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

LOTUS. The sacred plant of the Brahminical Mysteries, and the analogue
of
the acacia.
It was also a sacred plant among the Egyptians.
LUSTRATION. A purification by washing the hands or body in consecrated
water, practised in the ancient Mysteries. See _Purification_.
LUX (_light_). One of the appellations bestowed upon Freemasonry, to
indicate that it is that sublime doctrine of truth by which the pathway
of
him who has attained it is to be illumined in the pilgrimage of life.
Among the Rosicrucians, light was the knowledge of the philosopher's
stone; and Mosheim says that in chemical language the cross was an
emblem
of light, because it contains within its figure the forms of the three
figures of which LVX, or light, is composed.
LUX E TENEBRIS (_light out of darkness_). A motto of the Masonic Order,
which is equivalent to "truth out of initiation;" light being the
symbol
of truth, and darkness the symbol of initiation commenced.
M
MAN. Repeatedly referred to by Christ and the apostles as the symbol of
a
temple.
MASTER MASON. The third degree of Ancient Craft Masonry, analogous to
the
epopt of the ancient Mysteries.
MENATZCHIM. Hebrew _superintendents_, or _overseers_. The Master
Masons at the temple of Solomon. (2 Chron. ii. 2.)
MENU. In the Indian mythology, Menu is the son of Brahma, and the
founder
of the Hindoo religion. Thirteen other Menus are said to exist, seven
of
whom have already reigned on earth. But it is the first one whose
instructions constitute the whole civil and religious polity of the
Hindoos. The code attributed to him by the Brahmins has been translated
by
Sir William Jones, with the title of "The Institutes of Menu."
MIDDLE CHAMBER. A part of the Solomonic temple, which was approached by
winding stairs, but which was certainly not appropriated to the purpose
indicated in the Fellow Craft's degree.
The legend of the Winding Stairs is therefore only a philosophical
myth.