the greater and the lesser, divided into many classes. The candidate for
initiation had to be pure, his character without blemish. He was commanded
to study such lessons as tended to purify the mind. Great was the honor of
ascending to the greater mysteries and it was difficult to attain to it. An
inscription of a high priest at Memphis, says Mr. Samuel Birch, states:
"That he knew the arrangements of the Earth, and those of Heliopolis and
Memphis; that he had penetrated the mysteries of every sanctuary; that
nothing was concealed from him; that he adored God and glorified Him in all
His works, and that he hid in his breast all that he had seen." Had he not
kept his secrets so carefully concealed, no doubt he would have told us
that at one of the initiations the figure of the god Osiris, in whose honor
the mysteries were celebrated, and whose name the initiates did not dare
pronounce, appeared to the candidate, as it did at Heliopolis to Pianchi,
king of Ethiopia.
At a later period, when the ancient customs had become relaxed owing to the
invasion of the country by foreigners and to the government passing from
the hands of native rulers to those of Persian, of Greek or Roman
governors, many, besides the priests, came to be admitted to the lesser
mysteries. But all had to pass through the different grades and conform to
the prescribed rules, as in the case of Thales, Eumolpus, Orpheus,
Pythagoras, Plato, Herodotus and others.
I will not here describe at length the initiations to the mysteries in
honor of the Sun God, Mithra, instituted by Zoroaster, but only state that
Porphyrius, on the testimony of Eubulus, says that this philosopher and
reformer having selected a cavern in a pleasant locality in some mountains
near Persia, dedicated it to Mithra, the Sun, creator and father of all
beings; that he divided it into geometrical figures intended to represent
the climates and elements; in a word that he imitated in a small way the
order and disposition of the universe by Mithra. After him, it became
customary to consecrate caverns for the celebration of mysteries; as we see
yet in Japan.
The candidates for initiation to the Mithra mysteries were submitted to the
most awful trials--among which one was to try the docility and courage of
the applicant. He was ordered by the priest to kill a man. According to
Plutarch, in his life of Pompeius, these mysteries were brought to the
Occident by Cilician pirates about sixty-eight years before the Christian
era. They were well received by the Greco-Latin world, and the initiated
were soon to be counted by thousands. In the time of the Emperor Adrian,
the mysteries of Mithra had become so popular that Pallas, a Greek writer,
composed a poem on the subject, that Porphyrius has preserved in a special
treatise on the abstinence from the use of animal flesh.
The mysterious initiations vividly impressed the imagination, as at times
and by way of expiation, human victims were offered and immolated. The
ceremonies of the priests consisted, says Origenes, in imitating the
motions of the celestial bodies, those of the planets, in fact of the
heavens. The initiated took the names of the constellations and dressed
themselves as animals. A theology purely astronomical was taught in these
mysteries, in which they used the purification by water in honor of the
goddess _Ardvi çoura anâhita_, "She of the celestial waters;" the
confession of sins; and a sort of eucharist, or offering of bread, still
observed by the Parsis or fire worshippers in India. It may be said that
during the last years of the Roman Empire, the religion of Mithra had
become the state religion. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at, if it
extended to the Roman provinces of Gaul and Britain, and if some of its
rites have found their way into Free Masonry, and are practised to the
present day; thus again relating it with very ancient sacred mysteries,
established by Zoroaster, the author of the Zend-Avesta at least 1,100
years before Christ, although Hermippus, the Greek translator of his work,
places him 5,000 years before the taking of Troy.
If we go to Hindostan, there we will learn of a secret society of wise and
learned men, whose object is the study of philosophy in all its branches,
but particularly the spiritual development of man. The leading fraternity
is established in Thibet; and the high pontiff and other dignitaries of the
Lama religion belong to it. They are known throughout India by the name of
_Mahatmas_ or Brothers. To obtain this title it is necessary to suffer a
long and weary probation, and pass through ordeals of terrible severity.
Many of the _Chelas_, as the aspirants are called, have spent twenty, even
thirty years of blameless and arduous devotion to their task, and still
they are in the earlier degrees, looking forward to the happy day when they
may be judged worthy to have the title of Brother conferred upon them.
These _Mahatmas_ are the successors of those secret societies of learned
Brahmins, so celebrated for their wisdom, from very remote ages, in India;
and of whose colleges or lodges, always built on the summit of high mounds,
either natural or artificial, Alexander, the Great, when he achieved the
conquest of that country, was never able to take possession. Philostratus
informs us, that their mode of defense consisted in surrounding themselves
with clouds, by means of which they could at will render themselves visible
or not, and hurling from their midst tempests and thunder on their enemies.
Evidently in those early times, they had discovered gunpowder, or some
other explosives of like nature, and made use of them to explode mines, and
destroy their assailants. These same Brahmins claimed to have been the
teachers of the Egyptians, who, according to that, would have received
their civilization and scientific knowledge from them, as also did the
Chaldeans. It is well known that the Magi were strangers who came to
Babylon, possessors, says the prophet Daniel, not only of a special
learning, but of a peculiar tongue. They formed a powerful society, into
which at the beginning none but those of their own people were admitted, as
their science was both exclusive and hereditary. A certain religious
character was attached to the whole body; every priest must be a Chaldean,
but every Chaldean was not a priest. They passed their whole lives in
meditating questions of philosophy. Astronomy was their favorite study; but
they acquired great reputation for their astrology. They were versed in the
arts of prophesying, of explaining dreams and prodigies, and the omens
furnished by the entrails of victims offered in sacrifice. The parents
taught the children. At their head was a high pontiff with the title of
_Rab-mag_, Venerable, or according to its meaning in the Maya language,
_Lab-mac, "the old man."_ At Babylon they were the ruling order, the
advisers of the King. Nothing is known to-day of their rites of initiation;
but they must have been very similar to those of the Egyptians, since the
civilization of Chaldea and that of Egypt were twin sisters; offspring from
the same parents.
I have endeavored in a cursory manner to show that the ancient sacred
mysteries were established for the same purpose in every civilized nation
of antiquity, that is for the cultivation of science; the acquirement of
knowledge; the bettering of man's moral and physical nature; the
development of his intellectual and mental faculties; the understanding and
study of the laws that govern the material and spiritual world, thus
bringing him into closer contact with Deity. They kept their learning and
discoveries a profound secret, surrounding them with mysterious allegories,
and enigmatical symbols, for, as says Strabo: "to surround the things that
are holy with a mysterious obscurity is to make Divinity venerable, is to
imitate its nature that escapes man's senses," or, as Gregory of Nazianze,
wrote to Jerome: "the less ignorant men understand the more they admire,"
and as the priests of to-day, in fact of all times, of all religions, they
wished to be regarded by the masses as dispensers of the god's favors, as
mediators between the Deity and man.
This similarity of the rites practiced in the initiations, the identity of
symbols, proves that these rites and symbols had been communicated from one
to another, just as in modern Free Masonry the initiations are the same in
the lodges, the world over, having been carried to the most distant lands,
by travelers, colonists or missionaries, from the fountain head, the Grand
Lodge of England.
But with respect to the ancient Sacred Mysteries, the query arises as to
where they originated. We know that from Egypt and Chaldea they were
brought to Greece and Rome. From whom did the Egyptians and Chaldeans
receive them? The Brahmins asserted that the Magi and the Hierophants were
their disciples.
Admitting this assertion to be true, may we not ask, from whom did the
Brahmins learn them? No doubt, if we question them on the subject, they
will answer that they are the originators of these mystic rites, and secret
societies of learned men; and with difficulty we could gainsay their
assertion, were it not that Plutarch and other Greek writers, who have
described the Eleusinian mysteries, have taken care to preserve the words
used at the closing of the ceremonies by the officiating priest; and also
made known to us the name and shape they gave to their place of meeting.
It is well known that the Brahmins, in many of their religious ceremonies,
make use of words that are not Sanscrit, but are said to belong to a very
ancient form of speech--now dead--the _Akkadian_, spoken by the inhabitants
of the countries situated along the banks of the Euphrates, near its mouth.
Strange as it may appear, this language presents many affinities with the
Maya, which is still the vernacular of the aborigines of Yucatan and other
countries south of the Peninsula. The fact is that the words
_con-x--om--pan-x_, mean nothing in Greek, but, as we have said, are pure
Maya vocables, that have the same meaning as that given to
_can-sha--om--Pansha_ by Captain Wilford.
That is not all. We are also told that the place or temple where the
initiated assembled to perform their ceremonies, had the form of a
rectangle, [Symbol: long hollow rectangle] and that it represented the
"Universe." Modern Masons have wrongly translated that idea by the Sanscrit
word _loga_, from which the word _lodge_ has been derived, and the form of
M.·. lodges adopted.
The shape of the temples was that of the Egyptian letter _M_ called "_ma_",
a word that also means place, country and, by extension, the Universe. The
Egyptians adopted it, therefore, not because they believed, as Dr. Fanton
suggests, that the earth was square or _oblong_, for they knew full well it
was spherical, but because the sign of the word _ma'_, conveyed to their
mind the idea of the Earth, as the word _earth_ represents it to ours. But
_ma_ is also the radical of Mayax; and likewise, in the Maya language, it
means the country, the Earth. The Mayas selected the oblong square [Symbol:
long hollow rectangle] to represent it, because it is the geometrical
figure that is nearest in shape to the contours of the Yucatean peninsula.
So we have found a bridge to cross the vast expanse of water that lies
between the Eastern and Western Continents--a clue that may lead us to the
birth-place of the ancient sacred mysteries in those [Symbol: two signs
with roofs] "Lands of the West," [Symbol: sign with hills] that "Land of
_Kui_," the mother-land of the gods and of the ancestors of the Egyptians,
where the god Osiris reigned supreme over the souls emancipated from the
trammels of matter.
In the depths of the forests that cover the soil of Central America, lie
hidden, under a cloak of verdure, the ruins of ancient cities. There, are
to be seen the crumbling, awe-inspiring remains of grand old monuments;
mementos of the power and civilization, of the scientific and intellectual
attainments of the mighty races that erected them, and have disappeared
forever in the abyss of time.
At Uxmal, one of these ancient great metropolis in Yucatan, there exists an
artificial mound of peculiar construction.
[Illustration]
The entire structure measured 29 metres (about 95 feet) in height; 66
metres (214 feet 6 inches) in length at the base, and 33 metres (107 feet 3
inches) in width. The lower part is formed of the frustum of an elliptical
cone 14 metres (45 feet 6 inches) in height, divided into 7 gradients, each
2 metres high. On the upper plane of the frustum, which forms a terrace 35
metres long by 10 metres wide, are constructed the Sanctuary, or Holy of
Holies, facing west, whose ground plan is made in the shape of a cross with
a double set of arms; and a truncated rectangular pyramid 6 metres high,
the upper plane of which supports the crowning edifice 6 metres high, 29
metres long and 7 metres wide.
[Illustration: GROUND PLAN OF SANCTUARY.]
This building emblem of the "Lands of the West," is composed of three
separate apartments 2m. 25c. wide, having originally no communication with
each other. Holes have been bored in the partition walls that have much
weakened the construction; for what purpose it is difficult to surmise,
unless it be for the love of destruction.
The rooms at the extremities are of the same size, 5m. 50c. (about 17 feet
10 inches) long, while the middle chamber is 7m. 25c. in length. The door
of this chamber faced west, and led, by means of a small stair, to a
terrace formed by the roof of the sanctuary.
[Illustration: GROUND PLAN OF TEMPLE OF MYSTERIES.]
From there the learned priests and astronomers, elevated above the mists of
the plains below, could without hindrance follow the course of the
celestial bodies, in the clear cloudless skies of Yucatan, where at times
the atmosphere is so pure and transparent that stars are clearly visible to
the naked eye, that require the aid of the telescope to be seen in other
countries.
The doors of the other rooms faced East. The ceilings, like those of all
the apartments in the monuments of Yucatan and Central America, form a
triangular arch. This shape was adopted by the builders, not because they
were ignorant of how to construct circular arches--since they erected
edifices roofed with domes, but in accordance with certain esoteric
teachings pertaining to the mysteries and relating to the mystic numbers
3.5.7.
This kind of arch is also found in the ancient tombs of Chaldea, at
Mughier--in the center of the great pyramid of Ghizeh, in Egypt--in the
most ancient monuments of Greece, as the treasure room at Mikéné, in the
tombs of Etruria and other places.
Here, again, we learn from the book of Henoch, that the subterranean
building that he constructed in the land of Canaan in the bowels of the
mountain, with the help of his son Mathusalath, was in imitation of the
nine vaults that were shown to him by the Deity, each apartment being
roofed with an arch, the apex of which formed a key-stone with mirific
characters inscribed on it. Each of the nine letters, we are told,
represented one of the nine names traced in characters emblematical of the
attributes of Deity. Henoch then constructed two triangles of the purest
gold, and traced two of the mysterious characters on each. One he placed in
the deepest arch; the other he entrusted to Mathusalath, _to whom he
communicated important secrets._
[Illustration]
Thou art Bait (the soul); thou art Athor, one of the Bia; and thou art
Akori. Hail, father of the world! hail, triform God!
The triangular arches appear, therefore, as landmarks of one and the same
doctrine, practised in remote times, in India, Egypt, Chaldea, Greece,
Etruria and Central America.
In the ceilings of the rooms situated at the north and south extremities of
the building are carved in peculiar and regular order, in deep intaglio,
semispheres, ten centimeters in diameter, intended to represent the stars
that at night so beautify the firmament. Inside of the triangle formed at
each end of said rooms by the converging lines of the arch are also several
of these semispheres--those in the north room form a triangle (Fig. 1);
while those in the south room, five in number, figure a trapezium (Fig. 2);
with one of these half spheres in the middle.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.] [Illustration: FIG. 2.]
The middle chamber is now devoid of decorations of any sort. Its length,
_seven_ meters, is to-day the only vestige which remains to indicate that
in it, in former times, were practised rites and ceremonies pertaining to
the third degree of initiation. This chamber could be reached by walking on
the narrow terrace round the building; but I feel certain that those whose
privilege it was to assemble within its walls, got to it from the west
side.
[Illustration]
There was a stairway nine metres wide, beautifully ornamented, leading from
the court yard adjoining the priests' palace, to the entrance of the
sanctuary. Thence another small stairway 2m. 40c. wide, situated on the
north side of the sanctuary, led to the upper terrace, to the roof of that
monument, and to the middle chamber. The access to the north and south
rooms was by a grand stairway of ninety-six steps, each 20cm. high, that
led to the upper terrace surrounding the whole edifice. This stairway,
situated on the east side of the mound, is fourteen metres (45 feet 6
inches) wide, and, like that on the east side, so steep as to require no
little practice and care to ascend and descend its narrow steps with
comparative safety and ease.
A few centimetres above the lintel of the entrance to the sanctuary is a
cornice that surrounds the whole edifice. On it are sculptured these
symbols,
[Illustration]
many times repeated. On the under part of this cornice are small rings cut
in the stone, from which curtains were suspended, to hide the Holy of
Holies from profane gaze.
The exterior of the monument was once upon a time ornamented with elaborate
and beautifully executed sculptures, which have now, in great part,
disappeared. Still those that adorn the exterior walls of the sanctuary,
remain as specimens of the beautiful handiwork and of the great skill of
the artists; whilst the exquisite architectural proportions of the whole
edifice bespeak the mathematical and other scientific attainments of the
architects who planned the building and superintended its erection.
The ornaments that cover these walls are remarkable in more than one sense.
They are not only inscriptions in the Maya language, written in characters
identical with, and having the same meaning and value as those carved on
the temples of Egypt; but among them are symbols known to have belonged to
the ancient sacred mysteries of the Egyptians, and to modern Free Masonry.
In August 1880, among the débris, at the foot of the mound just described,
I found pieces of what once had been the statue of a priest. The part of
the statue, from the waist to the knee, particularly attracted my
attention. Over his dress the personage wore an apron with an extended
hand, as seen in the adjoining illustration. A symbol that will easily be
recognized by members of the masonic fraternity.
[Illustration]
We must not forget that Plato informs us that the priests of Egypt assured
Solon, when he visited them 600 years before the Christian era, that all
communications between their people and the inhabitants of the "Lands of
the West" had been interrupted for 9,000 years, in consequence of the great
cataclysms, during which, in one night, the large island of Atlantis
disappeared, submerged under the waves of the ocean. Are we not then right
if we surmise that the monuments of Mayax existed 11,500 years ago, and
that mysteries, similar to those of Egypt, were celebrated in them? To
support that belief we have the symbols already mentioned as existing in
the chambers, the construction of the chambers themselves, the sculptures
carved on the cornice that surrounds the sanctuary, representing cross
bones and skeletons, with arms and hands uplifted, tokens that many of the
Masons again cannot fail to recognize; besides other emblems that I will
endeavor to explain, which exist on the walls of the residence of the
priests, an edifice adjoining that temple. This may be considered the
oldest known edifice in the world consecrated to secret rites and
ceremonies; and its builders the founders of the sacred mysteries, that
were transported from Mayax to India, Chaldea, Egypt, Etruria, by colonists
or missionaries.
What the ceremonies of initiation were among the Mayas, it is difficult to
surmise at present, all their books, except four that still exist, having
been destroyed by the monks who came with the Spanish adventurers, or soon
after the conquest.
But they must have been similar to the rites of initiation practiced by the
_Quiches_, a branch of the Maya nation, at _Xibalba_, a place in the heart
of the mountains of Guatemala. We learn from the _Popol-Vuh_, sacred book
of the Quiches, that the applicants for initiation to the mysteries were
made to cross two rivers, one of mud, the other of blood, before they
reached the four roads that led to the place where the priests awaited
them. The crossing of these rivers was full of dangers that were to be
avoided. Then they had to journey along the four roads, the white, the red,
the green and the black, that led to where the council, composed of
_twelve_ veiled priests, and a wooden statue dressed and wearing ornaments
as the priests, awaited them. When in presence of the council, they were
told to salute the King; and the wooden statue was pointed out to them.
This was to try their discernment. Then they had to salute each individual,
giving his name or title without being told; after which they were asked to
sit down on a certain seat. If, forgetting the respect due to the august
assembly, they sat as invited, they soon had reason to regret their want of
good breeding and proper preparation, for the seat, made of stone, was
burning hot. Having modestly declined the invitation, they were conducted
to the "Dark house," where they had to pass the night, and submit to the
second trial. Guards were placed all round, to prevent the candidates from
holding intercourse with the outer world. Then a lighted torch of pine wood
and a cigar were given to each. These were not to be extinguished. Still
they had to be returned whole at sunrise, when the officer in charge of the
house came to demand them. Woe to him who allowed his torch and cigar to
get consumed! Terrible chastisements, death, even, awaited him.
Having passed through this second trial successfully, the third was to be
suffered in the "House of Spears." There, they had to produce four pots of
certain rare flowers, without communicating with any one outside, or
bringing them at the time of their coming; and had also to defend
themselves, during a whole night, against the attacks of the best spearmen,
selected for the purpose, one for each candidate. Coming out victorious at
dawn, they were judged worthy of the fourth trial. This consisted in being
shut for a whole night in the "Ice house," where the cold was intense. They
had to prevent themselves from being overcome by the cold and frozen to
death.
The fifth ordeal was not less terrible. It consisted in passing a night in
company with wild tigers, in the "Tiger house," exposed to be torn to
pieces, or devoured alive, by the ferocious animals. Emerging safe from the
den, they had to submit to their sixth trial in the "Fiery house." This was
a burning furnace where they had to remain from sunset to sunrise. Coming
out unscorched, they were ready for the seventh trial, said to be the most
severe of all, in the "House of the bats." The sacred book tells us it was
the house of _Camazotz_, the "God of the bats," full of death-dealing
weapons, where the God himself, coming from on high, appeared to the
candidates and beheaded them, if off their guard.