As Western civilization transitioned from the Dark Ages into the Renaissance, European architecture took a giant leap in scope and complexity. In all probability the Freemasons were born as a trade organization, with secret handshakes to keep their ranks from being infiltrated by imposters. Their handshakes served them well in preserving their membership and trade. Then, as their technical knowledge spread outside this closed society, they began incorporating other rituals - elaborate initiations; loyalty ceremonies - to preserve their club. As the organization became more philosophical than technical, their thinking began clashing with the Church, and the more it clashed, the further underground they went, until finally their presence attained a shroud of invisibility; a quality of being seen but not being seen. They remained in this pseudo invisible underground state, which fomented more suspicion and fear in outsiders, until the eighteenth century, the Age of Enlightenment, when they surfaced en masse on the political landscape. As proponents of democratic values, they had a hand in both the American and French Revolutions. They were the radical dissidents of their day - usurpers of Kings - which added even more allure and mystery to their already suspect reputation.

Across America today, in cities and towns of every size, there are Masonic Lodges. Hiding in plain sight (or not hiding at all, depending on one's opinion of the fraternal order), Freemasons continue to fascinate us for the rumors and suspicion that swirl around them. Why, for instance, in this day and age do they still employ secret rites and ceremony? Are they hiding something? In selfish worship of a deity they won't share? Or worse, worshiping a deity that runs counter to society's values? Questions abound. For want of a better explanation, perhaps some guys just like doing shit in secret. Maybe it makes them feel special, or gives them a sense of belonging. Maybe it's fun. Not everything done behind closed doors is necessarily conspiratorial.

Sapiens Dominabitur Astris
Lesser known societies are also explored in Ancient Wisdom, and are no less fascinating. The Gnostics, a Christian sect which thrived in the first and second centuries and took their name from the Greek word gnosis, meaning knowledge, married the philosophies of ancient Greece with Christianity. It did not bode well for them. Another religious sect born at the time was Manicheanism. Named for its founder, a Persian sage named Mani, it married early Christian heretical teachings with that of a Persian philosophy called Mirtha. The basic tenet of Manicheanists was duality; the world divided into light (good) and dark (evil). Desecration of God's creation was so discouraged, members weren't allowed to grow their own food, thus eliminating any chance of Manicheanism's survival.

Closer to home, we have the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Purported to be an ancient sect of Egyptian origin, it was started when in 1887 the order's founder, Dr. William Wynn Westcott - a Freemason, Rosicrucian and Theosophist - ended up with some manuscripts written in cipher, and very old by appearances. Included with the manuscripts, so the story goes, was a letter pointing Westcott to a German linguist called Sapiens Dominabitur Astris (the wise one will be ruled by the stars) who could interpret them. The deciphered documents revealed five rituals that would become the foundation for the Golden Dawn, an amalgamation of Greco-Roman tradition and Egyptian pageantry.

Though the organization claimed to challenge the Theosophical Society in authority and size, at its height it only claimed 300 members - all of whom were either also Freemasons or Rosicrucians. To this day it is not clear what the Golden Dawn was all about. A handwriting analysis of its founder suggests he suffered with multiple personalities, and the Golden Dawn was just a way of feeding one of them. As for aims and objectives, the society seems to have had none, resulting in a reputation today as having been a club that solely appealed to men with a penchant for costume and pageantry. And the ancient manuscript that got the whole thing off the ground? It was written sometime after 1870.

While today we may find societies of the past odd, if entertaining, we should bear in mind that man's quest for knowledge is an insatiable one. Today, perhaps unbeknownst to us at large, there are secret societies meeting behind closed doors. Some seek pathways to a heightened understanding of spirituality; others, political upheaval. If we were aware of all of them and their aims, we would no doubt react with alarm. A century from now, though, or longer, we'll be looking at them in the light (maybe through a Time-Life book), and many will elicit the same palm-to-face response of What ever were they thinking? that the secret sects of yesteryear do today.

posted 02/05/22

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