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

and called upon Osiris to rise: "Stand up! Thou shalt not end, thou
shalt not perish!" But death was deaf. Here the Pyramid Texts recite
the mortuary ritual, with its hymns and chants; but in vain. At length
Osiris awakes, weary and feeble, and by the aid of the strong grip of
the lion-god he gains control of his body, and is lifted from death to
life.[41] Thereafter, by virtue of his victory over death, Osiris
becomes Lord of the Land of Death, his scepter an Ank Cross, his
throne a Square.
II
Such, in brief, was the ancient allegory of eternal life, upon which
there were many elaborations as the drama unfolded; but always, under
whatever variation of local color, of national accent or emphasis, its
central theme remained the same. Often perverted and abused, it was
everywhere a dramatic expression of the great human aspiration for
triumph over death and union with God, and the belief in the ultimate
victory of Good over Evil. Not otherwise would this drama have held
the hearts of men through long ages, and won the eulogiums of the most
enlightened men of antiquity--of Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato,
Euripides, Plutarch, Pindar, Isocrates, Epictetus, and Marcus
Aurelius. Writing to his wife after the loss of their little girl,
Plutarch commends to her the hope set forth in the mystic rites and
symbols of this drama, as, elsewhere, he testifies that it kept him
"as far from superstition as from atheism," and helped him to approach
the truth. For deeper minds this drama had a double meaning, teaching
not only immortality after death, but the awakening of man upon earth
from animalism to a life of purity, justice, and honor. How nobly this
practical aspect was taught, and with what fineness of spiritual
insight, may be seen in _Secret Sermon on the Mountain_ in the
Hermetic lore of Greece:[42]
/#[4,66]
What may I say, my son? I can but tell thee this. Whenever I
see within myself the Simple Vision brought to birth out of
God's mercy, I have passed through myself into a Body that
can never die. Then I am not what I was before.... They who
are thus born are children of a Divine race. This race, my
son, is never taught; but when He willeth it, its memory is
restored by God. It is the "Way of Birth in God." ...
Withdraw into thyself and it will come. _Will_, and it comes
to pass.
#/
Isis herself is said to have established the first temple of the
Mysteries, the oldest being those practiced at Memphis. Of these there
were two orders, the Lesser to which the many were eligible, and which
consisted of dialogue and ritual, with certain signs, tokens, grips,
passwords; and the Greater, reserved for the few who approved
themselves worthy of being entrusted with the highest secrets of
science, philosophy, and religion. For these the candidate had to
undergo trial, purification, danger, austere asceticism, and, at last,
regeneration through dramatic death amid rejoicing. Such as endured
the ordeal with valor were then taught, orally and by symbol, the
highest wisdom to which man had attained, including geometry,
astronomy, the fine arts, the laws of nature, as well as the truths of