How Far Back Does the Craft Go

I'm always on the lookout to find masonic influences in society and if you are looking, more times than not, you will find the masonic fingerprint almost anywhere. One particular place I found masonic influence piqued my interest. Or perhaps I should say that masonry may very well have been influenced by what I found. It was any normal day and I was strolling through the Denver Natural History Museum with my youngest step daughter. We eventually made our way to the Egyptian display where they had several mummies on display. The focus of this particular part of Egyptian history was on the burial process and I came across a rather interesting picture:

Featured in this picture is the high priest dressed as Anubis, God of the underworld, while the two lower ranking priests mummify the body and ready it for the afterlife by removing the organs.

First, let's get the obvious out of the way and make some basic assumptions of this illustration. This was a picture on display showing a very well-known part of the Egyptian mummification process. I am assuming this because this is a basic display for the public and "introductory" in nature into the history of Egypt. What most people will not see, and rightly so (they are not masons) is the fact that the high priest is clearly displaying the due guard of the fellow craft and is in a rough position for the step of the fellow craft.

A few questions arise from this picture. First, how far back does the craft really go? We all hear that our craft comes from the recesses of antiquity but the history can get somewhat fuzzy after we move past the enlightenment period in history when our craft was officially formed and the first grand lodge created. So, did we borrow this sign from the Egyptians or did they borrow it from us? Did the founding fathers of our craft know the secrets of the Egyptian priesthood? Was this sign so well known that the artist drew this as it was explained to him? Was the artist a mason? Did a mason "consult" the artist as to how this ritual should be drawn? I do not know.

What I do know however from a little brief research into the subject was that the Egyptians considered life to have three "degrees". The first degree was during life in this plane of existence. It is our everyday waking life. It is the time we spend here on Earth from the time we are born until the time of physical death. Upon physical death we begin the second phase of our life. This is the mummification process in Egypt.

This second degree of life is extremely important because the Egyptians considered this to be the gateway unto an immortal life. If you were rich you could afford to have the process done properly and if you were poor you would pay for what you could afford and the quality of your afterlife (so to speak) would suffer. Great care is taken in this second degree because if it is done improperly you will be reborn into an afterlife that is crippled or incomplete. This was a painstakingly detailed process of removing organs, embalming, and wrapping the body carefully in high quality (hopefully) cloth wrappings. Meanwhile, the high priest will read several rites and rituals so that you may be properly resurrected into the third degree of life, or the immortal afterlife. Further care is taken to transcribe all the holy symbols of the Egyptian language and appropriate rites upon your detailed coffin so that the resurrection is further blessed beyond what is physically spoken by the priests when they are there. Finally you are laid to rest among your worldly belongings ready to enter the afterlife. Because this process is so important only the most qualified masters into the secret priesthood of Egypt would perform the rituals and rites in this degree.

The significance of this picture is obvious for freemasons. With a little further speculation I would bet that the book of the dead used in this ritual, details the proper incantations and rituals for a proper resurrection into the afterlife. This particular illustration says two things to me: First, it says that we have a common and shared history of secret knowledge with the ancient Egyptian priesthood. It is the belief and hope of every mason that they will live again upon entering the grave, something the Egyptian priesthood shared with us. Since we draw heavily upon Hebrew history for allegories and symbolism in our degrees, I would dare to say that somewhere in the deep recesses of the oldest masonic libraries we can find a common link between what has been passed unto us as freemasons through Hebrew antiquity and ancient Egyptian culture (since they were two cultures heavily involved with one another in past ancient times).

The second thing this picture says to me is of a more practical nature and something I think is far more important. The transition periods in our lives when we are most vulnerable are of crucial importance into a greater life. We must take care to transition into something greater that will allow us to live a better life and for those around us. The people and groups we assimilate into during and after we have made our transition will either helps us or hinder us in this process and in life. This is a period of vulnerability so the people who are taking care of us and initiating us into a greater life must be qualified and engaged in our upbringing. If they are not qualified because we chose not to pay the proper price of due diligence when choosing our mentors, the consequences can be devastating to living a life well lived. The initiatory process is something we should not take lightly brothers because it will determine what comes next for us and those around us. Fortunately, I can say that the initiatory process in our lodge 76 is of the highest quality similar to the quality of a wealthy Egyptian's funeral.