THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

topped by serpents are next to the Master (the "Most Puissant Leader,"
Moses), the Senior Warden (the "Most Valiant Captain of the Host," Joshua),
and the Junior Warden (the "Illustrious Chief Prince of the Tribes,"
Caleb). Brethren are styled "Brother Knight."
Battery: [5-3-1]. The Knight's duties are: "To purify the soul of its
alloy of earthliness, that through the gate of Capricorn and the seven
spheres it may at length ascend to its eternal home beyond the stars; and
also to perpetuate the great truths enveloped in the symbols and allegories
of ancient mysteries." The apron is white, lined in black, and with gold
stars on the white side (Pleiades, Hyades, Orion, Capella) and with silver
stars on the black side (Perseus, Scorpio, Bootes). Also on it is a
serpent, ouroboros, surrounding a scarab, a triangle in a glory with the
Tetragrammaton in its center, and the four initials of the stars Regulus,
Aldebaran, Antares, and Fomalhaut. The jewel is a gold tau cross (crux
ansata) with a serpent entwined around it, and the Hebrew words HLThI
("he has suffered or been wounded") and NChShThN ("the Brazen Serpent")
on it. The order has two ribbons: one crimson, with the words "Osiris,
Ormuzd, Osar siph, Moses," a bull and crescent, and the Hebrew word GBVRH
("Valor"); and one white, with the words "Isis, Ceres," a dog's head and
crescent, and the word AVN ("Virtue") -- contrasting active/generative
energy and passive/"capacity-to-produce" energy.
26. PRINCE OF MERCY, or SCOTTISH TRINITARIAN ("ABRAHAM LINCOLN
DEGREE")
To avoid persecution, early Christian Masons (under the rule of Domitian)
met in the Catacombs under Rome, and performed the mysteries under cover
of darkness. The "Triple Covenant" is represented by those of Noah and
Abraham, as well as "that made with all the earth, that the day should
come when light, truth, and happiness should be victorious over darkness,
error, and misery." The candidate is named "Constans" (firm, intrepid,
and persevering) and is symbolically receiving the third and last degree
of the Essenian Mysteries -- that of "theogenesis" (divine generation).
The Lodge, styled a Chapter, is hung in green (representing infinite wis-
dom) with nine columns of red (representing supreme energy or power) and
white (representing harmony). The throne in the East is covered by a
canopy of reen, red, and white, and above it is the triple-interlaced
triangle, with two white and one black triangles, and a YOD at its center.
By the triangular altar, in the center, is a white marble statue of a vir-
gin, covered by thin white gauze.
Battery: [3-3-2-3-3-1]. The candidate is presented with the "ancient
dogmas and teachings" of the Hindus, Buddhists, Mithraists, "Druids"
(Norse?), Egyptians, Hebrews, and Christians, and that "in all ages the
golden threads of truth have gleamed in the woof of error. Fortunate is
the Mason who, by the light of wisdom, the true Masonic light, second
emanation from the Deity, can discern the golden threads, God's hiero-
glyphs, written when time began; and read them aright, as they were read