The History of Initiation - The Masonic Trowel

DOCTRINES OF THE DRUIDS. 169
" They know not on what day the stroke will be given;
nor what hour the agitated person would be, born; or
who prevented his going into the dales of Devvvy. They
know not the brindled ox, with the thick headband, having
seen seven score knobs in his collar." 42 Here we have ,m
evident, though concise, description of certain ceremonies
characteristic of the Three Degrees through which the
candidate has been successively passed. The stroke and
the new birth have been already explained. The ox with
the thick headband had an undoubted reference to a
peculiar ceremony, which was practised during the initi-
ations. 43
It was said to be attended by three Cranes, 44
one of which perched on his head, another on the middle
of his back, and the third at the extremity, near the tail.
These birds emblematically represented the Sun' 13 at his
rising, meridian, and setting, personified in the three
principal officers in the mysteries. A crane symbolized
4G the vigilant priesthood, and was sacred to the sun ; and
hence the strict propriety of the emblem. The headband
pointed out the state of subjection to which the animal
ally denoted the sacred method of communicating the most sublime
mysteries of the Order, without the actual pronunciation of words,
was at length clothed with the highest degree of importance by being
identified with the chief dignity of Druidism ; for the archdruid, at
the time of his installation, was invested with absolute sovereignty,
and received the significant appellation
of
Cadeiriaith, the literal
of the chair.
meaning of which is, the language
42
Taliesin. Priddeu Annwn, translated by Dav. Dru., Append,
iii.
43 This animal, which was otherwise termed Beer Lied, or the flam-
ing Bull, was a symbol of the patriarch Hu, who subjected him to the
yoke, and instructed the Britons in the art of agriculture, from whence
he derived the name of Centaur, (xev ravgos) or the tamer of the bull.
It referred also to the Sun, of which Hu was the representative.
"Baal, the sun," says Mr. Faber, "was not unfrequently represented
under the form of the Noetic symbol, the Bull ; while the goddess
Baaltis or Baalah, bore the figure of a heifer. Baal and Baaltis are
the same mythological characters as Osiris and Isis (or Hu and Cerid-
wen,) whose symbols were, in a similar manner, a Dull and a heifer ;
and who were Noah and the Ark. adored in conjunction with the Sun
and Moon". (Fab. Mys. Cab., vol. i., p. 189.)
'
44
Borl. Ant. Corn., p. 106.
45 Here we have in
Britain, as in Persia, the emblem of the Bull and
Sun.
46 The Egyptian crane received its name Ibis (is
because it was consecrated to the god of Light ; perhaps
colour of the bird, which rendered it sacred.
Fire, ax Father.)
from the