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

HERMETIC
HEXAGON 323
tions, which are of importance, though not
probably of the date of 926, assigned to them
by Krause, give him that title, and say that he
brought the custom of making himself understood
by signs with him to Egypt . In the
first ages of the Christian church, this mythical
Egyptian philosopher was in fact considered
as the inventor of everything known to the
human intellect . It was fabled that Pythaa
oras and Plato had derived their knowledge
from him, and, that he had recorded his inventions
on pillars . The Operative Masons,
who wrote the old Constitutions, obtained
their acquaintance with him from the Polycronycon
of the monk Ranulf Higden, which
was translated from the Latin by Trevisa,
and printed by William Caxton in 1482 . It is
repeatedly quoted in the Cooke MS ., whose
probable date is the latter part of the fifteenth
century, and was undoubtedly familiar to the
writers of the other Constitutions.
Hermetic Art. The art or science of Alchemy,
so termed from Hermes Trismegistus,
who was looked up to by the alchemists as the
founder of their art . The Hermetic philosophers
say that all the sages of antiquity,
such as Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, and Pythagoras,
were initiated into the secrets of their
science ; and that the hieroglyphics of Egypt
and all the fables of mythology were invented
to teach the dogmas of Hermetic philosophy .
(See Alchemy.)
Hermetic Philosophy . Pertaining or
belonging to that species of philosophy which
pretends to solve and explain all the phenomena
of nature from the three chemical
principles, salt, sulphur, and mercury .
Also that study of the sciences as pursued by
the Rosicrucian fraternity. A practise of
the arts of alchemy and similar pursuits,
involving a duplex symbolism with their peculiar
distinctions .
Hermetic Rite . A Rite established by
Pernetty at Avignon, in France, and more
commonly called the Illuminati of Avignon .
(See Avignon, Illuminati of .)
Herodem . See Heredom .
Herodem, Royal Order of. See Royal
Order of Scotland .
Heroden . "Heroden," says a MS . of the
Ancient Scottish Rite, "is a mountain situated
in the northwest of Scotland, where the first
or metropolitan Lodge of Europe was held ."
The word is not now used by Masonic writers,
and was, undoubtedly, a corruption of Heredom
.
Heroine of Jericho . An androgynous degree
conferred, in America, on Royal Arch
Masons, their wives, and daughters . It is
intended to instruct its female recipients in
the claims which they have upon the protection
of their husbands' and fathers' companions,
and to communicate to them an effectual
method of proving those claims . An instance
of friendship extended to the whole family of
a benefactress by those whom she had benefited,
and of the influence of a solemn contract
in averting danger, is referred to in the case
of Rahab, the woman of Jericho, from whom
the degree derives its name ; and for this purpose
the second chapter of the Book of Joshua
is read to the candidate . When the degree is
received by a male, he is called a Knight of
Jericho, and when by a female, she is termed a
Heroine . It is a side or honorary degree, and
may be conferred by any Royal Arch Mason
on a candidate qualified to receive it .
Herring, James . Born in London, England,
January 12, 1794 ; died in France,
October 8, 1867 ; buried in Greenwood
Cemetery, New York, October 27, 1867 . The
family emigrated to America in 1805 . James
was initiated in Solomon's Lode, Somerville,
N ew Jersey, in 1816 . He was M aster of Clinton
Lodge, New York City, in 1827, 1828,
1832, and 1834, a period when the anti-
Masonic spirit was in its zenith . He, with the
remaining members of Clinton Lodge, united
with St . John's, No . 1, and met in union December
18, 1834 . He instituted the formation
of the Lodge of Strict Observance, which was
constituted by Grand Lodge, December 27,
1843, R . W. Bro . Herring being the Master,
with which Lodge he remained until his death .
On September 3, 1828, he was appointed
Assistant Grand Secretary, and on June 3,
1829, was elected Grand Secretary, which
office he retained until 1846 . He sided with
the "Phillips" or "Herring" Grand Body at
the split in Grand Lodge on June 5, 1849, and
remained its Grand Secretary until 1858,
when, in June, the two Grand Lodges were
fused . He was a delegate to the Convention
of Grand Lodges held in Washington March
7, 1842 . Bro . Herring delivered the oration,
on August 25, 1847, in St . John's Lodge, in
commemoration of the M . W . G. Masters,
Morgan Lewis and Alex . H . Robertson, and
other eminent Masons, on the occasion of the
First Lodge of Sorrow held in America in the
English language . He was exalted in Jerusalem
Chapter, No. 8, R . Arch, N. Y., January
5, 1817, dubbed a Knights Templar in
Columbian Commandery, No . 1, N . Y., and
was received a Sov. G . I. General, Thirtythird
Degree Scottish Rite . Bro . Herring was
a P . H . Priest, P . G . G . Sec . of the G . G . Chapter,
U. S ., P . G . Master of the G . Encampment,
N . Y ., and Officer of the G . G . Encampment
of U . S ., and P. G . Representative of the Orients
of Brazil and France .
Hesed . A corruption of Chesed, which see.
Hesse-Cassel . Freemasonry appears to
have been founded in this electorate in 1743 ;
by a Lodge at Marburg, called " Zu den drei
Lowen," which afterward took the name
of "Mart Aurel zum flammenden Stern ."
A Lodge also appears to have existed in 1771,
at Cassel, called "Zum blauen Lowen ." In
1817 the Grand Mother Lodge of Hesse-Cassel
was founded, which lasted until 1821, when
the government closed all Lodges . In 1849
one was reopened by General von Helmschwerdt,
but it was closed in 1855 . It is now
understood that this Lodge has been reopened .
Hexagon . A figure of six equal sides constitutes
a part of the camp in the Scottish
degree of Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret .