The History of Initiation - The Masonic Trowel

EASTERN MYSTERIES. 49
dom when liberated from its earthly tabernacle, the body ;
for it takes root in the mud deposited at the bottom of a
river, vegetates by degrees from the germ to a perfect
plant, and afterwards rising proudly above the waves, it
floats in air as if independent of any extraneous aid.
The Bull was an emblem of religion, his four legs being
representations of purity, compassion, penance, and truth ;
and the triple headband with which he was usually bound
denoted that he was to be worshipped morning, noon, and
night. A spear was a symbol of omnipotence, as rays
of glory were of blessings emanating from the gods. A
serpent, bearing a globe in its folds, represented the union
of wisdom and eternity; and pointed to the great father
and mother of the renovated world the ; egg and lunette 26
symbolized the generative principle, in the persons of
the same progenitors ; for the moon and egg were equally
symbols of the ark from which they issued when they
became the parents of a new race. 27 The triangle within
23
a circle referred to the Trimurti and the trident had a
;
similar allusion. The ark ofNoah, as a lunette, symbolized
the female principle, with the linga, or male principle for
a mast for ; according to the Brahmins, it was under this
29 form that the two principles of generation were pre-
30
served at the universal Deluge. Thus were religion and
36 Siva is called " the god with the crescent." (Bhagvat Geeta'
p. 81.)
37 "
In memory of the Ark, the ancients were not only accustomed to
carry about small navicular shrines, but sometimes even built their
temples in the form of ships. Diodorus Siculus mentions, that Sesostris
constructed a ship, which was 280 cubits long, and adds that it
was made of cedar that it was covered ;
with plates of gold and silver;
and that it was dedicated to Osiris or Noah, at the city of Theba or
the Ark. It is sufficiently evident, both from the preceding description
of this ship, from its being dedicated to Osiris, and from its being
placed in the inland district of the Thebais, that it never was designed
for a voyage at sea. It was, in fact, an immense navicular temple, built
in imitation of the Ark, and destined for the solemn performance of the
diluvian mysteries. Hence the Greeks designated a temple and a ship
by the very same word, Naus or Naos; and hence what is, doubtless,
a relic of the primeval arkite idolatry, we still call the body of a
church, in contradistinction to the chancel, the nave or ship." (Fab.
Cab., vol. i., p. 215.)
Moor's Hind. Panth., p. 400.
29 The fact is, that the entire worship of these idolaters was and
still continues to be nothing less than a disgusting scene of lascivious-
ness, obscenity, and blood. (Vid. Buchanan, Researches in Asia, p.
so
129-141.)
Asiat. Res., vol. vi., p. 523.
5