HIDDEN TRADITION IN MASONRY AND MEDIEVAL MYSTICISM - I OAKLEY, Masońskie
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Traces
of
a
Hidden
Tradition
in
Masonry
and
Medieval
Mysticism
By
Isabel Cooper-Oakley
London; Theosophical Publishing Society
CONTENTS.
PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION
5
II. TOWARDS THE HIDDEN SOURCES OF MASONRY
31
III. THE TRADITIONS OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS REVIVED IN
MASONRY
76
IV. THE TROUBADOURS
103
V. THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM OF THE HOLY GRAIL
137
p. 5
INTRODUCTION.
THE series of sketches which are now brought together appeared originally as
detached articles in the pages of the Theosophical Review, written, however,
with the object of demonstrating to students of Theosophy that a definite
design could be traced beneath the apparently disconnected mystic doctrines
held by the many occult brotherhoods, heretic sects and mystic associations
which cluster so thickly together as we glance along the historical by-ways of
religious thought during the Middle Ages. That object becomes clearer when
they appear as they do now in closer juxtaposition.
To those who wish to understand the reason of this steady recurrence of
mystic tradition in every century, these studies may be of some use. They will
serve as literary landmarks to guide the seeker to
p. 6
those distant sources whence flow faint echoes of divine truths--the heritage
of the divine human race; truths that bring dim memories to the soul which
are its highest impulse, and give the clue that guides it to the inner "science of
the soul"--the mystic quest of all the saints, and the hidden truth that all
religions have tried to teach, and which only a few in each religion have ever
realized.
Mystics, visionaries, dreamers of vain dreams have been the names which the
scoffers have always thrown at those who counted the world as nought
compared with the treasure of the unseen life, and who devoted their lives to
this divine science, and tried to reach an understanding of its laws. And as we
trace out the records of the past it will be clearly seen that the Theosophical
development is but another link in a wondrous chain of mystic teaching which
stretches far back into the night of time.
Such a claim must be proved and its pretensions shown to be accurate, but it
is only by careful researches in the historical dust-bins of the middle-ages that
these data can be disinterred, and the chain of evidence rendered complete.
Then it becomes evident that Theosophy is that glorious wisdom-religion
which includes in its scope all religions and all philosophies.
And as we piece together the fragments of these historical relics, they waken
delicate memories of the divine dreamer Dionysius the Areopagite, hallowed
echoes of John Scotus Erigena, and thus we come
p. 7
face to face with the holy secrets of tender mystical souls who sought the true
meaning of life. We get strange glimpses of the intense devotion of the
scholastic divines, and monks to whom the unseen life was an intense and
vital reality. The thoughts of Averroes and the Arabian mystics emerge--they
who brought much of the Eastern truth and who founded the great occult
schools of the once glorious Toledo, whence flowed a stream of thought, which
formed the very life and soul of the heresies--so-called--of the Middle Ages.
Nor may we omit the lore of the Eastern and Syrian monasteries to whom the
books of Dionysius had taken the wisdom of Plotinus. Nor can the
troubadours be passed by, the singers of mystic songs, and carriers of occult
knowledge.
Singers, scholars, saints, and martyrs, a goodly array of men and women, all
seeking the soul, and the soul's true world. Looked at from without, such a
view appears like a worn mosaic pavement, broken, defaced, with many gaps
lacking to make a perfect picture, and yet as we search and piece the
apparently broken fragments the design begins to unfold itself, and finally the
picture may be traced in perfect outline. For at the back of all these varying
streams of thought there may be found one centre whence all diverge, and that
great fount was named in ancient India, Brahma-Vidy, the Theosophia of the
Neo-Platonists.
This ancient Wisdom Religion is the "thread-soul" on which are strung all the
various incarnations
p. 8
and encasements of the religious life, adapted to the changing conditions and
developments of humanity in its growth from childhood to manhood.
Begotten by that spiritual Hierarchy in whose guardianship is the evolution of
the human race, brought forth from them, they, the guardians of the mystic
tradition, give to those children of men who are strong enough for the burden,
a portion of the real teaching of the Divine Science
*
concerning God and man,
and the wonderful relationship that exists between the two.
With the passing of time the old orders changed, old forms perished, and the
divine Sun that shone on the ever-changing screen of time veiled itself in new
hues, and gathered into new groupings the humanity of the Western races,
and each century which rolled by evolved a new phase of the ancient mystic
tradition.
In the olden days men fought for their faiths, for they identified the form with
that divine Life which lies at the back of all forms, and the changing of an
outward veil shook their belief in the Holy Spirit, which it did but shroud.
They feared change and sought to crystallize the Spirit, and this fear of change
gave rise to that tenacious hold on outward ceremonies which has wrought so
much evil in all the religions of the world.
p. 9
Religious parties, secret societies, sects of every description, such is the
shifting panorama of the religious life of Europe during the last eighteen
hundred years, and as we glance back from our present standpoint, it is
difficult at times to discern the mystic traditions, so loud is the clamour of
contending sects over their formal doctrines, the outward expressions of their
inner faith.
A word may here be said to guard against one error that might arise with
regard to the spiritual Hierarchy before mentioned, the guardians of the
world's religions. It is from this great communion that the World-Saviours
have from time to time come forth, and from this centre have sprung all the
"Sons of God."
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Traces
of
a
Hidden
Tradition
in
Masonry
and
Medieval
Mysticism
By
Isabel Cooper-Oakley
London; Theosophical Publishing Society
CONTENTS.
PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION
5
II. TOWARDS THE HIDDEN SOURCES OF MASONRY
31
III. THE TRADITIONS OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS REVIVED IN
MASONRY
76
IV. THE TROUBADOURS
103
V. THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM OF THE HOLY GRAIL
137
p. 5
INTRODUCTION.
THE series of sketches which are now brought together appeared originally as
detached articles in the pages of the Theosophical Review, written, however,
with the object of demonstrating to students of Theosophy that a definite
design could be traced beneath the apparently disconnected mystic doctrines
held by the many occult brotherhoods, heretic sects and mystic associations
which cluster so thickly together as we glance along the historical by-ways of
religious thought during the Middle Ages. That object becomes clearer when
they appear as they do now in closer juxtaposition.
To those who wish to understand the reason of this steady recurrence of
mystic tradition in every century, these studies may be of some use. They will
serve as literary landmarks to guide the seeker to
p. 6
those distant sources whence flow faint echoes of divine truths--the heritage
of the divine human race; truths that bring dim memories to the soul which
are its highest impulse, and give the clue that guides it to the inner "science of
the soul"--the mystic quest of all the saints, and the hidden truth that all
religions have tried to teach, and which only a few in each religion have ever
realized.
Mystics, visionaries, dreamers of vain dreams have been the names which the
scoffers have always thrown at those who counted the world as nought
compared with the treasure of the unseen life, and who devoted their lives to
this divine science, and tried to reach an understanding of its laws. And as we
trace out the records of the past it will be clearly seen that the Theosophical
development is but another link in a wondrous chain of mystic teaching which
stretches far back into the night of time.
Such a claim must be proved and its pretensions shown to be accurate, but it
is only by careful researches in the historical dust-bins of the middle-ages that
these data can be disinterred, and the chain of evidence rendered complete.
Then it becomes evident that Theosophy is that glorious wisdom-religion
which includes in its scope all religions and all philosophies.
And as we piece together the fragments of these historical relics, they waken
delicate memories of the divine dreamer Dionysius the Areopagite, hallowed
echoes of John Scotus Erigena, and thus we come
p. 7
face to face with the holy secrets of tender mystical souls who sought the true
meaning of life. We get strange glimpses of the intense devotion of the
scholastic divines, and monks to whom the unseen life was an intense and
vital reality. The thoughts of Averroes and the Arabian mystics emerge--they
who brought much of the Eastern truth and who founded the great occult
schools of the once glorious Toledo, whence flowed a stream of thought, which
formed the very life and soul of the heresies--so-called--of the Middle Ages.
Nor may we omit the lore of the Eastern and Syrian monasteries to whom the
books of Dionysius had taken the wisdom of Plotinus. Nor can the
troubadours be passed by, the singers of mystic songs, and carriers of occult
knowledge.
Singers, scholars, saints, and martyrs, a goodly array of men and women, all
seeking the soul, and the soul's true world. Looked at from without, such a
view appears like a worn mosaic pavement, broken, defaced, with many gaps
lacking to make a perfect picture, and yet as we search and piece the
apparently broken fragments the design begins to unfold itself, and finally the
picture may be traced in perfect outline. For at the back of all these varying
streams of thought there may be found one centre whence all diverge, and that
great fount was named in ancient India, Brahma-Vidy, the Theosophia of the
Neo-Platonists.
This ancient Wisdom Religion is the "thread-soul" on which are strung all the
various incarnations
p. 8
and encasements of the religious life, adapted to the changing conditions and
developments of humanity in its growth from childhood to manhood.
Begotten by that spiritual Hierarchy in whose guardianship is the evolution of
the human race, brought forth from them, they, the guardians of the mystic
tradition, give to those children of men who are strong enough for the burden,
a portion of the real teaching of the Divine Science
*
concerning God and man,
and the wonderful relationship that exists between the two.
With the passing of time the old orders changed, old forms perished, and the
divine Sun that shone on the ever-changing screen of time veiled itself in new
hues, and gathered into new groupings the humanity of the Western races,
and each century which rolled by evolved a new phase of the ancient mystic
tradition.
In the olden days men fought for their faiths, for they identified the form with
that divine Life which lies at the back of all forms, and the changing of an
outward veil shook their belief in the Holy Spirit, which it did but shroud.
They feared change and sought to crystallize the Spirit, and this fear of change
gave rise to that tenacious hold on outward ceremonies which has wrought so
much evil in all the religions of the world.
p. 9
Religious parties, secret societies, sects of every description, such is the
shifting panorama of the religious life of Europe during the last eighteen
hundred years, and as we glance back from our present standpoint, it is
difficult at times to discern the mystic traditions, so loud is the clamour of
contending sects over their formal doctrines, the outward expressions of their
inner faith.
A word may here be said to guard against one error that might arise with
regard to the spiritual Hierarchy before mentioned, the guardians of the
world's religions. It is from this great communion that the World-Saviours
have from time to time come forth, and from this centre have sprung all the
"Sons of God."
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