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

ATHELSTAN. King of England, who ascended the throne in 924. Anderson
cites
the old constitutions as saying that he encouraged the Masons, and
brought
many over from France and elsewhere. In his reign, and in the year 926,
the celebrated General Assembly of the Craft was held in the city of
York,
with prince Edward, the king's brother, for Grand Master, when new
constitutions were framed. From this assembly the York Rite dates its
origin.
AUTOPSY (Greek [Greek: ay)topsi/a], _a seeing with one's own eyes_).
The
complete communication of the secrets in the ancient Mysteries, when
the
aspirant was admitted into the sacellum, or most sacred place, and was
invested by the Hierophant with all the aporrheta, or sacred things,
which
constituted the perfect knowledge of the initiate. A similar ceremony
in
Freemasonry is called the Rite of Intrusting.
AUM. The triliteral name of God in the Brahminical mysteries, and
equivalent among the Hindoos to the tetragrammaton of the Jews. In one
of
the Puranas, or sacred books of the Hindoos, it is said, "All the rites
ordained in the Vedas, the sacrifices to fire, and all other solemn
purifications, shall pass away; but that which shall never pass away is
the word AUM, for it is the symbol of the Lord of all things."
B
BABEL. The biblical account of the dispersion of mankind in consequence
of
the confusion of tongues at Babel, has been incorporated into the
history
of Masonry. The text has shown the probability that the pure and
abstract
principles of the Primitive Freemasonry had been preserved by Noah and
his
immediate descendants; and also that, as a consequence of the
dispersion,
these principles had been lost or greatly corrupted by the Gentiles,
who
were removed from the influence and teachings of the great patriarch.
Now there was in the old rituals a formula in the third degree,
preserved
in some places to the present day, which teaches that the candidate has
come _from the tower of Babel, where language was confounded and
Masonry
lost_, and that he is travelling _to the threshing-floor of Ornan the
Jebusite, where language was restored and Masonry found_. An attentive
perusal of the nineteen propositions set forth in the preliminary