Friday, November 16, 2012

Freemasonry from the Stars

Here are some curious pages from a book that has been gathering dust on my shelves for years. Its title is The Ancient Mysteries And Modern Masonry, and written by Rev. Charles H. Vail, it was published in 1909.



While the mode of thought behind the writing draws attention, his ideas clearly hark back to the philosophy developed by Blavatsky in her spurious Stanzas of Dzyan. This Vail clearly acknowledges, it is therefore not especially groundbreaking in the sense of the presentation of an original idea or concept. However, its concept, namely that the origins of freemasonry are extraterrestrial, is highly interesting.




It is curious how this strain of thought entered the fringes of freemasonry, and cropped up in 1950's contactee lore again. I do recall that in an older tome also gathering dust here and published in the 1840's, its author, who was also a cleric and freemason, George Oliver claimed something similar, which predates Blavatksy. I'll have to dig that reference out one day.

1 comment:

Martin J. Clemens said...

Lionel & Patricia Fanthorpe's 2006 book 'Mysteries and Secrets of the Masons; The Story Behind the Masonic Order' hits on this idea as well.

It's a bit of an amateurish attempt at a historical assesment of the order, but they bring up some interesting points. Such as the missing treasure of the Library at Alexandria and, as I said, the extraterrestrial origin of the order.