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

execution. The Latin _Calvaria_, whence Mount Calvary, means also a
skull.
GRAVE. In the Master's degree, a symbol which is the analogue of the
pastos, or couch, in the ancient Mysteries.
The symbolism has been Christianized by some masonic writers, and the
grave has thus been referred to the sepulchre of Christ.
GRIPS AND SIGNS. They are valuable only for social purposes as modes of
recognition.
H
HAND. The hand is a symbol of human actions; pure hands symbolize pure
actions, and impure or unclean hands symbolize impure actions.
HARE. Among the Egyptians the hare was a hieroglyphic of _eyes that are
open_, and was the symbol of initiation into the Mysteries of Osiris.
The
Hebrew word for _hare_ is _arnabet_, and this is compounded of two
words
that signify _to behold the light_. The connection of ideas is
apparent.
HELLENISM. The religion of the Helles, or ancient Greeks who
immediately
succeeded the Pelasgians in the settlement of that country. It was, in
consequence of the introduction of the poetic element, more refined
than
the old Pelasgic worship for which it was substituted. Its myths were
more
philosophical and less gross than those of the religion to which it
succeeded.
HERMAE. Stones of a cubical form, which were originally unhewn, by
which
the Greeks at first represented all their deities. They came in the
progress of time to be especially dedicated by the Greeks to the god
Hermes, whence the name, and by the Romans to the god Terminus, who
presided over landmarks.
HERO WORSHIP. The worship of men deified after death. It is a theory of
some, both ancient and modern writers, that all the pagan gods were
once
human beings, and that the legends and traditions of mythology are mere
embellishments of the acts of these personages when alive. It was the
doctrine taught by Euhemerus among the ancients, and has been
maintained
among the moderns by such distinguished authorities as Bochart, Bryant,
Voss, and Banier.
HERMETIC PHILOSOPHY. The system of the Alchemists, the Adepts, or
seekers