Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

108 BLAZING
BLUE
those who desire to refrain from anything that
may tend to impair the tolerance of our system,
will be disposed to embrace a more
universal explanation, which may be received
alike by all the disciples of the Order, whatever
may be their peculiar religious views .
Such persons will rather accept the expression
of Dr. Oliver, who, though much disposed to
give a Christian character to our Institution,
says "the great Architect of the Universe is
therefore symbolized in Freemasonry by the
Blazing Star, as the herald of our salvation,"
(Symb . Glory, p . 292 .)
Before concluding, a few words may be said
as to the form of the Masonic symbol . It is
not an heraldic star or eatoile, for that always
consists of six points, while the Masonic star
is made with five points . This, perhaps, was
with some involuntary allusion to the five
Points of Fellowship . But the error has been
committed in all our modern Tracing Boards
of making the star with straight points which
form, of course, does not represent a lazing
star . Guillim (Disp . of Herald) says : "All
stars should be made with waved points
because our eyes tremble at beholding them,' #
In the early Tracing Board already referred
to, the star with five straight points is superimposed
upon another of five waving points .
But the latter are now abandoned, and we
have in the representations of the present day
the incongruous symbol of a blazing star with
five straight points . In the center of the star
there was always placed the letter G, which,
like the Hebrew yod, was a recognized symbol
of God, and thus the symbolic reference of the
Blazing Star to Divine Providence is greatly
strengthened .
Blazing Star, Order of tbe. The Baron
Tschoudy was the author of a work entitled
The Blazing Star, (See T'schoudy .) On the
principles inculcated in this work, he established,
says Thory (Acta Latomerum, i ., 94), at
Paris, in 1766, an order called "The Order of
the Blazing Star," which consisted of degrees
of chivalry ascending to the Crusades, after
the Templar system of Ramsay . It never,
however, assumed the prominent position of
an active rite.
Blesington, Earl of .. Grand Master of
Ireland, 1738-9 ; also of the English Grand
Lodge of the "Ancients," 1756-63 .
Blessing. See Benedictian .
Blind . A blind man cannot be initiated
into Masonry under the operation of the old
regulation, which requires physical perfection
in a candidate .
Blindness . Physical blindness in Masonry,
as in the language of the Scriptures, is
symbolic of the deprivation of moral and
intellectual light . It is equivalent to the
darkness of theAncient Mysteries in which the
neophytes were enshrouded for periods varying
from a few hours to many days . The
Masonic candidate, therefore, represents one
immersed in intellectual darkness, groping in
the search for that Divine light and truth
which are the objects of a Mason's labor . (See
Darkness.)
Blow . The three blows given to the
Builder, according to the legend of the Third
Degree, have been differently interpreted as
symbols in the different systems of Masonry,
but always with some reference to adverse or
malignant influences exercised on humanity,
of whom Hiram is considered as the type.
Thus, in the symbolic degrees of Ancient
Craft Masonry, the three blows are said to be
typical of the trials and temptations to which
man is subjected in youth and manhood, and
to death, whose victim he becomes in old age.
Hence the three Assassins are the three stages
of human life . In the high degrees, such as
the Kadoshes, which are founded on the
Templar system of Ramsay, the reference is
naturally made to the destruction of the Order,
which was effected by the combined influences
of Tyranny, Superstition, and Ignorance,
which are therefore symbolized by the three
blows ; while the three Assassins are also said
sometimes to be represented by Squire de
Floreau, Naffodei, and the Prior of Montfaucon,
the three perjurers who swore away
the lives of De Molay and his Knights, In
the astronomical theory of freemasonry,
which makes it a modern modification of the
ancient sun-worship, a theory advanced by
Ragon, the three blows are symbolic of the
destructive influences of the three winter
months, by which Hiram, or the Sun, is shorn
of bis vivifying power . Des Etangs has
generalized the Templar theory, and, supposing
Hiram to be the symbol of eternal reason,
interprets the blows as the attacks of those
vices which deprave and finally destroy humanity
. However interpreted for a special
theory, Hiram the Builder always represents,
in the science of Masonic symbolism, the
principle of good ; and then the three blows are
the contending principles of evil .
Blue. This is emphatically the odor of
Masonry. It is the appropriate tincture of
the Ancient Craft degrees . It is to the Mason
a symbol of universal friendship and benev- -
olenoe, because, as it is the color of the vault
of heaven, which embraces and covers the
whole globe, we are thus reminded that in the
breast of every brother these virtues should be
equally as extensive. It is therefore the only
odor, except white, which should be used in a
Master's Lodge. Decorations of any other
color would be highly inappropriate .
Among the religious institutions of the Jews,
blue was an important color. The robe of the
high priest's ephod, the ribbon for his breastplate,
and for the plate of the miter, were to he
blue . The people were directed to wear a
ribbon of this color above the fringe of their
garments ; and it was the color of one of the
veils of the tabernacle, where, Josephua says,
it represented the element of air. The Hebrew
word used on these occasions to designate the
color blue is M'?SY1, tekelef; and this word
seems to have a singular reference to the symbolic
character of the color, for it is derived
from a root signifying perfeetion ; now it is
well known that, among the ancients, initiation
into the mysteries and perfection were