Masonry’s Occultic Ties – Part 2

(When I wrote this I had a much more conspiratorial view of history, which I do not adhere to any longer)

Masonry… Occultic? / Albert Pike, The Root!

In any religious – philosophical – political system of belief, or trust, one must always go to the root (source) of the particular structured belief. Almost always a person[s]. Whether it be the political wrangling behind Russia (Marx), or, Jehovah Witnesses (Charles Russel), Christianity (Jesus). We must always get to the bottom of the basic philosophical construct, always. In the case of modern Masonry, we find a man by the name of Albert Pike. Although many Masons deny knowing him, upper Masons highly revere him. I will give a few modern examples of this reverence before we get into what he believed.

In the Short Talk Bulletin, which was reprinted in 1988 by the Masonic Service Association of the United States, this was said about Albert Pike:

“He was the Master genius of Masonry in America, both as scholar and artist. No other mind of equal power ever toiled so long in the service of the Craft in the New World. No other has left a nobler fame in our annals.” Speaking of Pike’s book, Morals and Dogma, this booklet maintains that it is: “… a huge manual for the instruction of the [Scottish] Rite… It ought to be revised… since it is too valuable to be left in so cumbersome o form, containing as it does much of the best Masonic thinking and writing in our literature.” The booklet continues: “No purer, nobler man has stood at the alter of Freemasonry or left his story in our traditions. He was the most eminent mason in the world…. Nor will our craft ever permit to grow dim the memory of that stately, wise, and gracious teacher….”

The following praise is even more recent – this time coming from the head of the Southern Jurisdiction of Masonry, C. Fred Kleinknecht, who is the Sovereign Grand Commander. In the January 1989 issue of The New Age (magazine, an official publication of the Supreme Council of the Thirty-Third and Last Degree, Southern Jurisdiction), Kleinknecht mentioned that the “apex of our teachings has been the rituals of our degrees and Morals and Dogma….”

By the way, Pike wrote some and rewrote others of all the rituals from the 4^th through the 33^rd degrees. In the November 1992 issue of The Scottish Rite Journal (known as The New Age from 1903 until 1990), Kleinknecht again heaps praise on Pike and his book. He brags:

“Correctly understood, Albert Pike’s Morals and Dogma provides our Brethren a stimulus to thought, a source of inspiration, and even an aid to Scottish Rite growth. Pike’s great work is not the book of an hour, a decade, or a century. It is a book for all time…. Abandon Morals and Dogma? Never!”

Who Is The Light

Let’s switch gears and talk about what the end of the Masons journey entails for him and his understanding. Albert Pike in Morals and Dogma had this to say – (paying attention to the original capitalization’s from hear-on out):

“And the Mason is familiar with these doctrines…that the Supreme Being is a centre [center] of Light whose rays or emanations pervade the Universe; for that is the Light for which all Masonic journeys are a search, and of which the sun and moon in our Lodges are only emblems.”

Notice that Mr. Pike says that this light-bringer is a god; in fact, he capitalizes the “s” and the “b” in “Supreme Being.” He further deifies “Light” by capitalizing the letter “l”. And then he added these thoughts about the nature of this “Light:” “Behold, it said, the light, which emanates from an immense centre [center] of Light, that spreads everywhere its benevolent rays; so do the spirits of Light emanate from the Divine Light.”

The Royal Masonic Cyclopedia, written in 1877, said this after the entry: Sons of Light: “Masons by their tenure are necessarily Sons of Light, and are so accepted even by their opponents, who are Sons of Darkness.”

Albert Mackey wrote these comments in his Encyclopedia of Masonry (which was published by The Masonic History Company, an official Masonic Co.):

“Freemasons are emphatically called the ‘sons of light,’ because they are, or at least are entitled to be, in possession of the true meaning of the symbol. Light is an important word in the Masonic system. It conveys a far more recondite [defined as being beyond the grasp of the ordinary mind] meaning that it is believed to possess by the generality of readers…. It contains within itself a far more abstruse allusion to the very essence of Speculative Masonry.”

Perhaps the very reason that the Masons conceal a great truth in the word “light,” or “Light,” can be best summarized in this single statement of Albert Pike in his book Morals and Dogma: “… Light will finally overcome Darkness.”

Lucifer is the Light

So if the student of esoteric knowledge wishes to understand the language, it becomes important to determine, if possible who the “light-bearer” is. And the student can know for certain who that is, because one of the greatest seekers of light has told the world. That writer is Albert Pike, a Mason, and he has described whom this individual is in his book entitled Morals and Dogma. Mr. Pike identified the “Light-bearer” on page 321 of that book. “Lucifer, the Light-bearer! Lucifer, the Son of the Morning! Is it he who bears the Light…? Doubt it not!”

Albert Pike has admitted that the Masons seek Light! He has now admitted that the “Light-bearer” is Lucifer! The Masons ask for “Light” from the “Light-bearer,” Lucifer.

However, Mr. Pike is not the only Mason who has admitted that in easily understandable language. Another Masonic writer is Manly P. Hall who has said the same in his book The Lost Keys of Freemasonry. This book has been included in a “list of the best Masonic books available” in a Masonic magazine called The Royal Arch Mason, an official Masonic publication. The list says that “it [the list] is the finest basic library available to Freemasons.” The Masonic Lodge for reading and understanding its philosophy has approved this book. Page 48 of the book says this:

“When the Mason learns the key to the warrior on the block is the proper application of the dynamo of living power, he has learned the mystery of his Craft. The seething energies of Lucifer are in his hands [the Master Mason’s hands] and before he may step upward he must prove his ability to properly apply energy.”

How does Scottish Rite Masonry feel about Manly Hall? You can judge for yourself from the following obituary notice that appeared in the November 1990 issue of The Scottish Rite Journal:

“Illustrious Manly Palmer Hall, often called ‘Masonry’s greatest philosopher,’ departed his earthly labors peacefully in his sleep on August 7, 1990, in Los Angeles, California…. Brother Hall… devoted his life to lecturing, teaching, editing, and writing on all aspects of Freemasonry…. He is best known for writing The Lost Keys of Freemasonry (1923), The Dionysian Artificers (1926), Masonic Orders of Fraternity (1950), and of course, his monumental Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic history, philosophy and related subjects…. Brother Hall… received the Scottish Rite’s highest honor, the Grand Cross in 1985 because of his exceptional contributions to Freemasonry, the Scottish Rite, and the public good. Like Grand Commander Albert Pike before him, Hall did not teach a new doctrine but was an ambassador of an ageless tradition of wisdom that entrenches us to this day…. The world is a far better place because of Manly Palmer Hall, and we are better persons for having known him and his work.”

Page 287 of Morals and Dogma Pike states:

“You see, my brother, what is the meaning of Masonic ‘Light.’ You see why the East of the Lodge, where the initial letter of the name of the Deity overhangs the Master, is the place of Light…it is that light, the true knowledge of Deity [in-other-words, the truth that Lucifer is god!] the eternal Good,…”

How can Lucifer be good? I do not want to go in depth about the switched roles of the God of the Bible and Lucifer, the Masonic god. Nevertheless, I will let Mr. Pike explain it a bit before we move on. Page 567 of Morals and Dogma says this:

“To prevent the light from escaping at once, the Demons forbade Adam to eat the fruit of ‘knowledge of good and evil,’ by which he would have known the Empire of Light and that o0f Darkness. He obeyed; an Angel of Light induced him to transgress, and gave him the means of victory; but the Demons created Eve...”

Everyone knows that the God of the Judeo-Christian faith is the one who created Eve and forbade Adam to eat. In Pike’s dictates though, Lucifer is the hero of the plot. The serpent of the garden is consistently portrayed as one day defeating the God of the Bible in Masonic literature.