Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-05-04

antiquity, and every one OF Them I'M
known TO us, possesses its own mean
ing and occult power. so IL Is aIso'
with other simple forms with which we
are familiar: the obelisk, the cube, the
triangle-cvery one of them is replete
with significance to the occultist.
1t has ever been the custom OF man
to convey meanings by symbol and en-
blem; end whether these be the
''three golden balls of the pawnbrok-
err, or the striped red and white pole
of the barber, the same intention is
obvious Yet not everybody knows
that the golden balls were golden
pills and the arms of the Medici
family in the Middle Ages, while the
stripe round the BARRIERS pole was the
ribbon which he wound spirally round
the arm of patient prior TO blood-let-
ting, in the days when the barber was
also chirurgeon.
All of the ancient mysteries" were
contained in symbols and emblems;
thus, the (D Sistrum was prominent in
the Egyptian feasts of Isis, as was also
the (2) Ank, (Crux Ansata, or emblem
of life). The (3) Ark of the Sanctuary
among the Hebrews was practically a
boat; and, what is not generally
known, is that the form of its cabin,
or shelter, was that of the Hebrew let
ter n (He), an aspirate signlfying
breathing, or life" the second and
fourth letters of the name Jahveh, or
Jehovah: nm, and Moses was writ
ten Moseh, or saved from the water. F"
The Egyptian isis, oddly enough, had
the same meaning, saved from the
water" being also, in the original,
Nemesis, or retribution.
This is all very curious in its rela-
ton TO the Flood myths, OF which
something has already been told in
these pages; and we thus see the idea
of the Deluge kept alive equally by
the Egyptians and the Hebrews by
symbols
This idea of the destruction of the
world by a Deluge exists equally
among the Masonic symbols, as is
shown in the instance of the (D Cornu-
copia and (6) Capricornus, or the goat
The allusion contained in the Cornuco-
pia, or "horn of plenty" is TO the myth
of Capricorn, who was also Pan and
Bacchus, and who, with some other
deities, while feasting near the banks
of the Nile, was suddenly attacked by
the dreaded giant Typhon, son OF
Kronos or Saturn, and brother of Isis
| In order to escape, all took TO the
water, when Pan became part fish and
part goat. Now, Pan or Bacchus is
the Greek form of Jahveh, meaning
Nature, or all material things. The
illustrated American says that the
myth is, therefore, plain enough and
refers always to the Deluge in the
zodiacal sign Capricorn. Pan is cast
into the sea or water (Aquarius) when
the goat part of him escapes by climb
ing the high mountains, and the fish
part by swimming; all who can not do
one or the other of these things must
perish.
But why should this myth be perpet-
uated in the symbolism of Free Ma
sonry? Why, sure enough? And here
are still two other symbols of the
same character, whose place in Mason
ry is equally inexplicable; they are the
5) Pyramid and (0 compasses- The
Pyramid, seen from any side, is an
equilateral triangle; it is also the
Greek letter A delta, which is mex
tricably connected with water, the
term having come down to us
from the Greek as the mouth
of river. as the delta of
the Nile, Gauges, or Mississippi But
the compasses, as used by Masons as
an officers jewel, is always set at an
angle of 60 degrees, thus representing
one of the angles of the equilateral
triangle Further, this angle is equal
to two signs in the zodiac (say, for in
stance, Cancer and Capricorn), and
multiplied by the three angles of the
equilateral, becomes 150 degrees or
half the zodiac, or the dimensions O:
the Royal Arch" (s).
n