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

accepted it as a mystery, or offered scores of conflicting, and often
debasing, interpretations. _It is but another symbol of the four
cardinal
points, the four winds of heaven._ This will luminously appear by a
study
of its use and meaning in America." (p. 95.) And Mr. Brinton gives many
instances of the religious use of the cross by several of the
aboriginal
tribes of this continent, where the allusion, it must be confessed,
seems
evidently to be to the four cardinal points, or the four winds, or four
spirits, of the earth. If this be so, and if it is probable that a
similar
reference was adopted by the Celtic and other ancient peoples, then we
would have in the cruciform temple as much a symbolism of the world, of
which the four cardinal points constitute the boundaries, as we have in
the square, the cubical, and the circular.
CTEIS. A representation of the female generative organ. It was, as a
symbol, always accompanied by the phallus, and, like that symbol, was
extensively venerated by the nations of antiquity. It was a symbol of
the
prolific powers of nature. See _Phallus_.
CUBE. A geometrical figure, consisting of six equal sides and six equal
angles. It is the square solidified, and was among the ancients a
symbol
of truth. The same symbolism is recognized in Freemasonry.
D
DARKNESS. It denotes falsehood and ignorance, and was a very universal
symbol among the nations of antiquity.
In all the ancient initiations, the aspirant was placed in darkness for
a
period differing in each,--among the Druids for three days, among the
Greeks for twenty-seven, and in the Mysteries of Mithras for fifty.
In all of these, as well as in Freemasonry, darkness is the symbol of
initiation not complete.
DEATH. Because it was believed to be the entrance to a better and
eternal
life, which was the dogma of the Mysteries, death became the symbol of
initiation; and hence among the Greeks the same word signified _to
die_,
and _to be initiated_. In the British Mysteries, says Davies (Mythol.
of
the British Druids), the novitiate passed the river of death in the
boat
of Garanhir, the Charon of the Greeks; and before he could be admitted
to