Legend
< The Truths of Spiritualism Against the Claims of Occultism (continued from page 1-102) >
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Masonry and Cabalism
Having been frequently asked by correspondents what relation existed between Masonry and Cabalism, — Lex et Lux, one of our foreign contributors on the subject of Occult Philosophy—to whom the letters were forwarded, writes: —
My Dear Brother: — Being one of the Masonic fraternity, I write you as you request.
The knowledge acquired through Cabalism, by me, is of such a nature, especially that connected with the healing art, that I must remain incognito until I get my Science of Medicine written; for if it was known to the faculty what a revolution is before them my physical life would be worth very- little here, as all will be taught how to heal themselves—eradicate organic diseases on first principles. The origin of all disease will be brought home to all of us with mathematical exactness. But in enlightening the world upon this point many of the greatest worldly interests or organizations must of necessity be attacked and undermined by the radical changes which must take place in the world in trying to recover our lost vitality and knowledge; for the Cabalistic process is a physical, as well as a mental purification, and such being the case, he who wishes to enter into the light must be prepared to do, in act and spirit, every moment of his life, all he has promised in Masonry, and a great deal more which has been lost in the letter, by Masons.
The spirit is almost dead that originally belonged to Masonry, for it originated in Cabalism. The Sciences, etc., portrayed in the various steps or degrees, up to the 4th, (being the Ancient or Blue) all point to the mathematics and architecture of “The Temple” of the Human Mind, in which is contained, or received and distributed, all the good and evil of the world. The whole secret lies physically between the crown of the head and soul of the feet; and mentally is represented by the brain, etc., as the seat of the dual principle of Sun and Moon—Sol or Soul and spirit.
The former is dead (as the term goes) in us; being eclipsed or occulted mentally, although physically we see with what mathematical accuracy it attends to the wants of the organism, even when that is overpowered by all manner of many things, in calling for food, and perfecting digestion &c., attending to the various valves, sewers and infinitesimal capillary tubes, skin pores, heart’s action, lungs, and most remarkable of all, gestation, — or eternal principle of reproduction.
Yet, as I said before, the great architecture of this, OUR UNIVERSE, is mentally silenced, in us, as a rule. Thus it is, we gaze with wonder and admiration, (when we thoroughly comprehend Euclid’s Elements) at the stupendous mind that could conceive, and gather together such an Egyptian Pyramid of absolute exact science of figures, which has been the chief guide of all the exact sciences, and in which one flaw cannot be discovered, because a million such minds as we have amongst our ordinary scientific men of the present day, could not, in a lifetime, accomplish such a feat, under the exact same conditions with which Euclid was sur rounded 2300 years ago, excepting, of course, his knowledge of the Hermetic Philosophy, and his accomplishment of the “Great Work” of “The Stone,” his Mental and Physical Regeneration through which The Workman within him, namely: his Own Soul, had perfect expression and injunction with his own mind, to the exclusion of all that is evanescent, erratic, shrewd or grovelling, when man becomes a god.
One thing I must impress upon you, and that is, to in ground in your inmost mind every great universal principal. Think, reflect and meditate well upon each; and, as it were, try to find out the connection between one thing and another, like a person looking for a lost article in life. The mind, as, it were, stumbles upon great truths during the search, and their connections with each other; but when such occurs, there is no stumbling; it is given to us, from which there is no variableness or shadow of turning—truth being absolute and incorruptible, — as instanced in Euclid’s Elements represented in Masonry by the figure of the 47th prob. of the ist Book. Of such is everything pertaining to Cabalism, and nothing that is known in the outer world of an exact nature, and tending to the advancement of man’s position, physically and morally, but what proceeds from this fountain, let the mind or instrument through which it comes be a true Cabalist or not. During the conception and maturing of every truly great and good discovery, the inventor must, of necessity, have been placed in contact and intimate union with his own soul, for the time, else conception was impossible to the mind. From this illustration it will be recognized why the soul is called the masculine, and the spirit, or mind, the feminine, as Sun or distribution of light, and Moon the receiver of light.
If you can fall in with a copy of Hermes Trismegislus’s Divine Pymander, to read it would well repay you to copy it, and to ponder over it several times. You will get fresh beauties at every reading. The first and second Chapter of Genesis contains the essence of the Philosophy of “The Creation” of the Divine Mind in Man, which constitutes him. Man, male and female, in himself as “them.” Christ gives innumerable Cabalistic illustrations, in very plain terms, to those who CAN SEE. What can be plainer than “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you?” and hence he could well say, — “Have I been so long with you, and you have not known me”—referring to God the Father or Male principle in himself, —to him as the Divine Mind, he went, and from him he got all he desired.
Truly Yours,
The Slanderers of "Art Magic"
Emma Hardinge Britten is out with a letter warning correspondents to desist from making any more ridiculous charges in connection with her name. She notices the perverseness with which “little pugs” have sought to connect her with Col. Olcott, Mme. Blavatsky, or the Theosophical Society, and declares that she has protested for the last time against the “rank falsehood,” as, she says, “I have no desire to injure them by allowing my work to be fastened upon theirs, nor do I wish to be injured in return by suffering their views, names, or proceedings, to be mixed up with my undertaking.” She says in continuance in the Banner of Light:
I am now compelled to say I WILL NOT ALLOW IT TO BE SO; and, furthermore. I must add that my husband and myself, finding the reiteration of this petty but mischievous slander persisted in by whisperers who dare not openly confront us: finding, moreover, that those who enunciate it are your subscribers, and claim their authority from your correspondents, Mr. Editor, we have felt it to be our duty to lay the case before an eminent New York legal gentleman, who has instructed us to say publicly that free as this country may be to do what each one pleases, it is not free enough to allow the circulation of injurious libels, and whilst this same legal functionary has instructed us on the award which the laws of this free but JUST COUNTRY renders to the libeller, we have instructed him to proceed immediately against any oue who hereafter shal assert, publicly or privately, that the work I have undertaken—-namely, to become Secretary to the publication of Art Magic, or Mundane, Sub-Mundane, and Super-Mundane Spiritualism—has anything to do with Col. Olcott, Madame Blavatsky, the New York Theosophical Society, or any thing or person belonging to either those persons or that Society. Further, I insist that the work was prepared in Europe by a gentleman who is wholly unknown to the persons and Society named above, and that, though two or three of the Society, as individuals, have sent in their names as subscribers, they, too, are entirely ignorant of the author, his name, standing, or the character of his work.
I cannot conclude this painful but necessary warning without expressing my decided opinion that persons calling themselves Spiritualists and pretending to seek for light and progress, should be ashamed of themselves thus to attack one who has spent the best years of her public and useful life in endeavoring to serve them and their cause: that they should be ashamed of the narrow-mindedness which Hies to arms the moment they hear of some one’s attempting to enlarge the borders of their knowledge, and deem every one is in a conspiracy to upset their faith, who happen to know, or think they know, a little more than themselves. I undertook to help the author of Art Magic to bring forward his magnificent work, because I had long known him in Europe as a gentleman more capable of instructing me and others on dark and occult points of our faith, and man's spiritual nature, than any other individual I had ever met with. I undertook this task with my dear husband’s help alone, because I knew that my husband’s experience in matters of book publishing would supply our foreign friend’s utter lack of knowledge on all matters of business. I also undertook it because Mr. Britten's
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Editor's notes
Sources
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Spiritual Scientist, v. 3, No. 16, December 23, 1875, pp. 186-7
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Spiritual Scientist, v. 3, No. 7, October 21, 1875, p.79