The Alchemy Key.pdf - Veritas File System

of them in a more decent form survive in Freemasonry to-day, either in
the Craft or in the higher degrees.
Moreover, we have not yet exhausted all the information
concerning these ceremonies which we can obtain from the Bible itself,
and in the next chapter we shall learn a good deal from two books which
are supposed to have been written by King Solomon.
There existed, however, among the Jews not only the open Rites
of Adonis but also an inner secret ceremony. Can we there fore trace any
further features of the Adonis Cult, and in particular what was supposed
to befall the Soul of the representative of Adonis during the three days
between his death and resurrection? This quest we will take up in the next
chapter but one, for there is no doubt that the legend of Jonah deals with
this theme.
CHAPTER XII - THEIR SURVIVAL UNDER THE
ESSENES.
The Jews, like the nations around them, had a mystery system at
the beginning of the Christian era. This consisted of the four degrees of
the Essenes 33 and has always been a problem to students of antiquity, for
our knowledge is, alas, somewhat limited. What we have, however, is
definite enough and will bear recapitulating here.
They were a celibate order among the Jews, first mentioned in the
time of Jonathan Maccabee (161 -144 B.C.), but although this is the
earliest record of their existence the authorities agree that they were of a
far earlier origin. The three earliest authorities are Philo, 34 Pliny the
elder 35 , and Josephus. 36 Eusebius quoting a lost book of Josephus also
gives us some interesting details, and one of the last references to them is
in Epithanius, who died in A.D. 402.
Our best account is that given by Josephus, in which he tells us
that the Essenes were mostly ce1ib but that a few of them did marry. That
they formed a kind of brotherhood and could recognise each other, so that
33
Encycl. Brit. Vol. 9. p. 779, also Vol. 2. p. 457 sq.
34
Philo, “Quod omnis probus.”
35
Pliny, “Nat. Hist.” V. 17.
36
Josephus, “The Wars of the Jews.” U. 8. “Antiquities.” XIII. 5.para.9:
XVIII. 1.para.5.etc.
453