Secrecy By Michael Pearce The Problem with Secrecy Rites of Passage Secrecy within Initiatory Groups Early Christians Esoterica, Enlightenment and Hubris Silence The Role of Secrecy in Present Day Craft Masonry Secrecy and Charity Secrecy in Masonic Initiation The Secrets of the Brethren The Origins of Modern Masonry Secrecy in the Present-day 4th Degree Ritual of the Scottish Rite 1. The Problem with Secrecy Secrecy is viewed with negativity in contemporary Western culture. Secrets are dangerous, the territory of extremists and terrorists, of frightening clandestine agencies who have the authority to kick down doors and search homes without cause. Secret government activity targeting the people is the antithesis of democracy, although historically its manifestation has always been excused as a necessary expediency during the prelude to tyranny. In everyday relationships secrecy may divide people and cause enmity, particularly if the keeper of a secret makes his knowledge of what is hidden known. Spiteful children use this effect with hateful results, crying “I’ve got a secret…” to taunt their peers. A secret organization naturally attracts the criticism of outsiders who view clandestine behavior as a danger to civilized society. The adult continuation of the fears of children left out of “the club” is found in paranoid conspiracy theories about Freemasonry (and other secretive organizations), however noble its cause may be. Despite these negative connotations, secret societies such as the Freemasons have worked to produce extraordinary benefits to mankind in science, politics, philosophy, philanthropy and personal morality. Why does fraternal secrecy encourage men to join organizations like ours, when one might expect the opposite to be true? In this paper we will explore the nature of secrecy in secret societies and why secrecy is desirable to them. 2. Rites of Passage To understand the nature of a secret society we should first learn about the means by which members are made, when secrecy is a fundamental necessity in the transformation of an initiate from an ordinary member of society to a member of a select group. Rites of passage are typically concealed from outsiders, as secrecy lends them their potency. In some primitive cultures these practices are held to be so emphatically secret that intruders are killed, a practice alluded to in the “bloody oaths” found in the catechisms of the three craft degrees. Although Eliade was critical of the initiatory practices of many modern esoteric groups, noting that they have reduced initiation to the simple reading of a book, he exempted Freemasonry from his criticism as: “the only secret movement that exhibits a certain ideological consistency, that already has a history, and that enjoys social and political prestige…” Eliade 1958, 133 Arnold van Gennep coined the term ‘rites de passage’ in 1909 to describe certain types of customary liminal Liminal events are those pertaining to crossing a threshold, Latin root Limen. The candidate passes through a doorway through which there is no return. events, which focus on transformative moments in an individual’s progress through life. See Van Gennep 1960 The anthropologist Victor Turner enlarged upon Van Gennep’s consideration of rites of passage by noting an additional two type of ritual events that mark the seasonal changes of the environment concluding that in addition to Van Gennep’s rites of birth, puberty, marriage and death there are also: Rites that accompany the passage of a person from one social status to another in the course of his or her life, and Rites that mark recognized points in the passage of time (new year, new moon, solstice, or equinox). Turner 2003, 1 Building upon the work of Van Gennep and Turner, Mercia Eliade added still further to the mix with his study of three further kinds of initiatory rites, now including rites of shamanic initiation and (of particular interest to us) the rites performed when a candidate joins a secret society. Eliade wrote several seminal works about religious practice, now widely regarded as classics in the field of the History of Religion. As a phenomenologist historian, particularly concerned with the underlying structures of religious behaviour, he compared traditional practices from all over the world in order to come to his conclusions about ritual practice, summarizing the characteristics of tribal initiations thus: Period of seclusion in the bush (symbol of the beyond) and larval existence, like that of the dead; prohibitions imposed on the candidates by the fact that they are assimilated to the dead (a dead man cannot eat certain dishes, or cannot use his fingers, etc); Face and body daubed with ashes or certain calcareous substances, to obtain the pallid hue of ghosts; funerary masks; Symbolic burial in the temple or fetish house; Symbolic descent to the underworld; Hypnotic sleep; drinks that make the candidate unconscious; Difficult ordeals: beatings, feet held close to a fire, suspension in the air, amputation of fingers, and various other cruelties. All these rituals and ordeals are designed to make the candidate forget his past life… during their stay in the bush the rest of the community considers the candidates dead and buried, or devoured by a monster or a god, and upon their return to the village regards them as ghosts. Eliade 1964, 64. Later in his life Eliade added to his note of the “period of seclusion in the bush… like that of the dead” with: “In the majority of traditional societies, initiatory rites at puberty essentially involve a ceremony of symbolic death and rebirth for the initiate. The “death” is signified by tortures and initiatory mutilations, or by a ritual internment… also by isolation in the bush or in a solitary hut, which is to say, segregation in Shadows.” Eliade, 1985, 7 (Both of course appear in the Masonic rites) Freemasons will note striking similarities in Eliade’s description to the performances of the Blue Lodge and Scottish Rite degrees, drawing attention to the antiquity of the ideas expressed in these rituals. For reasons that should be obvious I will not go into detail of the ritual of craft or Scottish Rite degrees here, leaving masons to draw their own conclusions. Freemasonry is an initiatic order, whose choice to practice liminal initiation is deeply rooted in historic and prehistoric phenomena found across all cultures. But why do modern men submit themselves to liminal rites in order to enter a group that is ostensibly secret to them, and therefore should be unknowable? 3. Secrecy within Initiatory Groups A search on the Internet will reveal that secret societies are exciting, shadowy groups of conspirators hatching plots to overthrow governments and rule the world. Some websites say groups like the masons are populated with secret lizard men, concealed in human form, waiting for their day to overthrow mankind and take over No, really. In addition to his website activities author David Icke has published “The Reptilian Agenda” and “Children of the Matrix” in which he describes the conspiracy.. In reality the history of secret organizations in the Western Esoteric Tradition is well known, and can be traced through time from a point at least as early as the Ancient Egyptian mysteries through to our own Post-Modern period following a trail that leads to the practices of the Pythagoreans, Neo-Platonic groups, the Orphic mysteries, the Gnostics, early Christians, Hermeticists, Historical Druids, the Dionysian Rites, Roman mystery cults, Arab mystics including the Sufi, the Assassins, Witches, Alchemists, Magicians, Sorcerers, historical and modern Rosicrucians, the Golden Dawn, the different contemporary Templar revivals, Qabalists, Magicians, Medieval Craft Guilds and Chivalric orders, the Martinists, the Carbonari, the Compagnonnage, and a multitude of Masonry-inspired fellow travelers and Neo-pagans. We cannot visit all these groups here, but will be content to draw from the traditions in order to find the theme and the value of secrecy within their practices. A little over a century ago the Sociologist Georg Simmel published his The Sociology of Secrecy and of Secret Societies characterizing the effects of secrecy upon human interaction and the attributes of the secrecy of Secret Societies. His observations are as true now as they were in the beginning of the Twentieth Century and we will see them making their appearance in the following pages. In brief, Simmel described some of the characteristics of secret societies that relate to our topic thus: In secret societies that which is withheld from outsiders may gain special value, creating a feeling of personal possession among their members. People who know a secret take pride in their attainment of an exceptional social position, leading members to share the (sometimes fallacious) belief that the secret they possess is essential and significant. The revelation of a secret to initiates provides a release of tension; secrecy sets barriers before men but simultaneously offers the “seductive temptation” of giving the secret away. The “apartness” of the secret society provides a sense of freedom to its members, particularly when the society is formed in an oppressive time. Simmel, 1906 A critical observer might ask why organizations like the Freemasons or the Rosicrucians are so well known if they are so secretive. The answer is that there is a difference between the existence of a secret order and the preservation of the secrets of the initiatory practices of that order. See Simmel 1906, 480 - 481 Masonry is not unusual in its determined preservation of ritual in the face of centuries of repeated exposure; to all initiatory orders an emphasis upon the secrecy of the initiatory process is the mainstay of their survival. Secrecy is essential for effective rites of passage. Initiates must be transformed by passing through the ritual, so they must be unaware of what to expect. However, although Secret Societies may wish to maintain an aura of mystique about them by appearing inaccessible, ultimately they exist in order to create new members: their performance of rites of passage are their reason of being. Without initiates there can be no rites, consequently even the most elitist or notorious secret societies require some public exposure that enables access by appropriately qualified members of society The original Rosicrucian Order was so secretive that to this day nobody knows if it truly existed or not!. Making access difficult makes the group more attractive to new members, who see it as an elite organization: if members cannot be identified by prospective candidates in search of the benefits of membership there will be no new members. Gaining the approval of existing members is essential to prospective members, who must fit the profile of the group to which they wish to belong. The existence of the group is not the secret; the big secret of all initiatory orders is the method by which its new members are initiated, not the existence of - nor membership in - the orders in their own right. Simmel’s point that the secret of the organization in itself may not be of great importance, leading those in its possession to “enhance it by phantasy” Ibid.465 is well made and this phenomenon may be observed in certain “societies with secrets” whose members may wish to enhance their status by adding to the mystery of their esoteric knowledge. Popular contemporary texts like The Hiram Key Knight and Lomas, 1998 and Second Messiah Knight and Lomas, 2000 and those similar to them illustrate this tendency. 4. Early Christians It is ironic that the loudest voices raised against Masonry in the United States should come from a group of people whose spiritual forbears, in order to protect themselves from persecution two thousand years ago, practiced their own beliefs secretly. The early Christians organized themselves as secret societies and were banned as such by Pliny the Younger when he served as the governor of Pontus / Bithynia under the Emperor Trajan in 111 0r 112 AD. In a letter to Trajan, Pliny says he interrogated and tortured Christians up to three times, hoping for their apostate return to the imperial sacrifices and ordering the execution of those who refused to recant their Christianity. Many of those turned in by informers denied being Christian: “They asserted, however, that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so. When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food--but ordinary and innocent food. Even this, they affirmed, they had ceased to do after my edict by which, in accordance with your instructions, I had forbidden secret societies.” Letters of Pliny the Younger, 10. 96-97. Accessed online on 29th July 2007 at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/pliny1.html This could almost be a summary of part of the master mason’s obligation! Minucius Felix reinforces this impression of early Christianity as a secret society: “And now, as wickeder things advance more fruitfully, and abandoned manners creep on day by day, those abominable shrines of an impious assembly are maturing themselves throughout the whole world. Assuredly this confederacy ought to be rooted out and execrated. They know one another by secret marks and insignia, and they love one another almost before they know one another. Minucius Felix, Ch. IX. As the new religion became accepted and was ultimately adopted as the state religion the need for secrecy was removed, putting the boot firmly on the other foot for the diminished pagan faiths, who in their turn clothed themselves in secrecy as they braced for the onslaught of Christian-sponsored persecutions. Simmel was aware of this shifting need for secrecy as groups succeed or fail in achieving their goals: “As a general proposition, the secret society emerges everywhere as correlate of despotism and of police control. It acts as protection alike of defense and of offense against the violent pressure of central powers.” Simmel, 1904, 472 Simmel notes that secrecy can be either the tool of progressive or reactionary groups seeking to protect themselves from the establishment, and that a successful agenda diminishes the need for this protection. If the objectives of secret societies are achieved, there is no longer any need for the secret societies. Present day masonry has suffered from a decline in membership. Perhaps there is no need for Simmel’s “apartness” in a democratic republic based on the fundamentally Masonic ideals of individual liberty, religious freedom, the pursuit of happiness and justice for all, in which case the success of Masonic idealism in the United States may ultimately lead to our downfall. Thankfully we are recently experiencing a renewal of interest in the order led by men who are particularly inspired by the esoteric nature of the craft, for which there is a need for secrecy and may offer hope for the future of our order. 4. Esoterica, Enlightenment and Hubris Secrecy has its effect on adult human relationships, as people in possession of a secret obviously maintain a concealed knowledge that is not shared with the majority of other people with whom they may be in contact; the possessor of the secret is made different to other people. “Secrecy secures, so to speak, the possibility of a second world alongside the obvious world, and the latter is most strenuously affected by the former. Every relationship between two individuals or two groups will be characterized by the ratio of secrecy that is involved in it. Even when one of the parties does not notice the secret factor, yet the attitude of the concealer, and consequently the whole relationship, will be modified by it.” Simmel, 1906, 462 This means that those who possess a secret are inevitably changed by it, and may fall into a sense of superiority to their fellow men: their status shifts because they know the secret. Indeed, secret societies are attractive to men whose employment keeps them in positions that are held in low regard in general society, suggesting that some members may find within the organization the social respect they lack in their ordinary interactions. Regardless of their membership’s position in the social strata, secret societies are elitist since only those considered worthy of knowing its secrets are allowed to become members. In perhaps the most enlightened exegesis of the Tarot ever written, the Christian author of Meditations on the Tarot Originally anonymous, but now known to have been written by the Anthroposophist Valentin Tomberg succinctly interprets the meanings of each card. In his explanation of the Chariot he expands upon the dangers of what he describes as “mystical megalomania”, the tendency he noted in people who aspire to a higher, broader and deeper plane of existence to become “haughty”, “more important”, or in other words, “inflated”, or overly egotistical. Anonymous 2002, 152 - 160 In this context practicing secrecy may help the student esotericist avoid hubris and egomania as he passes among his fellow men. In order to overcome the tendency to megalomania various initiatory groups have in common the tradition of gradually revealing their mysteries to the initiate by progression through a series of degrees, each concealing new moral teachings or access to concealed knowledge. By his gradual progression the candidate gains not only knowledge of the order, but his understanding that there are more degrees to come prevents his becoming overly full of himself. Additionally, as he accumulates degrees, with the attendant wisdom that goes with the study of the arcana within them, he gains the increased trust and admiration of his fellow initiates until he may ultimately become one of the elders, in a position of power and oversight. It is hoped that as a benefit of his learning that at the height of his authority the master has also gained the spiritual balance to be able to use his power with acumen. Tomberg proposed that the only real safeguard against spiritual megalomania or over-inflation was to worship God, because this act of abasement before Him reminds us that whatever we learn, however broad our understanding of the world, however high we soar in the winds of enlightenment, and however deeply we delve into the sub-currents of human experience, we remain insignificantly small before Him. 6. Silence Simmel notes that many secret societies, in particular the Pythagoreans, required prospective members to undergo training in silence before they were allowed to enter into their preliminary initiatory ceremony. Simmel, 1906, 474 The inner circle is protected from the betrayal of its secrets by an initiate’s progression through a series of degrees, gradually revealing moral instruction in a ritual framework. Ibid, 50 The Pythagoreans took this requirement to extreme lengths, expecting their exoteric probationers to endure five years of silence until they were allowed to become esoterics who could both see and listen to Pythagoras himself. Prior to the conclusion of this five-year period probationers were only allowed to listen to his words, being excluded from his presence by a veil. Iamblichus, 1988, 74 There were exceptions to this rule, for instance Abaris the Scythian was already an old man when he came to Italy from the Hyperboreans, and was welcomed by Pythagoras as an esoteric without having to pass through the period of silence. Ibid, 80 The words exoteric and esoteric mean “inner”, and “outer” respectively and esoteric has become synonymous with arcane knowledge and occultism “occult” simply means “obscured”. It is fitting that the origin of these words comes from a group whose access to the esoteric was initially through silence. Secrecy requires silence. Indeed, admonishments to secrecy and silence are found at the heart of the Western Mysteries: the Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius remain perhaps the most significant group of texts in the tradition. The Corpus includes a number a dialogues between either Poimandres or Hermes and Asclepius or Tat in which some of the secrets of the inner working of the universe are hinted at and revealed. During the Renaissance the text was regarded as a source of Egyptian wisdom, but Casaubon Casaubon thought that the Greek used in the Hermetic texts showed that they were written in the first three hundred year after Christ. However, Ralph Cudworth argued that Casaubon’s assessment did not apply to all the texts. suggested that it comes from the first three centuries after Christ, with connections to the Egyptian heritage of the Neo-Platonic lineage than a direct link to the Alexandrine mysteries. The transmission of this fundamental text was to be closely guarded as a divine treasure: Copenhaver notes that in the prologue of Book One of the Kuranides we find: ‘the god Hermes Trismegistus received this book from the angels as God’s greatest gift and passed in on to all men fit to receive secrets.’” Copenhaver 2000, xxxiv (my italics) In the opening dialogue of Hermetica the “mind of sovereignty”, Poimandres introduces the creation to Hermes, describing it as “the mystery that has been kept hidden to this very day”. Copenhaver 2000, 4 Upon Hermes’ expression of yearning to hear more, Poimandres admonishes him to remain silent, answered by Hermes’ “As you see, I am silent”, a state Poimandres approves of, rewarding him with further instruction Ibid.. The implication is that an initiate hoping to hear “the mind of sovereignty” speak must attend in receptive silence. But the mind of sovereignty is not a remote being: “your mind is god the father, they are not divided from one another for their union is life.” Ibid, 2 Hermes’ mind (and our minds collectively) is one with the mind of sovereignty! Thus in the hermetic tradition we are enjoined to meditation, contemplating the interior mind in silence in order to approach the universal mind. Indeed, the rewards of silence are clarified in XIII.8-9, a passage so potent that I have made no attempt to summarize its contents but include it in full: “From here on, my child, keep silence and say nothing; if you do so you will not obstruct the mercy that comes to us from god. Henceforth, my child, rejoice, the powers of god purify you anew for articulation of the word. To us has come knowledge of god, and when it comes, my child, ignorance has been expelled. To us has come knowledge of joy, and when it arrives grief will fly off to those who give way to it. The power that I summon after joy is continence. O sweetest power! Let us receive her too, most gladly, child. As soon as she has arrived how she has repulsed incontinence! Now in fourth place I summon perseverance, the power opposed to lust. This next level, my child, is the seat of justice. See how she has expelled injustice, without a judgement. With injustice gone, my child, we have been made just. The sixth power that I summon to us is that opposed to greed - liberality. And when greed has departed I summon another, truth, who puts deceit to flight. And truth arrives. See how the good has been fulfilled, my child, when truth arrives. For envy has withdrawn from us, but the good, together with life and light, has followed after truth and no torment any longer attacks from the darkness. Vanquished, they have flown away in a flapping of wings.” Ibid, 51 Here the gracious rewards of meditative silence are the knowledge of god, the knowledge of joy, continence, perseverance, justice, liberality, and truth. These seven oppose ignorance, grief, incontinence, lust, injustice, greed and deceit, which are banished. Furthermore, good follows after truth and envy withdraws. How beautiful are the rewards of silence? 7. The Role of Secrecy in Present Day Craft Masonry “Secrecy is indispensable in a mason of whatever degree. It is the first and almost the only lesson taught to the entered Apprentice” Pike, 2007, 99. Why should this be? It should be reasonably clear by now that secrecy is attractive to certain men, but what are the goals of freemasonry that must be kept secret? New initiates to the craft are urged to keep their experiences secret, but in many blue lodges exactly what it is that must be concealed from non-masons is unclear. Our Entered Apprentices may well gather in uncertain huddles, and in whispered conversations attempt to clarify their limitations: newly filled with excitement at having being initiated into the greatest of the orders of the Western mystery tradition they are immediately told not to talk about it. Perhaps this is intended as one of the tests of being a true mason for the newly obligated brother: to understand exactly what the secrets of freemasonry are, so he can avoid careless indiscretion. What are the secrets of Freemasonry? Charity? The Ritual? The Obligations? Are our well-known symbols to be concealed from the uninitiated? Secrecy and Charity In the Blue Lodge our secrecy is sometimes defended as a means to protect true charity, following the teaching of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew that the left hand should not know what the right hand is doing: "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. NIV 6:1-4 Although the charitable activities of the order are praiseworthy, it is not really its philanthropy that is defended by Masonic secrecy. Individual charity may be veiled by masonry, but the Grand Lodges make much mileage of the millions donated annually to charity. Indeed, Masons benefit by their association to this public declaration of the benevolence of the order, although they may do little individual giving to merit the praise of society. We rest upon the laurels of the extraordinary philanthropic work of the brethren of the early Twentieth Century, whose trust funds continue to support a variety of charitable organizations. The Secrets of the Brethren Three secretive topics are covered by masonic oaths: masons will not discuss the ritual work, in other words, the initiation ceremonies; they will not share the grips, signs or words with a non mason, as these are the means by which masons recognize each other; and they will keep the secrets of brethren as their own. This last promise is a powerful commitment that binds masons to their fraternal obligation, raising the stakes of admission to the order to a higher bar. The door to the preparation room must be guarded well if the brethren are to swear this kind of allegiance to the men entering it: are these men whose secrets they will be reluctant to keep? This obligates members of the fraternity to the new members as much as the new members are obligated to the organization they have joined. On the face of it this situation presents an ethical dilemma, because although the teachings of the society may be morally upstanding, the acts of the candidate once he has been initiated may not satisfy accepted standards, in which case the policy of keeping his secrets presents a serious problem: does the organization simply ignore his violations, or take action? What if the initiate is breaking the law? In the past this dilemma has resulted in corruption. The solution chosen by many groups when confronted with members who violate their moral standards is not to expel the member because of all the attendant risks of exposure by an embittered man, but to punish him within the order, apropos certain pedophilic clergymen who felt the lash of a storm of opprobrium when their perversity was made public knowledge. Is this kind of secrecy appropriate to a moral organization? There is no avoiding this problem, and to the credit of masonry I believe that it is uncommon that a mason completely disgrace himself. Secrecy in Masonic Initiation We visited the subject of the secret nature of the initiations earlier, but now we will look a little more closely at the preservation of the liminal experience in freemasonry particularly. The fact that the texts of our rituals have been in the public domain for many years and are therefore no longer de facto secret has led many to declare that masonry is merely a society with odd handshakes and signs, or a private society, or a philanthropic fraternity with some quaint old traditions; but reading a published ritual does not provide the same experience as a candidate’s multi-sensory participation in the Masonic degrees. In other words, the initiatory experience may follow a published text, but the experience of the four-dimensional event far exceeds the literary version, which can only be a shadow of the real thing. A copy of King Lear may offer the pleasure of reading the wonderful poetry of Shakespeare’s language, but it will not give the reader the same overwhelmingly cathartic experience of the play as that of the audience member at an excellent production. Map is not territory. We may hear that the secret of masonry cannot be spoken, that it is the bond experienced by fraternal brethren. But the oaths made by candidates to the degrees are bold and bloody declarations of fidelity to keep all the secrets of masonry to themselves, only revealing them to other brethren if certain of their status as masons; they are promises of the silent preservation of that which has been entrusted to the initiate’s care. These promises maintain the secrecy of the rituals: the secret is the process of initiation itself Bogdan 2007, 47. Simmel views the revelation of secrets as “the climax” of secrecy: “Secrecy involves a tension which, at the moment of revelation, finds its release. This constitutes the climax in the development of the secret; in it the whole charm of secrecy concentrates and rises to its highest pitch -just as the moment of the disappearance of an object brings out the feeling of its value in the most intense degree.” Ibid. The conferral of the degrees of masonry, represent both the giving away of the secret rituals and their simultaneous expression in their highest form. We are afraid of the term “secret society” because we are aware of the potential for public interpretation of masonry as a sinister force with an unknown agenda; anti-masons spin spectacular conspiracies to scare the unaware, using our secrecy as the means to support their ideas. However much we may attempt to dodge this issue by claiming that we have exposed our secrets and offered our ritual for televised consumption, we remain a secret society in that our catechisms demand secrecy from our members and we expect them to keep their promises not to discuss their experiences. If Masonry follows the pattern Simmel describes then dispensing with secrecy is the first step toward the disintegration of the order. Arcana There is an old saying that Freemasonry is “a peculiar system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols”. The ritual includes a broad range of symbols that are interpretable by an inquiring mind, through research into the literature of the Western Mystery Tradition, but we should mistake neither allegories nor symbols for secrets. Valentin Tomberg makes useful comments: “allegories are, in fact, only figurative representations of abstract notions, and secrets are only facts, procedures, practices, or whatever doctrines that one keeps to oneself for a personal motive, because they are able to be understood and put into practice by others to whom one does not want to reveal them.” Anonymous 2002, 4 Furthermore: “authentic symbols… conceal and reveal their sense at one and the same time according to the depth of meditation. That which they reveal are not secrets, i.e. things hidden by human will, but arcana, which is something quite different.” Ibid. This needs further explanation: to Tomberg symbols are not secrets in their own right, but they inspire deeper study and may serve to remind an initiate of the teachings associated with them. Masonic symbols are frequently used against the order to discredit it with accusations of witchcraft, while their actual use is more often as a device to help jog the memory and recall the text of the rituals. In this sense the symbols are secretive in that they help in the recollection of elements that outsiders are not welcome to learn, but in themselves they serve no magical purpose. The topics of secrecy within the order have been laid out, but there are other reasons for the secrecy of our fraternity that we will examine briefly, the first deeply within the historic roots of modern freemasonry, the second found in the degrees of the Scottish Rite. 8. Secrecy in the Renaissance Although modern Freemasonry officially began with the formation in 1717 of the Grand Lodge of England in London, masonry had clearly been in existence prior to this date in order for the four London lodges to meet together. Records of early speculative initiations pre-date the Grand Lodge by over a century, including John Boswell’s initiation into the Lodge of Edinburgh on 8th June 1600, Sir Robert Moray’s into a lodge in Newcastle on 20th May 1641 and Elias Ashmole’s initiation with Col. Henry Mainwaring on 16th October 1646 to a lodge in Warrington, Lancashire. The early Seventeenth Century was not a time to be incautious about one’s religious beliefs; these were the last days of witch burning and the imprisonment and torture of heretics. In 1600 Giordiano Bruno had lost his life for heresy, and Galileo narrowly avoided a similar fate at the stake. Seventeenth Century British subjects were uncertain of their religious leadership, with a procession of monarchs alternating their allegiances followed by the rule of Cromwell and the Puritans. While Masonry provided a place for men to meet and discuss arcane matters in private and without mention of religion it was in its interest to remain secretive until Britain settled into the calm of the eighteenth Century. A similar pattern was followed by the elite Royal Society: founded by masons and alchemists, and having begun their meetings as the Invisible College it was only with the royal patronage of Charles II that they became the Royal Society in 1660. Looking further back in time to the uncertain history of operative masonry and the origins of the craft is a difficult affair that we shall not visit here, but to note that it was risky to pursue the secrets of geometry, engineering and geomancy in the climate of persecution that pervaded the Middle Ages. It is reasonable to expect the masons, many of whom were busy exploring these sciences to conceal their knowledge in secrecy when the alternative was to perish at the stake. If our roots are found in secrecy, our persistent grip on the secrecy of the ritual despite its repeated exposure may be seen as pleasure in the traditions of the order. 9. Secrecy in the Present-day 4th Degree Ritual of the Scottish Rite Of course, the initiations of the three preliminary degrees are not the only secrets of freemasonry. Master Masons who read and explore the craft quickly discover the existence of further mysteries concealed in degrees beyond the blue lodge in the York and Scottish Rites. In the 4th degree of the Scottish rite, Secret Master, we are introduced to the idea that the symbolism of the degrees is interpretable at different levels and revealed to be multi-layered and elusive. Pike declared, almost with contempt, that the first three degrees were unsatisfactory to “the true mason” who is “an ardent seeker after knowledge” Pike 2007, 98., and that by taking the 4th degree: “You have taken the first step over its threshold, the first step toward the inner sanctuary and heart of the temple. You are in the path that leads up the slope of the mountain of Truth; and it depends upon your secrecy, obedience, and fidelity, whether you will advance or remain stationary.” Ibid. Here we have the first statement in the Masonic system of an inner and outer order: masons of the Scottish Rite may be seen as participants to an inner initiatory organization concealed and doubly insulated from prying outsiders by the outer order of the blue lodges that bears the brunt of their intrusion, allowing only a limited experience of the serious business that is revealed in the higher degrees. This secret has survived better than those of the blue lodge: few outsiders are aware of, or understand the nature of the Scottish Rite, let alone its emphasis on withstanding religious and political tyranny. The key that appears in the fourth degree is a useful symbol of secrecy: the bearer of a key has access to whatever lies behind the lock: his guardianship of the key implies that he is trust-worthy. When he included the key in the symbolism of the Secret Master degree Pike may have been thinking of the old ceremonies of the third degree in the Adonhiramite Rite: “What do you conceal? 
All the secrets which have been entrusted to me.
 Where do you conceal them? 
In the heart.
 Have you a key to gain entrance there? 
 Yes, Right Worshipful.
 Where do you keep it? 
In a box of coral which opens and shuts only with ivory teeth. 
Of what metal is it composed?
 Of none. It is a tongue obedient to reason, which knows only how to speak well of those of whom it speaks in their absence as in their presence.” Mackey 1929 Volume I, 517 What is the message of the ivory key? Keep your mouth shut! The key reappears in the thirty-second degree, when it is used to unlock the balustrade leading to the holy of holies. Bibliography Pike, Albert. 2007, Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Nu-Vision Bogdan, Henrik. 2007, Western Esotericism and Rituals of Initiation, SUNY Press Copenhaver, Brian. 2000. Hermetica. Cambridge Guthrie, Kenneth. 1988. The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library. Phanes Mackey, Albert. 1929. Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry. Volumes I and II. The Masonic History Company Simmel, Georg, 1906 The Sociology of Secrecy and of Secret Societies. The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 11, No. 4. (Jan., 1906), pp. 441-498. University of Chicago Press Felix, Minucius, Octavius Online transcription accessed 29th July 2007 at http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/octavius.html