Charles Webster Leadbeater - Ancient Mystic Rites

Ancient Mystic Rites

Other books by Charles W. Leadbeater

The Astral Plane

The Chakras

The Inner Life

Man, Visible and Invisible

Ancient Mystic
Rites

(Originally published under the title
Glimpses of Masonic History)

C.W. LEADBEATER

This publication made possible with
the assistance of the Kern Foundation

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Copyright 1986 Theosophical Publishing House

First Quest Edition 1986

Third Printing 1995

Quest Books

Theosophical Publishing House

PO Box 270

Wheaton, IL 60187-0270

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Leadbeater, C. W. (Charles Webster), 1847-1934.

Ancient mystic rites.

Previously published as: Glimpses of Masonic history. 1926.

1. FreemasonryHistory. I. Title.

HS403.L4 1986 366.109 86-40125

ISBN 978-0-8356-0609-7

ISBN for electronic edition, e-pub format: 978-0-8356-2076-5

Plates

Preface to the 1986 Edition

In this classic work, C.W. Leadbeater shows the kinship between Freemasonry and some ancient Mystery Rites, as well as some more recent movements. The history that he presents is based on extensive research into Masonic documents and on his own clairvoyant investigations. Clairvoyant findings cannot be verified by ordinary means, of course, but Leadbeater was known to use meticulous care in observing superphysical phenomena and was one of the most distinguished clairvoyants of his day. This edition was edited only very lightly to remove some untimely material. The book is reprinted by the Theosophical Publishing House as a historical document that may reveal fresh meaning in the ancient mysteries and in Freemasonry.

E DITOR

About the Author

Charles W. Leadbeater (1847 to 1934) was among the clergy of the Church of England as a young man. He became a Theosophist in 1883 and went to India to help Helen P. Blavatsky, the spiritual head of the movement. In India he also worked with Col. H.S. Olcott, President of the Theosophical Society, in revitalizing Buddhism in Southeast Asia and in founding Buddhist schools. His clairvoyant powers were opened while he was in India, and he became a teacher and lecturer for the Society. He is well known for the meticulous care he took in observing and reporting on superphysical phenomena.

Leadbeater is author of many books on Theosophy and on his clairvoyant investigations, including Man Visible and Invisible and The Chakras, and he co-authored books such as Thought Forms with Annie Besant, who was President of the Society after Col. Olcotts death. Leadbeater was a 32nd degree Mason and, in addition to this book, wrote The Hidden Side of Freemasonry.

AuthorsPreface

WHEN I wrote The Hidden Life in Freemasonry, it was at first my intention to devote my second chapter to a brief outline of Masonic history. I soon found that that plan was impractical. The most compressed account that would be of any use would occupy far more space than I could spare, and would entirely overweight the book with what is after all only one department of its subject. The obvious alternative is to publish the historical sketch separately; hence this book, which is really but a second volume of the other.

The keynote of both volumes, and indeed the only reason for their publication, is to explain precisely what the title indicatesthe hidden life in Freemasonrythe mighty force in the background, always at work yet always out of sight, which has guided the transmission of the Masonic tradition through all the vicissitudes of its stormy history, and still inspires the utmost enthusiasm and devotion among the Brn. of the Craft to-day.

The existence and the work of the Head of all true Freemasons is the one and sufficient reason for the virility and power of this most wonderful Organization. If we understand His relation to it and what He wishes to make of it, we shall also understand that it embodies one of the finest schemes ever invented for the helping of the world and for the outpouring of spiritual force.

Many of our Brn. have been for many years unconsciously taking part in this magnificent altruistic work; if they can be brought to comprehend what it is that they are doing and why, they will continue the great work more happily and more intelligently, throwing into it the whole strength of their nature both bodily and spiritual, and enjoying the fruit of their labours far more definitely than ever before.

I have to thank Sir Arthur Evans and his publishers Messrs. Macmillan & Co. for their great courtesy and kindness in allowing me to reproduce the most interesting photographs of Masonic remains in Crete from his remarkable book The Palace of Minos in Knossos. Also I wish to express my gratitude to La Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner for permission to use several illustrations from M. Rene Dussauds La Civilisation Prehellenique dans la Bassin de la mer Egee and to Herr Helmuth Th. Bossert and his publisher Herr Ernst Wasmuth for leave to borrow some effective photographs from his book Alt-Kreta.

Also I wish to repeat here in relation to this volume the hearty thanks which I expressed with reference to the Rev. Herbrand Williams, M.C., B.A., for his kindness in placing at my disposal his vast stores of Masonic erudition, and for many arduous months of patient and painstaking research; also to Professor Ernest Wood for his untiring assistance and co-operation in every department of the work, without which the production of the book would not have been possible.

Schools of Masonic Thought

A HISTORY of Freemasonry would be a colossal undertaking, needing encyclopaedic knowledge and many years of research. I have no pretension to the possession of the qualities and the erudition required for the production of such a work; all I can hope to do is to throw a little light upon some of the dark spots in that history, and to bridge over to some extent some of the more obvious gaps between the sections of it which are already well known.

THE ORIGINS OF MASONRY

The actual origins of Freemasonry, as I have said in a previous book, are lost in the mists of antiquity. Masonic writers of the eighteenth century speculated uncritically upon its history, basing their views upon a literal belief in the history and chronology of the Old Testament, and upon the curious legends of the Craft handed down from operative times in the Old Charges. Thus it was put forward in all seriousness by Dr. Anderson in his first