(By 33° Freemason Todd E. Creason) – Aleister Crowley was an English occultist and mystic who was responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. As a young man he became a member of several essoteric groups including the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the Ordo Templi Orientis.
Crowley was a recreational drug experimenter and a social critic. In many of these roles he “was in revolt against the moral and religious values of his time”, espousing a form of libertinism based upon the rule of “Do What Thou Wilt“. Part of his philosophy of Thelema was the use of “sex magick” and the speculation about the sexual rituals that were practiced by the followers of Thelema has been a subject of fascination for many. Because of this, he gained widespread notoriety during his lifetime, and was denounced in the popular press of the day as “the wickedest man in the world.”
Crowley has remained an influential figure and is widely thought of as the most influential occultist of all time. References to him can be found in the works of numerous writers, musicians and filmmakers, and he has also been cited as a key influence on many later esoteric groups and individuals, including Kenneth Grant, Jack Parsons, Gerald Gardner, Robert Anton Wilson, and to some degree, Austin Osman Spare.
He is also frequently referred to as a Freemason, and it has been the subject of debate for many years. He was a member of many “Masonic-like” groups, including the Ordo templi Orientis, but the Grand Lodge of England does not recognize him as a Freemason because none of the organizations he belonged to were recognized Masonic bodies or lodges. All of the groups in which he was a member were irregular (clandestine) organizations.
Aleister Crowley was not a Freemason.
Cover of Aleister Crowley
~TEC
Todd E. Creason, 33° is the founder of the Midnight Freemasons blog and continues to be a regular contributor. He is the author of several books and novels, including the Famous American Freemasons series. He is member of Homer Lodge No. 199, and a Past Master of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL). He is a member of the Scottish Rite Valley of Danville, the York Rite Bodies of Champaign/Urbana (IL), the Ansar Shrine (IL), Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees, and Charter President of the Illinnois High Twelve in Champaign-Urbana (IL).
Moe is the founder of GnosticWarrior.com. He is a father, husband, author, martial arts black belt, and an expert in Gnosticism, the occult, and esotericism.
(Source: Todd E. Creason) – Dad and grandpa displayed their Masonic affiliations with a nice ring, or a lapel pin–and of course the always popular automobile emblems. But there is a new generation of Masons coming up through the ranks, and instead of showing their fraternal pride in the more traditional way, they are showing their Masonic affiliations in a more permanent way.
With Masonic Ink . . .
It’s a popular subject. Nearly two years ago I wrote a short piece on the subject, and it continues to get a large number of hits. Over my travels these last several years, I’ve seen a lot of Masonic ink. And many Masons have sent me photographs of artwork they’ve had done, or artwork they’ve run across.
And I can certainly see why Masonic tattoos are so popular. First of all, the symbols are intriguing, and every Mason seems to
identify with one in particular that is meaningful to them. Secondly,
tattoo artists seem to really enjoy working with those traditional
designs.
Some of the artwork I’ve seen is absolutely stunning. There are York Rite designs that feature the symbolism of the Chapter, Council and Commandery. There are Blue Lodge designs that feature the All Seeing Eye, and the Square and Compasses. There are Shriner designs that feature scimitars and pyramids.
I’m not quite ready to go under the needle quite yet, but I enjoy looking at the artwork others have had done, and judging for the success of my last blog on the subject, I’m not the only one.
So what I thought I’d do is open this up. Have you got a Masonic tattoo you’d like a share? Take a picture of it, and send it to me at [email protected]. I thought I’d create a permanent album of these photos. Be sure and include your name, lodge, and location.
Todd E. Creason is an author and novelist whose work includes the award-winning non-fiction historical series Famous American Freemasons and the novels One Last Shot (2011) and A Shot After Midnight (2012). He’s currently working on the third novel expected to be
released in 2014. All of Todd E. Creason’s books are sold at major online booksellers like Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble and are available for both Nook and Kindle.
Moe is the founder of GnosticWarrior.com. He is a father, husband, author, martial arts black belt, and an expert in Gnosticism, the occult, and esotericism.
This video was created by author and 33rd Degree Freemason, Todd Creason. It deals with the contributions Freemasons have made to America in politics, entertainment, industry, education, and exploration.
Moe is the founder of GnosticWarrior.com. He is a father, husband, author, martial arts black belt, and an expert in Gnosticism, the occult, and esotericism.
This text is Part II of a discussion on Sacred Images by Manly P. Hall, that has never been in print before now. At my cost, I had the audio transcribed so people could read his words forever. I hope you enjoy.
By Manly P Hall – Vast mass of celestial needs. Buddhism has its buddhism [indecipherable 00:06] And nearly all religion and philosophies have behind the visible order of things. The concept of an invisible government.
A government, which controls all things because it is by its very substance and essence in full possession of everything necessary for absolute leadership. All these types of philosophy has gradually resolved in what we might term religious odd.
And this religious odd is not limited to strange people far away. It is present in our own cathedral churches. Religious odd is present in many private homes. Wonderful figures and representations of sacred persons or sanctified individuals are to be found in painting and in sculpting in our own local environment.
How then does it happen that we create this imagery? An artist, particularly in the early period of Gothic art in Europe, invented a complete language of symbolical attributes by means of which it will be possible to distinguish the degrees of sanctity or divinity present in the various representations that they make.
Whether it is the great Michael Angelo’s Moses or the tremendous symbolical value of the Raffiel or the Rembrandt sacred paintings, it is always the same. A sacred picture to represent an invisible principle. Now this is also the only way that we can represent the various virtues and vices of humanity.
How are we going to define generosity to a person who has no understanding of the word? The only way that we can understand under those conditions is through an action. And so we have the various parables and legends or scriptures. The good Samaritan, represents this kind of generosity.
The wayward son who finally comes home to his family, is in the parable of the prodigal son. These are word patterns created to express virtues which are common to human beings but which cannot be communicated without some relationship to a practical action.
As we go in to the pictures of religious personalities in all parts of the world, we are sometimes considerably confused. In many instances it looks like some people have more of these images and might be necessary. We realize also that within culture these images change their appearances.
They change the materials upon which – from which they are fashioned. They develop an expression of likenesses – largely tribal or racial, and therefore differing in various areas and communities.
They have this tremendous almost incalculable mass of sacred imagery is now becoming of great interest to not only the psychologist but the anthropologist and the mystic, the metaphysician and the symbolist in general because these images tell us something. They tell us of man’s eternal search for realities.
The very images which look unreal a part of the struggle to attain reality. Sometime ago, an Indian gentlemen discussed with a missionary who was having a little difficulty trying to understand this well cultured Indian gentleman was able to respect an image with a number of arms and several heads.
So he tried to explain this to the missionary. And he said “How would you do some of these things?” Suppose we say that a horse has a head, and a dog has a head and a bird has a head, and a fish has a head. And all these heads are parts of something.
They are parts of life. All these creatures are alive. One life is within them. Therefore if you want to make a picture of life; you must make a cluster of living things to represent it. And no matter how many of these we put together or pile up, they will not be adequate. Because there will be more kinds of life we can picture.
There will be more attitudes and virtues within human life that we can depict. Therefore the only thing that we can do is to suggest that the divine power and source of things animates all life.
And therefore if we try to picture it perhaps we should picture it made up of living things. In Egypt the Sarapium Deities in the Great Alexander libraries of Sarapium, is said to have been a deity in figure in a kind of wicker work.
And within that wicker work, where all forms of life, plants, flowers, symbols of animals or birds, all kinds of things, it was a wicker work filled with every type of life that the Egyptians could put in it.
Therefore to them, it seems perfectly appropriate that they should represent the spirit of life. A spirit moving through living things. A spirit that should remind us forever, of the unity of life and our own kinship of living things. So gradually it became increasingly practical apparently to create this elaborate pictorial representation of the various activities of natural law.
In Alexandria, the astronomers try to do this with the universe. The Brahmans perhaps did a little better at it but all of them came to the realization that the universe came in some way archetypal figure or pattern or picture and if we want to picture the divine power of source of life, what more adequate immediate symbol could be available than the solar system, the cosmos.
There will be no way that we can go beyond life, but everything we can reach is part of life. Therefore life expands and expands and thus the Brahmans pointed out, the main problem with imagery is inadequate, it is not the way or too much of it. It is that we cannot possibly have an imagery structure that is complete in all of its attributes.
There was only a step then that it takes language as an example. Language was a way of putting forms into words and transmitting them. Language can go on and on and on. And never could we have enough of words or enough language symbols that could take care of everything we wanted to record.
In the 15th and 16th Century, the unabridged dictionary was a very slender volume in English. Today it is inconceivably a complicated volume. And still there are not enough words to tell all that we know.
The same way, there are not enough symbols in nature to tell all that we believe about creation, about deity, about the infinite unfoldment of living things. So we find in the Greek and other religions also, the gradual development of mythologies.
These mythologies were stories about the Gods, or about spirits or ghosts or super physical beings of one kind or another. Now in mythology, how are we going to symbolize the processes by means of which the various unfoldments of life took place?
To the ancient people without exception, generation was the most important symbol that existed to their knowledge. For it was in a way in which life was perpetuated. It was the one way which the mystery of death is solved forever in eternal life.
Therefore all the processes of creation that we might now carry on in laboratory by means of chemicals or mathematical symbols were anciently represented by the automatic activities of human life. Therefore to the primitive people, deity was the tribal chieftain.
Moe is the founder of GnosticWarrior.com. He is a father, husband, author, martial arts black belt, and an expert in Gnosticism, the occult, and esotericism.
This text of a discussion on Sacred Images by Manly P. Hall has never been in print before now. At my cost, I had the audio transcribed so people could read his words forever. I hope you enjoy.
By Manly P. Hall: A number of years ago, I was in a little town, Darjeeling, on the northern boundary of India where it met Tibet. There were several visitors from various countries and the hotel management decided it would be appropriate to give a little entertainment in the Tibetan spirit. So they brought in about a half a dozen Tibetan dancers, with their masks and regalia, to entertain. Among them was a little boy, about eight years old, a very cute chubby little rascal that everyone liked immediately.
But when the time for the dance came, he put on one of the most grotesque mask you’d ever want to see. He really looked like a nightmare. Of course, everyone knew it was the little boy.
But during the dance, he started moving over rapidly towards the audience and always getting ready to attack them. You should have seen the audience scatter. They all knew it was the little boy but with the mask, something happened.
The evil spirits of ancient and primary fear moved in on those people. They actually subconsciously were terrified.
On another occasion, I remember in the Japanese Noh drama where the principal actors are masked, many of the themes are highly sacred. In the various performances, the actors are nearly always concealed behind these wood-carved masks that are well-painted and decorated but of course, have no expression except that of the original carving.
But under a careful handling of light, particularly by the postures of the head in relationship to the source of light, these faces seem to change. And in moments of joy, the face really seemed to smile and in sorrow, the face looked very tragic. Yet it was done with a wooden mask but everyone felt it. The skill in which the mask was handled was the principal factor.
In the southwest United States, we have a series of ritualistic dances by the various Indian tribes, the Zuñis, Hopis, Navajos. These dances often included masked figures and everyone knows that these masked figures are members of the local community.
One of the men with the mask, very carefully developed but rather crude mask, actually has two children in the audience. They all know that it’s father but when he dances toward them with the sacred column, they kneel instinctively as though he was a god. Something happens when the masks begin to take a part in religious rituals.
Masks were used in Egypt, we know, in the temple mysteries. Even today, the various carvings and manuscripts of Egyptian origin show human beings with the masks of birds and animals. The Greeks used masks in their theater also. Nearly always a mask becomes a complete change of personality.
If accompanied by adequate religious ritual, the mask becomes the secret of the development of a peculiar theological belief that there was a divine power in the mask. And when it was worn correctly and under ritual supervision, it brought a deity into contact with humanity.
On the course of time, the mask, of course, has gradually faded but in many primitive countries, they still survive. Then came another step forward in the study of human psychology. It is almost impossible for the average person to understand a completely abstract principle. It is very hard to visualize something that has no form or to visualize an energy which is completely unembodied.
From very early times, it became apparently necessary to present nearly all of the important truths of life symbolically. We have wonderful symbolic books, like Aesop’s Fables or Pilgrim’s Progress. We have very wonderful ancient sculpturing and statuary, paintings, carvings of all kinds, retablos and icons which are presumed to have certain sacred value in themselves.
You can go from one end of the world to the other among middle class group of people, the average person, and you ask them if they believe that these statues are actually divine or have spiritual power in themselves. Nearly everyone will answer no.
Even in the midst of a vast array of this imagery, nearly everyone accepts the fact that it is symbolical and that it represents something that cannot be directly seen. It represents a power in nature which is in itself invisible.
The idea of this type of symbolism apparently arose from man’s study of his own environment.
It gradually dawned upon him that pure life, in its own essence, is invisible. We know it is present because of what it does but we do not know what it is. Therefore, when we begin to study life, we have to do it by examining living things. We are not able to understand the substance of energy or vitality or force but we are able to estimate its consequences.
Therefore, as we look around these in nature, we see an infinite diversity of living things, all of these living things supported by one essential, basic life principle.
Under such conditions, it must become obvious that this life principle has many appearances. It has as many forms and appearances as forms and appearances exist in nature. It is not only represented by picture, it is represented by sound or color.
It is represented by mathematical formulas and astronomical observations and it is represented by now a very complex group of chemical and electronic symbols. And yet underneath all of this vast array of symbolism, it is obvious that there is one invisible life principle.
This principle separated from all living things is almost impossible to define. The only way we can define it is to reveal it through its own works.
Our ancient forebears were certain that all creation was a revelation of one principle. Therefore, in order to make a diagram or a picture of this principle, something had to be found that could be equated with everything that exists.
This symbol had to be inclusive enough to reveal the utter diversity of the divine power and yet at the same time sufficiently integrate it to realize or to represent the fact that this divine power was in the ultimate one, an indivisible principle manifesting constantly through utter diversity.
It therefore seemed quite proper to select various symbols to represent this one indivisible but invisible unity at the source of existence. The Greeks have their pantheons of gods, so did the Egyptians and the Latins, the Hindus and the vast mass.
Moe is the founder of GnosticWarrior.com. He is a father, husband, author, martial arts black belt, and an expert in Gnosticism, the occult, and esotericism.
Freemasonry is alleged to have a total of ninety degrees when you combine both the Rites of Memphis, and Misraim. The first 33 degrees are those of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, in which the degrees of one, two and three are earned in the Blue Lodge. They consist of the Entered Apprentice, Fellow-Craft, and Master Mason. The word master, in Masonry signifies a man who is considered in the allegorical sense as a “Master Builder”; this means that he has reached the highest degree of skill and knowledge of his craft, which happens to be “wisdom and Gnosis.”
“The word degree, in its primitive meaning, signifies a step. The degrees of Freemasonry are then the steps by which the candidate ascends from a lower to a higher condition of knowledge. The various Degrees are generally called “higher ” because, with the exception of Mark man, to which fellow Crafts may be admitted, they are only conferred on Master Masons.”- Albert McKay 33rd Degree Freemason
“Rite known as the Ancient and Accepted Scottish, practiced in various countries and by all Supreme Councils, com-prising thirty-three degrees. It is believed to have been extended from the Rite of Perfection of twenty-five de-grees to its present number, in Charleston, S. C, in 1802, and mainly arranged, as it now exists in France and else-where, in 1804. Rite known as the Order of Modern Templars, or Knights Templar, comprising three degrees, practiced in the United States of America and Great Britain. As the successor of the secular Templars of the Jesuit system of Strict Observance, this rite was arranged in France in 1804.” – A General History of Freemasonry: Based Upon the Ancient Documents Relating By Emmanuel Rebold
“The Rite of Misraim arose in 1805, and was once recognized by the A. and A. Rite in Ireland. Ninety Degrees are conferred, culminating in that of “absolute Sovereign Grand Master 90. The degrees are divided into four series, the first of thirty-three symbolic degrees; the second of thirty-three philosophical degrees; the third of eleven mystic degrees; and the fourth of thirteen hermetic and cabalistic degrees. The four series are again divided into seventeen classes.” – The Freemason and Masonic Illustrated
If you scroll below this image, you will find a list of the degrees, from what countries they originate, and the rites associated with them.
Rite of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, practiced by nine-tenths of all the lodges of the globe, the same being the Modern English Rite of three symbolic degrees, as arranged by the Grand Lodge of London in 1717
Rite of Zinendorf, practiced by the National Grand Lodge of Germany, at Berlin, comprising seven degrees, arranged in 1767
Rite practiced by the Grand Lodge of Stockholm, commonly called the Swedish Rite, or System of Swedenborg, comprising eight degrees, and arranged in 1773
Rite practiced by some lodges in Belgium, called the Scotch Philosophic Rite of eighteen degrees, arranged in 1776
Rite known as the Royal Arch or York Rite of seven degrees, practiced in the United States of America, and the higher degrees of which are believed to have been arranged, by Lawrence Dermott, in 1777
Rite practiced by some lodges in Belgium, known as the Refined Scottish or Reformed Ancient Rite, arranged as the successor of the Rite of Perfection, after the Congress of Wilhelmsbad, in 1782
Rite practiced by the Grand Lodge of Frankfort and Hamburg, known as the Eclectic Rite, comprising three degrees, arranged, in conformity with the opinion expressed by the Congress at Wilhelmsbad, in 1782, by Baron Knigge, in 1783
Rite practiced by the Grand Orient of France, commonly called the Modern French Rite, comprising seven degrees, and which was arranged by a commission of that body as a basis of compromise between it and the ” General Grand Chapter of the Rite of Perfection,” organized, in 1783, as the successors of the ” Grand Council of Emperors of the East and West, Sovereign Prince Masons,” and adopted in 1786
Rite practiced by the Grand Royal York Lodge of Berlin, known as Fessler’s Rite, comprising three degrees and a chapter, arranged in 1796
Rite of the Grand Lodge at the Three Globes in Berlin, comprising twenty-five degrees, as arranged to admit, in 1760, the high degrees then prevalent, but which was reduced to ten degrees in 1798
Rite known as the Ancient and Accepted Scottish, practiced in various countries and by all Supreme Councils, com-prising thirty-three degrees. It is believed to have been extended from the Rite of Perfection of twenty-five de-grees to its present number, in Charleston, S. C, in 1802, and mainly arranged, as it now exists in France and else-where, in 1804
Rite known as the Order of Modern Templars, or Knights Templar, comprising three degrees, practiced in the United States of America and Great Britain. As the successor of the secular Templars of the Jesuit system of Strict Observance, this rite was arranged in France in 1804
Rite of Misraim, practiced in Paris, comprising ninety de-grees, invented by Lechangeur, of Milan, in 1806, and introduced into France by Mark and Michael Bedar-
ride, in 1815
Rite of Memphis, now practiced only in the United States of America, comprising ninety-five degrees, the same being an extension and improvement of the last-named rite, made by Marconis de Negre, in 1838
Rites, Called Masonic, Which Have Become Extinct, Ob Which Have Become Absorbed Into Some Existing Rlte.
Rite of Noah, arranged as the Order of the Noahchites in 1735
Scottish or Jacobin Rite of Ramsay, first known in 1736
Rite of Herodom of Kilwinning, first practiced in 1740
Rite or Order of Fidelity, by Chambonet 1742
Rite or Order of the Anchor 1744
Rite of the Areopagists 1746
Scottish Jacobin Rite, created by the Pretender, in 1747
Rite of the Elect of Truth, at Rennes, in 1748
Rite of the Old Daughter-in-law, by Lockhart, an emissary of the Jesuits, in 1749 or 1750
Rite of the Illuminati of Stockholm, founded in 1621, and resuscitated in France, under Masonic forms, in 1750
Rite or Order of Prussian Knights 1756
Rite of the Clerks of Strict Observance, or clerical Templar system, founded by the Jesuits, and united, in 1776, with the Secular Templars, also a creation of the Jesuits 1756
Rite of Knights of the East, by Pirlet 1757
Rite of the Emperors of the East and West, Sovereign Prince Masons. This was the Rite of Herodom extended to the Rite of Perfection of twenty-five degrees, by the Jesuits, and propagated by Pirlet about 1758
Rite of Strict Observance, or modified Templar system of seven degrees, known as the Secular Templars 1760
Rite of the African Architects 1762
Between 1762 and 1766 there were introduced five rites, named respectively the Asiatics, the Patients, the Seekers, the Princes of Death, and the Reformed of Dresden.
Rite of the Flaming Star, founded by Baron Schudy, an emissary of the Jesuits, in 1766
Rite of the Rose Cross, founded by Valentine Andrea in 1616, and resuscitated, under Masonic forms, in 1767
Rite of the Knights of the Holy City, by an emissary of the Jesuits, in 1768
Rite of the Elected Cowans, by Martinez Paschalis 1768
Rite of the Black Brethren: 1770
Scandinavian Rite, and the Hermitic Rite, in 1772
Rite of the Philalethes, founded in Paris by Lavalette de Langes, Court de Gebelin, the Prince of Hesse, etc 1773
Rite of the Illuminati of Bavaria, by Professor Weisshaupt. 1776
Rite of the Independents, and Rite of the Perfect Initiates of Egypt 1776
Rite of the Illuminati of Avignon, being the system of Swedenborg, in 1779
Rite of the Philadelphians of Narbonne, a rite of ten degrees, founded by some pretended superior officers, major and minor, of ” the Order of Free and Accepted Masons “…. 1780
Rite of the Martinists, founded by St. Martin 1780 Rite of the Sublime Masters of the Circle of Light 1780
Rite of Knights and Nymphs of the Rose (one degree)…. 1781
Rite of the Masons of the Desert 1781
Egyptian Rite, by Cagliostro 1781
Rite of Universal Harmony, by Dr. Mesmer .* 1782
Rite of the Illuminati of the Zodiac 1783
Rite of Zoroaster 1783
Rite of High Egyptian Masonry (adoptive), by Cagliostro.. 1784
Rite of Adonhiramite Masonry 1787
Rite of the Holy Order of the Sophists, by Cuvelier of
Treves 1801
Rite or Order of Modern Templars, founded by Drs. Ledru
and Fabre-Palaprat1 1804
Rite or Order of Mercy 1807
Rite or Order of Knights of Christ, founded by E. de Nunez. 1809
Rite or Order of French Noachides, or Napoleonic Masonry. 1816 Rite of Rigid Observers, founded by some officers of the
Grand Orient in 1819
Persian Philosophic Rite, created in Erzrum in 1818, and
introduced in France in 1819
‘This rite is not extinct in Great Britain and United States of America, it being, in those countries, fitted on to the York Rite, as high degrees.
Moe is the founder of GnosticWarrior.com. He is a father, husband, author, martial arts black belt, and an expert in Gnosticism, the occult, and esotericism.
