Please take what I am saying with a grain of salt, I am not an expert.
Over the years I have read quite a bit about the Freemasons. I've
aquired a few books, including the so-called "secret" book of the
Scottish rites that certain Christians freak out about. It's all tied
into a general interest in the "occult".
Masonic symbolism is pretty heavily alchemically charged. Indirectly
that means that some symbolism from Western astrology is used in
Masonic rituals. Well, ultimately the more you learn about alchemy you
find out that the symbolism is a means to a spiritual end. As a matter
of fact, a lot of symbolism is tied up in Freemasonry, from a variety
of sources. Like so-called "magick", the "practicioners" who are not
completely full of crap are very up front that the symbolism is a
means to self-realization. The Scottish rites even say as much.
Astrology is hoodoo-voodoo that demonstrably does not work. Masons are
using astrological symbols (along with a lot of other symbols,
including egyptian and christian ones) to represent aspects of
self-improvement.
It is my (uneducated) opinion that it is the symbols that Freemasons
are interested in, not astrology itself. I have known a few masons
over the years, admittedly not ones in the higher levels (they
wouldn't have told me if they were) but I don't think any of them
would have put up with that crap.
If someone wants to speculate on what 33rd degree masons are doing
behind closed doors, it could be, but you're not going to find any
irrefutable proof.
I hope I am not being presumptive when I ask if you are or are asking
in response to a Christian. Certain groups of Christians are obsessed
with the "occult", as defined by them. Some of them make up
out-and-out lies, and other ones are just too fundamentalist to be
equipped to deal with heavy symbolism. I have some seen some real
bullcrap spewed on the internet and even at my church (yes, I am a
Christian.)
I'll be honest when I say that I don't find Freemasonry to be
particularly Christian, at least not of any branch of Christianity
that survived being burned at the stake. It seems more
pseudo-religious, or spiritual to me, kind of like buddhism. It
doesn't tell you anything about God or the afterlife, it just tells
tells you about yourself. Frankly, it sounds more like Kabbalah,
Jewish mysticism to me.
By the way, Jesus was not a freakin freemason, freemasonry had not
been invented yet. The so-called proof in their rituals that
freemasonry is so old, blah blah blah is obvious to anyone with a
brain. They wear egyptian garb in rituals because they modelled
freemasonry after the egyptians, not because the group is really,
really old. I might also point out that Jesus did not always follow
the commandments, for example when he healed on the sabbath. He had
good reasons for doing so, and proved a point by breaking the Sabbath
and demonstrating a greater law, a point which seems to elude most
Christians and Jews even today.
I'm sure there are freemasons who, like in practicioners of alchemy
and "magick", missed the point entirely and do stuff like actually
believe the stuff in their rituals is literal, factual truth. Somebody
somewhere is a freemason and is practicing Astrology.
Again, this is based on things I have noticed that seem similar to
other secret societies and "occult" groups. |
