ASTRONOMY AND MASONRY. I Cor. xv. 41. Eccles. xii. 12.-Of making many books THERE are two distinct sciences of Masonry-the speculative or theoretical, and the operative or practical; the former being a mental knowledge, the latter merely parrot-taught formula. There are likewise two distinct sciences of Astronomy-the theoretical and the practical; the theoretical being a mental study interpreting the celestially written mysteries of the ancients of the earth, the latter a mechanical operation, looking through a long tube, and dotting arithmetical truths on paper. Operative Masons are led to believe that their order in ancient ages consisted of workmen with aprons, mallets, compasses and squares; and their intellectual occupation was in chipping stones and spreading mortar. These operative labourers nevertheless fondly cherish the belief that somehow or other by divine right they are descendants of those Biblical men that were employed in building the Temple of Solomon, but, as will be speedily shown, Masons of this age and their predecessors had nothing whatever to do with any Solomon or any temple. It was the intellectual theoretical Masons that from time immemorial erected the splendid edifice yearly dedicated * In these researches the introductions in the sacred volume that are printed in italics will be omitted in the quotations, such introductions not applying to the celestial interpretations; but they will, however, occasionally be used in the text as explanatory. "If at some future period some one unites Astronomical Science to the erudition of Antiquity, too much separated from it, that man will instruct his age in many things which the vanity of ours has no notion of."-VOLNEY. New Res., chap. xvii. p. 100. to Solomon. 3 Psalm cxxv. 1 These intellectual Masons built the dwelling of the Sun, using wrought stones made ready for the building, and when occupied in their work there was not heard any sound of hammer or axe, or any tool of iron. The gems of heaven were the precious stones wherewith the Temple was erected. These gems or stones of heavenSee Rev. xxi. 10 were known by speculative Masons as rocks, the polar to 25 star being the rock of ages. "Trust ye in the Lord for ever for the Lord Jehovah is the rock of ages." This Isaian xxvi. 4 polar star is the rock or Mount Olympus of the Latins, and was so high that no bird could fly to the top, nor were clouds ever seen upon its summit; this polar star is the Mount Meru of the Budhists, and the Mount Zion of the Hebrews. "They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but standeth fast for ever."3 David says, "Lead me to the rock that is higher than I."4 From our world nothing can be higher than the polar star; it is the pivot or point or axis on which the earth performs its diurnal and annular motion. All the other visible brilliants of heaven appear to us as moving in circles of greater or lesser magnitude, but the polar rock standeth fast for ever. David exclaims, "Hear me, my brethren, I had in my heart to build an house of rest, . . . and for the footstool of our God."5 51 Chron, xxviii. 2 And "thus saith the Lord, The heaven my throne, and the earth my footstool : where the house ye build unto me? and where the place of my rest?"6 Solomon, at the dedication of the Temple, says, "Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded ?"7 Cephas or Cepheus means rock. 71 Kings viii. 27 Cepheus is seated in the highest heaven, and he has Mount Olympus or the polar star for his footstool.8 Nothing can be more perplexing or mysterious to the uninitiated than the figurations on the celestial globes and atlases. The various divisions and subdivisions of unnatural objects constituting pictured heaven, plainly i indicate that mystery or mysteries of some kind were intended, and the concealments of some important truths the object desired. If the hidden or lost mysteries of intellectual masonry do not relate to the heavens, to what can they relate? The pictured heaven, with its various constellations, is, with trifling variations, the same as that B 4 Psalm Ixi. 2 Isaiah Ixvi. 1 8 See Isaiah al 21 22 depicted before the period set down for the birth of the Saviour. What mean these pictured heavenly figures? Why, from generation to generation, have they been so religiously preserved? On looking at a celestial chart, we see the picture of a perfect ram called Aries, but when pointed out among the stars it resembles a kangaroo as much as a ram; in fact, the stars do not portray any figures or semblance of terrestrial objects. The next in order to the ram is the picture of a half bull, but why the whole ram and the half bull? Then look at the sign Capricornus, half a goat, the other half a fabulous fish. Then there is Cetus with a tail like Capricornus', and this Cetus or whale has a trunk or proboscis, and has two feet dabbling See Ezek. xxxii. 2 in the rivers Eridanus and Gihon.1 All the celestial signs and figures must have meanings, and to the initiated their interpretation is as simple as any other pictured primer. In all probability the primitive attempt at our celestial astronomy was in the personation of the heavens in accordance with the human life and the seasons, commencing with the birth or infancy of the sun and terminating at the death of the year at the winter solstice. The strong God was the sun king ruler, and at his death was symbolized as the dead lion. The Egyptians personated among the stars a strong man, and clothed him with a lion's skin, and thus came forth Hercules, otherwise Samson, which literally means "his sun." The whole figure denoted the personified sun, but in process of time the chief brilliant of the constellation became the indicator, and now "Ras Algothi" in the man's forehead, and tooth of the lion's skin, is, by astronomers of this age, known as Hercules. Bayer's Atlas of 1746 gives hemispherical charts, with Ptolemy's nomenclature of stars for Anno Domini 138, but this is mere modern celestial fiction, and shows that the compiler of Bayer's Atlas for that year was perfectly ignorant of astral masonry.* Celestial statuary is evidently more ancient than the pictured astronomical figures on our globes and charts, and it is certain that the knowledge of the positions of the brilliants in the firmament was formerly only entrusted The first genuine work under the name of Ptolemy is the Almageste, bearing date 1532, and it will soon be proved even that that date must be considered as a celestial reckoning, and not as a terrestrial epoch. to the masters of the dead languages. That Bayer and such astronomers, and the whole host of astrologers of his age, were of the intellectual order of Masons is more than probable. Celestial astronomy is a lost scienceAstrology is likewise a lost science, and it is admitted by the Craft that the mysteries of masonry have been "long, long lost." The heavenly pictures by which these sciences were legible are now but unmeaning chaos even to the learned; it cannot be matter of surprise, therefore, that the truths these heavenly figures interpreted are hidden and unknown.* In the Temple at Tentyris and elsewhere, there are planispheres of hieroglyphic figures, which no doubt. pictured language, to the learned of the age, when constructed there is no key by which the time of their application can be determined as to Anno Mundi or Anno Domini-indeed no evidence is there whether these celestial Egyptian figures apply to past centuries or thousands of years now past. Wonderful as it may appear, every Egyptian, every Grecian monument, indeed every ancient statue, denotes one and the same epoch in the firmament, and that is sun-rising at the vernal equinox. The learned must admit their ignorance of this fact, but with unalterable laws the heavens themselves certify the truth. As already stated, celestial science is among the lost mysteries; succeeding astronomers have not understood their predecessors: for instance, the Astronomer Royal, Flamsteed, admits himself puzzled by the charts of * Flamsteed, in his introduction to his Atlas, says, that finding it necessary to depart from the figures as given in Bayer, 1603, he was led into a strict inquiry to find out who first constructed maps of the constellations, and especially by whom the stars were reduced into those forms into which they are disposed in Ptolemy's catalogue (of which there is no account that can be relied upon), for from what Ptolemy relates in his fourth chapter of the seventh book of his Almageste, it is evident that these images or figures were older than Hipparchus's time, where he says that "we employ not the same figures of constellations that those before us did, as neither did they of those before them, but frequently made use of others that more truly represent the form for which they were drawn: for instance, those stars which Hipparchus places on the Virgin's shoulder we place on her side, because their distances from the head appear too great for the distance from the head to the shoulder in his sign Virgo: and thereby making those stars to be on the sides the figure will be agreeable and proper, which it would not, if those stars were placed on the shoulder." Bayer, whose work bears date a century preceding. Flamsteed says that "although the figures in Bayer are tolerably correct, and the stars laid rightly down, that he (Bayer) read Ptolemy's catalogue wrong, having drawn all his figures except Bootes, Andromeda, and Virgo, with their backs towards us, thus those stars which all before him place in the right shoulders, sides, hands and legs, or feet, fall on the left. To remedy this fault, when he mentions any eminent fixed star to be in dextro humero, or dextra tibia, he adds alias in_sinistra.”* Intellectual astronomy would be sadly at fault were the fronts and backs of celestial figures not forthcoming when required. It is not very many years since the mysteries must have been taught by the use of the globes as well as by celestial charts. The surface of the globes are looked down upon, and the figures facing the centre must expose their backs to view. On charts it is the reverse, they figuring concave heaven. If both fronts and backs were not obtainable, it would be impossible to understand the intent and meaning of such passages as Isaiah xx. 4; Ezek. iv. 12; 1 Sam. xxv. 22. Masons used transparencies: so the picture giving a hand on one side, if reversed, would give the same hand on the other side. Thus the left would become the right, and the right become the left.+ Astronomers of this age ignore altogether heavenly speech, and believe the celestial constellations perfectly unmeaning; this is evident from a letter of Professor Airy, Astronomer Royal, dated Observatory, Greenwich, 23rd April, 1851, wherein he "I do not believe that any astronomer of this age says, Flamsteed's Introduction. Flamsteed clearly informs us that astronomical figures were uniIversally the same. He says from Ptolemy's time-according to his version a very indefinite period-from Ptolemy's time to our own, the names of the constellations he made use of have been continued by the ingenious and learned of all nations: the Arabians always use the forms and names of the constellations; the old Latin catalogues of the fixed stars use the same; Copernicus's catalogue (the first we have in good Latin) and Tycho Brahe's use the same; so do the catalogues published by the Germans, Italians, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and English languages. All the observations of the ancients and moderns make use of Ptolemy's forms of the constellations and names of the stars, so that there is a necessity of our adhering to them that we may not render the old observations unintelligible by altering or departing from them."-(FLAMSTEED, Introduction.) considers that there is any occult meaning in the formation of the constellations, or that Ptolemy's placing the stars had any reference to mythology, &c. (excepting for the mere convenience of suggesting names), or that ancient astronomers hint that the mysteries of the Bible or Koran &c. are to be interpreted by them." There seems to be some incomprehensible mystery regarding the constellations now known to astronomers. It would appear that nearly one-half of the whole number are set down as of modern introduction on our globes and in our atlases, and are believed to be inventions of those by whom they have been introduced. Such, however, is certainly not the case; for almost all the so-called modern constellations are, in fact, old or ancient figures or images reintroduced, bearing new names. The minute astronomical precision given these revived heavenly figures, proves beyond doubt that the learned men producing them must have been masters of the Median and Persian laws, and the celestial masonic knowledge. So admitting, it becomes deserving consideration how, or in what manner, the sacred lost mysteries escaped publication. One conjecture, alone, presents itself, and that is, that the celestial knowledge was imparted to the initiated under pledge of secrecy ; and that the divulging the truths to the uninitiated was held a criminal offence deserving death. If, therefore, the actual reintroduction of ancient images can only be problematically surmised, their loss can be more easily accounted for. Flamsteed, for instance, says, "It is necessary to adhere to the ancient figures and tables of Ptolemy;" and yet Flamsteed, in his plate of Aquila, leaves out Antinous altogether.* * Flamsteed's Northern Spherical plate gives Aquila and mentions Antinous, but does not give the figure. In his Southern Hemispherical there is the proper portion of the figure. In his Zodiacal plate of Sagittarius, Antinous is properly delineated as a female; but in the chart of Aquila, Sagitta, Velpecula, Anser, and Delphinus Antinous is left out altogether.-Editors. Antinous." The Romans placed that infamous varlet Antinous, the favourite of Adrian, among the gods; they persuaded Adrian that Antinous was changed into a star which appeared about that time."--Jesuite Galtruchius, p. 271. The star is probably the wan dering Antinoi. Antinous is Hebe, Ganymede, &c. &c. Jove raised | Ganymede, and it will be found that Jove, under another appellation, exalts Antinous as a fellow craft-mason. Suffice here, that without the constellation known now as Antinous there could be no celestial masonry-no Egyptian mysteries-indeed no celestial mysteries whatever. When proceeding with the mysteries, the reintroduction of the old figures under new names will become apparently manifested; nevertheless, it may be well to notify especially one or two remarkable reintroductions. Taurus Poniatowski is attributed to the Abbé Poczobut in the year 1778. Who could ever dream that the Poniatowski bull was the original Apis of Egypt--but so it is, and every action of the Egyptian Apis of old must be effected by the Poniatowski animal in the atlas of the present day. Apis in its youth was both male and female, and Kircher Job xxi. 10. - Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. and others tell us that Apis is Taurus of the zodiac; granted, for when Jeremiah xlvi. 20.- Egypt a very fair heifer, des- Apis died in Egypt, he was exalted and arose to heaven as a god. Apis and Bis Apis! Look at the sedate and solemn sun-man Apis or minor Taurus or Minotaur in the British Museum with the wings of Aquila. We are told these minotaurs were placed at the entrance to some sacred temples. In their statuary form they symbolized the opening of the year in Egypt, and now in their pictured form in modern atlases they denote the opening of the year on the 1st of January, and at the vernal equinox in Aries.* In like manner as Apis became truction cometh; it cometh out of the north. In order to explain in what manner the constellations have been perfected, in comparatively modern times, let us refer to Custos Messium, introduced, as it is said to be, by La Lande. This astronomer was born in 1732, and Montfaucon's Antiquities were published in 1719, consequently thirteen years previously. Montfaucon gives a figure with a shepherd's crook in the left hand, and an unmeaning instrument in the right; alongside is a cedar-tree and a ram. He calls the figure" Osiris ou Atys sous le Belier." M. La Lande places Custos Messium in the sign of the ram Aries, gives him a shepherd's crook in the left hand, and a sickle in his right-and this figure he places alongside Cassiopeia, which constellation is called El Seder, the Cedar-tree, by Ulug Beig. The Fgyptian figure is that of Folly, and its chief star corresponds with the 1st of April-the fool's day. "And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd " (Zech. xi. 15). La Lande read exalted, so also ascended Isis of Egypt, who became translated to the Virgo of the zodiac. Jamieson tells us that Psaltarium was introduced by a German in honour of George the Third of England. The harp is pictured precisely the same in the celestial atlases as it is impressed upon the current coin. The same Psaltarium is one of the symbols of the royal arms, and the historian Stow gives the harp on the seal of Elizabeth. If Psaltarium be a modern invention, is it by mere chance that its celestial position tallies with the harp of Memnon, a string of which breaks at sunrise and sunset? Scutum Sobieski is said to have been placed in the heavens by Hevelius in honour of John Sobieski, the king of Poland, who died in 1696. How comes it that upon the cross on the shield there invariably are the superscribed letters INRI or IHS? What have these letters to do with John Sobieski, or what has John Sobieski to do with the cross of Christ? The Catholic priests wear the same cross and shield on their stoles on certain occasions: do the priests patronize these symbols in honour of John Sobieski, or in honour of the Sun of righteousness? Circinus, the compasses, triangulum, the level, and norma Euclides, the square, are tools or implements belonging to ritual masonry, and yet they are considered of modern introduction in the heavens; if so, the present masonry must be of modern invention, because without | the compasses, triangle, and square, the ritual, as it is, becomes vague and totally incomprehensible; but these implements, with one exception (that of Euclid's square), are required in intellectual masonry. One of the most ancient figures in the heavens is Ara, the cube or square altar, and this the exoteric ritualists have made into their pedestal, and finding a square still required, they have introduced Euclid's, shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; which is in fact the altar shall be foursquare: and the height there of unmeaning, as it does not serve as Exodus xxvii. 1.-And thou shalt make an altar three cubits. an altar as well as a square. it differently, thus, "And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle" (Rev. xiv. 17). This astronomer was a Freemason, and probably from some ancient masonic records was enabled to place the figure in its proper position. Biblia: Sydney, N.S.W. 1842. Modern astronomers, as shown, have determined that the ancient constellations have no occult meaning; and astronomers, astrologers, and the clergy, or clerical Masons, have allowed their ancient landmarks to be tampered with: indeed some atlases and globes actually give the names of the constellations, but not the figures. Fortunately, there is one atlas, a mere school-book, by one Alexander Jamieson, in which are preserved the celestial images, or figures, in their purity, and the tables of stars in authentic astro-masonic order. The work is extremely valuable as an authority. From whence Jamieson obtained his pictures and tables cannot now be determined. Jamieson was not initiated in astral-masonry, that is most evident from the text of his work. Even had he been an operative Mason, he has left no traces showing the slightest connection between masonry and the heavens; and yet the plates he published are the locks of the hidden mysteries. These locks are of that extraordinary description, that they cannot be opened otherwise than by celestial keys, which are preserved by ritual Masons, who dream not of their inestimable value. In accordance with the Celestial figures of Jamieson * Some eighteen months previous to the appearance of Jamieson's work, a French mason, of the highest order, came to London for the purpose of holding some kind of conclave or chapter with the Grand Master of England, the then Duke of Sussex, and the Grand Master of Denmark. The three, being tria juncta in uno, were to have met in London; but the Danish prince, owing to severe illness, could not attend; and, after a protracted delay, the French Grand Master was compelled to return to his own country. The Duke was to have been initiated into certain wondrous mysteries. The Duke of Sussex frequently expressed his regret that the revelation of the mysteries had not been made known to him. The Duke always stated that he considered that masonry veiled such secrets that, if publicly made known, would shake every throne in Europe. The French Grand Master brought with him a set of celestial charts, with figures beautifully drawn and highly emblazoned. These were examined by Dr. Crucifix and other high brethren of the craft, but to all of them were they hermetically sealed. Isaiah xxix. 11, 12: "And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it sealed. And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned " Some thirty years afterwards, that is in 1850, application was made to Neele, the engraver of Jamieson's Atlas, in the hope of discovering from whence were the originals. Neele was then a very old man. He remarked that |