The Roots of Freemasonry (Part 1)
Freemasonry today is an organisation that claims to have arisen from the amalgamation in 1717 of four Masonic lodges attended by a small group of London ‘gentlemen’, who were inspired by the ideas of working builders (stonemasons) to create a whole system of ritual and mythology that then spread throughout the world. At least this is the view put forward by the United Grand Lodge of England, which oversees all official, affiliated Masonic lodges in England and Wales.
However, as many writers, including Freemasons like Robert Lomas and Gerald Gardner, readily acknowledge, this cannot be the case for there is plenty of evidence to indicate that modern Freemasonry’s pedigree is much, much older than this. Indeed, the C’s have told us that the origins of modern Freemasonry lie with a group called the Osirians:
Session 16 October 1994:
Q: (L) I would like to know what is the origin of the Freemasons?
A: Osirians.
Q: (L) Can you tell us when the original Freemasons formed as a society?
A: 5633 B.C.
Q: (L) Is Freemasonry as it is practiced today the same?
A: 33rd degree, yes.
Q: (L) So, there is a continuing tradition for over 7 thousand years?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) Is this organization with a plan to take over and rule the world?
A: Not exactly.
Q: (L) What is their focus?
A: Overseers.
Q: (L) Of what?
A: The status of quorum.
Q: (L) What is the quorum?
A: Deeper knowledge organization. Totally secret to your kind as of yet. Very important with regard to your future.
Apart from linking Freemasons to the organisation the C’s described as the “quorum”, they also linked them to the Illuminati in the following extract from the transcripts:
Q: (L) Is the Quorum composed of members who are humans on this planet?
A: Partly.
Q: (L) Would we know any of them as well-known figures?
A: Hidden. None you would know.
Q: (L) How is the Quorum important in regard to the Earth changes?
A: Watchers.
Q: (L) Why is it important to have watchers?
A: Keep track of prophecies.
Q: (L) How do the Masons relate to the Illuminati?
A: Masons are low level branch.
Hence, we learn here that the Masons are merely the low-level branch of the Illuminati. During the course of my research for this article, time and again, I found writers seeking to dismiss the Illuminati as merely a defunct organisation or movement created by the Jesuit scholar, Adam Weishaupt in late 18th Century Bavaria. However, I don’t think Weishaupt’s Illuminati is the group the C’s have in mind here but rather an ancient body of illuminated humans who have formed a brotherhood from time immemorial. They may have links with William Bramley’s Brotherhood of the Serpent (ref. The Gods of Eden), which is the oldest secret society on record based primarily in the Middle East. Indeed, Laura has made this connection:
Q: (L) The illuminati has been described as being behind or with the brotherhood which has been described as being in connection with the Lizard beings...
A: Close. But not that simple.
The C’s had said earlier that the Lizard beings were the originators of the Brotherhood:
Q: (L) Who was the originator of the Brotherhood of the Serpent as described in the Bramley book?
A: Lizard Beings.
If the Osirians were the progenitors of today’s Freemasons, this begs the question what link they may have had with the Illuminati or the Brotherhood if any. The C’s speak of the Osirians as commencing their Masonic activities in 5633 B.C., which because of the link to Osiris, the Egyptian God of the underworld, suggests they may have originated in Ancient Egypt but, as I suggested in a recent post, there may have been no organised society in the land we call Egypt today at that point in time. Hence, the Osirians may have originated elsewhere. Indeed, could there even be a link here with the star system Sirius:
Q: I also noticed that the word 'Osiris' could also be slightly modified to say 'of Sirius.' Comment, please.
A: Sirius was regarded highly in your "past."
Q: What was the foundation of this regard for Sirius?
A: "From whence cometh, is seen that which knows no limitation."
Q: Could you elaborate on that?
A: Could but will not.
For those not aware, UFO folklore paints the Sirian aliens as a major player in the “past” in human affairs:
Witnesses Reports: The Sirians also played an important part in the histories of Lemuria and Tiahuanaco (Mu’Ra), Egypt and Sumeria. Alex Collier mentions a benevolent Sirian civilization of Lyran / vegan descent that lives in the Sirius A system, called the Katayy. He also mentions human inhabitants of the Sirius B system that are red, beige, grey or black-skinned, as well as reptilian and ‘aquatic’ beings. The humans would have cat-like eyes.
- Apparently the home of humans of a rather empirical nature (possibly under reptilian influence!?) who have been tied-in with events on Terra for centuries, including alliances with their counterpart ‘serpent cults’ or ‘Illuminated’ secret societies on and beneath the earth. Allegedly the source of many of the human, parahuman, cybernated and/or chameleon ‘Men In Black’ or MIB entities that have been encountered in connection to UFO incidents
- The Dogon peoples of Sudan, Africa believe that they received their vast knowledge of the stars from visitors to Earth, called Nommos — who are amphibian beings sent to Earth from Sirius for the benefit of humanity. The Sumerians depicted their gods as half-human/fish and claimed these gods fell from the sky.
See:
Sirians - THINK ABOUTIT'S ALIEN TYPE SUMMARY
I don’t really want to get involved in arguments as to whether the Sirians are the good guys or bad guys or even a mixture of both. I am happy for others to comment on this if they wish to. However, the analysis in the extract above does attempt to link them with ‘serpent cults’ or ‘Illuminated’ secret societies on and beneath the earth, which in turn links in with what we have learned about the Brotherhood of the Serpent and the Illuminati from the C’s. If the Siriansd are still players, could they be an extra-terrestrial component of the Quorum?
It is also interesting that the C’s refer to the Quorum as “Watchers” since that is a term used in the apocryphal book of Enoch to describe the angelic beings (4th density) who came down to Earth (Mount Hermon in Lebanon) who rebelled after making a pact between themselves (a covenant) and proceeded to mix with humanity teaching mankind various skills (involving perhaps some technology transfers?) and interbreeding with human females to produce a race of evil giants (the Nephilim - who perhaps were the Titans of Greek mythology). They were subsequently punished for their transgressions. Could we be seeing here an example of a Star Trek style ‘prime directive’ of non-interference in the evolution of a primitive society being breached by those charged with acting as observers and overseers?
As to the reference to ‘Illuminated’ secret societies on and beneath the earth, apart from the Illuminati (the upper ranks of Freemasonry), this also make me think of the secret (perhaps subterranean) society described as the “S Men” in the transcripts:
Session 4 March 1995:
Q: (L) In the annotated copy of the Morris K. Jessup book, there were three people annotating: Mr.A., Mr. B., and one known as Jemi. One of the references was to the sighting made by Kenneth Arnold. In reference to that sighting, Mr.B wrote: "Don't worry, Jemi, those were LM ships not S men. They are an improved type and were on a training flight. That is why their leader interconnected their force fields, to teach them level tele-control without inducing a fear block." Now, what is an LM ship?
A: Light matter.
Q: (L) What is an "S man?"
A: Secret order member.
Q: (L) What is the secret order?
A: That is for you to discover.
Could “S Men” stand for Sirians or Osirians?
Finally, we learned in my article
The Egyptian Pilgrimage of Initiation how the final or seventh degree of initiation of an adept made him a member of the Illuminati:
“(7) The final or crown chakra had two temples, Behedet and Heliopolis, where the vision of absolute truth was completed. This was the ultimate centre of illumination wherein was granted pure knowledge and an awareness of God that was beyond all understanding. Here the initiate was directly connected with the An, the Heavenly Father or the mind of God itself.”
************
"The Seventh Degree
Admission to the ultimate mysteries of Saphenath Pancah, revealed at the seventh and final degree, was granted at the twin temples of Behedet and Heliopolis which represented the dual attributes necessary for the awakening of the crown chakra. These were the ultimate centres of illumination into the pure knowledge of God that was held to be beyond all understanding. Attainment of this degree was far from automatic; the candidate had to be of such outstanding merit that he could be invited by the pharaoh with the full consent of the Inner Fraternity. There was a grand reception for the invited candidate, followed by a public procession, after which an assembly of the initiates was held during the hours of darkness in purpose-built houses called Maneras. Here the new member of the Illuminati [MJF: Is this, therefore, the origins of today’s Illuminati?] was given an ambrosial drink of the gods known as Omellas and was told that he had finally arrived at the end of all proofs. He was invested with the insignia of the Ankh [MJF: ref. the C’s - “Ankh is ancient symbol of this planet (D'Ankhiar). Is a female symbol. Stands for mother planet”.], dressed in a white striped robe and had his head shaved [MJF: N.B. a common feature in most forms of monasticism].
The word of this degree was Adon. The most complete and detailed explanation of the supreme mysteries was then imparted to the new initiate, or prophet, whereby he gained both the right and the ability to read all the mystical books of Hermes and the scriptures of other nations to which he now had the Royal Key. The prophet was one who knew all the mysteries and had attained full illumination and union with the divine. His supreme prerogative was his entitlement to vote in the election of the pharaoh [MJF: Similar perhaps to the way in which Roman Catholic Cardinals today are the only ones entitled to elect a new pope]. It was also from the ranks of the prophets that all officers of the sacred society were appointed.
This account of the illumination of the adept is reflected today in the attainment of the 33rd degree (Scottish Rite) of modern Freemasonry:
Q: (L) Can you tell us when the original Freemasons formed as a society?
A: 5633 B.C.
Q: (L) Is Freemasonry as it is practiced today the same?
A: 33rd degree, yes.
Q: (L) So, there is a continuing tradition for over 7 thousand years?
A: Yes.
However, I would suggest that this initiation process may also apply to the Rosicrucians as well. Peter Dawkins whose account this is, is an authority on Sir Francis Bacon and, as we saw from the Ladder of the Intellect shown above, Bacon’s training of the intellect appears to follow a similar strategy to the advancement of the Egyptian initiate through the seven degrees. This cannot be mere coincidence and I have no doubt that Bacon was well versed in the Hermetica. From what the C’s tell us, it seems these rites have been around for over 7,500 years and may well pre-date the Egypt of the Pharaohs or First Dynasty. Could the origins of these therefore rites lie with the ancient Druids who the C’s say built Stonehenge and had contact with the group who built the Great Pyramid at Giza."
Stonehenge is, of course, a stone structure as is the Great Pyramid of Giza, where we know the builders used anti-gravity sound technology to erect the structures. There are those who believe Freemasonry’s roots lie in the stone masons who built the great stone structures of Rome and Medieval Europe and preserved their building knowledge and techniques within their ranks through the use of symbols, secret passwords and handshakes known only to initiates (ref. here the different secret words and hand grips used in each of the seven degrees of The Egyptian Pilgrimage of Initiation). We will look at these claims in more depth below. This will include a look at the Druids who, being an ancient priesthood and brotherhood, were also a secret society in their own right with their own esoteric symbols and secret hand signals by which they recognised and communicated with each other.
The reference to the initiate gaining “both the right and the ability to read all the mystical books of Hermes and the scriptures of other nations to which he now had the Royal Key”, makes me think here of the ‘Keys of Solomon’ and ‘alchemy’, which was touched on in the following extract from the transcripts:
Session 26 July 1997:
Q: The Counts of Flanders and Champagne were the sponsors of Chretien de Troyes who wrote the original Grail stories in which Perceval figures so prominently. These guys were also connected with the Templars. Well, it seems that the Templars were not the only ones getting picked on during certain periods. The Percy family has had much MORE than its share! Why?
A: You will be "picked on" too, if you learn too many secrets!!
Q: So, the Percys DID know something. I understand that the Percy family has a collection of 62 alchemical manuscripts... which is actually how I found out about Alnwick - I was tracking these alchemical texts....
A: But if you go there, do not ask for the key!
Since the secrets of alchemy were supposedly contained in the books or the Emerald Tablet(s) (or Table?) of Hermes Trismegistus, was the C’s reference to “the key” above a reference to the “Royal Key” and/or the Keys of Solomon? This is an important point to raise since Solomon and particularly the building of his Temple are essential elements of Masonic teaching and ritual, especially as regards the 3rd Degree of Master Mason (in the English York Rite). According to the C’s, the Knights Templar were supposed to know the secrets of alchemy and anti-gravitation (as did their Levite forebears) and this point may tie-in with the Templar succession theory as regards the origins of the modern Freemasonry (see more on this below):
Q: Okay. The Templars were formed in Jerusalem. They were there for quite a while with no record of doing any of the things that the group supposedly intended to do. There are a lot of rumours... what were they doing in Jerusalem?
A: Templars held the secret of levitation.
Q: Is this something... and I am talking about the 9 guys in Jerusalem... did they discover some document in Jerusalem that gave them this secret?
A: Yes.
As to the Emerald Tablets, they are also known as the Tablets of Thoth (the Egyptian version of Hermes) and, as I mentioned in an earlier post, there is a strange Jewish legend that connects the Tablets to the Biblical wife of Abraham, Sarah (who according to the C’s was Akhenaten’s wife Nefertiti):
“A very interesting legend told by Jewish mystics connects Thoth’s Tablets to Abraham’s wife, Sarah. According to the myth, she found the Egyptian God’s tomb and his precious manuscripts during their escape into Egypt, fleeing a starvation afflicted Canaan.”
However, the C’s also confirmed that Abraham was the same person as Moses, in which case were the Emerald Tablets/Tablets of Thoth carried out of Egypt in the Ark of the Covenant and over 2,500 later rediscovered by the Knights Templar during their excavations on Temple Mount in Jerusalem?
Moreover, as I mentioned in a post dated 21 June 2022, the Emerald Tablet is also known as the ‘
Smaragdine Table’:
"The Emerald Tablet, also known as the Smaragdine Table, or Tabula Smaragdina, is a compact and cryptic piece of the Hermetica reputed to contain the secret of the prima materia and its transmutation. It was highly regarded by European alchemists as the foundation of their art and its Hermetic tradition. The original source of the Emerald Tablet is unknown. Although Hermes Trismegistus is the author named in the text."
Was this “
Smaragdine Table” the same "table" the C's were referring to in the extract quoted below I wonder:
Q: What happened on January 17th?
A: Consult Maya.
Q: But January 17th recurs repeatedly in the alchemical texts...
A: And you may see the connection. Why do you suppose alchemists knew of the secrets brought "to the table" by the Maya/Egyptians?
In that same session, the C’s also referred to a link between the Masonic creed and the ancient order of Essenes:
Q: Now, all these Masons are very hot on the Sinclair family and the Rosslyn Chapel. They are certain that their guys came to America, because in this chapel, built supposedly by a Master Mason, there are carvings of corn, as in maize, and aloe vera plants. This is evidence, to them, that Prince Henry the Navigator and all the Templars and all that…
A: Nonsense!
Q: Well, then, what IS the explanation for these carvings in Rosslyn Chapel?
A: Visitors yes, but the Masonic creed is intertwined with ancient order of Essenes, arising out of ancient Egypt, from the secret knowledge stored at the base of the Sphinx, as left there by “Atlantean” survivors.
Q: Does anybody in the Masonic order know anything?
A: Yes.
Q: Well, how high do you have to go to get to know anything?
A: Page 33. Blond and blue-eyed, of course! Before genetic alteration, one branch stood eleven feet tall.
Q: Speaking of these tall guys, William Wallace’s life was sort of symbolic, in my mind, and he was supposed to have been over 6 and a half feet tall. During the time that all that mess was going on over in Scotland with Wallace and the Bruce, the Templars were being dissolved in France ...
A: Dissolved?!? We think not! They merely went “underground.”
Q: Is that literally or figuratively?
A: Why not both?
Q: Well, there are Templar organizations that some Mason’s claim to be in contact with.
A: Where do you suppose these are?
Q: Underground?
A: Bingo!
We have, of course, looked at this passage before, particularly as regards Templar survival through the Knights of Christ in Portugal and in Scotland where the Pope’s bull of dissolution was not put into effect by King Robert the Bruce, but it would pay to consider here the role of the Sinclair or St Clair family in passing on the secrets of Freemasonry through their role as custodians and protectors of the Scottish stone masons. I will briefly look at the role the Sinclairs played in this Templar transmission theory, as some observers believe it is key to how Freemasonry went from being originally an operative craft to a purely speculative one.
If the Freemasons originated with the Osirians, then the fact that the C’s tell us that their creed is also intertwined with the ancient order of Essenes arising out of ancient Egypt, from the secret knowledge stored at the base of the Sphinx, begs the question what was the relationship between the Essenes and the Osirians if there was any? Were they one and the same order or two distinct groups? Were the Emerald Tablets/Tablets of Thoth part of the secret knowledge stored at the base of the Sphinx?
Session 26 July 1997
Q: What about the Essenes and the Dead Sea Scrolls?
A: Kaballah.
Q: What is so explosive in the Dead Sea Scrolls that they cannot release them?
A: Wait and see.
It is the C’s reference to “Kaballah” here that may determine whether there is an ostensible link between the Jewish Essenes and their earlier namesakes, for the C’s made it clear elsewhere that Kaballah (which you will note contains the name of “Allah” – the Islamic name for God) as a mystical set of teachings was far older than the Mosaic Jews, who possessed merely a corrupted form of the original wisdom:
Session 16 October 1994:
Q: (L) What is the origin of the Kaballah?
A: Channelled truths given to early pre-Mosaic Jews to use your terminology.
Q: (L) When the Jewish commentators began setting down the teachings, was this the first time this had been put into writing?
A: No. Not even close.
Q: (L) Is the form that it is in today very close to the original form and can it be relied upon?
A: No. Corrupted.
Hence, it seems that the Kaballah is based on channelled truths (rather than information that had been hidden by Atlantean survivors) given to an earlier group of people who would go on in time to become the Mosaic Jews. The Jews (or Judahites of the tribe of Judah) consider themselves as being Hebrews or Israelites descended from the founder of their religion, the Biblical Abram or Abraham. However, the C’s have confirmed that Abraham was in fact the same person as Moses. So, either these early pre-Mosaic Jews were a group from amongst the Semitic peoples who settled in the Middle East and particularly Egypt (such as the Hapiru) or they were an identifiable group such as the Levites. I have deliberately chosen the Levites since the C’s would subsequently confirm that Abraham and his wife Sarah (Nefertiti) were both Levites:
Session 20 August 2001:
Q: All right, first question is, what is the origin of the Levites?
A: Hittites Moon Worshippers.
Q: Well, before the Hittites became Hittites, what were they?
A: Indo-europeans.
Q: What was the source of the Indo-europeans?
A: Aryan sub-race.
Q: Is there any other group the Aryans mixed with to produce the Indo-Europeans?
A: Fourth Density genetic tweak.Q: Was Abraham a Levite?
A: Yes.
Q: Was Sarah/Nefertiti?
A: Yes.
Q What was the reason for the strange skull shape of Nefertiti and her family?
A: Genetic tweak.
Q: Was this 4th density genetic tweak done by STS or STO?
A: STS
Hence, it seems that the Levites were originally Hittite Indo-Europeans, which, given the Semitic link of Abraham, would suggest that they were Celts (N.B. Abraham was supposed to have red hair). We also know that the Levites, who were not one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, were Israelite priests and the guardians of the Ark of the Covenant (and Holy Grail?). The C’s elsewhere described the Levites as being a “Sect of monk-like pacifists connected to Moses”. However, Levites also formed the Temple guard and were responsible for the protection of the Ark of the Covenant. This leads me to think that the Knights Templar, who supposedly found the Ark of the Covenant/Holy Grail, were a modern recreation of the Levites since the military order, whose full name was The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, was comprised of both soldier knights and priestly (non-combatant) monks.
As an aside, in my previous article entitled The Truth about Secret Societies I talked about the links between the Assassins and the Knights Templar. I also discussed how the Assassins origins lay with the Grand Lodge of the Ismailis in Cairo, Egypt (where Giza is located), who seemed to be a secret society in their own right. I speculated that the Assassins and Templars may even have shared a common ancestry:
“Like Gardiner, Sinclair notes that the Templars were particularly influenced by the Muslim warrior Shi’ite/Ismaili sect of the Assassins, who held castles and lands in the mountains near the Caspian Sea and in Syria, being supporters of the Fatamid Caliphs in Egypt. As fellow warriors and initiates, they may well have shared a common ancestry perhaps rooted in the ancient Israelite warrior monks, the Levites and perhaps also the Jewish Essenes and Sicarii (see my earlier article on the Sicarii).”
In recently reading a book on the Jewish Essenes by Hugh Schonfield called Essene Odyssey, I discovered that the Essenes did not die out after the Roman-Jewish War of 67-70 AD as originally thought. Schonfield points out that there were other Essene settlements in Syria and also in Egypt where the Essenes were known as Therapeuts. Indeed, the 1st Century AD Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria held them in high esteem. With the subsequent conquest of Egypt by the Islamic Arabs, could the Therapeuts have morphed into the Grand Lodge of the Ismailis in Cairo, whose Manichaean (dualist) doctrines negated most of the orthodox Islamic beliefs? We also know that the Assassins had a strong presence in Syria at the time of the Crusades, with Damascus being one of their main centres of operation, as hinted at by the C’s:
A: Swords, daggers pierce...
Q: Is this P-S something about "Percy?" Swords, daggers, pierce... Damascus? Damascus steel?
A: Search for learning.
Schonfield views the Essenes as a secret brotherhood (the modern Freemasons are also a brotherhood and even address each other as “brother”) and shows how they employed various types of codes and ciphers as safeguards to prevent the disclosure of vital secrets. Given the great interest of both
John Dee and
Sir Francis Bacon (both of whom are reputed to have been Rosicrucians and spies in the service of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I) in cyphers and codes, is this an interest they could have inherited from the Essene brotherhood. The use of such codes was spotted within the Dead Sea Scrolls by
J.M. Allegro, one of the principal investigators of the Scrolls. One of these cyphers was known as
Atbash and Schonfield used it to translate the name ‘
Baphomet’, which the Templars gave to the pure crystal skull in their possession, as meaning
Sophia, the Greek word for Wisdom. However, Schonfield erroneously attributed the name Baphomet/Sophia to the ornate, gilded silver head of a woman which the Templars also had in their possession:
Q:… Now, when the Templars were arrested, they were accused of worshipping a head, or skull, and also the god Baphomet. Were these spurious accusations designed to defame them?
A: Skull was of pure crystal.
Q: What is the definition of the god 'Baphomet,' if they did, indeed, worship such?
A: The holder of the Trent.
Q: What is THAT?
A: Seek.
So, did the Templars, with their knowledge of the Essenes, make use of the Atbash cypher to create the artificial name Bapohomet? I hope to have more to say on the Essene connection in a future post for Schonfield also makes out a case for the Essene doctrines to have influenced the Cathars, who in turn influenced the Templars.
And then there is the issue of the subterranean Aryan civilisation involving Celts who had gone underground and their involvement with Freemasonry and the Illuminati (recalling here that the C’s had said that Nefertiti had come from the subterranean civilisation):
Q:
… (L) Okay, Third Eye*. What is this? [
*Nation of the Third Eye]
A:
That is what they call themselves when pressed for an explanation by surface types, such as yourselves. They were the inspiration for Masonic lore and Illuminati, too.
Q: (L) Does this "Third Eye" designation have a connotation of third eye abilities as we understand them?
A: Psychic.
So, where the C’s refer to the Templars going underground, literally, did they join forces with the Nation of the Third Eye, as the Nazis did in Antarctica in the mid-1940’s? Moreover, since the C’s have said that the Masonic creed is intertwined with the ancient order of Essenes, if the Nation of the Third Eye was the inspiration for Masonic lore and the Illuminati too, does this mean there was some kind of a relationship between the Essenes and the Nation of the Third Eye or were there two parallel but separate sources of inspiration for the Masonic teachings/doctrine? The same question might also be asked of the Osirians, who the C’s say were the Freemasons progenitors.
As to the C’s reference to “Page 33”, this was probably to a page in a pamphlet or booklet Laura had on Tenerife, which may have been referring to the legend of giants having lived on Tenerife, who were encountered by the first Spanish colonists to settle on the island. In addition, the reference to Page 33 would also seem to be to the 33rd Degree of Scottish Rite Freemasonry, which the C’s told us was the level in modern Freemasonry at which Masonic practice is equivalent to that practised by the Osirians over 7,600 years ago. Were these white, blonde 11ft giants the remnants of the original Nephilim before they were genetically altered (presumably to cope better with the changed gravity on Earth post the Deluge) or were the original Kantekkians who were brought to Earth that tall?
Q: Were the Celts the tall blonds known as the 'Sons of Anak,' who ruled over the Sumerians as described by Sitchen?
A: "Celts" are what remains of the original prototype.
Q: Okay. Kantekkians. When did...
A: Gravity differences account for the height difference.
We now need to look at the various mainstream theories for the origins of modern Freemasonry.
Where does the name ‘Freemason’ derive from?
Gerald Gardner points out in his book The Shadow of Solomon that masons in the operative sense are stoneworkers. In contrast, he points out that the term “Freemason” is not so readily understandable, and many views have been put forward as to what the name actually means. Some writers consider that “freemason” is a contraction of “freestone mason” – a worker in finely grained freestones such as limestone and sandstone. Gardner considers that although this explanation is quite plausible, it is not in keeping with general masonic theory, which suggests that the prefix “free” relates to the realm of the ‘speculative’ rather than the ‘operative’ – i.e., not a working stone mason as such.
Andrew Sinclair also supports the view that the term indicated a freestone mason and points out that the word Ffre Maceons or Fremason appeared at the end of the 14th Century, referring to a worker in freestone, a term that had already been used apparently for two centuries in the trade.
Others think the term may have derived from a corrupted form of the French term frères maçons, which related to stone masons who belonged to the French medieval guilds of fraternal masons such as the Children of Solomon (more on them later). Gardner notes that the Knights Templar had referred to each other as ‘brother masons’ (frères maçons) and the term has continued in French masonic use to the present day. Gardner acknowledges that the idea that Speculative Freemasonry evolved from medieval guilds of stonemasons such as the Children of Solomon in France is true, but only to a point. He points out, however, that there were no such guilds in Britain at that time and although the lodge structure was introduced into Scotland by the Templars from 1307, that did not mean that the Knights were themselves operative or speculative stonemasons.
It should also be noted that when James Anderson drew up his original Constitutions for Freemasonry in 1723, he hyphenated the word as ‘Free-Masons’ and, in earlier times, two separate words were sometimes used – which could explain the non-existence of ‘freemason’ in old dictionaries.
The Oxford Word Library explains that in medieval times stonemasons’ guilds would emancipate (or free) their local members so that they may travel from place to place in order to gain work contracts. When they arrived in unfamiliar places, they would communicate their degrees of proficiency by way of secret signs known only to others of their craft. Gardner argues that this makes reasonable sense and certainly affords a valid reason for the use of signs and passwords in order to gain employment at the right level of attainment. Thus, as is commonly believed in masonic circles, the structural framework of Freemasonry (even if not the inherent subject matter) does seem to emanate from the methods employed by the medieval workers’ guilds. It would therefore appear that modern Freemasonry evolved from an existing structure centred on stone masonry and the craft practices they employed to preserve their secrets, upon which latter day Freemasons impressed a body of esoteric knowledge and rituals. As the author Robert Lomas notes – “There is, though, something veiled, latent and deep in Freemasonry’s rites, which speaks to all who take part in them”.
But how far back does this link with stone masonry go and could the stone masons themselves have inherited and passed on esoteric knowledge, particularly when you consider stone masons would have been involved with the building of such precise ancient stone structures as Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid of Giza, which clearly employed very advanced mathematics in their construction (to this we should probably add the stone circles currently being excavated at Göbekli Tepe in Turkey too)? Indeed, the C’s have aslo confirmed that these two structures were built using sound wave focusing to levitate huge, heavy stones into place, which would seem to provide a later connection to the Templars (and in my view the Levites – perhaps the clue is in their name) who the C’s claimed to have possessed the secret of levitation (see above). How far back should we go? Well, the writer and Freemason Robert Lomas proposes that we should start with the Druids.
The Druids
In his book The Secrets of Freemasonry, Robert Lomas took a close look at the writings and research of a number of noted Freemasons over the centuries who delved into the origins of Freemasonry, their findings often meeting with the disapproval of the United Grand Lodge of England. One of these writers and researchers was William Preston, a Scotsman born in 1732 in Edinburgh. Preston knew the Scottish background of Freemasonry from family connections in Edinburgh and drew freely from Masonic writings to create his major work Illustrations of Masonry. Lomas quotes from the 1795 edition of Preston’s book.
Preston believed that there was evidence that the science of Masonry existed in the British Isles before the Roman invasion. He argued that the principles of Masonry were practised by the order known as the Druids, who used many rituals and practices that are known to Freemasons today. This point is fascinating when you consider that the C’s have said that Stonehenge was constructed in 8,000 BC by the Druids:
Q: (L) Who built Stonehenge?
A: Druids.
Q: (L) Who were the Druids?
A: Early Aryan group.
Q: (L) How did they move the stones and set them up?
A: Sound wave focusing; try it yourself; Coral Castle.
Q: (L) Who taught the Druids to use the sound waves?
A: They knew; handed down.
The C’s would also confirm in another session that there may have been some partial connection between the Druids and the Rosicrucians:
Q: You said that there is a group with whom you have been in contact since they were on Kantek. Is this group the Druids?
A: No. We will not as of yet identify.
Q: Well, I came to the conclusion that the Rosicrucians are just the new incarnation of the Druids. I mean, the Druids disappeared and the Rosicrucians appeared not too long afterward.
A: Partially.
Q: Julius Caesar had a standard policy of religious toleration. The only exception seems to have been the Druids. He was determined to stamp them out. Why?
A: Their mysterious powers.
Q: Where did they get these mysterious powers?
A: Knowledge passed down.
It is worth pointing out that although the Romans wiped the Druids out in England and Wales, they were not able to do so in Scotland or Ireland (which they never invaded). Hence, there was still a strong Druid presence in Scotland even after the Romans pulled out of England in the early 5th Century AD. It would take centuries of Christian missionary work in Scotland to eradicate the influence of the Druids (you can argue that the Christian monks would eventually take their place as men of learning and healers). However, enough Druid influence may have survived in Scotland to have passed over into the rites and ceremonies of the proto–Scottish Freemasons.
Unfortunately, no written records exist from this remote period. The Druids held their meetings in woods and groves and kept their principles and opinions a close secret. Due to this secrecy, much of their detailed knowledge died with them. Hence, we have to rely on what other contemporary writers (primarily Greeks and Romans) had to say about their ways of working.
The Druids were the priests of the Britons, Gauls and other Celtic nations and were divided into three distinct classes. Those of the first class, poets and musicians, were called Bards. Members of the second class were known as Vates and were priests and physiologists. Adherents of the third class, known simply as Druids, studied moral philosophy as well as physiology.
Preston claimed that many of the Druids’ doctrines were taken from the teachings of the Greek philosopher Pythagoras. I would question this though whether this could have been the other way around, particularly if the Ancient Britons were the people spoken of as the Hyperboreans (Sons of the North Wind) in antiquity. Here is what the C’s said about the Hyperboreans:
Session 19 February 2000:
Q: What was the connection between the Hyperboreans, including the Celts of Britain, I believe, and the people of Delos?
A: Northern peoples were responsible for civilising the Meditteranean/Adriatic peoples with the encoded secrets contained within their superior extra-terrestrially based genetic arrangement. Practice of which you speak was multi-trans-generational habit.
Hence, Preston may have got this wrong. If the Druids of Roman times had been the heirs of the Hyperboreans (who had encoded secrets within their DNA) , then it makes sense that some of the latter’s knowledge may have survived among the Scottish or Caledonian Druids who could then have acted as a conduit for the eventual transmission of this esoteric knowledge to Scottish Freemasonry. This point leads us back to Laura’s “Scottish Question”:
Session 24 September 1995:
Q: (L) I am curious about what I call the "Scottish Question." Why is it that every time I start a paper trail on any issue of conspiracy, there always seems to be a link to Scotland and Scots?
A: "Celtic," what does it mean?
Q: (L) Well, the word "kilt" comes from "Celtic," but no one seems to know where they originated... they just sort of appeared on the landscape, so to speak.
A: Exactly!
Q: (L) Are you going to tell us?
A: No, not just as of yet.
Q: (L) So, there is some interesting connection! (RC) Does it mean "warrior race?"
A: If you prefer! We have close affiliation with the "Northern Peoples." Why? Because we were in regular, direct contact with them on Kantek, before they were "lifted" to Earth by Orion STS.
By “Northern Peoples”, one must assume the C’s are referring here to the peoples of Northern Europe, especially of the British Isles, Scandinavia and the northern lands of continental Europe (the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany). These were the strongholds of the Celts until the advent of the Roman Empire. Even today, the largest concentration of Celts in Europe is to be found in the British Isles, where the Celtic languages have been preserved in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Cornwall.
Returning to the subject of the great Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras, I have recently been reading a fascinating study of his life and works by Kitty Ferguson (ref. Pythagoras – His Lives and the Legacy of a Rational Universe). She confirms that in his younger days, the philosopher spent many years seeking arcane and esoteric knowledge in Egypt, Mesopotamia (Babylon) and India within these countries’ mystery schools. Nowhere does she mention though any link between Pythagoras and the Druids, the wisemen and philosophers of Northern and Western Europe. However, in a wonderful book on the Druids by Ward Rutherford called The Druids and their Heritage, Rutherford does mention legends of Pythagoras connecting him to the Druids. Quoting Rutherford:
“One of the earliest of these and that nearest to his [Pythagoras] own lifetime, comAses from Hecateus, for whom Pythagoras’s instructor is supposed to have been a certain Abaris, who seems to have been taken for a British Druid, or at least a shaman practising in Britain.”
Rutherford rightly cautions that we are in the realms of legend here and Pythagoras hardly assisted the disentangling of fact from fantasy here by his omission to leave any written account of his work behind him. However, Rutherford goes on to state (with my additions in parentheses) that:
“There are, nonetheless, three indisputable facts: (1) that most writers connect Pythagoras with a mysterious cult of shamanistic character; (2) that among the descendants of what I [Rutherford] has called ‘the super shamans’, namely the Babylonic priests, the Brahmins and the Magi [of Persia], were outstanding mathematicians, like Pythagoras himself; (3) that they held a number of beliefs, of which transmigration [of the soul] was one, in common. It could conceivably be argued that, in these circumstances, his failure to commit his work and observations to writing was precisely because those with whom he had been in contact had sworn him to secrecy. As we know, the Druids were unshakeable in their determination not to put their doctrines into writing and so, for centuries, were the Brahmins.”
Although Rutherford’s point on Pythagoras’s failure to commit his teachings to writing (in stark contrast with other contemporary Greek philosophers) is feasible, it cannot be proven. This oath of secrecy does lead me to wonder, however, if the disclosure of the contents of the Emerald Tablets of Hermes or Thoth was the breach of covenant committed by Hermes Trismegistus referred to:
Session 16 October 1994:
Q: (L) Who was Hermes Trismegistus?
A: Traitor to court of Pharoah Rana.
Q: (L) Who is Pharoah Rana?
A: Egyptian leader of spiritual covenant.
Q: (L) In what way was Hermes a traitor?
A: Broke covenant of spiritual unity of all peoples in area now known as Middle East.
Q: (L) Who did Hermes betray?
A: Himself; was power hungry.
Q: (L) What acts did he do?
A: Broke covenant; he inspired divisions within ranks of Egyptians, Essenes, Aryans, and Persians et cetera.
It should be noted in this context that the original Brahmins of India would have been Aryans.
They say knowledge is a dangerous thing and in our own age we have seen how the application of modern scientific knowledge has led to the creation of terrible weapons of mass destruction, especially the thermo-nuclear bomb. For all we know, the Atlantean survivors who buried the secret knowledge stored at the base of the Sphinx (see above) may have left a warning to those who found it as to how dangerous such knowledge could be in the wrong hands. Afterall, they had seen their highly advanced civilisation wiped out when their technology had turned against them (“the terrible crystals”) and we know that Atlantis had by that time become an evil empire (reflecting our own western society at the present time). Could this be the reason why groups like the Druids, Brahmins, Pythagoreans and the mystery schools of the ancient world never committed their secrets and esoteric knowledge to writing? It is worth pondering here that our modern scientific world grew out of the Renaissance, which was propelled to a large extent by the rediscovery of ancient knowledge including the Hermetica. One just needs to consider for a moment that Sir Isaac Newton, the father of the Theory of Gravity and a President of the Royal Society (a scientific institution that was the brainchild of the Rosicrucian Sir Francis Bacon, who himself was the father of the scientific method) spent a lifetime studying the Emerald Tablet of Hermes*. After Newton died, he caused great embarrassment to the scientific community when it was discovered that he was Europe’s leading alchemist. As one modern commentator, Ashley Cowie, has queried, just how many of his paradigm shifting scientific achievements resulted from his quest for the ‘Philosopher's Stone’ and his translation of the ‘Emerald Tablet of Hermes’?
*N.B. A translation of the Emerald Tablet of Hermes by Sir Isaac Newton was discovered among his alchemical papers. This translation is currently held in King’s College Library in Cambridge University.
The Druids as a Secret Society
In many ways the Druids can be compared to the modern Freemasons as a secret society in their own right. The writer
John Lawrence Reynolds in his book
Secret Societies Their Mysteries Revealed certainly views them as such.
As Reynolds notes, while “priestly” implies that Druids performed a religious function, their role extended well beyond that purpose, encompassing philosophy, science, traditions, teaching judgments and fulfilling the duties of royal counsellor (think of Merlin and King Arthur here). They could therefore be viewed as a religious intelligentsia similar in some ways to the role performed by Christian monks in the Dark and Middle Ages, who could be said to have replaced them.
Reynolds points out that the Druids lived as close to nature as any ancient people and closer than most. Their myths, beliefs and practices reflected their deep woodland environment, a world that simultaneously supported, frightened, and spiritually uplifted them. For those who have visited Britain, they may be left with images of large urban areas (sprawls) and neat fields given over to intensive agriculture. Today only a mere 10% of the country (some say much less) is given over to woodland. However, in pre-Roman times the situation was very different with few large settlements of any note and far more forest and woodland. Indeed, in warmer times, prior to the introduction of Bronze Age farming and tin mining, much of Britain was still forested. Indeed, few people realise that England has fragments of a globally rare habitat: temperate rainforest. But temperate rainforests once covered a much larger swathe of England, and even larger parts of Wales and Scotland than they do today. This would have been ideal terrain for the Druids. See:
Life finds a way: in search of England’s lost, forgotten rainforests.
Those seeking to become Druids qualified according to three levels of ability. The initial level of Ovates (
Ovydd) consisted of neophytes needing no special purification or preparation. They dressed in green (Kelly Green?) and were welcomed into the order according to their naturally acquired knowledge of medicine, poetry and music. Ovates wishing to advance in recognition and power studied to become Bards (
Beirdd). To qualify for this level they were assigned to memorise at least some portion of a reported 20,000 verses of Druidic poetry. Bard candidates wore striped robes of blue, green and white, although when they had achieved full status, they changed to a sky-blue garment.
The third level marked the highest rank, the
Derwyddon, distinguished by their white robes symbolising purity (Cf. with the Essenes, the Therapeutae, the Cistercian Monks and the Knights Templar who all wore a white tunic or cassock). The Druids ministered to the spiritual needs of their people and within this group were six ascending levels or degrees of wisdom and power (MJF: does this start to sound familiar?). Each degree marked by a different colour of sash worn over the white robe.
The highest position in the Druid hierarchy was that of Arch-Druid and these were elected by their peers according to their virtue and integrity. There were never more than two Arch-Druids at any one time and they were identified by golden sceptres carried in their hands and wreaths of oak leaves crowning their heads.
The training period required for an individual to qualify as a fully-fledged Druid was by all accounts very extensive with some historians claiming it took 20 or more years to absorb and understand the teachings .Such a level of acquired wisdom qualified Druids for special privileges and during royal festivities a Druid always sat to the immediate right of the king, filling the role of the king’s conscience.
However, unlike modern Freemasonry, studies suggest that the Druids allowed women into their ranks. This should come as no surprise as Celtic women enjoyed much more freedom than other females of the time, including the right to divorce their husbands and join in battle. Male Druids (like Christian monks) lived in strict abstinence and celibacy, dedicating their lives to the study of nature, the accumulation of wisdom, the assessment of nominees to the order and the maintenance of the order’s secrets. Many found that a life of solitude best suited their philosophical needs rather as later Christian hermits found solitude best suited their spiritual needs. Whilst some resided in monastery-like residences, most lived in rough-hewn shacks deep in the forest, entering villages and towns only to perform their religious duties. This led to them being considered somewhat eccentric and unusual qualities began to be attributed to them, which led to them being associated with magic and divine events.
The Druids were remarkable in one other respect in that they were prepared to allow into their ranks anyone who successfully pursued a defined course of study focused on the natural world. This was almost revolutionary in an age where the prospect of gaining access to a privileged class solely on the basis of education and vocation was unheard of. This policy would even influence Christian practice when it came to accepting vocations to the priesthood and monastic orders regardless of social origins.
Curiously, Reynolds holds that there is more mysticism than fact in the common modern association of the Druids with Stonehenge. Although he accepts that Druids may have conducted some sort of ceremony at Stonehenge from time to time, he argues that they were people of the forest, not prancers and dancers on the windswept Salisbury Plain. This seems to conflict with what the C’s said about the Druids having been the people responsible for the construction of Stonehenge (see above). However, Reynolds is focused on the Druids as they were in Britain in the centuries just before the Roman invasion up to the period following the Roman withdrawal from Britain and the ensuing Dark Ages. He assumes that Stonehenge was constructed circa 2,000 BC and not by the Druids. Thus, he sees the Druids as having been a Celtic mystical order that arose post the construction of Stonehenge. However, the C’s may have been somewhat loose in their use of terminology given what they say in the extract from the transcripts below:
Session 31 May 1997:
Q: That is NOT friendly! I don't want to know things that are not friendly. Now, you have got me so startled that I don't even know if the path I am following in researching the history and the other things is even worthwhile or useful.
A: Oh, you bet it is!!!!!
Q: Is the historical research going to gradually bring me to this knowledge that would cause me to now 'die of shock?'
A: Maybe.
Q: In the information I now have on the Canaries, I found that a strange icon appeared on the island long before the conquest, long before any missionaries or Europeans arrived. The natives were the big, blond types. They said that they knew this icon was divine because following its appearance, there were processions of angels, or divine beings, up and down the beach where it appeared, lights, smells, chanting and singing and so forth. How did the statue of the Virgin of Candelaria arrive on the beach at Tenerife?
A: Teleportation.
Q: Who teleported it there?
A: The "Celts."
Q: Celts in the sense of the Druids?
A: Or in the sense of Atlanteans.
Q: Now, you said before that Atlanteans were not Celts, is that correct?
A: No.
Q: The Atlanteans were Celts?
A: "Celts, Druids," etc... are merely latter-day designations.
So, on this basis, the C’s may have meant that Stonehenge was built by the Atlantean forebears of the people who subsequently came to be known as the Celts and the Druids. This may be borne out by the fact that the Druids believed in a pantheon of gods, of which their chief god was the Gaulish Apollo, Belenos the Brilliant, Beli Mawr (the Great) or simply Bel, who like his Greek counterpart, was associated with the sun. In contrast, the C’s painted a very different picture of the religious beliefs of the builders of Stonehenge:
Session 3 October 1998:
Q: So, it is was an unfriendly 4th density dude. Now, he quotes from John Keel’s book ‘Our Haunted Planet’. It says: “The para-human Serpent People of the past are still among us. They were probably worshipped by the builders of Stonehenge and the forgotten ridge-making culture of South America”. Were the Serpent People worshipped by the builders of Stonehenge?
A: No
Q: Who was worshipped by the people who built Stonehenge?
A: Complicated.
Q: Give me some key words to work it out.
A: Spirits, stars, energy.
This last comment suggests that the original builders of Stonehenge did not necessarily worship deities per se but were pantheistic in their spiritual outlook. However, we do know from historical accounts that some of the subsequent occupiers of Stonehenge did worship deities, including the god Phoebus Apollo, who, as Laura noted, was supposed to have danced at Stonehenge every nineteen years.
Please note that I intend to expand on these Stonehenge related issues and themes in an extensive article on Stonehenge that I have been working on for quite a while now, which I finally hope to post after this article, since it will develop further on what I have said here about the Druids and the Celts.
But the Druids may not have been the only ancient influence on the ideas and practices of modern-day Freemasons, since Britain (excluding Scotland) was occupied by the Romans for over 350 years. The Romans brought their own stone masons to Britain, and they had their own Craft with its own secrets and its own lodge system.
The Romans
William Preston pointed out that Julius Caesar and several of the Roman Generals who helped to govern Britain were patrons and protectors of the Craft (Stonemasonry) and the Roman conquerors generally encouraged the arts and sciences within Britain. As the country became more civilised so Masonry rose in esteem. However, as Laura has pointed out in the Wave series, such blessings of civilisation merely disguise the fact that the conquered people have lost their freedom and been enslaved by their conquerors, with the trappings of civilisation softening the blow.
The Masonic fraternity were employed in erecting forts, bridges, walls (the most famous being Hadrian’s Wall), cities, temples, palaces and villas, courts of justice and other stately works. However, because of the secrecy, nothing was ever written down about how the lodges were governed or what rituals they carried out, although we do know they held lodge meetings and conventions on a regular basis. These meetings were open only to initiated fellows like today’s lodge meetings of Freemasons.
Preston argues that the Roman Collegium provides a link from earlier British sources to the subsequent practice of Masonry. Most Roman trades were controlled by Guilds or Collegia (colleges). As a measure of their power and influence, Roman emperors would on occasion issue edicts to try to suppress them. However, these edicts were never successfully enforced against the Masons because they could prove their great antiquity and that they were religious in character. Many such Collegia became charitable, religious or funerary groups, although they still kept the knowledge of their Masonic secrets. The question we might ask here is whether these secrets were mere trade secrets, i.e., specialised building techniques, or something more profound such as a knowledge of sacred geometry? The Collegia would hold memorial services for members who died, marking their tombs with the emblems of their trade and would help to support the members’ widows and children – all things modern Freemasons do. Preston describes a Roman builder’s tomb, which showed the square and the compasses, and the level used as emblems to mark the grave of a brother – emblems still to be found on the graves of modern Freemasons.
The Roman colleges of architects held certain privileges and exemptions because of the prestige of the work they did. Their organisation was very similar to a modern Masonic Lodge, and they had constitutions and regulations to rule their actions in religious and secular matters. Each meeting was presided over by a master (magister) and two wardens (decuriones). They also had a secretary, a treasurer, and a chaplain (sacerdos). Admitted lay members were known as patrons or speculatives. Their lodges had three grades – Apprentices, Fellows, and Masters – and they had rituals of initiation that involved death and rebirth, as does the modern Third Degree of Freemasonry (York Rite). They also used all the modern Masonic emblems: the square, the compasses, the cube, the plumb-rule, the circle, and the level. They also used an upturned urn as an emblem of death.
Intriguingly, a meeting hall owned by the local Masonic collegium was found when Pompeii was first excavated in 1878. It had two columns at its entrance (Joachin and Boaz?) and its interior was decorated with interlaced triangles, which is the ‘constant badge of the masons’. There was a pedestal in the main room that held a tracing board (which is a common feature of modern Freemasonry) in the form of a table of inlaid mosaic. In its centre was a skull with square, plumb line and other Masonic designs.
When Christianity became the official religion of Rome, it attracted members of the Collegia of Masons, but the Masons retained their links with the ancient traditions of the builders.
Continued in Part 2