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

196 DAMOISEL
DARKNESS
been admitted into the Fraternity of Knights
Hospitalers of St. John of Jerusalem . The
rules for their reception were similar to those
for the Knights, and the proofs of noble descent
which were required of them were sometimes
more rigid . They had many conventual
establishments in France, Italy, and Spain .
Damoisel. A name given in the times of
chivalry to a page or candidate for knighthood.
Dan . One of the twelve tribes of Israel,
whose blue banner charged with an eagle is
borne by the Grand Master of the First Veil in
a Royal Arch Chapter .
Danger. In all the old Constitutions and
Charges Masons are taught to exercise
brotherly love, and to deal honestly and truly
with each other, whence results the duty incumbent
upon every Mason to warn his
Brother of approaching danger. That this
duty may never be neglected, it is impressed
upon every Master Mason by a significant
ceremony.
Daniel. The countersign with "Darius"
for Monday in the Thirty-second Degree,
Scottish Rite. A Hebrew prophet, contemporary
of Ezekiel, about 600 B .c . Carried
captive to Babylon in the fourth year of
Jehoiakim, but selected for instruction in all
the learning of the Chaldeans by order of the
Court . His skill in the interpretation of
dreams was famed. He became Governor of
Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar, and the first
ruler of the whole Medo-Persian Empire, inferior
only to Darius, the king . Under Cyrus
he had been Grand Master of the Palace and
Interpreter of Visions, as narrated in the
Fifteenth Degree, Scottish Rite . He did not
return with his countrymen to Judea when
granted their liberty . It is a dispute as to
when he died, or where, but the majority
favor Sushan, in Persia, when he was 90 years
of age. At the present day a tomb is shown in
this ancient city bearing his name ; in fact,
it is the only standing structure there. Daniel
was noted and famed for his piety, and as well
for his worldly possessions .
Dannebrog. The banner of Denmark containing
a red cross . It is founded upon the
tradition, which reminds us of that of Con-
't antine, that Waldemar II., of Denmark, in
1219 saw in the heavens a fiery cross, which
betokened his victory over the Esthonians .
Dantzie . In the year 1768, on the 3d of
October, the burgomaster and magistrates of
the city of Dantzie commenced a persecution
against Freemasonry, which Institution they
charged with seeking to undermine the foundations
of Christianity, and to establish in its
place the religion of nature . Hence, they issued
a decree forbidding every citizen, inhabitant,
and even stranger sojourning in the
city, from any attempt to reestablish the
society of Freemasons, which was thenceforth
to be regarded "as forever abolished," under
penalties of fine and imprisonment .
Dao . The Zend name for light, from Daer,
to shine .
Darakiel. A responsive word in the
Twenty-third Degree of the Scottish Rite .
Latin, Directio Dei .
Darius . The successor of Cyrus on the
throne of Persia, Babylon, and Medea. He
pursued the friendly policy of his predecessor
in reference to the Jews, and confirmed the
decrees of that monarch by a new edict . In
the second year of his reign, Haggai and Zechariah,
encouraged by this edict, induced their
countrymen to resume the work of restoring
the Temple, which was finished four years
afterward . Darius is referred to in the degrees
of Princes of Jerusalem, the Sixteenth of
the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and
the Companion of the Red Cross in the American
Rite .
Darkness. Darkness has, in all the systems
of initiation, been deemed a symbol of
ignorance, and so opposed to light, which is
the symbol of knowledge . Hence the rule, that
the eye should not see until the heart has conceived
the true nature of those beauties which
constitute the mysteries of the Order . In the
Ancient Mysteries, the aspirant was always
shrouded in darkness, as a preparatory step to
the reception of the full light of knowledge .
The time of this confinement in darkness and
solitude varied in the different mysteries .
Among the Druids of Britain the period was
nine days and nights ; in the Grecian Mysteries
it was three times nine days ; while
among the Persians, according to Porphyry
it was extended to the almost incredible period
of fifty days of darkness, solitude, and fasting .
Because, according to all the cosmogonies,
darkness existed before light was created,
darkness was originally worshiped as the firstborn,
as the progenitor of day and the state of
existence before creation . The apostrophe of
Young to Night embodies the feelings which
gave origin to this debasing worship of darkness
:
" O majestic night!
Nature's great ancestor! day's elder born!
And fated to survive the transient sun!
By mortals and immortals seen with awel"
Freemasonry has restored darkness to its
proper place as a state of preparation ; the
symbol of that antemundane chaos from
whence light issued at the Divine command ;
of the state of nonentity before birth, and of
ignorance before the reception of knowledge .
Hence, in the Ancient Mysteries, the release
of the aspirant from solitude and darkness was
called the act of regeneration, and he was said
to be born again, or to be raised from the dead .
And in Masonry, the darkness which envelops
the mind of the uninitiated being removed by
the bright effulgence of Masonic light, Masons
are appropriately called "the sons of light ."
In Dr . Oliver's Signs and Symbols there is a
lecture "On the Mysterious Darkness of the
Third Degree ." This refers to the ceremony of
enveloping the room in darkness when that
degree is conferred-a ceremony once always
observed, but now, in this country at least,
frequently but improperly omitted . The darkness
here is a symbol of death, the lesson