Two Columns
Hermetic Influences in Masonic Ritual
Hints of Hermetic Connection
The tradition that Freemasonry descends from a remote antiquity, perhaps from the time of the building of King Solomon’s temple if not even earlier, can be directly traced to the oldest Masonic documents, the “old Charges” or “Gothic constitutions” of Freemasonry. All versions of these late medieval texts contain a legendary history of Freemasonry that explicitly points to an origin in earliest Biblical times and claims connections with various ancient sages. There is, however, no documentation of speculative Freemasonry prior to the mid 1600’s. This absence of records in conjunction with the claim of antiquity and the tradition of secrecy have led many Masons and even non-Masons to propose all sorts of groups and movements as possible ancestors to Freemasonry. Moreover, various interpretations of Masonry’s traditionally secret symbolism and ritual have led to suppositions that Masonic symbolism preserves secret ancient teachings and wisdom from these ancestral sources.
The legendary histories contained in Old Charges also provide some suggestions as to the supposed ancient sources of Masonry. Most of these legendary histories ascribe the discovery of Geometry to the Biblical character Jabal1, who with his brother Jubal, half-brother Tubalcain, and half sister Neema each founded their own particular art or science including music, metalworking, and weaving. The legend informs us that these four siblings were made aware that the world soon would be destroyed either by fire or by flood (in what turned out to be Noah’s Flood) so they decided to preserve their knowledge, which otherwise might have been forever lost, by inscribing it on two stone pillars of different composition. In case of conflagration, one pillar would not burn. In case of inundation, the other pillar would not drown. After the flood, the pillars were said to have been discovered by someone called “Hermes the Philosopher” or “Hermes the Father of Knowledge”. Some versions of the old charges say one pillar was discovered by Pythagoras, and the other by Hermes. But in either case, it is significant to note that our medieval forebears claimed Hermes as at least one of the preservers of that ancient, pre-flood knowledge of Masonry-Geometry.
*study pdf attached