Through the Key Hole - RoseCroix.org.au

24
THE ACACIA
By Arthur E Waite
In so far as this tree, which is connected with a memorable event
in Masonic legend, may be regarded as a symbol of immortality,
the notion may be referred to its extraordinary persistence, for Du
Pratz says that if any of the bark be left on its branches they will
take root if planted as posts.
There are several species, among which the Acacia vera is called
the Egyptian Thorn—otherwise Acacia Seyal—and produces gumarabic.
It is identified with the Shittah Tree and Shittim-Wood of
Exodus and Isaiah. It was used in the construction of the Ark of
the Covenant and the Altar of the Tabernacle. Christsian legend
tells us that the Crown of Thorns was made of spiked twigs, and in
the curious pseudo-historical account attached to the Grade of
Novice and Knight of St John the Evangelist, the wood of the
Cross is said to have been of this tree. I do not know whence this
fable derives, but perhaps on account of it Horace Walpole calls
the Acacia “the genteelest tree of all”, following the Elizabethan
dramatist who terms Christ “The first true gentleman that ever
breathed”.
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The question arises, however, whether the “lost word” and the
“Masons’ Word” are synonymous.
In either case the mystery remains. It is almost certain from ancient
references that a Masons’ Word did in fact exist in Scotland
some centuries ago, long before the symbolisation of King Solomon’s
Temple was introduced into Freemasonry and it is probable
that this was used and accepted as a password to gain entry or to
prove membership, but which is NOT the “lost word” for which
Masons seek.
This mundane explanation is, of course, my own, but at the same
time I must confess that there is more to it especially when one
takes regard of the beautiful ceremonies of the Ancient & Accepted
Scottish Rite in which the “word” is produced and then destroyed
to avoid it falling into the wrong hands.
The Burning Bush has been identified with Aqua nilotica, by a reflection
from Rabbinical Tradition, which calls it simply a thornbush.
The red and white blossoms were regarded as sacred in
Egypt, and in one of the folk-tales ascribed to the nineteenth dynasty
the hero is represented as placing his soul for safe-keeping
within the petals of the top-mist blossom growing in a Valley of
Acacia. For Paraclesus it was a healing tree; he used it with other
ingredients as a plaster for wounds and apparently to stop bleeding.
A Sign Of Immortality. — I have failed to trace any real connection
with funeral rites and it seems certain that there is no sense in
which it can be called emblematic of burial. It belongs to the
analogies of hope beyond and life continued henceforward: it is to
this that the Master Mason testified, according to an old French
Catechism, when in proof of his status he answered: “ The Acacia
is known to me”.