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

SYMBOL. A visible sign with which a spiritual feeling, emotion, or idea
is
connected.--_Mueller_. Every natural thing which is made the sign or
representation of a moral idea is a symbol.
SYMBOL, COMPOUND. A species of symbol not unusual in Freemasonry, where
the symbol is to be taken in a double sense, meaning in its general
application one thing, and then in a special application another.
SYMBOLISM, SCIENCE OF. To what has been said in the text, may be added
the
following apposite remarks of Squier: "In the absence of a written
language or forms of expression capable of conveying abstract ideas, we
can readily comprehend the necessity, among a primitive people, of a
symbolic system. That symbolism in a great degree resulted from this
necessity, is very obvious; and that, associated with man's primitive
religious systems, it was afterwards continued, when in the advanced
stage
of the human mind, the previous necessity no longer existed, is equally
undoubted. It thus came to constitute a kind of sacred language, and
became invested with an esoteric significance understood only by the
few."--_The Serpent Symbol in America_, p. 19.
T
TABERNACLE. Erected by Moses in the wilderness as a temporary place for
divine worship. It was the antitype of the temple of Jerusalem, and,
like
it, was a symbol of the universe.
TALISMAN. A figure either carved in metal or stone, or delineated on
parchment or paper, made with superstitious ceremonies under what was
supposed to be the special influence of the planetary bodies, and
believed
to possess occult powers of protecting the maker or possessor from
danger.
The figure in the text is a talisman, and among the Orientals no
talisman
was more sacred than this one where the nine digits are so disposed as
to
make 15 each way. The Arabians called it _zahal_, which was the name of
the planet Saturn, because the nine digits added together make 45, and
the
letters of the word _zahal_ are, according to the numerical powers of
the
Arabic alphabet, equivalent to 45. The cabalists esteem it because 15
was
the numerical power of the letters composing the word JAH, which is one
of
the names of God.
TALMUD. The mystical philosophy of the Jewish Rabbins is contained in
the
Talmud, which is a collection of books divided into two parts, the