THE ULTRATERRESTRIAL TRAIL IN OTHER DEGREES

BOTH the names of Degrees, and their contents refer again and again to the lore of the stars in general, the visits of the sky gods, their founding role in Freemasonry, and their purposes among us.

“It has also reference,” the text tells us, “to the Avatars or Savior Gods treated by the Mysteries… Our Order is the depository of all that is valuable to man, as it has preserved, in its temples that which the profane world has long lost…”

The seven stars on the Jewel of the 41st Degree point to the fact that “Stellar or Star worship was succeeded by the Sun and Moon.”

In the “Prince of Light” or 42nd Degree the candidate is told that “our Order is a social chain which dates from the foundation of the world.” The Sign of the Degree is given as “With index finger of right hand trace the stars; holding an instrument with left hand.”

The Word and Password are JAH (or Pole Star in old Arabian lore) and ORION.

The 47th Degree is called “Knight of the Seven Stars”.

“The most ancient of all Symbols, the 7 Stars of Ursa Major’s annual revolution round the Mystery Sun, a talisman (swastika), the seven sisters and their consorts in the Pleiades, one unfaithful.”

The notes on the Degree inform us that,

“The Columns fall - scene changes - flaming star shows the route the adept should take…new calculation of numbers - use and virtue of the mapped signs of the Zodiac.”

In the following degree a “new apparition of a Celestial Guide” appears. In the elaborate 49th Degree,

“Sublime Sage of the Pyramids”, the candidate is given “a globe round which is twined a serpent, sustained by two open wings.”

A note, probably by John Yarker, tells us “The Ancient Arabs believed the Pyramids were Antediluvian.”

That is, they were built before the great Universal Flood described in many cultures.

In the 51st Degree an important symbol is given; we are told “the Cabiric Prometheus stole the fire of heaven to help mankind.” The Symbol is a ladder of 7 steps and above it a star. This seems a clear reference to the Oannes legend. It also hints, by the Word of the Degree, at the Richard Shaver antediluvian world myth.

The Word is SISIT, given as “the Chaldean Enoch”. Its value is the same as the Shaverian ‘telepathic broadcasting device’ of the ancient Titans (Prometheus was a Titan; the Degree is named “Sublime Titan of the Caucasus”), or 80 = TELAUG.

The 53rd Degree is more explicit. A brazier of fire is surrounded by a Phoenix and a Serpent. The phoenix, in legend is the bird which burns itself to ashes and is reborn from the flames.

The Candidate is told that,

“This Serpent, forming a circle, is an emblem of eternity…The Phoenix is a still more natural exposition…it symbolized the cycle of the Star Sirius or Sothis of 1461 years.”

The Sign is to imitate looking through a telescope. The Token is to join left hands and point to the Star Sirius with the right index finger. The Word is PHOENIX, a symbol of Sothis or Sirius, as the notes inform us.

We have spoken elsewhere of the 63rd Degree, “Sublime Kawi” in the Yarker version, but sometimes given as “Adept of Sirius”. SUBLIME KAWI = 149, the same value as the following (64th) Degree, SAGE OF MYTHRAS, already discussed, but a Degree of Great antiquity and deserving of much attention.

It speaks of travel to the Stars by the Adepts.The candidate is called “child of Earth” implying the giver of the Degree is something else. The new initiate is given a cipher script, a secret code similar to the later “Royal Arch” cipher.

Stellar, that is Star symbolism, continues up through the Degrees. The 95th, or “Grand Conservator” has as its jewel and symbol a four-pointed star inside a double circle with a triangle in the middle, holding a jewel.

The Misraim, Ancient & Primitive, York, and even Scottish Masonic systems all contain similar stories and symbols.

Memphis Ciphers, from Le Sanctuaire de Memphis,

by J. E. Marconis de Negré.