Posted on by Kyle Roques

Civility Mosaic

The Civility Mosaic is a practical guide that zeros in on what is arguably the greatest ailment affecting Western civilization today: the almost complete breakdown of civility and the balkanization of the population into warring tribes engaged in a scorch Earth battle to silence one another’s opinions.

There is a razor thin line between democracy and rule by the mob…

John Adams wrote “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” They recognize that our nation’s ongoing survival depended on its citizens being equipped with the civic virtues of honesty, courtesy, responsibility, industriousness, marriage, and religious devotion of some kind.

Freemasonry was deliberately encouraged to expand westward across America specifically to teach this rough desperate and illiterate public how to get along with one another…. The Masonic lodge became a classroom wherein its members learned how to operate a Republic. In an age before widespread, organized schools, the lodge ritual introduced members to concepts of Enlightenment, of the liberal arts and sciences, of the importance of honor and duty of the Cardinal virtues and more… We still teach our members the same ancient code of behavior and elements of character that sustained Western civilization for centuries.

The Civility Mosaic is a Handbook, a primer about how to apply the philosophy, lessons, and structure of Freemasonry to repair our relationships with others and, in doing so, repair the society around us….

If you are not a Mason yourself, it will provide valuable insight into this ancient and honorable society. If you are a Mason, it’s an exciting book, a guide to spreading the evangel of equality, brotherhood, and the power of the individual to act as a powerful force in the world around him.

Chris Hodapp
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Mystery School’s – What Are They?

“Mystery School’s, the ancient Mysteries, Mystery traditions” – what does “Mystery” mean, and why is it sometimes capitalized?

I had the question myself the first time I heard the term. I use the term often when speaking about Freemasonry and it’s a term you’ll see often when studying esoteric/occult teachings. It’s definition is quite vast and can’t really be articulated, but I’ll attempt to be as succinct as possible here, with a few quotes to aid in understanding.

Taken from Wiki:
“Mystery religions, mystery cults, sacred mysteries or simply mysteries, were religious schools of the Greco-Roman world for which participation was reserved to initiates (mystai). The main characterization of this religion is the secrecy associated with the particulars of the initiation and the ritual practice, which may not be revealed to outsiders.”

“A ‘mystery’, as it was originally defined in ancient Greece and used in the Orphic and Eleusinian mystery schools, is a type of divine revelation that can only be conveyed by experience and is incomprehensible to reason. The revelation initiates or begins a cognitive change in the recipient – also known as the initiate – that alters the way he or she sees and interacts with the world. It is not based on information or even feelings and therefore, it cannot be put into words.” – Kirk C. White

Simply put, what all Mystery schools have in common, is that they just offer a circumstance dedicated to giving the necessary space one needs to start to understand who they really are, for one to discover their real Self. So it’s the study of the Self, as an individual endeavor, and cannot be learnt/learned from anything/anyone outside of yourself.

Some of the documented, original, most ancient Mystery School’s that some may know are the Greco-Roman Mysteries (ie. Eleusinian, Samothracian, Mithriac, Dionysian, etc.)

Historically, “Their primary mission was to protect and preserve the ancient systems of enlightenment, healing, manifestation, transmutation and transformation so that they can be continually used by humanity for its collective progression. Mystery School teachings are imparted by an oral tradition. Rooted in shamanic and mystic ways of wisdom, these teachings are handed down unbroken from teacher to student in an unbroken lineage that has withstood the test of time. … To understand GOD, we must first understand ourselves who were made in their image. Mystery schools exist to empower us to ‘Know Thyself’.

As you can see, the term Mystery, when used to speak about the ancient tradition of the Mystery School’s, is not defined as most people use the word ‘mystery’ today.
Hopefully this helps one to understand what the ancient Mysteries are and what the Mystery School’s impart. But like I stated above, the “Mysteries” can only be known and felt by the individual. No one can explain to you what it is. You have to have direct contact with diety to truly understand.

Posted on by Kyle Roques

Opulence

The Freemasonic ritual is intended to be a spiritually transformative experience. The initiatic aspect of Freemasonry is “intended to actually change the candidate; a rebirth with a new cognitive frame that allows him to see that he could not before – to behold the ‘mysteries’ of Freemasonry and not just the secrets.”

W.L. Wilmhurst writes:
“The purpose of initiation may be defined as follows: – it is to stimulate and awaken the candidate to direct cognition and irrefutable demonstration of facts and truths of his own being about which previously he has been either wholly ignorant or only notionally informed; It is to bring him into direct conscious contact with the Realities underlying the surface images of things, so that, instead of holding merely beliefs or opinions about himself, the universe and God, he is directly and convincingly confronted with truth itself; And finally it is to move him to become the Good and the Truth revealed to him by identifying himself with it.”

Part of how we make good men better is by this process of initiation. Which, when done right, fundamentally changes the way our brothers see, think, and act in the world. Mircea Eliade has this to say about the initiation process: “…the novice emerges from the ordeal endowed with a totally different being from that which he possessed before his initiation; he has become another.”

This is what happened to me when I was Initiated, Passed, and Raised through the fraternity. This is the main reason I stay active in the lodge, because this was so transformative and important to me. So now I am paying it forward to give new canindates the same experience. Because without me, new, and veteran Masons conferring these rituals, Freemasonry dies.

I get to take part in these initiations on a regular basis. I regularly have new canindates personally thank me and tell me that I helped in spiritually transforming them (since I typically perform very critical and involved roles) – as my brothers did for me when I was a new canindate. I’ve seen the transformations, sometimes even the very moment of epiphany.

This brings me a level of joy that I never knew existed. My life has never been more meaningful. I have never had so much direction, drive, and determination. I have never felt so powerful and strong. I have never been so happy. Words cannot convey my feelings. At the very least, all I can say is that all these feelings are felt with an intensity I never knew existed.

I now know the reason the Mystery School tradition has been passed down for 1000s of years. And I couldn’t be more honored to keep it alive and well.

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Masonic Archeology

It is true that Freemasonry is the parent of all religion, the original worldwide cosmic gnosis, diffused in ancient times to the uttermost ends of the earth. Freemasonry is the Pompeii of prehistoric science. All the Masonic ritual, it’s Egyptian signs, it’s Chaldean grips, it’s Sanskirt passwords, is ancient Hebrew symbols, it’s cabalistic allusions and its historical records are supremely scientific and a survival through long ages, by various underground channels, of the knowledge of the universe which was gained by Sabian astronomers from the temple tops of Chaldea, India and China and recorded by the equally learned geometers and mathematicians of the ancient Orient.

Frank C. Higgins
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Freemasonry’s Priceless Heritage

The sanctum sanctorum of Freemasonry is ornamented with the gnostic jewels of a thousand ages; its rituals ring with the divinely inspired words of seers and sages. A hundred religions have brought their gifts of wisdom to its altar; arts and sciences unnumbered have contributed to its symbolism. Freemasonry is a world-wide university, teaching the liberal arts and sciences of of the soul to all who will hearken to its words. It’s chairs are seats of learning and its pillars uphold an arch of universal education.

The philosophic power of Freemasonry lies in its symbols – it’s priceless heritage from the Mystery schools of antiquity. In a letter to Robert Freke Gould, Albert Pike writes:

“In it’s symbolism, which and it’s spirit of brotherhood are its essence, Freemasonry is more ancient than any of the world’s living religions. …”

Though Zoroaster, Hermes, Pythagoras, Plato. and Aristotle are now but dim memories in a world once rocked by the transcendency of their intellectual genius, still in the mystic temple of Freemasonry these god-men live again in their words and symbols; and the candidate, passing through the initiations, feels himself face-to-face with these illumined heirphants of days long past.

Manly P. Hall
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Temple Initiation

To truly enter the Temple a change in mind set must occur, this is sometimes referred to as “the process of initiation into the Mysteries” – the development of the intelligence of the heart – the Initiate must learn to focus on the inside rather than the outside and look beyond the visible to the invisible, to what lies beneath and the world within.


Its precisely the things we don’t see – we can’t see – that were the secrets of the Mystery schools. A sometimes difficult concept to grasp, it can require an adjustment in thinking and perception, as it focuses not on the physical, material world, but on its underlying causes. The great Mysteries concerned the invisible laws, forces, archetypes, and secret connections that are the building blocks – the invisible templates of our reality – and perhaps the roadmap to operating in higher realms as well.

Magical Egypt Episode 1
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More than a Gateway to the West.

  • The Civil Court building in STL
  • Knapp-Hall deck

The Arch lays the fertile ground – or foundation – to St.Louis and gives birth to the rest of the nation, symbolized by the symbols of fertility on the Arch grounds.

The Sphinx alludes towards the mind ascending to take dominion over the processes of life, disorder, and destruction being overcome. It represents equilibrium or the balance of all forces of nature, it also intimates illusion and like the Sphinx of Oedipus sits ready to destroy all incapable of answering it’s riddle. The whole sphere of Nature as man knows it is but a shadow of reality. The Sphinx is the keeper of the gates of mystery, illusion itself is the keeper of reality and illusion destroys itself when we give the right answer to life’s riddles. Though there is only one, the Sphinx of Egypt guarding the Giza complex, looking East, watching the sunrise, these two sphinxes sit back to back watching the sunrise and sunset as if they’re the keepers of this illusion we call reality (crowning the Wheel of Fortune). These sit just like the Sphinx on the Wheel of Fortune card in Tarot crowning the wheel declaring the entire wheel itself is an illusion.

Credit for the large majority of the interpretation goes to Yolanda M. Robinson and Manly P. Hall

Posted on by Kyle Roques

Hellenistic Gifts

When the Greeks came to dominate Egypt and the Middle East it created a cosmopolitan environment that synthesized Egyptian and Middle East religion with Greek rationalism, leading to groups of mystical philosophies known as Neoplatonist. It also led to a series of mystical texts known as the Hermetic texts, containing works on alchemy, magic, astrology, and philosophy – collectively called the Hermetica. Hermetic philosophy became a major influence on all Western magical practices and mystical traditions. Neoplatonism, alchemy, Kabbalah, Sufism, mystical Christianity and occultism, including the Tarot are all affected by this influence.

Posted on by Kyle Roques

Egypt

A principle reason for studying ancient Egyptian texts is that they reconnect us with something vital that our culture has forgotten. Egyptian “religion” paradoxically points us toward our own future which is surely to develop new capabilities of consciousness to awaken us once more to the spiritual realities of which the mystical literature of ancient Egypt speaks.