The History of Initiation - The Masonic Trowel

136 HISTORY OF INITIATION
that astronomical paradox founded on the globular form
of the earth, which, continually revolving on its axis,
makes the central Sun always at its meridian to some part
of its surface. The truth is, that the rites of the insular
sanctuary commenced at daybreak; and the rising of
their great deity, who was dignified with the appellation
of "the god of victory; the king who rises in light and
ascends the sky," 10 was hailed with triumphant shouts
and loud hosannas. But the solemn initiations were
performed at midnight, to invest them with a higher
degree of dignity and importance. They contained
three independent steps or degrees, the first or lowest
being the Eubates, the second the Bards, and the third
the Druids. 11
A careful preparation was used previously to the admission
of candidates into the first degree; for it was considered
that without mental and bodily purification, the
arcana of a sacred establishment could not safely be
communicated. The heart must be prepared to conceal,
before the eyes are permitted to discover the truths
which often lie hid under significant emblems, the instru-
ments, probably, of human industry ;
years may be unprofitably
else the labour of
wasted in the thankless office
of committing seed to a Barren soil, which will make no
return of fruit commensurate with the toil of cultivation.
They were purified by the Tolmen, 12 and then put to
10 Gododin, Song xxii.
11 This division did riot include the preparatory ceremony of the
insular sanctuary, which partook rather of the nature of a qualification
process than of a distinct degree. Thus Taliesin, in his poem
of The Spoils of the Deep, speaks of "that lore which was four
times reviewed in the quadrangular inclosure." (Dav. Druid, p. 518.)
And in his poem of The Battle of the Trees, the same bard describes
these four ceremonies of purification with great exactness. "I was
exorcised," says he, "by Math before I became immortal; I was
exorcised by Gwidion the great purifier of the Brython, of Eurowys,
of Euron and Medron, of the multitude of scientific teachers, children
of Math. When the removal took place, I was exorcised by
the sovereign when he was half consumed. By the Sage of sages
was I exorcised in the primitive world, at which time I had a being."
(Dav. Druid, p. 541.)
12 The Tolmen was a perforated stone which was used for the pur-
and the hierophant or chief
pose of regeneration in the mysteries ;
Druid was hence denominated Tola. (Vid. Borl. Ant. Corn., p. 166.)
These consecrated petrae are common all over England and Wales ;
and the act of passing through them was thought to convey extraor-