Severity in the Craft

[stepnwolf]

From it's earliest beginnings the Craft has been a haven for those who promoted the brotherhood of man. Our language insists on identifying the gender, male or female, but I suspect that distinction made little difference in the minds of our early BB. It's unfortunate that we don't have a simple term referring to all beings, human or otherwise.

St. Francis of Assisi hints at this relationship in his Canticle of the Sun (1224) where we read of brother sun and sister moon; where the Most High is praised for Wind and Air and Clouds and Storms. Finally, at the end of the song, the Saint praises the Lord through his sister he calls “bodily death.” anticipating the great teaching of the 3°.

In our esoteric studies we acknowledge that in the scheme of things there seems to be a place for and a function of what we might call evil for the lack of a better word. Masonry promises that we will be made better but not perfect. In that imperfect part we still have hatred, pride, jealousy, violence and scores of other negative feelings which we express from time to time. We can excuse these negative elements of our personality by saying, “this is just how I am.”

Or, we can use the tools we've been given to chip away at that rough ashlar. I don't know that the ashlar feels pain as it is given a more regular form, but we may feel pain as we lose parts of ourselves in our growth toward the perfect ashlar.

Some of us hesitate to enter the left side of the ToL. It may not be an accident that the Latin word for left is sinister. Moving from Malkuth (the kingdom, where we are now) to Hod (intellect, the 2°) on the left side of the tree we take the path assigned to Key 20 of the tarot: Judgement, which may appear rather intimidating at first. The image is taken from the idea of resurrection and renewal. That process is not what one would call fun, or even edifying. The rewards are far off, but now it is work, sweat, tears and maybe some blood, too.

[paul]

>Masonry promises that we will be made better but not perfect

A member of the 18th degree has the title Excellent and Perfect Prince, although that may turn out not to be a human title at all.

>we might call evil for the lack of a better word..... hatred, pride, jealousy, violence and scores of other negative feelings


Personally I would not categorise dark attributes as evil. Evil, I suggest, refers to an imbalance of light and dark, e.g. when a person inappropriately works themselves to death trying to support some good cause.

>It may not be an accident that the Latin word for left is sinister. Moving from Malkuth (the kingdom, where we are now) to Hod (intellect, the 2°) on the left side of the tree

At the risk of being pedantic, since the human backs into the Tree, Hod relates to the right side of the human body.

[LorrB]

From it's earliest beginnings the Craft has been a haven for those who promoted the brotherhood of man. How about the brotherhood of Mankind. Our language insists on identifying the gender, male or female, but I suspect that distinction made little difference in the minds of our early BB. It's unfortunate that we don't have a simple term referring to all beings, human or otherwise. We do - Entity.

St. Francis of Assisi hints at this relationship in his Canticle of the Sun (1224) where we read of brother sun and sister moon; where the Most High is praised for Wind and Air and Clouds and Storms. Finally, at the end of the song, the Saint praises the Lord through his sister he calls “bodily death.” anticipating the great teaching of the 3°.

Brother Sun and Sister Moon might be seen at one level to represent Force and Form respectively. Thus the reference to the connection between Sister & Death (of the Form) ?

In our esoteric studies we acknowledge that in the scheme of things there seems to be a place for and a function of what we might call evil for the lack of a better word. How about Severity? Severe tests when accomplished make us stronger.. Masonry promises that we will be made better but not perfect. In that imperfect part we still have hatred, pride, jealousy, violence all extremes - not balanced responses and scores of other negative feelings which we express from time to time. We can excuse these negative elements of our personality by saying, “this is just how I am.” Laying down the tools

Or, we can use the tools we've been given to chip away at that rough ashlar. I don't know that the ashlar feels pain as it is given a more regular form, but we may feel pain as we lose parts of ourselves in our growth toward the perfect ashlar. Many of us find it difficult to say goodbye to old friends which in this case are our bad habits and our expanding consciousness may find itself a little uncomfortable from time to time 'trying to take it all in'. Some of us hesitate to enter the left side of the ToL. It may not be an accident that the Latin word for left is sinister. Moving from Malkuth (the kingdom, where we are now) to Hod (intellect, the 2°) on the left side of the tree we take the path assigned to Key 20 of the tarot: Judgement, which may appear rather intimidating at first. Binah (the Widow?) atop the Pillar of Severity is in charge of Form even though it represents the non-polarized state. Form is the result of polarization into opposites and I think Judgement may have more to do with making efforts to reconcile that which is opposite by nature. The image is taken from the idea of resurrection and renewal. That process is not what one would call fun, or even edifying. The rewards are far off, but now it is work, sweat, tears and maybe some blood, too. The RH pillar and the LH pillar are either side of the Middle pillar which is called equilibrium. I rather suspect that our rewards are regularly received but go unappreciated a lot of the time as we expect them to have Form. With rewards we might be reminded of the Middle Chamber ?

Is the Middle Pillar the way less travelled? Ordinarily most folk zigzag their way up the ToL but there is this straight and narrow way. I'm not saying it is easy though.

[stepnwolf]

Thank you, Bros LorrB and Paul for your comments. I'm the last one to object to pedantry: it was my bread and butter for years. That temptation was so strong I couldn't resist the pedantic reference to the Latin word, sinister. Now that you mention it, though, didn't I read something to that effect in BOTA's correspondence lessons? A case where pedantry trumped memory?
And, yes, entity is the perfect word to describe all beings and severity is a better word than evil.
Thank you again.

[LorrB]

I don't know a lot about the ToL but every time I come across it, it explains perfectly what I was grasping for. It has proved most rewarding for me when I lay masonic stuff against it. They seem to talk to or of each other.

I think this is a good topic and I hope it doesn't finish here on the first page.

[paul]

The ToL is a map of the temples of the Heavens and of the Earth while Freemasonry is a school for humans to operate in those temples.

In my experience the ToL often fits on the landscape, suitably modified to flow along lines of least resistance.

[LorrB]

Jan 22, 2013 7:45:54 GMT 9.5 paul said:

At the risk of being pedantic, since the human backs into the Tree, Hod relates to the right side of the human body.

Using the masonic temple as a template, if one overlays the ToL it might suggest that it is the LH column/pillar which is related to strength and severity.. it being on the 'dark' side of the lodge, assuming of course that Keter is facing East. The RH column/Pillar of Mercy would then be in a place of light in the South.

[paul]

The ToL can be facing into the Earth or up into the Heavens - depending upon the dominant flow.

If a landscape ToL faces into the Earth, the population may seem to be a little disconnected from the dynamics of Earth life.

Once I saw the ToL upon a country progressively turn over from facing down to facing up. That event, sephiroth by sephiroth, coincided with the stops being made in a tour of the Queen of England and her husband.

[LorrB]

Why do you think this was so?

Was it the collective excitement of the royal visit which facilitated the change? The people became less inward looking? Or did the change have something to do with the royal couple themselves?

[paul]

I used to have regular dreams with members of the royal family. Long ago when I was about to visit the UK I dreamed that the Queen met me and made some comment about the value of my work.

In the case of the tour that turned over the Tree, the reason I observed that in detail is that I was a day or two behind the royal party in my own tour.

I rather thought that they were triggering the events rather than causing them.

[LorrB]

A lot to think about there. Have you noticed anything similar happening elsewhere with different people triggering a change?

[paul]

That is the only case I have seen. I have some expectation of seeing another in the next decade.

[stewart edwards]

Paul

There could be a number of factors at play. What would be really interesting to know is whether Her majesty felt anything.

I think that the easiest way to explain this phenomena to those who think it crazy is to consider that feeling you get when you go somewhere new and you feel comfortable (in contrast to places you might feel ill at ease). All sorts of reasons why this could happen, but focus on the feeling.

Now sometimes this opens doors, makes connections, enables personal growth. (Have you ever heard someone say it all started when I went to.....)

Now what paul has described can be likened to, at a simplistic level, a reversal of this. Someones presence opening doors, possibly doors that were sealed long ago awaiting such an event.

Now feel free to consider such things as being crazy, but it is all connected in a way to simple things like falling in love, knowing someone you glance at who you havent met before, feeling comofrtable in one lodge but not another, a favourity comfy place to go and relax, and so on.

Once you start to investigate these issues the inner beauty of life reveals itself much more clearly.

Legend has it that there is a big one at Mt Kiliminjaro, just waiting a past king to come and recover his ring. Can't imagine that Tanzaniers customs would be too pleased with that

[paul]

>What would be really interesting to know is whether Her majesty felt anything.

Back in 1977 I was living in Scotland and it was the day of the Queen's silver jubilee. I was watching the ceremony live on the TV. The Queen and procession were walking up the aisle in the St Paul's. The camera had zoomed down from the dome to show the head of the Queen and slowly zoomed back to show the procession and then the crossing of the aisles at the head of the cathedral that the procession was approaching.

For some reason I was interested in planetary movements that day. Venus (higher forces) had been retrograde (limited and difficult flows) for some period and was due to transition from retrograde at 11:57 (as I recall) so that the higher energies could flow naturally.

And it was at 11:57 exactly that the Queen stepped into the crossing of the aisles watched by hundreds of millions on TV. I felt a strong flow of energy occurring in that scene at that exact time. The energy seemed to me to be flowing into and through the ceremony.

From my limited observations the British are quite good at aligning the inner and the outer with ceremonial.

The Logos of Venus is one of the 7 spirits before the throne of God - and therefore one of the 7 Masons that make a lodge perfect. So far mainstream Masonry has not attempted to coordinate lodge workings with the temple in the heavens other than having most meetings at night and the festivals of the Sts John.

[LorrB]

The Logos of Venus is one of the 7 spirits before the throne of God of the whole Universe?

[LorrB]

The Logos of Venus is one of the 7 spirits before the throne of God of the whole Universe?

[paul]

Our God is a god of love - in this case the Being whose dense body is the solar system.

Our God exists within a greater being as do we all.

Melchizedek (who St Paul tells us is without father and without mother) seems to be the Being whose dense body is this universe

The GAOTU, as far as I can see, is the Being whose body encompasses all of the universes that humans can see, plus a bit more.

[paul]

Jan 25, 2013 1:57:07 GMT 9.5 @stewart edwards said:

... opening doors, possibly doors that were sealed long ago awaiting such an event.

It seems that there are many such structures, some functional and some closed and some barred.

Legend has it that there is a big one at Mt Kiliminjaro, just waiting a past king to come and recover his ring.

The legend of the king (or similar) asleep or concealed in a sacred hill is very common. An obvious one is Arthur's Seat at Edinburgh.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_in_the_mountain

As far as I can tell such legends point to the existence of energy structures within the hill that give access to higher energies and perhaps remote places and timelines.

[LorrB]

Can one build such structures ie Glastonbury Tor?

[paul]

I rather think that Glastonbury Tor was modified rather than built from level ground - but I could be wrong.

Nevertheless by observing leylines and geological formations it is possible to detect places where geometric structures of proper construction will attract higher energies. Chartres cathedral is an obvious example.