The History of Initiation - The Masonic Trowel

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LECTURE X.
HISTORY OF INITIATION INTO THE GOTHIC MYSTERIES.
THE Gothic Mysteries 1 were introduced by Sigge, a
Scythian prince ; who, it is said, abandoned his native
country when it became oppressed by a population too
dense for the comforts and necessities of a pastoral life ;
and, with a chosen band of followers, wandered in search
of another settlement. 2
Travelling to the north-west of
Europe, he assumed the name of Odin, the supreme deity
1 The Gothic Mysteries were practised by all the northern nations
of Europe. Mr. Turner (Angl. Sax., vol. iv., p. 18) says, "we are not
authorized to ascribe to the Saxon deities the apparatus and mythology
which the northern Scalds of subsequent ages have transmitted
to us from Denmark, Norway, and Iceland ;" meaning, undoubtedly,
the mythology of the Eddas. I am inclined to think, however, that
the Norwegians, Danes, and Saxons all practised the Gothic superstition,
as it was remodelled by Sigge, who assumed the name of Odin a
few years before the birth of Christ. This celebrated individual, after
having established himself in Scandinavia, placed his sons in the
territory around him as viceroys, and their respective divisions, after
his death, became independent kingdoms. Suarlami had assigned to
him a part of Russia ; Baldeg had Western Saxony, and Segdeg East
Saxony (Mai. North. Ant., vol. i., p. 62) ; and they would, doubtless,
introduce his system of Religion amongst their new subjects, because
they had experienced its advantages in enslaving the minds of an
ignorant and superstitious people, and placing them implicitly under
the control of their superiors. At this period the religion of Europe
may be divided into four grand divisions the Roman, the Celtic, the
i
Sclavonian,
they would,
ancient Germans,
Gothic race, professed' that system of polytheism afterwards' delivered
in the Edda ; and the Franks and Saxons who afterwards settled in
Gaul and Britain, being of Gothic race, introduced the polytheism of
their own nation, which was in general the same with what prevailed
among all the other Gothic or Teutonic people, viz., the Germans.
Scandinavians," &c. (Mai. North. Ant., Intr., vi., Note.)
2 The Scythian and Hyperborean doctrines and mythology may be
traced in every part of these eastern regions ; nor can we doubt that
Wod or Odin, whose religion, as the northern historians admit, was
introduced into Scandinavia by a foreign race, was the same with
Buddh, whose rites were probably imported into India nearly at the
same time, though received much later by the Chinese, who softened
his name into Fo. (Asiat. Res., vol. i., p. 425.)