradition of

it

among

all

the peoples of the globe,

it

must be
him.

Man

walked with the Knowledge of

Spirit in

He

has de-

rogated, through time, from this primeval, God-informed

Type.

Knowledge of Good and

became

Evil, or the

pow&r of perpower of pro-

ceiving difference,

his faculty, with his

pagation, only in his fallen state,

to

that

is,

his

Gods only came

him

in his fallen state.

As one
and

of two things

necessity be under the other,

as " one"

double in succession,

one being, as a matter of course, before

must of and " two" are

THE TWO PILLABS OF SETH.

the other,

91

and

"positive," or "particled," existence being

in itself denial of " abstract," or " imparticled," existence,

existence needing somethiag other than itself to find
logicians
stituted
;

itself,

must

see at once in this that

Comparison

is

con-

from out of which

difference is built

Light and

Shadow, or a world, whether the moral world or the real

world.

The immemorial landmark,

the upright.
setting

in the architectural form, is

We

find the earliest record of this in the

stones.

up of monumental

Seth

is

said to have
pillars,

engraved the wisdom of the Antediluvians upon two

one

of brick, the other of stone,

the " Siriadic land"

quaries.

which

he erected in

Terra Incognita to

modem

anti-

This raising of the "reminding -stone" prevails

in all places,

and was the

act of all time.

It is the only

independent thing which stands distinct out of the clouds of

the past.
It

would seem universally to

refer to the single

Supernatural Tradition

aU
is

that

is

heired out

of Time.

mysterious Cabalistic volume of high repute, and of the

is

greatest antiquity,
divides.

the "

Book

of Light," whose doctrine

The

first

dogma

that of " Light-Enlightened,"

or "Self-Existent," which signifies God, or the Light Spiritual,

which

is

darkness in the world, or Manifestation, or Creation.

is

This Light-Enlightened
(Grod),

Inspiration, or blackness to

men
(the

opposed to knowledge, or brightness to

men

Devil).

The second Light

this

is

the Enlightening Light, or

the Material Light, which

is

the producer, foundation, and

fi-om

God

of

World,

proceeding, nevertheless,

God

for

He

is All.

It is in reverence to this second Light,

and to

the Mysterious Identity of both (the third power. Three in One), but only in the necessity of " being," all dark-being

constituting

all

bright-being in the Spirit, and Both, and

their identity, being One,

that these

monumental columns

92

THE BOSIOBUGIANS.

axe raised^

being really the mark and the signal (warning on,

:

in Time) of supernatural, or magic, knowledge.

Stones were set up by the Patriarchs

the Bible records

them.

In India, the

first

objects of worship were monoliths.

In the two peninsulas of India, in Ceylon, in Persia, in the

Holy Land,

in Phoenicia, in Sarmathia, in Soythia, every

where where worship was attempted (and in what place where

man

exists is it

not

?),

every where where worship was pracfirst,

tised (and where, out of fears, did not,

come the Gods,

and then

their propitiation

?)

in

all

the countries,

we

repeat, as the earliest of man's work,

we

recognise this sub-

lime, mysteriously speaking, ever-recurring nionolith,

markreal.

ing up the tradition of the supematurally real, and only

Fire-dogma.

Buried so

far

down

in time, the

suspicion

assents that there

must somehow be truth in the foundation;

but

not

fanciful, legendary, philosophical creed-truth, unexplain;

able (and only to be admitted without question) truth

truth,

however mysterious and awing, yet cogent, and not

is,

to be of philosophy (that

illumination) denied.
into the Hell of the

The death and descent of Balder

Scandinavians
the

may be supposed
God -dark phases

to

be the purgatoiy of

Human

Unit

(or the God-illuminate),

from the Light

its

(through the
native Light.

of being), back into

Balder was the Scandinavian Sun-God, and

the same as the Egyptian Osiris, the Greek Hercules, Bacchus,

and Phoebus, or Apollo, the Indian Crishna, the Per-

sian Mithras, the

Aten of the empires of Insular Asia

or,

even of the Sidoniaris, the Athyr or Ashtaroth.

sences of
all

these divinities
;

indeed, of

all

Gods

The

pre-

^were of

the semblance of Fire

and we recognise,

as it were, the

mark

of the foot of them, or of the Impersonated Fire, in

left,

the countless uprights,

as memorials, in the great ebb

of the ages (as waves) to nations in the later divisions of

CSINESE PAGODAS.
:

93

that great roll of periods called Time yet so totally unguessing of the preternatural mystery seemiEg the key of
all belief,

and the reading of

noted that

all

wonders

It is to be

all

the abore religions

which they speak. the

all

Creeds of Fire were exceedingly similar in their nature

that they were
all fortified

by

rites,

and fenced around with

were with myste-

ceremonies
ries

and

that, associated as they

and

initiations, the disciple

was led through the know-

ledge of

them

in stages, as his powers augmented and his

eyes saw, until, towards the last grades (as he himself grew

capable and illuminate), the door was closed upon

all after-

pressing and unrecognised inquirers, and the Admitted

One

was himself

lost sight of.

all

There was a great wave to the westward of

know-

ledge, all cultivation of the arts, all tradition, all intellect,

aU

civilisation, all religious belief.

The world was peopled

divine impress

westward.

There seems some

secret,

upon

the world's destinies

and,

indeed, ingrained in cosmical

matter

in these matters.
is

All faiths seem to have diverged

out, the
tral

narrower or the wider, as rays from the great cenIt

sun of this tradition of the Fire-Original.

would

seem that Noah, who

middle ages.

suspected to be the Fo, Foh, or Fohi,

it

of the Chinese, carried

into the farthest Cathay of the

?

What

is

the Chinese Tien, or Earliest Fire

The pagodas

of the Chinese (which name, pagoda, was bor;

rowed from the Indian

from which country of India,

its

in-

deed, probably came into China

worship, and

its

Bhuddist

doctrine of the exhaustion back into the divine light, or

unparticled nothingness, of

all

the stages of Being or of Evil),

the

Chinese pagodas, we repeat, are nothing but innugilt

merable

and belled
fire,

fanciful repetitions of the primeval

still

monolith.

The
;

or light, is

worshiped in the Chi-

nese temples

it

has not been perceived that, in the very

9+

THE B OSICB UCIANS.

article of the

form of the Chinese Pagodas, the fnndamental

Chinese religion

transmigration,

through stages of being,

out into nothingness of this world

has been architecturally

and

emblemed

in the diminishing stories, carried upwards,

fining away into the series of unaccountable discs struck

through a vertical rod, until

to speak heraldically of
it

all

culminates, and

as

it

were,

the
;

last achievement is
final,

blazoned

in the gilded ball, which

means the

or Bhuddist, glori-

fying absorption.

Buildings have always telegraphed the inand, in China, the fantastic speaks

signia of the mythologies

the sublime.
all

We

recognise the
spiriag or

same embodied Myfhos in

diminution,

architectural

artistic

whether

tapering to the globe or exaltation of the Egjrptian Urcms,

or the disc, or the Sidonian crescent, or the lunar horns, or the acroterium of the Greek temple, or the pediment of the
classic

pronaos

ively, at

itself (crowning, how grandly and suggestsolemn dawn, or in the " spirit-lustres" of the dimstill

ming
us

and,

more than dawn, solemn

twilight, the top of

some moimtain, an ancient of the

at every turn,
again,

days").

Here, besetting

meet we the same mytliic emblem

of the

in the crescent

Mohammedan

fanes,

sur-

mounting even the Latin, and therefore the once Christian, St. Sophia. Last, and not least, the countless " churches"
rise,

in the Latter-Day Dispensation, sublimely to the uni-

versal signal, in the glorifying, or top, or

last of the Eevelations
!

crowning Cross

In the fire-towers of the Sikhs, in the dome-covered and

many-storied spires of the Hindoos, in the vertically turreted

and longitudinally massed temples of the Bhudds, of all the classes and of all the sects, in the religious buildings of the
Cingalese, in the upright flame-fimes of the Parsees, in the
original of the campaniles of the Italians, in the tower of St.

Mark

at Venice, in the flame-shaped or pyramidal (pyr is

THE TOWER,
the Greek for
the parent of
fire)
all

"

TOR,"

OR

"

TAU,"

OF BABEL.
we

gj

architecture of the Egyptians (which is

that

is

called architecture),

see the

recurring symbol.

All the minarets that, in the eastern

sunshine, glisten through the

his

Land

of the

Moslem

indeed,
disc, or

two-homed

crescent, equally with the

moon, or

two-pointed globe of the Sidonian Ashtaroth (after whose

forbidden worship Solomon, the wisest of mankind, in his
defection

from the God of his

fathers, evilly thirsted); also,

the mystic discus, or " round," of the Egyptians, so continually repeated,

all

and

set, as it

were, as the forehead-mark

upon

the temples of the land of soothsayers and sorcerers,

this

Egypt

so profound in its philosophies, in its

wisdom,

in its magic-seeing,

and in

its religion,

raising out of the

God to shadow it, all the minarets of the Mohammedan, we say, together with all the other symbols
black Abyss a
of moon, of disc, of wings, or of horns (equally with the

shadowy and preternatural beings in

all

all

mythologies and in

theologies, to

which these adjimcts or insignia are referred,

and which are symbolised by them),

or bodied

all

these monuments,

meanings, testify to the Deification of Fu'e.

that "

What may mean

raising,

Tower of Babel" and

its

impious

when

it

sought, eren past and over the clouds, to

?

imply a daring sign

a

"What portent was that betrayal of

knowledge not for man,

that
?

surmise forbidden save in

infinite

humility, and in the whispered impartment of the

further

and

seemingly more impossible, and

still

more
self

greatly mystical,

meanings

In utter abnegation of

alone shall the

this

mystery of fire be conceived.

Fire, to

Tower of Belus, or the

it

Of what was be the monument ?

When

soared, as

a.

pharos, on the rock of the traditionary

its

ages, to

defy time in

commitment

to " form" of the unstory,

pronounceable secret,

stage

on stage and story on

its

though

it

climbed the clouds, and on

top should shine

THE BOSIOBUCIANS.
in the world, " dark save what was the Tower of Babel but a
first idol

the ever-bui-ning Fire,

with neglected stars,"

gigantic monolith?
this

Perhaps to record and to perpetuate

all
;

ground- fire of

to

be worshiped, an

idol,

in its

yisible form,

when

it

should be alone taken as the invisible

thought:

fire to

be waited for (spirit-possession), not waited

on

(idolatry).

Therefore was the speech confounded, that the

thing should not be.; therefore, under the

into heaven
lithic

myth

of climbing

by the means of it, was the

first colossal

mono-

temple (in which the early dwellers upon the earth

sought to enshrine the Fire) laid prostrate in the thunder

of the Great

God

And

the languages were confounded

its

frpm that day,

speech was made babble thence

remain a
secret.

name,

that the

secret should

It

was to be only

darkly hinted, and to be fitfully disclosed, Klce a false-show-

ing light, in the theosophic glimmer, amidst the world's

knowledge-lights.
It

was

to reappear, like a spirit, to the

" initiate," in the glimpse of reverie, in the snatches of sight

in the profoundest wisdom, through the studies of the ages.

We find,

in the religious administration of the ancient

world, the most abundant proofs of the secret fire-tradition.

Schweigger shows, in his Introduction into Mythology (;g^. 132,

228), that the Phoenician Cabiri

and the Greek Dioscuri, the

same
All

Curetes, Corybantes, Telchini, were originally of the

nature,

and are only

different in tiifling particulars.

these symbols represent electric and magnetic phenomena,

and that under the ancient name of twin-fires, hermaphrodite

fire.

The Dioscuri
:

is

a phrase equivalent to the Sons

asserts,

of Heaven

if,

as

Herodotus

" Zeus originally repre-

sented the whole circle of heaven."

According to the ancient opinion of Heraclitus, the contest of opposing forces is the origin of

new

bodies,
is

and the
com-

reconcilement of these contending principles

called

THE PH(ENiaiAN
bustion.

OABISI.

97

This

is,

according to Montfaugon,

sketched in

the minutest detail in the engravings of the ancient Phoenician Cabiri.

From India
belief.

into

Egypt was imported

its

this spiritual fire-

"We recognise, again,

never- failing structure-sig-

nal.

Rightly regarded, the great Pyramids are nothing but

the world-enduring architectural attestation, following (in

the pyramidal) the well-known leading law of Egypt's templar piling mound-like, spiry

ofthe universal Flame-Faith.

In
this

Place a light upon the summit, star-like upon the sky, and a

prodigious altar the mighty Pyi'amid then becomes.

tribute to the world-filling faith, burneth expressed devo-

tion to (radiateth acknowledgment of) the immemorial magic

rehgion.

There

is little

doubt that as token and emblem

of fire-worship, as indicative of the adoration of the real,

accepted deity, these Pyramids were raised.

The

idea that
is

they were burial-places of the Egyptian monarchs

able
it

unten-

when submitted

to the

weighing of meanings, and when

comes side by side with

this better fire-explanation.

Can-

not we accept these Pyramids as the vast altars on whose

top should
were, to
ally
all

bum

the flame
?

flame

commemorative, as

it

the world

Cannot we

see in these piles, liter-

and

really transcendental in origin, the

Egyptian repro-

duction, and a hieroglyphical signalling on, of special truth,

eldest of time
?

Do we

not recognise in the Pyramid the

repetition of the first monolith?

all

the uprights constitut-

ing the grand attesting

of a

pillar to the supernatural tradition

Fire-Bom World ?
ever-recurring globe with. wings, so frequent in the

The

sculptures of the Egyptians, witnesses to the Electric PrinIt embodies the transmigration of the Indians, reciple.

produced by Pythagoras.

Pythagoras resided for a long

period in Egypt, and acquired from the priests the philo-

98

THE BOSICRUOIANS.
The
globe, disc, or circle of the Phoenician Astarte,

sophic "transition" -knowledge, which was afterwards doctrine.

the crescent of Minerva, the horns of the Egyptian

Ammon,

the deifying of the

trace,

ox, all have

the same meaning.

We

among the Hebrews,

the token of the identical mystery

in the horns of Moses, distinct in the sublime statue by Michael

Angelo in the Vatican

altar
:

as also in the

boms

of the Levitical

indeed, the use of the " double hieroglyph" in con-

tinual ways.

The

volutes of the Ionic

column, the twin-

stars of Castor and Pollux, nay, generally, the

employment

of the double
in

emblem

all the world over, in ancient or

modern

times, whether displayed as points, or radii, or

wings on the helmets of those barbarian chiefs who made

war upon Eome, Attila or Genseric, or broadly shown upon

the head-piece of the Frankish Clevis
in the rude and, as
it
;

whether emblemed

were, savagely mystic horns of the

Asiatic Idols, or reproduced in the horns of the

Eunic Ham-

merer (or Destroyer), or those of the Gothic Mars, or of the

modem

Devil

all this

double-spreading from a

common

point (or this figure of

Hobns) speaks the same

fire.

story.

The Colossus

of Ehodes was a monolith, in the

form, dedicated to the Sun, or to

human The Pharos of

contained

Alexandria was a fii'e-monument.

the Sun, in Lower Egypt (as the a temple, wherein, combined with

Heliopolis, or the City of

name
all

signifies),

the dark superstitions

of the Egyptians, the flame-secret was preserved.

jealous secrecy

In most was the tradition guarded, and the symbol

alone was presented to the world.

digious Fire- Monuments,

Of the Pyramids,
before spoken.
it

as pro-

we have

Magnifi-

cent as the principal Pyramid

ancient historian that
it

still is,

is

stated

by an

originally formed, at the base, " a

square of eight hundred

feet high."

feet, and that it was eight hundred Another informs us that " three hundred and

THE QBEAT PYRAMID.

sixty-six

99
its

thousand

men

were employed twenty years in

erection."
feet.

Its height is

now supposed

to be six

hundred
or Pur,

Have

historians

and antiquaries

carefully

weighed the

fact (even in the

name of the Pyramids), that Pyr,

in the Greek,

means Fire?

We

would argue that that

object, in the Great

Pyramid, which has been mistaken for

is,

a tomb (and which

altar,

moreover, rather fashioned like an

smooth and

plain,

without any carved work),

is,

in

reality,

the vase, urn, or depository, of the sacred, everfire

:

burning

of the existence of which ever-living, inexfire,

tinguishable

to be

found at some period of the world's

tradition.

history, there is

abundant

This view

is fortified

by the statements of Diodorus, who writes that " Cheops, or

Chemis,
or Cephrenus,
here,

who founded the principal Pyramid, and Cephren, who built the next to it, were neither buried

but that they were deposited elsewhere."

said that

Cheops, Cephrenus, and Mycerinus, the mighty builders

of these super-gigantic monuments, of which
it is

they look as

if

intended to resist the waste of the ages, and,

as in a front of supernatural
await, in the undulation of

and sublime submission, to

(as in the

Time

waves of cen-

turies), the expected revolution of nature, and the

new and

recommencing
than sepulture
ledge was

series of existence, surely had in view somestill

thing grander, something

more universally portentous,

or even death
when knowand when the human powers were,
physical

Is it at all reasonable to conclude, at a period

at the highest,

in comparison with ours at the present time, prodigious,

that

aU these indomitable,

scarcely believable,

efforts

that such achievements as those of the Egj-ptians

?that
the Myriads of the Nile

were devoted to a mistake

were fools labouring in the dark, and that aU the magic of

their great

men was

forgery? and that we, in despising

,00

THE BOSIOBUCIANS.
we
call their superstition
?

that which

and wasted power,

in these old

are

alone the wise

No

there

is

much more

reli-

gions than, probably, in the audacity of

modem

denial, in

the confidence of these superficial- science times, and in the

derision of these days without faith, is in the least degree

supposed.

"We do not understand the, old time.

It is evident

tians were acquainted with the wonders of

from their hieroglyphics that the Egypmagnetism. By

lie

means of
senses, the

it

(and by the secret powers which

it),

in the

hyper-sensual, " heaped floors" of

out of the erery-day

it

Egyptians struck together, as

were, a bridge,
;

across which they paraded into the supernatural

portals receiving

the magic

them

as

on the other and armed side of a

thunders in
its

drawbridge, shaking in

its

raising (or in

its

lowering), as out of flesh.

Athwart

this, in trances,

swept

the adepts, leaving their mortality behind them:

their earth-surroundings, to

all,

and

be resumed at their reissue upon

in their

the plains of

life,

when down

humanity again.

In the

cities of

the ancient world, the Palladium, or Pro-

testing Talisman (invariably set

place),

up

in the chief square or

wasthere

is

but

little

doubt

the
all

reiteration of the

very earliest monolith.

All the obelisks,

each

often

single stone, of prodigious weight,

tary,

the singulai",

soli-

wonderful pillars and monuments of Egypt, as of other

it

lands, are, as

were, only tombstones of the Fire!

All

testily to the great, so

darkly hinted secret.

In Troy was

the image of Pallas, the

manifestation,

myth

of knowledge, of the world, of

of the

fire-soul.

In Athens was Pallascities,

Athene, or Minerva.

In the Greek

the form of the

deity changed variously to Bacchus, to Hercules, to Phcebus-

Apollo

to the tri-formed Minerva, Dian,

and Hecate

to

the dusky Ceres, or the darker Cybele.

In the wilds

of

Sarmathia, in the wastes of Northern Asia, the luminous

SINGULAB IDEAS BEOABDINO FIBE.

" Light-Bom," spoke the same story.

loi

rays descended from heayen, and, animating the Lama, or

The flames of the Greeks, the towers of the Phoenicians, the emblems of the
;

Pelasgi

the story of Prometheus, and the

myth

of his

stealing the fire from Heaven, wherewith to animate the

man

(or ensoul the risible world)

the forges of the Cyclops,

and the monuments of Sicily; the mysteries of the Etrurians

the rites of the Cai-thaginians
;

the torches borne, in

all

priestly demonstra,tive processions, at all times, in all countries

;

the vestal

fires

of the

Romans

the very word flamen,

;

as indicative of the office of the officiating sacerdote

the

hidden
least in

fires

of the ancient Persians, and of the grimmer (at

;

name) Guebres
of the

the whole mystic meaning of flames

on

alta,rs,

ever-burning tomb-lights of the earlier

;

peoples, whether in the classic or in the barbarian lands

every thing of this kind was intended to signify the deified

Fire.

Fires are lighted in the funeral ceremonies of the

to this day,

Hindoos and of the Mohammedans, even

the body be committed whole to

though
fire,

earth.

Wherefore

then

Cremation and m-n-burial, or the burning of the

in all ages

dead
than

practised
is

^imply

a profounder meaning
to the transmigra-

generally supposed.

They point

tion of Pythagoras, or to the purgatorial reproductions of the

Indians,

among whom we

the earliest find the dogma.

The

real signification of fire-burial is the

commitment of human

mortality into the last-of-all matter, overleaping the inter-

mediate states

or the delivering over of the man-unit into

the Flame-Soul, past all intervening spheres or stages of the

purgatorial

the absolute doctrine of the Bhudds, taught,

even at this day,

among

the initiate

all

over the East.

Thus

we see how classic made to reconcile,

practice

and heathen teaching may be how even the Gentile and Hebrew,

the mythological and the (so-called) Christian, doctrine har-

102

THE B08I0BUCIANS.

monise in the general faith

is

founded

in magic.

That magic

indeed possible

is

the moral of our book.

We

have seen that Hercules was the myth of the Electric

Principle.

His

pillars (Calpe

and Abyla) are the Dual upon

which may be supposed

to rest a world.

They stood
^the

in the

days when giants might really be imagined,

almost look as impressive of
it

now,

indeed, they
pyramids.
discoverers'

twin prodigious

monoliths, similar in purpose to the

artificial

They must have struck the astonished and awed

gaze,

navigating

that

silent

Mediterranean (when

men

seemed as almost to find themselves alone in the world),

as the veritable, colossal, natural pillars

on which should
:

bum

the double Lights of the forbidden Baal

witness of
fire-

the ever-perpetuated, ever-perpetuating legend of the

making!
first

So to the Phoenician

sailors,

who, we are

told,

descried,

and then stemmed royally through, these

peaked and jagged and majestic Straits

doorway

to the

mighty
crystal

floor of the

new

blue ocean,

still

of the more Tyrian

depthrolling,
fire

in walls of waves, under the enticing

all-imperial,

blaze of the

cloud-empurpled,
indeed,

western sun,

whose court was

these

God's, not Baal's!

fire- white

so to

men

of Sidon, emblemed with the

horns of

the globed Astarte, or Ashtaroth, showed the monster rocks

pillar-portals fire-topped, as the last world-beacon

to close

in (as gate) that classic sea, and to warn, as of the terrors of

the unknown, new, and second world of farthest waters,

which stretched to the limits of

indeed,
perils,

possibility.

Forsaking,

daringly, were these Iberi their

left

altars, to

tempt

when they
:

behind them that mouth of their Me-

diterranean

that

sea

upon whose embayed and devious

diverse, yet the mightiest of

margin were nations the most

the earth.
vered,

Iberia which they discoand to which they themselves gave title, hints the

The very name of the

MA Oia HIER GL YPHICS.

Gabiri,

03

who

carried,

doubtless,

in

their

explorations, as

equally with their commerce and their arts, their religious

usages and their

it

faith, as

pyramidically intensifying, until

!

flashed truth

upon the worlds in the grand Fire-Dogma

from
all

that faith to which sprung monuments

borders at which glittered the beak
flame
single
fleets,

the sea-

of every many-oared, ship of ocean-dotting the precursors of the

of the Vikings.

itself

an imitation

their adventurous,

exploring ships

We

claim the caldron of the witches

as, in

the original,
all

the vase or

um of the

fiery transmigration, in

which

the

things of the world change.

"We accept the sign of the

double-extended fingers (pointed in a fork), or of horns,

which throughout
Turkey,
is

Italy,

the Greek Islands,

Greece, and

esteemed as the counter-charm to the Evil Eye,

as the occult

Magian

telegraphic.

The

horns, or radii, of

the Merry-Andrew, Jester, or

Satan,

Motley, and the horns of

indeed, the
afiBinity

figure of horns generally,

even have
The
when

strange

in the consecrate

and

religious.

horse-

shoe, so universally

employed as a defensive charm, and

off

used as a sign to warn

frequently
is

and

to consecrate,

displayed

as

it

so

at the entrance of stables, out-

houses, and farm-buildings in country places, speaks the

acknowledgment of the Devil, or

rearing aloft,

Sinister Principle.
it

The

and " throwing

out," as

were, of protesting,

and

in

a certain fashionbadge-like, magic signs, in the

bodies of bats, and wild nocturnal creatures, fixed upon

barn-doors,
sacrifice to

we hold

to be the perpetuation of the old heathen

the harmful gods, or a sort of devil-propitiation.

horse, as indicative

Again, in this horse-shoe we meet the

of,

and connected with,

spirit-power:

of which strange
to say.

association

we
is

shall

by and by have more

The

horse-shoe

the mystic symbol of the Wizard's Foot, or the

10+

THE BOSIOBUCrANS.
but as constantly evading, magic
cabalistic sign)

Sigma, or sign, of the abstract " Four-footed," the strangely

secret, constantly presented,

meaning conveyed

in

which (a tremendous

we encounter

every where.

May

the original, in the East,

is

of the horse-shoe arch of the Saracens, which

a foundation-

form of our Gothic architecture,may the horse-shoe form

of
all

arches and cupolas (which figure

is

to be

met

every

where in Asia), may these strange, rhomboidal curves cany

reference to the ancient mysterious blending of the ideas of the
It is an

horse and the supernatural and religious

awing

thought

but Spirits and supernatural embodiments

nnperbe
it

ceived by our limited, vulgar senses

may make
It

their daily

walk amidst

us, in the

ways of the world.

may indeed

that they are sometimes suddenly happened upon, and, as

were, surprised.

The world
feet.

although

so silent

may
it

be

noisy with ghostly

The Unseen Ministers may

all
is,

every

day pass in and out among our ways, and we

think that we have the world to ourselves.
It

the time
were,

as

to this inside, unsuspected world that these recognitive, de-

precatory signs of horse-shoes and of charms are addressed

that the harming presences, unprovoked, that the jealous watch of the
in the
us, if

may

pass harmless

Unseen over us may be assuaged

for

acknowledgment

that the unseen presences amidst

met with an unconsciousness

which

man

cannot

be accountable,

may not b*

offended with carelessness for

which he may be punishable.

Egyptian Scacabxus and

Stellar Disc.

Trigonometrical EScct of the Great Pyramid.

CHAPTER THE TWELFTH.

DRUIDICAL STONES AND THEIR WORSHIP.

HE

monolitli, talisman, mysterious pillar, or stone

fire-tradition,

memorial, raised in attestation of the

and occupying the principal square or

the original of our British market-crosses.
hilifhon, or trilithon
;

place,

Forum,
is

or middlemost or navel-point of the city in ancient times,

The cromhch,

or

the single, double, or grouped stones

found in remote

places,

in Cornwall, in Wales,

all

in various

counties of England, in by-spots in Scotland, in the Scottish

Isles, in

the Isle of Man, and in Ireland,

these stones

of memorial

older than history

speak the
its

secret faith of the

ancient peoples.

Stonehenge, with

inner and outer circles

j

of stones, enclosing the central mythic object,, or altar

all

the

Druidic or Celtic remains

altar-tables in the valley
;

stones on the tops of mountains,

the centre measuring, or obelisk,

stones, in market-places or centre -spa,ces in great towns,

from which the highways radiated, spaced

distance
;

in mileage
Stone,"

to

that time-honoured

relic,

"

London

still

extant in

Cannon

Street,

London; the

Scottish "sacred

stone," with its famous oracular gifts, vulgarly called Jacob's

Pillow, transported to

England by the dominant Edward

io6

THE BOSICBUCIANS.
Abbey
even the placing of upright stones
generally accepted as a mere

the First, and preserved in the seat of the Coronation-Chair

in Westminster
;

as tombstones, which

is

means

of personal record,

-for,

be

it

remembered, the ancients

placed tabhts against their walls by

way

of funeral register;
^all

all

follow the

same

rule.

We

consider

these as varia-

tions of the upright

commemorative

pillar.

The province of Brittany,

in France, is thickly studded

with stone pillars, and the history

and manners of

its

people

teem with interesting, and very curious, traces of the worship of them.
Itf these parts,

and elsewhere, they

are dis-

tinguished by the

name

of Menhirs and Penlvans.

The

superstitious veneration of the Irish people for such stones

is

well known.

Finisterre, p.

106

M. de Freminville says in his Antiquites du " The Celts worshiped a divinity which
:

united the attributes of Cybele and Venus."

prevailed also in Spain,

This worship

inasmuch
We
sumed

as, doubtless, throughout Europe,

as

we

find the Eleventh

and Twelfth Councils

of Toledo warning those

who

offered worship to stones that

they were sacrificing to devils.

are taught that the Druidical institution of Britain
patriarchal, or Brahminical.

was Pythagorean, or

The

pre-

universal knowledge which this order possessed, and

the singular customs which they practised, have afforded sufficient analogies

and

aflEinities

to maintain the occult

and

remote origin of Druidism.

A Welsh

antiquary insists that

the Druidical system of the Metempsychosis was conveyed to

the Brahmins of India by a former emigration from Wales.

But the

reverse

may have

occurred, if

we

trust the elaborate

researches which would demonstrate that the Druids were a

scion of the Oriental family.

The

reader

is

referred to

Toland's History of
vol.
ii.

the

Druids, in his Miscellaneous Wcrrhs,

p.

163

also to a

book published in London in 1829,

STONEHENGE.
with the
the
title,

,07
to

The

Celtic

Druids;

or,

an Attempt

show that

Druids were

the Priests

of Oriental Colonies,

who emiyrated

from India,hj Godfrey Higgins.

fidently intimated that the

recent writer con-

knowledge of Druidism must be searched for in the Talmudical writings but another, in return, asserts that the Druids were older than the JeAvs.
;

Whence and when

write.

the British Druids transplanted them-

selyes to this lone world

amid the ocean, no historian can

We

can judge of the Druids simply by the sublime

are left of them, surviving, in their
civilisation.

monuments which
jestic loneliness,

ma-

through the ages of

tell

Unhewn

masses or heaps of stones

their cairns,
architecture,

alone their story; such are

corneddes,

and

cromlechs,

and

and that wild

still frovrai-

whose stones hang on one another,

ing on the plains of Salisbury.

Among

the most remarkable ancient remains in Wales

:

(both North and South) are the Druidical stones

the most extraordinary manner,
lem,

poised in

real engineering prob-

^the

slightest touch will sometimes sufiBce to set in

stones,

motion the Logan, or rocking,

whether these balanced

masses are found in Wales or elsewhere.

there
is

We

think that
all
it,

very considerable ground for concluding that

stones were oracular, or,
that,

these

mounted
;

so to express

speaking

and

when sought

for di^ane responses, they

were caused

first

to tremble, then to heave,

and

finally, like

the tables of the

ligibly.

modem (so-called)

Spiritualists, to tip intel-

refer

To no other reason than this could we satisfactorily the name under which they are known in Wales:
For the idea that they were deno-

namely, " bowing-stones."

minated "bowing-stones" because to the people they formed

objects of adoration
is

a supposition infinitely less tenable.

The reader will perceive that we admit the phenomenon, when the mysterious rapport is effected, of the spontaneous

io8

THE BOSICBUCIANS.
and ultimate motion of
solid objects.

sensitiyeness

No

one

who has witnessed

tables, after

the strange, unexplained power which

gent signals,

proper preparation, acquire of supplying intelli^impossible as it

may seem

to those

who have
will see

not witnessed and tested these phenomena,

that there
is

but

great likelihood of these magic stones having

been reared and haunted by the people for this special This idea would greatly increase the sensitive capacity.
majesty and the wonder of them
for
;

in other respects, except

use, these

some extraordinary and superstitious

mys-

terious, solitary stones appear objectless.

The famous " Eound Table"

to which that mystic hero is

of

King Arthur

in regard

understood to have instituted

a magical consult-

an order of knighthood

may have been

and

ing-disc, round which he

directions.
larity

his peers sat for oracular,

it

As

it is

of large dimensions,

presents a simialso,

not only to some of the prophesying-stones, but

in a greater degree, to the movable enchanted

drums of the

Lapps and Finns, and to the divining-tables of the Shamans

of Siberia.

There

lies

an unsuspected purpose, doubtless of

a mysterious (very probably of a superstitious and supernatural) character, in this exceedingly ancient

memorial of

the mythic British and heroic time at Winchester.

When

spires or steeples

were placed on churches, and

succeeded the pyramidal tower, or square or round tower,

these pointed erections were only the perpetuations of the
original monolith.

The

universal signal was reproduced

through the phases of architecture.

The
its

supposition that

the object of the steeple was to point out the church to the

surrounding country explains but half

meaning.
all

At one
over the

period of our history, the signal-lights abounded

country as numerously as chiurch-spires do in the present

days.

Exalted on

eminences,

dotting

hills,

spiring

on

THE BOHEMIAN "FIRE-KINGS."

cliffs,

109

perched on promoiitories,^from sea inland, and from

the interior of the country to broad river-side and to the

sea-shore,

^rising

from woods, a universal telegraph, and a

picturesque landmark,
identical,

the tower, in

its

meaning, spoke the

unconscious tradition with the blazing Baal, Bael,

:

or Beltane Fires

those universal votive torches, which are

lost sight of in the mists of antiquity,

and which were so con-

tinual in the
ages,

Pagan

countries, so reiterated through the early

and which

still

remained so frequent ia the feudal and

were
all

monastic periods,
religion.

these

connected closely with

it

The

stone tower was only, as

were, a " stato the

tionary flame."

The

origin of beacons

may be traced

highest antiquity.
language,
as

According to the original Hebrew (which

Samaritan,
is

the

considered by competent

judges as the very oldest), the word "beacon" dered a mark, monolith,
pillar,

may

be ren-

or upright.
fires

At one time the

ancient Bale, Bel, or religious

all

of Ireland were general

clearly traced to a

over the country.

They have been

fires

devotional origin, and are strictly of the same character as

the magic, or Magian,

of the East.

During the

political

discontents of 1831 and 1832, the custom of lighting these

signal- fires

was very generally revived amidst the partyIreland.

distractions in

In the ancient language of

is yet called,

this

country, the
or the

month of May

"nic Beal tienne"

month

tival in the

of Beal (Bel or Baal's) fire. The Beltane fesHighlands has been ascribed to a similar origin.
still

Druidical altars are

to be traced
fires

on many of the

hills in

Ireland, where Baal (Bel or Beal)

were lighted. Through

the countries, in the present day, which formed the ancient Scandinavia, and in Germany, particularly in the North, on the
first

of May, as in celebration of some universal feast or

festival, fires are

even

now

lighted on the tops of the

hills.

How

closely this practice

accords with the superstitious

,10

THE ROSICRUCIANS.
is disco-

usages of the Bohemians, or "Fire-kings," of Prague,

verable at a glance.
tire of the early
fire,

All these western flames are representa-

which was as equally the object of worit is

ship of the Grubhs, Guebres, or Gaurs, of Persia, as

the

admitted natural principle of the Parsees.

Parsees, Boheall

mians, the Gypsies or Zingari, and the Guebres,

unite in

common

legendary fire-worship.

Besides the ancient market-crosses and wayside Gothic

uprights, of which so

many

picturesque specimens are yet to

be found in England, Wales, and Scotland, we

may

enu-

merate the splendid funeral-crosses raised, by the brave and

pious
writes

King Edward
:

to the

memory

of his wife.

Holinshed

" In the nineteenth yeare of

Elianor,

King Edward's

wife,

died,

King Edward, queene upon saint Andrew's

to Lin-

euen, at Hirdebie, or Herdelie (as

colne.

some haue), neere

In euerie towne and place where the corps rested by

the waie, the

King caused a
up
at

crosse of

cunning workmanship

to be erected in

remembrance of
London,

hir.

Two

of the like

crosses were set

last

one

at

Westcheape" (the
is

but one), "and the other at Charing," which

last cross

now

Charing Cross, and where the

was

placed.

The

final

obsequies were solemnised in the Abbey-Church

at Westminster,

on the Sunday before the day of

St.

the Apostle, by the Bishop of Lincoln-; and the

Thomas King gave

twelve manors and hamlets to the Monks, to defray the

charges of yearly oUts, and of gifts to the poor, in lasting

commemoration of his beloved

consort.

Some

writers have stated the

number of crosses

raised as

These were, Lincoln, Newark, Grantham, Leicester, Stamford, Geddington, Northampton, Stoney-Stratabove at thirteen.
ford,

Wobum,

Dunstable,

St.

Alban's,

Waltham, Westcheape

(Cheapside), not far from where a fountain for a long time

took the place of another erection, and where the statue of

QUEEN-ELEANOB CB0SSE8.
Sir Eobert Peel
rested,

now stands. The last place where the body whence the memorial-cross sprung, and which the
highway of Charing Cross;
opening at Charing

famous equestrian statue of King Charles the First now

occupies, is the present noisy

and, as then,

it

opens to the royal old Abbey of Westminster.

is this capital

What

a changed street

Cross, Whitehall,

and Parliament

Street,

from the days

it

almost then seeming a river-bordered country road when

the cross spired at one end, and the old Abbey closed the

yiew southwards.

In regard to the royal and sumptuous obsequies of Queen

Eleanor, Fabian,
latter part of

who compiled his the reign of Henry

Chronicles towards the

VII.,
:

speaking of her

burial-place, has the following

remark

" She hathe

II wexe
Which
present

tapers hrennynge vpon her torabe ioth daye

so hath contynned syne the

and nyght.
to this

day of her huryinge

daye."

The beacon-warning,
nniversal use of
shore,
fires

the Fiery Cross of Scotland, the

sea-

on the tops of mountains, on the

and on the highest

turrets of castles, to give the signal

of alarm, and to telegraph some information of importance, originated in the

first

religious flames.

Elder to these sum-

moning
which

or notifying lights was the mysterious worship to rose as the answer.

fire

From

religion the beacon

passed into military use.

special Saints' Days,

On

certain set occasions,

and on
on the

and

at other times of observance, as the

traveller in Ireland well knows, the multitude of fires

tops of the

hills,

and in any conspicuous

situation,

would
special

gladden the eyes of the most devout Parsee.

subject of illumination, however

The

we may have become

its

ac-

customed to regard

it

as the most ordinary expression of

triumph, and of mere joyous celebration, has

origin in a

much more

abstruse and sacred source.

In Scotland, parti-

THE BOSIOB UCIANS.

with these mythic
are strong.

cularly, the reverential ideas associated

fires

Perhaps in no country have the impressions

of superstition deeper hold than in enlightened, thoughtful,

educated, and (in so

many

respects) prosaic Scotland

fires,

and

in regard to these occult

and ancient

the tradition of

them, and the ideas concerning their origin, are preserved as

a matter of more than cold speculation.

Country legendary

accounts and local usages,

obtained

from we know not

all

whence,

all

referring to the

same myth,

pointing to the

same Ptotean

superstition, are traceable, to the present, in all

the English counties.

Cairns in Scotland

heaps of stones

in by-spots in England, especially

solitary or in

group-^to
;

be found on the tops of

hills

the Druidical

mounds

the

raising of crosses on the Continent, in

Germany, amongst

the windings of the Alps, in Eussia (by the roadside, or at

the entrance of villages), in Spain, in Poland, in lonely and

secluded spots

probably even the

;

first

use of the " sign-

post" at the junction of roads

all

these point, in strange,

widely radiant suggestion, to the fire-religion.

"Whence obtained

is

that

word "

sign," as designating

the guide, or direction, post, placed at the intersection

of cross-roads?

Nay, whence gained we that peculiar

idea of the sacredness, or of the " forbidden," attaching to

the spot where four roads meet? the Latin

;

It is sacer, as sacred, in

" extra-church," or " heathen," supposedly " un-

hallowed," in the modern acceptation.

in the
is

The

appellative oh,

word "

obelisk,"

means

occult, secret, or magic.

Oh

the Biblical

name

for sorcery.

It is also

found as a word

signifying converse with forbidden spirits,

groes on the coast of Africa, from

among the Newhence and indicating

to the

the practices marked out by

it it was transplanted

West

Indies,

where

it still exists.

It is well

known

that a character resembling the Runic

CHRISTIAN AND

REA THEN MTSTIO LIOHTS.

hammer
of Thor

1 1

alphabet was once widely diffused throughout Europe.

character, for example, not unlike the

"A
is to

be found in various Spanish inscriptions, and lurks in many magical books. Sir William Jones," proceeds our author,

we quote from the Times of the zd of February 1859, in reviewing a work upon Italy by the late Lord Broughton, "has
parallel between the deities of Meru and Olympus and an enthusiast might perhaps maintain that the vases of Alba Longa were a relic of the times when one religion pre;

drawn a

vailed in

Latium and Hindustan.

is

It

is

most

sftigular

that the Hindoo cross

precisely the

hammer
it is

of Thor."

All our speculations tend to the same conclusion.

it is

One

day,

a discovery of cinerary vases

;

the next,

etymolo-

gical research

yet again,
it is

it

is

ethnological investigation

and, the day after,

the publication of unsuspected tales

from the Norse: but aU go to heap up the proofs of our

consanguinity with the peoples of history,
general belief,

and of an original

we might

add.

What meaneth the altar, with its mysterious lights? What mean the candles of the Catholic worship, burning even by day, borne in the sunshine, blazing at noon ? What
meaneth
at all ?
this visible
fire,

as

an element

at Mass, or at service

Wherefore

is

this thing,

Light, employed as a
all

primal witness and attestation in

worship?

To what
surviving

end, and expressive of what mysterious meaning,

through the changes of the faiths and the renewal of the

Churches, and as yet undreamt,

bum the solemn lamps in

bright-glancing in the
fall

multitude, in their richly worked, their highly wrought, cases

of solid gold or of glowing

silver,

mists of incense, and in the swell or

or of holily entrancing music
elaborate drop-work tabernacle
?
;

of sacredly melting

Before spiry shrine and

in twilight hollow, diapered
;

as into a " glory of stone," and in sculptured niche

I

in the

11+
serried

THE BOSICRUCIANS.

of bossy cressets,

and starry ranks of the columned wax, or in rows ^intertwine and congregate the perfumed

flames, as implying the tradition eldest of time

eth, LQ the
is

What meanHigh
Altar ?
those

Papal architectural

piles,

wherein the Ghostly Fire

enshriaed, symbolic real fire, thus before the

What

speak those

constellations of lights? what

?

" silvery stars of Annunciation" the altar?

sacrifice,
first

What

signifieth fire
altars

upon

What

gather

we

at all

from

and from

the

delivering, as

through the gate offire, of the

and the best of this world,

flocks,

whether

of the

fruits,

whether of the

whether of the primal and perfectest

?

of victims, or the rich spoil of the " world-states"

What

mean

the

human

sacrifices of the
fire

Heathen; the passing of

the children through the

to

Moloch; the devotion of the

perfect, ,and

consummate, the most physically

tifiil, 'to

most beau-

the glowing Nemesis, in that keenest, strangest, yet

;

divinest, fire-appetite
lives,

the offered plunder, the surrendered

of the predatory races ?

What
?

signifies

the

sacrifice

of

Iphigenia, the burning of living people

among

the Gauls,

the Indian fiery immolations the patriarchal sacrifices?

What What is

is

intended even by

the meaning of the

?

burnt offerings, so frequent in the Bible

read we, and what seem
peat,

In

short,

what
re-

we

conclusively to gather,

we

in

this

mystic thing,

and hitherto

almost mean-

ingless, if
sacrifice

not contradictory and silencing, institution of

fii-e ?

by

What

gather we, otherwise than ia the

it ?

explanation of the thing signified by

crifice as practised in all ages,

We
all

speak of

sa-

enjoined in

holy books,

elevated into veneration, as a necessity of the highest and

most sacred kind.

noriih,

We find it in aU countries, east, west, and south;in the Old equally as in the New World. From whence should this strange and unexplainable rite
it

come, and what should

mean ?

as,

indeed,

what should

LIGHTS ON OHBISTIAN ALTABS.

mean
the display of bright
fire at all

115

in the mysteries,

Egyptian, Cabiric, Scandinavian, Eleusinian, Etrurian, Indian, Persian, Primal American, Tartarian, Phoenician, or
Celtic,

irom the

earliest of

time until this very modem, inaltars,

stant,

English day of candles on

and of the other kin-

dred religious High-Church lightings?

respecting

which

there rankleth such scandal, and intensifieth such purposeless

babble, such daily dispute
ritualistic (as it is
!

What

should aU this inveterate

ill-

absurdly called) controversy, and this

Is
it

understood bandying, be about?

day,

that,

even at this

men do
?

not understand any thing about the symbols of

their religion,

and that the things

for

which they struggle are

mere words

really that the principles of their wonderful

and

supernatural faith are perfectly unknown, and that they

reason with the inconclusiveness, but with nothing of the simplicity, of children

nothing of the divine light of children

boldly ask, what should
all this
little,

But,

we would

wealth of

fire-subjects
less ?
fice

mean, of which men guess so

whole principle of
it

and know
sacri-

be?

What should this What should

fire

and of

signify,

but the rendering over

and the surrender up, in all abnegation, of the state of man, of the best and most valued " entities" of this world, past and thi-ough the fire, which is the boundary and border and

waU between
of
all,

this world
is
all,

and the next ?

that

last

element

on which
it,

Fire,having most of the light of

matter in
it,

as it hath

most of the blackness of matter in

;

to

make

it

the fiercer

and both being copy, or shadow,

Spirit-Light,
is

of the

Immortal and Ineffable

of which,

strange as it because that, and the whole Creation, as being Degree, or

even, in its wonders, as Greater or Less,

may

sound, the sun

the very darkness

^beautiful

and

godlike as

it is

to man, is as the
;

shadow of God, and hath

the place of purifica-

nothing of

Him

but

is instituted as

THE B OSICE UGIANS.

punishment: the opposite of God, the enemy its results, apart from the Spirit of God,
it,

tion, " being," or

of God, and, in

which rescues supernaturally from

This world and
its

^the

denier of God
as

showsnay,

Life

stands mystically

the Devil, Serpent, Dragon, or "Adversary," typified through

all

time

the world terrestrial being the ashes of the

fire

celestial.

The

torches borne at funerals are not alone for light:

they have their mystic meaning.

They mingle

largely, as

do candles on

altars, in all

solemn celebrations.

The em-

ployment of light in

all religions rites,

and in celebration in

the general sense, has an overpoweringly great meaning.

Festival, also, claims flame as its secret signal

and

its pass-

word to the propitious

Invisible.

Lights and flambeavx

ac-

and torches carried in the hand were ever the joyous

companiment of weddings.
verbial expression.

The torch of Hymen The ever-bm-ning lamps of the

is

a pro-

ancients

the steady, silent tomb-lights (burning on for ages), from

time to time discovered

among

the mouldering

monuments

of the past in the hypogm, or sepulchral caves, and buildings

broken in upon by

men

in later day

the bonfires of the

;

modems

the

fires

on the tops of

hills

the mass of lamps

disposed about sanctuaries,

sacred point of the

whether encircling the most

mosque of the Prophet, the graded and

St. Peter's,

cumulative Grand Altar in

or the saint-thrones

in the churches of the Eternal City, or elsewhere, wherever

magnificence riseth into expansion, and intensifieth and

overpowereth in the sublimity which shall he felt; the multitudinous grouped lamps in the Sacred Stable

the Place of
Bethlehem

the Holy Nativity, meanest and yet highest

at

the steady, constant lights ever burning in mystic, blazing

attestation in Jerusalem, before the

tomb of the Kedeemer i

the chapeUe ardmfe in the funeral observances of the ubi-

SNAKE, SERPENT, AND DRAGON.

quitous Catholic Church
;

117

the congregated tapers about the

bed of the dead

the

flames in mysterious grandeur (and in

royal awe), placed as in waiting, so brilliant and striking,

and yet

so terrible, a court,

and surroundiug the

stately

catafalque; the very

word

falcated^ as bladed, sworded, or

scimi tared (as with the guard of waved or sickle-like flames);

the lowly,

single

candle at the bedside of the povertysingle votive light only allied

as with the

attenuated dead

thus by the
;

(yet in unutterably mystic

and godlike bond)

greatest of the earth

the watch-lights every where, and ia

whatever country; the crosses (spiry memorials, or monoliths)

which rose as from out the

earth, in imitation of the

watching candle, at whatever point rested at night, in

her solemn journey to her last home, the body of Queen
Eleanor,
as told
so

ia

the

English annals (which flame-

memorials,

raised

by the pious King Edward in the

all,

spiry, flame-imitating stone, are

we

believe, obliterate,

or put out of things, but the well-known,

magnificent,

restored cross at Waltham);

all these, to

the keen, philo-

sophic eye, stand as the best proofs of the diffusion of this

strange

Fire-Dogma:
" She to

mythed as

equally,

also,

in

that

" dark-veiled Cotytto,"

whom

the flame

Of midnight torches burns."

lo,

" She," this blackest of concealment in the mysteries, Isis, Ashtaroth, or Astarte, or Cybele, or Proserpine " he,"
;

" Baalim," Foh, Brahm, or this Baal, Bel,

Bhudd

" it," for

Serpent,

the

Myth

is

no

personality, but sexless,

at all

Snake,

Dragon, or Earliest Letter of the Alphabet ;" all these symbols, shapes, or
names, stand confessed in that
fied
first,

of Locomotion, under whatever

absolutely primal, deiall

element. Fire,
is

which the world, in

religions, has

worshiped,

worshiping, and will worship to the end of

THE E 08ICE UCIANS.

;

time, nnconscionsly

we even
still

in the Christian
it

religion,

and ia our

modem day,

doing

unwitting the meaning

:

of the mysterious symbols which pass daily before our eyes

all

which point, as we before have

Soul of the World,

said, to Spirit-Light as

the

otherwise,
is

to the inexpressible

mystery of the Holy Ghost.

Little is it suspected

what

the

myth conveyed

in the

Fackelstanz and Packelszug of Berlin, of which so

much

was heard, as a curious observance,

riage of the Princess Eoyal of

at the

time of the mar-

England with the Prince

is

Frederic William of Prussia.

This

the Teutonic perpetu-

ation of the " Bacchic gloryings," of the

Satumian rout and

rite.

flame-brandishing, of the earliest and last

The
rays,

ring of light, glory, nimbus, aureole, or circle of

;

about the heads of sacred persons

sceptres
;

the hand (magnetic

and mesmeric) upon

standards of the

the open

hand borne

in the

Romans

the dragon-crest of Maximin, of

;

Honorius, and of the Barbarian Leaders

the Dragon of

China and of Japan; the Dragon of Wales; the mythic

Dragon trampled by
the Royal
affirmed,

St.

George; the "crowned serpent" of

;

House of Milan

the cairns, as
;

and the Runic Monuments

the

we have already Round Towers of

piles,

Ireland (regarding which there hath been so much, and so

diverse

and

vain, speculation)

the memorial

and the

slender (on sea-shore and upland) towers left by the Vikinghs,

or Sea-Kings, in their adventurous

the legends of the

and predatory voyages Norsemen or the Normans the vestiges

;

so recently, in the discovery of the forward- of-the-old-time

ages, exposed to the light of criticism, in the time-out-of-

mind antique and quaint

cities of

the extinct peoples and

;

of the forgotten religions in Central America

fire-worship of the Peruvians,

the sun- or

and

their vestal- or virgin-

guardians of the

fire

the priestly fire-rites of the Mexicans,

MA GIO STMB 0L8.

1 1

quenched by Cortez in the native blood, and the context of

their strange, apparently incoherently wild, belief; the inscriptions of amulets,

on rings and on taUsmans; the

respects,

singular,

dark, and, in

many

uncouth arcana of the Bohe;

mians, Zingari, Gitanos, or Gypsies

the teaching of the

Talmud
which

the hints of the Cabala ; also that little-supposed

thing, even,
is

meant

in the British golden collar of " S.S.,"

worn

as a relic of the oldest day (in perpetuation

of a mythos long ago buried

spark-likeand forgotten
ofiicials,

in

the dust of ages) by some of our

wise,

courtly and other-

and which belongs to no known order of knighthood,

but only to the very highest order of knighthood, the Magian, or to Magic
;

all

these point, as in the diverging

radii of the greatest of historical light-suns, to the central,

intolerable

ring of brilliancy,

or the

phenomenon

the

original

God's revelation,

eldest

of all creeds,

sm-vivor,

almost, of

Time

the baptism of Fire of the Apostles some minds, alarmapparently strange In of symand throwing under one ing
!

of the

Sacred Spirit, or Ghostly Flame,

this

^nay, to

classification,

head,

bols diametrically opposed, as holy and unholy, benign and

must be taken to notice that the types of the "Snake" or the "Dragon" stand for the occult "WorldFire," by which we mean the " light of the human reason,"
sinister, care

or " manifestation" in the general sense, as opposed to the

spiritual Hght, or

unbodied light into which, as the

;

reverse,

although the same,

the
that

former transcends.

Thus, shaIt to

dow
is

is

the only possible means of demonstrating light.

not reflected upon

lifted.

we must have means whereby

be

After

all,

inexpressible

things.

we deal only with glyphs, to express Horns mean spirit-manifestation;

incompre-

Eadius

signifies the glorying absorption (into the

hensible)

of that manifestation.

Both signify the same

120

THE ROSICBUCIANS.
also transcending

from any given point, the One Spirit working downwards, and
upwards.

From any

giren point, in

height, that the intellect is able to achieve, the

same

Spirit

downwards intensifies into Manifestation ; upwards,

into Grod
!

dissipates

In other words, before any knowledge of God

all, it

can be formed at
straction
;

must have a

shape.

God

is

an

ab-

Man

is

an entity.

Winged Human-headed Lion.

(Nine\ieh Sculptures.)

Black sculptured Obelisk.

(British

Museum,-)

CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH.

INQUIRY AS TO THE POSSIBILITY OF MIRACLE.

HE

definition

of a miracle has been exposed to

numerous erroneous views. Inquirers know not what a miracle is. It is wrong to assume that
nature and

human

nature are alike invariably, and that

other.

you can interpret the one by the

start

There may be

in reality great divergence between the two, though both

from the common point

individuality.

mii-acle is
is

not a violation of the laws of nature (because nature

every thing), but a something independent of
is,

not

all laws,

that

as

we know
is

laws.

The mistake

that

is

so

commonly

made

the interpreting

comiag aware of

or rather the perceiving, or the besenses,

^that

thing we denominate a miracle through

the operation of the

human

which ia

reality

have

nothing whatever to do with a miracle, because they cannot

know
to us

it.

If nature, as
it,

we understand

it,

or law, as

we

understand

be universal, then, as nothiag caa be possible

which contradicts either the one or the other (both

being the same),

nature being

law,

and law being nature,

^miracle

must be impossible, and there never was, nor

could there ever be, such a thing as a miracle.

But a

122

THM BOSICBUCIANS.

miracle works outwardly from us at once, and not by a

human path
none the

moves

away from the world

it,

(that
it

is,

man's

world) as a thing impossible to

less,

though

may

be true

since our nature is not all nature, nor perhaps

any nature, but even a philosophical delusion.

In the conand we

ception of a miracle, however, the thing apprehended revolves

to

us,

and can come to us in no other way,

through a machinery,

seize the idea of it

our own judgMiracle

later,

ment,

which

is

a clear sight compounded of our senses,

a synthesis of senses that, in the very act of presenting an

impossible idea, destroys
it as

humanly

possible.

can be of no date or time, whether

if

earlier,
;

whether
if

God has not withdrawn from nature

and

He

has withthis fallen

life

drawn from nature, then nature must have before

to pieces of itself; for

God

is

intelligence
it

not
is

only;
It

and matter
is

is

not intelligent, though

may be
in

living.

not seen that during that space

which
it

a space taken
is

out of time, though independent of

possible to
us,

which miracle
time,

we
is

cease to

be men, because

or

rather
are

sensation,

man's measure;
back
in

and that when we

the miracle
is

men
its

again,

and

ourselves,

gone, because the conviction of the possibility of a thing

and

non-possibility has expelled

is iatuition,

it.

The persuasion
is

of a

miracle

or the operation of God's Spirit active in

us, that drives

out nature for the time, which

the opposite

of the miracle.

No

miracle can be justified to men's minds, because no

it
;

amount of evidence can sustain

reality,

no number of attestations
In

can afllrm that which we cannot in our nature believe.

vince

we believe nothing of which our us,even these not always. In

we think
that

senses do not con-

other matters,
believe;

we

only believe because

we

and

since

the conviction of a miracle

has nothing of

God

except

QUESTIONS AS TO DREAMS.
thfi

123

certain sort of motive of possessed, excluding exaltation,

the miracle, fills us,

which, with

and to which exaltation we

feel as

can give no name, and which we can only

a certain

something in

us, a certain

power and a certain

light,

light,

con-

quering and outshining another

become

fainter,

^it

will follow that the conviction of the possibility of a miracle

is

the same sort of unquestioning assurance that

itself
;

we have
ceases

of a dream in the dream

is

and

that,

when

the miracle
to

apprehended in the mind,

it

just

as

much

be a miracle when we are in our senses, as a dream ceases

to be that
it
is,

which

it

was, a reality, and becomes that which

nonentity,

when we awake.

But

to the questions,
shall

what is a dream ?
or

nay, what

is

waking ?

who
cease,

answer ?

who can

declare whether in that broad outside, where

our minds and their powers evaporate or

melts away into nothing that we can laiow as any thing
the one
life

where nature
as nature, or

know

else,

in regard to dreams and realities,

may

not be the other

as another life

to him,

The dream may be man's other than his own life, and
?

as

the reality

may be

the dream (in

its

various forms), which he

it is

rejects as false

and confusion simply because

an

unknown
alphabet.

language, of which, out of his dream, he can never

have the alphabet, but of which, in the dream, he has the

"

A pretence that every

strong and peculiar expression

is

is

merely an Eastern hyperbole

mighty easy way of getting

and right apprehension,
Morsels of

rid of the trouble of deep thought

and has helped to keep the world in ignorance."

Criticism, London, 1800.

It

is

very striking

that,

in

all

ages,

people

have

clothed the ideas

It

of their dreams

the same imagery.

may therefore be asked whether that language, which now occupies so low a place in the estimation of men, be

i4

TBE B08ICBUCIANS.

not the actual waking language of the higher regions,

while we, awake as we fency ourselves, may be sunk in a " sleep of many thousand years, or, at least, in the echo of
their dreams,

and only

intelligibly catch a

few dim words of

that language of God, as sleepers do scattered expressions

from the loud conversation of those around them."

Schubert, in his

So says

SymloKsm

of Dreams.

There

is

every form

of the dream-state, fix)m the faintest to the most intense, in

which the gravitation of the outside world overwhelms the

man-senses, and absorbs the inner unit.

In fact,

the lightest

and faintest form of dream is

the

very fhxmghts that

we

think.

A
by

very profound English writer,

Thomas de Quincey,
rite

has the following: "In the English

personal choice,
'

of Confirmation,

and by sacramental

oath, each

man

says,

in effect:

Lo

I rebaptise myself;

and that which once was

sworn on

my behalf, now

I swear for myself.'

Even

so in

dreams, perhaps, under some secret conflict of the midnight

sleeper, lighted

up to consciousness
as

at the time,
is

but darkened
each several

to

the

memory
fall."

soon as

all

finished,

child of our mysterious race

may

complete for himself the

aboriginal

As

to

what

is

possible or impossible,

no man, out of
has

his presumption

and of

his
;

self-conceit,

any right
terms

to speak, nor can he speak

for the nature of his

is

with

all

things outside of

him

unknown

to him.

We

know

that miracle (if once generally believed in) would ter-

minate the present order of things, which are perfectly right

and consistent in

their

own way.
all

Things that contradict

nature are not evoked by reason, but by

man

in his miracle-

worked imagining, in

time; and such exceptions are

independent of reason, which elaborates to a centre downwards, but exhales to apparent impossibility (but to real
truth) upwards,

that

is,

truth out of this world.

THE NATURE OF BELIGIOUS

;

BITES.
not.

115

ceases there

Upwards has notMng of man for it knows him but he is made as downwards, and
;

He

finds his

man's nature there, lowest of

all

his

mere bodily nature

there perhaps, even to be found originally

among

the four-

footed

for

by the raising of him by God alone has and

set his face

Man

got

upon

his feet,

upward

to regard the stars,

those stars which originally, according to the great "

Hermes
heaven

Trismegistus" (Thrice -Master), in the astrological sense,

raised

him from the primeval

level;

for

we

refer

always to a place over our heads, since there only we can

be free of the confinements of matter ; for above us or below

us
is

equally the altitude.

May not
minute

the

sacrificial,

sacramental rites

may not those

acts of priestly offering, as they succeed each other,

and deepen in intensity and in meaning

hearing,

may not those aids

at

of music to enlarge and change and conjure the sense of

and to react on sight

(it

being notorious that

objects change their character as

we look

them when
dream-

operated upon by beautiful music)

may not those

to

producing, somnolent, enchanting vapours of incense, which

seem to loosen from around each of us the walls of the

visible,

and

to

charm open the body, and

senses, alight

let

out

(or to let in)

new and unsuspected

with a new

light not of this world, the light of a

new

spiritual world,

in which

we can

yet see things, and see

them

as things

to be recognised,

may

not

all this

be true, and involve

but true enough, in?

impossibilities as only seeming

so,

asmuch

as miracle possibly is true

enough

May

not

all

these

effects,

and may not the place and

the persons in the body, and

may

not the suggestions,

tries,

labouring to that end, of unseen, unsuspected, holy minissuch as thronging angels, casting off from about us our

swathes and bands of thick mortality in the new, overmaster-

ii6

THE B08ICBUCIANS.
all this

ing influence, may not

be as the bridge across which

we

pass out from this world gladly into the next, until
as

we meet,
but now

on the other

side, Jesus,

the Euler in Tery deed,

felt

as the Offered, the Crucified, the complete and

accepted "Living Great Sacrifice"?

May we

not in

this

" Eucharist" partake, not once, but again and again, of that

even of that solid

which was our atonement, and of that blood

is

which was poured out as the libation to the " Great Earth,"
profaned by " Sin," partaking of that reddest (but that most
transcendently lucent) sacrament, which
light of a

to be the

new

new world

Is not the very

name of
?

the inter-

communicating High-Priest that of the factor of

glorious, spirit-trodden, invisible "bridge"

this mystic,

Whence do we

derive the

word

Pontifex, or Pontifex Maxinius (the Great,

or the Highest, Bridge-Maker, or Builder), elicited in direct

translation from the

two Latin words pons and facio in the and become " Pontiff" in the

earliest pre-Christian theologies,

Eoman and the Christian sense " Pontiff" from " Pontifex" meaningthat of or maker of
?

It is surely this

fabricator

the bridge between things sensible and things spiritual, be-

tween body and

world,-

spirit,

between this world and the next

between the spirituaUsing "thither" and the sub-

stantiating "hither," trans being the transit.

The whole

word,

if

not the whole meaning,

may be

accepted in this

Eoman-Catholic sense of " transubstantiation," or the making of miracle.

r\

I
Double
Lithoi.

Persian Talisman,

CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH.

can evidence be depended upon ? examination of Hume's reasoning.

lUE
is

evidence for the truth of the Christian religion

less
;

than the evidence

for the truth of

first

our

senses
religion, it

because, even in the

greater.

authors of our

was no

It is evident it
;

must diminish

in passing from
rest

them

to their disciples

nor can any one

such confidence in their testimony as in the immediate

object of his senses."

This

is

wrong.

The testimony

of some

men

is

more

valid than is the evidence of the senses of

some

others.

"It

is

a general maxim, that no objects have any

All the inferences which

discoverable connection together.

we can draw from one

evident that

to another are founded merely

on our
It is

experience of their constant and regular conjunction.

we ought not

to

make an

exception to this

maxim in
It

favour of human testimony, whose connection with

itself as little necessary as

any event seems in

any other."

may be put

to

any person who

carefully considers

Hume's previous

position as to the fixedness of the proofs of

it.

the senses, whether this last citation does not upset

"The memory

is

tenacious to a certain degree.

Men

128

THE BOSICBUCIANS.
inclination to truth
sensible to

commonly have an
probity.
falsehood.

and a principle of

They
is

ai-e

shame when detected in a

not qualities in

These are qualities in human nature."

a mistake
;

This
nature.

for they axe

human

They

are the quahties of

grown men, because they

is

are reflective of the state of the

man when he

living in

community,

not

as

man.

" Contrariety of evidence, in certain cases,

may be derived
vritnesses

from several
testimony

different

causes from the opposition of contrary

:

from the character or number of the

when the

from the manner of their delivering their testimony

the union of aU these circumstances.

or from

We entertain a suspicion
vritnesses contradict

concerning any matter of fact

each other

when they have an

ticulars of the

when they are but

few, or of a doubtfdl character

interest in

what they

afiirm

when they
contrary,

deliver their testimony with hesitation, or,

on the

with too violent asseverations.

There are many other par-

same kind, which may diminish or destroy

the force of any argument derived from

;

human

testimony."

Now, we contest these conclusions and we will endeavour to meet them with a direct answer. The recognition of hkelihood

not

to say of truth

is intuitive,

and does not depend

on testimony. In fact, sometimes our belief goes in another direction than the testimony, though
it

be even to matters of fact.

statements
:

Hume
reason
is

resumes with his

cool, logical

" The

why we

place any credit in witnesses

and

historians
d,

not derived from any connection which we perceive

priori between testimony

and

reality,

but because we are

accustomed

to find
!

a conformity letween fhem."

to this,

Just so

we would add

" because we

are ac-

customed to find a conformity between them."

now arrived at the grand dictum of cool-headed, self-possessed Hume, who thought that by dint of his logical
are

We

MIEAOLMS AND EXPEBIENCE.

clearness,

129

and by his

definitions,

he had exposed the im-

possibility of that unaccountable thing

which men

call a

miracle,

and upon the

will

possibility or the non-possibility of

which religion

be ultimately found to wholly depend,

opposed to laws of "must be"

because religion

is entirely

and "must not be."

"

miracle

is

a violation of the laivs of nature," he

declares.

Not

so,

we

will rejoin.

It is only a violation of the

set our

laws of our nature.

We

have no right to
This
is

nature up

as the measure of all nature.

merely the mind's

its real

assumption
because
all

and

it is

important to expose

emptiness,

Hume's philosophy turns upon

all

this,

which he

imagines to be a rigid axiom, to which

recur.

argument must

"A

firm and unalterable experience has established the

laws of nature.

The proof

against a miracle, from the very

nature of the

fact, is as entire as

any argument from exSo says Hume.

a mifacle, because

perience can possibly be imagined."

But experience has nothing to do with

it is

a sense not comprised in the senses, but an unexperi-

enced sensation or perception, exposing the senses as dreams,

and overriding

their supposed certainty

and

totality

by a new

dream, or apparent certainty, contradicting the preceding.

If this were not possible, then the senses, or the instantane-

ous judgment which comes out of their

" conviction," as we call

it

thing past, present, and to

sumor the thing would be the measure of every come, which we know
it is

not.

Hume,
all,

or any philosopher,

is

wrong

in dogmatising at

because he only speaks from his

own

experience

and
the

individual experience will in no wise

assist

towards

discovery of real truth.

to

In philosophy, no one has a right

and to assume
it

lay

down any

basis,

as true.

The

3o

THE BOSian UCIANS.

latter course,

philosopher must always argue negatively, not affirmatiTely.

The moment he adopts the

presupposes
all

he

is lost.

Hume
single

his

Treatise
itself

on Mirachs in

this

assumption that nature

to

has laws, and not laws only

difference

our faculties.

The mighty

between these two

;

great facts wiU be at once felt by a thinker

but we will

not permit
right,

Hume

to assume any thing where he has

no

and so to turn the flank of his adversary by

assumption.

artfully
is

putting forward and carrying an

Nature

only nature in man's mind, but not true otherwise,

any

more than the universe

the man,
therefore,

exists out of the

mind
it.

or

out of

who has
the

in thinking to in

make

Take away,
and the
the dislips,

man

whom

the idea of
question

it is,

universe disappears.

We

will

Hume,
is

believing philosopher, as to

his

right to

open his

because

it is

very doubtful if language, which

the power
consistent
all

of expression, any more than that which thought,

is

inseparably consistent to man,

we call who is

incon-

sistence in his beginning, middle,

and end

in his

coming

here and in his going hence out of this strange world, to

which he does not seem

really to belong,

and in which

he seems to have been somehow obtruded, as something

not of
it

strange

as this seems.

As

to the philosophy of

Hume, granting the ground,

you have, of

course, all the basis for the constructions raised

upon that gi'ound.

to

But suppose we, who argue in opposition Hume, dispute his ground ? Hume, in his Treatise on Miracles, only begs the question
is

and there

therefore

no wonder

that,

having

first

secured

his position

by consent or negligence of the opponent, he may deal from it the shot of what artUlery he pleases and
;

his opponent, having once allowed the first ground,

capacity to

argu"fe,

has

or the

unwittingly let in aU the ruinous

IDEAS AND EMOTIONS.

results

131

which follow

these philosophically are indisputable.

has no capacity to argue iu this way, inasmuch as he has taken the " human mind" as the

We would

urge that

Hume

capacity of arguing.

Either reason or miracle must be

;

first

removed, because you can admit either

for they are opposites,

and cannot camp in the same mind

is

one

is idea,

the other

no idea

in

this

world; and as we are in this world,

as in this world.

we can only judge

In another world,

Hume

the philosopher

may

himself be an impossibility, and

therefore be a mii-acle, thi'ough his

own
is

philosophy, and the

application of

it.

Hume
that
it is

is

the

man

of ideas, and

therefore very correct

;

as a philosopher, if philosophy were possible

but we deny

possible in regard to any speculation out of this

world.

Ideas

that

is,

philosophical ideas

may
steps

be de-

scribed as the steps of the ladder by which

we philosophically
by which
possibility,

descend from God.

alone

Emotions are
to

also the

we can ascend
line

Him. Human reason is a

from the

may

be made.

passing into
their nature,

drawn by which either ascent or descent The things Necessity, or Fate, and Free "WUl, the mind of man {hath may be identical in
though opposite in
their operation),
visible.
dictate

from the

invisible,

but persuade fi-om the

Hume
proof."

asserts that " a

uniform experience amounts to a

It does not do so,

any more than " niaety-nine"

found in

are a "hundred."

He

also says that " there is not to be

all

history
to be

any miracle attested

believed."
is

by a

suificient

number of men
it

Now, we

will rejoin to this,

that a public miracle

a public impossibility; for the

moment

has become

public, it has ceased to be a miracle.

" In the case of any

says, " there are

particular

assumed miracle," he further

not

a sufiBcient

number of men of such unquestioned good

132
sense, education,

THE B OSIOB UOIANS.

and learning
as to secure us against all

delusion in themselves
place

of such

undoubted integrity as to
that our

them beyond

all

suspicion of any design to dsceive

is,

others."

Now,

to this our answer

own

senses

deceive us ; and why, then, should not the asseverations of

others ?

Hume
insists,

adduces a number of circumstances which, he

full

"are requisite to give us a

assurance in the

testimony of

men ;"

but nothing can give us this assurance

supposes.

in other men's testimony that he

We

judge

of circumstances ourselves,

upon our own ideas of the

itself;

testimony of

men

not that

upon the testimony

for

we

sometimes believe that which the witnesses, with the

reliance

fullest

upon themselves, deny.

is,

We
all

jndge upon our own

abstract points.
It

silent convictions,
is for this

upon

reason that assurances even

by

angels, jn Scrip-

ture,

have not been believed by the persons to

sent.

whom

the

message was directly

Of

course, if the miracle

was

displayed through the ordinary channels of

prehension,
it

human com-

was no miracle

for

comprehension never has

miracle in

it.

maxim by which we commonly conduct ourselves in our reasonings is, that the objects of which we have no experience resemble those of which we have," says Hume. Now, this remark is most true but we cannot help this persuasion. We conclude iaevitably that things unknown
;

" The

should resemble things known, because, whatever

outside of our natm'e,

may

be
it,

we have no means of knowing

is

or of discovering any thing else that

selves.

other than our-

We

can know nothing, except through our own

machinery of sense.

God

alone wofks, though

As God made outside and inside, we think that we ^that is, Nature

work.

God (who

is

Himself miracle) can

effect

im-

HUME'S INCBEDULITT CONTESTED.

possibilities,

133
dis-

and make two one by annihilating the

tinction between them.

Hume
ments,

says that, " where there

is

an opposition of argu-

we ought to
greatest
if

give the preference to such as are founded

on the

number ofpast oiservatims."

the world were real
;

So we ought,

but, as

it is

not,

we

ought not.

Things unreal cannot make things

real.

Hume
Human

declares that, " if the spirit of religion join itself

to the love of wonder, there is an end of

common

sense.

testimony, in these circumstances, loses

all

pre-

tensions to authority.

religionist

may

be an enthusiast,

and imagine he

sees

what has no

reality.

He may know
it

his

narrative to be false, and yet persevere in

with the best

intentions in the world, for the sake of promoting so holy a

cause.

excited

Even where this by so strong a

and
self-interest

delusion has not taken place, vanity,

temptation, operates on

him more

powerfully than on the rest of mankind in any other circumstances,

with equal

force.

His auditors may

not have, and commonly have not, sulScient judgment to

canvass his evidence.

What judgment

they have, they re-

nounce by principle in these sublime and mysterious subjects.

H they
a_

were ever so willing to employ

disturb

it,

passion

and

heated imagination

the

regularity of its

operations.
his

Their creduhty increases his impudence, and

their credulity."
fact.

impudence overpowers

Now, the reverse of all this is more nearly the Ordinary minds have more incredulity than credulity.
of an ignorant

It is

quite a mistake to imagine that credulity is the quality

mind it is rather incredulity that is. "Eloquence, when at its highest pitch," says Hume, "leaves Kttle room for reason or reflection."
;

Now, on the

contrary, true eloquence is the

embodiment

or synthesis of reason

and

reflection.

1 34-

THE B OSICB U0IAN3.

" Eloquence," resumes Hume, " addresses
itself entirely

to the fancy or the affections, captivates the willing hearers,

and subdues

their understanding.
;

Happily, this pitch

it

seldom attains

but what a Tully or a Demosthenes could

scarcely effect over a

Roman

or Athenian audience, every

capuchin, every itinerant or stationary teacher, can perform

over the generality of mankind, and in a higher degree, by

touching such gross and vulgar passions."

All the above
is

simply superficial assumption.

;"

Hume
but there

then speaks of " forged miracles and prophecies

is

no proof of anjforffed miracle or prophecy.

is

He

says that "there

a strong propensity in

mankind to
is

the extraordinary and the marvellous.

of report which rises
so
easily

There

no kind

and spreads so quickly,

especially in country places

and provincial tovms, as those

concerning marriages, insomuch that two youiig persons

of equal condition never see each other twice, but the whole

neighbourhood immediately join them together."

This
is all

nonsense.

There

is

always a reason for these

suppositions.

Hume then
curiosity

goes on to adduce this same love of inspiring

belief in

and delight in wonders as the cause of the

miracles.

"Do
report,

not," he asks, "the same passions, and others

still

stronger, incline the generality of

mankind to

believe and
all

with the greatest vehemence

and assurance,

religious iniracles ?"

Now,

this

is

only very poor; and, besides,

it

is

all

assumption of truths where they are not.

Hume
as
'

speaks of supernatural and miraculous relations

having been received from "ignorant and barbarous

ancestors."

But what is ignorance and barbarism ?

and what

is civilisation ?

He

says that they have been " transmitted

COMMON SENSE NOT ALL

attend received opinions."

SENSE.

135

with that inviolable sanction and authority which always

But supernatural and miraculous

relations have never been received opinions.

They have

always been contested, and have made their way against the

common

common sense of common sense, and nothing more; and, in reality, common sense goes but a very little way, even in the common transactions of life for feeling guides us in most
sense of mankind, because the
is

mankind

matters.

" All belief in the extraordinary,"

Hume

declares,

" pro-

ceeds from the usual propensity of

mankuid towards the

sense

marvellous, which only receives a check at intervals from sense

and learning."
conceits ?

But what

are

and learning

both but mere

" It
'

is strange,'

a judicious reader

is

apt to say," remarks

'

Hume,

" upon the perusal of these wonderful histories,

days.' "

that

such prodigious events never happen in our

such events do occur, we would rejoin
believed,
;

But
in

though they are never

and are always treated

time.

as fable,

when occurring

their

own

"It

is

experience only,"

says

Hume, "which
it is

gives

authority to

human

testimony."
belief,

Now,

not experience
It is not ideas,

only which induces

but recognition.'

but

light.

We
he
is

do not go to the thing in ideas, but the

it

thing comes into us, as

finds that

were

for instance, a

man

never

awake by experience, but by

influx of the
is,

thing "waking"

whatever the

act of

waking

or means.

" When two kinds of experience are contrary, we have nothing to do but to subtract the one from tM other, and

embrace an opinion either on one side or the other, with that assurance which arises from the remainder."
This which follows
a,bove-

may be

a conclusion in regard to the

If beliefs

were sums, we should, and could, subtract

36

THE B OSIOJR UGIANS.

but we cannot help our
beliefs,

the difference between two amounts of evidence, and accept

the product

because thej

are intuitions,

and not statements.

close of his strictly

Hume, towards the

all

hard and logical

Treatise on Miracles, brings forward

an argument, which to

appearance

is

very rigid and conclusive, out of this his

realistic

philosophy

If that

were true

" Suppose that

all

the historians
i

who
1

treat of

England

should agree that on the

st

of January

600 Queen Eliza-

beth died,
seen

that

both before and after her death she was

court, as
is

by her physicians and the whole

usual

that her successor was ledged and proclaimed by the parliament, and
with persons of her rank,
throne,

acknow-

that, after

being interred a month, she again appeared, resumed the

and governed England

circumstances, but

for

three years.

must

confess that I should be surprised at the concurrence of so

many odd

should not have the least

inclination to believe so miraculous

an event.

/ should not

doubt ofher pretmckd death, and of those other public circumr

stances that followed it."

Now,
that

in their

own

sequence, as they occur to us as real

facts in the world, so unreal are true, positive circumstances,

we only

believe

believe dreams
to say.

that

is,

them by the same means that we by intuition. There is no fact, so

Startling as

ness of those
itself

it may appear, I appeal to the consciouswho have witnessed death whether the death it

did not seem unreal, and whether

did not remain

is,

without belief as a fact until the negative

that

" The dead

man

is

not here"

affirmed

it,

not through present persua-

sions,

but through unreal incidents, post-dating reappearance.

to the belief in miracles,

As

Hume

asserts that

the

Chiistian religion cannot be believed by any reasonable

person without a miracle.

"Mere

reason," he assures us,

BSUDDISTIC, on BOODISTia, MAYA.

"
is is insufficient

137

to convince us of its veracity

it, is

and whoever

moved by

faith to assent to

conscious of a continued
all

mii'acle in his

own

person, which subverts

the principles

of his understanding."

The

theosophic foundation of the Bhuddistic Maya,

or Universal Illusion, has been finely alluded to by Sir

WiUiam

Jones,

who was

deeply imbued with the Oriental

mysticism and transcendental religious views.

"The
know
wisest

inextricable diflBculties," says he, "attending the

vulgar notion of material substances, concerning which

this only, that

we

we know nothing, induced many

of the

among

the ancients, and some of the most enlightened

among
who
is

the moderns, to believe that the whole creation was

rather an energy than a work, by which the Infinite Being,

present at

all

times and iu

all places,

exhibits to the

minds of His creatures a

so that all bodies

set of perceptions, like a

wonderful

picture or piece of music, always varied, yet always uniform

and their

qualities exist, indeed, to every

wise and useful purpose, but exist only as far as they are
'perceived

theory no less pious than sublime, and as

different

from any principle of atheism as the brightest

sunshine differs from the blackest midnight."

Mont

St. -Michel,

Normandy.

Druidical Circle at Darab, in Arabia.

CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH.

FOOTSTEPS OF THE ROSICRUCIANS AMIDST ARCHITECTURAL
OBJECTS.

SOMAS VAUGHAN,
crucian,

of Oxford, a famous Eosi-

whom we

have before mentioned, and who

in the year 1650 published a

book upon some of

has a

the mysteries of the Eosicrucians, has the following passage.

His work

is

entitled Anfhroposophia

Theomagka ;

it

supplemental treatise, called

Anima

Blagica Alscondita ;

we

quote from pages 26 and 27 of the united volume.

" In regard of the Ashes of Vegetables," says

Vaughan,
yiolence

" although their weaker exterior Elmnents expire

of the
fied.
fire,

by

yet their Harth cannot be destroyed, but is Vitrithis

The Fusion and Transparency of

This water resists the
fiiry

substance

is

occasioned by the Radicall moysture or Seminal water of the

Compound.

of the Fire, and

cannot possibly be vanquished.

'In hac

AquW

(saith the

learned Severine), 'Rosa latetin Himie.'

are never separated
;

These two principles

for

Nature proceeds not so/r in her

hath done her worst, there
is

Dissolutions.

When Death
these two,

an

Vnion between
at the last day,

and out of them

shall Q-od raise us

and

restore us to a spiritual constitution.

H OSIOS UOIAN LIMB US.

do not conceive there
Species,

139

shall

be a Eesurrection of every
parts, together

but rather their Terrestrial

tJiere

with the

element of Water {for

shaL.
pTtte

shall be 'no

more

sea:' Revelation),

be united ia one mistnre with the Earth, and fixed to a

Diapilianous
substance.

This

is

St.

John's Crystall
so called, not ia

gold, afiindamentall of the

Xew Jerusalem
Their
first

respect of Colour, but constitution.

Sjitits, I suppose,

shaU be reduced to their

Limbus, a sphere of pure,

ethereall fire, like rich Eternal Tapestry spread under the

Throne of God."
Coleridge has the following, which bespeaks (and precedes), be it remarked. Professor Huxley's
late

supposed

original speculations.

The

assertion is that the matrix or

formative substance

is,

at the base, in all productions, "

from

mineral to man," the same.

"

The germinal powers

of the plant transmute the fixed

air and the elementary base of water into grass or leaves

and on these the

agency weaves
differently the

organific principle in the ox or the elephant

exercises an alchemy stdl

its

more stupendous.

As the unseen
becomes
in-

magic

eddies, the foliage

its

bone and

marrow, the pulpy brain or

the solid ivory; and so on through aU the departments of

nature."T Coleridge's Aids

328.

to

Reflection,

6th ed.
iii.

vol.

i.

p.

See also Herder's Ideen, book

v. cap.

We

think that we hare here shoAvn the origin of

all

Professor Huxley's speculations on this head appearing in

his " Lectures,"

and embodied in
at the

articles

by him and others

in scientific journals and elsewhere.

In a lecture delivered
Savory made

Royal Institution, Mr. W.

S.

the following remarks: " There is close relation-

ship between the animal and the vegetable kingdoms.

The

organic kingdom
crystallisation,

is

connected with both by the process of

closely resembles

which

some of the processes

i+o

THE BOSIOBUCIANS.
of

of vegetation and of the growth of the lower orders

animal creation."

The

" Philosopher's Stone," in one of its

many

senses,

may be

taken to

mean

the magic mirror, or translucent

in

"spirit-seeing

crystal,"

which

things

impossible
says

to

ordinary ideas

are

disclosed.

"Know,"

Synesius,

" that the ^wmfessence" (five-essence) " and hidden thing of our
'

stone' is

nothing

less

than our

celestial
its

and glorious
mine,

soul,

drawn by our magistery out of

itself

which
for

engenders

and brings

itself forth."
is

The term

" Ohrystal," or " Crystal," in Greek,

the following; which

may be divided

into twin- or half-words in the

way subjoined:

XPY5T
Crystal
is

|-|

AAAOS.

a hard, transparent, colourless " stone," comfire

posed of simple plates, giving

with

steel,

not fermenting
of a regular

with acid menstrua, calcining in a strong

fire,

angular figure, supposed by some to be "formed of coagulated with nitre."

dm

Amber
gifted

is

a solidified resinous gum, and

It

is

commonly

full of electricity.

was supposed, in the hands of those correspondingly, to abound with the means of
In this respect
it

magic.
cone,

resembles the thyrsus, or pine-

which was always carried in processions

or otherwise
consider the

in

Bacchanalian
We
can

connection with the mysteries.

name

of the palace, or fortress, or "royal"

house in Grenada, in Spain, in this respect following.

The

word "Alhambra," or "Al-Hambra," means the "Red." In Arabia this means the place of eminence, the " place of
places," or the " Red," in the

same acceptation that the sea

called the

between Arabia and Egypt

spirits generally (in

is

"Red

Sea."

AU

connection with those things supposed to be evil or indifferent especially) are " laid" in the " Red Sea,"

"

RUNES" AND RUNIC REMAINS.

14.1

when

disposed of by exorcism, or in forceful conjuration.

is

"We
convery-

think that this " Hambra," " ambra," or " ambre,"

nected with the substance amber, which
red,
is

sometimes

and which amber has always been associated with

spirits.

magical influences, magical formularies, and with

We

have seen an ancient

crucifix,

carved in amber, which

was almost of the

redness of coral.

Amber has

always been

a substance (or gem, or gum) closely miagUng with superstitions,

from the most ancient times.

For further connected

ideas of the word " amber" and the substance " amber" in
relation to

magic and

sorcery,
its

and

for the recurrence of

the word "amber"

to

and

varieties in matters referring

the mysteries and the mythology generally of ancient

times, the reader

wiU

please to refer to other parts of this

volume.

While excavations were in progress

at

mound

in

Orkney, described by Mr. John Stuart, Secretary of the

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, on July i8th,
1861,
liaes of " runes" of various sizes

numerous

were found on

the walls and on the roof of a large vaulted chamber in the

earth.

When

the discoveries were completed, the series of

runes exceeded 700 in number; figures of "dragons and

a cross" were also cut on some of the

slabs.

There are

many mounds

of various forms and sizes in this part of

Orkney, and there is a celebrated circle of Druidical Stones on the narrow peninsula which divides the two lochs of
Stennis.

Pliny says that the word " boa," for a snake, comes from

"bovine," because "young snakes are fed with cow's milJc." Here we have the unexpected and unexplained connection
of the ideas of "snake" and "cow."

The whole

subject

is

replete with mystery, as well as the interchange of the " Dragon" found in the references to the " Cross" and the

1 4.1

THE B OSICB UOIANS.

of
all

insignia

faiths,

and lurking amongst

all

religious

buildings.

On
cross

a Phcenician coin, found at Citium or Cyprus, and

Celtic

engraved in Higgins's

Druids, p. 117,

may be

seen a

and an animal resembling a hippocampus, both of

which, or objects closely similar, appear on ancient sculptured

stones in Scotland.

strange-looking
called

The same two animal, half mammal,

things, a cross

and a

half fish or reptile, but

by Mr. Hodgson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a Basilisk,

appear together on a Mithraic sculptured slab of the

period, found in the north of England.

Eoman
re-

What

is

more

markable

still,

the "star" and "crescent," or

"sun" and
its

"moon,"

also appear, the

whole being 'enclosed in what has

been called the "Fire-Triangle," or "Triangle with Face Upwards."

The
June
Fig. 22.

Builder,

London Architectural Journal, of

some valuable observations on

6th, 1863, has

" Geometrical and other Symbols."

In regard to the word "Alhambra," we may associate

another word appropriated to Druidical Stones in England

Men-Amber.
"
Cornwall.

A
is
1 1

famous Logan-Stone, commonly called

Men-Amber,"

in the parish of Sethney, near Pendennis,

feet long,

It is

feet deep,

and 6

feet wide.

From

this the following derivatives

may be

safely

made:

Men-Amber, Mon-Amber, Mon-Ambra, MouTAmrha, MonAmra (M'Om-Ea, Om-Ra), "Red Stone," or Magic, or
Angelic,
or

Sacred Stone.

This red colour

is

male

it

signifies the Salvator.

The
OphidiEe

following
:

is

the recognitoiy

mark

or talisman of the

$.

The Scarab^us,
town of Basle
it

Bee, Ass, Typhon, Basilisk,

(Basil, or B^le), in Switzer-

Saint-Basil, the

land (of this place

cognisance
is

may be

remarked, that the appropriate

a " basilisk," or a " snake"), the mythic horse.

OBOSS-LEGGED EFFIGIES.

143

or hippocamjpus, of Neptune, the lion, winged (or natural), the

Pegasus, or winged horse, the Python, the Hj'dra, the Bull

(Osiris), the

Cow

(or lo), are mythological ideas

which have

each a family connection.

All the above signify an identical

myth.

This we shall presently show conclusively, and

all

connect them

with the worship of

fire.

Our

readers have no doubt often wondered to see on the

table-monuments in Christian cathedrals a creature resembling a dog, or generally like some four-footed animal, trampled

by the which

feet of the
is

recumbent

efiigy.

It is generally a

male

represented as performing this significant effbrceA\ith the point of his sword, or

left

ment, tramphng or piercing

the butt of the crosier (in his

hand, be

it

remembered).

This crosier

is

the ancient pedum, or

is

litiius.

At Brent-

Pelham, in Hertfordshire, there

a tomb, bearing the

in the wall.

name

of a knight. Pierce Shonke, luiU

He

is

said to

have died

a.d. 1086.

Under the

feet of the figure there is a

oross-flourie,

and under the

cross a serpent (TVeever, p. 549).

translated,

There

is

an inscription which,

means

" Nothing of Cadmus nor Saint George, those names of great renown, survives them but their names
;

But Shonke one serpent

hills,

t'other defies,

And

in this wall, as in a fortress, lies."

See Weever's Ancient Funeral ilomimenfs.

place "

He

calls

the

Burnt Pelham," and he

says

" In the wall of this

:

Church Hath a most ancient Monument A Stone wherein is figured a man, and about him an Eagle, a Lion, and a Bull,
having
if
all

wings, and a fourth of the shape of an Angell, as

:

they should represent the four Evangelists

under the

feet

of the

man is a crosse Plourie." "The being represented cross-legged

is

not always a

proof of the deceased having had the merit either of having been a crusader, or having made a pilgrimage to the Holy

144
Sepulchre.

THE BOSIGBUCIANS.
I haye seen at Milton, in Yorkshire,

two

figures

of the Sherbornes thus represented, who, I verily believe,

could never have had more than a wish to enter the Holy

Land."

Pennant writes thus of the Temple, London.

out, in relation to the

Weever points
a Serpent.

monument
Under

of Sir
is

Pierce or Piers Shonke described above :

Sir Piers

"

the Cross

Shonke

is

thought to

hawe

been some-

time the Lord of an ancient decaied House,

farre

weU moated, not

from this

place, called

'

Piers Shonkes.'

He flourished

Ann. a
"

conquestu, vicesimo ^imo."

The personation of a dog

it is also

Weever,

p. 549.

^their

invariable accompani-

ment, as
polis,

found amongst the sculptures of Perse-

and in other places ia the East

would in

itself le

sufficient to fix the

heathen appropriation of these crosses" (the ancient Irish crosses), " as that animal can have no possible
;

relation to Christianity
it

whereas, by the Tuath-de-danaans,

was accounted

sacred,

and

its

maintenance enjoined by
in the

the ordinances of the state, as

it is stiU

Zend books,

which remain

after Zoroaster."

O'Brien's Round Towers of

Ireland, 1834, p. 359.

Fig. 23.

MEXICAN MONUMENTS.
" I apprehend the word
'

145

Sin'

came to mean Lion when

the Lion was the emblem of the Sun at his

summer
'

solstice,

when he was

in his glory,

and the Bull and the Man' were

the signs of the Sun at the Equinoxes, and the Eagle at the winter solstice."
Anacalypsis, vol.
is
ii.

p. 292.
bas-relief, of

Figure 23 (see opposite page)

an Egyptian

which the explanation

B, a Crocodile
"

is

the following:

is

the Egyptian

Eve trampling the Dragon

;

(the goddess Neith, or Minerva);

C, Gorgon's

head

D,

Hawk

(wisdom)

E, feathers (soul).

The

first

and strongest conviction which

will flash

on

the mind of every ripe antiquary, whilst surveying the long

series of

Mexican and Toltecan monuments preserved in

is

these various works,

the similarity which the ancient

bear to the monumental records
falls

monuments of New Spain

of Ancient Egypt.

Whilst surveying them, the glance

with familiar recognition on similar graduated pyramids,

on on

similar

marks of the same primeval

0;phite ivorsMp,

vestiges of the

same Triune and Solar Deity, on

plani-

spheres and temples, on idols and sculptures, some of rude

and some of
most striking

finished workmanship, often presenting the

affinities

with the Egyptian."

Stephens'

and

Catherwood's Incidents of Travel in Central America.

Egyptian Deified Figure.

'ST.

I
The Tables
of Stone.

CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH.

THE ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND.
|T is astonishing

how much

of the Egyptian and

the Indian symbolism of very early ages passed

into the usages of Christian times.

Thus

the

high cap and the hooked staff of the god became the bishop's

mitre and crosier; the term

nun

is

purely Egyptian, and

bore

its

present meaning

the erect oval, symbol of the

t:===^-^=:::2

Fig. as-

Fig. 26.

Fig. 24.

Female Principle of Natm-e,, became the Vesica

Piscis,

and

a frame for Diyine Things ; the Grux-Ansata, testifying the

union of the Male and Female Principle in the most obvious

?
Fig. 27.

6
Fig. 29, Fig. 30.

Fig. 28.

THE BLA OK STONE AT 3IEC0A.

the god's hand, the Orb
is

147

manner, and denoting fecundity and abundance as borne in

transformed, by a simple inversion, into
Cross,

surmounted by the

and the

ensign of

royalty."

Refer to The Gnostics

and
C

their

Bsmains,

p. 72.

The famous

" Stone of Cabar,"

J
I I I

^J
Jh-

Kaaba, Cabir, or Kebir, at Mecca,

which

is

so devoutly kissed
is

by the
It
is

faithful,
I

talisman.

r~
'

called the "Tabernacle"

(T'ffl&erjMs,

or Shrine) of the Star Yenus.

is

" It
is

'^' ^''

said that the iigure of

it,

Venus

seen to this day engraved upon

with a crescent."

The
See

Tery Caaba

itself

was

at first

an idolatrous temple, where

the Arabians worshiped "Al-Uza"

that

is,

Venus.

Bobovius, Dr.

Hyde

Parker, and others, for particulars reis

garding the Arabian and Syrian Venus. She

corniculatse

the "Uranias-

sacrum" (Selden, De Venere Syriacd).

a sacred
;

The

"Ihrdm

is

habit,

which

consists

only of two

woollen wrappers
to cover," &c.,

one closed about the middle of devotees,

the other thrown over their shoulders."
;

"and

Refer to observations about Noah, later in our book

Discourse, p. 121
p. 218.
;

Sale's

Pococke's India in Greece,

of

vol.

ii.

part

i.

The Temple
" No
vii. p.

Venus

at Cyprus

was the Temple of

Yenus-Urania^
ran, chap.

woman entered
p.

this temple" (Sale's

Ko-

119; note,

149).

Accordingly,

Anna

Commena and

Glycas (in Renald.

De Mah.)

say that " the

Mahometans do worship Venus."

were no more than
large,

Several of the Arabian idols

p. 20;

rude stones (Sale's Discourse,

Koran, chap.

v. p. 82).

The
all

stone at

Mecca

is

ilMk.

The
were)

crypts, the subterranean churches

and chambers, the

choirs,

and the labyrinths, were

intended to enshrine (as

it

and to conceal the central object of worship, or this sacred

148

TEE B0SICBUCIAN8.
The pillar
These
of Sueno, near Forres, in Scotland,
is

" stone."
obelisk.

an

obelisks were all astrological gnomons, or

"pins," to the imitative stellar mazes, or to the "fatefal

charts" in the "letter-written" skies.

The astronomical
by the Chalfrom the

" stalls," or " stables," were the

many
into

" sections" into which

the "hosts" of the starry sky were distributed

dseans.

The Decumens (or tenths),

had
also another

which the ecliptic was

Aslire,

divided,

name, which was

Hebrew

particle as, or ash,

which means " fiery," or " fieb."

for the ideas

The Romans displayed reverence

these sacred stones.

connected with
the obelisks

Cambyses, in Egypt,

left

or single magic stones.

The Lingliams
fi-ont

in India were left

untouched by the

Mohammedan

conquerors.

The modem
all their

Eomans have
chnrches.

a phallus or lingha in
is

of almost

There

an obelisk, altered to suit Christian ideas

(and surmounted in most instances in

cross), in front of

modem

times by a

every church in Eome.

There are few

churchyards in England without a phallics or obelisk.

the top
is

On

usually

now

fixed a dial.

In former times, when

all sorts, it

the obeliscar form was adopted for ornaments of

was one of the various kinds of Christian acceptable

which was placed on the summit.

cross

We

have the single stone

of memorial surviving yet in the Fire-Towers of Ireland).

(Round Towers
is

This phallus, upright, or " pin of stone,"

Circle. It is the
it

found in every Gilgal or Druidical

boundary-

stone or terminus, the parish mark-stone,;

stands on every

motehill; lastly (and chiefly), this stone survives in the

stone in the coronation chair at Westminster (of which

more
stone

hereafter),

and

also in the

famous " London Stone,"

or

the palladium, in
is

Cannon

Street, City of

London

which
not

said to be " London's fate"

which we hope

it is

to be in the unprosperous sense.

The

letter " S,"

among

the Gnostics, with its grimmer or

TBE LETTERS
harsher brother (or
or "maUgnant,"
' '

"S"

AND

"Z."

149

sister) " Z,"

was

called the " reprobate,"

sigma{ov sign) S" (the angular and not seiyentine " S" is the grinding or bass
letter.

Of

this portentous

"S"

the
:

letter

"Z"), Dionysius the Halicamassian says as

follows

that " the letter 'S' makes a noise more Irutal than

human.
("Ilept

Therefore
a-uvd^'i-"

the ancients used

it

very sparingly"

see, also, sect.

14 of Origin and Progress of

Language,

vol.

ii.

p. 233).

Notwithstanding the contentions of opposing antiquaries,

and the usually received ideas that the "Irish Eound

Towers" were of Christian, and not heathen,
origin, the

following book, turning up very unexpectedly, seems to

settle the question in favour

of O'Brien, and of those

urge the incredibly ancient devotion of the

to a heathen

who Eound Towers

Catalogue

myth

fire-worship, in fact.

"John
De

O'Daly, 9 Anglesea Street, Dublin.

of Rare and Curious Books, No. 10, October 1855, Item 105
Antiquitate

Turrum Belanorum Pagana Kerrimsi,

Small 4to,
old
calf,

et

de Architecturd
cagiensi,

non Campo/nilis Ecchsiasticm, T. D. Cortvith

Hibemo.
Lovanii,

numerous
the

woodcut engravings of Round Towers interspersed through

text.

lol.

1610."

The
is

bookseller

adds:

"I
This

never saw another copy of this curious old book."

book
Irish

which

there

is

no doubt

genuine

would

seem

finally to settle the question as to the character of these

Eound Towers, which

us,

are not Christian belfries, as

beliefs,

Dr. George Petrie, and others sharing his erroneous

persistently assure

but heathen Lithoi, or obelisks, in

the sense of aU those referred to in other parts of this work.

They were

raised in the early religions, as the objects of a

universal worship.

AU

antiquaries

know

of what object
It

the phallus stands as the symbolical representation.

needs not to

be more

particular here.

I50

TEE BOSIOEUOIANS.
The " Fhur-de-Lis"
is

a sacred symbol, descending from

the Chaldseans, adopted by the Egyptians,

who

converted

it

into the deified " scaral," the emblem of the "Moon-god;"

and

it is

perpetuated in that mystically magnificent badge

All the proofs of

of France, the female " Lily," or " Lis."

this lie concealed in our
etseq.; also post),

Genealogy of the Fleur-de-Lis (p. 40,

de-Lis," passim.

andthe"Flowers-de-Luce,"orthe"FleursIt means " generation," or the vaunt real-

ised of the Turkish Soldan,

"Donee totum im/plmt orlem." " Prince of Wales's Feathers" we believe to be, and to The
It re-

mean, the same thing as this sublime " Fleur-de-Lis."

sembles the object closely, with certain effectual, ingeniousdisguises.

The

origin of the Prince of Wales's

plume

is

sup-

posed to be the adoption of the king's crest (by Edward the

Black Prince, at the battle of Cressy), on the discovery of

the slain body of the blind

King of Bohemia.

Bohemia

again!

the

land of the "Fire-worshiping Kings," whose

palace, the Radschin, still exists

on the heights near Prague.

We believe

the crest and the motto of the Prince of Wales to

use,
for

have been in
earlier period,

our Princes of Wales, at a

much

and that

history, in this respect, is perpetu-

ating an error

^perhaps

an originally intended mistake.

We

think the following, which appears

now

for

the

first

time, will prove this fact.

Edward the Second,

first

afterwards

King

of England, was the

Prince of Wales.

There

is

reason to suppose that our valiant

Edward the

First, a

monarch of extraordinary acquirements, was initiated into the knowledge of the abstruse Orientals. An old historian
has the following:

"On

their giving" {i.e. the assembled

Welsh) " a joyful and surprised assent to the King's demand, whether they would accept a king bom really among them,

and therefore a true Welshman, he presented

to

them

his

new-bom

son, exclaiming in

broken Welsh, 'Eich dyn!'

PRINCE OF WALES'S FLUME.

151

that
view,
(p.

is,

'

This

is

your

man

I'

^which has been corrupted

into the present motto to the Prince ofWales's crest, 'Ich

dien,' or
is,
'

I serve.' "

The meaning of " I

for all

serve," in this

that " I"

suffice,

or "the Lis," or " the act," suffices

46,

and

figures ]post),

the phenomena of the

world.

Erixworth Church, Northamptonshire.

Egyptian Amulet.

CHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTH.

PRISMATIC INVESTITURE OF THE MICROCOSM.

i|HE chemical dark rays are more bent than the

luminous.

The chemical

rays increase in power as

you ascend the spectrum, irom the red ray to the

violet.

the

The chemical rays typified by the Egyptians under name of their divinity, Taut or Thoth, are most power-

ful in the

momiag
are

the luminous rays are most active at

;

noon

(Isis,

or abstractedly " manifestation")

the heating

rays (Osiris)

most operative in the afternoon.

The

chemical rays are the most powerful in spring (germination,

"producing," or "making"), the most luminous in the summer (ripening, or "knowing"), the most heating in the autumn (perpetuating). The chemical rays have more

power in the Temperate Zone ; the luminous and heating, in

the Tropical.

There are more chemical rays given

off

from

the centre of the sun than from the parts near its circumference.

Each prismatic atom, when a ray of

it,

light strikes

upon

opens out on a vertical

axis, as

a radius or fan of seven

least

different

"widths" of the seven colours, from the

refrangible red

up

to the most refrangible violet.

(Eefer to

diagram on next page.)

THE SEVEN COLOURS AND VOWELS.

"

'53

The Egyptian

Priests chanted the seven vowels as a

hymn addressed to
of Halicamassus).

Serapis"

{Eusebe-Salverte, Dionysius

"The
Fig. 3J. Fig. 32A.

vowels were re-

tained to a comparatively
late

allegories relative to the Solar System."

period in the mystic " The seven vowels

are consecrated to the seven principal planets" (Belot, Chiro-

mancie,

6th

cent.).
lies

The

cause of the splendour and variety of colours

Most Refrangible Ray.

Orange.

2.

Red.-1.\,
Least Refrangible Ray.
Fig. 33.

Prismatic Spectrum.

deep in the

affinities

of nature.

There

is

a singular and

mysterious alliance between colour and sound.

There axe

seven pure tones in the diatonic

octave
is

scale,

because the harmonic

on the margin, or border, or rhythmic point, of

solar spectrum.

the First and Seventh, like the chemical dark rays on the

margin of the

(See explanatory chart of the

Prismatic Colours, above.)

Red

is

the deep lass vibration of ether.

To produce
must

the

sensation of red to the eye, the luminous line

vibrate

477 millions of millions of times in a second.

piirple,
is

Blue, or rather

the high

treile vibration,

like

the upper

in

5+

THE B OSIOB UOIANS:

There must be a vibration of 699 millions of millions in a second to produce it while the cord that produces the
music.
;

high

C must vibrate 516

its effect

times per second.

Heat, in

upon nature, produces colours and

sounds. The world's temperature declines one degree at the height of 1 00 feet from the earth. There is a difference of one

degree ia the temperature, corresponding to each 1000

at the elevation of 30,000 feet.

feet,

Colouration

is effected, at

the

surface of the earth, in the

same amount in one minute that

light in the atmosphere is
it.

takes half an hour over three miles high, in the full rays of

the sun.

The dissemination of

wholly due to the aqueous vapour in

gained from the sun.
spectrum.
tions

The
it,

spectrum
there
is

is

In the air opposite to

no

These conclusions result from balloon-observain April 1863, and the philosophical deductions

made

are a victory for " aqueous vapour."

It has been demonstrated that flames are

both sensitive

and sounding; they have,

therefore, special aflBnities.

" The author of the Nature and Oriffin o/Evilis of opinion

that there
is
;

some inconceivable

benefit in

Pain, abstractly
felt,

considered

that Pain, however inflicted, or wherever

communicates some good to the General System of Being

and that every Animal

is

some way or other the better

for

the pain of every other animal.

This opinion he carries so

far as to suppose that there passes

some principle of union

communicated
on
to all this globe

through

all

animal
;

life,

as attraction is

corporeal nature

and that the

evils suffered

may by some

iuconceivable

means contribute

to the felicity

of the inhabitants of the remotest planet."

Contemporary
:

Eeview of the Nature and Origin of Evil. " Without subordination, no created System can exist
subordination implying Imperfection
;

all

aU Imperfection, Evil;
Suffering."

and

all Evil,

some kind of Inconveniency or

"

NATUSE AND OBIGIN OF EVIL."

:

155

Soame Jenyns Evil

puted.

Free Enquiry into

the

Nature and Origin of

" Wiether Subordination implies Imperfection maybe dis-

The means respecting themselves may be as perfect

as

the end.

The Weed as
Good

a "Weed

is

no less perfect than the Oak

or the

as an Oak. Imperfection

may imply primitive Evil,

Ab-

sence of some
ing,

but this Privation produces no Suffer" Here the point of

but by the Help of Knowledge."

is

view

erroneously taken for granted.

The end

of the oak,

in another comprehension,

end of the weed the oak.

of our appreciation."
laneous

may be the weed, as weU as the The contraries may be converse, out
above work in Miscel:

Eeview of the
Pieces.

and Fugitive
is

London

T. Davies,

774.

" There

no

evil
it
;

but must inhere in a conscious being,

that
is,

or be referred to
Evil."

Evil must be felt before

the

it Is

Eeview
London
:

of

Free Enquiry into

Nature and

Origin of Evil, p. 5 of the same Miscellaneous and Fugitive

Pieces.

T. Davies, RusseU Street, Covent Garden

1774.

Bookseller to the Royal Academy.

Query, whether

the Eeview of this Book, though attributed to Dr. Johnson,

be not by Soame Jenyns, the author of the book

itself ?

"Thoughts, or
will,

ideas, or notions,

call

differ
all

from each other, not in kind,

them what you but in force. The

basis

of

things cannot be, as the popular philosophy

It is infinitely improbable that the cause of

alleges,

mind.
^that is,

mind
Essays.

of existence

is

similar to mind."

Shelley's

The foregoing is contained in that on Life. He means Season, in this objection to Mriro. SheUey further remarks " The words I, and tof, and they, are gramma:

tical devices,

invented simply for arrangement, and totally

devoid of the intense and exclusive sense usually attached

to them."

In the Memoirs offlw Life and Writings of Mr. William

56
ii.

THE B OSICS UCIANS.

(1749), there occur the following observa-

Whiston, part
tions
:

"N.B.
tations,

desire the reader to take notice that the very

learned Gerard John Vossius, in his three accurate disser-

De TriUis

Symlolis, or "

Of the Three

Creeds,"

that called The Apostle^ Greed, that called The Afhanasian

Greed,

and that called \hQNicene or Gonstantinopolitan

Greed,

with the Filioque,

that the
first

has proved them to be aU

falsely so called:

was only the Creed of the Roman Church

;

about A.D. 400

that the second was a forgery about 400

years after Athanasius had been dead, or about A.D. 767, and
this in the

West and

in the Latin.
till

Church only, and did not

obtain in the Oreelc Church

or about A.D. 1200;
first

about 400 years afterwards,

and that the third had the i&nn.Filwqm

inserted into it about the time

when

the Athanasian

Greed was produced, and not sooner, or about A.D. 767."

Eleanor Cross.

Roman Tower in Dover

Castle.

CHAPTER THE EIGHTEENTH.

CABALISTIC INTERPRETATIONS BY THE GNOSTICS.

|0 indicate God's existence, the ancient sages of Asia,

and many Greeks, adopted the emblem of

or ether.

pni-e fire,

" Aerem amplectatur immensus

simis ignibus" (Cicero,

aether,

qui constat exaltislib. ii. c.

De Natura Deorum,

36).

"Ccelnm ipsum
et insensus, sed
leius,

stellasque colligens,

omnisque siderum comsit

pago, sether vocatnr, non ut quidem putant quod ignitus

qnod cursibus rapidis semper rotatur" (ApnPythagoras and Empedocles entertained

1, c. i.

De Mundo).
God
iii.

similar theories (Brucker,

p. 113).

Parmenides also

represented

as a universal fire which surrounded the

heavens with

its circle
c.

of Hght and

fire (Cicero,

D& Natura
fixe

Deorum,

lib.

2).

Hippasus, Heraclitus, and Hippo-

crates imagined

God

as a reasoning

and immortal

which
1

permeates aU things (Cudworth, Systema

Intellectuale, p.

04

and Gesnerus,
departed but
critus called

De Animis
from

Eippocratis).

Plato and Aristotle

;

little

this in their teachings

and Demo-

God

"the reason or soul ia a sphere of fire"

c.

(Stobseus, Eclogce, Physicce, lib. vii.

10).

Cleonethes con-

sidered the sun as the highest god (Busching, Grundriss

einer Oeschichte dir Philosophie,
i

Th.

p.

344).

"We

find.

158
therefore,

TEE BOSICBUOIANS.
in the
earliest ages,

an ^ther (spiritual

iire)

theory,

by which many

modem

theorists endeavour to exis

plain the

phenomena of magnetism. This

the "^therteum"

of Eobert Flood, the Eosicrucian.

Fire, indeed,

ment of God.
to

would appear to have been the chosen eleIn the form of a flaming " bush" He appeared
Sinai.

Moses on Mount

His presence was denoted by

fire

torrents of flame,

and in the form of

He

preceded the
5

band of
which
is

Israelites

by night through the dreary wilderness

perhaps the origin of the present custom of the

fire

Arabians, " who always carry

(Eeade's Veil of Isis).

in front of their caravans"

All the early fathers held

fire."

God

the

Creator to consist of a " subtile

"When the Holy

Spirit
it

descended upon the Apostles on the

Day

of Pentecost,

was in the form of a tongue of fire, accompanied by a rushing wind.

See Anacalypsis, vol.
i.

p.

627 (Parkhurst, in voce,

The

personality of Jehovah

is,

in Scripture, represented
also,

by the Material Trinity of Nature; which

divine antitype,
is

like the

of one substance.
is

The

primal, scriptural

type of the Father

Fire; of the Word, Light; and of the

Holy

Ohost, Spirit, or

Air in motion.

This material Trinity,

;

as a type, is similar to the material trinity of Plato

type, it is used to conceal the " Secret Trinity."
lypsis, vol.
i.

as a

See Anaca-

p.

627.

Holy

fires,

which were never suffered

:

to die, were maintained in all the temples

fires in

of these were the

the Temple of the Gaditanean Hercules at Tyre, in

the Temple of Vesta at Eome,

among

the Jews, and principally

among the Brachmans of India, among the Persians. Now

to prove that all " appearances" are "

bom

of Fire," so to

speak, according to the ideas of the Eosicrucians.

Light
fluid.

is

not radiated from any intensely heated gas or

is

If nitre

melted,

it will

not be visible

but throw

IDEAS OF THE BEVDDISTS.

into
it

159

any

solid body,
:

will radiate light

and as soon as that becomes heated it hence the phenomenon, " Nasmyth's wil-

low-leaves,"

in the sun,

must be

solid,

not gaseous; and

through their medium the whole of our light from the

sun

is

doubtless derived.

See the records of the British

Association for the Advancement of Science (Cambridge

Meeting), October 1862.

to the ancient Persians.

These physical

facts

were known

The ancient ideas upon these subjects have not come down to us at all definitely. The destruction of ancient
manuscripts

was

effected

upon

large

scale.

Diocle-

tian has the credit of having burned the books of the

Egyptians on the chemistry of gold and

Caesar
is

silver (alchemy).

said to have bm-ned as

;

many

as 700,000 rolls at

Alexandria

and Leo Isaurus 300,000

at Constantinople in

the eighth century, about the time that the Arabians the famous Alexandrian Library.

bnmed

Thus our knowledge of

is

the real philosophy of the ancient world

limited
;

exceedingly

almost

all

the old records, or germinating

means

of knowledge, being rooted out. In regard to " Boudhisme, ou systtoe mystique," as he

denomiaates

it,

a learned author describes

S,

it

as

"Metafiit
fiit fiit

physique visionnaire, qui, prenant

I'ordre naturel, voulut

t^che

de contrarier
et materiel

que
;

le

monde palpalle

une

illusion fantastique

que I'existence de I'homme

vrai reveil; que son corps

un
une

reve dont la mort etait

prison impure dont

il

devait se hdter de sortir, ou une

mm^

loppe grossi^re que, pour la rendre permeable h la lumiere

interne,

il

devait attenuer, diaphaniser par le jeune, les

les contemplations, et
si

mac&ations,

par une foule de pra-

tiques anachoretiques

6tranges que le vulgaire etonn6

ne put s'expliquer
considerant

le caract^re

de leurs auteurs qu'en

les

comme

des 4tres sumaturels, avec cette difiicult6

6o
s'ils

THE S OSICB UCIANS.

furent

de savoir
Dieu."

Dim devmu

homme, ou I'homme devenu

p. 210.

Volney

(C. F.),

Les Buines,

"

Mind cannot

create, it

can only perceive."

is

This hazard-

ous statement, in

its

utmost extent,

used simply as an argu-

ment

against there being the philosophical possibility of

religion as derivable

from reason only

which will be found

No
(but, in

to be the

mere

operation of the forces of the " world."

religion is

philosophically capable of being defended on the

;

grounds of reason
the inner light,
it

though one religion may seem

Divine

will seem only) to

be more reasonable (or

probable) than another.

light, or faith, or intuition,

^in

other words, the enlightenment of the

its

be recognised under

many

names),

Holy

Spirit (to

^is

that

means alone
futility

which can carry

truth,
is.

through the exposure of the

Of all intellectual) truth.

of all knowable (that

Such

are the

abstract notions of the Gnostics, or " lUuminati," concerning

religion.

" The curtains of Yesterday drop down, the curtains of

To-morrow roU up

but Yesterday and To-morrow both

are" {Sartor Resartus, edit. 1838, "Natural-Supematuralism,"

p. 271).

To

the divine knowledge, the future must be as

itself.

much

present as the present

The explorations of the Eosicrucians may be said to be " as keys to masked doors in the ramparts of nature, which
no mortal can pass through without rousing dread sentries never seen upon this side" {A Strange Stm-y, Lord Lytton,
vol.
i.

p. 265).

" Onmia ex Uno, Omnia in TJno,

Onmia ad

"Dnum, Omnia per Medium, et Omnia in Omnibus" {Hermetic axiom).

In the speculations of the Gnostics, the astronomical

points Cancer and Capricorn are called the " Gates of the

Sun."

Cancer, moreover, is termed the " Gate of

is

Man ;"

Capricorn

the " Gate of the Gods."

These are Platonic

PLANE TAB T INFL UENOES.

views, as Macrobius declares.
planets, Saturn brings reason

With

the iafluences of the

;

and intelligence

Jupiter,

power

of action; Mars gOTcms the irascible principle, the Sun

produces sensation
appetites.

and speculation, Venus

inspires

the

Mercury bestows the power of declaring and

and the Moon confers the faculty of generating

expressing,

and augmenting the body.

The Egyptian

" winged disc"

is

a symbol of " Tat," " Taut," or " Thoth" (Plutarch,

et Osiride).

De Iside

The

lions' heads, so frequently observable in the

sculptures decorating fountains, bespeak the astral influences

under Leo, which produce the rains in the ardent month of

July; and in this view they are regarded as the dischai'ges
of the " sacred fountains.'' Lions' heads, with fountains, are
observable in architecture aU the world over.
ture is primarily derivable
(I

All architeclines

from two mathematical form

and

),

which, united (and intersecting),

first

the

" cross."

The

" mark"

is

the origin of the " upright"

tower, pyramid, or imitation

ascending "flame of

fire,"

which
or

aspires against the force of gravity; also of the steeple,

all

loliallus,

over the world.

The

second, or horizontal,

"mark"

is

the symbol of the tabernacle, chest, or ark, or

fluent or base-line,

which

is

the expression of

all

Egyptian,
of

Grecian, and Jewish templar architecture.

The union

the two lines gives the Christian, universal cross-form, in the blending of the " two dispensations" Old and New, or

"

Law" and "

Gospel."

Now, both of these

lines, in

the

Rosicrucian sense, have special magic "powers," or gifts, according to their several places, and according to the
supernatural extra forces brought specially to bear on them through the operations of those who know how (and wUn)
to direct the occult power.

Those powers bestowed upon the original deserving " Man," and not extinguished in the existing " Man," are

i62
his
still

THE BOSIOBUOIANS.

if

he retain any glimpse of his original spark of

light.

Justinus Kemer, in his Scherin von Prevorst, most ingeniously anatomises the inner man, and
of "seele,"
geist," or

makes him

consist

" nerven-geist," and

"geist."

The "nerven-

nervous energy, being of a grosser nature, con-

tiuues united with the "seele" on its separation from the

body, rendering

it visible in

the form, of

an

apparition,
noises,

and

enabhng
articles,

it

to affect material objects,

make
its

move

and such-like things perceptible to the living sense

According to
nature, this com-

^in

short, to " spucken."

posite being takes a longer or shorter time to

be dissolved

the " geist" alone being immortal {The Gnostics and

thm

Remains, note to p. 46).

An
"At
was

Ancient Homily on Trinity Sunday has the following

the deth of a manne, three bells should be ronge as

his knyll ia worship of the Trinitie.

the

And

for a

woman, who
be
diflS-

Second Person of

the

Trinitie,

two

bells should

ronge."
culty

Here we have the source of the emblematic

the master-masons,

among

who

constructed the earlier

cathedrals, as to the addition

and

as to the precise value

of the second (or feminine) tower at the western end (or

Galilee) of a church.

Valentinus is called the "profoundest doctor of the Gnosis." According to him, the " Eons" (angels, or effusions) number
fifteen pairs,

which represent the thirty degrees

ojf

each sign

of

The name of the great Gnostic deity, Abraxas, is derived as foUows "Ab," or "Af" ("Let it be"); "Eax," or " Eak" (" Adore") "Sas," or "Sax," for
the zodiac.
:

"Sadshi"

("Name").

"The

entire

Gnostic system was

not derived either from the Kabala, or from the Grecian

philosophy, but from the East, as

tained

:"

so declares the author of The

Mosheim long ago mainGnostics and tlwir

TRADITIONABT FACTS AT THE CRUCIFIXION.

Remains;
but
it

163

is

mistake,

both in his authority

shall successfully

(Mosheim), and
this before

also in himself.

We

show

we have done.
as Jesus

As soon

was bom, according to the Gnostic

speculative view of Christianity, Christos, uniting himself

with Sophia (Holy Wisdom), descended through the seven

planetary regions, assumiag in each an analogous form to

the region, and concealing his true nature from

its genii,

whilst he attracted into himself the sparks of Divine Light

they severally retained

in their

angelic

essence.

Thus

Christos, having passed through the seven Angelic Regions

before the

"Throne," entered

into

the

man

Jesus, at

the

moment
miracles.

of his baptism in the Jordan.

gifted,

From

that

time forth, beiag supematuraUy

Jesus began to

work

Before that, he had been completely igno-

rant of his mission.

When on

the cross,

Christos

and

Sophia

left his

body, and returned to their

own

sphere.

Upon his death, the two took the man

hie material

"Jesus," and abandoned

body

to the earth

for the Gnostics held that

the true Jesus did not (and could not) physically suffer on

the cross and

die,

but that Simon of Cyrene, who bore his

cross, did in reality suffer

his

room

"

And

they compel

one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the

country,

the fether of Alexander and Eufus, to bear his

cross" (St.

Mark

xv. 21).

The Gnostics contended

that

a portion of the real history of the Crucifixion was never

written.

Asserting that a miraculous

substitution of persons

took place in the great final act of the " Crucifixion," the
Gnostics maiutained that the
suffer physically

"Son

of

God" could not

upon the

cross, the

apparent sufferer being

human only. At the point

of the miraculous transference of persons,

164.

THE BOSICEUOIANS.
and returned
two withThence-

Ghristos and Sophia (the Divine) left his body,

to their

own heaven. Upon his death on

(spiritually),

earth, the

drew the " Being" Jesus

body,

and gave him another

Rosicrucian principles
disciples

made up of
and

ether (Rosicrucian JEthercBuni).

first

forward he consisted of the two

only, soul
spirit
;

which was the cause that the

after the resurrection.

did not recognise

him

During
he had

his

sojourn upon earth of eighteen

months

after

risen,

he received from Sophia {Soph, Suph), or Holy Wisdom, that

perfect

knowledge or illumination, that true "Gnosis,"

which he communicated to the small number of the Apostles

who were capable of receiving the same. The Gnostic authorities are St. Irenaeus
The Gnostics
rvtfo-is,

in the first place,

TertuUian, Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, St. Epiphanius.

are divided into sects, bearing the

names of

Valentiaians, Carpocratians, Basilideans,

and Manichgeans.
to the world, so

Gnosis, Gnossos

thence " Gnostics."

As
rest of

the Son of

God remained unknown

As they know
all this,

must the
amongst

disciple of Basilides also

remain unknown to the

mankind.

strangers, therefore

and yet must live must they conduct themselves

but keep thyself

towards the rest of the world as invisible and unknown.

Hence

their motto, "

Learn to know

all,

unknown" (Irenseus). The speech of an angel

is

or of a spirit with

man

is

heard
it

as sonorously as the speech of one

man

with another, yet

not heard ly others

wlw stand
is,

near,

but by the

man

hiTn-

self alone.

The reason
first

that the speech of an angel or of

a spirit flows

into the

man's thought, and, by an

and thus actuates it from within; whereas the speech of man flows first into the air, and, by an external way, into his organ of hearing, which it actuates from loithout. Hence it is evident that

internal way, into his organ of hearing,

EPMESIAN DIANA.
the speech of an angel and of a spirit with

165

man is

heard in

man, and,
it is

since it equally affects the organs of hearing, that

also

equally sonorous (Swedenborg;

Occult Sciences,

p.

93; London, 1855). The Greek Bacchanals were well acquainted with the

mythos of Eve, since they constantly invoked her, or a

person under her name, in their ceremonies.

Black
Isis.

is the Satumian colour also that of the Egyptian Under the strange head of the embodiment of Deity

under darkness, the following remarkable

considered
:

facts

may be

the Virgin and Child are depicted Uach at the

Cathedral at Moulins, at the famous Chapel of the Virgin at

Loretto, in the

Church of the Annunciation

Lazaro and the Church of
St.

at

Eome,

at the

Church of

St.

St.

Stephen at

Genoa, at that of

Francisco at Pisa, at the Church of

Brisen in the Tyrol, at a church in (and at the Cathedral of)

Augsburgh, where the black figures are

as large as

life,

at

the Borghese Chapel in Eome, at the Church of Santa Maria

Maggiore in the Pantheon, and in a small chapel

Peter's,

at St.

on the right-hand

side,

on entering, near the door.

in his

The

reader can

make

references

memory

to these

places, if he be a traveller.

The
to those
height,

writer

who

goes by the

name

of Dionysius Areopais

gita teaches that the highest spiritual truth

revealed only

who have transcended

left

every ascent of every holy

divine lights and sounds

and have

behind

all

and heavenly
ness where

discoursiags,

and have passed into that DarTc-

He

really is (as saith the Scripture)

who
i.

is

All,
3;

above

all

things

{De Mijstiea
i.

Tlieologia,

cap.
i.

sec.
2,

Eours with E. A. Vaughan, B.A.). The words graven upon the zone and the
the llystics, vol.

note to book

chap.

by

feet of the

Ephe-

sian Diana, which Hesyehius has preserved, are the followiag:

66

THE S OSIOB UOIANS.

Aski-Kataski, ''

Haix-Tetrax,

\ 1

\. ^
;

T" Darkness Light." f"^ /"Himself."

<

interpreted as

Damnameneus,
(

The

Sun.'

Aision,

V" Truth."

" These Ephesian words," says Plutarch {Sympos), "the

Magi used to recite over those possessed with devils." "Damnameneus" is seen on a Gnostic amulet in the De la
Turba Collection {The
Gnostics, p. 94).

The Axgha had the form of a

or arche, is the navis liprora.
full
it is

crescent.

The Argo,

arc,

It is clear that, as neither the

moon nor

the half-moon was ever the object of worship,

the crescent horns of the

moon which imply

the mysteries

the signi-

ficance.

These mean the woman-deity in every

associated with

religion.

The snake
Hindoos
is

among

the

the cobra-di-capella.
all

It is said that the snake

on the heads of

the Idols in

Egypt was a Cobra.

The
Lama,
Sun).
is

name

of the monai'ch or Chief Priest in Thibet is the

or the Grand

Lama.
Ian,

Prester-John
Ion,

is

the great Priest, or

Prestre

{Pretre),
is

Jehan, or

John
;

(the

Lamia
hand
:

the " snaJce"

is

among
a divine

the Ophidians

Lama

the

lamh, hand,

name

in the Scythian tongue.

It also

means the number

a cross.

10,

and the Eoman numeral X,

(a)
,

which

is

Now, the double pyramid, or hand,

of the Egyptians comprises the mystic the two original principles water and

mark signiiying
as thus

fire,

the union

(&)

\/

of which, as intersecting triangles, forms

the famous Hexalpha, or " Solomon's Seal," or " Wizard's

Foot," which, according to the Eastern allegory,
(as that of St. Michael)
is

placed

upon the Rebellious

Spirits in their

" abyss" or " prison."

Fyr

is

the Greek

mythologically of the sun,

name of fire who was

(thence Pyramid), and the same as Hercules.

THE LATIAN JUPITER.

And
the great analyser of mythology assures us that
Jupiter,
fire
;

167

Pur

was the ancient name of Latian

Hercules; that he was the deity of
particularly retained

the father of

that his

amongst the people of

Preeneste,
in.

name was who

short, in

had been addicted

to the rites of fire.

all

Fire,

these mythologies, as also in

the Christian churches,

meets us at every turn.

But we must not mix up heathen

ideas and Christian ideas in these matters.

Egyptian Torso.

(British

Museum,

Moorish Arch.

(Cathedral of Cordova.)

CHAPTER THE NINETEENTH.

MYSTIC CHRISTIAN FIGURES AND TALISMANS.

UR engraTing borrows from the West Front of Laon

Cathedral, France, a Catherine-Wheel (or " Rose")

Window. The twelve

opening " rose,"

pillars, or radii, are

the signs

of the Zodiac, and are issuant out of the glorified centre, or

the

sun, or " beginning of all things."

"King

Arthur's

Round Table"
Rose in

displays the " crucified"

its centre.

In the "

tables," alternating

with tying-knots, of the Order

of

the

Garter, which "Most

Order"
it

Noble

was

originally

dedicated, be
T-ig. 3^.

remembered, to
to

the Blessed

Lady, or

the

Virgin Mary,

the microcosmical, miniature " King Arthur's organ,

Round Table" becomes the individual female discus, or

waxing and waning, negative or
natural, alternately red

in flower, positive or

and

white, as the

Rose of the World

Rosamond, Rosa mundi.

And

here

we

will adduce, as our

ORIGIN OF THE OBDER OF THE

justification for this

"

GABTEB."

169

new reading

of the origin of the Order

itself

of the Garter, the very motto of the princely order

"Honi
or,
"
'

ioit qui

mal y pense!"

YoNi' soit qui mal ypense !"

is,

What

this "

Yoni"
it,

and the changes meant and apotheolittle

sised through
reflection.

the discreet reader will see on a

All the world knows the chivabic origin of this Most

Noble Order of the Garter.

It arose in

a princely act,

rightly considered princely,

when
its

the real, delicate, inex-

pressibly high-bred motive

stood,

and

circumstances are under-

which motive

is

systematically and properly concealed.

up, with the

Our great King Edward the Third picked

"garter"

famous words of the motto of the Order of the Garter, the

or, as

we

interpret

it,

by adding a new construc-

tion with hidden meanings, the " Garder" (or special cestus,
shall

we

call it ?)

of the beautifal and celebrated Countess

it is

of Salisbury, with whom,

in love.

supposed.

King Edward was

" The Order of

The

following
its

is

from Elias Ashmole

the Garter by
reproach.

motto seems to challenge inquiry and defy

refers the

Every body must know the story that

origin of the

name

to a piece of gallantry

either the

Queen

or the Countess of Salisbury having been supposed to have

dropped one of those very usefal pieces of female

dance
;

attire at a

upon which old Camden

says, with a great deal of

propriety,

and a most just compliment

to the ladies,

'

ffcec

vulgus perhihet, nee vilis sane hcec videatur origo,

cum nobi-

LITAS sub AMORB jacet'

or enamel,

The ensign

of the order, in jewelry

was worn originally on the left arm. Being in the form of a hracelet to the arm, it might possibly divert the attention of the men from the reputed original; it

170

THE ROSianUCIANS.

might be dropped and resumed without confusion ; and the only objection I can see to the use of such an ornament is
the hazard of mistake from the double meaning of the term
periscelis,

which

signifies

not only a garter, but breeches, which

our English ladies never wear:

'Quae Grasci itspiixxsx^

says

Tocant, nostri Braccas' (braces or breeches) 'dicunt,'

an ancient Father of the Church."

The
all,

Garter, to judge

thus from Camden, was not a garter at

but an occasional

very important item of feminine attire; and King Edward's

knightly feeling, and the religious devotion of the object,
will

be perceived.

There

is

great obscurity as to the character of Abraxas,

the divinity of the Gnostics.

The Eons,

or

Degrees of

Advance in the Zodiacal

Circle, are

thirty in

number

to

each of the Twelve Signs, and consequently there are 360 to

the entire Astronomical Circle, or 365, counting for each day of the solar year.

The

iuscription

upon the Gnostic gems,

"for the Arabs yet

CEOY,
p.

is

probably intended for

GEOY;

substitute the s for the th in their pronunciation" (Gnostics,

233
s,"

Matter, Histoire Critique du Gnosticisme).

fh" standing for
it,

In

this

"

and the "

lie all

the mysteries of

Masonry.

Christos,

was designed

for the guide of all that

proceeds from God.

Sophia- Achamoth is the guide, according

St,

to the Gnostics, for all proceeding out of "matter."

Irenseus,

whose period

is

the end of the second century,

draws

all

these startling inferences from the signifying the

Book

of Enoch,

and names " Sophia" as

Divine Wisdom.

The Ophite scheme seems

answering to the
first

evidently the Bhuddistic Bythos,

Sige,

Buddha.

Sophia,

Christos,

Achamoth, Ildabaoth, answer to the successive

{Gnostics, p. 27
;

five others
ilber

Bellermann's Drei Programmen

;]

die

Alraxas-gemmen, Berlin, 1820; Basilides

TertuUian,

De

GNOSTIC OEMS.
Prmcript.:

,71

"Serpentem magnificant
St.

in tantum, ut ilium

etiam Christo praaferant."

See Tertullian, Epiphanius, and

14, also).

Theodoret
to

John

iii.

We now refer the

reader
will

some

figures towards the

end of our volume, which

be found according to their numbers.

Figure 289
:

The Abraxas-god,
Green jasper
;

invested with

all

the

attributes of Phoebus.

a unique type.

The

Egyptians
it is

call the

moon

the mother of the world, and say

;

of both sexes (Plutarch a mystic sense,

Spartian, Life of Caracalla).

called

The moon, in
and female.
In the exm-que

is

by the Egyptians male

The above
is

is

gem in the Bosanquet Collection.

G ABAO

the address,

" Glory unto Thee

name
"

!"

On

the reverse, in a cartouche formed by a coiled asp,

precisely as the

Hiadoos write the

.

iaeffable

Aum,"

are the titles

lAO ABPAGAH (The

1 1

G-nostics, p. 86).

Figure

represents

Venus standing under a canopy

two others hover above her head,
iield,

supported on twisted columns, arranging her hair before a

mirror held up by a Cupid bearing up a wreath.
;

In the

#ASIS

APmPI* " The

for the per-

Manifestation of Arioriph."

Venus here stands

sonification of the Gnostic Sophia, or

is'

Achamoth, and

as such

the nndoabted source of our conventional representation

pi. clxi.).

of Truth (Montfaucon,
represents

Reverse, figure 3
lotus,

2,

which

Harpocrates seated upon the

spriaging

from a double lamp, formed of two phalli united

at the base.
is

Above his head is his title " Abraxas," and over that name "lao." In the field are the seven planets.
sacred animals

the

The

the

scarab, ibis, asp, goat, crocodile, vulture,

(viz.

emblems of

so

many deities

Phre, Thoth,

Isis,

Merides,

Bebys, Neith) the principal in the Egyptian mythology,

arranged by

threes,

form a frame to the design.

bright
loadstone

Neatly
Gnostics,

engraved
p. 21 I).

on a

large,

{The

172

TEE BOSIOBVCIANS.
Origin of the Tricolor.

'theory of sacramental mysticism," adapted from the specdlatioss

OF the sophists ok gnostics.

Blue.

JA COB'S
Initiation
:

LAD DBS.
Fire."
So, too, the

73

" Cave, Cloud,

Masonic

Initiations.

"With these meanings, royal coffins and investi-

tures are always red (Mars), as

meaning "royalty active;"

or imperial purple (Jupiter, or perhaps Mercurius

Thoth,

Taut, Tat), as "royalty passive," or implying the "lord of

regions.

According to the cabalistic view, "Jacob's Ladder,"

which was disclosed to him in a

vision, is a metaphorical

representation of the powers of alchemy, operating through

visible nature.

The

" Ladder" was a " Eainbow," or prisJacob's

matic staircase, set up between earth and heaven.

Dream

implied a history of the whole hermetic creation.

colours, red

There are only two original

and
is

blue, represent-

ing "spirit" and "matter;" for orange

the yeUow light of the sun, yellow
is

red mixing with

the radiance of the

is

sun

itself,

green

is

blue and yeUow, indigo

is

blue tinctured

with red, and violet

blue.
silver.

produced by the mingling of red and

The sun

is

alchemic gold, and the

moon

is

alchemic
or

In the operation of these two potent

it is

spirits,

mystic rulers of the world,

all

supposed astrologically that

mundane things were produced. The following three pages explain the mystic analogy

between colours, language, music, and the seven angelic adverse intelligences, supposed by the Gnostics to be operative in

These represent the descendthe " dissonance of creation." ing half of the " Machataloth," as the cabalistic Jews
called the Zodiac united.

The whole

is

made up from

abits

struse sigmas, or the application of Rosicrucianism on

hieroglyphic and representative side.

174-

TEE BOSICBUaiANS.

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176

THE BOSICBUOIANS.

\ /

Persian Fire -Tower.

CHAPTER THE TWENTIETH.

THE " ROSY cross" IN INDIAN, EGYPTIAN, GREEK, ROMAN, AND MEDIEVAL MONUMENTS.

HOUGH
inheres,

fire

is

an element in whicli every thing

it is

and of which
abstruse

the

life, still,

according
of the

to the

and unexplained

ideas

Rosicrucians,

it is itself

another element, in a second non-

terrestrial element, or inner, non-physical, ethereal fire, in

which the

first

coarse

fire,

so

to speak, flickers,

waves,
here,
fire,

brandishes, and spreads, floating (like a Uquid)

now

now

there.

The

flrst

is

the natural, material, gross

celestial,
fire),

with which we are familiar, contained in a

particled,
is

un-

and sun-ounding medium

(or celestial

which

its

matrix, and of which, in this

human

body,

we can

know

nothing.

In 1867, in Paris, a suggestive philosophical book was

published, under the
ties

title

of

Hebrm

Primitif;
et

Fonnatmi
de

Lettres ou Chiffres, Signes

du Zodiaque

Radius Heet

Irraiqms, avec leurs Derives dans

Us Langues de f Orient

VEurope, par Ad. Lethierry-Barrois.

Ptha
thing
is

is

the

emblem of the Eternal Spirit from wlidch

every

created.

The Egyptians represented

it

as a pure

7S

TEE B OSICB UCIANS.

bums
for ever,
stars.

ethereal fire whicli

far

whose radiance

is

raised

above the planets and

In early ages, the Egyptians

worshiped this

He was
same
in

the lord of the universe.

Athor into

name of Athor. The Greeks transformed Venus, who was looked upon by them in the
highest being under the

light as

Athor (Apuleius, Cicero, Ovid

vol.
i.

Ptolemasus,
268, trans,
signified

MralibU; Proclus; Ennemoser,

p.

by Howitt).

Among

the Egyptians, Athor also

the night (Hesiod, Orpheus). " According to the Egyptians,"

says Jablonski,

"matter has always been connected with

priests also

the mind.

The Egyptian
race."

maintained that the

gods appeared to man, and that spirits communicated with

the

human

"

The

souls of

men

are,

according to the

oldest Egyptian doctrine,

formed of

ether,

and

at

death

return again to

it."

The alchemists were a physical branch of the Eosicrucians. The more celebrated authors (and authorities) upon the art and mystery of alchemy are Hermes (whose seven chapters
and
"

smaragdine table," as
;

it is called,

alchemical system)

G-eber, the "

contaia the whole Turla," " Eosary," Then-

irum Ghmiicum, BiUiotMque Hermetique, Chymkal Calmet;

Artephius,

Amoldus de Villa Nova, Eaimondus LuUius, TreBasiUus Valentinus, GosEefer also to

visan, Nicholas Elamel, Zachareus,

mopoUta, and Philalethes (Thomas Vaughan).

Tlie

Hermetkal Triumph, or

the Victorious Philosopher's Stone: p.

London, 1723; Lucas's Travels,

viso.

79

Count Bernard of Trei2mo, by Joseph

Gabalis, ou EntreParis, par
is

Two

leading works, however, on the hermetic subject

are

La
sur

Chiave del Cabinetto, Col. 1681,

;

Francis Borri, an Italian

tiens
les

andZe Gompte de
imprimee h
This book
1

Sciences Secrdies;
1

Claude

Barbin, 1671,

2mo, pp.

50.

the work of the

J. V. Andrea,

Abbe de

Villars, or is

supposed to be

so.

a writer upon hermetic subjects, was Almoner to the

Duke

EOBEBT FLOOD, OB FLUDD.

Df

179

Wurtemberg, aud wrote

early in the seTenteentli century.

The Emperor
learned
lore.

Eudolphus tte Second greatly encouraged

acquaintance with alchemical

men who had made

in
six

At March
of

the supposed revival of Rosicrucianism in Paris,

1623, the Brethren were said to

number

thirty-

whom

there were six in Paris, six in Italy, six in

Spain, twelve in Switzerland.

Germany, four in Sweden, and two in

In 1616, the famous English Kosicrucian,

Robertus de Fluctibus (Robert Fludd), published his defence

of the society, under the
title.

Apologia Gompendiaria, Frater-

nitatem de Rosea-Cruce, Suspicionis et

Infamm

maculis asSince this

persam, alluens, published in

6 1 6 at Frankfort.

time, there has been no authentic account of the Rosicrucians.

We

are now the first translators of Robert Fludd. "Amongst an innumerable multitude of images and

symbolical figures, with which the walls"

caverns of initiation at Salsette

" are covered, the Linga or

i.

e.

those of the

Phallus was every where conspicuous, often alone, sometimes

united with the petal and calyx of the lotus, the point within the
triangles''
circle,

and the intersection of two equilateral

of Initiation.
See
also

(Dr.

Oliver, History

Maurice on the Indian

Initiations).

The Linga, or
form,
is

pillar,

or stone of memorial, in its material

the perpetuation of the idea of the male generative

principle, as the physical means, in conjunction with the

Toni

(loni), or discus, of the production of all visible things.

In this connection, the addition to the name of Simon Peter

(Petra, or Pietra, Cephas, Jonas, Bar-Jonas, lonas)

wiU be

recalled as suggestive.

There

is

a sacred stone in every

Temple in

India.

Jacob was sacred

oil.

The among

Stone, or PiUar, or "Pillow," of

the Jews.

It

was anointed with

at Delphi)

There was a sacred stone among the Greeks

which was

also anointed with oil in the mystic ceremonies-

i8o

TEE BOSIOBUCIANS.
stone of Caaba, or black stone at Mecca, is stated to haive
It

The

been there long before the time of Mohammed.

preserved by

was

him when he destroyed

the doye and images.

The

obelisks at

Rome

were, and are, Luigas (or Linghas).

In the Temple of Jerusalem, and in the Cathedral of

Chartres, they
abstract
initiated

are in vaults.

They

are the idea of the

membrum,
26

or

"aflauence,"
glory,

or

means.

To

the

mind they imply

25,
(p.

not grossness.
the Crux- Ansata of the

Figs.

146),

are

Egyptians.
to Euffinus

This emblem

is also
it

found in India. According

is to

and Sozomen,

imports the " time that

come."

It is a magical symbol.

Fig. 27 is the imperial

it.

mound, and cross-sigma surmounting

Figs. 28, 29, are symbols of

Venus (Aphrodite), the deity

of the Syrians and Phoenicians.

Fig. 30
is

They

are phallic emblems.

the Phallus proper.

It is the

sigma of Zeus,

Mithras, " Baalim," Bacchus.

Figures numbered 31, "Osiris:"

signify also Jupiter- Ammon.

these various figures

The rectangular marks denote

or Hermes).
idea.

the Scandinavian

Tuisco,

Thoth (Mercurius,
is to

J\^
'
Fig- 35'

Fig. 35 is the Indian form of the

same

The
the

figure

marked 36

be found on the

breast of one of the

mummies

in the

museum

of

London

University.

xDp
Fig. 36.
Fig- 37-

Fig. 38. Fig. 39-

Phallus and Lotus.

Upon a monument
presented as
St.

discovered in Thebes, Anubis

St.

is re-

Michael and

George are in Christian

TEBMUsTAL FIG UB ES.

paintings,
lance,

armed in a

cuirass,

and having in his hand a

with which he pierces a monster that has the head

of a serpent (A. Lenoir, "
cle

and
&c.,

tail

Du Dragon
tome
ii.

da Metz,"

Memoires

TAcacUmie

Geltique,

pp. ii, 12).

Figure 37

is

the " Labarum."

The

celebrated sign

which

is said to

have appeared in the sky at noonday to the

in this form.

Emperor Constantine was

Figure 38
parallel
is

the

monogram

of the Saviour.

To show the

in

symbolical forms,

we

will

add some further

authorities

from the Temple of Solomon at Jerusalem.

i, is

Figure 39, No.

is

an evidently Corinthian foliation.

It

from a

pillar in

the vaults of the Temple of Solomon at

is

Jerusalem. (Probably a Lotus-Acanthus.) No. 2

the
" Crux-Ansata,"

evidently
of

combining the indications

the

" Lotus"
Judaic,
at once.

and " Lily."

Here

is

union of the

classic.

and Gothic forms,

all

presenting the same idea

Cristna (Crishna,

Buddha was the sun in " Taurus ;"

Krishna) was the sun in "Aries."

In regard to the origin of speech, of writing, and of

letters, it

may be remarked

that the Egyptians referred the

(to record
;

employment of a written symbol

cate the spoken word) to a

and communiHermes.
Gopticce,

Thoth
z,

the Jews, to Seth or his

children (Josephus, Ani.

i,

3); the Greeks, to

But " Thout" in Coptic (Pezron, Lexicon Lingim

s.

voc. Gen. xix. 26 in the Coptic version), also riti' in Hebrew, and Ep^t^s (Hermes) in Greek, are all names for a pillar or -post This is the Homeric use of IpiU-a and
kp[hii Ocl. d, {11. 486 Primeval History, p. 119).
;

Yj,

278

Kenrick's

Essay on

A^;^a

is

the ship, Tiavis (from

thence come "nave" and "navel"), in which the germ of

animated nature was saved.

" ark." Camac, or

Thebes, or Theba, means the

is

than the days of

Kamak, Moses at

in Egypt,

reckoned to be older

least dating from 1600 A.C.

lS2

TEE BOSIOBUCIANS.

Heealdic Genealogy of the " Fleuk-de-Lis," or " Flowee-de-Luce."

APOTHEOSIS OF THE STMBOL,
Fig. 4Q.

4.

6. Bee. 8. Fleuron. 7. Imperial Bee. 9. Charlemagne. Babylonian Gem. 11 and iz. Early French (also Babylonian). 13. Middle French. 14. Later French. 16. Valois. 17. Henry of Navarre. 18. In England, tlius. 19. Bourbon. 2o. Egyptian Sculptures : Fleur-de-Ias ; Asp,

Bee.

10.

ABCHITECTUBAL FINIALS.
Fig. 41.

i3

21.
21.

vV ^^ 22
" Fleur-de-Lis."

Finial

meaning tke

22. Finial.*

The opinion

of

M. Dupuis was

(see his learned

memoir

concerning the origin of the constellations), that " Libra" was

formerly the sign of the yemal equinox, and " Aries" of the
nocturnal, autumnal equinox
;

that

is,

that, since the origin

of the actual astronomical system, the procession (precession?) of the equinoxes had carried forward by seven signs the primitive order of the zodiac.

Now, estimating the

procession
is,

(precession

?)

at about

jo\ years to a degree,

that

years to each sign,

and observing
1

that " Aries" was in

its

fifteenth degree 1447 before Christ, it follows that the first

degree of " Libra" could not have coincided with the vernal

equinox more lately than

if

5,

94 years before Christ, to which,

you add 1790 years since Christ, it appears that 16,984 years have elapsed since the origin of the " Zodiac" (Volney,
ist

Ruins of Empires,
all circular ones,

English edition, 1792,

p. 360).

All white things express the celestial and luminous gods

the world, the moon, the sun, the destinies

all semicircular ones, as arches

and

crescents, are descriptive

of the moon, and of lunar deities and meanings.

" See

The Egyptians,"
figs.

says Porphyry, " employ every year a

_pos<.

190, 191, 192, 195,

See, also, pp. 50, 51,

54.,

55, ante.

184.

THE MOSICEUCIANS.
At the summer
ivith red,

talisman in remembrance of the world.

solstice,

they mark their houses, flocks, and trees

supposing that on that day the whole world had been set on
fire.

It

was

also at the
'

same period that they celebrated

the Pyrrhic or Fire-Dance.'"

(And this

illustrates the origin

of the purifications by fire and water.)

There are seven planets in the solar system.

These

seven planets are signified in the seven-branched candlestick

of the Jewish ritual. The number is a sacred number. These seven " prophets," or angels, have each twelve apostles,
places,
Stella, " stalls," or regions, or dominions (stalls as " stables"), for the exercise of their powers. These are the

twelve divisions of the

the Zodiac.
Astrological.

gi-eat Circle, or

the twelve signs of

All this

is Cabalistic,

Magical, Sabaistical, and

or Astarte has been

The name Ashtaroth

ast,

derived from Ashre, aster,

star, or

"starred;"

in the

same way as the word Sephi-roth comes from the Hebrew

root, "roth."

On

the black sacred stone (" Kebla," or " Ca;bar") at

Mecca, "there appears the figure of a

Zyabenus, Mod. Un. Hist
BibliotJieca Biblia,
i.

human head

cut,"

" which some take to be the head of a Venus" (Enthumius

i.

213

Sale's Z>coMrse, p. 16

613, 614).

Man's

ideas,

outwards from himself, must always become

as they recede

more dreamlike
approach him.

from him, more real as they

Moulding

Egg and

Adder's Tongue.

Summits of Eastern Minarets.

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIRST.

MYTH
OF THE SCORPION, OR THE SNAKE, IN ITS

MANY

DISGUISES.

i|NE

of the

Targums

says that
first

K^H,

serpent,

tempted Adam, or the

Eve, his wife.
tion

man, and not HTI,

power

Here we have the object of adorafemale generative

of

the Ophites

the

the

Destroying, Eegenerating Power

indeed, the Gnostics generally.

among the Ophites, and, The Serpent was called the

Universe {Ilaia, or

Megalistor,

or Great Builder of the

Bhuddist

Illusion).

Here again we recognise, under another

Mr. Payne

name

(Ophites), the Cyclopes, or the builders of the circular

else.

Temples at Stonehenge and every where

Knight has repeated an observation of Stukeley, that " the Snake's original name of the temple at Abury was the
'

Head.' "

And
name
s.

he adds, " It

is

remarkable that the remains

of a similar circle of stones (circular temple) in Bosotia had

the same
cap. xix.

in the time of Pausanias" (Pausanias, Bmot.

z).

The famous
Edward's

oracular stone, shut in the

seat

of St.

chair (the

Coronation Chair)

in

Westminster

Abbey, was at one time a stone to which adoration was paid.

It

was possessed of imagined miraculous

gifts.

This stone

is

86

TBE BOSIOBUaiANS.
in

asserted to be the

upon

same which the Patriarch rested his head the Plain of'Luza," and is said to have been car-

ried first to Brigantia, a city of G-allicia, in Spain.

From

thence
first

was brought into Ireland by Simon Brech, the King of the Scots, about 700 years before Christ and
it
;

from

there,

about 370 years

after,

into Scotland,
it

by King

Fergaze (Fergus).

In the year of Christ 850

was placed

at the Abbey of Scone (in the comity of Perth) by King

Kenneth

this being the place

where the Scottish Kings In the year

297 with their
1

were generally crowned in those days.

this Scottish

wooden throne or
sceptre,

chair, together

crown and
Abbey.

was brought into England by the

English King Edward the First, and placed in Westminster

" Si quid liabent veri vel chronica,

cana fidesve,

Clauditur liac Catliedra nobilius ecce lapis,

Ad caput eximius Jacob quondam Patriarcba Quem posuit, cernens numina mirapoli. Quem tulit ex Scotis, spolians quasi victor honoris,
Edwardus Primus, Mars velut armipotens
Sootorum Domitor, noster Validissimus Hector,

Anglorum Decus

&

gloria militiss."

Antiquities of Westminster Ahhey, 171 1.

It

is

still

supposed,

in

accordance with the ancient

in the

prophecies,

that the stone

gifts,
it;

Coronation Chair has

miraculous

and that

the

sovereignty of England

depends upon
is

as also that the preeminence of

London

connected with the preservation of London Stone.

Both the ancient

relic,

London

Stone,

and the Coronation

Stone in Westminster Abbey, seem of the same character.

They appear
period

to have been either

worn down in the lapse of

the ages, or to have been mutilated at some unknovm, remote

possibly

thrown down and broken as objects of

superstitious reverence, if not of direct

and positive

idolatry,

THE COBONATION STONE..

thus very probably exciting indignation, which, as
opportimity and scope for
demolition.
its exercise,
it

187

found

was successful in their

In both these stones we certainly have only

fragments.

The supposed magical

from time immemorial,
to

stone, enclosed in the

wooden

block at the base of the Coronation Chair, has been reputed,

murmur

its

approval or disapia the chair for

proval of the royal occupant,

when placed

investiture with the sacred pallium or with the state robes,

on the occasion of the King's or the Queen's coronation.

In this respect the stone
supernatural
gifts,
is

very similar in

its

ascribed

and in

this special oracular speaking-

power, to

all

sacred or magical stones, and particularly to

the famous statue of

Memnon

in Egypt, which
first

is

said to

give forth a long, melodious tone with the

rise, like

ray of sun-

that produced by the wind through the JEolian

harp.

It is not quite clear whether this sound is expected

to issue from the stone in the royal chair at Westminster

when approval
is to

is

intended, and the

meaning of the stone

is

benign, or whether sounds are heard only

when

displeasure

be expressed.

This strange asserted power of the sacred

allies it

stone at "Westminster to become vocal directly

with

other oracular stones

all

over the world.

The

prevalence

every where, and in

all

time, of the existence of stones having

this miraculous gift of expression is a striking

and curious

proof of the contiaual, invincible yearning of man for some supernatural help and direction from powers exterior and
invisible to him.

He

earnestly desires the possibility of

intelligent,

communication with that

unseen world which

he cannot avoid thinking is near about him, suiweying his doings. Man tries to overcome the assurance that this
invisible, recognitive, responsive world, to

betake himself to

at his times of trouble,

is,

so far as his senses insist, so

88

TSE

JR

OSIOB UCIAN8.

hopelessly out of reach.

able.

He

languishes to think

it attain-

The
that

oracular stone at Westminster seems only a fragment

of some pillar or lithos; but no one will attempt to dispute

it is is

an object of prodigious antiquity, and that

very remarkable and interesting.
Its

its

history

place of

deposit, too, the shrine of

Edward the

Confessor, is worthy

of

it

and both inspire deep reverence.

GHNUPH[S.
Gnostic Talisman.

Egyptian Neilh, sitrrounded by Lunar Emblems.

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND.

OMINOUS CHARACTER OF THE COLOUR " WHITe" TO ENGLISH ROYALTY.

|B beg

to premise that the following persuasions are

belief,

not our

but that they are educed from old

traditions.

It is a very old idea, derired

quity, that the colour

from the highest

anti-

"white"
is
;

which,
its

considered ia the
origin

mystic and occult sense,

in its effects sometimes

feminine in

is fateful

and

that, as a particular instance

of its unfortunate character,

royal house of

it is

an unlucky colour

for the

England personally singular of

England
to be.

at all erents, for the

king or queen

as the notion

would appear
effect

We

are not aware whether this unfortunate

is

of the ominous colom" white

supposed to extend to the

believe, to the prince or

nation generally.

It is limited,

we

sovereign of England, and to his immediate belongings.

The

name John, which comes from

root, has also

lona, a remote feminine

for

been reckoned unfortunate

in France.

the king's

The reason of name both in England and The origin this does not appear to be any where stated.
of the prophecy, also, as to the dangerous character of the

go

TEE BOSICBUaiANS.
is

colour white to England

unknown

but

it is

imagined to

be at

least as old as the

time of Merlin. Thomas de Quincey,

who

takes notice of the prophecy of the "

White King,"

King Charles the First, that the foreboding of the misfortunes of this " White King" were supposed to have been fulfilled in his instance, because he was by accident clothed in white at his coronation it being remembered
says of
;

afterwards that white was the ancient colour for a victim.

This, in
itself,

was

suflSciently formidable as

an omen.

De
by

Quincey's particular expressions are,

Charles the First came to be crowned,

"That when King

it

was found

that,

some oversight,

all

the store in

London was
It

insufiicient to

furnish the purple velvet necessary for the robes of the king

and

for the furniture of the throne.

was too

late to send
defi-

to Genoa for a supply; and through this accidental

ciency

it

happened that the king was attired in white velvet

at the solemnity of his coronation,

and not in red or purple

robes, as consisted with the proper usage."

As an
as

earlier instance of this singular superstition, the

story of that ill-fated royal White Ship occurs to memory,

the vessel was

called

wherein

Prince William, the

son of King Henry the First, the heir-apparent, with his

natural
sister,

the Countess of Perche, and a large company

of the young nobility, embarked on their return to Eng-

land from Normandy.

misfortunes of
at that

It might be supposed that the King Charles the First, which were accepted,

time of monarchical dismay, as the reading (and the

;

exhaustion) of this evil-boding prophecy, were enough

but

there are some reasons for imagining that the effects are not

even

in our day altogether expended. The fatalities of the colour " white" to English royalty certainly found their

consummation, or seemed so to do, in the execution of King

Charles the First,

who was brought out

to suffer before his

WHITE A MAGIC 00 LOUS.

own
palace of " "WhitehaU"

191

^where, again,

we

find " white"

introduced in connection with royalty and tragical events.

Whitehall is the Eoyal " White" Palace of England. The " White Rose" was the unfortunate rose (and the conquered
one) of the contending two Eoses in this country.

This

is

again a singular

fact, little as it

has been remarked.

We
see

will pursue this strange inquiry just a little further,

if the lights of

and

Rosicrucianism will not afford us a measure

of help

for it is

one of the doctrines of the body of Rosi-

crucians that the signatures, as they call them, of objects

have a denoting and a preternatural

spiritual reasons, of
state,

effect,

through hidden
this mortal

which we have no idea in

in

other words, that magic and charming, through

is

talismans,

possible

common

sense being not all sense.

The

colour white

is

esteemed both of good and of bad

its

augury, according to the circumstances and the periods of

presentation.

However

(to

speak a few strange words), in

" Albert Edward," in a pos-

relation to the use of the

sible future time,

name

which every

loyal subject will

hope to be

remote enough, we would advise (supposing so humble a

voice as ours should reach, or could attain, to the quarters

where such a change might be

effected) a variation of

our

future king's name, and an avoidance of this supposedly

unfortunate prefix "Albert" in favour of "Edward" only.

This name of Edward

auspicious
;

is

an

historical,

triumphant, and

name for all our Edwards, except the weak King Edward the Second, have been powerful or noteworthy men. Now, very few people have had occasion to remark, or have recalled the fact as significant and ominous in the way we mean, that the word "Albert" itself means "White." The root of "Albert" is, in most languages, to be found in
"white:"
country.
alius, white; alp, white; Albania, the

"white"

We

here recall the "snowy camese," to which

92

TEE R OSIOBUOIANS.
as

Byron makes reference

the " white"
clifiPs),

worn in Albams..

"Albion" (of
" white."

Alb, Al, El,

^1,

all

mean

Ex-

amples might be multiplied.

are derived

AA^os,

aXire, alius,

" white,"

from the Celtic alp; and from thence came the word " Alps," which are mountains always white, as being "Aldus, 'white,' certainly comes from covered with snow.
the Celtic alp, or ali," says the historian Pezron
;

"for in that

language, as well as in

many

others, the b

and the

fre-

quently interchange

from whence the ancient Latins, and

I consider
it

the Sabines themselves, said Alpus for white.

therefore as certain," continues Pezron, "that

from Alpus

the word Alps came, because the mountains are always white,
as being covered with

snow

the words

'

Alp,'

or

'

Alb,'

and

their

compounds,

meaning white

every where.

conclude, also, that from the

ans,

Fen

of the Celts,

Umbri'high

and Sabines, which

signifies a 'head,' 'top,' or

place,'

they made Penninus Mons, the Apennines, vast

Italy.

mountains in

Thus these

celebrated words proceed

certainly from the Gaulish tongue,

and are older by several

following are
?),

ages than the city of Rome."

or

The

all

Teutonic
all

German words
White
is

alb, alf{Q,y.

Alfred

and

alp,

which

signiiy " white," as their original root.

Thus much

for white.

also a colour

not auspicious to the Prussian

royal family, although, again, in a contradictory way, the

ensigns of Prussia (Borussia, or " of the Borussi")

are, as

armorists well know, the original " white and black" of the

Egyptians, which were adopted by the Teutons and the

Templars.

These white and black tinctures are heraldically

Luna, qt pearl, for "tears;" Saturn, or

argent and sable:

diamond, for " sadness, penance, and ashes."

senses, the Eosicrucians

In these strange

accepted colom-s as in themselves

talismanic, powerfully operative

through their

planetary

"eflBcients," or " signatui-es," as the astrologers

caU them..

THE IMISE HARP.

These
ideas,

193

more

or less pronounced, hare prevailed in all

ages and in

all countries,

and they

lui-k largely in

suspicion

through our own land.

We

are

aU aware, in England, of

the objection to the colour " green" in certain cases. It is the spirit-colour, a magic colour, the colour of the " fairies,"
as the cabalistic, tutelary, miniature spirits are called, who.

are supposed to be very jealous of its use.

is

In Ireland, green

universally regarded with distrust; but with veneration, in

It is
is

the spiritual sense.

the national colour;

for

the

Patroness of Ireland

the female deity, the Mother of

Nature,

known

in the classic

mythology as "Venus,

equally
The
is

Venus the graceful and Venus the terrible, as the Goddess of Life and of Death. The various verts, or greens, are the
" colour-rulers" in the emblazonry of the Emerald
presiding deity of the
Isle.

Land

of lerna, or of Ireland,

the

mythic " Woman,"

bom

out of the fecundity of nature,

or out of the " Great Deep." tain sinister, terrible aspects,

This

is

the genius (with cerin the old

marked out grandly

forms)

who

is

"impaled" or "crucified"
stock, or "

meaning

upon the

in

its real,

hidden

Tree of Life," indicated by

the Irish Harp.

Her

hair, in the

moment

of agony, streams

Daphne-hke, as " when about to be transformed into the tree,"

behind her in the wind, and twines, in the mortal, mythical
stress, into

the seven strings of the magic Irish Harp, whose

music

is

the music of the spheres, or of the Rosicrucian,

penitential,
visible

assumed

world.

These seven strings

stand for the seven vowels, .by means of which came speech to man, when the " new being," man (this is cabalistic
again,

and therefore diiScult of comprehension),

spake."

"

opened his

mouth and
will be

The seven

strings of the Irish Harp, it

remembered, are blazoned " Luna," or the " Moon"

the feminine

moon

according

to the practice of the old

heralds, in regard to all royal or ruling achievements,

which

194.

THE B0SICBU0IAN8.
by the names of the
planets.

are blazoned

The seven

strings

of the Irish harp mean also the seven pure tones in music
these, again, stand for the seven prismatic colours
;

which,

again, describe the seven vowels

and

these, again, represent

their seven rulers, or the seven planets,

which have

their

seven

spirits,

or " Celestial Flames," which are the seven

Angels or Spirits of God, who keep the way round about

" the Throne of the Ancient of Days."
in most countries
is

There
although
Friday
is

is it

an objection to Friday,
sacred day or

the

Mohammedan

Sabbath.

the day of the " Green."

Emeralds, or smaragds,
fortune, as exis

are proper to be

worn on Friday, and briag good

ercising occult iafluences

on this particular day .* This

the

day on which

all

green gems, and the colour green, should

be universally used.

Friday
;

is

the

"woman's day" of the

some
ill-natured
it
is,

sevenfold weekly period

and

therefore, as

people might say,

it is

the unlucky day.

Certain

* The breastplate of the Jewish High-Priest had its oracular gems, which were the TJrim and Thummim. The reputed enchanter, Apollonius Tyaneus, is said, for the purposes of his magic, to have worn
special rings, with their appropriate gems, for each
fold week, to

day of the seven-

command the

particular spirits belonging to the different

days.
relation

The Hermetic Brethren had certain rules that they observed in ,to this view of the power of precious stones to bring good or

bad fortune through the planetary affinities of certain days, because they imagined that the various gems, equally as gold and silver,
were produced through the chemic operation of the planets, working
secretly in the telluric body.
all

They thought

that gold and silver, and

the gems, had but one foundation in nature, and were simply augpurified,

mented,
or

and perfected through the operation of the hermetic ^invisible and unattainable under ordinary circumstances, and unknown, except to the alchemists. All yellow gems,
magnetic light

and
on

gold, are appropriate to be

worn on Sunday,

to

draw down the

propitious influences, or to avert the antagonistic effects, of the spirits

this day,

pearls

through its ruler and name-giver, the Sun. On Monday, and white stones (but not diamonds) are to be worn, because

OEMS,

AND THE DAT^ OF THE WEEK.

195

it presents the exact contradiction of being especially the woman's day, few or no marriages would be celebrated on this day, as popularly bearing the

howerer, that although

mark

of ill-luck, which supposition few would like openly

to defy, or, according to the familiar expression, "fly ia the

face of."
is

May

is also

forbidden for marriages, although

it

the " woman's month," or

month

in

which " May-day"

set

occurs,

and in which " May-poles" used to be

to

up every

where.

(See figures of May-poles later in our book.) return

to the

But
white,

ill-omened colour to England,

and to the important (in this sense, formidable) shape in which we find it to appear in the name borne by

our Prince of Wales " Albert Edward;" inheriting his name "Albert" from perhaps the best and most lovable
prince

whom

this country has ever

known

as casting in his

by marriage, with it, but whose end in the prime of life, and in the fulness of his power was surely
destinies,

tliis is

the day of the

is

Moon,
is

or of the second

power

in nature.

Tues-

day, which
lustre.

the day of Mars, claims rubies, and

all

stones of a fiery
all

"Wednesday

the day for turquoises, sapphires, and

precious stones which seem to reflect the blue of the vault of heaven,

and that imply the lucent azure of the supposed spiritual atmosphere, wherein, or under which, the Eosicrucian sylphs dwell those elementary children who, according to the cabalistic theogony, are always

striving for intercourse with the race of

particular privilege of immortality,

Adam, seeking a share

of his

which has been denied

to them.

Thursday demands amethysts and deep-coloured stones of sanguine because Thursday is the day of Thor the Runic impersonated Male Divine Sacrifice. Friday, which is the day of Venus, has its
tint,

appropriate emeralds, and reigns over

all

the varieties of the imperial,

and yet strangely the

the most splendid of
all

sinister,

colour green.

Saturday, which

is

Saturn's day, the oldest of the gods, claims for

its distinctive

talisman

gems, or the queen of precious stones, the

lustre-darting diamond,

which

is

produced from the black of Sab,

Seb, or Saturn, the origin of all visible things, or the "Great Deep,"

or " Great Mother," in one sense.

96

THE B OSIOB UOIANS.

when
the eyes of hope of
all

unfortunate enough,

Europe, in

various respects, were fixed

upon him
and

Let us, then, suggest

that the

name "Albert" be passed

;

over in the person of

the Heir to the Throne

(in distant days

let

us hope that by and by

we trust it may be) he will be known as king by the name ^the propitious name of Edward only, " Edward the Seventh," a period whose oncome, because of the disappearance which it will imply, we most earnestly and religiously deprecate. But the time must come and

we may be
truding.

forgiven the thought sometimes faintly obit is

For

of

England and of her

strange
as

destinies

we

speak, fanciful
sions,

and

our

unexpected

allu-

and remote, legendary speculations, may appear;

beaten
tracks

far

off the

of this hard, common-sense,

if

mechanical, e very-day world, in which the lot of thinkers,

of unusual bent, really seems hardly cast, and even crueUy

cast. But men are men, and thoughts are thoughts: whether the thoughts of the " Conquest," or of those of

the reign of Victoria,

all

are alike in their reality at the

time that they arise in the mind.

The "Wliite Lady

of

of

Berlin,"

and her mysterious

appearances from time to time, are well

known
to

to the writers

modern romantic biographical

story.

Whom
all.

she

is

sup-

posed to represent seems to be

unknown

Those who

have recorded her

surmise
;

fitful

revelations of herself venture no

but she

is

considered in some way the evil genius of

the Hohenzollem family,

much

in the

same manner as the

regarded

unaccounted-for figure might

have been

who

revealed himself to Brutus on the Plains of Philippi, and

who announced the crowning misfortunes of the next day. The Irish have a name for this supernatural appearance in
the " banshee," or the speaker, or exponent, of fate. The " White Lady of Berlin" is supposed to be seen by some per-

THE WHITE LADY OF BERLIN.

occurring to a
this "White

197

son in the palace before any preeminent disaster supervenes,

member Lady are

of the royal house.

The glimpses

of

only momentary and delusive,

so

vague, indeed, as to be readily contradicted or explained

away (perhaps
selves.

willingly) even

by the supposed

seers

them-

It is also a fact not a little curious,

it

when we come

to consider

by the

side-glance, as

it

were, that the colour

white (the EngUsh

unfortunate colour), besides being that

is

of the " White Rose" and of " Whitehall,"

that white of

the unlucky Stuarts, whose history through centuries, both in

Scotland and in England, was but one long catalogue of

mishaps and

disasters.

Prince Charles Edward and his

evil fortunes of all his

famous "white cockade," and the

followers

and of the Jacobite cause in general in 1715 and

virgin, holy colour white, supply

1745,

emblemed in the

a touching
history.

nay,

tragical

page

in public

and in private

Lastly,

we may adduce

as a supposed exemplifica-

tion of the terrible general effects of this evil-boduig

alius,

name
the
first fell

and colour white, in France, the history of

is

all

Bourbons, whose colour

of that

white in particular, from the

name who

displayed his snowy banner, and

assassin, to the last

who

history,

by the dagger of an whose fate we

Bourbon in

modem

will

not attempt to forecast, nor in any

Merlin, whose prophecy of

manner

to

seem to bespeak.

the dangers, at some time, of " white" to the kingdom of England was supposed to refer to the invasion of this

country by the pale Saxons, whose device or token was the " white horse," until further associations of white and misfortune in England

came

to dispel the idea,

may

even

still

have

his original prophetic forecast unfulfilled.

The

colour

white, or

some

strange, at present unimagined, associations

of "white,"

may

yet

lie,

like a ^Qmi.,

perdu in the fature

to justify

(of the chances of

which no man can speak),

198

THE BOSIOBUCIANS.

Merlin at once, and to astonish and bewilder, by the longdelayed CTolvement of the centuries in which at last the
realisation

and the
for

misfortune

become

simultaneously

apparent

which, and for the possibilities of which,

in the adjuration of the

we wiU terminate omen !"

Romans, those

masters in the art of augury and of divination, " Absit

But thus much we have chosen

to explain about

the colour white, in justification of the ideas of the Rosicrucians as to the supernatural power of colours, and as to the

magical qualities

of those occult influences which they

strangely

determined, in their philosophical vocabularies,

and mysteriously to

call

the " signatures of things."

Ancient Crosses

Margam, South Wales

St. Patrick's, Co.

Louth.

Various Foliated Curves of the Lotus.

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-THIRD.

THE BELIEFS OF THE ROSICRUCIANS MEANING OF LIGHTS ANP OF COMMEMORATIVE FLAMBEAUX IN ALL WORSHIP.

EOM

the

name

of the Temple,

now

Stonehenge,

comes the name of Ambresbuiy, which stands a

few miles from
the Abiri."
It is
it.

This

is called

the " Ambres of

two words, and means the " Ambres of the

Dii Potentes," or of the "'"l^^K, or " Cabiri,"

the same.

^for

they are

The

star of the

Legion dJHonneur bears the inscription

This order was
insti-

" Hapoleon, Empereur des Frangais."

tuted by the

Emperor Napoleon the First,

after the discovery

and dissolution of the Secret

Society, or Brotherhood, of

which General Pichegru, Georges Cadoudal, the famous Moreau, and other noted revolutionary men, were members.
This order possessed,
it is

stated, a talisman, or mystic

head, which served as a recognitive mark, and was supposed

to be a sort of

bond

to the brotherhood.

After their death,

it

their secret insignia were discovered j

and

has been stated

Emperor Napoleon, whose attention was instantaneously arrested by great and unusual ideas or supernatural
that the
suggestions, in suppressing this mystic symbol or head,

adopted

it

in another form, and substituted his

own

head,

200

THE BOSICBUCIANS.
new
order

in profile, as the palladium, or taliBman, for his

of the " Legion of Honour."

The
of Fke.

saffron robe of

Hymen

is

of the colour of the Flame

The

Bride, in ancient days,

Teil called the

"

Flammmm

;" unless

was corered with a made under this, no

the altar.

TOW was
altar,

considered sacred.

The
fire

ancients swore, not by the

but by the flame of

which was upon

Yellow, or fiame-colour, was the colour of the Ghebers, or

Guebres, or Fire- Worshipers.

The P&rsian

lilies

are yellow
this fact of

and here

will be

remarked a connection between

lilies

the yellow of the Persian

various parts of our book.
lights,

and the mystic symbols

rites,

ia

Mystic

and the symbolical

which mean the Divinity of

2d), or the

Fire,

abound

at Candle-

mas-day (February

Feast of the Pui-ification

in the torches borne at weddings,

and in the typical flameall

brandishing at marriage over almost

illuminations at feasts
;

the world

in the

in the lights on, and set about, the

Christian altar; at the festival of the

Holy Nativity;

in

the ceremonies at preliminary espousals; in the Bale, or

Baal, flres on the

summits of the mountains

in the watch-

lights, or votive sanctuary-lights, in

the hermitage in the

lowest valley; in ^Qchapelle ardente, in the

Eomish

funereal

observances, with its abundance of silent, touching lights

around the splendid

catafalque,

or twinkling,

pale

and

inefiectual, singly at the side of the death-bed in the cottage

of the peasant.

Starry lights and innumerable torches at

the stately funeral, or at any pompous celebration,

same.

mean the

In short, light

all

over the world,

when

applied to

religious rites,

and to ceremonial, whether in the ancient or

times, bespeaks the

in the

modem

same
is

origin,

and struggles

to express the or

same meaning, which

Parseeism, Perseism,
disguised in

the worship of the deified Fire,

many

theological or theosophic forms.

It will,

we

trust,

never be

THE B08ICBUOIAN SYSTEM.

supposed that we mean, in
pressible something of
this, real fire,

201

but only the inex-

which

real

fire,

or rather its flower or

glory (bright light),

visible at
all, it is

is

the farthest offbecause, in being

the grossest and most inadequate image.

vital, acces-

All this strange, dreamy, ethereal view of a

sible something, entirely separate

from the suggestions of

its

mere

sensation,

is

Gnosticism, or Bhuddism, in
It follows

own

profoundest depth.

on similarly to the " intoxica-

tion," or suffusion with the very certainty of the presence

of God, which, in the poetic sense, was said to of even the supposed arch-atheist Spinoza.

fill

the

mind

The Eosicrucians, through the revelations concerning them of their celebrated English representative, Kobertus
de Fluctibus, or Kobert Fludd, declare, in accordance with
the Mosaic account of creation,

no instance to be taken
two original

literally,

which, they maintain, in but metaphorically, that

is

principles, in the beginning, proceeded

from

the Divine Father. These are Light and Darkness,

or idea, and matter or plasticity.

or form
extends

Matter, downwards, beforms, according to the

;

comes

fivefold, as it

works in
first

its

various operations of the

informing light

it

four-square, according to the points of the celestial compass,

with the divine creative eflluence in the

spiritual

centre.

The worlds

and temporal, being rendered subject to the operaand then endowed

This

tion of the original Type, or Idea, became, in their imitation

of this Invisible Ideal,

first intelUgible,

with reciprocal

meaning outwards from themselves.

(or thought) to

produced the being

creation

whom,

or to which,

was

disclosed.

This

is

properly the "Son," or

Second Ineffable Person of the Divine Trinity.

Thus that
possi-

which we understand as a " human mind" became a

bility.

This second

great,

only intelligible world,

the

Eosicrucians call

" Macrocosmos."

They

distribute it as

xoz

THE BOSIOBUaiANS.
;

into three regions or spheres

which, as they

lie

near

to, oi

dilate the farthest from, the earliest-opening divine "

Bright

ness,"

they denominate the

Empyr^nm,
filled

the J^therseum

and the Elementary Eegion, each

with
less

and determinati
These regiom

and

less of the First Celestial Fire.

contain innumerable
appropriate
to

invisible nations, or angels, of a nature

each.

Through these immortal

regions,

Light, diffusing in the emanations of the cabalistic Sephiroth,

becomes the blackness, sediment, or ashes, which

fiery, real

is

the second

world.

This power, or vigour, uniting

the "Soul of

with the Ethereal

the World."
It

Spirit, constitutes strictly

becomes the only means of the earthly

it.

intelligence, or

man, knowing

It is the Angel-Conqueror,

Guide, Saviour

bom

Gnostic Sophia, the

"Woman," or "Great Deep," the "Word made flesh" of St. John. The
of
its

Empyrseum

is

properly the flower, or glory (effluent in

abundance), of the divine Latent Fire.

It is penetrated

with miracle and holy magic.

The Eosicrucian system

teaches that there are three ascending hierarchies of beneficent

Angels (the purer portion of the First Fire, or Light),

divided into nine orders. These threefold angelic hierarchies

are the Teraphim, the Seraphim,
religion,

and the Cherubim.

This

which

is

the religion of the Parsees, teaches that,

there jre also three counterbalancing

on the Dark

Side,

resultant divisions of operative intelligences, divided again into nine spheres, or inimical regions, populated with splen-

didly endowed adverse angels,

who

boast stiU the relics of

their lost, or eclipsed, or changed, light.

The elementary
his belongings,
is

world, or lowest world, in which

man and

and

the lower creatures, are produced,

the flux, sub-

sidence, residuum, ashes, or deposit, of the Ethereal Fire.

Man

is

the microcosm, or "indescribably small copy," of the

whole great world.

DUatation and compression, expansion

B OSIOB UCIAN MA GIO.

and contraction, magnetic Bympathy, gravitation
flight from, is the
to,

103

or

bond which holds

is

all

imaginable things

together.

The

connection

intimate between the higher

is

and the lower, because

continuous
descent
:

all

a perpetual aspiration, or

one

long,

immortal

chain,

whost
thai

sequence

is

never-ending,

reaches by impact with

immediately above, and by contact with that immediately " So true below, from the very lowest to the very highest.
is it

that

God

loves to retire into

His clouded Throne

and,

thickening the Darkness that encompasses His most awfti

Majesty,

He

inhabits an Inaccessible Light, and lets none

into His Truths but the poor in spirit."

contended that these so " poor in

spfrit"

The Eosicrucians meant themselves,

and implied their abasement before God.

The
visible

Eosicrucians held that,

all

things visible and in-

having been produced by the contention of light

its

with darkness, the earth has denseness in

innumerable
less

heavy concomitants downwards, and they contain

less of the original divine light as

and

they thicken and sohdify

the grosser and heavier in matter.

less,

They

taught, nevertheits

that every object, however stifled or delayed in

ope-

ration,

and darkened and thickened in the

solid blackness

at the base, yet contains a certain possible deposit, or jewel,

of light,

^which light, although

by natural process

it

take ages to evolve, as light will tend at last by

native, irresistible force

its

may own

upward (when

it

has opportunity),

can be liberated

that dead matter will yield this spirit in

a space more or less expeditious by the art of the alchemist. There are worlds within worlds, we, human organisms,

only living in a

deceiving,

or Bhuddistic,

"dream-hke

phase" of the grand panorama.

(because in
it lies

Unseen and unsuspected

is

magic), there

an inner magnetism, or
fire,

divine aura, or ethereal spirit, or possible eager

shut and

104-

THE BOSIOBUOIANS.
which have more or
less

confined, as in a prison, in the body, or in all sensible solid

objects,

of spiritually sensitive

life

as they can

more

successfally free themselves from this ponder-

able, material obstruction.

Thus

all

minerals, in this spark

of light, have the rudimentary possibility of plants and

growing organisms
tives,

thus

all

plants have rudimentary sensi-

which might

(in the ages) enable

them

to perfect

and

transmute into locomotive new creatures, lesser or higher in

their grade, or nobler or
all

meaner in

their functions; thus

off

plants and all vegetation

might pass
as
it

(by side-roads)

into

more distinguished highways,

were, of independent,

completer advance, allowing their original spark of light to

expand and

thrill

with higher and more vivid

force,

and

to
all

urge forward with more abounding, informed purpose

wrought by planetary influence, directed by the unseen

spirits

(or workers) of the Great Original Architect, building

His

microcosmos of a world from the plans and powers evoked in

the macrocosm, or heaven of first forms, which, in their multi-

tude and magnificence, are as changeable shadows cast

off

from the Central Immortal First Light, whose rays dart

from the centre to the extremest point of the universal
circumference.
It is with terrestrial fire that the alchemist

breaks or sunders the material darkness or atomic thickness,

all visible

nature yielding to
its

Ms

farnaces,

whose scattering

heat (without
kind.

sparks) breaks all doors of this world's

It is with immaterial fire (or ghostly fire) that the

Eosicrucian loosens contraction and error, and conquers the

false

knowledge and the deceiving senses which bind the

soul as in its prison.

human
(rather
light,

On

this side of his powers,

on

this dark side (to the world) of his character, the alchemist

now become
is

the Eosicrucian) works in invisible

and

a magician.

He

lays the bridge (as the Ponti-

fex, or

Bridge-Maker) between the world possible and the

ALCHEMY.
world impossible
;

20 s

and across
life

this bridge

he leads the votary

out of his di-eam of

into

his

dream of temporarythe only true and

death, or into extinction of the senses and of the powers of

the senses
veritable

which world's blindness

is

life,

the envelope of flesh falling metaphorically off

the

now liberated glorious mttfy

taken up, in charms, by the

is as

invisible fire into rhapsody,

which

the gate of heaven.

Now

a few words as to the theory of alchemy.

The

al-

chemists boasted of the power, after their elimination and

dispersion of the ultimate elements of bodies

by

fire (repre-

sented by the absent difference of then- weights before and

after their dissolution), to recover
exterior,

them back out unknown world surrounding this world

reason against as
It
is

of that
:

which

world
it

men

if it

had no

existence,

when
enter,

has real existence.

this other world (just off this

real world) into

which the Eosicrucians say they can

as proofs that they have

and bring back,

been

there, the old

things (thought escaped), metamorphosed into

new

things.

This act is transmutation. This product is magic gold, or " fairy gold," condensed as real gold. This growing gold,
or self-generating and multiplying gold,
is

obtained by in-

visible transmutation (and in other light) in another

world

out of this world

faculties,
side, or

immaterial to us creatures of limited

but material enough, farther on, on the heavenly

opposite to our

on the side

human

side.

In other

words, the Eosicrucians claimed not to be bound by the

limits of the present world, but to be able to pass into this

next world (inaccessible only in appearance), and to be able to

work in

it,

and to come back

safe out of

it,

bringing their

trophies with them, which were gold, obtained out of this

master-circle, or outside

elementary
it
;

circle,

different

from
or the
life

ordinary

life,

though enclosing

and the

elixir vitm,

means of the renewal or the perpetuation of human

io6

THE B0SICBUCIAN8.

through this uniyersal, immortal medicine, or magisUrium,

which, being a portion of the light outside, or magic, or

breath of the

spirits, fleeing

from man, and only to be won

in the audacity of alchemic exploration,

was independent of

those mastered natural elements, or nutritions, necessary to

ordinary

common

life.

The

necessary food which is taken

for the sustenance of the

body was, as the Eosicrucians

but yet an effectual one.

contended, the real cause of the destruction of the body, by

the slowest of
asserted that
all processes,

They

man

dies daily in his

own

native bodily Corasser-

ruptions.

These singular philosophers ventured the

tion that
life

God

did not, in the beginning, intend that man's

should be terminated by diseases, nor that he should be

subject to accidental, violent

made

means of end.

In the
as

abstract sense,

and apart from our knowledge of man

man, the Eosicrucians contended that diseases are not necessarily incidental to the body,

and that death may be

said

to have

become an imported accident into the scheme of

our ideas being erroneous.

things

Man

was to have lived as the angels, of an impregnable,

not by short
were, but as out of the great cup of the
to be the spectator of nature

impassible vitality, taking his respiration,

snatches, as
centuries.
it

He was
The

not nature
to

Ms

spectator.

real objects of the adepts were, in truth,

to remain no longer slaves to those things supposed to be necessitm, but,

by the assistance of Heaven,

;

to

remove back

Heaven's original intention

to rise superior to the consefoot, in

quences of the original Curse, and to tread under

vindicating the purpose of God, that mortal (however seductive), sexual, distinctive degradation, entailing dissolution,

heired from

Adam,

or from the Fii-st Transgressor.

That

poverty and celibacy (under certain limitations) must be the obligations of the true Brothers of the " E.G." will at

THE ART OF TSE GOLD-MAKERS.

mistaken

107

once be seen from the above reasons, however wild and

barely even comprehensible.

was entailed upon mankind by
" the fruit

The
ing of

original curse

eat-

Of

that forbidden

'

Tree,'

whose mortal
all

taste

Brouglit death into the world, and

our woe."

What that " Tree" was, and what

tiie

are its votive, idolatrous (in

bad sense) symbols in the old world and in the new, we

think we have abundantly shown

at

least,

in the occult, ever of

'shadowy

idea.

Why, supposing

that the alchemists

possessed the power of universal gold-making, they

fail

producing any, or of offering one of their rich

world,
facts:
is

gifts to

the

at once answered in these

two conclusive, obvious

Firstly,

that if this power of gold-making, or of

transmutation, were a recognised possibility, like any other

art allowed or authorised, it

would inevitably become penal,

in order to preserve the existing value of gold, the richest

metal

and the professor of the

any ordinary

art

would be

at once

put

out of sight.
fable, like

Secondly, if supposed to be true, and no

art or science, the

man who had

him
to produce

arrived at such a stupendous secret would be sacrificed in

the insatiate haste of the people to compel

gold, in order to satisfy them

that
"

gold, moreover,

which will

destroy, but can never satisfy.

Ye

cannot serve

God and

Mammon."

These things the alchemists too well know, and

therefore they (if any exist now) hide, as they have always

hidden, and deny, as they have always denied

being desirous
glory, as

of serving
see,

God

alone,

whose inaccessible great

we

has been imitated in the golden lights of the inexpres-

sibly

grand (in the worldly and mortal

sense),

apostate

constructions of the magnificent

Treasures of this World, for

Mammon, Lord of the which men offer themselves

2o8

THE BOSIOBUCIANS.
Him, King of the
most
brilliant yellow

willing Yictims even to

Visible,

whose

semblance

is

that of the

element

Eire.

The

alchemists maintain that the metals are produced in

the secret operations of the planets, that grow the bowels of the
fire

them

daily in

eai-th

that the sun and moon, red and white,

and water, light and darkness, male and female, night and
due wholly to the invisible operation of the sun
silver is referable to

day, are active in the generation of the precious metals, of

which gold

is

and moon, and

the whitening or bleach-

is produced quicker or * slower according to the faster or slower operations of nature;

ing lucidity of the

moon

that gold

that it vivifies and vegetates, bears bright seed and multiplies,

germinating as fructifyiag in the matrix, or the laboratories

of the earth
it
;

that gold

is

produced with

infinite pains, as

were,

by

these chemic operations of nature, very slowly

under certain circumstances, but very rapidly under other

more

favourable,

more powerful conditions that

;

it is

possible
assist

for the adept to act as the midwife of nature,

and to

in her deliverance, and in the birth of gold, in these occult

senses
this
;

that the

work of nature being thus expedited by

art,

alchemical

the hitherto

thwarted

intention of

Providence

is effected in

the predetermined liberation of the

is

divine gold, " Lux," or hght, which

radix,

again united to

its

or

producing-point,
is

in heaven.

spark of the

original light

supposed by the Eosicrucians to remain

deep down in the interior of every atom.

The Rosicrucian Cabala

worlds above

teaches that the three great

Empyrgeum, iEtherteum, and the Elementary

their copies in the three points of the
first
;

Eegion
of

have
:

body

man

that his head answers to the

;

his breast, or
tliird.

heart, to the second

and his ventral region to the

intellect, or
is

In the head rests the

the magnetism of the

is

assenting judgment, which

a phenomenon rinTirs"heart

MACROCOSM AND MICBOCOSM.

the conscience, or the emotional faculty, or the Saviour
;

209

and
all

in the umbilical centre reside the animal faculties, or

the sensitiyes.

Nutrition

is

destruction in the occult sense,

and

dissolution is rescue in the occult sense; because the

entity, or visible

man,

is

constracted in the elements, and

as they are;
is its

is

as equally ashes, or

condemned matter,

and

because the

fire

that feeds the body (which

natural

respiration or maintenance) is in itself that

which (however

slowly) destroys

it.

Man
is

lives

upon the

lees of nature, or

(in the Bhuddistic view)

celestial fire,"

upon the " gross purgations of the

itself clear

which

urgiug

through the operaIt follows that

life

tion

of the divine rescuing spirit in

all

it.

metaphysically

the wonderful shows of

are

pMntas-

mata

only,

and

their splendours false

and a show only.

the instruments of

But
life,

as these shows are the

medium and

without which iutelligence (in the human sense) would be impossible, this celestial " Second Fire" has been deified in
the acknowledgments of the
first

inhabitants of the world,

who raised pillars and stones in its honour as the first idol. Thus man bears in his own body the picture of the " Triune."
Eeason is the head, feeling is the breast, and the mechanical means of both feeling and reasoning, or the means of his being Man, is the epigastric centre, fi-om which the two first spring as emanations, and with which the two first form
ultimately but " one."

The

iavisible magnetic, geometrical

bases, or latitudes, of these three vital poiuts,

whose consent,

or coincidence, or identity, forms the " microcosm," which is a

copy of the same form in heaven, answer magically to their This is astrological " ruling" by pyramidal stellar originals.
culmination, and

by

trilinear descent or efflux, to

an

inter-

secting point in the latitudes of the heavens

and in the
earth,

man's body, at which upper and lower, or heaven and

interchange
;

and

Man

is

therefore said to be

made

" in the

THE S 08I0B UCIAN8.

image" of the Archetype, who has " descended" to man, who has " ascended" to Him. This is the " hinge-point" of the natural and the supernatural, upon which the two wings
of the worlds real and unreal reTolve. The stany heavens, through whose astrological cross-work complications (as in a

map)

all

these infinite effects are produced, and on whose

(for,

taking gravitation away, they are the same) floor of lights, or cope or dome of signs or letters, all the " past, present, and
future" has been written by the finger of

God

(although to

man

they are ever rearranging), can be read by the com-

petent as Fate.

Natural and supernatural, though one

is

is

only the reversed side of the other, as " darkness

reversed side of light, and light
is

only the

only the reversed side of

darkness," are mistaken by man for opposites, although they

are the

same

man
;

living in this state in darkness, although

his world is light

and heaven in
is light.

this state being darkness,

although this state

Music (although
because nature

it

is

unheard by man)'

is necessarily

produced in the ceaseless operations of material natm-e,

itself is

but the painful (and musical) expres-

sion between two dissonant points.

The Bhuddist

contends
is life,

that

all

forms are but the penance of nature.

music.

Music

and

life is

Both are

pain, although

made

delightful.

Phenomena are not real. Thus colours are negative

and so on of the other
senses,

as music addressed to the ear,

the musical notes negative as colours addressed to the eye,

although they are

all

the same

in the imagination, without the sensoriwm

as dreams show.
belief.

And man

life

and the world, in

this view, are all imagination:

being made in idea, and only in his own,

is

This, again,

only pure Parseeism

and the whole will be

philo-

rightly regarded as the

most extraordinary dream of

idea.

sophy

as depth of depths beyond

STRANGE IDEAS CONCEENING

MUSIC.

211

Schubert, in his Symbolism of Dreams, has the following passages, which we hare before adduced and made use

may be asked whether that language, which now occupies so low a place iu the estimation of men,
of for illustration
:

" It

be not the actual waking language of the higher regions,

while we," adds the philosopher, coming out with something very strange, " awake as we fancy om-selves, may be

sunk

in a sleep of

many

thousand years,

or, at least,

in the

echo of their dreams, and only intelligibly catch a few dim

words of that language of God, as sleepers do scattered expressions from the loud conversation of those around
them."

The

following

is

a fair view of the Rosicrucian theory

concerniug music.

The whole world

is,

is

taken as a musical instrument

that

a chromatic, sensible iastrument.

is

pole of the world celestial

intersected

diapason, or heavenly concord

spiritual sun, or centre
little

^where this superior or chord, dividedby the

is

The common

axis or

of sentience.

Every man has a

spark (sun) in his

own bosom.
is is

Time

is

only pro-

tracted consciousness, because there

no world out of the

the faintest tradition

mind conceiving

it.
;

Earthly music
it

of the angelic state

remains in the mind of

man

as

the dream of the lost paradise.

Music

is

yet master of the

man's emotions, and therefore of the man.

Heavenly music

is

produced from impact upon the paths

of the planets, which stand as chords or strings, by the crosstravel of the sun

from note to note, as from planet to

is

planet

and earthly music

microscopically an imitation of
;"

the same, and a " relic of heaven

the faculty of recognition

arising from the same supernatural musical efiBux which produced the planetary bodies, in motived projection fi'om the sun in the centre, in their evolved, proportional, harmonious

zIs

THE B OSICB UOIANS.

The
is

order.

Eosicrucians taught that the

"harmony

of the
all

spheres"

a true thing, and not simply a poetic dream:

nature, like a piece of music, being produced

by melodious

combinations of the cross-movement of the holy light play-

ing over the lines of the planets: light flaming as the

spiritual ecliptic, or the gladius of the

Archangel Michael,

to the extremities of the solar system.

colours,

Thus

are music,

and language

allied.

Of the Chaldaean
that, although their

astrology

it

may
its

figuratively be said

tous Stone,"

knowledge, in

shape of the " Porten-

^in

this instance, their grave-stone,

shut up the
sages
his

devils in the depths of the "Abyss,''

and made the

their masters
seal the

(Solomon being the Priest or King, and

"Talisman" that secures the "Deep"); Man, on account of his having fallen into the shadow and the corrup-

tions of Existence, needs that

fore

mighty exterior

Hand

(be-

which

all

tremble) to rescue

him back
is

into his native

original Light or Eest.

All the foregoing

pure Bhuddism.

Thinkers

who have weighed

well the character of those

supposed infractions of natural laws which have admitted,

as it were philosophically, the existence of other independent,

absent, thinking spirits,

communicating
it is

intelligibly in this

world of ours, insist " that

impossible to suppose that

the partitions between this world and the other world are so thin that you can hear the movers in the other."
Nevertheless,

thoughtful

people

are

equally able to

convict

modem

philosophical realists

of absurdity, when

the former adduce the following insurmountable objection against them: "When we tell you of a supernatural thing,"
say the supematuralists to the realists,
recourse
to

"you
find

directly
it."

Mot
is

a natural thing in which

to

This

contrary to

common

sense

and therefore

the realistic

arguer has no right to dispose in this manner of that which

SPIRIT
is

AND MATTEB.
and
vain,
Spirit

213

supernatural

for his objections are futile

and

his arguments contradict themselves.

and matter, and hence

when sought
sible things,

to be explained, axe totally opposed;

arises the reason

why

there can never be any belief of impos-

and only the conviction that such things have

been in the mind, notwithstanding the insurmountable contradiction of the senses.

Gnostic

Gem "The Good Shepherd"

:

fs.
Bheems
Chlori.

{Mokundra

Pass.)

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FOURTH.

THE GREAT PYRAMID.

^^IN

a Tery elaborate and interesting book, piiblished

is

in the year 1867, the title of which, at length,

the following:

"Life

and

Work

at

the

Great

Pyramid.

By C.

Piazzi Smyth, Professor of Practical Astro-

nomy
Eoyal

in
for

the University of
Scotland.

Ediaburgh, and Astronomer

Edmonston and Douglas, Edinburgh

defini-

and London.

1867:" the conclusions (though a mistake)

important name or word,

which we now supply from the author are offered as

tions, after infinite care, of this

"

Pteamid."

" Pyramid"
^^vp6^;,

is

derived in this book from two

(Lerpov,

Greek terms

"wheat;"

"measure;" or from

Coptic roots, signifying ;p2/r, "division;"

m*4 "ten." However,

we

ofi'er

to deduce this

term " Pyramid" from quite another

source.

The

present writer originally sought to do this in

the year i860, in a dissertation on the origin and purpose of

the " Pyramids of Egypt."
It is well

known

that the letters

and

F are

radically the

same

letter (as is

evidenced by

their peculiar pronunciation in certain countries),

and that
IIupos

they are interchangeable.

is

In Professor Smyth's book^

wi'ongly translated " wheat."

It signifies " product," or

SERPENT-WORSHIP.

215

"growth," or "elimination;" in other words, and in the

symbolical sense,
it

means "sun-begotten,"

or "fire-begotten."

The Coptic derivation (re-read by a new light) is the true one. Thus we obtaiu another reason upon which we rely as the real interpretation of the name of the pyramid, or obelisk,
or great original altar or upright, raised to the divinity work-

ing secondarily in natm-e.

IIvp is Fire (or Division

produced

by

fire)

Merpov

is

Ten

(or measures or spaces

numbered

as ten).

The whole word means, and

the entire object bear-

ing this name means, the original Ten Measures or Parts

of the Fiery Ecliptic or Solar "Wheel, or the

Ten

Original

Signs of the Zodiac. Therefore the Pyramids are commemorative altars raised to the divinity Fire.

The

Ophites are said to have maintained that the serpent

of Genesis was the Aoyos, and the " Saviour."

The Logos was

Word," by the
It is very

Divine Wisdom, and was the Bhudda, or Buddha, of India.

The Brazen Serpent was

called Aoyos, or the "

Chaldee Paraphrast (Basnage,

lib. iv. ch. xxv.).

certain that, in ancient times, the serpent

was an object of

adoration in almost

all

nations.

The

serpent-worshipers

seem to have placed

at the head, or nearly at the head, of all

things (Maia), and most intimately connected with the serpent, a certain principle which they called " Sophia."
is

This

clearly a translation of the word "

Bhudda"

into Greek.

It also reminds us that the old

Bhuddas
is

are always under the

all

care of the Cobra-Capella.

This
;

evidenced in

the

Memnonian
de-Hs),

or Egyptian heads

and in the asp

(or fleur-

more or

less veiled or altered, displayed as the chief

The serpent, in one emblem of the evil principle, or destroyer. view, was the But, as we have seen before, the "destroyer" was the " creator." Hence he had the name, among his numerous appellations, ofO$l2; in Hebrew, 31 J<, 01; and as he was
symbol upon the universal Sphynxes.

THE B OSICB UCIANS.

Hebrew
Query, hence
2u(/)ap,

the "logos," or "linga," he was also O*, and in

f^TQ'D-

a seraph or serpent?

see

Jones's Lexicon {in voce), and 2o<^os, wise.

are both the

The

2v<^

and

2o<^

same

root.

The famous " Brazen Serpent," called

It
is termed in was probably a " serpentine
'

Nehustan, set up by Moses in the "Wilderness,

the

Targum

a " Saviour."
is

crucifix," as it

called

a cross by Justin Martyr.

All

the foregoing

is allegorical,

and hides deep Gnostic myths,

which explain serpent-worship, united with the adoration

paid to a perpendicular.

The

three most celebrated

I;

emblems

carried in the Greek

mysteries were the Phallus,

the Egg, O; and the Serpent,

$; or otherwise the Phallus, the loni or Umbilicus, and the

Serpent.

The first, in each

case, is

the

emblem of the

sun, or

of

fire,

as the male, or active, generative power.

The second

denotes the passive nature, or feminine principle, or the

element of water.

The

third symbol indicates the destroyer,

the reformer, or the renewer (the uniter of the two), and thus
the preserver or perpetuator

eternally renewing itself.

The
over

universaUty of the serpentine worship (or phallic adoration)

is

attested

by emblematic sculpture and architecture

This does not admit of denial.

all

the world.

Its character

and

purpose

are,

however, wholly misunderstood.

Not only is the

it

worship of the serpent found every where, but

occupies an important station
;

every where

and the farther back we go, the

more universally
of Genesis

it

is

found, and the

appears to have been considered.

is

more important it The Destroyer or Serpent

Preserver.

correctly the Renovator or

is

In

Genesis there
Life."

a " Tree of Knowledge" and a " Tree of

Here we 'have the origin of the OpMtes, or Oriental

emblematical serpent-worshipers, to account for whom, and

for

whose apparently absurd object of adoration, our

anti-

quaries have been so

much

perplexed.

They worshiped the

THE ENIGMA OF ALCHEMY.

Saviour-Regenerator

217

under

the
;

strangest

(but the

sub-

limest) aspect in the world

principle, in

but not the

deril, or malific

our perverse, mistaking ideas, and with the

vulgar, downward, literal meanings which

we

apply.

The

mythic and mimetic art of the Gnostics

admirably or more
successfully

is

nowhere more
than in their

displayed

hieroglyphs and pictured formulce.

Even

in the blazonry

and in the

collars

and badges of chivalry (which seems so

remote from them), we find these Ophite hiats.

temples and the

The heathen

modem

ritualistic

churches alike abound in

unconscious Gnostic emblems.

State ceremony harbours

all

them

they mis with the insignia of

the

orders

of

knighthood; and they show in aU the heraldic and masonic

marks, figures, and patterns, both of ancient and of modem
times.

The

religion of the Eosicrucians is also concealed,

and unconsciously carried forward, perpetuated, and ignorantly fostered,

trive,

by the very persons and

classes

who form, con-

and wear decorations with

special mysterious marks, all

the world over.

certain figures,

Every person, in unconsciously repeating

which form an unknown language, heired
carries into futurity,

from the ancient times,

for the

and into

all

parts of the world, the same carefully guarded traditions,

knowing

to recognise, to whose origin the sun, in

his first revolution,

may be

figuratively said to be the only

is

witness.

Thus the

great inexpressible " Talisman"

said to

be borne to the " initiate" through the ages.

Proposals were published some years ago for a book
entitled,

" The

Enigma

of Alchemy and of (Edipus resolved

designed to elucidate the fables, symbols, and other mythological

disguises,

in which the Hermetic Art 'has

been

enveloped and

signalised in various ages, in ecclesiastical

ceremonies, masonic formuke, astronomical signs and constellations,

even in the emblazonments of chivalry, heraldic

TBE B OSICB UCIANS.

badges, and other emblems; which, without explanation,

hare been handed down, and which are shown to have originated in the same universal mystic school, through each
particular tracing their allusion to the

This intended work was

author,

left

in

MS. by

means and mechanism." its anonymous

now deceased, but was never published. The unknown author of it produced also in the year 1850, in
I

vol. 8vo,

a book displaying extraordinary knowledge of

the science of alchemy, which bore the name, "

Suggestive

Enquiry into the Hermetic Mystery; with a Dissertation

on the more celebrated of the Alchemical Philosophers."
This book was published in London
;

but

it is

now

extinct,

having heen bought up

for suppression,

as

we

believe

^by

the aiithor's friends after his decease,

who probably

did not

wiBh him to be supposed to be mixed up in such out-ofthe-way inquiries.

The Vedas
as having

describe the Persian religion (Fire-Worship)

fi'om

come

Upper Egypt.
'

" The mysteries

cele-

brated within the recesses of the hypogea' " (caverns or labyrinths)

"were precisely of that character which

is

called

Freemasonic, or Cabiric.
epithet
is,

The

signification

of this latter

as to written letters, a desideratum. so have Origen

Selden has

missed

it

and Sophocles.

Strabo, too, and

Montfaucon, have been equally astray.

one
that

who had any

'

idea of its composition

Hyde was when he

the only
declared

was aPermn word, somewhat altered from Galri, or Guelri, and signifying Fire-Worshipers.'" (See O'Brien's
It

Round Towers
India in Greece,

of Ireland, 1834, p. 354.)

is

Pococke, in his

very sagacious and true in his arguments

but he

tells

only half the story of the myths in his supposed

successful divestment of

them of

all

unexplainable chai-acter,

and of

exterior supernatural origin.

He

supposes that

all

the mystery must necessarily disappear

when he has

traced,

THE DBA60N OF
and
these

CHINA.

219

carefully pointed out, the identity

and transference of myths from India into Egypt and into Greece, and

their gradual spread westward.

But he

is

wholly mistaken

and most other

of view.
culars,

modem
all

explainers are equally mistaken.

Pococke contemplates

from the ethnic and

realistic

point

He

is

very learned in an accumulation of parti-

but his learning is " of the earth, earthy ;" by which we

practical philosophers,

mean that, like the majority of modem

he argues from below to above, and not, in the higher way,

from above to below, or (contrary to the

Aristotelian, or Baconian
culars, or

inductive, or
parti-

method) from generals to

from the light of inspiration into the

sagacities of

darkness, as

we may call unassisted world's knowledge. The Feast of Lanterns, or Dragon-Feast, occurs in China

at their

New

Year, which assimilates with that of the Jews,

at the

and occurs in October

festival

high

tides.

They

salute the

with drums and music, and with

explosions of

crackers.

During the Feast, nothing

is

permitted to be

thrown into water

(for fear of profaning it).

Here we have

the rites of Aphrodite or Venus,

or the "Watery Deity,

observed even in China, which worship, in Protean forms,

being also the worship of the Dragon or Snake, prevails, in

its

innumerable contradictory and

effective disguises, over

the whole world.

How

like are the noises

and the explo-

sions of crackers, &c. to the tumult of the festivals of Dionusus or Dionysius, to the riot or rout of the Cory-

bantes amongst the Greeks, to the outcry and wild music of the priests of the Salii, and, in modem times, to the noises

made
whose

at initiation

by the Freemasons, whose myths are

claimed to be those (or imitative of those) of the whole world, Mysteries are said to come from that First Time,
succession of the deep-buried in the blind, unconscious order of the Masons, at an In the Eoyal-Arch centuries
!

220
initiation, the

THJE BOSICBUCIANS. "companions"

roll
fire pistols,

clash swords, over-

turn chairs, and

cannon-balls about.
;

The long-descended
the origin, indeed, of

forms trace from the oldest tradition

most things

is

only doubt or conjecture, hinted in symbols.

Deities

The Egyptian
f
'

may

always be recognised by the

following distinctive marks

Phthas, Ptah, by the close-fitting Eobe, Four Steps,

Baboon, Cynocephalus.

Ammon, Amn, by
Canopus.

a Eam's Head, Double Plume, Vase,

The Sun-God (Phre

Serpeiit, Urseus.

or Ra) has a

Hawk's Head,

Disc,

Thoth, or Thoyt,

is

Ibis-headed (means a scribe or priest).

Sochos, or Suches, has a

Hawk.

Hermes Trismegistus
their greater

(Tat) displays a

Winged

Disc.

The Egyptians, however, never committed

I

knowledge to marks or
(Homer's
This

figures, or to writing of

any kind.

Figure 313: the Gnostics have a peculiar talisman of Fate

Aio-a).
is

one of the rarest types to be met

with in ancient art.

In Stosch's vast collection, "Winckehnann

It
is

was unable

to find a single indubitable example.

of

brown

agate, with transverse shades,

and

is

an Etruscan
238,

intaglio or Gnostic

gem.

The Gnostics,

p.

makes a

reference to this figure.

Later in our book (figs. 191, 300, 301) we give a figure of the " Chnuphis Serpent" raising himself aloft. Over, and
corresponding to the rays of his crown, are the seven vowels, the elements of his name. The usual triple " S.S.S." and bar,

and the name " XNOYBIG," are the reverse of this Gnostic gem. It is a beautiful intaglio on a pale plasma of the finest
quality, extremely convex, as it has

been found on exami-

nation.

In the Ophic planetary group {Origm in Celsum,

vi.

25)

CHALDAIC "ANGELS."
Michael
is

221

figured as a lion, Suriel as a bull, Raphael as a

serpent, Gabriel as an eagle,

Thautabaoth as a bear, Eratsaoth

as a dog, Ouriel as an ass.

Emanations are supposed

to

pass

through the

seyen planetary regions, signified by

these ChaldEean names, on their

way

to this world.

ceor- SOT
Gnostic Amulet
:

" Bai" a

Prize.

Christian

Monogram.

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIFTH.

HISTORY OF THE TOWER OR STEEPLE.

|E have asserted, in an

earlier part of

our book, that

fire

the pyramidal or triangular form which

as-

sumes in
lithic typology,

its

ascent to heaven was, in the mono-

used to signify the Great Generative Power.

The

coarse sensuality which seems inseparable from

modem

ideas about the worship

of the pillar or upright had no

place really in the solemn ancient mind, in

religion

which ideas of

largely

and constantly mingled.

foolish as they

We

must not

judge the ancients by too rigid an adherence to our own

prepossessions

sometimes

are.

The adoration paid

in all countries,

to this

image of the phallus, which

all

has persisted as an object of worship through

the ages,

was only the acknowledgment, in the ancient

mrad, of wonder at the seemingly accidental and unlikely, but

certainly

most complete and

effectual,

means by which the

continuation of the
arguers

human race is secured. The cabalistic contended that " Man" was a phenomenon that he
;

did not, otherwise than in his presentment, seem intended

that there appeared nothing even in the stupendous chain

of organisms that seemed specially to hint his approach;

EABL Y CHRISTIAN FA THEBS.

z1

that between the highest of the animals and the being " Man" there was a great gulf, and seemingly an impassable

gulf

that some " after-reason," to speak according to the

his introduc-

means of the comprehension of man, induced

tion into the Great Design
ally
;

that, in short,
is

"

Man"

origin-

was not iatended.

all

There

a deep mystery under-

lying

these ideas, which

we

find differently accounted

for in the rarious theologies.

We

are here

only speaking

some of the abstruse

spe-

culations of the old philosophers, whose idea of creation,

and of the nature of man and

materially

his destiny, differed

most

if

not wholly

from the acceptable ideas which

their deeper speculations

they chose to inculcate, and which they wished to impress

upon ordinary minds.

interpretation in this

Thus

were

never committed to writing, because they did not admit of

way

and

if so

handed down or pro-

mulgated, they would have been sure to have been rejected

and

disbelieved,

on account of the impossibility of

their

being believed.

In indicating some of the strange notions

if possible,
still

propounded by the Sophists, and,

more

remarkably by the early Christian Fathers, we desire to

disclaim any participation with them.

Our personal

belief

of these theories must not be necessarily supposed from our

seeming to advocate them.

There

is

no doubt that they were

very acute and profound persons

who undertook the exami-

nation and reconcilement of the philosophical systems at the

introduction of Christianity.

The succeeding
that symbol which
tural descent
Steeple."

array of phallic figures will be found

interesting, as tracing out to its

progenitor or prototype

we

call

the " upright."

This architec-

we

shall call the " Grenealogy of the

Tower or
or

The

Architectm-al

Genealogy

of

the

" Tower"

124

TEE BOSICBUCIANS.
is ftiU

" Steeple" (so to speak)

of suggestion, and

is closely

connected with the story of the phallus.

The

insignia on the heads of the cobras in the friezes of

the Egyptian Court in the Crystal Palace are coloured on

the Right, White; on the Left, Red.

These imply masculine

and feminine

ideas.

Fig. 42.

Fig. 43-

Fig- 44-

The accompanying
Lion.
It

figure is the

comes from the Nineveh Gallery.

recognised as the

Winged

Bull,

Winged Human-headed It may be and also as the Winged

are the symbols
for

"Lion of St. Mark." The "Lion," "Bull," " Eagle," " Man,"
of the Evangelists
;

the " Man," or " Angel," standing

Fig. 45'

Fig. 46.

Pyramid.

Fig 47-

Tower

or

' '

Tor."

St. St.

Matthew, the "Lion" for

Luke, and the " Eagle" for

St.
St.

Mark, the "Bull"

for

John.

In these strange
ancient churches.

aspects the Evangelists figure in

many

BABYLONIAN MTTEIC " TOSS."

and on most
fonts.

2Z5
also

These representative forms are

said to have been the "

Four Cherubim" of the Ark of the

Fig. 48.

Tower.

Fig. 49,

Tower

of Babel.

Hebrews.

Hermetically they signify the "four elements,"

or the four corners or angle-points of the " Lesser" or " Manifested World," or the " Microcosm" of the Cabalists.

Fig. 50.

Pyramid.

Fig. 51.

Scarabseus.

CoisCjI)

Fig. 52.

Egyptian Colossus,

Fig. 45 represents an Obelisk at Nineveh,

British

now
Q

in the

Museum.

Jacob's Pillar, the Sacred Stone in West-

Z26

THE BOSICBUaiANS.
alli-

minster Abbey, " Bethel," &c., " GUgal," have a mythic

ance with the obelisk.

Regarding the Pyramids the following may be advanced Mnrphy, the delineator of the Alhambra, considered the
Pointed Arch to be a system founded on the priaciple of

I^'ig S3-

Pyramid.

Fig. 54-

Egyptian Seated Figure.

(British

Museum.)

the Pyramid.

The pointed

or vertical Saracenic or Gothic

arch presents the form of the upper portion of the

<t>a\Xos.

human
of the

The Saracenic arch denotes the union

Linga and Yoni.

Fig. 55.

Colossal

Head.

(British

Museum.)

In

fig.

56 we have the sun rising from between the

horns of Eblis (here taken for the Pyramids).

poetical superstition of the Arabians, to the

This

is

who

therefore turn

North

to pray; in contradiction to the practice of

"

THE HOBNS OF

EBLIS."
sun.

227

the Persians,

who adore the

is

rising

The Arabians
"horns,"
;

avert in prayer from this malific

sign of the

because the sun

seen rising

from between them

and

Fig. 56.

when

disclosing

from between these mythic an Egyptian

copied by

pillars,

the

sun becomes a portent.

Fig.

57

is

seal,

li&jwcA (Nineveh
ject
:

and Babylon,

p. 156).

Sub-

the Egyptian god Harpocrates, seated on

the mythic lotus, iu adoration of the Yoni, or

mn, T

or havah.

Fig. 57-

The

Druidical Circles, and single stones standing in

solitary places, are all connected with the mystic specula-

tions of the Eosicrucians.

Fig. 38.

Figures on the Egyptian Sarcophagus in the British

Museum.

The eminences,

St. Michael's

Mount and Mont St.-Michel,

were dedicated by the Phoenicians to the Sun-God (Hercules),

22S

TEE BOSIOBUGIANS.
Hydra" or " Dragon-slayer."
These moimts in the

" as the

to Calpe, Channel are secondary Hercules' PiUars," simUar

and Abyla.

Fig. S9-

The

Architectural

Genealogy

of

the

"Tower"

or

" Steeple" displays other phases of the alterations of the

Figs. 60, 6t.

Heads

of Ships

a.

Fiddle-head

3, c,

d.

Gondola

Ceres' Reaping-hook, also

h.

Saturn; f. Blade and Fasces; Grecian Galley.

g.

Beak

of Galley;

Glaive;

i.

Prow

of

"upright."
votive stones,

All towers

are

descendants of the biblical

and in multiplying have changed in aspect

This Architectural Genealogy of the

according to the ideas of the people of the country in which

they were raised.

" Tower" or " Steeple" gives

many

varieties.

DBUIDIOAL STONES.
The groups on
p.

229

234 supply new changes in the Tower

or Upright, and famish evidence

how

it

passed into the

Fig. 62.

Stoneheuge.

._JifeK?.--?..j

Fig. 63.

Druidical Stone in Persia.

Fig. 64.

Dmidical Circle at Darab, in Arabia.

times, and became the steeple. and reproduced, according to the changed

Christian

When

thus

architectural

ideas of the builders of the different countries where the same

230

TEE B0SICRV0IAN8,
pillar

memorial
liarities

was

raised, it

assumed in time the pecu-

of the Gothic or pointed style.

The

steeples of the

Fig. 65.
'

Figs. G6, 67.

Kit*s Cotty-house," Kent.

Ancient British Coin, mentioned

by Camden.

churches, the figures of which we give on p. 234, indicate the

gradual growth and expansion of the romantic or pointed

Fig

68.

Fig.
British
nel,

6^
:

England St. Michael's Mount, Mount's Bayi Cornwall. "Dragon," Horns, or Fires. (Mo:

Chan"Dragon-

France Normandy
St. -Michel.

Mont
Battle'*

("Montjoie!"

mouth." (Galilee from the

West.)

" Montjoy

!" old

cry of the Gauls.)

Dra-

loch or Baal.)

gon,"

Horns, or (Moloch or Baal.)

Fires,

St Michael,

or the

Sun

(Hercules).

architecture,

which

is

generally called Gothic;

and they

prove

how

the upright, or original phallic form, was adopted

architecture,

and gradually mingled in Christian

at last

in

reality

becoming

its

dominant

feature.

ROUND TO WEBS AND

Fig. 96 represents one of the Paul's Cathedral, London, which
is

OBELISKS.

231

Westem Towers
one of the double

of St.
lithoi

Fig. 71.

Fig. 70.

Round Tower,
Devenish, Ireland.

Round Tower,

Ireland.

(or

obelisks),

placed

always

in front of every temple.

It
is

Christian as well as heathen.

surmounted by the

Fig. 72. Obeliscns.

Fig. 73. Obelisk.

Fig. 73.

Two Round

Towers.

" fir-cone" {thyrsus) of Bacchus, and the sculptured urns

below

it are

represented as flaming with the mystic

fire.

23*

THE MOSIOBUCIANS.
The Architectural Genealogy of the "Tower" or "Steeple"
97, p. 236, exemplifies a parallel of growth

in

fig.

between

eJI

Fig. 74.

Propylon, Thebes.

the uprights, and exhibits their changes of form, and proves

their reproduction

through the centuries, both in the East,

78 76

Fig. 77.

Fig. 78.

Fig. 76.

The " Cootub Miaar,"

near Delhi, supposed
to

Antrim Round Tower.

Round Tower
at

Bhaugul-

have been

built

pore, India.

circa X2Z0.

and more particularly in the western countries of Europe. In the lower portion of this fig. 97 we haTe> farther outline-

PILLAB-8T0NES.
configuration

33

of Tarious towers and steeples,

displaying

the

new

character given, and the

gradual variations of

Fig. 79.

Fig. 80.
Fig. 81.

Round Tower, Peru. Round Tower. (From Hanway.) Round Tower, Central America.
Persian

the " Tower" in the

first instance,

and afterwards of the

first

" Steeple

;"

both being reproductions of the

83

idea of

8z

8s
Fig. 82.
Fig. 83.

84
(Dr. Hyde.)
(Capt. Pyke.)

Mudros of Phoenicia.
IMaliody of Elephanta. Muidiir of Inismurry.

Fig. 84.

Fig. 85.

Pillar-stone, Hill of Tara.

the

lithos,

upright, or phallus: the "Idol" imitative of the

" Flame of Fire."

23+

THE ROSIOBUaiANS.
The two
pillars in fig.

102 are monuments in Penrith

Churchyard.

These are the familiar double " Eunic" up-

rights, pillars, or spires.

Fig. 86.

OHBISTIAN TOWEBS.

*3S

namely, the " discus" or round, and the upright and vertical,

or "phallic," shape,

as

indicated in the diagrams

Fig, gz,

Almondsbury Church, Gloucestershire, circa

1150-

Fig. 93. Fig. 94.

(Decorated Period.) Salisbury Cathedral, Central Spire, 1350. St. Mary's Church, Cheltenham, circa 1250.

on pp. 238, 239.

the parents of

These forms, in their

infinite variety, are

all architecture,
96

Fig. 95.

Bayeux

Cathedral,

Normandy,

circa 122a

Fig. 96.

St. Paul"!

Cathedral

The Zodiac itself is, in certain senses, a Genesis, or " History of Creation." The " Twelve Signs" may he interpreted as the "Twelve Acts" of the Divine Drama.

Some

of the Mosques in the East are surmounted with twelve

236
minarets, and the

TEE BOSICBUCIANS.
number twelve occurs frequently
in con-

nection witli the theology of the Moslems.

Fig. 97.

Fig.

5A is a
98

scale enrichment, introduced into archigg

Fig. 98.
Fig. gg.

Waltham, Essex (one of the Eleanor

Ancient Cross, Langherne, Cornwall.

Crosses).

Fig. loz.

Memorial Stones.

tecture, to symbolise the

Female Deity, or " Virgin born

of

the Waters."

CBOSSES AND MINAMETS.

The
116.

237

spectator looks to the faces of the figure

marked

Fig. 117

is

a Masonic, Mosaic, or Tesselated Pavement.

is

(Queiy, whether this pavement of black and white squares

Fig. 100.

Fig. loi.

Ancient Cross, Margam, South Wales. Ancient Cross, St. Patrick, County of Louth.

the origin of the ancient Chess-Table, or Chess-Board

?)

The game
is

of Chess, with the board upon which

its

it is

played,

probably " Masonic" ia

invention.

Fig. 103.

Group of Minarets

or Towers, selected from

Examples

in Oriental

Towns.

In old representations of the cathedral church of Notre Dame at Paris, the symbols of the masculine divinitysuch

38

THE BOSIGBUOIANS.
and some others

as the sun

are placed over the right hand,

its

or masculine western tower, flanking the Galilee, or Great

Western Porch; thus unmistakably hinting

Over the corresponding
left

meaning.

hand, or female tower, are

Fig. 104. Fig. 105.

Column (Campanile) of San Marco,

at Venice.

Domes

at Jerusalem.

placed the crescent horns of the moon, and some other indications,

announcing

its

dedication to the female deified

principle.

In aU Christiaa churches

particularly

in Protestant

churches, where they figure most conspicuously

the two

Fig ic6.
Fig, 107.

Top

of the

" Phallus," Mosque

of Ibu Tooloon, Cairo.

Small

Mohammedan Mosque.

tables of stone of the

Mosaic Dispensation are placed over

a united stone, the tops of which

the

altar, side

by

side, as

MOORISH AND BOMAN ABGHITECTUBE.

are rounded *

239

The ten commandments

are inscribed in

two
the

groups of

five each, in

columnar form.

The

five to

114
Fig. ro8. Fig.
Fig.

Fig.

Fig.

no. Moorish Tower. I IDA. Curves of a Moorish or Saracenic Horseshoe Arch, 112. Cathedral of Cordova form of the Arches. Patterns of Moorish Doors. 113. 114. Moresque Arch Fig. 1x5. Alhambra.
of

Mosque

Omar.

Fig.

right (looking fi'om the altar) the left

mean

the

mean the " Law ;" the five to " Prophets." The right stone is mascu-

Fig. log.

Russian Cathedral, Moscow.

line,

the

left

stone on

is

feminine.

They correspond

to the

two

* Fig.

1 1 8,

when

united.

They then form

original "Lithoi," p. 24.1, represents the "separated the "Double Tables" (or "Table")

of Stone.

"Ten Commandments (Five Commandments

mandments

the In the "Latter," or "Christian (+) Dispensation," are over the Altar," composed of the "Law" to the Right), and the " Gospel" (Five Comto the Left),

S4-0

TSE BOSIGBUCIANS.

every disjoined pillars of stone (or towers) in the front of in the heathen times. cathedral, and of every temple

m%^
Fig. III.

The

Phallus and Discus, as seen in

Fig.

fig.

iioA, united.

Fig. I14A.

Query,' Aquarius?

us A.

Scale Enrichment.

The pomegranate
form
it

is

a badge of the Plantagenets

in its

resembles the crescent

moon

it is

a symbol of the

female inflnence in nature.

There

is

here an unexpected
star of the Orientals

concmrence with the crescent moon and

for above the

pomegranate

which

is

figured sometimes as

the crescent

moon

in the heraldic insignia of the Planta-

^e^

B
X.
:*.

Fig. ii6. Rosicrucian " Macrocosmos."

Rosicrucian "Microcosmos."

A. Jachin
a.

(1

t)*
Fig. 117.

Boaz it3?3) Isis.

genets

^the

six-pointed star appears in the hollow of the

its

crescent,

with

points in the curviliaear or

serpentine

form.

The

crescent

the thin sickle

moon of Egypt and that of Persia is of the new moon reclining on her back, and
coming from the old

seemiagly with the star issuant from between her horns

which

evidently an Egyptian hint

MOSAIC
hieroglyphic times.

"

TABLES OF STONE."
among
the

Z41
star is

This mysterious crescent and

the badge of the sect of All

it

Mohammedans, and
or religious

plays a most important part in

augurial

heraldry.

The standards

of Egypt, Persia, and Arabia are

It is the ardent, or

guhs, or Mars, or the fiery colom-.

masculine, or red colour of Ali.

the other hand, are strictly those

sciously

The colours of Turkey, on of Mohammed, and uncon-

honour the female element in displaying the green, or

ih^vert, or the

woman's
Sabbath.

colour, or Friday colour,

that of the

Mohammedan

This green

is

the

vert,

or " Venus,"

Double Lithoi: The " Tables" of Stone.

Jachin.

(Right

Pillar.)

" The Law"

(Man).

Because

it

was delivered by |.

241

THE BOSICBUCIANS.
masculine
(Jewish),

the

and the

second the

feminine

(Christianbecause the Saviour was "

mystic celestial power.

bom

of a woman"),

Some monograms

or hieroglyphic expressions, meaning

the " Salvator Mundi," show the

in front, in large size
;

Roman

letter "

I" (Jesus)
feminiue,

the letter "

H"

(which

is

and Greek in

its

origin,
;

Woman") much smaller

meaning here "Man, as lorn of and behind, interlacing and com-

bining the first two letters, is the single curved or cursive " S," which stands for " S.S.," the Holy Sphnt, or the Third

Person of the Trinity.

The

whole,

in
all

another way,

is

"Jesus
"

Hominum

Salvator."

Nearly

the sacred mono'

grams, with the intention of making the letter denoting the

Man"

prominent, present the letter " I" large

all."

in the
of

heraldic language surtout, or " over

The monogram

the Saviour
piscis,"

is

sometimes seen in the " Ark," or " veska

is

which

a pointed oval figure, familiar in Gothic

like a

architecture,

and shaped

boat or a shuttle, counter-

changing the letters and the closing arcs, white and black,
the black occupying the
ideas of the
left or

female

side,

according to the

Templars.

The

standards of these soldier-

monks were white and

black, either oblong or forked.

order,

There are two columns of that heavy, severe

howeai'ly

ever grand and impressive, which distinguishes the

Norman

period of architecture in England, in regard to

which, though abounding in far-off hermetic suggestions, we

have seen no notice in antiquarian quarters.

These two

columns comprise a part of the colonnade in the "White Tower,

or central tower, of the
first

Tower of London. The

capital of the

column is square, but it is rounded

at the angles

by a cut

to the hypotacJislium, or base-ring, of the capital.

The
is to

tops

of these cuts are formed by volutes similar to the horns of the

Corinthian and Ionic capitals.

The male

volute

the

TEE TEMPLAB " IDOE' OB "MEAD."

right,

24.3

and

is

a spiral volve, from whicli issues a dependent

budding
is

flower,

dropping seed.

The

volve to the
is

left,

which

a series of rings enclosing a point,

female.

A twisted

perpendicular, like a horn, projects from the base on this

left side.

The

capital of the other

column presents a not

These we

unusual

Norman form

of two truncated tables or faces,

inter-

rounded below and divided in the middle.

pret as meaning the "

woman" and

the " man," side by side,

These glyphs in the two capitals of the left and right. columns signify " Jachin" and " Boaz," and stand for the

and

" First
letter "

Man" and

the " First

is

Woman."

The mysterious

Tau," which

the same as the Runic

is

Hammer

of

Thor, and which in truth

a " Cross," occupies the centre-

point, or, heraldically, the "honour-point," of the first

column

The master-masons were celebrated in their of concealing myths, or hinting them cautiously in the art most difficult and far-off resemblances. The curious reader
to the right.
is

referred to our illustration, figs. 119, 120.

The

character of the "

Head" which the Templars were

charged with having worshiped in their secret "encampments," or "mystic lodges," has been the subject of much
dispute.

Some

say

it

was the head of Proserpine, or of

Isis,

or of the "
aspects.

Mother of Nature," presented under certain strange

Others assert that the figure was male, and that of
classic

Dis or Charon, according to the

nomenclature.
it is

The

object was reputed to be a talisman, and

called

by some

the head of Medusa, or the snake-haired visage, dropping

blood which turned to snakes, and transforming the beholder

to stone.
It

was

this head, or

one of a similar description,

which was supposed

to serve as the talisman or recognitive

mark
and

of the secret fraternity or society, headed by Piehegru

which was suppressed by Napoleon, and the members of which were tried and condemned as aiming at
others,

24+

THE BOSIOBVCIANS. Why

Napoleon adopted this mystehave done,

reTolutionary objects.

rious supposed magical head, as he is said to

on the suppression and destruction of this revolutionary

body,

to

which we

refer elsewhere,

and why he

chose to

place his
this

own head

in the centre-place before occupied by

imagined awe-inspiring countenance, and adopted the

whole as the star of his newly founded " Legion of Honour,"

it is

very difficult to say.

In the East there

is

a tradition

of this insupportable magic countenance, which the Orientals

assign to a " Veiled Prophet," similar to the personage in

Lalla RooTch.

Gnostic Amulet.

" Gorgoneion.'*

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SIXTH.

PRESENCE OF THE ROSICRUCIANS IN HEATHEN AND CHRISTIAN

ARCHITECTURE.

QUESTION may
sponding

here arise whether two corre-

pillars, or

colmnns, in the White Tower,

London, do not very ingeniously conceal, masonically,

the mythic formula of the Mosaic G-enesis, " Male

and Female created He them," &c.

page,
1.

Refer to the following

figs. 119,

120.

Tor, or

"Hammer

of Thor," T(au).

2.

Corinthian Volutes, or " Eam's Horns."

crescent

The

It is also the

moon and star is a Plantagenet badge. Badge of the Sultan of Turkey. Also, with a

Fig. 121.

Fig. 122.

Egypt, Persia

Sect of AIL

difference, it displays the insignia of Egypt.

The

flag of

Egypt is the ensign of the sect ofAll (the second Mohammedan head of religion), which is " Mars, a Orescent, Luna; within

2^6

TEE BOSIOBUCIANS.
homs
of which
is

the

displayed an estoile of the second,"

abandoning the

yert, or green, of the "

Hadgi," or of Mecca,

124
Figs,

'=3

Columns Early Norman, io8i.

iig,
I20.

to

Chapel in the " White Tower," London. Style, Fig. iig (i) Mystic "Tau;" (2) Male, Kight; (3)
Fig. 124.

Female, Left.
Fig. 123.

Castle-Rising Church, Norfolk.

Romsey Abbey,

Hants.

the

site

of the apotheosis of

Mohammed. The Mohammedan

on the " masculine prin-

believers of the sect of Ali rely

Fig. 125.

St. Peter's

Fig. 12S.

Church, Northampton. outof the Armsofthe +. (Font, Runic and Saxon, Bridekirk Church, Cumberland.)

ciple,"

more

closely, in this respect, assimilating

with the

Jews ; and therefore

their distinctive heraldic

and theolo-

EABLT^ CHBISTIAN SYMBOLS.

gical colour is red,

24.7

which

is

male, to the exclusion of the

other

Mohammedan

colour, green,

which

is

female.

The

Fig. 127.

The Ten
Commandments,
or

"Tables"
of " Stone."

Five " Commandments' to the Right, Masculine, **Law."

Five

"Commandments" to

the

Left, the "Prophets," or the

" Gospel."

Fig. 128.

Fig. 129.

Fig. 130.

Lamp, Roma Sotteranea.

[XGY2.

" Hadgi," or Pilgrims to Mecca, wear green

the Turkish

Mussulmans wear red and

titles

green, according to their various

of honour, and to their yarious ranks.

^
1

aoTC

X pe^^cTOC
Fig. 131-

Devices from the Tomhs in the Catacombs at Rome.

The Hospital

of St. Cross, near WinclieBter, abounds

248
in the
St.

THE BOSIOBUGIANS.
earliest

Norman mouldings.

The

architecture

of

Cross presents numerous hermetic suggestions.

^
Fig. 132.

Fig. 133.

Fig. 134-

Fig. 135.

Fig. 136.

The

identity of
all

Heathen and of Christian Symbols

is

displayed in
conclusive.

our old churches in degrees more or less

I^
Fig. 137.

J^ JG
of the Three
Figs. 138, 13Q.

Monogram

The Heathen
of the Triune.

Emblems

carried in the Mysteries.

Monogram

The " Ten

fingers" of the

two hands (made up of each

" Table" of Five) are called, in old parlance, the " ten corn-

Fig. 140.

Monogram

of the Saviour.

mandments."
face,"

" I will wiite the ten

commandments

in thy

was spoken in

fury, in the old-fashioned days, of

an

intended assault.

The hands

explain the meaning of this

MAGIC MUSIC.
proverbial expression, interpreted astrologically.
is called

249

Palmistry

Chiromancy, because Apollo, mythologically, was

taught "letters" by Chiron, the " Centaur."

i
rj

E^i

E
Fis- 141. Fig. 142.

Melody (or Melodic Expression) of the Portico of the Parthenon. General Melody (or Melodic Expression) of the Pantheon, Rome.*

The

devices on most

Eoman Bronze Lamps

will

present

Gnostic ideas.

The Temple Church, London,

in

be found to abound

with Eosicrucian hieroglyphs and anagrammatical hints

aU

parts,

if reference

be made to

it

by an

attentive

inquirer.

or musical charms, supposedly from

religious structures.

* The above music consists of a magical incantation to the air, two of the most celebrated ancient

The

Cabalists imagined that the arrangements

of the stars in the sky, and particularly the accidental circumvolvent

varying speed of the planets of the solar system, produced music as men know music. The Sophists maintained that architecture, in another sense, was harmonious communication, addressed to a capable
apprehension
fore

when
to

of divine

origin.

were supposed

was true to itself, and thereHence the music above. These passages be magic charms, or invocations, addressed by day
the architecture

and night to the intelligent beings who filled the air invisibly. They were played from the fronts of the Parthenon, Athens, and the Pantheon, Rome, according to the ideas of the superstitious Greeks.

25

THE BOSICBUOIANS.
These designs supply a variety
of Early
Christian

Symbols or Hieroglyphs, drawn from

all

Roman

originals in

parts of the world.

Fig. 143-

Alternate Direct and Crooked Radii, or

*'

Glories," set round Sacred Objects.

Figs. 144, 14s.

Collar of Esses,

T46
Fig. 146.
Fig. 147 Fig. 148.

147

Egg-and-Tongue Moulding, Caryatic Prostyle, Pandroseum. (Temple of Erechthaeus, Athens.) Moslem; the Crescent and Star; also Plantagenet. Honeysuckle, Greek Stele.

Z3SJC
Fig. 149.

ri'SRri

3^C

Egg-and-Tongue Moulding, Roman example.

The ^olian Harp,

strains in the wind.

or

Magic Harp, gave forth

real

These were supposed to be conunnni-

OB AVE OF A BOSIOBVOIAN.

451

cations from the invisible spirits that people the air in greater or lesser number.

See

figs. 141, 142.

150
Fig. 150.

151

152

Fig. 151.

Rhamasseion, Thebes, Caryatic Portico. India, Origin of tlie " Corinthian."

India, Rudiraental Corinthian Capital, as also

Fig 152

Rudimental Christian.

Fig. 153-

Fig. 154.

Stone Crosses at Sandbach, in Cheshire.

In

fig.

153

we have

a representation of Bersted Church,

I^Z

THE B0SIOBUCIAN8.
from a rising
hill,

as seen (magnified)

over a hop-garden, at
is

about the distance of half a mile.

Bersted

little village,

Fig. 156.

Fig- 155-

about three miles from Maidstone, Kent, on the Ashford

road.

In the chancel of Bersted Church, Robert Fludd, or

^.4-

s.

%.

6.

7.

Fig, 157.

Fig. 158.

Hindoo Monograms of Planets (1) Mercury, Buddha (Boodh) Venus {3) Mars (4) Jupiter (5) Saturn (6) Moon (7) Sun. Astrological Symbols of Planets (1) Sol (2) Luna (3) Mercury (4) Venus (5) Mars (6) Jupiter (7) Saturn.
:

(2)

Flood (" Eobertus de Fluctibus"), the Head of the Rosicrucians in England,

Fig.
lies

buried.

He

died in 1637.

155 displays the standard Maypole, or authentic

all its

Maypole, with
explanation.

curious additions

and we add

their

In the upper portion we have the Apex of the

Phallus, the Quatre-feuilles,

and the Discus or Round. ,The

ASTROLOGICAL HAND.
lower portion
is

253

the Linga, Lingham, or Phallus, "wreathed;"

also the " Pole" of the ship

"Argo"

(" Arco")

otherwise the

Fig. 159,

Bhuddist Emblem.
*'

Fig. 160.
Fig. 161. Fig. 162.

Shield of

David ;"

or,

the

**

Seal of Solomon.

''

Phallic Triad.

Astrological
;

Hand
;

(i) (6)

Jupiter
;

(2)

Saturn

(3)

Sun;

(4)

Mer-

Fig. 163.

cury (s) Mars Indian and Greek.

Moon

(7}

Venus

" Tree of Knowledge."

The ribbons

of the Maypole should

be of the seven prismatic colours.

i'ig.

156 shows the union of the Phallus and Yoni, and

Fig

164.

Isis,

"Dragon's Head."

Fig. 165.

Hand

in Benediction.

22,

Fig. 166.

Egyptian Alto-Relievo.

Fig. 167.

" Hook of Saturn,''

(British

Museum.)

"Crook of Bishops."

exhibits unmistakably the destination

and purpose of the

familiar Maypole,

2 54-

THE BOSICRUOIANS.
Each
finger in fig. i6z is devoted to a separate planet.

Refer to the engraving of the hand. Fig. 167, " Hook of Saturn," " Crook of Bishops." "

By

hook or crook," meaning "by

There are two works which

fair

means or

foul," is a

proverbial expression continually heard.

will assist in

throwing light
probably
ori-

upon that mystic system of the

of music to
as

ancients,

ginating in the dreaming East, that refers the production

architectural forms

or geometric diagrams
cross-

columns and entablatures, or upright lines and

lines,

and mathematical arcs and diagonals, in their and

properties, of course are.

modifi-

cations

These books, which

p. 249,

will help to explain the passages of

figs.

music given at

the

Hay's Natural Principhs and Analogy of Harmony of Form, and a very original and learned
141, 142, are

musical production, entitled The Analogy of the

Laws

of

Natural Dissonance of Creation, by M. Vernon, published in London in 1867. Through a

Musical Temperament
to

the

strange theory, the music at p. 249 of our book is taken as

the expression of the geometrical fronts of the two great
temples,

the Parthenon at Athens and the

to have

Pantheon

at

Eome, which are supposed

art.

been built with perfect

We have

" translated" these

played in the winds (so to express

phantom .^olian melodies it), and fixed them in

modem

musical notation.

*'

E" Delphicum,

Templar Banner.

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SEVENTH.

THE ROSICRUCIANS AMIDST ANCIENT MYSTERIES AND IN THE ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD.

IHE

"Collar of Esses"

is

supposed always to be a

part of the Order of the Garter.

"S.S."
Spirit," or the

mean

the " Sanctus

Spiritus," or

The coupled "Holy

" Third Person."

The

" Fleurs-de-Lis," or

" Lisses," or the " Lilies of the Field," invariably appear in close connection with St. John, or the " Sanctus Spiritus,"

Fig. I68.

Collar of Esses.

and

also with the Blessed Virgin

insignia.

Mary, in

all

Christian

symbola or

The Prince of "Wales's

triple

plume

appears to have the same mythic Egyptian and Babylonian

origin,

and to be substantially the same symbol as the " Fleur-de-Lis." When arranged in threes, the " Fleurs-de-

Lis" represent the triple powers of nature,

the "producer,"

256

THE BOSICJtUCIANS.
"means
of production,"

the

and "that produced."

The

is presented in a deep disguise in the " Three Feathers," which is the crest of the Prince of Wales in this form the Fleur-de-Lis is intended to elude

" Fleur-de-Lis"

ordinary recognition.

The reader

will obserre the hint of

these significant " Lisses" in the triple scrolls or " Esses"

coiled around the bar in the reverse of the Gnostic gem,

the " Chnuphis Serpent," elsewhere given.

fine

This amulet
sides.

is

opalescent chalcedony, very convex on both

It is

the figure of the " Chnuphis Serpent" rearing himself aloft

169

170

f
Figs. 169, 170, 171.

in act to dart, crowiled with the seven vowels, the cabalistic

gift to

Man, signifying " speech."

The

reverse presents the

triple " S.S.S." coiled around the " Phallus."

In
the

fig.

170 we have the Prince of "Wales's Feathers, from

of

Tomb

Cathedral.
Lis, " Ich

Edward the Black Prince, in Canterbury This badge presents the idea of the " Fleur-deI serve
!"

Dien !" "

Fig. 171 represents the

are the

Egyptian Triple Plumes, which

same badge

as the " Fleur-de-Lis"

and the Prince of

"Wales's Feathers,

meaning the " Trinity."

TEE TEMPLE AT DELPHI.

Fig. 172

257

also

(fflwfe)

referred to as

fig.

191

is

a Gnostic

Gem.

It represents the "

Chnuphis Serpent," spoken of

at page 220.

A famous inscription
portal of the

(Delphic E) was placed above the

Temple

at Delphi.

This inscription was a

XNOVMIC

CHNUPHIS.
Fig. 172.

single letter, namely, the letter E, the

name

of which in

Greek was E, which

is

the second person of the present of

et/it,

the indicative of the verb

and

signifies "

Thou

art

;"

being, as Plutarch has iaterpreted

it,

the salutation of the

god by those who entered the Temple.

See Plutarch de

Fig. 173.

apud Delph.

Lord Monboddo's Origin and Progress

vol.
ii.

of

Language (1774),

p. 85, refers to this letter E.

The Delphic "E" means the number "Five,"

This " Delphic E"
is also

or the

half of the Cabalistic Zodiac, or the Five Ascending Signs.

the Seleucidan Anchor.

s

It

was

258

THE B08ICBUCIANS.
it is

adopted by the Gnostics to indicate the " Saviour," and

frequent in the talismans and amulets of the early Christians.

It is one of the principal

gems of the

Gnostics,

and

is

cameo in
foUows

flat relief.

One of the charges

:

against the Knights Templars was as

" That they bound, or touched, the head of an idol

their

with cords, wherewith they bound themselves about

shirts or next their skins" (" Processus contra Templarios,"

Dugd. Monast. Ang.

is

vol. vi. part

ii.

pp. 844-46, &c.).

There
belts,

something strange about these cords, cordons, ropes,

bands, baldrics (also in the term " belted earls").

are always
girdles,

These

male accessories
as the

except the " zones," sashes, or

worn

mark

of virgins, which cinctures

may

yet draw their symbolic meaning from this same " umbilicus''

in question.

The
at

reader wiU notice also the con-

nection of these ideas and the practice in the

of the

" Lupercal,"

the

February

Eoman race Eoman religious

At
these
it

solemnities (February of the " Fishes").

was

the custom of the runners to flog bystanders, pm-timhrly

women, with thongs or cords

to be the racers'

which were probably intended

Julius Csesar,

own

girdles.

Mark Antony,

and Calphurnia form a group

illustrative of this meaning.

Thus

Shakspeai-e
"

Our

elders say,

The

barren, touched in this holy chase,

off the sterile curse."

Shake

Julius CcEsar, act.

i.

sc. 2.

Is this the origin of the

custom of the people pelting

or

flogging each other at the Italian Carnivals?

It seems

highly probable.
these

The

Carnivals occur at the same time as

Eoman Lupercalia. Many early Norman mouldings

Thongs,
ties,

exhibit various examples

to bind

of the cable.

and network are seen

FIGURES OF THE
all

''

OENTAUBir

159

the significant figures in the early English and Irish

Is there any connection between these bonds, or

churches.
ties,

or lacings, with the " cable-tow" of the initiates

?

among

the Masons

Perhaps the " tow" in this " cable-tow" means

it

the " Tan," or stood for

originally.

Eeference

may here be
252).

made to the snake which forms the girdle of the Gnostic" Good
Shepherd" in the illustration
later in our

book

(fig.

The cable-mouldings

in Gothic architecture are intended

to carry an important meaning.

They

are found in the

pointed or Christian architecture in continual close connection with the triplicated zigzag, the Vandykes, or " aquarii"
as

we

designate them, because

all

these architectural forms,

which are hieroglyphs, mean the feminine or " Second Principle,"

and express the sign of Aquarius, with

its twin-fishes,

its

watery or

lunar hints,

and

its

Jonah-like anagrams of

the "Kedeemer."

Hence the

boat-like, elongated, peculiar

is

form called the

vesica piscis,

which

the oblong frame con-

tinually set over doors

and windows and elsewhere in Gothic

in connection with these

churches, to contain eiBgies of the Saviour, or Virgin Mary,

or groups from the

New Testament

Two

Sacred Persons.

A
is

doorway in Barfreston Church,

Kent, supplies an excellent example of the employment of

this oblong figure
;

which

also Babylonian,

and means the

female member

as its starting-point.
figures of

In a previous part of our book we give various

the prows or cutwater-heads of gondolas, in which

we

clearly

show the origin of their peculiar form, which represents the

securis, or

"sacrificial axe," that originally expressed the

" hook of Saturn."

The " Bu-Centaur"

"ox"

indicates the fabu-

lous being, the bicorporate

as will be found
taur."

or "horse" and

"Man," Doge
of

by

a separation of the syllables " Bu-Cenof the state galley of the

It is the

name

Venice, used on the occasion of his figurative marriage with

26o

THE BOSianUCIANS.
who was
sacrificial

the Adriatic, or espousal of the "Virgin of the Sea,"

Cybele of the "

hook."

The hatchet

of Dis, the

glaive, the halberd, the

reaping-hook of Ceres, the crescent

all

moon, the " Delphic E," are

the same mystic figure. The

prow of the gondola

exhibits unmistakably the securis and

fasces conjointly, or the axe of the sacrifice

and the rods

for

the scourging of the victim

for his burning,

first, if

human, and afterwards

Lictorshave
this peculiar cut-

the rods being the firewood.

From

their

name

probably from " Llec."

water arose the Dragon-beak, the " Prow,'' or " Frow," the
figure-head and fiddle-head.

They have all a feminine origin.

His
right

Fig. 174 represents "S. Johan" (St. John), from an early

woodcut of the Twelve Apostles.

hand

is raised

in the act of the holy sign, whilst his

left
;

clasps the chalice

is

of the " S.S.," or Sacrament of "Wine

in the cup

a sala-

Fig. 174.

mander, signifying the

"H. G.

This

is

St.

John

the.

Apostle, the author of the " Apocalypse ;" or the "Sanctus Spiritus," who baptises in the mystic Eucharist with the " Holy Ghost and with Fire."

The foUowing
is

are the

names of the angels of the planets,

according to the Gnostics.

At

the beginning of

all

things
Ser-,

Jehovah (Sabaoth), Victory; at the end, the "Old

TSE DRAGON AS AN ENSIGN.

pent" (Ophis).

261
(Intelli-

Between these are the Seraphim

the

gences) and Cherubim (Benevolences), and their representatiyes.

Origen
;

calls

Sun, Adonai;
;

the Moon, lao;

;

Jupiter, Eloi

Mars, Sabao

Oral,

Yenus

Astaphai, Mer-

cury; Ildabaoth, Saturn.

The name Tarasque

Northern Nation.
the

is

giyen for the Dragon of a

?)

(Qy. the " Hill of Tara," &c.

Under

Eoman Emperors, and under the Emperors of Byzantium,

its

every cohort or centurion bore a dragon as

destus,
lib.
ii.

ensign (MoB.e Militari,

De Vocaiul Rei Milit;

c. xiii.
;

Elav. Veget.

De

Georget, Insig. Europ. he. at).

Matthew of

Westminster, speaking of the early battles of this countiy of

England, says

"

The King's Place was hetwem the Dragon

and the Standard"

"Eegius locus
the
first

fuit inter

draconem

et

standardum" (Lower's
is

Curiosities of Heraldry, p. 96).

This

the undoubted origiu of the ensign's " pair of colours" in

;

a battalion

viz.
is

colour,

or

" King's Colour,"

;

whose place

to the right, is properly the standard

and

the second colour, or the "regimental colour," to which

is

assigned the left-hand, or female, or sinister place,

is

the

" Dragon.''

The Dragon was supposed

to conduct to vic-

tory, because its figure

was a most potent charm.

The

standards and guidons of the cavalry follow the same magic

rule.

The

planets are supposed by the astrologers and alche-

mists to exercise dominion more particularly in the order

following,

and

to produce effects

upon

their

own

appropriate

undermentioned metals, on planetarily corresponding days. These are Sol, for gold, on Sunday; Luna, for silver, on

Monday
silver,

Mars, for iron, on Tuesday

;

Mercury, for quick-

on Wednesday Jupiter,
;

for tin,

on Thursday ; Yenus,
on Saturday

for copper, on Friday

and Saturn,
;

for lead,

(Lucas's Travels, p. 79

Count Bernard of Treviso).

The

262

THE B OSICR UCIANS.

supposed to be contained, are those over

emblematical sculptures, in which the whole enigma of the art

of transmutation
is

the fourth arch of the Cemetery of the Innocents, at Paris,

as

you go through the great gate of St.-Denis, on the

side.

right-

hand

They were placed

there

by Nicholas Flamel.
it is

The
beards.

old traditions, from time immemorial, aver that

neither proper for sailors nor for servants of the sea to wear

That they have never done so is true, except at those times when profound mythic meanings were not understood or were neglected.
arises

This smoothness of a

sailor's face

from the

fact that the sea

has always been mytho-

logically feminine,

and that

sailors

and men of the

sea are

under the protection of the " Queen of the Deep," or the

" Virgin of the Sea."

Hence the

figure of Britannia,' with

her sceptre of the sea or trident, and not that of Neptune. The Virgin Mary, the " Star of the Sea" and Patroness
of Sailors, rules

and governs the ocean, and her colours

In

are the

ultramarine of the " Deep,"

and sea-green, when viewed in this

all

phase of her divine character.

representations, ancient

or modern, sailors have beardless faces, unless they belong to

the reprobate and barbarian classes,

outlaws,

such

as pirates and
off devo-

and men who have supposedly thrown

tional observance,

and

fallen into the

rough recusancy of

mere nature.
Fig. 175 is a very curious design from Sylvanus Morgan,

an old herald.

Above
is

is

the spade, signifying here the

distaff,

phallus; and below

the

or instrument of woman's

work, meaning the answering member, or Yoni; these are

united by the snake. We here perceive the meaning of the rhymed chorus sung by Wat Tyler's mob " When Adam delved" (with his spade), " and Eve span" (contributing her
:

part of the work), " where was then the Gentleman ?"

or

what, under these ignoble conditions, makes difference of

THE CHALICE AS A SYMBOL.

degree
truth
(.".

263

It is supposed that Shakspeare plays

upon

this

when he makes

his clown in

HamUt observe,
who
we

" They"

e,

Adam

and Eve) " were the

iirst

ever bore arms.''

shall see

By

a reference to the foot of the figure,

what

these arms were, and discover male and female resemblances

in the shape of the man's " escutcheon" and the woman's

diamond-shaped " lozenge."

As thus

is

the shield of

arms, or " spade," or " spada," or " male implement," on man's

own

side, or dexter side

h is the " lozenge," or distaff, or

" article representative of woman's work," on her proper

side, or

the

left or sinister side.

1
'

Baron.

Fig. 175.

i-

" Femme.''

A chalice
The
chalice
is

is,

in general, the sign of the Priestly Order.

on the tombstone of a knight, or over the door of

St.

a castle,

a sign of the Knights Templars, of whom

John

the Evangelist was the Patron Saint.

The

" cup" was forPriests, in

bidden to the

laity,

and was only received by the

consequence of the decree of Pope Innocent III., a.d. 1215. It means the " S.S.," or Holy Spirit, to which we have frequently adverted.

We have carefully inspected

that which has been desig-

2 6+

THE B OSIOB UCIAN8.

crux

nated the

anUquarwrum, or the
famous Font, which
is

Puzzle of Antiof

quaries, namely, the

unknown and

hewildering antiquity, in the naye of Winchester Cathedral.

Milner (a feeble narrator and unreliable historian), in his

History of WincMster, has the following superficial notice of " The most distinguished ornaments on the tap this relic
:

are doves

'

Ireathing' " (they are

not

'

breathing,' they are

drinMng) " into phials surmounted with crosses ^cAe.

And

on the sides" (the north

side,

he should

say,

which

is faced

wrongly, and ought properly to front the east) " the doves
are again depicted with a salamander, emblematic of
allusion to that passage of St.

Matthew,

fire

in

'

He

shall baptise

you with the ffoly Ghost and with fire.' "

All the secrets of masonry are concealed in the Hebrew
or Chaldee language.

In the Fnst Chapter of the Gospel

is

according to
the Cabala, in

St. its

John

contained the mythical outhne of

highest part.

" Les anciens astrologues, dit le plus savant des Juifs"

(Maimonides), "ayant consacr^

leur,

h,

chaque plan^te une cmi-

un animal, un

lois,

un

metal,

un

fruit,

une

plante, ils

formaient de toutes ces choses \mQ figure on representation

de

I'astre,

observant pour cet effet de choisir

un instant a^proon tout autre

ils

prie,

un jour

heureux, tel que la conjonction,

aspect favorable.

Par leurs ceremonies (magiques)

croyles

aient pouvoir faire passer dans ces figures

on

idoles

influences des etres superieurs (leurs modSes). C'etaient ces

idoles qu'adoraient les Kaldeens-sabeens.
tiens, indiens,

Les pr^tres egypdieux h leurs

lis

perses, on

les croyait lier les

ciel

idoles, les faire le soleil et la

descendre du

a leur grL

menacent

lune de reveler les secrets des myst^res." Eusebius lamblicus, De Mysteriis Egyptiorum.

The mystic emblems

Greece, and

of the religions of India, China,

Kome

are closely similar,

and are

set forth ia

TEE "PBINOE OF TEE P&WEBS OF THE

countries, explaining their general principles.
societies are

AIR."
all

265

the omameiits on the friezes of the temples of

those

"Your popular

an emanation from the lodges of the Free-

masons, in Hke manner as these proceeded from the funeral

pile of the

Templars" {Castle of

fhe Tuilkries,

year

viii.).

Thus the " egg-and-tongue moulding"

(" egg and adder's

tongue," for the egg and the serpent were two of the emblems

of the Egyptian and Greek mysteries), the

St.

griffin,

the lion of

Mark, the honeysuckle-and-lotus ornament, the conTolu-

tions

and volutes, the horns

as floriations spriugiug

from the

lighted candelabra, the lotus and tori of Egypt, and the Greek

ornaments and

Eoman

templar ornaments, are aU related.

The names

of the " Three Kings," or " Shepherds,"

who

descried the Star of Annunciation iu the East, are Oaspai-,

Melchior, and Balthasar.

Caspar, or Gaspar,

is

the

"White

One ;" Melchior

is

the "

King of Light

;"

Balthasar, the
is

" Lord of Treasures." Balthasar, or Balthazar,

giut spelling of Belshazzar.

the Septua-

Linga

is

the old

name

of an Island near lona, caUed the

"Dutchman's Cap."
first

(Qy. the Phrygian cap? also the " cocked hat," and its recondite meaning ?) Gallus, or
is

the Cock,

sacred to Mars, whose colour

is red.

In this

connection, and as bespeaking

Hermes

or Mercurius, the

"messenger of the dawn," may have arisen the use of the

" cock," as the emblem supposedly of the
first

descrier of It probably

the daily light from the tops of the steeples.

signifies the phallic

myth.

The

grasshopper, dragon, arrow,

and

fox,

as

weathercocks,

have

undoubtedly a

remote

" Prince of reference to the same idea of symbolising the

the Powers of the Air."

The form of the Pointed Arch reached the Orientals in the shape of the Phryas we see in their Temples

gian

and Median Bonnet (LasceUes,

1820).

In these

266

THE BOSIOBUCIANS.
we hare mingling the
scarab, scorpion, S,

strange curres
or (-)

Cocks crow at day-dawn. Weathercocks turn to the wind, and inyite the meteoric or elementary influences, the " Powers
of the Air."
is

curious.

The question as to the mystic side of all this The fields of the air were supposed by the Rosi-

crucians to be filled with spirits.

" Tons

les

Lamas
est ce

portent la mitre, on bonnet conique,

soleil.

qui etait I'embltoe du

Le Dalai-Lama, ou immense
vieilles relations appelaient le

prtoe de La,

que nos

pretre Jean, par I'abus

le

du mot persan Djehdn, qui vent

pretre

dire
se

monde.

Ainsi

le

Monde,

le

dieu Monde,

tient parfaitement."

Volney, Ruines,

p. 251.

(Qy. Prester-

John

Qy. also this rerbal connection with " Saint John,"

as if Pretre

John ?)

In the old Norman-French Maistre

is

frequently

met

for Mattre.

This Prestre, or Prester (Angliprobably no other than the Priest

cised), or Pretre

John,

is

or High-Priest " John," otherwise Saint John, or the " Saint-

The recognition of the + in the Great Llama, AlAma, Ama, Anima (Soul, Spirit), Abna, El-Om, &c., meanEsprit."

ing "white,"

is

very curious.

The antiquary Bryant

is

positirely of opinion,

from the very names of Columbkil and

lona, that this island lona was anciently sacred to the

Ai-kite divinities.

was the island of

The great asylum of the Northern Druids Hu or lona, Vs Colan, or Columba

the

{Mythology and Bites of

Davies, 1809, p. 479).

British Druids, by

Edward

The

glories

around sacred persons and objects, which

continual in theological or heraldic

have straight-darting and curvilinear or wavy or serpentine

rays alternately,
illustration
;

are

which waved and straight rays alternately imply

a deep mystery.
n,

They are constant symbols in the sacred and are found upon sacramental cups they are set
;

IDOLATRY OF THE " H0BN8."

as the symbolical radii

267

around

reliquaries,

and they appear

straight spires

as the mystic fiery circle of the Pyx.

The

and the brandished waved

sefraphi) gladii, or

flames, or cherubic (or

rather

crooked swords guarding Paradise, imply

two of the chief Christian mysteries.

possibly a remote hint of

In the curyed

spires

of flame, alternating with the aureole or ring of glory, there

is
T;
,

or the' " Eeconciler of the

"Worlds Visible and Invisible," or " S.S."

To
as
it

account for the universal deification of "horns" in

architecture all over the world, as its symbolic keynote,

were,

which

sigma

has

been

transmitted

into

modem emblematic
ia

science,

and iacorporated unconsciously

into the ornaments and elevated iato the high places even

Christian buUdiags, an old Talmudist

lochay by name
adoration

hazards the

Simeon

Ben-

startliag conjecture that this

arose

origiuaUy ia

the

supernatural light of
:

knowledge of the old day,

for the following reasons

the
is,

strange explanation which this mysterious writer gives

that the boviae animals would have themselves

become men

in their future generations, but for that divine arrest which

interfered athwart as

it

were,

and wasted the ruminative

magnetic force; which otherwise miraculously would have

effected the transformation,

by urging the powers of the

brain from the radix of the rudimentary templar region into

the enormous branching, tree-like, then improvised appendages,

where

this

possibility or

extension of the nervous

lines

became spoiled and

attenuate, solidified

and degraded.

Growth and development

or affinity governed

are

assumed as taken from expan-

sion and radiation off a nervous sensitive centre, by election

by an

invisible

Power operating from

without.

It

is

to descend very deep into cabalistic and

Talmudical mysteries to gain comprehension of an idea

concerning the origin of this absurd worship of animal horns.

z6g

THE BOSIOBUOIANS.
The
cabalist

Simeon Ben-Iochay declares that

it

was in

gratitude for this changed intention, and because the creature

man became "Man," and

not the bovine creatures,

S
e

V
Fig. 176.

The Templar Banner, "Eeauseaut."

*'

catastrophe which might have happened, except for this di-

version of the brain-power into horns" (mere fable or

all this

sounds

!),

dream as

^that

the Egyptians set up the very "horns"

Fig. 177-

Fig. 178.

Fig. I79.

Arches of the Temple Church, London. Symbol of the B.V.M. Also

Delphic Ej or Seleuci-

Eight-pointed
Cross,

Bhuddist
Soldiers

Teutonic Knights.

"Poor

of the Temple."

dan Anchor,

Fig. 180.

Fig. 181.

Fig. 182.
St.

Knights of Malta.

Cross Potent, Knights

Hospitallers.

John.

(Hospital of

St. Cross,

Winchester.

to worship as the real thing

the depository or " ark" into

Thus the
means.

which the supematm-al " rescue" was committed.

horns of the animal

as the idol standing for the

EGYPTIAN AND GOTHIC F0BM8 IDENTICAL.

equally as another representatiTe figure
sive of the
{\h.Q

269

pMllus), expres-

mighty means to which man's multiplication

was intrusted

were

exalted for adoration, and placed as

M6
Fig. 1S3.

Egyptian Torus, Lotus Enrichment, and various Lunar Symbols.

the trophies heroically

nature,"

"won

even out of the reluctance of

and adored, not

for themselyes,

but for that of

which they spoke.

Shakspeare has several covert allusions to the dignity of
the

myth

of the " Horns." There is

these spoils of the chase

much

more, probably, in

^the

branching horns or the antlers

Fig. 184.

Fig. 185.

Temple of Apollinspolis Magna, in Upper Egypt.

Norman

Capital, Door-shaft:

Honeysuckle-and-Lotus Ornament, early example.

than

is

usually supposed.

They

indicate greater things

than when they are only seen placed aloft as sylvan trophies. The crest of his late Royal Highness Prince Albert displays
the Eunic horns, or the horns of the Northern mythic hero.

79

THE

B.

OSJOB UOIANS.

They were always a mark of princely and of conquering eminence, and they are frequently observable in the crests and

Fig. i86.

Urffion.

Fig. 187.

Winged
189

Disc.

000
Fig. 188.
Fig. 189. Fig. igo.

IonicGreek: " Egg-and-Tongiie" Moulding (two of the

Emblems

of the Mysteries).

Grecian Motilding, expressing Religious Mysteries. Corinthian Temple of Vesta. Central flower, probably the Egyptian Lotus.

blazon of the soldier-chiefs, the Princes of Germany.

They

come from the

original Taut, Tat, Thoth, Teut,

whence

Fig. 191.

Pantheon

at

Rome.

Fig. 192. Volute.

Fig. 193. Corinthian.

" Teuton" and " Teutonic." These names derive from the mystic Mercurius Trismegistus," Thrice-Master, Thrice-

lOma, CORINTHIAN, AND GOTHIC VOLVES.

Mistress,"

171

for this

personage

is

double-sexed

"Phoebe

above, Diana on earth, Hecate below."

Fig. 194.
Fig. 196.

Ionic Capital, Erecthseuni at Athens.

;

Fig. 195.

Composite features.
Volutes.

Fig. 197. Fig. I98.

Fig. 199.

Temple of Vesta, or the Sybil, atTivoli Ram's Horns for Temples of EUora and Bheems-Chlori (Mokundra Pass). India and Greece (similar capitals). Greek Corinthian: Choragic Monument, Athens.

Fig. 200.

Norman

Capital: Foliated Ornament, resembling the Honeysuckle and Lotus.

the Fig. 177, ante (from the arches of

Temple Church,
it is also

London), is a symbol of the Blessed Virgin;" Delphic E," or " Seleucidan Anchor."

the

272

TEE B08ICBVCIANS.
The
" horns" of the

Talmud account

for the

mytho-

logical

Mmotaur, the Bucenfewr, Pan

and Priapus, the

Fig. 201.

Canterbury Cathedral

Fig. 202.

Canterbury Cathedral;

Volutes of the Corinthian form.

Corinthian Scrolls or Horns,

" Sagittary" or Centaur, the sign " Sagittarius," and perhaps

all

bicorporate

human and animal

forms.

In the group of figures on the previous page, showing

the various classical forms of the volutes, or flourished horns,

in the Corinthian, Ionic, and Composite capitals, a close

afBnity will be remarked with

examples of capitals with

horns or volutes from the temple of Ellora, in India, and

other Indian and Persian temples
parison, in the illustration.
:

placed under, for com-

Various mouldings, both Gothic and Classic, present

shapes drawn from
the

astronomical sign

"Aquarius."

These

signs, or ciphers, are significant of the

"Sea" and of

the "Moon."

Glyphs resembling "fishes" mean lona, or

are also symbols of the " Saviour,"
left

Jonah.

They

when they
and in

occur amidst the relics

by the

early Christians,

forms of the

first

Christian centuries.

Orb

or

*'

Mound.

Vertical

Arch

Early Norman.

(Temple Church.)

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-EIGHTH.

ROSICRUCIANISM IN STRANGE SYMBOLS.

the following part of oui- book

we

supply, in a

series of figures, the succession of changes to

which

the most ancient head-covering,

ficant hieroglyph,

the

in itself a signi-

Phrygian

cap, the classic Mithraic

cap, the sacrificial cap, or ionnet conique, all deducing

from

common
all faiths.

symbolical

ancestor,
is

became

subject.

The

Mithraic or Phrygian cap

in
It

the origin of the priestly mitre

priest in sacrifice.

was worn by the

it

When

worn by a male,
forward
;

had

its crest,

comb, or point,
it

set jutting

when worn by

a female,

bore the same promi-

nent part of the cap in reverse, or on the nape of the neck,

as in the instance of the

Amazon's helmet, displayed in

all

old sculptures, or that of PaUas- Athene, as exhibited in the

figures of Minerva.

The

peak, pic, or point, of caps or hats

all refer to

(the term " cocked hat" is a case in point)

the

same

idea.

This point had a sanctifying meaning afterwards

it,

attributed to
crest,

when

it

was

called the christa, crista, or

tuft.

which

signifies

a triumphal top, or

The

" Grena-

dier Cap,"

and the loose black Hussar Cap, derive remotely

T

from the same sacred, Mithraic, or emblematical bonnet, or

27+

THE

BOSIOBUCIANr,.
in this instance, changes to black,

tigh pyramidal cap.

because
it is

It,

devoted to the illustration of the "fire-workers"

(grenadiers), who,

among modem

military, succeed the Vul-

canists, Cyclopes, classic

"smiths," or servants of Vnlcan, or

Mulciber, the artfal worker

among the metals

among the

in the

fire,

or

amidst the forces of nature.

reference to the high cap

This idea will be found by a

Persians, or
Fire-

Worshipers

and to the black cap among the Bohemians

All travellers in Eastern lands will re-

and in the East.

member

that the tops of the minarets reminded

them

of the

high-pointed black caps of the Persians.

The Phrygian Cap

played on the head

is

a most recondite antiquarian form

It is dis-

the symbol comes from the highest antiquity.

of the figure sacrificing in the celebrated

sculpture, called the " Mithraic Sacrifice" (or the Mythical

Sacrifice), in

the British

Museum.

This loose cap, with the

all

point protruded, gives the original form from which

helmets or defensive headpieces, whether Greek or Barbarian,

deduce.

As

a Phrygian Cap, or Symbolising Cap,

its colour.

it

is

always sanguine in

It then stands as the "

;

Gap
it

of Liberty," a revolutionary form

is

also, in

another way,

even a civic or incorporated badge.

It

It is always masculine
obelisk, the

in its meaning.

marks the " needle" of the

whether

crown or
ative.

tip oi \h^ phallus,

"human"
rite.

or represent-

It has its origin in the rite of circumcision

unac-

countable as are both the symbol and the

The

real

meaning of the lonnet rouge, or cap of liberty,

has always been regarded as a most

has been involved from time immemorial in deep obscurity,

notwithstanding that
it

important hieroglyph or figure. It signifies the supernatural

simultaneous " sacrifice" and " triumph."
It has descended

from the time of Abraham, and

it is

supposed to emblem

the strange mythic rite of the " circumcisio p-&putti:'

The

THE PHBYOIAN

OAF.

275

loose Phrygian bonnet, bonnet conique, or

"cap of liberty,"
for,

inay be accepted as figuring, or standing

that detached

integument or husk, separated from a certain point or knob,

which has various names in

refuse of which (absurd

different languages,

and which
spoil or

supplies the central idea of this sacrificial rite

the
may

and unpleasant

as it

seem)

is

borne
It is

aloft at

once as a " trophy" and as the " cap of liberty."

sign,

now a magic

and becomes a talisman of supposedly

particular dark reason it
is

inexpressible power

from what

would be
tion,"

difl&cult to say.

The whole

a sign of " initia^

and of baptism of a peculiar kind.

The Phrygian

cap, ever after this first inauguration, has stood as the sign

of the " Enlightened."

The

heroic figures in most Gnostic

illustrations,

Gems, which we give iu our

kind.

The

sacrificer in the sculptured

have caps of this group of the " Mithraic

Sacrifice,"

among

the marbles in the British

Museum, has a
of the

Phrygian cap on his head, whilst in the act of striking the

BuU

with the poniard

meaning

the
is

oflBce

immo-

lating priest.

The

bonnet conique

the mitre of the

Doge
all

of Venice.

Besides the bonnet rouge, the Pope's mitre

mitres or conical head-coverings

nay,

have their name from the

The cap
of the grenais
;

terms "Mithradic," or "Mithraic." The origin of this whole

class of
dier,

names

is

Mittra, or Mithra.
is alike all

the shape of which

over Europe,

related

to the Tartar lambskin caps, which are dyed black

is

and

it

black also from

its

association with

Vulcan and the "Fire-

Worshipers" (Smiths). The Scotch Glengarry cap will prove on examination to be only a " cocked" Phrygian. All the
black conical caps, and the meaning of this strange symbol,

came from the East.

The

loose black fur caps derive from

the Tartars. The " Cap of Liberty" (Bonnet Rouge), the Crista

or'

276

TSE BOSICBUCIANS.
(Amazon) helmet,
all

Crest (Male), and the Female

mean

the same idea

is,

in the instance of the female crest the hnol

however, depressed,

as

shown ia the

figures below.

a
Fig. 203.

wcj)

MYTHIC HEAD-OOVEBS.
triangular flaps, -wliich

77

hang down

like a jelly-bag, consist

in a double slip of cloth, which,

when

necessary, folds round

the soldier's face on each

side,

and forms a conxfortable

Fig. 211.

Fig. 112.

Fig. 213.

Motley or Scaramouch

"Bonnet Conique," cloven and set about with bells.

Knight's head -gear, with " torse. '*

Cap

of Maintenance.

night-cap.

In our

service, owe single slip is left to fly."

Sir

"Walter Scott to T. Orofton Croker, 7th July 1827.

(Qy.

whether the above-named double fly of the Hussar Cap be not

Fig. 214.

Fig. 2 IS.

Fig. 216.

Tartar or Cossack Findouble Cap, with

pendants.

Mediaeval Cap
of Estate.

Double Mitre Horns

of the Jester or Buffoon, set about with
bells or jingles.

the dependent ears or horns of the original Motley?)

The Husborrowed

sars wear the original fur cap of Tubal-Oain, or the Smiths, or

" Artful Workers in Nature." The name Hussar

is

Fig. 217.

278

THE E08IOBVCIAN8.
The
act
pelisse, properly

patroness of these Ishmaelitisli irregular light troops.

dolman or

worn on the
refers to

left

shoulder of the

Hussar, has

its signification

and origin in the following

related in Scripture, which

a certain Eosicrucian

myth

"

Shem and Japheth took

a garment" (a cover or

Fig. 220.

Fig. 221.
Artillery.

Fig. 222.

Hussar Conical Cap.

Sapeur, Pioneer.
it

extra piece of clothing), " and laid

upon both

their shoul-

ders" (on the left shoulder of each), " and went lachward,

and covered

their father

Noah."

It is astonishing

how

successfully this mythic act, with its original strange Eosi-

crucian meaning,

should have been hidden away in this

Fig. 223.

Fig. 224.

Fig. 225.

Fur Cap of the Sword-bearer

(mythic ^/a^ij)of the City
of London.

Turkish,

Judge, in imitation of the Egyptian Klaft the black Coif, placed on the sen;

sorium,

is

the mark or
(Saturn).

" brand" of Isis

apparently little-corresponding, trivial fact, of the wearing of the Hussar loose cloak or pelisse {pallium or pall) on the
left

or sinister shoulder

which

is

the shoulder nearest to

that

woman: because the Talmudists say from the left Jumd.

the

Man was moM

Eegarding the Templar

following remarks.

insignia,
flag,

we may make" the

or " Beauseant," was

The famous

their distinguishing symbol.

Beauseant

^that

is

to say,

in the Gallic tongue, Bien-sSant, because they are fair and

SYMBOLS OF THE TEMPLABS.

to His enemies

279

honourable to the friends of Christ, but black and terrible " VexUlum bipartitum, ex Albo et Nigro,
:

quod nominant
seant,'

'

Beau-seant,' id est, Gallicd lingud,

'

Bien-

eo quod Christi amices candidi sunt et benigni,

inimiees vero terribiles atque nigri" (Jac. de Titr. Hist,

Hierosol apud Oesta Dei, cap.

Ixv.).

The

Cardinal de Vitry

is totally

uninformed as to the

meaning and purpose indicated in this mysterious banner. Its black and white was originally derived from the Egyptian
sacred " blaok and white," and
ficant meanings.
it

conveys the same signi-

Now,
is

in the heraldic sense,

white.

as

we

shall soon see,

there
White
other

no colour

Argent

is

the silver of the moon's light,

it is light generally,

the light of the "

sition to darkness,
is

woman
which

;"

or

in oppo-

is

the absence of all colour.

the synthesis and identity of all the colours

it is light.

in

words,

Thus white

is

blazoned, in the correct

heraldic sense, as also in reference to its humid, feminine

origin (for, as the old heralds say, "light was begotten of

darkness," audits "type, product, and representative, woman,

also"), as the

melancholy or

silver light of the

moon, " Ar-

gent

;" also,
;

in the higher heraldic grade, " Pearl," as signilastly,

fying tears
crescent
]),

" Luna," whose figure or mark

is

the

or

^c^

which

moon of hope), or moon resting on her

new moon (or the the moon of the Moslem (or " horned
is

either the

back").

Black (or salh,

is

sab., sablat,

Sat, Saturn) is the absence of light, and

blazoned "sable,"

diamond (carbon, or the densest of matter), " without form and void," but cradle of possibilities, "end" being taken as
synonymous with " beginning."
It is sab., or Saturn,

whose

mark

is

and who

is

both masculine and feminine

sex
is

being indifferent to this " Divine Abstraction, whose face

masked in Darkness."

28o

TSE M OSICE UOIANS.

Lykos

"wolf," lyM "light;" whence comes Lux (Yol1

ney,

st

English edition,

792, p. 378).

" Je" and " V" are of

at-

Tartar origin.

It is probable that St. John's College

Cambridge
Templars
foundation.

is

the Domus Templi of the

Eormd Church

of the

there.

The
is

present St. John's is only of

modem

There

annexed

to,

or connected with, this

church an almshouse called "Bede's House," the name of

which has puzzled

all

the antiquaries.

There

is little

doubt

that this was the

original

Domus

Templi, the house of

Buddha, corrupted into Bede, and meaning " wisdom."

"A
wliich,

Discourse concerning the Tartars, proving (in

Israelites, or

all

probability) that they are the

Ten

Tribes;

being taken captire by Salmaneser, were transplanted

By Giles Fletcher, Doctor of Both Laws, and sometime Ambassador from Elizabeth, Queen of England,
into Media.
to the

Emperor of Eussia."

This was found in Sir Francis

Nethersole's study after his death {Memoirs of the Life of William Whiston, 1749).

Mr. CaYendish, an eminent chemist, " had reason to be

persuaded that the very water
itself

consisted solely of inair."

flammable air united to dephlogisticated

clusion has since been strengthened very

This

last con-

much by some
p.

sub-

sequent experiments of Dr. Priestley's (see

Criticism, tsnding to illustrate

299 oi Morsels of some few Passages in the Holy

Scriptures upon Philosophical Principles.

8vo.

2d

edition, 2 vols.

London

J. Davis,

Chancery Lane, 1800).

is

The

jewel of the Rossi-crucians (Rosicrucians)

formed

of a transparent red stone, with a red cross on one side, and a red rose on the otherthus, it is a crucified rose. The

Eossior Eosycrucians' ideas concerning this emblematical red cross and red rose probably came from the fable of Adonis who was the sun whom we have seen so often cru-

cifiedbeing changed into a red rose by Venus (see

Drum-

THE " ROSE" CRUCIFIED.

mond's
Origines, toI.
iii.

281
is

p.

izi).

Rus (which
Hebrew
40
50',

Ras

in

Chaldee) in Irish signifies " tree," " knowledge," " science,"

"magic," "power."
the

This

is

the

Ras.
is

Hence
p. 84).

Persian Rustan {Val. Col Hib. vol.

ancient
Sardica,

iv. pt.

i.

"The
'

in

lat.

now

called

Sophia;' the ancient

Aquineum, Buda, or Buddha.

These

were, I believe, old

names

restored" {vide D'Anville's Atlas).

The
is

society bearing the

name

of the Eossicrncians (or Eosi-

cruxians)

is closely allied

with the Templars. Their emblem

;

monogram
would
cross."

or jewel

or, as

malicious and bigoted ad-

versai'ies

say, their "object of adoration" is a

"red

rose

on a

Thus

,/

Fig. 416.

When

it

can be done,

it is

surrounded with a glory, and

is

placed on a Calvary.

This

the Nam-utz, Natsir, or Eose

bf Isuren, of Tamul, or Sharon, or the Water-Eose, the Lily

Padma, Pema, Lotus " crucified"

for the salvation of

man-

crucified in the heavens at the Vernal Equino?;.

It is cele-

brated at that time by the Persians ia what they call their Nou-Eose.. K"eros, or Naurutz (Malcolm's History of
Persia, vol.
ii.

p.

406).

The Tudor

Eose, or Rose-en- Soleil

(the Eose of the Order of the Garter), is the Eosicrucian " Eed Eose," crucified, with its rays of glory, or golden sun-

beams, or mythical thorns, issmnt from its white, immaculate "centre-point," or " Uly-point" all which have

%%%

THE B0SI0BU0IAN8.

farther occult meanings lying hidden in theurgic mysticism.

All these are spoken in the famous " Eound Table" of the

Prince (and Origin) of Christian knighthood,

King

Arthur.

His table

is

now hanging on

the wall, dusty

and

neglected,

oyer the " King's Seat or Bench" in the Com-t-House on the

Castle

HiU

of our ancient Winchester.

But upon

this ab-

struse subject of the "

ftilly

Bound Table" we have spoken more

See Elias Ashmole.
for

in another place.

Pope John XIV., about the year 970, issued a Bull

the baptising of bells

" To cleanse
To

the air of devils

;"

with

which

it

was imagined to be

full in

the time of storms or of

public commotion.

this end, the

kettledrums of the
all extra-

Lacedemonians were also supposed to be used on

ordinarily harmful occasions.
obelisks,

Pagodas are uprights and

with the same meaning as other steeples, and their

angles are set about with bells, which are agitated in the

wind, and are supposed to exercise the same power of driving

off evil spirits.
bells of the

Vesper-bells secure spiritual serenity.

The
in

churches are tolled in thunderstorms

still,

some parishes in England, supposedly to disperse the and to open their rifts for the returning sunshine.

clouds,

Edward the
ordinary man.

First of

England was in every way an

extra-

There are certain reasons for supposing that

It is to be

he was

really initiated in Eastern occult ideas.

remembered that he made the Crusade to Palestine. He invited to England Guido dalla Colonna, the author of the
Troy-Book, Tale of Troy; and he also invited Raymond
Lully into his kingdom.

Raymond

Lully

is

affirmed to

have supplied to Edward six millions of money, to enable

him

to carry

on war against the Turks.

The

origin of the

rose-nobles is from the Rosicrucians.

No.

I.

Catherine-wheel window

12

columns.

Query,
?

the 12 signs, with the Rose, Disc, or Lotus, in the centre

MOBES OF THE " SOLDIEB-MONKS."

This fountain seems to be built of fragments

283

From a Saracenic fountain near the Council-House, Jerusalem.

;

the proof of

which

is

that this inscribed stone (No. 2)

is

placed over half

the discus.
cenic,

The whole

structure,

though Oriental or Sarafeatures.

abounds with Gothic or pointed

Query, " Aquarii"

Such are

the

frets,

the spandrel-work, the hood-moulding, &c.

?

The j^giwrn always indiThe Baptisteries cate the Lunar element, or the female. dedicated to St. John, or to the S.S., are eight-sided. The
No.
3.

No.

NO. 2

"lit

"I

III.

'^'Mni;/nii-'Mii/'/;' _nj;9 uL.^/i,.,^,, ^ ;^,,^.,,,,

I-,3L^I>'"'
I

^^^
Fig.

No.

M7,

Baptist&ria in Italy follow the

same emblematical

rule.

The

sections into which the Order of the Knights of Malta were

divided were eight, answering to the eight points of the

cross,

which was

their

emblem.

The Order was composed

dis-

of eight nations, whereof the English, which was one,

appeared at the Eeformation.

The

colours of the monastic knightly orders were the

:

following

The Teutonic Knights wore

;

white, with the

eight-pointed black cross

the Knights of Malta wore black,

cross.

with the eight-pointed white

The

foregoing obtained

284
their

THE B0SI0RUGIAN8.
Black and White from the Egyptians.

The Knights The

Templars, or Eed-Cross Knights, wore white, with the eightpointed Bhuddist red cross displayed on their mantles.

Guardian of the Temple Chapel was called " Gustos Gapellcz"

{Gapella, a "kid," "star," "she-goat," also "chapel").
Attila,

sumamed

the " Scourge of God,"

is

represented as

haring worn a "Teraphim," or head, on his breast

snaky-haired head, which purported to be that of Nimrod,

whom

he claimed as his great progenitor.

This same Me-

dusa-like head

was an object of adoration to the heretical

followers of Marcion,

and was the Palladium

set

up by

Fig, azS.
I

Hindoo Pagoda

at Tanjore.

Antiochus Epiphanes, at Antioch, though

iiie

it

yisage of Charon.

This Charon

may be

has been called " Dis" or the

" Severe," or " Dark," Deity.

The human head

circle,
is

is

a magnet, with a natural electric

moving in the path of the sun.

and
is

The

sign of this ring

as fer

serpentine,

each

man

beiug considered

as his head is concerned

as magnetic.

The

positive pole of

the magnet

is

the os frontis, sinciput, os sublime.

The nega-

tive pole is the occiput.

Tonsure of the head is considered as a sacred observance. Hair (in se) is barbarous, and is the mark and investiture of

ENCAMPMENTS AND CHAPTEB-HOUSES.

the beasts.
riage.

28 285

The

Cabalists abstained from -wine and mar-

Tonsure

means "the

sun's disc"
iii.,

in

the East.

"Les Arabes,

dit Herodote, lib.

se rasent la t^te en
,

Pate

F1LIUS

5PIRJTU5-.
Fig. 229.

Anagram of the "Divine Powers and

tlie

Distinctions"

exemplifying
rasait, disent-ils,

Athanasian Creed.

rond et autour des tempes, ainsi que se

Bacchus" (Vohiey, Ruines,

servent les

p. 265).

"La
du

touffe

qui conchez

mnsulmans

est encore prise

soleil, qui,

Fig. 230.

les Egyptiens, etait peint,

au

solstice d'hiver, n'ayant plus

gu'un chevm sur

la tete"

" Les etoiles de la deesse de Syrie

286

THE BOSICBUaiANS.

et de la Diane d'fiphfise, d'oii d^riyent celles des prStres,

du zodiaqne." Fig. 230, Chapter-Houses of York Cathedral and of Salisbury Cathedral. Most of the Chapter-Houses of the Cathedrals are eight-sided.

portent les douze animaus

In

this they imitate the eight-sided

or " Bhuddist" cross of the Templars.

cap, capital, chapiter, tabernacle,

This

is

the crown,
templi, or

mythic domus

They are miniature, mystical Round Churches, or " Tors." The Chapter- Houses oblong in shape are imitatire of the " Ark" of the Mosaical Covenant. All the
domus
Dei.

mcn-tcocosnioy

Dragoiv's Heoo,

Micrc cosmos.

Drago
Fig. 231.

Basilicas are of this figure.

The symbol
is

is

a parallelogram,

or an oblong,

when the shape adopted

It then is the navis, " naTC," or ship

^which

that of the temples.

is

the " Argo."

" Les Chinois I'adorent dans F6t.

n'ayant ni le
les

chinoise ni le D, ce peuple a prononce F6t ce que

La langue

on Boiiddpar

Indiens et les Perses prononcent Bot, Bot, Bod, Bodd, oii bref F6t, an Pegou, est devenu Fota et

Fta." Query, Pthah (Vulcan) of the Egyptians, and the Teutonic F'b in "Friga" (the Runic Venus), "Flriga"

THE ^OLia DIGAMMA.

" Friday"
?

ag/

BF, PF,
is

are interchangeable letters (see

Arabic and Sanscrit vocabularies).

The ^olic Digamrna

with an aspirate,
often expressed

the crux of philologists.

The

ancients pronounced every

word which began with a vowel which had the sound of our tv, and was

by

or
,

v,

and

also y.

For

this,

the figure

of a double r, or

was invented, whence the name Di-fflolic,

gamrna ; which was

all

called

because the Cohans, of

the tribes, retained the greatest traces of the original

language.

Thus, the ^olians wrote or pronounced po'Vos,

FA.ca, velia.
-fflolic dialect,

The Latin language was

These

derived from the

and naturally adopted the Digamrna, which

sigi^ificant,

it

generally expressed by F.
V,

mysterious

sounds and characters

W, B, and

Fare reputed to be
The symit

the key of the Lunar, or Feminine, Apotheosis.

bol (or that meant in the symbol)
is

the key-note, as

were,

of

all

Grecian architecture and

art;

which

is all

beauty,

refinement, and elegance, with power at the highest.

'

Nails of the Passion."

(Three in the Greek Rite.)

M^Single-cloven Templar Ensign.

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-NINTH.

CONNECTION BETWEEN THE TEMPLARS AND GNOSTICISM.

|HE

branch sect of the Gnostics, called Basilideans,

properly Ophites, arose in the second

who were

name from Basilides, the chief of the Egyptian Gnostics. They taught that in the beginning there were Seven Beings, or ^ons, of a most excellent nature in whom we recognise the cabalistic Seven
century, deriving their
;

Spirits before the

Throne.

Two
is,

of these

first

iEons, called

Dyamis and Sophia

that

"Power" and "Wisdom"

is

engendered the angels of the highest order.

Abraxas, the Deity of the Gnostics,

The name of made up of the nu-

merical letters representing the total 365

the aggregate of

days of the solar year.

rests in his Son,

The

" manifestation" of Abraxas

the

Nqs (knowledge), or Christ, the chief of ^ons, who descended to earth and assumed the form of
;"

"

Man

was baptised, and

i.

crucified in appearance

(Mo-

sheim's Eccles. Hist. vol.

pp. 181-184).

The Manichseans,

who deny the

reality of the Crucifixion of the Son of God, and whose tenets concerning the Saviour Jesus are peculiar, derive their name from Manes, or Mani ; and their doctrine

was

first disseminated in Persia about the year 270. They speak mysteriously of the Anima Mundi, or " Hyle ;" they call

GNOSTIC MA TTER" OB

"

B OD Y."

289

this principle a deity,

and agree with the Eosicrucians in

asserting that

it is

a power presenting itself at once in re-

verse to the world and to the heayens, in as far as that, while

it is dai'k to

the one,

it is

light to the other

and contrari-

wise.

The Gnostic

hierarchy consisted of an arch-priest or

patriarch, twelve masters,

and seventy-two leaders or bishops.

and " darkit

The Gnostics
ness," and

called Matter, or Body, " evil,"

its

seemed nncertain whether, in

It

operations,

were active or passive.

was believed by these

sectaries

that there were successive emanations of intelligent beings,

these

were the

-fflons

(atoivEs),

^producing
set to

the various
in time

phases in creation.

In

this way, there arose

mighty being

the Demiurgewho
it is

work on the

inert

matter then existing, and out of

reconcilement, or restoration,

formed the world.

The

to the Bhuddistic ^feroma,

or fulness of light.

It is absorption into " annihilation," or

into victory, oblivious of the vexations of "life."

this fnhiess of light,
life,

Here, in

or independence of worlds, or of according to Man's the Supreme God has His

all

ideas,

habitation: but

it is

not "nothingness," according to

only because
it

oui-

ideas of nothing ;

it is so

has not any thing

Gnostics inclined
;

in

it

comprehensible.

The Alexandrian
it

to the opinion that Matter was inert, or passive

the Syrian

Gnostics, on the contrary, held that

was

active.

ValenSt.

tinus

came from Alexandria to Eome about

fell

a.d. 140.

Augustine

under the Gnostic influence, and retained

their beliefs

from his twentieth to his twenty-ninth year

A.D.

viz.

from 374 to 383

Their books have for

titles:

the Mysteries, the Chapters or Heads, the Gospd, and the

Treasure.

Refer to Beausobre, "Walch, Fuesslin, and Hahn.

The
mised

Gnostics held that Christ's teaching was not fully

understood even by His disciples; and therefore

to send, in

He
IT

pro-

due time, a

still

greater Apostle, the Parar-

29
clete,

TBE BOSIGBVOIANS.
who should
effectually separate truth

from falsehood.

This Paraclete appeared in Maui.

The West Front of

Lichfield Cathedi-al displays accu-

rately the mythic idea of the union of the

Male .and Female

Principles in the parallel double towers, which are uniform.

The claims for

are distinct
logists
;

the reading of the Egyptian hieroglyphics

as

and unhesitating,
if

put forward by the Egypto-

who,

industry eould have succeeded, certainly

would have

realised their desire.

But

it is

extremely doubt-

ful whether, after all,

they are not widely astray.

The

late

George Comewall Lewis, in his History of Ancient Astronomy, has disposed conclusively of the assumed correctness
Sir

of most of these interpretations.

principal of

The

Egyptologists,

the
Dr.

whom
Sir

are

ChampoUion, Eawluison,.Dean Milcritic),

man,

Sir

George Lewis (perhaps the best

Profes-

sor Wilson,

Gardner

Wilkinson, Dr.

Cureton,

Hincks, M. Oppert, -Mr. Fox Talbot,

with a large

amount

of ingenious and very plausible research and conjecture,

have not truly touched these enigmas.

baffling the curiosity of the

They yet remain,

moderns; and they are likely to preserve their real mysteries unread as long as the stones of
the Pyramids, and the remembrance of the Sphinx,

her visible figure,

there
is

^themselves

if

not

endure.

We

believe

that

no adequate mystical comprehension among

modem

decipherers to read the hopeless secrets

discovery

which

purposely evading
:

lie

locked tu the hieroglyphics

the most

successful readings are probably guesses only,

founded on

readily accepted likeness

and

likeliness.

The Temple Church, London,

figures,

presents

many

mj-thic

In the spandrels of the arches of the long church, besides the " Beau-

which have a Rosicrucian expression. which

seant,"

is

repeated in
:

armorial figures following

many places, there are the " Argent, on a cross gules, the

SYMBOLS IN THE TEMPLE CEURCS.

Agnus
Temple
cent
Dei, or Paschal

291

Lamb, or;" "Gules, the Agnus

;"

Dei, displaying over the right shoulder the standard of the

5

or,

a banner, triple cloven, bearing a cross gules

"Azure, a cross prolonged, potent, issuant out of the cres-

moon

argent, horns
or."

upwards

on either

side of the

cross, a star

This

latter figure

signifies the

Virgin

Mary, and displays the cross as rising like the pole, or mast of a ship (argha), out of the midst of the crescent moon, or
navis Kprora, curved at both ends
toiles or."
:

" azure, semee of es-

The

staff of the

Grand Master of the Templars

displayed a curved cross of four splays, or blades, red upon

white.

The

eight-pointed red Bhuddist cross was also one

of the Templar ensigns.

brandished

estoiks, or stars,

The

altar at the east

The Temple arches abound with with wavy or crooked flames. end of the Temple Church has a cross
or,

fiowrm, with lower limb prolonged,

on a

field

of estoiks,

wavy;

to the right is the Decalogue,

surmounted by the

initials, A. O. (Alpha and Omega); on the lefb are the monograms of the Saviour, I C X C beneath, is the Lord's Prayer. The whole altar displays feminine colours and
;

emblems, the Temple Church being dedicated to the Virgin

Maria.

The winged

horse, or Pegasus, argent, in

field

gules, is a

badge of the Templars.

The tombs

of the

Tem-

plars, disposed

around the circular church in London, are of

shape called dos <fdne: their tops are

that early
triangular
;

Norman

the ridge-moulding passes through the temples

at the upper end,

and out of the mouth of a mask

out of the

and

issues

homed

skull,

apparently,

of some purposely

trodden creature.

The head

at the top is

shown
There

in the
is

"honour-point" of the cover of the tomb.

an

amount of unsuspected meaning

Templar tombs
;

in every cm-ve of these

but

it

would

at present too

much occupy

us to more fully explain.

29*

THE nOSIOSUGUNS.
The crook
part of a Bishop's staff shows the rmdulating
S.S., issuing

curve of the

out of the foliations

meaning the
ohservable in

Blessed Virgin Mary. the statue of

This
of

is particularly

WiUiam

Wykeham, the

founder, at St.

Mary's College, Winchester;

crook iu the
left

who, holding the spiritual

hand, gires the usual benediction of the

two extended fingers with his right.

The crook

is

the

Shepherd Crook of the " Second Person," and of the " Holy
Spirit."

We now
ginals.

give a series of Gnostic Talismans, from oriis

The reader

requested to

refer' to

our numerous

figures

and symbols from the Temple Church, London, and

THE ONOSTia ABBAXAS.

armed Abraxas, the
lie is

293

Figs. 239, 240, represent, under different aspects, the

chief deity of the Gnostics.

In

fig.

239

displayed with characteristics of Apollo, or the

Sun

Fig. 137.
Pillars of Seth.
(I) Osiris,
(3) (4)

Fig. 238.

Bhudd. Hermes. Thus

Bel or Baal.

(i) in

Thus

in India.

Egypt.
in Britain.

Thus

rising in the East, in the quadriga, or four-horsed chariot.

Fig. 240:

"Abraxas brandishing his whip, as

if

chasiag

C
away the
work.

l^f^
Fig. 239-

AW
Fig. 240.

evil genii.

On

his shield, the titles

Gnostics, p. 201).

I*

lAfl.

Neat

Green jasper"

{TM

294.

THE BOSICBUCIANS.
The
" UrcBon," or wiBged solar disc, or egg, from which
sides,

the two emblematical asps, has certain characteristics which ally it with the " Scarabcms."
issue,

on reversed

Fig. 241.

Fig. 242.

Jacinth : Gnostic

Gem.

"Mithraic Sacrifice:" Gnostia

Both

TJrason

and Scarabsens

are symbols continual

on the

fronts of the Egyptian temples,

and they are

principally

placed oyer the portals

they are talismans or charms.

Fig. 143.

Egyptian Apis, or Golden Calf.

Fig.
figure.

248: "Osiris," or the "Old Man;" a terminal

At

the foot, the celestial globe and masonic penta-

gon, or " Solomon's Seal."

The

field is

occupied by symbols
is

and

letters,

seemingly Hebrew.

The whole design

medi-

ffiTal,

hardly a production of even the lowest times of the

GNOSTIC MTSTERIES.
Empire.
iiig

295

one of the pieces most evidently bespeata " Eosicnician" origin. Deeply cut in a coarse-grained
is

This

green jasper {OnosMcs,

p. 213).

TIM MIT

ACNei

Fig. 244.

Cancer grasping with One Claw

at the

Lunar Crescent : Gnostic Gem.

Fig. 145.

Uraeon.

Fig. 246.

Urson.

Fig. 247.

Urseus.

Fig. 249

Anubis walking; in each hand, along Egyptian

field,

sceptre terminating in a ball; in the

the sun and

moon

(adjuncts marking the astrological character of this

Fig. 243.

talisman, which therefore

must be ascribed

to the class of
circle.

Abraxoids).

The whole

enclosed in a simken

Eev.

MIXAHA,
p, 200).

between four

stars.

The

Cabalists

make Michael
Gnostics,

the Angel of the Sun.

Plasma of bad quality {The

2^6
Fig. 250:

THE M0SJ0BUCIAN8.
This object
is

the "Chnuphis Serpent," to

which frequent reference has been made in our book. The " Serpent" is raising itself in act to give the mythic dart.

Fig. 149.

On

its

head

is

the crown of seven points or vowels.

second amulet presents

the

name

of the

Gnostic "

The UnThis

known Angel," with

the four stars in the angles.

jCil

'V-'W

Fig. ISO.

is

Michael, or the " Saviour," the " Chief of the

^ons "

seventy-two in number, and composed of six times twelve there being three " double decades," for the night

and

for

EGYPTIAN HIEBOGLYPHICS.
the day, in each lunar period or sign of the zodiac
;

297

each of

which consists of thirty degrees.

symbol stands
letters of

In another aspect, this

for the

Gnostic Chief Deity Abraxas, the

whose name make np the nmnber of days of the

solar circle.

The

following group of figures gives some of the signifi()

cant hieroglyphs from the Egyptian sculptures.

"Spiritual Power."
(V)

Plume,
Tau,

Jackal,
{d)

"Priesthood."

(c)

Fleur-de-Lis, Crux-Ansata.
lemnities."
0?)
(e)

Placenta, "Eehgious So-

Horns, " Power."

{h)

" Prudence." (/) Anser,

{i)

" Nonage."

Asp, " Sovereignty."

Hawk, "

Sa-

Fig. 151.

The Lotus-headed Sceptre means " Religious AuA Snake-headed Eod or Staff signifies " Military thority." Dominion." A Snaky Rod or Sceptre is the " Lituus," or " Augur's Divining-rod," when it is cm-ved at the lower as
gacity." 8

well as at the upper end.

We

give in another place the Procession of the " Logos,"

or " Word," according to the Gnostics.

Fig. 252
:

"The Good Shepherd bearing upon

his shoul:

ders the Lost Lamb, as he seems to the uninitiated eye

but

igi

THE ROSIOBUCIANS.
close inspection

on

he becomes the double-headed Anubis

jackal's, whilst his

having one head human, the other a

girdle assumes the

form of a serpent, rearing

is

aloft its crested

head.

In his hand
and

a long hooked

staff.

It

was perhaps

the

signet of

some chief teacher or

its

apostle

among

the

Gnostics,

impression one of the tokens serving for

mutual recognition mentioned by Epiphanius.

a shape never
so

Neatly en-

graved in a beautiful red sard, fashioned to an octagon form

met

in the class of antique gems, though

much

affected in

Mediaeval

art,

on

account

of

its

supposed mystic virtues" {The Onostks, p. 201),

Fig. 2s*-

One of the Gnostic Gems, reputed the most

amulets,
is

efficacious of

of red jasper, and presents the Gorgon's

Head

(" Gorgoneion"), with the legend below, "

APHm

PliPO-

MANAAPH" " I

protect Ehoromandares."

In India, the "Great

Abad"
is

is

Bhudda, Bauddha,

a connection suggested here with the " Abaddon" of the Greeks. In the same way, a rela-

Buddha, or Baddha.

There

may be traced with " Budha's Spiritual Teacher ;" who was the mythic Pythagoras, the originator of the system of
tion

transmigration, afterwards transplanted to Egypt,

to Greece.

and thence

Thus

in

Sanscrit it is " Bud'ha-Gooros " in

PHALLIC IDOLS.
Greek
it is

299
it is

" Putha-Goras," in English

" Pytha-goras

the whole, " Budha's Spiritual Teacher."

The

crista,

or crest, or symbolic
is

knob of the Phrygian

a feminine form, in
it

cap or Median bonnet

found

also, in

the same mythic head-cover or helmet, for

sexes in its generative idea, being an " idol."

unites both

In the femi-

nine case

as

obviously

in all the statues of Minerva or

Pallas-Athene,

and in the representations of the Amazons,

or woman-champions, or warriors

every

where the cap or

This

helmet has the elongated, rhomboidal, or globed, or salient

part in reverse, or dependent on the nape of the neck.
is

seen in the illustration of the figure of the armed " PaUas-

Athene," among our array of these PhaUic caps.

is

The whole

deeply mythic in

its origia.

The

ideas

became Greek ; and

when

treated femiainely iu Greece, the round or display

which in the masculine hehnet was naturally pointed forward,

saliently or exaltedly (the real "christa," or " crest")

^became

reversed or collapsed,

when worn
classic

as a trophy

on a woman's

head.
is

On

a narrow review of evidence which evades, there

no doubt that these

helmets with their " crests,"

of Liberty, or the Grenadiers'

this pileus, Phrygian cap.

Cap

or Hussars' fur caps, or cocked hats, have a phallic origin.

The
different

Cardinal's "

Eed Hat"

follows the

same idea in a

way

it is
;

a chapel, chapter, chapiter, or chapeau,

ddsciis

or table

crimson, as the mystic femiaine " rose,"

is

the " Queen" of Flowers,

crimson.

The word

" Cardiual"

comes both from Cardo (Hinge, Hinge-Poiat, "Virgo" of

the Zodiac), and also from Caro,
It.

Carne, flesh,

the " Word

made
It

flesh."
is

probable that these mythological hints and secret

expressions, as to the

magic working of nature, were iusinuIn the temples, and in templar

ated by the imaginative and ingenious Greeks into dress

and personal appointments.

JOO
furniture,

THE ROSIOBUOIANS.
mythological

theosopMc hints abound

every

curve and every figure, every colour and every point, being
significant

among

the Grecian contrivers, and

among

those

from

whom

they borrowed

the

Egyptians.

We may

assume that

this classic Grecian

form of the head-cover or

helmet of the Athenian goddess Pallas- Athene, or Minerva,

not only originated the well-known Grecian

mode

of arrang-

ing women's hair at the back, but that this style

far-off, classic

is also

the

progenitor of

its
is

clumsy, inelegant imitation;

only an abused copy of the

the

modem

chignmi,

which

antique.

In our deduction (as shown in a previous group

of illustrations) of the

modem

military fur caps

parti-

cularly the Grenadier caps of all

modem

armies, as well

as those of other branches of the military service

from

that

common

great original, into which they can be securely

traced, the

mythic Phrygian cap when

black,

red, the Vulcan's

pMis when
The

we prove the transmission

some of the most

of an inex-

tinguishable important hint in religion.

following are
significant talismans

of the Gnostics

Fig. 254.

ceoT- GOT
Fig. 253'

Gnostic Invocation.

Bai," a Prize.

In

fig.

255 we have the representation of the Gnostic

Female Power in Nature,Venus, or Aphrodite, disclosing

VENUS "ATTIBINQ" OR "ARMING:

On

301

in the beauty, grace, and spleifdour of the material creation.

the other, or terrible, side of her character, the endowments of Venus, or of the impersonated idea of beauty,

change into the alarming

these are the attributes of the

Fig. 25Sj

malific feminiae elementary genius,

bom

of " darkness" or

" matter," whose tremendous countenance, TeUed as in the

instance of
thologic
Isis,

or

masked

as in that of the universal

my-

Queen of Beauty,

inspires or destroys according to

Fig. 256.

Fig. 157-

the

angle of contemplation at which she

is

mythically

revealed.

Fig. 256 (a)

is

the crested

" Snake," cm'ved as the

left

symbol of the " Dragon's Tail," traversing from

the
fields

to right

of creation, in which the or

stars

axe

scattered

as " estoUes,"

waved serpentining

flames,

the

mystic

301

THE BOSIOBUCIANS.
The rererse of this amulet
implying that the " Micro-

" brood" of the " Great Dragon."

(b) presents the " crescent"

and " decrescent" moons, placed

line,

back to back, with a trace or

cosmos," or

"Man,"

is

made

as between the

"Moons."

This figure suggests a likeness to the sign of the " Twins,"

and to that of the February " Fishes."

Fig.
terrible

257
in

is

the
beauty,

mythological

"Medusa's

Head,"

her

which transforms the beholder

is

to stone.
for hair,

This direful head

twined around with snakes

it

and the radii which dart from

are hghtniag.

It

is,

nevertheless,

esteemed one of the most powerftil

Fig. 15S.

talismans in the Gnostic preservative group, though

presses nothing
(in

it ex-

strange,

contradictory way)

but

dismay and destruction.

Fig. 258 is refen-ed to in a previous part of our
fig-

book

as

313.

Curves of the " Lunar Symbol" in Moresque Arch.

CHAPTER THE THIRTIETH.

ROSICR.UCIAN ORIGIN OF

THE ORDER OF THE GARTER.

of the Bull or the
deified

HE
also

natural

homs

Cow

both

which animals were

by the Egyptians, and

by the Indians, who

particularly elected the

Cow

as the object of religious

all

honour

were

the models

from which originally

the volves and volutes, presenting

the figure of curved homs, or the significant suggestion of the thin horns of the crescent or growing moon, were obtained.

The

representative horns figured largely afterwards

in

all architectm-e,

and were copied

as

an important symbol

expressive of the second operative power of nature.

The
every

Egyptian volutes to the

pillars,

the Egyptian

homs

where apparent, the innumerable

spiral radii distinct in all

directions, or modified, or interpenetrating the

;

ornamenta-

tion of buUdings in the East the Ionic volutes, the Corinthian volutes, which became preeminently pictorial and
floral in their

treatment in this beautiful order, particularly

in the Greek examples (which are, however, very few), the more

masculine volves and volutes, or horns, of the

Eoman

solid,

majestic columns, the capitals to the ruder and more grotesque

ofthe Indian temples, the fantastic scrolls and crooks abound-

30+

THE EOSICBUaiANS.
or,

ing on the tops of the spiring columns in the Gothic

more properly to
"pointed,"
the bull,

call

it,

the Eomantic architecture called

ancestor in the horns of

all

have a

common

calf,

or cow.

All these horns are eveiy where deIt is in connec-

voted in their signification to the Moon.

tion with this secondary god or goddess,

who

is

always

recognisable through the peculiar appendage of horns,

is

it

in proximity to this god or goddess,

who

takes the second

first,

place in the general Pantheon, the

is

Sun taking the

it

here, in

aU the

illustrations

which the mythic theology

borrows from architecture, or the science of expressing

religious

ideas

through hieroglyphical forms,

that

the

incoherent horns reiterate, always presenting themselves to

recognition, in
points.
the

some form or

other, at terminal or at salient

figure, if

Thus they become a most important

figure,

not

most important

in the

templar architecture

every where,

of India, of Egypt, of Greece, of

Eome, even
set

of the Christian periods.

The

figure

caUed Nehustan

the mysterious upright

This
is

up by Moses in the Wilderness dium

offered for worship, as

was a talisman in the form

a pallasaid in several places.

of a serpent coiled around the mystic " Tau."

we have

In a previous part of our book, we have brought forward

certain reasons for supposing that the origin of the

Most

Noble Order of the Garter was very

usually assigned.

different

from that
rise

The occurrence which gave

to the

formation of the Order, and which explains the adoption of the

motto, does not admit of being told, except in
far-off,

round-

about terms

propriety otherwise would be infi-inged.

it

We
not
so

may

say no more than that

was a feminine
accepted,

accident, of

quite the character

commonly
a garter.

and not quite

simple as letting

fall

But

this accident,

which

brought about the foundation of the exalted Order,

however

THE OB DEB OF THE GABTER.

clear it

305

becomes when understood, and however sublime, as

it

the Rosicrucians asserted

its physiological

was,

when

it is

apprehended in

and

also in its deeply

mythic sense,

could
felt

not, of necessity, be placed before the world, because ordinary

persons could not have appreciated it, nor would they have

any other idea than repulsion and

disbelief at the statement.

The commonplace,
cency with

coarse

mind

instantly associates indeconclusive,

any explanation, however

which

cannot for obvious reasons be spoken " on the house-tops."

We are now ourselves,

circuitously

against our desire, compelled to speak

real,

about

the

successfally
ideas, of this

concealed,

very

strange origin, in our

modern
either

famous " Order

of the Garter."

The

subject is however of great conseis

quence, because there

in this, which

meaning of the highest

force

may be called
is

the " brotherhood of princes," as

;

the Order undoubtedly

particular meaning,
attention.
ters

in a high sense

or there is

no

and certainly nothing challenging startled

truth in the abstract, occult matis

There

is either

which the Order supposedly

is

formed to whisper and to

maintain, or there

only empty, meaningless affectation.

its

There
have no
that

is

grandeur and reality in

is

formalities, or

the

whole institution
solidity,

no more than a parade of things that

of consequence,

and an assumption of oaths and obligations

regard

nothing

nothing

of real,

vital seriousness.
idea,

We

seek thus to ennoble the " Order" in

by giving
it

it

conclusively the sanction of religion, and

rendering to

the respect due to the mighty mystery which

lie
it

may be

suspected to

in it

which

it

was supposed

to

emphasise, whatever

be held now.

We

are inclined to

view with surprise although in no grudging, prejudiced the obtrusion of the " Orescent and Star," the symbol spirit

of the Grand Signior, Soldan, or Sultan of Tm-key, the Representative of Mohammed, the "Denier of Christ," according to

3o6

THE BOSIOEUOIANS.

his supposed religious obligations.

We

are disposed to con-

template the addition of the

Moslem banner

the

direct

contradiction and neutraliser of the ensigns of the Christian knights

suspended in

the Chapel of the Order, the

Chapel of

St.

George at Windsor, as a perplexing intrusion,

according to assumed correct Christian ideas.

that the admission of this heathen knight

We

fear

may

possibly

imply heraldically the infraction of the original constitutions

of the Order, which created
it as

exclusiTely Christian.

The
to

" Garter"

is specially

devoted to the Virgin

Mary and

the honour of the Saviour of Mankind.

The knights-com-

panions are accepted, supposedly, as the special initiated

guard of the Christian mysteries, and they are viewed as a

sworn body of "brothers," by day and night, from their

association,

first

bound to maintain and uphold the faith that had Bethlehem for its beginning and Calvary for its end. The bond and mark of this brotherhood is the Eed Cross of
Crucifixion.

Even the badge and

star

and symbol of thi* most

a Christian
Order,

Christian Order, if ever there were

which presents this red or sanguine cross of the Redeemer, imaged in the cognisance of His champion, or captain, or
chief soldier, St. George or St. Michael, the

Trampler of the Dragon, and Gustos of the Keys of the Bottomless Pit, where
the devils are confined, protests against the mingling of

Mussuhnaa banner with the Red Cross, which opposed it in the hands of the rusaders, and in those of all Christian knights. Now, all the Christian "Garter" badges only
this

seem to appeal and to protest quietly and under allowance,

it were, deficient in firmness and leaving results to chance, and abandoning expostulation to be regarded or disregarded according to circumstances.
life,

with " bated breath," as

These are matters, however, which properly appertain to

OBiaiN OF THE
the
office,

NAME " QABTEBr

Prelate

307

and

lie

in the hands of the dignitaries of the Order

officials are its

of the Garter.

These

and " Garter"

himself (the personified " Order"),

who

are supposed, because

of the duties with which they are charged, to be the guardians

of the meanings and

the

myths

of an Order

of

Knighthood whose heraldic

covers the land, and
or toy.
is called

display, in

one form or other,

either as talisman
it

must be .interpreted
faith,

In these days without

wherein science (as

in the too arbitrary and overriding sense) has ex-

tinguished the lights of enthusiasm, leaving even our altars

dark, passive, and cold, and has eliminated aU possible wonder

from the

earth, as miracle

from

religion,

and magic from

the sensible

or

insensible

fields

of creation,

in these

questioning, doubting, dense, incredulous days,

it is

no in-

consistency that the gorgeous emblazonments of the Garter

should provoke no more curiosity or admiration than peculiar

ornaments do, signifying any thing or nothing.

to return to the import of the title of the Order of

But

the' Garter.

This

is

a point very engrossing to heralds,

are interested in the history,

antiquaries,
traditions,

and aU persons who

and archaeology of our country.

trivial, ridiculous,

The

origin of
if

the Order would be

it

and unbelievable,

be only thought due to the picking up of a

is

lady's garter.

It

impossible that the great

name and fame

of this " Gar-

ter" could have arisen alone fi'om this circumstance.

Garter,

on the contrary,

is

traceable from the times of

"^Arthur, to

whose fame throughout Europe there

The King was no

limit in his
sively

own

period.

This we shaU soon show conclu-

from the accounts of the Garter by EHas Ashmole,

of Arms," and

who was " Garter King

self

who was one

of its

most painstaking and enlightened historians; besides himbeing a faithful and conscientious expositor and ad-

herent of the hermetic science.

The "Eound Table"

of

3o8

THE R08I0BUCIANS.
the miaiature tables, or tablets, which bear the con-

King Arthurthe "mirror of chiyalry" supplies the model

of
all

trasted

roses red and white, as they were originally (and

its accidents)

implying the female discus and

noble "Taunt," or motto, round them "Evil to him," or the same to him, " who thinks ill" of these natural (and yet
these

with the

magical)

feminine circumstances, the character of

this time not fail to recognise*

which our readers wiU by

The

glory of

woman and
Woman, and

the punishment of

woman

after

the Fall, as indicated in Genesis, go hajid in hand.

in honour of sion of the

It

was

to raise into dignity the expres(imtil sanctified

condemned "means"

and

re-

conciled by the intervention of the " S.S.," or of the Holy

Spirit, or

of the Third Person of the Trinity), which

betrayal,

is

her

mark and

but which produced the world in

it

producing Man, and which saved

in the person of the

to glorify typically

Eedeemer,

"bom
this

of

Woman."

It is

and mystically
"Garter"

" fleshly vehicle," that the Order of the

or "Garder" that keeps it was instituted. The Knights of the Garter stand sentinel, in fact, over " Woman's Shame," at the same time that they proclaim

her " Glory," in the pardoned sense.

"

These strange ideas

are strictly those of the old Rosicrucians, or Brethren of the

"Eed

Cross,"

and we only reproduce them.

The

early

writers saw

no indecency in speaking openly of these things,

of "Matter," or of the "

which are usually hidden away.

The blackness or darkness

of Nature,"
is

Mother

figured in another respect iu the belongings

of this famous feminine Order, instituted for the glory of

woman.

Curious armorists, skilled in the knowledge of the

deep symbolism with which the old heralds suffused their

illustrations or

emblazonments, will remember that

;

llaclc is

feature in the Order of the Garter

and

that,

among

figures

TEE 6OUNTESS OF SALISBURY.

and glyphs and hints the most
containing the original constitutions of the Order,

309

profound, the " Black Book,"

from which "Black Book" comes the important "Black Rod,"

^was
lost before

the time of

Henry the

Fifth.

See pp.

168-170, ante, for previous remarks about the "Garter."

Elias Ashmole mentions the Order in the following terms : " We may ascend a step higher ; and if we may give
credit to Harding, it is recorded that

King Arthur paid

effigy in

St.

George, whose red cross

is

the badge of the Garter, the

most particular honours

for

he advanced his

one

of his banners, which was about two hundred years after his

martyrdom, and very early

for

a country so remote from

Cappadocia to have him in reverence and esteem."

In regard to the story of the Countess of Salisbury and

her garter, we shall insert the judgment of Dr. Heylin,

who

took great pains to ascertain

its

foundation.

" This I take

to be a vain and idle romance," he says, "derogatory both

to the founder

and the Order,

first

published by Polydore

Virgil, a stranger to the affairs of England,

and by him

taken upon no better ground than/ama

tion of the

common

people

vulgi, the tradi-

^too trifling

a foundation upon

which to

raise so great a building.''

The
is

material whereof the Garter was composed at

is it

first

an arcanum, nor

described

by any

writer before

Polydore Virgil, and he only speaks of it in general terms.

The Garter was

idea of

originally without a motto.

As
first

"to

the

appointments of the Order, we

may

gain the most authentic

knights.

them from the

efiigies

of some of the

Sir "William Fitz-warin

was buried on the north side of the

chancel of the church of Wantage, in Berkshire, in the

thirty-fifth year of the reign of King

Edward the Third.

Sir

Richard Pembridge,

who was

a Knight of the Garter, of the

lies

time of Edward the Third,

on the south

side of the

310

TEE B08I0BUCIANS.
The monument of Sir Simon Burley,

cathedral of Hereford.

beheaded a.d. 1388, was raised in the north wall, near the It is remarkable that Da choir of St. Paul's, London.
Chesne, a noted French historian,
is

the source from which

we

derive the acknowledgment that it

was by the

special

invocation of St.

George that King Edward the Third

gained the Battle of Cressy ; which "lying deeply in his remembrance, he founded," continues Du Chesne, "a chapel
within the Castle of Windsor, and dedicated
to the Saint,
it

in gratitude

who

is

the Patron of England."

is
;

The

first

example of a Garter that occurs monument of Sir Francis Burley

on the before-mentioned
where, on the front, tofirst wife's,

wards the head, are his own arms, impaling his

set within

a garter.

This wants the impress, or motto.

Another shield of arms, having the same impalement placed

below the
feet, is

sui-rounded with a collar of " S.S.," of the

It

same form with that about his neck.

was appointed by

King Henry the Eighth, and embodied

gold, in fashion of Garters

in the Statutes of

the Order, that the collar should be composed of pieces of

;

the ground enamelled blue, and

the letters of the motto gold.

In the midst of each garter

two roses were to be placed, the innermost enamelled red,

and the outermost white

contrarily, in the next garter,

the innermost Rose enamelled white, and the outermost red,

and so alternately ; but of later times, these roses are wholly

red.

The number

of these Garters is so

many

as to be the

ordained number of the sovereign and knights-companions.

At the

institution they were twenty-six, being fastened to-

gether with as

many knots
;

of gold.

And

this

mode

hitherto

has continued invariable

nor ought the collar to be adorned

or enriched with precious stones (as the " George"

such being prohibited by the laws of the Order.

may be), At what

not folly

time the collar of " S.S." came into England

is

EINa ABTHUKS BOUND TABLE.

determined
;

311

but

it

would seem that

it

came

at least three

hundred years
Magian, or

since.

The

collar

of "S.S." means the

Fii-st
it

Order, or brotherhood.

In the Christian
Spirit," or

arrangements,

stands for the

"Holy

"Third
it is

Person of the Trinity."

In the Gnostic talismans,

displayed as the bar, curved with the triple " S."

Refer to

the "Cnuphis Abraxoids" occurring in our book, for

we

connect the
Gnostics.

collar

of "S.S." with the theology of the

That the Order of the Garter

is

feminine, and that its

origin is an apotheosis of the " Rose," and of a certain sin-

gular physiological fact connected with woman's

life,

is

proven in
white
;

many ways

such

as the double garters, red

and

the twenty-six knights, representing the double

thirteen lunations in the year, or their twenty-six mythic

" dark and light" changes of " night and day."

is

" But

how
The

all

this

magic and sacred in the estimate of the Rosi-

crucians ?"

an

inquirer will very

naturally

ask.
;

answer to
ticulars

all this is

very ample and satisfactory

but par-

must be

left to

the sagacity of the querist himself,

Suffice it

because propriety does not admit of explanation.

to say, that
it is

one of the most curious subjects which

That archaeohas occupied the attention of antiquaries. logical puzzle, the " Round Table of King Arthur," is a
perfect display of this whole subject of the origin of the

" Garter

;"

it

springs directly from

it,

being the same obgarter,

ject as that enclosed

by the mythic

"garder," or

" girther."

Xing Edward
Order.

the Third chose the Octave of the " Puri-

fication of the Blessed Virgin" for the inauguration of his

Andrew du Chesne

declares that this

new Order
There
after

was announced on

"New

Tear's Day, A.D. 1344."

it

were jousts holden in honour of

on the "Monday

TEE S OSIGB V0IAN8.

There

the Feast of St. Hilary followingJanuary iptli."

are Tariations in the histories as to the real period of the institution of the Garter; most historians specifying the year
in1349. Ashmole states that a great supper was ordered to augurate the solemnity of the institution, and that a Festival was to be annually held at WhitaunUde (which means the

" S.S.")

that

King Edward

erected a particular building in

the Castle, and therein placed a table

200
the

feet diameter, giving to the building

"Eound Table." enormous sum in those days

In imitation of
this,

("Eound Table") of itself the name of appropriated loo?. per week an He

for

the maintenance of this

table.

the French King, Philip de

at his court.

Valois, instituted a "

Eound Table"

Some

say

that he had an iatention of iastituting an order of knight-

hood upon the same " femiuine subject," but that he was
anticipated by

King Edward; which shows that

it

was

something more than an accident and a mere garter which

inspired the idea of this Eose forming the mystery.

The

knights were denominated "Equites Aurese Periscelidis."

King Edward the Third had such veneration

of the Garter should be
lemnities.

for the Blessed

Virgin Mary, that he ordained that the habit of his Knights

worn on the days of her Five Sooriginal of the Sta-

Elias

Ashmole states that the

tutes of Institution

had wholly perished long before his time.

There was a transcript existing in the reign of Henry the

Fifth, in

an old book called Registrum Ordinis Chartacewm.

the Order was instituted so long ago as in the year

Though
1344,
it

was not

till

the reign of Charles the Second that

the Knights were empowered to wear the star they use at

present embroidered on their
coats.

The

rays

are the

" glory" round the "

Sir

Eed

Cross."

John

Froissart, the only writer of the age that treats

of this institution, assigns

no such origin

as the picking

up

"

BLACK BOOK" AND " BLACK BOD."

;

of the Countess of Salisbury's garter

nor does he adduce

the words of the motto of the Garter as having been spoken

by King Edward the Third when encountering the laughter

of his court,

and assuring them that he would make the

it

proudest eyentually wear

as the most illustrious badge.

There can be only one conclusion as to the character of the

investment which was picked up
;

and which

article of dress

makes

it

clear that the Countess of Salisbury

or the

lady,
cele-

whoever she maybe, who has succeeded ia becoming so

brated in the after ages of chivalry
at

should have rather been

years,

home, and at rest, than inattentive to saltatory risks in en-

gaging in a dance at a crowded court. There was no mention

of this supposed picking

up of a garter for 200

nor was

there any thing referring to such an origin occurring

m any of

our historians other than Sir John Froissart, until Polydore

Virgil took occasion to say something of it in his notices of

the origia of the Order.

In the original Statutes of the

Order (which
is

is

a most important point ia the inquiry), there

not the least conjecture expressed, nor does the compiler

of that tract entitled InsUtutio clarissimi Ordinis Militaris

a prcmoMli SMhligaculo nuncupata, prefaced to the Black

'

Boole of the Oarter, let fall

any passage on which to ground

Polydore does not men-

the conclusions about the Garter.

tion

whose garter

it

was

this

he cautiously decliaes to do.

He
it

says that it

was

either the Queen's, or that of the King's

mistress,

^meaning Joan, Countess of

love,

Salisbury, with

whom

was supposed the King was in

and

whom
;

he reUeved

when she was bravely holding out for him against the but she was Scots, in her Castle of Wark-upon-Tweed
certaialy no mistress of the King's, ia the injurious and

unworthy

sense.

It is to be particularly noticed that the

Latin words suUiaAB, auUiffocukim, mean, not a. " garter," but It was therefore not a "breeches, drawers, or trousers."

3 14

TEM B OSIOB UCIANS.

garter for the leg, but a cincture for the body, which was thus

picked up publicly, and elevated for honour, as such an unexpected illustrious object
;

one around which the most noble

knights were to take enthusiastic oaths of devoted homage,

Now,
under

unless there had been

all this

some most extraordinary meaning

(lying under the apparent, but only apparent,

indecency), such an idolisiug could never have occurred,

and

the whole occurrence ages ago would have been laughed

into oblivion, carrying the sublime honours of the " Garter"

with

it.

Instead of

this,

the Garter

is

the highest token of

it is

greatness the Sovereign of

England can bestow, and

contended for and accepted with eager pride by Princes.

" SubUgaculum, ireeches, drawls, trousers."
cinctured,

" Subligatus,

lound,
is

&c.,

wearing drawers."

The

origin

of

the "Garter"
at
all.

proven in this word not to be a garter

It is
1

most generally supposed that

it

was on January

9th,

344, that

King Edward

iustituted his

famous Order of the

Garter.

This period, it will be perceived, was almost within

an octave of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary;

under whose patronage, and under the guardianship of
St.

George on earth

(St.

Michael in Heaven; both these

Saints being the same, with earthly and spiritual attributes

refluent respectively).
religious Order.

King Edward placed his profoundly The whole was a revival of the " Round

Table" of King Arthur, or the apotheosised female discus in certain mythical aspects. To confirm us in our assertion
of the feminine origin of the Order of the Garter

many

in their ignorance

have questioned

we

which
state

may

that one of the old chroniclers, though somewhat guardedly as befitted those of whom he spoke, declares that the lady

who

let fall

her garter, or "garder," was the Queen

left

who

had suddenly

the courtly assembly in some confusion

KING ED WARD'S GALLANTE T.

King, who, when the spectators aToided
being aware to

315

and was hastening to her own apartments, followed by the

lifting the article,
it

whom

it

belonged, raised

himself,

and

called aloud, not the

words of the motto of the Garter,

spite of their laughter, "

which the historian says that the Queen herself spoke, but an iatimation that he would,

mate

the proudest of the refusers wear the rejected cincture as the

grandest badge that knighthood ever bore." Rightly viewed,

this Httle

evaded incident

which we

desire to restore to its

proper place in the knowledge of

EngUshmen

is

the most

conclusive proof of King Edward's nobleness and greatness of

heart,

and of his
all

chivalrous, gallant delicacy

an

instance'-,

admirable to

future generations, and worthy of the most

enduring applause.

The

reader finally

is

referred to our obfor evidence in

servations in a previous part of our

justification.

book

our

In the foregoing we give the Rosicrucian view

It is the centre-point

of the origin of the " Garter."

round
illus-

which have converged the noblest ideas and the most

trious individuals in the world.

It is still

the proudest and

most solemn badge, and the

chiefest English knightly dignity.

Strangely enough, too, this whole history of the "Garter"

teaches, as its moral, the greatness of the proper independ-

ence of shame, and the holiness of

its

unconsciousness.

Badge of the Sultan of Turkey.

Sigma from the Roman Catacombs.

CHAPTER THE THIRTY-FIRST.

ROSICRUCIAN SUPPOSED MEANS OF MAGIC

THROUGH

SIGNS, SIGILS,

AND FIGURES.

|HE

Dragon's

Head and Dragon's

Tail are the

points called Nodes, in which the

sected

ecliptic is inter-

by the

orbits of the planets, particularly

shifting.

by

that of the moon.

These points are of course

the point where the
;

The

Dragon's Head

is

moon

or other planet

commences
line

its

northward latitude

it is

considered mascuTail
;

and benevolent in

its influence.

The Dragon's

is
it

the point where the planet's southward progress begins

is

feminine and malevolent.

is

The Dragon

mystically

is

the

" self-wiUed spirit," which

externally derived into nature

by the " fall into generation" {Hermes Trismegistus).

The same
of the

fine,

catholic nature

which

in its preter-

natural exaltation appears so very precious in the eyes

philosopher

is

in the

common world

defiled;

abiding every where in putrefactions and the vilest forms of seemingly sleeping, but in reality most active, forms
of
life.

According
called "

to

Ennemoser, "Magiusiah, Madschusie"

signified the office and knowledge of the priest,

who was Mag, Magius, Magiusi," and afterwards " Magi" and

THE IRISH ''ANGEL'" OB

" Magician."
tkcR,
i. 1

"

SIBEN."

31.7

Bracker maintains {Historia PhUosophm Cri-

60) that the positiTe meaning of the word is " FireWorshiper," " Worship of the Light ;" to. which opinion he

had been led by the Mohammedan

dictionaries.

In the
sig-

modem

Persian the word

is

"Mag," and "Magbed"

Mobed."

nifies high-priest.

The

high-priest of the Parsees at Surat,

is

even at the present day,

called "

The mythic figure placed in the front of the Irish Harp ^the meaning of which we have explained in a previous
and which
is

part of our book,

now

represented as a

woman
is

with the lower parts twined as foliage, or as scroUs, into the

body of the harp

the same as

is

properly a Siren.

This " Siren"

Venus Aphrodite,

Astarte, the

Sea-Deity, or
idol

Woman-Deity, the Dag, Dagan, Dagon, or

Syrians, Tyrians, or Phoenicians
:

of the
is

hence her colour

green
or

in the lona,

leme, or Irish acceptation.

The woman

virgin of the Irish Harp,

who

is

impaled on the stock or

"Tree of Life"

the

Su-en whose fatal singing means her

mythic Bhuddistic or Buddhistic " penance of existence"

the.

Medusa whose insupportable beauty congeals

in its

terror the beholder to stone, according to the mythologists

^this

magic being is translated from the sign of Virgo in the

heavens,

and sent mythically to

cabalistic
is,

travel the verdant line of

beauty, or the

hmedicta

linm

viriditatis.

whole of the meaning

notwithstanding, " sacrifice."

Strings, or the

The The
seven

Woman

of the

Harp of the Seven

vocables, vowels, or aspirations, or intelligent breathings,

or musical notes, or music-producing planets (in their progress), is

purely an astrological
into heraldry.

sigma although

a grand

one adopted
this

In the old books of heraldry,

the curious inquirer will find (as will all those

who doubt)

"Woman"
in the

or "Virgin" of the "Irish Harp"

to

whom,

modem

heraldic

exemplification,

celestial

TEE B 08I0B UOIANS.

is

wings are given, and who

(whicli in reality she
is,

made

beautiful as an angel

the other form beiQg only her

disguise) represented as a dragon with extended forky

pinions,

and piscine or

semi-fish-like or basUisk extremity.

There

is

a wonderful refluent, or interfluent, unaccount-

able connection, in the old mythology, between the "

Wo:"

man," the " Dragon" or the " Snake," and the

picturesque
ancient
really
difficult

" Sea

so that sometimes, in the obscure hints supplied in the

fables,
it

is

to

dis-

tinguish one from the other.

The

associations of

an

in-

terchangeable character between dark and light, and " Dra-

gon" and "Hero," ascribing to each some mystic characteristic of the other, cannot be aU fabling accident. There are
hints of deep mysteries, transcendent in their greatness

and

beauty, lying under these things in

some concealed,

real way.

To bring

these to the surface, to discover their origin, and, to

the justifiable and guarded extent, to assign them properly,

has been our aim.

There must have been some governing,

special

excellent armorial reason,

and authorised, and

for the

changing of this
Bu'en, or virgin,

first figure

of a dragon into a
;

woman,

or a

on the Irish Harp

this fact assists the

figures,

supposition of an identity, at
all

some time, of these two

drawn from the double sign "Virgo-Scorpio" in the

There
is

Zodiac.

a strange confirmation of the account of

Genesis, in the discovery of the

Creation in the

Book of

"Woman

and Snake" in the most ancient Babylonian or

Chaldaean Zodiac.

The Indian

zodiacs

and the Egyptian

zodiacs repeat the same myth, slightly varied in certain

particulars.

The

different versions

of the story of the

Temptation and
Traversing

Fall, in

the main respects, are the same

legend, only altered to suit ideas in every varying country.

all

the long-descended paths of the mythologies,

this singular,

but in reality sublime, myth preserves

its

TEE DOLMAN" OB
''

''

PELISSE."
in its identity.

319

place,
first

and recurs up to the

last

The

chapter of Genesis seems to us to be clearly found

signs of the Zodiac
;

here in the

which we know are

derived from the earliest astronomical days, and which

extraordinary hieroglyphical zodiacal figures descended originally

from the summit of the famous Tower of Bel, or

fijrst

Belus,

the

observatory where the movements and the

outset noted, and

story of the stars were at the

as

handed was the

from the

earliest expositors of the secrets of the heavens.

it

This " Procession of Twelve" (in the origin "Procession of Ten"),

tells,

under the name of the Zodiac,

in

its

" signs," the history of the

making of the

world, according to the

also,

Chaldseans and Egyptians, and

in the hidden way, according to the account in the

Bible.

As the

little

and the large have sometimes a

closer con-

nection than is ordinarily supposed,

we

will pass

on now to

some more familiar and commonplace examples.

It

may be worth

while to dwell with greater minuteness

on the
This

little-understood origin of those light auxihary troops,

as they were organised originally, the

irregular, Ughtly equipped

modem
force.

Hussars.

European cavalry plays an

"We are
all

important part as a skirmishing or foraging

accustomed to see the elegantly appointed hght cavalry called

Hussars, and doubtless

many

persons have frequently wonpelisse, or loose jacket,

dered as to the origin of that dolman,

which

is

worn, contrary to aU apparent use, dangling

rather

an
the

incumbrance
trooper's
left

than a cover This

is

or

defence

on

shoulder.

pelisse, richly

embroidered

in the Eastern fashion,

always the genuine distinctive

mark

or badge, with the Wallachian, or Hungarian, or

Oriental busby of the Hussar.

originally

The

precise time

when

this

loosely disciplined

and heathen soldiery came

3 ao

TEE B 08IOB VOIANS.

is

into Europe

not fixed.

They now form a dazzling and

All

formidable branch of light-cavalry sendee every where.

armies of modern time possess regiments of Hussars.

They

came

originally

brought with them their invariable mark,

from Tartary and the East, and they the rough fur

cap, or Ishmaelitish or " Esau-like" black head-cover.

They

adventured into the "West with the

now

thickly ornamented

and embroidered "trophy,"

{"pd," from
lisse is
pellis,

called the pelisse or skin-coat

"skin;" thence "paU").

is

This pe-

an imitation or reminder, and

the very remote

it is

symbol, or garment, or "cover of shame," as

called,

with which, for very singular cabalistic reasons (which, however,

do not admit of explanation), the two dutiful sons of Noah

covered and "atoned" for that disgrace of their father,

when, after he had " planted a vineyard, and had drunken

of the wine, he lay extended in his tent," and was seen
his

son

Ham; whom Noah

cavalry.

denounced.

by The Hussars

(under other names) were originally Eastern, Saracenic,

and jingles, or numberwhich ought to distinguish the caparisons of Hussars' to the modem day, and which are part of the
or
horse-tails
less little bells,

Moslem

The

special insignia

of their origin, are

all

Oriental in their

character, like the bells of the

wandering Zingari, " Morris,"

fantastical dancers.

or Moresque, or Gypsy, or

Bohemian

Deep-lying in the magical ideas of the Eastern peoples was the sacredness, and the efiicacy against evil spirits, of
their small bells, like those of the Chinese pagodas.
bells,

All

in

every instance, even from the giant bell of the

to the " knell

Dom-Kirche or Duomo, or the cathedrals of Kasan or

Casan, Moscow, or Muscovia generally,

down

or the " sacring" or warning bell of the

Romish Mass

(which latter " signal" has a signification overpowering in

its

profundity), are held to disturb

and to scare and iive

AL-SUZA, OB VENUS.
off evil

321

spirits. These were supposed, according to the old superstitious ideas, to congregate thickly, with their

opportunities either
Tisibly the exertions

in

the din of battle to impair in-

of the combatants, or in the church

to spoil the Eucharist,

by tempting the celebrating

its

priest,

or hampering or hindering the ceremonial and

climax.

triumphant

The Eastern name of Venus

Huza means

is

Al-Huza ox Husa, which

stands for the Egyptian "Divine

Woman,"
lily,

or Isis.

Al

the hyacinth, acacia, or

sacred to the

to the productive powers of nature. The " Hussar" comes, through circuitous paths of translaword
tion,

""Woman," or
from

its

origin Al-Husa.

These Hussars are the

It is well

alert, agile,

armed

children, or soldiers, of Cybele.

known that the knights of old particularly when they returned to the West adopted

the Crusaders the

Oriental

fashion of covering their appointments and horse-fiimiture

with

bells,

the jingle raised by which, and at the same time

the spreading or flying out, in onset, of the lambrequin or sUt scarf attached to the helmet, with the shouted war-cry,
or cri de guerre, struck terror into the opposed horse and
rider.

Naturalists suppose that even the spangled tail of

the peacock, with its emerald eyes, answers a similar pur-

attack.

when spread out, of frightening animals who intend an The knights, therefore, may have borrowed the hint of thus startling their foes, and of confusing them with
pose,

the sudden display of colours and disturbing points,

sprung from a spontaneous, instant, alarming centre,

the peacock

as from
also

if

when

startled

by an enemy.

The bird has

mot de

his terrifying outcry, similar to the knight's

guerre,

or individual " motto."

The Hebrew

Priests were directed to fringe their gar-

ments round about with "bells and ponregranates," in

322

TME ROSIORUCIANS.
The use and
intention of these

the words of the text.

"bells

and pomegranates" have been subjected to much

discussion, particularly a passage

which we now

cite

" A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a

pomegranate, upon the
it

hem

of the robe round about.

:

And

shall be

upon Aaron

to minister

and

his

sound shall be

heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord,

and when he cometh

34> 3S)-

out,

that hs die not"

(Exodus

xxviii.

The reason supposed

taining the law
is,

in the

Targum

for the directions

given to the priest in these two verses of the chapter conthat the priest's

approach should be

cautious to the innermost "

Holy of Holies," or sanctuary

of the small bells

of the Tabernacle.

The sound

upon his

robe was intended to announce his approach before his

actual appearance, in order to recall the attention of the

"Angel of the Lord" to the fact of the coming of a He who was supposed to be descended, and possibly " brooding" (to make use of the words of
mortal, so that
Genesis), in the secret shrine or penetralia,

might be

al-

lowed time (according to the ideas of men) to gather up

and concentrate His presence

permitted to behold and live"

which "no man can be and to withdraw. For

is

the Divinity to be seen by the profane eye

to the latter
;

annihilation
in

therefore the gods

and

all

spirits have,

every account of their appearance,

been

seen

in

some

worldly form, which might be acceptable

able by, a
trariety,

to,

and supportsuch con-

human

face.

There

is,

theoretically,

and such

fatal

difference to
it is

man, in the actual

wholly impossible except by and divine appearances have always been invested in some natural guise, by the medium of which the communication, whatever it might be, might
his death;

disclosure of a spirit, that

therefore spirits

DESCENT OF
be made without alarm.

DIVINITIES.

323
dis-

This alarm would, by the

effect,

turbance in the mind, and the possible fatal

wise have rendered the disclosure impossible.

otherdenial

The

of the interior parts of a sanctuary, or adytum, to the priests

of the temple, or even to the chief hierarch sometimes,

is

supposed to have arisen on this account.

Mythological

story is full of the danger of breaking in unpreparedly

upon

spiritual presences, or of venturing into their haunts rashly.

The

real

object and purpose of the veil to the

Hebrew
of
this

Temple, and of the curtains and enclosures ordered iu the

Jewish ceremonial
class.

arrangements,

are

certainly

Thus, ia the idea that

God

did really pass

down
shape

at chosen times from Heaven, even in

shape, to His Altar (though
not,

a possible visible

perhaps, ia the

expected by

man

in his ignorant notions), the sacred place

in,

was carefully shut

rigid caution.

and

all access to it set

round with

There

is iine

and subtle meaning in that

if to

old expression in Genesis,

"to brood," as

be fixed

or rapt, and thus to be self-contained and oblivious, even

inattentive.

The

ancients

the

Greeks especially

conorder
to

structed their temples that there

originally without roofs, in

might be no obstacle interposed by them

the descent of the

raised

God

to the temple which

was

especially

in

his

honour.

opportunities, to descend
his appropriate temple
;

He was
it

imagined,

at favourable

^either visibly or invisibly

into

and

was not to seem to exclude,

open the direct down-

but rather in every way to invite straight from the supernal regions, that the ancients
left

ward way to the penetralia. From this sacred point, when the

God was supposed

ceiled temple,

to be present, every eye, even that of the

High-Priest, was shut out.

The covered

temple, or the

of which

the chapter-house, or particular

temple, with a " crown," or " cap," or " cover," presents the

324.

TEE B08I0BUCIAN8.

small example,

is

the domus templi, or domus Dei, where

is

the "Mauifested

God"
is

supposed
Flesh,"

to

be enclosed, or

wherein the
spirit

"Man

made

the

microcosmos or

within his cinctures, or walls, or castle of compre-

hension, or of senses.

IH

core

xpe^^TOC
Mystic Cross or " Anchor."

Hieroglyph of Transfixion.

CHAPTER THE

LAST.
THE

ASTRO-THEOSOPHICAL SYSTEM OF THE ROSICRUCIANS

ALCHEMIC MAGISTERIUM.

|HE

letters of all

languages are significant marks

or symbols, which have the " Twelve," or rather

the origiaal " Ten, Signs" of the " Zodiac" for their

beginning.
has, in

Of these

letters there is

a certain group which

the

characters

of

all

languages, a hieroglyphical

reference to the originally single,

sign, " Virgo-Scorpio,"

and afterwards double,

These
is

which

is

supposed to give the key

to

the secret or cabalistic

"Story of Creation."
;

letters are

S and

Z,

and

or rather a group, which

marked by A, n, M,
aspirates, or

S, S,

ZL,

M, V, W.

The

significant

"vowel-sounds," follow the same rule. The " Snake-like Glyph," or disguise, in which the " Eecusant
Principle" is supposed to have invested himself, has coiled

(so to say),

and projects
close

significant curves

and
;

inflections,
is

through all this group of letters and sounds

ceivable,

which
ear,

perall

by a

examination and quick

in

languages, living and dead.

The sigma

presents itself to

the eye (that recognises) in the Hebrew, the Sanscrit,, the

Persian, the Arabic, the Coptic, the Old Gothic, the Georgian

or Iberian, the Ancient Armenian, the Ethiopic or Gheez,

326

TEE BOSICBUCIANS.

the Sclavonic, the Greek, the Latin, the Samaritan, the

Irish, the Etruscan,

of

all

bols serving for their " numerals,"

which alphabets, and the symwe had prepared a comsign "Virgo-

parative table, to prove the identity of the

Scorpio" and its ciphers

but we forbore in deference to

our limits, which did not advisedly admit of the addition.

A
its

comparative display of

all

marks or symbols which and

give occult expression to the "female side of nature,"

astronomical and astrological signs, affords the same

result of identity.

The marks of the "

signs"

and

xri,

and their

ciphers, are interchangeable, It

and

reflect

from one
" balance-

to the other.

must be remembered that the sign " Libra"

our

modern September by the Greeks.

the " hinge-point" or

"Good and

centre" of the two wings of the celestial Zodiac

was

an

addition

Here, according to the

Sabaan
Evil," of

astrological tradition, the origin of

the mallfic and the benevolent "cabalistic investments of

nature," the beginning

of this

"two-sexed," intelligent

sublunary world, were to be found

mysteries of this double sign.

all

contained in the

The

cabalistic theory,

and the Chaldsean reading, is, that

the problems of the production of the sensible world are not

to be read naturally, but supernaturally.
It

was held that

It

man's natural law

is

contained in God's magical law.

followed from this that present nature is secondary nature

that that

man man

is

living in the " ruins" of the angelic world,

is

and

himself

a " ruin."

Man

fell

into the degrada-

tion of " nature" as the result of the seduction

(to sexual sin),

by the woman

which produced the " generations" according

to

Man's
first

the the

ideas. The strange theories as to the history of world prevalent among the Cabalists imply that appearance of "woman" upon the scene was an

" obtrusion," in the sense of a thing unintended.

Thus her

THE CELESTIAL

"^GIS."

317

to use one of their mysterious expressions was at a late and eyil period of the world, which had sunk from the " supernatural" into the

advent upon the scheme of creation

" natural."

As woman had no

part ia the earliest world,

and

as her origin

was altogether of another nature from that

of man, the traces of her introduction, and the htats as to

her true character, are to be found mystically in the origiaal sign, "Yfrgo-Scorpio," double-sided (yet identical) at
first,

but afterwards divided.

These divided " personalities"

were set thereafter in mythologic opposition.

is

The reader\
ori-

referred to the Zodiac

on

p. 65, fig.

2,

where will be

found the diagram illustrative of this idea, which was

giuated

amidst the magic of the Syro-Chaldseans

all

it

yet

remaias the key to

the mythologies.

The

sign " Virgo-Scorpio" stands in the present order of

things, or in this non-angelic or mortal world, as a divided

sign, because in the "

World of Man"

as

"bom

of Woman"

enmity
"

has been placed between the "Snake" and the

Thenceforth, from the " Fall," and as a conseit,

Woman."

quence of

they are in opposition.

The
the

sign

of the

"Balances"

is

placed between, as the rescuing heavenly shield,

iaterposed,
separating,
as

miraculously

tremendous

"^gis," the two

origiaally

conjoint

signs,

and simulin
figure),

taneously presented

"both ways"
either"

defending "each from

complete!"

"until

(to

speak

the time shall be

which

means the Apocalyptic

or
iafluence

"New Heaven
the
side

and

New

Earth."

Marks,

movements,

ft'om

of

" Scorpio," or from the staister side, are malign, and

mean
or,

danger; because they represent the "Old Serpent,"

other terms, the character are the letters " S" and " Z," and
" Great

in

Deep," or " Matter."

Of such
comor letter

all their

pounds; because

this origiaally "single" sound,

328

THE BOSICRUCIANS.

Kf

(^

S.y
" o 2
*-

ft)

0)

<

MS

3 5

o
IS

"s

o o
a*

iz;
->!

5
g

K
2 3

o o I. >^ B a o'S o.^

o o
Is
BS

So

O O M
I

M
cn

i-at'iag:<;|g''H-S:il>K
^1

CM

tb s

w
3

-3

S ^

;S
"3

M
S

J^

M
5

O
i:<

K '"as
3
t;

.9-1

a
S

'5)

^e2 o

c3 pj

>
ij

^j

C/3

U3
di

U
d

<!

p.

to

K. DO

ASTB0-THE080PHIC OEABT.

39

330

THE ROSICBUCIANS.
its Sinful side.

" S-Z, Z-S," came into the world representing

Man
and

is

pardoned through the " Promise to the

is

Wtman,"
the

"Woman"

saved because through her

"Sa-

Tiour of the World," or the "Eescuer of the World," or the

"Deified Man," came into the world.

intermediate
oflBce

Woman

has the

of reconciling and consoling.

In the

abstract sense, as " virgo intacta" (or holy means),

is

woman
(to

free

and unconscious of that deadly " Original Sin,"

which, as the disobedience to the ^Divine

refrain from that

Command

"Fruit" with "Eye," or with the "Na-

tural

Woman"),

lost

"Man"

his place in the

is

scheme of

the " Immortal World."

All this

part of the cabalistic

Cabalists say that

view of the Mysteries of Creation.

the " Lost

The

Man" Adam

should not have yielded to those

irresistible fascinations of

Etc, but should have contented

himself

to

speak in parable

with
is

"his enjoined, other

impersonated delights,"
ence,
it is

whom he
This

outraged in this preferof course obscure, because

winning " Death."

a part of the secret, unwritten Cabala, never spoken in

direct words.

In the views of the refining Gnostics, woman

dental,

is

the acci-

unknowing " obtrusion" upon the universal design.

The

ideal

woman

(as " ideal virgin") is spiritually free

from
these

the curse and corruption of things material.

ideas

From

came the powers

superstitiously

sible in the virgin state,

imagined to be posand to virgin woman.

All the marks and forms connected with these proscribed

letters
side,

"S" and "Z"

have,

the character of charms,

on their material and worldly sigils, and talismans, in the

evil sense, or dai-k sense.

of magic by the old soothsayers.

They were supposed to be means The celebrated Lord

Monboddo produced

a very elaborate treatise

trary to recognised ideas

to

quite

con-

show that speech was not

OA BALISTIO
natural

"

FALL" OF MAN.

33j

to Man, but that language was a result of the Primeval Fall, and that the punishment of Babel signified

the acquisition of the tongues, and not the " confusion of

language."

A
would

general display of the " Esses" (S.S.) and the " Zeds"

(Z.Z.),

and

their combinations

and sounds in

all

languages,

result in a persuasion of their

serpmMne

origin.

The

forms of these snake-like glyphs and their cursive lines in

all

the alphabets

v?ill,

on examination, present the same

These
all

suspicious undulation.
refluent

letters

have an intimate

connection with

the signs which

mean the

" Sea," the " Great Deep," " Matter in the abstract," or the
" Personified Eeceptive Feminine Principle," which eventually is to

be the Conqueror of the " Dragon" or " Enemy."

We
the

thus desire to show the unity of the myths and the

forms

made use of for the glory of " Woman."

expression of religious ideas in

We

wish the reader to take notice that the above

sin-

gular notions are in no

way shared by

us,

further than as

occurring in our account of some of the strange reveries of the " Illuminati" or " Gnostics ;" due, therefore, in our

comments.
" I wiU put enmity between thee and the woman, and

between thy seed and her seed

it shall
iii.

bruise thy head, and

1

thou shalt bruise his heel" (Genesis

5).

A careful
letter-forms,

and

critical inspection of all

the alphabets or

whether cursive or

fiuent, or rigid
still

and rectan-

gular, as in the Greek,

Latin,

and

more obviously in the

furtively sug-

wiU show that

certain ideas are expressed pictorially

in them.

Two

principal ideas

seem to be

and the cross-line gested. These are the upright ov phallus, be undulated or direct. or " snake," whether the horizontal The first form. the Greek letters these ideas make the

In

33

THE B OSIOB UOIANS.

according to the Cabalists, were the original "

letters,

Ten

Signs of the Zodiac," which contained mythologically the These " Ten Signs" history of the " making of the world."
afterwards multiplied and produced other broods of letters,

some of which were the cuneiform

alphabets.
pictured, in the

and

early tree-like

There seems to be an " event" symbolised, or

alphabets.

This mystic idea, which

letters, is

is

hidden in the hieroglyphics called

of "

supposed by

the more profound of the Tahnudists to be the introduction

Man"

into the world, through the very

fact

of his

" Fall," or as arising through the " Temptation," the chief

which is the " Snake." Thus every letter is au anagram of "Man, Woman, and Snake," in various
eflacient in

phases of the story. Each letter hae embodied in it the " Legend of the Temptation," and conceals it safely in a

"

sign.''

"

Ut omnia uno

tenore currunt, redeamus ad mysticam

Si igitur sub serpentis

serpentis significationem.

imagine
et

PhaUicum Signum

intelligimus,

quam plana

sunt

con-

cinna cuncta pictura lineamenta.

Neque enim pro Phallo

poneretur Serpens nisi res significata

cum typo

accurate

congrueret" {Jasher, editio secunda, p. 48).

The
word

late

Dr. Donaldson has a dissertation upon the

'2[>}J,

which

is

translated
xiii.

"heeV in Genesis

iii.

15.

He

adduces Jeremiah

22,

and

Nahum

ill.

5,

and, com-

paring the words

the "heeF
is

made use

of in the original, shows that

vii.

a euphemism, as are the "feet" in Isaiah

20.

His exhaustive argument demonstrates that the part intended to be signified by the word is pudenda muliehria.

The whole
quite a

proves the extreme importance in the mythical

and magical sense

of this

unexpected figure, and throws

it.

new

philosophical light on

These views

fortify

completely our Eosicrucian explanation of the origin of

CONQUEROR OF TEE DRAGON.

discussed in our book.

333

the Order of the Garter, and other kindred subjects, fally

This significant connection of the

discus

two figures
in Genesis

the plmllus and the

explains
He
is

the text
i.

i.

27, " Male and Female created

them,"

e.

ly,
the

glaclms,

"sword;" n3p3i "sheath."

In this

latter

word, the part which characterises the female

used for
(" case,"

woman

herself.

Qy., in this connection,

Keiah

or "container," or "deep"), the

Caaba

at

Mecca, and

Keb
all

or Cab, standing for Cabala, Kabbala, Gebala, Kebla, or

"Ark," or "Mystery"
religions
?

the

grand central

point

of

A modem

learned writer,

Thomas Inman, M.D.,

gires

the following as an interpretation of the passage, "

shalt bruise his head,

Thou
sed

and he

shall bruise thy heel:" " Gloet

riam fascini congressio toUit

infligit
efficit

caput ejus humile

facit,

injuriam moritura mentula,

et uteri

quum impregnationem
This

per novas menses tumorem profert."

may

explain the reason

why

the cube of the Phrygian Cap,

in the ancient sculptures of the "

armed female,"

is

worn
207

in reverse, or at the hack of the head, as

shown in

figs.

and 208,

p. 276.

The

celebrated philosopher, Petrus Gassendus, assailed

the system of Eobertus de Fluctibus, or Eobert Flood, and

criticised it at great length, in his

work

entitled

Examen

in

qud Principia Philosophice Roberti Fluddi, Medici,

published at Paris in 1630.
spirit of Flood's system,

reteguntur,

But he never

really seized the

and he wasted

his force.

He

did

not comprehend the Eosicrucian views with the largeness of insight of a man of great critical powers, which Gassendus
otherwise

undoubtedly

possessed.

Gassendus,

however,

was a prejudiced theologian, and was ill-calculated for a disBefore quisition upon a philosophy so remote and subtle. of greater depth, of more readiness, and less oban insight

34

TEE B OSICB UOIANS.

new
proofs.

stinacy, the difficulties presented

converting into

by Flood melt away, even His exhaustive logical positions

theorems are soon recognised when he shakes off trammels and clears himself of prepossession. But a rapid and complete philoindeed, the necessity of his
investigator,

by an

sophical grasp, extraordinary in its decision, is indispensable.

Flood's system

is

profound, shadowy,

difficult,

and

deep-lying.

Short of consummate judgment and clear

mind

in those to

whom

they are submitted, Flood's ideas, in their

very strangeness and apparent contradiction, startle and

bewilder, because they contradict all the accepted philosophies, or at least their conclusions,

and stand

alone.

The
by
its

ordinary recognised knowledge, heired from the current

accumulation, opposes him.

Flood's deeper teaching,

yery nature, and through the character of those from

it

whom
know-

sprung,
is

is secret,

or at all events evading, where the

ledge

not wholly suppressed.

instance of the impossibility of accepting Flood's

As an

ideas, if these

were such, Gassendus charges him with a stu-

pendous puzzle

that of passing the

is

entire interpretation of

Scripture over, not to the Mystics only, but to Alchemy.

Gassendus

asserts, as,

the opinion of Flood, that the key of

to

the Bible mysteries

be found in the processes of

alchemy and of the hermetic science; that the mystical sense of Scripture is not otherwise explainable than by the " Philosopher's Stone ;" and that the attainment of the
" Great Art," or of the secrets which
ven," in the Eosicrucian profundities.
lie

locked, is "

Hea-

Old and

New

Testa-

ment, and their historical accounts, are alike hermetic in this respect. The " Grand Magisterium" the " Great

Work,"
the

as the alchemists call it

is

mythed by Moses in

Genesis, in the Deliverance from Egypt, in the Passage of Red Sea, in the Jewish Ceremonial Law, in the Lives of

SEBMETIC INTERPRETA TION OF SCRIPTURE.

335

the Patriarchs and Prophets, such as Abraham, David, Solomon, Jacob, Job. In this manner the true Oabalists
are supposed to be Alchemists in

common

with the Magi,

the Sages, Philosophers, and Priests, the " true and only knowledge."

when these possessed The " Just Man made

Perfect" is the Alchemist, who, having found the " Philosopher's Stone,"

becomes

glorified
is

and immortal by the use

when the material elements can no longer maintain themselves. To "rise," is when the
of
it.

To be

said to " die,"

immaterial
vestment.

life

or spark

is

liberated out of its perishable inis

To be

" glorified,"

when the

powers, or inde-

pendence, are attained which properly appertain to the supernaturally perfect " Light," into which, like

the Eosicrucian

is

transfigured,
all."

Enoch or Elijah, and in which he knows " all,"

immorwill,

can be "
tality"

all,"

and do "

It is this " draught of

which enables him to assume what form he

its

by

passing through Nature as

master, and renewing his body

by means of his

art.

The adept stands

in the place of Nature, and does that

with the obstruction of matter

the pure from the impure
ages, perhaps, to effect.

which

separating
it is

by dissolution
supposed to be

takes unassisted Nature

The alchemist

superior to Nature to that extent, that he can pass through

it
it,

(that

is,

through
side.

its

appearances), and work on

it,

and in

on the other

It is here

in

this true

Anima Mundi,
Gold

or " Soul of the

World"

that the alchemist, or Rosicrucian,

regathers the light dispersed out of its old broken forms.

is the flux of the sunbeams or of light, suffused invisibly and magically into the body of the world. Light is sublimated

gold, rescued magically,

by

invisible stellar attraction, out

is

of the material depths.

Gold

thus the deposit of light,

is

which of
subtle,

itself generates.

Light, in the celestial world,

gold,

vaporous,

magically exalted

or

"spirit

of

336

TSE B OSICB UCJAN8.

Gold draws
inferior natures

flame."

in the metals, and,

itself.

intensifying and multiplying, conrerts into

It

is

a part of the first-formed " Glory" or " Splendour," of which

aU objects and

all souls

are points or parts.

Gassendus asserts that when the Eosicrucians teach that the " Divinity" is the " Light" or the " Realisation of Crear
tion," displayed

from the beginning (A)

to the

end (O) of the

that the

whole

visible or comprehensible frame, they

is

mean
is

Divine Being
idea, unless "

not possible or existent, according to

human

He," or the " Original Light,"

manifested

or expressed in some special "comprehensible" other light or

form.

The " Second"

is

reflects

the glory of the " First Light,"

and
or

is

that in which the " First" displays.

This second light,

Anima Mundi,

" Manifestation," or the " Son as proceedis

ing from the Father." This synthesis

aura, or Sacred Spirit.
soul,

the light, breath,

life,

It is the solar or golden alchemical

which

is

the sustainment and perfection of every thing.

All

lies

between hermetic rarefaction and condensation,

mortal and spiritual both.

" Is not the Devil the

the
'

'

Deep Darkness,' or

'

Matter'

terra

damnata

et

maUdicta,' which is left at the bottom

of the process of the Supreme Distiller,

who condenses and

'

evokes the

'

Light' from out of

it ?

Is not

Lucifer' the
?

Lord of the False Splendours of the Visible World'

Can

the Prince and Euler of this Relegate or Lower "World soar

with his imitations?

'

Region of Light'

Can the 'Adversary' pass into the Can he rise anew to combat in that

Heaven where he has already encountered the 'Mighty Ones' who have driven him down and can he there spread
;

again, like a cloud, his concentrate darkness?"

balists

The Ca-

and Talmudists aver that Scripture,

alike obscure

history, fable

and Nature, are

and

unintelligible without
is

their interpretation.

They

aver that the Bible

the story

PROCESS OF METALLIC CONVERSION.

337

of heavenly things put forward in a way that can be alone comprehensible by man, and that without their Cabala, and

the parables in which they have chosen to invest

tion,

its revelais

not religion only, but even familiar Nature,

un-

intelligible.

It has

been a common opinion, and

it

so remains, that

there is

no such thing

as the Philosopher's Stone,

it

and that

the whole history and accounts of

fable.

are a

dream and a
philosophers

multitude of ancient and

modem

have thought otherwise.

As

to the possibility of metals

transmuting from one into the other, and of the conversion

of the whole into gold, Libavius brings forward
stances in his treatise

many

in-

De Naturd

Metallorum.

He

produces

accounts to this effect out of Geberus, Hermes, Amoldus,

Thomas Aquinas {Ad Fratrem,

gelius,

c.

i.),

Bernardus Comes,

Joannes Eungius, Baptista Porta, Rubeus, Dornesius VoPenotus Quercetanus, and others.
Franciscus Picus,

in his

book De Auro,

sec. 3, c. z, gives

eighteen instances in

which he saw gold produced by alchemical transmutation.

To

those

who

allege the

seeming impossibility, he

rejoins,

that difficult things always seem at first impossible, and that

even easy things appear impracticable to the unskilled and

unknowing.

The principles and gTOunds for concluding that there may be such an art possible as alchemy we shall sum up as
follows.
Firstly, it is

assumed that every metal

flexible base,

consists of

mercury as a common versatile and ultimately all metals spring, and into which they may be reduced by art. Secondly, the species of metals, and their
specific

from which

and

essential forms, are not subject to transmuta;

tion,

but only the individuals in other words, what is general is abstract and invisible, what is particular is concrete

and

visible,

and therefore can be acted upon.

Thirdly,

38

THE B0SICBUCIAN8.
metals
differ,

all

not in their

common

nature and matter,

but in their degree of perfection or purity towards that invisible "light" within every thing, or celestial "glory" or
base for objects, which has " matter" as its mask. Fourthly, Art surmounteth and transcendeth Nature; for Art, di-. rected upon Nature, may in a short while perfect that which

Nature by
Fifthly,.

itself is

a thousand years

in
its

accomplishing.

God hath

created every metal of

own

kind,

and

hath fixed in them

perfect metal gold,

a principle of growth, especially in the

is

which

the master of the material, and

which in

itself

has magnetic seed, or magic light, an unseen

this world,

and heavenly power, unknown in

but which can

by

art

be evoked, be made to inspire and multiply and take

in all matter.
It is said of the alchemical philosophers, that

no sooner

did they attain this precious " Stone" or " Power," than the
very knowledge of
it,

in its

magic

surprise, delighted
give.

more than aught that the world could

body than in turning
"gold" of this
latter.

them They made

greater use of it in its supernatural effects

it

upon the human

upon the base matter, to make

in answer to those

And

who would
all

ask what was the reason that those supposed greatest of

philosophers did not render themselves and their friends

rich by a process so speedy

and thorough,

it

was

rejoined, that

they wanted

not, that they were satisfied in the possession of

the ability, that they lived in the mind, that they rested in

theory and declined practice, that they were so overcome

and astonished

at the

immensity of the power accorded by

God's grace to man, that they disdained to become gold-

makers to the greedy, or suppliers to the possibly

needy, and that they were afraid to be
sacrifice of avaricious, cruel tyrants;

idle

made the prey and

which would be but

too

surely their

fate

if

they were, through vain -glory

THE SOCIETY UNKNOWN.

or

339
their

temptation, or avoidable force, to

gifts.

make known

wondrous

Therefore these conclusive reasons, and others similar,

impelled the Society to hide from the world, not only their

stupendous

art,

but also themselves.

They thus remained

regarding whose
thing, or ever did

(and remain) the unknown, " invisible," " illuminated" Eosicrucians, or Brethren of the

Rosy Cross

presence and intentions

no one knows any

reality,
still

know any
has been

thing, truly
felt in
:

and in

although their power

the ages, and

remains unsuspectedly
in

conspicuous
proved.

all

which we think we have

some measure

/ U

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ife and KTewly-Biscovered Writings of Daniel Defoe.

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[Immediately.
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.iJm^i wlame J'ife.hl.'SS/TS",'

The Tamous

"

DOCTOR

One of the most Amusmg and laughable Books ever published. "With the whole of Eowlandson's very droll fuU-page illustrations, in colours, after the original drawings. Comprising the well-known TouES
1.

SYNTAX'S "

Three

Tours.

2.
3.

In Search of the Picturesque. In Search of Consolation. In Search of a Wife.

The three series complete and unabridged from the original editions in one handsome volume, with a Life of this industrious Author the Dn.
glish

Le Sagenow

first

written

by John Camden Hotten.

*ji,* It is not a little surprising that the most voluminous and popular English writer since the days of Defoe should never before have received This Edition contains the whole of the the small honour of a biography. original, hitherto sold for 1 lis. 6d., hut which is now jonblished at 7s. 6d. only.

A VEET USEFUL BOOK.

In

folio,

half morocco, cloth sides, 7s. 6d.

literary Scraps, Cuttings from

Newspapers, Extracts,

Miscellanea, &c. 340 formed for the reception of Cuttings, &c., with guards.

A FOLIO SCBA^-BOOK OF

COZVMNS,
this useful

0*
look.

Authors and Uterary men have thanked the publisher for

sold.

*m* A most nsefiil Tolome, and one of the cheapest ever and to become popular.

The hook is sure to be appreciated*

Hone's Scrap Book.

Supplementary Volume to the "Every-Day Book," the "Tear Book," and the "Table-Book." From late Wiiliam Hone, with upwards of One Hundred the MSS. of the
objects.

and Fifty engravings of curious or eccentric with " Year-Book," pp. 800.

Thick 8vo, uniform [In preparation.

John Camden Sotten, 74 and 73, Ficcadilly, W.

VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS.

Sets of "Punoli,"

184X 1860.

Mr. Hotten has

purchased from the Messrs. Virtue and Co. their entiee bemaindbe of this important set of books, which contains, among its 12,000 lUiiBtrations and Contributions from the most noted Wits of the time, the WHOLE OP Leech's Sketches, 4 vols. ; Leech's Penoillings, 2 vols. Tbnniei's Caetoons ; Dotle's Mk. Pips his Diabt Mauneks aot) Customs of the English Beown, Jones, and Eobinson ; Punch's Almanacts, i vol.; Thackeray's Miscellanies, 4 vols.; The Caudle Lectures; Story of a Feather; &c., &o. 39 half-yearly vols, hound in 20 vols., cloth gilt, gilt edges, published at d6i6 los., to be obtained of Mr. Hotten for f 6 los. only.
; j

Tlie Standard Work on Diamonds and Frecions Stones^ their History, Value, and Properties, with Simple Tests for Ascertaining their Reality. By IIaery Emanuel, F.E,.G.S. With nume-

New EditioHj Prices brought rous Illustrations, tinted and plain. down to Present Time, full gilt, 123. 6d.

"Trai he acceptable to many readers." rinw*. "An tovaluable work for buyers and eeUers."Spectator. See the Times* Eeview of three colamni.

*#* This new edition is greatly superior to the premous one. It gvoes the latest marlcet vaVuefor Diamonds amd Precious Stones of every size.

The Tonng Botanist

A Popular Gnide to Ulementary

Botany. By T. S. Ealph, of the Linusean Society. In i vol., with 300 Drawings from Nature, 23. 6d. plain, 4s. 6d. coloured by hand. *** An excellent book for the yonng beginner. The objects selected as illustrationB are either
easy of access as specimens of wild plants, or are conunon in gardens.

Gnnter's

Modern

Confectioner,

The Best Boob on

Confectionery

and Desserts. An Entirely New Edition of this Standard Work on the Preparation of Confectionery and the Arrangement of Desserts. Adapted for private families or large establishments.

By William Jeanes,

ilConfectioners to
(a All

Her Majesty), Berkeley-square.

Chief Confectioner at Messrs. Ghinter'e With Plates, post

ilvo, cloth, 6s. fid. honsekeepers should have it."I>ai7v Teligraph,

** This work has won for itself the reputation of hemg the Btamda/rd, English Booh on the prepa/raUon of all kinds of Confectionery, omA on
fhe airra/ngement of Desserts,

10

John Camden HoUen, 74 wni

75, Piccadilly,

W,

'

VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS.

MOST AMUSING NEW BOOK. Caricatnre History of the Georges (House of Hanover).
Very entertaining book of 640 pages, with 400 Pictures, Caricatures, Saniba, Broadsides, Window Pictures. By T. Wright, F,S,A. 73. 6d.

^___

Reviewed

in

almost every English journal with highest approbation.

*'ABet of caricatures snch as wa have in Mr. Wright's volume brings the surface of the ago before us "with a vividneBs that no prose writer, even of the highest power, could emulate. Macaula^'s most brilliant sentence is weak by the side of the little woodcut from GiUray wich givea Burke and 'So'X.^Saturday Reoiew,

**

A more omnsiDg work of its kind never issaed from the press."^rt jQumdL

"This is one of the most agreeable and interesting books of the season." Public Opinion.
*' It seems snperflnous to say that this is an entertaining book. It is indeed one of the moat entertaining books we have read for a long time. It is history teaching by caricature^ There ia aardly an event of note, hardly a personage of mark, hardly a social whimsey worth a moment's 2ptioe. which is not satirised and illustrated in these pages. We have bere the carlcatorists from Uogaitb to Gillray, and from Gillray to Cruikshank."-Afoming" Star.

** It ia emphatically one of the liveliest of books, as also one of the most interesting. It has tho rwofold merit of being at once amusing and edifying. The 600 odd pages which make up the goodly volume are doubly enhanced by some 400 illustrations, ol which a dozen are full-page ngravings."Jtfomi'ny Post.

"ALr.

Thomas Wrigbt
fail to

cannot

a success on

is so ripe a scholar, and is so ricb in historical reminiscences, that hs mfOce an interesting book on any subject he undertakes to illustrate, He has achieved the present occasion.'' Prcsj.

Notice.

for the lovers of choice books, v?ith extra Portraits, half -morocco (a capital book to illustrate), 30s.

on extra

Edition. Large-papermargins wide

fine paper,

4to, only

100

printed,

Komance

of the

Kod : an Anecdotal History

Birch in Ancient and

of the Modem Times. With some quaint illustrations.

{In prepa/ratioih

Crown 8vo, handsomely printed.

John

Camdm HoUen, 74 cmd 75, PiccaMVy, W,

VRY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS.

NEW BOOK BY THE AUTHOR OP "A NIGHT HOUSE.

The Wilds
Natives.

IN

A WORK.
of the

printed, Preparing, in crown 8vo, handsomely

of London with a By the Amatenr "Lambeth

:

FuU Account
Casual," Mr.

James Gkeen,

WOOD,

of the Pall

Mall Gazette.

vteui. Mones, people, and places in London.' 'Lundon Re

The Thames from Oxford

Photographs.

to

London. Forty Exquisite

Eoyal 4to. Both series complete in a neat French morocco foUo, with flaps, gilt side, 3 103. LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS.FlEST Sbeies. Great Marlow Loot Pangbonme (3 views). Oxford. Boulter's Look, Maid. Boat House, Park Barges at Oxford.
Ifley Mill.

Place.

enhead.
Bridge.

Bridge at Nnneham. Day's Look. SheUingford. WaUingf ord Bridge. Near Goring.

Henley-on-Thames. Meimenham Abbey. New Look, Hurley. Marlow.

Maidenhead Railway

Water OaHey, near

Windsor.

Second Sesies.
Windsor (4 views). Eton College.
Halliford.

Duke

of Bucolench's.

Hampton Court
views).

Biclunond (z views).

Kew (2 views).
Westminster Palace

Garrick's

YiUa,

Twickenham (3 views).
Eel-pie Island.

Hampton.

and Bridge.

*** ThiB ia an admirable collection of Views of the most charmingly picturesque spots on tha B.ver Thames, in the very highest style of Landscape Photography.

Tour in Crete, during the Insurrections of the

Cretans, 1867. By Ed. Postlethwaite, Author of " The Fortunes of a Colonist," " Pilgrimage over the Prairies," " Diary of George Dem," " Poems by Tristam," &o. This day, cloth neat, price 2S. 6d.

Letters from Greece, written

PosTiBTHWAiTE, Author of
Photographs, doth,
43.
fid.

in

1867.

By

Ed.

"A

Tour in Crete," &c.

With Three

FOLK-LORE, LEGENDS, PROVERBS OF ICELAND. Now ready, Cheap Edition, vrith Map and Tinted Illustrations, 23. fid. Oxonian in Iceland; with Icelandic Folk-Lore and
Sagas.

By the Rev. Feed Metoalpe, M.A.

Tom Marchmont:

KTovel.

Just out, 3 vols. 8vo,

cloth, 31S. fid. "Astoiyof English life, with a hero who is not depicted in accordance with the conventional nles for masculine perfection framed by modem society."

John,

Camden Eotten,

7.}.

cmd 75,

PiccadilVy,

W.

VERT IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS.

The History

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to the " Histokt op Signboaeds." With many very amusing Anecdotes and Examples of Sucoessful Advertisers. By Mbssbs. Lab-wood and Hotten. [In prepouraUon.

Companion

Siguljoards : their History.

Taverns and remarkable Characters.

With Anecdotes of Pamons By Jacob Larwood and John Camden Hotten. " A book which will delight aSL"Spectator. This
day. Fourth Edition, pages 580, price 73. 6d. only.

Trrnn (Re " Tima.^

Fram

the

" Times.*

not fair on tliB part of a reviewer to pick out the plams of an

"It

is

could not in the present instance pick out all Meesrs,

wo

Larwood and Hotten's plums, because

sntlioT's boolE,

tlius

filching

away

his

the good things are

so numerous as to defy the mostwholesale depredation."

cream, and leaving little bat Ekim-milk remaining ; but, even If we were ever so
maliciously inclined,

Review of three
columns.

BTTIL

AND MOUTH.
1800.)

(Angel St, St Martin's-le-Grand, circa

*#* ITeaily lOo most curious illnstrationg on wood are given, showing the various old signs which were formerly hung from taverns and other houses. The frontispiece represents the famous sign of "The Man
loaded vrith Mischief," in the colours of the origiaal painting said to have been executed by Hogarth.

Ifotice.

"large-paper

Edition," with

Seventy-Two

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** Only a small number printed on eitro fine paper with wide margins for the lover of fine books.

The Parks
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Their History and Asso-

from the Earliest Times. By Jacob Laewood. "With Iiius[I the Press. TBATIONS BY THE AUTHOK.

Hotten's

AS EXTRAORDINARY BOOK. Edition of " Contes Drolatiqnes "

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Tales coUeoted from the Abbeys of Loraine). Par Balzac. With JPour JIundred and Twenty-five Marvellous, Extravagant, and Fantastic Woodcuts by Gustate Doke. Beautifully printed, thick 8vo,

half morocco, Roxburghe, i2s. 6d. ** The most singular designs ever attempted by any artist This book is a fond of amusement. So jammed is it with pictures that even the contents are adorned with thirty-three iUustraUons. Direct a^pUcaUon rtmst be made to Mr. Hotten for tMs worle.

JoJm Camden Eotten, 74 amd

75,

PiccadMy, W.

13

rURY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS

Common
Prayer.
Illustrated

by Holbein and Albert

Dnrer. With Wood Engravings of the Dance of Death, a singnlarly cnrions series after Holbein, -with Soriptiiral Quotations and Proverbs in the Margin. 8vo, exquisitely printed on tinted paper, as. od.; in dart morocco, Elizabethan style, ^t edges, 163. 6d. Apply DiKEOT for this exquisite volume.

AN APPROPBIATB BOOK TO ILLUMINATE.

*** The attention
is

of those who practise the beantiful art of lUnminating requested to the following smnptuons volume.

The Presentation Book of Common Prayer.

Illns-

trated with Elegant Ornamental Borders in red and black, from "Books of Hours" and Illuminated Missals. By Geoffbet Tory. One of the most tasteful and beautiful books ever printed. May now be seen at all booksellers, Although the price is only a few shillings (73. 6d. in plain cloth; 83. 6d. antique do. ; 148. 6d. morocco extra), this edition is so prized by artists that at the South Kensington and other important Art Schools copies are kept for the use of students.

English.

Chnrch Fxirnitnre, Ornaments, and DecoraEeformation. Edited by Ed. Peac ock, F.S A.
.

MOST INTEBESTINQ BOOK ON ANGLICAN OSVMCS ORNAMENTS.

Thick 8vo, with
illustrations; ijs.

tions, at the Period of the

"Very cnrionfl as Bhowing what articlea of chja'ct famitore were in those days considered to b Idolatrous or unnecessary. The work, of whicl^nly a limited number has been printed, is of th highest Interest to those who take part in the present Ritual discussion."See ReUgtout Joumait.

NEW BOOK BY PEOFESSOB KENAN'S

Apollonins of Tyaua: the
the Third Century.

ASSOCIATE.

Pagan

An Essay.

or False Christ of By Albert Eeville, Pastor of the

3s. 6d.

Walloon Church at Rotterdam. Authorised translation. Price

*** most curionB account of an attempt to reviTO FaganiBm in the tbird century by ineana of a false ChriBt. Strange to say, the principal events in tlie lile of Apollonina are almost identical with the Gospel narrative.

Carlyle on the Choice of Boobs. Address by Thomas Caelyle, with Memoir, Anecdotes, Two Portraits, and View of bis
House
*it:*

in Chelsea.

This day, elegantly printed, pp. 96, cloth

The leader

in Daily Telegraphy April 25th, largely qnotes

23. from above "Memoir.**

Smiles's (Saml.) Story of the Iiife of George Stephenson; a Companion Volume to "Self-Help." Sells at 6s. few copies only at 33. gd. Apply to Mr. HoUen DIEECT for this hook.

SSalone's (Bd.) Idfe.

By

Sir

James

Prior, with his

Manuscript Anecdotes, " Maloniana," &c. handsome library toL, with ne portrait. Sells at 143. Cloth new, 4s. 3d. Apply to Mr. HoUen direct for this hooJc,
14

John Camden Eotten, 74 amd

7J, FiccaMlly,

W.

VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS.

NEW BOOK BY THE "ENGLISH

COMPANION TO THE "HATCHET THROWERS." liegends of Savage Life. By James Greenwood, tte famous Author of " A Night in a Worihouae." With 36 inimitably
droll
illustrations,

GTJSTAVE DORB."

may form with this comical work. The nicturea are among the moat aurpriaing which hay* rome from thia artiat a pencil. " & Munchaosea aort of book. The drawings by M. Griset are very powerfnl and eccentric"-.
ttioy

"Enghsh Gtustave Dor^." 4to, coloured, 7s. 6d. ; plain, 53. % Beodera who found ammement in the " Hatohet-Throwera" will not regret any acqualntanos
Remew.

drawn and coloured by Ernest Gkiset, the

Saturdai/

School life at Wiucliester College; or, the Bemia Winchester Junior. By ihe Author of " The Log of the Water Lily," and " The Water Lily on the Danube." Second edition, revised, coloured plates, 73. 6d. [In prepa/raUon.
nifloencea of

Tliia boolE

does for Wincheater what

*'

Tom Brown'a

School Days" did for Sngby.

Log of the "Water Lily" (Thames

Gig), during

Two

Cruises in the Summers of 1851-52, on the Rhine, Nectar, Main, Moselle, Danube, and other Streams of Germany. By R. B. MansHEID, B.A., of TJniversity College, Oxford, and iUustrated by Aifeei> Thompson, B.A., of Trinity CoUege, Cambridge. [In prepa/raUon.
*** Tills was the earliest boat excnraion of the kind ever made on the Continental riyera. Yety recently the aobject has been reyiyed again in the exploits of Mr. MacGregor in his "Rob Boy Canoe." The .yolome will be found moat intereatiug to those who propose taldng a similar trip, whether on the Continent or elsewhere.

The Hatchet-Throwers.
nncolonred, 5s.
Bristol,

With Thirty-six lUnstra-

^ons, coloured after the Inimitably Grotesque Drawings of Ebnest Geiset. The English Gustave Dore. 4to, cloth gilt, 7s. 6d. 5 plates,
** Comprises the astonishing adventnres of Three Ancient Mariners, the Brotheir Braaa oS Mr. Corker, and Mnngo Midge.

SCelchior Gorles. 8to, i us. 6d.

* The

By Henry
"Meamerlo

Aitcheuhie.
whatever
else

&

vols.

yew Novel,

illnatrative of

Inflnenee,*' or

wo maychooaato

term that atrange power which aome peraona exerciae over otherf.

John Camden EoUen, 74

a/nd ji PiccacUlly,

W,

1$

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AN INTERESTING VOLUME TO ANTIQUARIES.

Army
dnnng

lists of the Boundlieads and Cavaliers in the

4to, half

Liats ahow on which Bide the genUemen of England were \o be found) the great ooafllct between the King and the Parliamenti Only a veiy few copiea have been moat caref nUf reprinted on paper ttiat will gladden the heart of the lorer of choice book&

Civil War, 1641. *** Thew moat cnrioue

morocco, liandsomely printed, price

7s. 6d.

Magna

Charta.

An

Exact Facsimile of the Original

Docranent preserved in the British Mnsenm, very carefnlly drawn, and printed on fine plate paper, nearly 3 feet long by a feet wide, with the Armg and Seals of the Barons elaborately emblazoned in gold and
colonrs. a.d. ,1215. Price 5s. ; by post, on roller, Ss. 4d. Handsomely framed and glazed, in carved oalc of an antique pattern, 2zs. 6d. *#* Copied by expreas permiaaion, and the only correct drawing of the Great Charter ever taken. It ia uniform with the **Soll of Battle Abbey." A full translation, with Kotes, has just been
prepared, price 6d.

UNIFORM WITH "MAGNA CHARTA."

Boll of Battle Ahhey; or, a List of the Principal
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and

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Richard II.

Charter -BoU
In
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of

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Temp.

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** Of the Tery limited impreaeion proposed, more than ISO copies bare already been subscribed for. An ancient Illuminated Eoll, of great interest and beauty, conipriaing all the early Charters and Grants to the Cityof Waterford, from the time of Henry II. to Richard U. Fall-length Fortraita of each King adorn the margin, varying from eight to nine inches in length.

The Oldest Heraldic BoU. "The BoU of Csrlaverlook," with the Anns of the Earls, Barons, and Enights who wera present at the Siege of this Castle in Scotland, 26 Edward I., A.D. 1300 ; including the Original Anglo-Norman Poem, and an EnglUh Translation of the MS. in the British Museum. By Thomas Wkight Esq., M.A., F.S.A. IN C0L0UB3. In 4to, very handsomely printed, extra gold cloth, i8s. ; or crimson morocco extra, the sides and back covered in rich fleur-de-lys, gold tooling, 55s.

GOLD AND

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** A very handsome volume, and a delightful one to lovers of Heraldry, as blazon or arms known to exist.

it is

the earliest

A ITew and Complete

16

Now publishing in monthly parts, price is; Parochial History of Cornwall,

Compiled from the Best Authorities, and Corrected and Improved from Actual Survey; with Illustrations of the Principal Objects of Interest; Volume I. now ready, price i6s.

John Cwmden Hotten, 74 and

75,

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VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS.

MR. SWINBURNE'S NEW BOOK. %* "4 wonderful literary performance." "Splendour

style

and majestic beauty of diction never surpassed." WILLIAM BLAKE: A Critical Essat. With facsimile Paintings,

oj

by hand, from the original drawings painted by Blake and his wife. Thick 8vo, pp. 350, i6s.
coloured

"An
nary
lent,

extraordi:

work

vio-

witli a sense of vitality." Da4,ly

extravagant, calcuEerverse, ited to startle, tr> shock, and to alarm

News,
1868.

Feb.

12,

"It is in every way wortby of Mr.

many

readers, but

Swinbumes high
In no prose work can be found
fame.
passages of keener poetry or more grace, or more impressive harmony. Strong,
iinisbed

abounding
and cha racterised by intelbeauty,
lectnal grasp.
.
.

His power

of

word - painting is often truly wonderfulsometimes, it must be admitted, in excess, but always full of matter, form, and colour, andinstinct

vigorous,

and

musical, the style

sweeps on like
a river." Swnday Times, Jan. IJ,
1868.

Ur. Swinburne's Ifew Poem.

*'

Song of

Italy.
full

Fcap. 8vo, toned paper, cloth, price 33. 6d. ** The ^tAeruFUm remarks of tbia poem Seldom Xas Buch
strength, and colour."

a chant been heard so

of glovr,

JBlx. Swinburne's Price 93.

Foems and

Ballads.

Third Edition.

HLv.

Swinburne's Notes on his Poems, and on the

is

Beviews which have appeared upon them,

now

ready, price

is.

Mr. Swinburne's Atalauta in Calydou.

fcap. 8vo, price 6a.

ITew Edition,

Ur. Swinburne's Chastelard.

Edition.

Tragedy.

New

Price

73.

Ur. Swinburne's Queen Mother and Bosamond.

New Edition,
fcap. 8vo, price 5s.

Mr. Swinburne's Bothwell. A

John Camden Hotten, 74 and

NEW POEM.
\In prepwraUon.
7j, FiccadiUy,

W.

t?

VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS.

Original Edition of Blake's Works. NOTIGE. Mr. Hotten has in preparation a few facBimile
as to pa/per, printing

He

drawings being filled in hy an arUst) of the Original Editions of the Books written and Illustrated ty William Blake. As it is only intended to produce ^with utmost care a few examples of each work, Mr. Hotten will be glad to hear from any gentleman who may desire to secure copies of these wonderful books. The first volume, " Makriage op Heaven and Hell," 4to, is now being issued, price 30s., half morocco. "Blako l8 a real neme, I assure yoa, and a most extraordtnaty man he is. if he still be living;

the water-colov/r

copies (exact

is the Blalce whose wild designs accompany a splendid edition of * Blair's Grave.' He painti tn watey-coloura marvetiima ttrange pictures vigione of hit brain whic/i he asserts he has seen. Thejf

George Chapman's Plays, firom the Original Texts.

Edited, with Notes and an Introduvrtion, by

Algernon Charles

Swinburne. 4 vols., tastefully printed, vMform with

Editions of the " Old Dramatists."

Wm.

Pickering's

[In preparation.

UNIFORM WITH MR. SWINBURNE'S POEMS.

Foap. 8vo, 450 pages. Pine Portrait and Autograph,
7s. fid.

Walt Whitman's Poems.

Taps, &o.)

(Leaves of Grass, DrumWilliam Michael Eossetii.

Selected and Edited by

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*^ n^.^Jt.n^^h"^amthor. His work <:f^^ hasleen sTumn against tUsveryrmu^Uble '^!t^^^ should be read by indeS^
Rossetti's Criticisms on
3s. fid.

Swinbnmes Poems.

Price

The Prometheus Bonnd

the Original Metres by C. B. Catley,

of aischylus. Translated in B.A Cloth, price 3s. fid.

.

SECOND EDITION.-N0W ready, 4to.

Bianca.
18

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Poems and

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By Edward Brennan.

John Camden Hotten, 74 wnd 75, PiceadiUy, W.

VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS.

Pair Kosamond, and other Poems.
GOMERiE Ranking
(of the

By

B. ]SIout6a.

Inner Temple).

Fcap. Svo, price

Strawberry

foap. Svo, 7s. 6d. "It is a bright, o1verlittle book. In which wo find a sroal deal of good rhymo, and some lomo gonuina and pleasind poBtry. There am several charmini; pictures oj the historio group, which wo from Horace Walpole'e letters and Sir Joshua's paintings, "-itfomm^ Siar.
iri

Hill, and other Matne, Esq. In strawberry binding,

Poems.

By Colbum

Infelicia.

''

Tolume

IllusNUMEROUS GHACErULLY PENCILLED DESIGNS DRAWN ON WOOD, BY Alfred Concanen. Dedicated, by permission, to Charles Dickens, with photographic facsimile of his letter, and a very beautifully engraved portrait of the Authoress. In green and gold, 53. 6d. ' A pathetic little a poet? Throughtrated with
exquisitely

Poems by Adah Isaacs Menien.

got up."Sun. "It la foil of pathos and seatament, displays a keen appreciation of beauty, and has re-

out her verao there Tuna a golden thread of rich and pure poetry."J>r*M.

"There

is

markable
ness
Globe.

earnest-

aionate richness about many of the

poems which Is almost startling." Sunday Timet.

pas-

and possioiL"^
lovlDg

"A

and

delicate care has been bestowed on perhaps the daintiest pages of verse tiiat have been

"What
say of

can

wa

and
^sted
time to

wayward

this

gifted

woman,

the exist-

issued

for

many

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