Scottish Rite of Savannah

The Building
Edward Descomb Wells, 33°, P.G.M.
 ”Freemasonry is Philosophy Teaching by Symbols” 
 
Thomas Carlyle in his great classic “Sartor Resartus” states, “Bees will not work except in darkness; thought will not work except in silence: neither will Virtue work except in Secrecy.” The synonyms of virtue are: DUTY, JUSTICE, HONESTY and MORALITY. It is these and the NINE KNIGHTLY Virtues of DISINTERESTEDNESS, COURTESY, DEVOTION, FIRMNESS, FRANKNESS, GENEROSITY, SELF-DENIAL, HEROISM and PATRIOTISM, that FREEMASONRY is endeavoring to instill into its votaries, and quite naturally the  effort is made in SECRECY. It is thus that Freemasonry earns the encomium of SECRET SOCIETY. Of kin to the incalculable influences of Secrecy and Concealment, and connected with still greater things, is the wondrous agency of SYMBOLS. In a symbol there is concealment and yet revelation/ thus we have a double significance. It is in and through symbols that man, consciously or unconsciously, lives, works and has his being. In the symbolism proper, or what we call the symbol, there is ever, more or less distinctly, some embodiment and revelation of the INFINITE, for the Universe is but one vast symbol of God. Freemasonry teaches by and through symbols (using the visual system of instruction). In the picture on the welcome page or into the building pictured on the welcome page, the Architect has woven a plethora of symbols for the edification and enlightenment of the sincere seeker after moral and spiritual instruction. The Architect  of this Temple was Hyman Wallace Witcover,33° Sovereign Grand  Inspector-General in Georgia, a man of brilliant intellect and a great Freemason.

The symbolism embodied in the structure  includes portrayals of inspirational ideas conveyed through the medium of COLOR,  NUMBERS and ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENTATION.  The colors used are WHITE, BLUE and YELLOW.  The materials used are Georgia Marble, Blue  and Yellow Terra-Cotta and Yellow brick.  White symbolizes REVELATION or the ACTIVE  MANIFESTATION OF LIFE. BLUE symbolizes TRUTH.  It is suggestive of the SEA and the SKY and  therefore of INFINITY. The Yellow of the tile and brick symbolizes SPIRITUAL INTELLECT and was in antiquity reserved for TEMPLE WORSHIP. The THREE primary colors, RED, YELLOW and BLUE compose the first perfect chord in music. RED is the color corresponding to the vibrational power of the key of “C”/ YELLOW vibrates to “E” and BLUE to “G”. The first, third and fifth  intervals of which the musical chord is composed. In the explanation of the meaning of the colors  used in the material of the building it is to be noted that RED was not mentioned. RED symbolizes PURE HUMAN AFFECTION and while the Architect  used no RED in the material building, it WAS used spiritually in the construction of the edifice by and through the PURE HUMAN AFFECTION of the  Architect for the Institution of Freemasonry which he served and loved. Colors play a most important part in the evolution of humanity. Sun light is  WHITE but it  contains ALL of the colors. The  spectrum reveals VIOLET, INDIGO, GREEN, BLUE,  YELLOW, ORANGE and RED. This fact was referred to by Goethe, the German seer and poet when he said “Colors are the sufferings of LIGHT” and he intimated that God “steps-down” the vibrations of white light so that they can better serve the needs of our evolution. It seems that SACRIFICE is the keynote of ALL  progression in every round of life from the atom to God. So much for colors.
            As to numbers, we are reminded that Plato said that  “God was a Geometrician” and Pythagoras, the philosopher who attributed spiritual meanings to numbers, said, “In perfect order was the Universe created, God created it by NUMBER.” The digits, one to ten and the numbers 12, 15, 47, 50 are incorporated into the architecture  of the structure. The use of numbers through their  symbolic meanings, arrived at by relation to some philosophical thought carrying a moral or spiritual  lesson, is the reason for their use. The number ONE. The most convincing aspect of mystic illumination is the apparent revelation of the oneness of all things, giving rise to pantheism in religion and to monism in philosophy. An elaborate logic, beginning  with Parmenides, and culminating in 57
 
Hegel and his followers, has been gradually developed, to prove that the universe is one indivisible WHOLE. The number ONE teaches the UNITY of God as well as the oneness of his creation, and is symbolized in the building by the fact that it was erected for ONE purpose.
 
The number TWO, is suggestive of the dual principle of life;that conception of life which is inculcated in the teachings of Freemasonry and illustrated in the fore¬front of the Old Testament—of Cain slaying his brother Abel—of the balance in life which the Chinese have for centuries illustrated by the symbol they call YIN YANG, which is a circle divided in two equal parts,- they seem to encroach on each other, but remain in balance. In the building this number is symbolized by the shape of the lot upon which it is constructed; an “oblong” square or TWO cubes put together, which was the form of the Ark of the Covenant.

 The number THREE, is woven into the structure by the use of three large columns on the North and South sides and three large windows on the Eastern side at the third floor. Three is one of the sacred numbers of Freemasonry, the group being 3-5-7 and 9. The number is symbolic of the WISDOM, POWER and HARMONY of God, of the three degrees of Masonry, Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Masters and the principles on which Freemasonry stands, Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth.

There are FOUR large columns on the Eastern side of the Temple and they repre-sent by their number, the four primary elements of Fire, Air, Earth and Water. The incense used -in the Temple worship by Aaron the High Priest, (Exodus XXX) had FOUR components, viz: Galbanum, Onyka and Stacte or Asafoedeta, Powdered Oyster or Mollusc shells and Sweet-gum, the fourth element being the fire which ani¬mates all things.
FIVE is represented on the building by the five ornaments at the entrance,- hid festoon of laurel leaves, the rosettes, the Cornucopias, the Lion’s head and the Square and Compasses. This number (5) is symbolized in Masonry by the Five Orders of Archi¬tecture. While three rule a Lodge, it takes FIVE to hold it. The Blazing Star is of FIVE points. In fact, the number FIVE is written all-over man and all-over Masonry, and in Biblical lore the finest piece of symbolism is the story of David selecting FIVE stones from a Running Stream for use in slaying the giant Goliath (Samuel 1:17:40). For the stones symbolized FAITH while the Running Stream symbolized SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE and so it is that through FAITH gathered from Spiritual Knowledge and directed by his FIVE human senses, David was enabled to slay the giant. The giant could represent Fear, Hatred, Animosity, Revenge, Anger, the five enslavers of the intellect, and so it behooves us as Masons to gather Faith from Spiritual Knowl¬edge and use correctly our FIVE human senses.
The number SIX is represented by the SIX columns at the North and South sides of the Temple. The CUBE has six sides and it symbolizes TRUTH. Our Scottish Rite altars are cubes. In the Pythagorean school the number SIX was regarded as the symbol of Perfection because it was the sum of the numbers 1-2-3 representatives of UNITY, VISIBLE NATURE and THE GODHEAD.
THE NUMBER SEVEN. Joshua VI. 3-6.
The most cursory reader cannot fail to be struck by the prevalence and continual recurrence of the number SEVEN in the sacred Scriptures.
We find this remarkable regard for the number SEVEN not among the Hebrews only, but among all ancient peoples. It pervades all ancient literature, and is found among all nations. It seems impossible that this universal regard for the number SEVEN, evinced in every possible way, could have originated in other than primeval facts and ideas, common to all races of man. It seems that the one great fact, in which all this originated, is the work of creation in SEVEN days—six days, so to speak, of labor, and the seventh of rest from completed work. The knowledge of this fact was once common to all mankind,- and however it may have been eventually lost sight of among many of the nations into which they became divided, the institutions and ideas which the fact impressed while it was generally known, would remain among these nations. The universal regard for the number must have existed before the races, which trace their common origin to Adam, were dispersed abroad. But it is difficult to understand how the knowledge of a fact, anterior to, 58 and beyond the scope of, human observation and experience, could of itself make this deep and abiding impression. It is not the abstract knowledge of a great fact which establishes universal usages and makes ineffaceable impressions—but it is by iteration, by frequency, by the idea being kepi continually before the mind. No doubt the peculiar distinction assigned by all nations to the number SEVEN, had its origin in the seventh day of completed creation, this fact alone, without some institution which kept it constantly before the mind, and made it part of life’s pulsation, could not have been operative to the extent witnessed. Such an institution is the Sabbath—an institution designed to commemorate the creation—and abundantly adequate, but not more than adequate, by its recurrence at short intervals, to pro¬duce a regard, so diffused and permanent, for the number SEVEN. This is one strong proof that this institution of the seventh-day rest, did from the earliest limes exist, and was not, as some have supposed, a merely Jewish institution. The seventh-day Sabbath was observed from the lime of man’s creation, an observance which made so large a part in his life, adequately accounts for all those phenomena in regard Jo the number SEVEN. But if that institution had no existence, there is nothing to conjecture.
Allowing, then, that the Sabbath originated in Paradise, the revival of the Sab¬batic institution among the Hebrews, and the distinctness with which the doctrine of creation was presented to their minds, after many other nations had lost sight of it, sufficiently explain the more prevalent regard for the number SEVEN, and the familiar use of it, which we find among them. And this regard for that number was not among them a mere habit—not a vain superslitulion—it was in many respects a matter of prescribed observance, with the apparent intention of strengthening the impression with regard to the creation, which the Sabbatic institution itself was framed to produce. These remarks are suggested by the very remarkable manner in which the number SEVEN is produced in the account of the siege of Jericho. The city was to be compassed on SEVEN successive days, and on the SEVENTH day SEVEN times/ and tha procession was to be headed by SEVEN Priests, bearing the SEVEN trumpets of Rams’ horns. The progress during the six days, and the two-fold production of the number SEVEN on the SEVENTH day, when, on the completion of the SEVENTH circuit, the work was accomplished, seem to involve a very distinct reference to the period of creation, and thence to SEVEN as the number of completion—of per¬fect consummation. SEVEN was, in fact, in some sort, a sacred number, whence the solemnity of an oath is enhanced by connection therewith. Indeed, in the Hebrew language, as in the Sanskrit, the words for an “Oath” and for “SEVEN” are the same.
In the former language SHEBA has that two-fold meaning—hence the question, whether the name Beer-Sheba, where Abraham and Abimelech confirmed their cov¬enant by a solemn oath, means “the well of the oath” or “the well of seven” or “seven wells.” If, in this remarkable instance, we dispense with the allusion in the name to the number SEVEN, that number is still present/ for before the oath was uttered, Abraham set apart SEVEN ewe lambs in so marked a manner as to attract the inquiries of the King, to whom the patriarch answered, “These seven ewe lambs shalt thou take at my hand, that they may be a witness unto me that I have digged this well.” From this it appears that there was but one well, and seven lambs were set aparl, not as one for each of the seven wells, but because SEVEN was a number appropriate to the solemnity of the occasion. We may therefore understand the name as “the well of seven,” that is, of seven lambs which confirmed the oath, or the “well of the oath”, from the oath itself, “because there they sware, both of them”. It seems to be that the two sevens merge into each other, and that both are included in the single denomination. This connection is not peculiar to the Hebrews. We find it among the ancient Arabians’, of whom we learn, that when men pledged their faith by oath to each other, blood drawn from an incision near the mid-finger of the contracting parties, was sprinkled upon seven stones, placed between them, and while this was done, they called upon their Gods. (Herodotus.)
So, among the gifts with which Agamemnon proposed to seal a covenant of peace with Achilles, we find “Seven tripods unsullied yet with fire” (Iliad) and furlHer-on, seven female captives skilled in domestic arts, the latter especially intended as an atonement-offering to the wrathful hero. Even at the present day, the number seven
59 is curiously regarded in some countries in matters of evidence. In some of the sacri¬fices of Scripture we find also a prominent reference to the number seven. Balaam erects seven altars, and offers a bullock and a lamb on every altar (Numbers XXIII).
When Asa reformed his kingdom and renewed the national covenant with God, seven hundred bullocks and seven thousand sheep were offered unto the Lord at Jerusalem; (2 Chronicles XV) and on a like occasion. King Hezekiah offered seven bullocks, seven rams, seven lambs and seven he-goals, as a sin-offering for his kingdom. (2nd Chronicles XXIX). Here the reference to a fixed idea respecting the special fitness of the number seven is remarkably produced.
Apart from that, he might have chosen twelve, as representing the tribes com-prising the house of Israel, or two, if he had regard only to his kingdom. But the large ideas connected with the number seven, and the veneration in which that number was held, caused it to be regarded as the more appropriate and significant—the general fitness of that number overpowermg the fitness of twelve or two. We may trace this connection further. The altar itself, at its original establishment, was to be consecrated for seven days to render it most holy. (Exodus XXIX). A young animal was not held to be fit for sacrifice until it had remained seven days with its dam/ (Exodus XXII) and so likewise the male child among the Hebrews was, after seven days, thai is, on the eighth day, consecrated to the Lord by circumcision. These instances seem designed to indicate, that nothing was considered perfect until the number seven had been completed.
On the same basis we find this number involved in all the rites of uncleanness and purification. Whoever became defiled by various kinds of uncleanness, from the living or from the dead, or from leprosy or other disease, was required to spend seven days before his state of ceremonial purity could be recovered. As seven days was the period of uncleanness for contact with a corpse, so also was seven days the period of mourning for the dead. (Genesis 1 :IO). The number seven was, in other respects connected with the idea of purification/ or rather, as we apprehend throughout, of six as a process and seven as the consummation. So the Syrian leper was directed to dip seven times in Jordan/ and it was, no doubt, at the seventh plunge, that his leprosy departed from him. (2 Kings V).
With uncleanness and with sorrow is connected the idea of punishment, and in this also the number seven is reproduced. So the memorable words of Lamech: “If Cain shall be avenged seven-fold, surely Lamech seventy and seven”/ (Genesis IV). It is scarcely needful to remind us of the seven days of the impending judgment at the deluge/ (Genesis VII) of the seven Canaanilish nations consigned to the sword of Israel/ of the death of David’s child on the seventh day/ (2 Samuel XII) of the choice offered to him between seven years of famine and three days of pestilence/ (2 Samuel XXIV) / of Pharoah’s seven lean kine, and seven stunted ears, as signs of seven years of famine/ of the Lords’ delivering the Israelites into the hands of Midian seven years in punishment for their sins/ (Judges VI); of the seven “limes” or years that passed over the Babylonish king in his bestial state. Look also at the seven apocalyptic plagues/ (Revelation XV) the seven troubles named by Job/ (Job V) and the seven things displeasing to God specified by the wise man. (Proverbs VI); The great strength of Samson reposed in the seven locks of hair. The ten times seven of the Babylonish captivity or exile/ the seven branches of the golden candlesticks, the seven churches, the seven stars, the seven seals, the seven trumpets, the seven vials, the beast with seven heads, the seven mountains, the seven kings and the seven angels. These Scriptural references to the number seven are used pur¬posely in order that its classification as a sacred number might be firmly established. On the building there are SEVEN Swags or festoons under the windows of the fourth floor. These ornaments are of laurel and olive leaves, emblematic of Triumph and Fruition.
The number EIGHT is repeatedly shown on the building in the eight large and eight small Acanthus leaves on the columns, and rosettes with eight petals represent¬ing the eight-fold pathway to NIRVANA, the spiritual liberty or bliss of the Buddhists, to be achieved by or through the constant practice or use of the virtues of RIGHT ASPIRATIONS, RIGHT SPEECH, RIGHT LIVELIHOOD, RIGHT EFFORT. RIGHT ACTION, RIGHT VIEWS, RIGHT MINDFULNESS and RIGHT RAPTURE. 60
 
The number NINE is revealed in the building by the 3 times 3 or 9 panels in the three large windows on the front of the edifice. This number is the symbol of Immortality and was so used by Plato. Nine will reproduce itself under all condi-tions, that is: it will re-appear in all mathmatical transactions. Multiply nine by any of the digits from one to nine and you get a number that will total nine. Multiply nine by all of the digits from one to nine and you get 405 which will total nine when added, etc. (without end).
TEN is connected with the incommunicable name of GOD as viewed by the Kabbalists and their Tetragrammaton -was thus explained; the first letter YOD, stands for 10 or twice 5 and leaches that God is the beginning and end of all things, 3 limes 3 plus 1. The second letter, HE, stands for 5 and represents the union of God with nature, for 3 is the symobl of the Godhead, and both Plato and Pythagoras made the number 2 symbolic of visible nature (3 and 2 are 5). The third letter, VAV, stands for 6, regarded by the Pythagorean school as the symbol of Perfection. The fourth and last letter, the HE, like the second, stands for 5 and symbolizes Heaven and Earth, the rational mind brought in combination with the animal. It is from this that the round number ten or double five was regarded as the totality of all things. It is the number of the COMMANDMENTS which should govern our actions. The number TEN is woven into the structure by the ten Corinthian Columns on the outside.
TWELVE is the number of lines of equal length that form a cube which symbolizes TRUTH. It is the number of the months, of the Tribes and the Apostles, of the oxen under the brazen sea and the number of stones in the breast-plate of the High-Priest, symbolized on the building by the twelve openings Between the balus¬trades of the balconies at the windows on the North and South sides of the structure.
FIFTEEN is a mysterious and omnific number, made-up of the sacred numbers 3-5-7, the seers taught that “there was divinity in odd numbers,” thus it is that the steps in the F. C. degree are used to raise one to the level of spirituality. Chronologically, a period of fifteen days is that which is enclosed •within three Sabbaths. Many of the ancient nations held their festivals on the 151h day of the month and as they usually followed the lunar year, the moon must at the time have been full. In Greece, the Ceremonies of Initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries began on the 15th day of the month and lasted NINE days. It seems however, that the number fifteen has OTHER meanings. The Romans had a warning slogan “Beware of the IDES of March”. The IDES was the fifteenth of March and in Plutarch’s “Julius Caesar” he states that, “A soothsayer had given Caesar warning that on the Ides of March he would be in great danger (a warning of his assassination). That day being come, Caesar, going into the Senate-house and speaking merrily unto the soothsayer, told him “The Ides of March be come,” “so be they,” softly answered the soothsayer, “but yet they are not past.” It probably is not accidental* that the Ides of March was selected as the deadline for Income Tax returns. There are FIFTEEN grooves and lands on the centre columns of the Eastern side.
FORTY-SEVEN is indicated in symbolism, on the building by the compasses shown in the SQUARE & COMPASSES in blue tile on the rounded corners of the building, at the top. These compasses are opened to forty-seven degrees, because it is 47 degress (on the globe) from the tropic of Cancer to the tropic of Capricorn, the points which mark the birthdays of the TWO Saints John, the Saints with whom the Mason became acquainted in the E. A. degree.
FIFTY is a number shadowed forth in the number of panels in the railing of the steps and balcony of the Blue Lodge room. The number is the total of 3-4-5 triangle of Pythagoras, SQUARED. The Right-Angle triangle, described as the forty-seventh problem of Euclid for no other reason than that it was on the 47th page in his text-book; has a profound meaning and is worth any Mason’s time and study.
The following symbolic ornamentation is shown on and in the building. The corner-stone, of course, is just where it should be, in the North-East corner, and was laid in 1913 by the Grand Lodge of Georgia, F. 8c. A. M. for the then five Blue Lodges of Savannah, the bodies originally undertaking the project of building the Temple. On the stone are the SQUARE !c COMPASSES and the dates A. L. 5913 and A. D. 1913. The A. L. is the Latin for ANNO LUCIS or in English THE YEAR OF LIGHT. The A. D. is the Latin for ANNO DOMINI, in English YEAR OF OUR
* The government has changed this date to April \5th. 61
LORD. It is lo be noted that there are 4,000 years difference between the Years shown. The reason for this is/ that ANCIENT-CRAFT Masonry used the 5913 and modern Masonry uses the date of the beginning of the Christian era.
The Scottish Rite of Freemasonry reluctantly bought ihe Temple from the Blue Lodges (incomplete) and under ihe guidance of Carl Pfau, 33° as chairman of the Building Committee, the edifice was completed and occupied in 1923. W. H. Artley, 32°, was the Contractor. We owe Brothers Pfau and Artley a debt of gratitude for the wonderful accomplishment.
Starling at the entrance we find that the Master Architect, worked into that fine door-way a festoon of laurel, rosettes, cornucopias, a lion’s head and rays of the sun. The laurel is an emblem of VICTORY and TRIUMPH, sacred to Apollo, the God of Light, symbolizing INSPIRATION.
The Cornucopias or Horns of Plenty are emblems of PEACE and PROSPERITY and because of the fact that they are pouring-out cereals and fruit, they symbolize God’s beneficence to mankind. The Lion over the arch CAN refer to the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Among the Greeks of antiquity the lion was the Guardian of Temples. The Square & Compasses I will not attempt to discuss, as ALL Masons are supposed lo have some understanding of their meaning. The Sun’s rays behind the lion’s head symbolize that Light which flows from God; ihe energizing principle of life. The columns on Ihe Norlh, East and South sides of the Temple are Corinthian, invented by Callimachus, a Greek Architect, 550 B. C. in Corinth, a town founded in 1384 B. C. and later brought into prominence through ihe Iwo leliers of Paul to the Corinthians. These columns have fifteen grooves and fifteen lands (showing) and are ornamented with Acanthus leaves, symbols of a Mother’s love. There are eight of them of each size and eighl volutes.
There is a story written into the Masonic Code of Georgia in a lecture on the Orders of Architecture which reveals the origin of the use of the Acanthus leaves by Callimachus, but Greek Mythology carries a much prettier story, lo the effect that Proserpine, the daughter of Ceres, was stolen and carried away by Pluto, to the nether regions. Ceres in memory of the lovely daughter placed an URN or a Baskel of flowers in the garden and an ACANTHUS (nettle) grew up around and encompassed (or hugged) the urn. It was this mythological concept that inspired Percy Byssche Shelley to write:
Sacred Goddess, Mother Earth, ‘ ‘
Thou from whose immortal bosom/
, ‘ Gods and men and beast have birth, :
Leaf and blade and bud and blossom, Breathe thine influence most divine,
On thine own-child Proserpine I
Around the building at the level of the 5th floor is to be found a scroll of vines and rosettes, the vines in a repetition of Vifruvian curves, said to have been designed by Vitruvius, a Roman Architect and Engineer of the lime of Christ. His inspiration was ihe curve of the hair around the ear of his sweetheari. The vines Mso carry the meaning of REFRESHMENT. Zagreus, the vine, is a child of Demeter, Ihe earth, fertilized by Zeus, the rain. Each year, under nourishing rains, the vine is reborn. As early as 50 B. C. Diodorus Siculus connected the story of Ihe vine with the myths of vegetation, which invariably carried ihe idea of Immortality. “As the seed is born again, so may the dead have new life.”
At the top of the building around the parapet are to be found ACROTERIA or shell-like ornaments symbolizing PILGRIMAGE or the journey of the neophiie through the ceremonies of iniiiation. Around the “ledge” Greek Key ornamenlation is used, representing the UPWARD and ONWARD aspirations of the seeker after Masonic Lighli The Squares and Compasses of Blue tile at the lop of the curved corners of the building, with the compasses opened lo 47 degress (for a purpose) are reminis¬cent of ihe teachings of MENCIUS, a Chinese Philosopher of the Third Century before Christ, for he said: “A great carpenter teaches his apprentice with Squares and Compasses. The man who wants to cultivaie himself, must also have Squares and Compasses for his conduct.”
62
 
Inside of the foyer are to be found a CIRCLE with a DOT in the center of it. Euclid an Alexandrian Geometrician, 300 B. C. defined a POINT (or dot) as something without magnitude or parts, while the Craft-Masons’ definition of the “centre” is a point within a circle, to which he must remain attached if he would avoid error. The Circle symbolizes God and INFINITY because it has no beginning and no ending. The circle is the primary shape in nature and hence the basis of area.
Also in the lobby are to be found a rope of laurel leaves around rhe four edges of the ceiling and four rosettes. These decorations have been commented on elsewhere. Tha walls of this area are of pink marble and divided into THREE panels on the North and South sides.
The Equilateral triangles in the windows of the Blue Lodge room are 666 in number and represent the number of the beasts mentioned in the Book of Revelation. One purpose of Masonry is to “take the beast out of man.” The Equilateral triangle represents the WISDOM, POWER and HARMONY of God. It is the primary of all shapes in nature formed of straight lines, and of equal sides and angles, and it has the least radius, the least area, and the greatest circumference of any possible shape of equal sides and angles.
The EGG and DART moulding on the outside of the building and at the base of the balcony in the Blue Lodge room symbolizes the dual principle of life. The Mythologists tell us that “Out of Chaos the Universe was hatched from the EGG of Eros. The EGG is perhaps one of the most universally adopted symbols. In ancient Egypt it was the symbol of LIFE IMMORTAL and ETERNAL, it was sacred to ISIS, therefore the Priests of Egypt never ate eggs. The DART is a Phallic symbol. This story is long, too long, but the writer thinks it is needed information and for that reason begs your indulgence and is pleased to bring the discussion to a close with the following article on the LANGUAGE of SYMBOLS written by Brother Dewey H. Wollstein of Rome, Georgia, Editor of the Masonic Messenger, Past Grand Master of Masons in Georgia, 33° Mason, and one of the greatest Masons and finest personalities Georgia has produced.
THE LANGUAGE OF SYMBOLS
Interwoven into the design of Masonry is the effort to present a picture of man’s eternal. search for that which is beyond the boundary of earthly vision and knowledge.
It is only through the Language of Symbols that the mind is enabled to cross the mighty bridge from the Known to the Unknown. It is through Symbolism that Masonry seeks to express the spiritual nature of the Universe and the Spiritual nature of Man and their conscious relation.
The motivating force of life is expressed by the Mason in the desire to learn. But that desire coupled with the desire to become a Master is related in the Language of Symbols.
There is no reference in Masonry to the physical or material which does not have its counterpart in the realm of the Spiritual. We forever seek that which is lost, lost because we cannot see it or describe it, but can only approach it through Symbols.
Language, adorned by Rhetoric, is itself a study in Symbolism, and is the means hy which we persist in the search for a Beauty beyond words of beauty.
There is forever the long struggle, the ceaseless search, the Hope created from Faith. There are times when we see only the stern hand of reality, but even then such a challenge spurs us on to seek something that is Genuine beyond Reality.
The Language of Symbols is the Language of the Soul.
There is no Special Word to display as an emblem of victory, but there is Victory, when at times, the expressible merges into the INEXPRESSIBLE.
63
finis