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

sun; but his death by violence, and his subsequent restoration to life,
make him the analogue of Hiram Abif in the masonic system, and identify
the spirit of the initiation in his Mysteries, which was to teach the
second life with that of the third degree of Freemasonry.
AHRIMAN, or ARIMANES. In the religious system of Zoroaster, the
principle
of evil, or darkness, which was perpetually opposing Ormuzd, the
principle
of good, or light. See _Zoroaster_.
ALFADER. The father of all, or the universal Father. The principal
deity
of the Scandinavian mythology.
The Edda gives twelve names of God, of which Alfader is the first and
most
ancient, and is the one most generally used.
ALGABIL. One of the names of the Supreme Being among the Cabalists. It
signifies "the Master Builder," and is equivalent to the masonic
epithet
of "Grand Architect of the Universe."
ALLEGORY. A discourse or narrative, in which there is a literal and a
figurative sense, a patent and a concealed meaning; the literal or
patent
sense being intended by analogy or comparison to indicate the
figurative
or concealed one. Its derivation from the Greek [Greek: a)llos] and
[Greek: a)gorein], _to say something different,_ that is, to say
something
where the language is one thing, and the true meaning different,
exactly
expresses the character of an allegory. It has been said in the text
that
there is no essential difference between an allegory and a symbol.
There
is not in design, but there is this in their character: An allegory may
be
interpreted without any previous conventional agreement, but a symbol
cannot. Thus the legend of the third degree is an allegory evidently to
be
interpreted as teaching a restoration to life; and this we learn from
the
legend itself, without any previous understanding. The sprig of acacia
is
a symbol of the immortality of the soul. But this we know only because
such meaning had been conventionally determined when the symbol was
first
established. It is evident, then, that an allegory which is obscure is
imperfect. The enigmatical meaning should be easy of interpretation;
and
hence Lemiere, a French poet, has said, "L'allegorie habite un palais
diaphane"--_Allegory lives in a transparent palace._ All the legends of
Freemasonry are more or less allegorical, and whatever truth there may
be