Biasi - Secrets and practices of the Freemasons: sacred mysteries, rituals and symbols revealed

About the Author

Jean-Louis de Biasi is a writer, lecturer and philosopher. He was initiated into Freemasonry in 1990 and raised in 1992. He was Grand Officer in France.

Some years later, he left Europe, and joined Regular Freemasonry in North America. He is a Master Mason and Past Master .

He currently belongs to several Grand Lodges F.A.A.M. in Canada and USA. He is also 32 in the Scottish Rite (S.J. USAValley de Washington), F.G.C.R., and Royal Arch Mason.

His philosophical and spiritual foundation is rooted in the Neoplatonic and Hermetic traditions and he is currently the Grand Master of the Ordo Aurum Solis and head of the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross .

He currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Secrets and Practices of the Freemasons: Sacred Mysteries, Rituals and Symbols Revealed 2010 by Jean-Louis de Biasi.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

As the purchaser of this e-book, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on screen. The text may not be otherwise reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, or recorded on any other storage device in any form or by any means.

Any unauthorized usage of the text without express written permission of the publisher is a violation of the authors copyright and is illegal and punishable by law.

First e-book edition 2010

E-book ISBN: 9780738728186

Cover art: Celestial Moon & Sun: iStockphoto.com/Patricia Legg, Columns: iStockphoto.com/Viktoriya Sukhanova

Cover design by Kevin R. Brown

Editing by Tom Bilstad

Complete list of art credits is on last page.

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific reference will continue or be maintained. Please refer to the publishers website for links to current author websites.

Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

for PATRICIA

Acknowledgments

I would like to offer my grateful thanks to Carl Llewellyn Weschcke for enthusiastically embracing the publication of this book. His wisdom and experience were reflected in his excellent advice, the quality of his help in editing the text of the book, and his penetrating insight into all matters related to the publication of this work. These were a source of great inspiration and support to me.

It is awe inspiring to find such an innovative and active member of the publishing world taking the time to demonstrate his deep concern for the subject, meaning, and purpose of the books published by his company. Undoubtedly, Carl Llewellyn Weschcke is accomplishing a Great Work, in the most traditional meaning of this phrase. I wish to thank him very much for the living example he has provided for everyone whose work he has touched.

I would like also to offer my thanks to Linda Wheeler for her support and help in editing the last chapters of this book. Her work is a good example of the fraternity we share.

During a recent visit to the Masonic Lodge in Las Vegas, Nevada, I was privileged to meet Carl L. Banks, who is the current Grand Master of the Grand Lodge F & A.M. of the State of Nevada. I was very interested in the symbols he chose for his Grand Masters pin: the circumpunct and the two Saints John. He affably agreed to write the foreword of this book and to share the meaning of this fundamental Masonic symbol. Grand Master Carl L. Banks has been involved in Freemasonry since he was young. The work that he does is a manifest example of his knowledge of the Craft.

I would also like to thank Larissa Walkins, who helped me by researching the source of various artwork used in this book. Her insight and help were invaluable.

I would also like to thank the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, for authorizing the photos of the House of the Temple, which is one of the most dramatic Masonic buildings in the U.S.

Contents

: THE MASONIC TRADITION

: DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA:
MASONIC LIGHT OF ANCIENT EGYPT

: THE WIDOWS SONS

: SPIRIT OF FREEMASONRY

: THE MASONIC
STRUCTURE & THE ROSE-CROSS

: PRINCIPLES OF PRACTICE

: PRACTICE OF THE
INDIVIDUAL RITUALS OF THE HIGH DEGREES

: GETTING TO KNOW
THE POWERS IN WASHINGTON DC

This foreword is written with deep gratitude to Jean-Louis de Biasi, a talented writer on the subject of Freemasonry, whom I am honored to have met during an official visit to a Masonic Lodge in Las Vegas, Nevada.

On my travels to various Masonic lodges as the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Nevada, my message has been based on Pointing the Pathway by Rays of Light. My following comments are based on years of developing the symbolism behind my personal pin design for the purpose of this Pointing the Pathway.

The customs of Ancient Craft (Operative and Speculative) Masonry are here discussed as they apply today, while still maintaining a deep appreciation and respect for the historical legacy dating back to King Solomons Temple. It should be understood that Masonry is not a religion; all Freemasons do, however, have faith and a belief in a supreme being.

I come from a Masonic family; my grandparents and my mother and father were all active in their respective Masonic Appendant Bodies. I, myself, began as a member of the Order of De Molay, in 1948; today my membership transcends almost all of the Bodies in Freemasonry.

The concept for my pin design was based on the meaning of the Virtues of Freemasonry: Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, and Justice; on the Tenets of Freemasonry: Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth; and lastly, on the Symbolism of Freemasonry: Birth into the physical world, inherent need for light, and discovering the path in time to Eternity.

Historically, the Point within the Circle, The Circumpunct, has its origin in the solar system, both ancient and modern. It is a common astrological (and now astronomical) symbol for the sun. This image was also an alchemical symbol for gold, which was considered the most perfect of all metals. The alchemist looks upon it as the perfection of matter at all levels: the spirit, soul, and mind.

A goal of alchemy is to change base metals into gold. This objective certainly aligns itself well to Freemasonry, where the change of the base and crude state of ones personality into perfection is intendedfrom a man to a Mason by degrees.