The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

Chapter 4 - Signs & Symbols 179
pictorial cipher. Starting with the word VISITA in the outer circle, and reading
the initials of the seven words clockwise, the result is VITRIOL, which has
already been identified as "visita interiora terrae, rectificando invenies occultam
lapidem" (cf. Section 4.1.2).
Alchemical cryptogram of the Rosicrucians
The acroamatic cipher 500 is the most subtle of all, for again many
interpretations are possible. It consists of pictorial cipher drawn in words,
containing parables and allegories, examples of which can be found in the Old
and New Testament of the Jews, in Homer's Iliad or in Apuleius's The
Metamorphosis. Masonic texts often make abundant use of acroamatic cipher.
Then there is the numeric cipher, in which numbers in various sequences are
substituted for letters. The most simple form is exchanging the letter of the
alphabet for numbers in ordinary sequence, so that A becomes 1, B becomes 2,
etc. 501 A peculiarity is a musical cipher, invented by John Wilkins (later Bishop
of Chester) and circulated in 1614 in an anonymous essay, in which a method
was explained whereby musicians could converse with each other by replacing
the letters of the alphabets by musical notes. 502
The arbitrary cipher consists of exchanging letters of the alphabet for
hieroglyphic figures. Thus, Albert Pike has described an arbitrary cipher based
upon the different parts of the Knights Templars's cross, each angle designating a
letter. However, such alphabets are comparatively easy to decode because of the
"table of recurrence," according to which the letter "E" is the one which is the
most employed in the English language. For each letter, an order of frequency
500 Cf. Hall, p. CLXXI.
501 Ibid, p. CLXXII.
502 Ibid.