Theos-Talk Archives (January 2010 Message tt00012)

Dear friends

My views are:


Some of you might be interested in the following on Masonry compared with theosophical views:

1.
H.P. Blavatsky Collected Writings:
"In 1862 the Grand Orient vised and sealed the American Patent of Seymour as G.M., and mutual representatives were appointed, down to 1866, when the relations of the G.O. with America were ruptured, and the American Sovereign Sanctuary took up its position, "in the bosom" of the Ancient Cerneau Council of the "Scottish Rite" of 33 degrees, as John Yarker says, in the above quoted work. In 1872 a Sovereign Sanctuary of the Rite was established in England, by the American Grand Body, with John Yarker as Grand Master. Down to the present time the legality of Seymour's Sanctuary has never been disputed by the Grand Orient of France, and reference to it is found in Marconis de Nègres books.
It sounds very grand, no doubt, to be a thirty-second degreeist, and an "Ineffable" one into the bargain; but read what Robert B. Folger, M. D., Past Master thirty-third, says himself in his The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, in Thirty-Three Degrees: "In reference to the other degrees, five or six in number, which are additional, those (with the exception of the Thirty-third, which was manufactured at Charleston) were all in the possession of the Grand Orient before, but were termed, like a great many others, 'obsolete'."

And further, he asks: "Who were the persons who formed this Supreme Council of the Thirty-third degree? And where did they get that degree, or the power to confer it? . . . Their Patents have never been produced nor has any evidence ever yet been given, that they came in possession of the Thirty-third degree in a regular and lawful manner" (pp. 92, 95, 96).

That an American Rite, thus spuriously organized, declines to acknowledge the Patent of an English Sovereign Sanctuary, duly recognized by the Grand Orient of France, does not at all invalidate my claim to Masonic honours."..."Though I have nothing to do with American modern Masonry, and do not expect to have, yet, feeling highly honoured by the distinction conferred upon me by Brother Yarker, I mean to stand for my chartered rights, and to recognize no other authority than that of the high Masons of England, who have pleased to send me this unsolicited and unexpected testimonial of their approval of my humble labours.

Of a piece with the above is the ignorant rudeness of certain critics who pronounce Cagliostro an "impostor" and his desire of engrafting Eastern Philosophy upon Western Masonry "charlatanism." Without such a union Western Masonry is a corpse without a soul. "
( H.P. Blavatsky COLLECTED WRITINGS, Vol. I, p. 310)
http://www.katinkahesselink.net/blavatsky/articles/v1/y1878_009.htm


2. 
H.P. Blavatsky Collected Writings:
"Masonry-not the political institution known as the Scottish Lodge, but real Masonry, some rites of which are still preserved in the Grand Orient of France, and that Elias Ashmole, a celebrated English Occult Philosopher of the XVIIth century, tried in vain to remodel, after the manner of the Indian and Egyptian Mysteries-Masonry rests, according to Ragon, the great authority upon the subject, upon three fundamental degrees: the triple duty of a Mason is to study whence he comes, what he is, and whither he goes; the study that is, of God, of himself, and of the future transformation."
(H.P. Blavatsky Collected Writings, Vol. XIV, p. 274 )
http://www.katinkahesselink.net/blavatsky/articles/v14/ph_063.htm


3.
Alice A. Bailey (or her Master Tibetan) wrote:
"These three grades of appreciation or of comprehension of the initiatory process are hinted at in the Masonic Work. The ceremonial aspect can be related to the degrees of Entered Apprentice and of Fellow Craft, plus certain little-practiced degrees, as for instance that of Mark Mason degree and one or two others; these are expansions of the implied teaching. The initiations, covered by the term symbolic representation, find their first hint in the sublime third degree, that of Master Mason, in the Holy Royal Arch and in one or two succeeding degrees; the higher degrees of the Scottish Rite constitute a vague and nebulous attempt to hold before the Masons of the world those expansions of consciousness and of growth into the Light which are experienced in the remaining higher initiations - those subject to the process called illumination through revelation."
(AAB The Rays and the Initiations, p. 533)
http://www.bailey.it/testi-inglese/Rays-and-Initiations-a-Treatise-on-the-Seven-Rays-Vol-5.pdf 
(PDF-format)



Alice A. Bailey (or her Master Tibetan) wrote:
"The Masonic Movement when it can be divorced from politics and social ends and from its present paralyzing condition of inertia, will meet the need of those who can, and should, wield power. It is the custodian of the law; it is the home of the Mysteries and the seat of initiation. It holds in its symbolism the ritual of Deity, and the way of salvation is pictorially preserved in its work. The methods of Deity are demonstrated in its Temples, and under the All-seeing Eye the work can go forward. It is a far more occult organization than can be realized, and is intended to be the training school for the coming advanced occultists."
(AAB The Externalization of the Hierarchy, p. 511)
http://www.bailey.it/testi-inglese/The-Externalization-of-the-Hierarchy.pdf


4.
Manly Palmer Hall
"It is claimed that Hall was made a knight patron of the Masonic Research Group of San Francisco in 1953, although he was not raised as a Mason until 22 November 1954 into Jewel Lodge No. 374 , San Francisco. He later received his 32° in the Valley of San Francisco AASR (SJ).[3] In 1973 (47 years after writing The Secret Teachings of All Ages), Hall was recognized as a 33º Mason (the highest honor conferred by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite), at a ceremony held at PRS on December 8,1973. "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manly_Palmer_Hall


5.
The Supreme Counsil - Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite 
SOUTHERN Jurisdiction
"Is Freemasonry a religion?

No. While it is a requirement that each member believe in a Supreme Being, it is not important how one expresses that very personal belief.  Further, there is no dogmatic system in Freemasonry.  However, confusion about the secular nature of Freemasonry has been a common misconception for many years.  Most likely, this misconception is due to the Holy Book that sits on the altar in the middle of a Masonic lodge. This Holy Book does not have to be Christian, like the Bible, rather it can be any Holy Book that is important to the members of the lodge. In the U.S. where the population is mostly Christian, the Holy Book most often used in Lodges is the King James Version of the Bible."
.......
"There are about 1.7 million Masons in the United States and about 550,000 of those are Scottish Rite Masons."
.......
http://www.scottishrite.org/



6.
The Supreme Counsil - Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite 
NORTHERN Jurisdiction
"The Scottish Rite does not intrude on the religious beliefs of its members, but it does require that its adherents profess a belief in a Supreme Being, and urges its members to be active in their respective houses of worship. It does not attempt to teach any creed nor pretend to be a religion nor a substitute for religion. Scottish Rite practices universality. "
.......
"WHEN WILL I BE ENTITLED TO WEAR THE SCOTTISH RITE RING?
After receiving the fourteenth degree. "
.......
"The System of Degrees

Each Valley has up to four Scottish Rite bodies, and each body confers a set of degrees. In the Northern Masonic Jurusdiction, the bodies are the:

    * Lodge of Perfection (4°-14°)
    * Council of Princes of Jerusalem (15°-16°)
    * Chapter of Rose Croix (17°-18°)
    * Consistory (19°-32°) 

The Supreme Council confers the 33° of Sovereign Grand Inspector General "
http://www.supremecouncil.org/



- - -

So now we know, what we are dealing with when comparing the Alice A. Bailey teachings with the theosophical teachings, which she or the Tibetan claims the AAB teachings are based on?



M. Sufilight


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