The History of Initiation - The Masonic Trowel

THE MYSTERIES OF BACCHUS. 107
58
illustrations of the like tendency, the aspirant was dis-
59
missed through the
beautiful gate
of the Temple with the
two barbarous words Koy$ and Ofinal, which are said to
mean, WATCH and ABSTAIN FROM EVIL, 60 as a person
mysteriously regenerated, and placed in future under the
protection of the celestial gods.
It is admitted by many learned writers that the G recian
facts in the life of the Jewish
mysteries contained many
lawgiver. Thus Bacchus is described as having been
taken from a chest or ark and as ; being the son of two
mothers ; because Pharaoh's daughter was like a second
mother to Moses. The deliverance of the Israelites from
their bondage in Egypt is another remarkable coincidence.
In the Dionysiaca, the thyrsis or Kod of Bacchus
was elevated, to perpetuate the remembrance of two remarkable
miracles which were reputed to have been performed
with this all-powerful instrument. On one occasion
61 he cast his rod upon the ground and it became a
serpent ;
62 and afterwards he struck the two rivers Orontes
63 and Hydaspes with it, and the waters immediately re-
he was cast into hell. Now Juno is Juneh, the dove, (Fab. Mys. Cab.,
vol. i., p. 83,) which was seized by Noah; and his punishment on a re-
volving wheel in hell, merely referred to his descent into. the Hades of
the mysteries, and his circumambulating progress through the caverns
of initiation.
58 A profusion of symbols which adorned these mysteries may be
kC
and
found in the " Signs and Symbols,"
Theocr. Phil, of Free-
masonry."
59 The caverns of initiation had two gates ; one called the descent to
hell, the other the ascent of the just ; which, in the passage already
cited from Homer, are inaccurately described. Mr. Pope has inverted
the sense of the original, where he makes the gods, or in other words
the Epoptae, descend instead of ascend, and mortals enter instead of
descend. Thus, corrected, the reference is perfectly easy to the destruction
of the antediluvians and the safety of the eight just persons,
who hence have been dignified with the name of immortals. (Vid. ut
supra, p. 72.)
60 Vid. Bibl. Univ., torn, vi., p. 86. Warb. Div. Leg., vol. i., p. 156.
''When the rites of the east were imported into Greece," says Mr.
Faber, "a strong charge was given that barbaric names should never
be changed; concerning which injunction- it is observed by Psellus,
that there are sacred names of ineffable import, preserved in the
mysteries of every nation, and delivered to them immediately by the
gods ; a circumstance which makes it unlawful to translate them into
the Greek language." (Mys. Cab., vol. i., p. 116.)
61 Non. in 62
1. Dionys., 25. Vid. Exod. iv. 3.
63 Non. in Dionys., 1. 23.