Posted on by Kyle Roques

A Symbolist’s Vision

Partially what has inspired me, and led me to the path that I’m on, is watching and learning from the great Symbolists. People that can readily and pragmatically, extract meaning from, and interpret, esoteric/occult/religious symbolism, art and the like. People that approach dreams, the imagination and spirituality, with a more academic approach. I want to be able to see the world as they do, because they see the world in a completely different way than the lay person.

So one of the main focuses in my study is the development of my intuition, with the intention of being able to understand and interpret the universal language of symbolism. As you can imagine, or know from experience, this is very difficult to do. Partially because symbolism is intentionally vague, yet has to be interpreted through a certain framework. You have to train your intuition and study the roots of the symbology academically.

Starting out years ago, I wasn’t able to extract hardly any sort of meaning, from any kind of symbolism and/or art. I’d look at say a tarot card, and get nothing out of it without looking up what everything means, and relying on other people’s interpretation, which defeats the purpose of esoteric/occult symbolism.

I see a lot of people (and this was myself in the past) ask: “What does this image mean?”. No one can tell you what the image means. Esoteric and occult symbolism is intentionally vague to allow the individual to impart their own personal level of interpretation (again, still limited within a certain framework). The subtle aspects of our nature is what makes us more than who we are, more than just an animal, or just material elements in a meat sack. The things that you can’t quite explain, feelings and meanings you can’t articulate, phenomenon that can’t be explained by material science – it’s these aspects of our being that esoteric/occult symbolism is supposed to communicate with. It’s supposed to invite these divine, subtle aspects of our nature to step forward. The meaning has to come from within.

For years I have had the same problem I described above, about not being able to extract meaning from the symbolism. Finally, after many years of research, study and training, I have gotten to a point where I’m starting to intuit meaning from the art. It sort of just hit me out of no where. I guess a piece of the divine spark has touched me. So I’d like to share one of my recent interpretations. Partly because I’m very proud of myself, but majoraly because I want to let people in on how profound this ability is.

Below will be my interpretation of this image. For people not read on hermetic or qabbalistic philosophy, you’ll likely see most of this as gibberish. A quick Google search on the hermetic principle of the “All”, and a search on the alchemical “magnum opus”, will definitely help and for the most part, get you up to speed.

For me the raven represents sort of the most evolved intelligence in the bird kingdom – specifically noting how social and intuitive they are. Plus all the other traditional meanings birds imply. So in other words the most advanced state of consciousness in the bird kingdom.

Seeing the circle, encapsulated (or perhaps “nested”) in the square, the square in the triangle, and triangle in the circle, represents a totality of the structure of our material and divine constitution within the “All” (the hermetic and qabbalistic concept of the All).

I see the first circle as me (us – humans), it’s the “dot” or “point” (perhaps one individual seed of conciousness), radiating out, unfolded in its highest, most divine form, yet still encapsulated in this material realm.

The square, or us in the four fold material realm, is us realized to it’s most divine capacity, partaking or touching the higher, divine, trinitarian, ethereal realm of spirit.
So that threefold aspect of divine cosmic spirit is nested within the “limitless and boundless” All (again I’m speaking in hermetic and qabbalistic terms).

So I see this image sort of as a reminder of what is possible with our “baser” self(s). The raven also intimates towards the alchemical philosophers stone or the magnum opus. A reminder that with just base elements you can create something evolved to its highest potential (ie. the raven), something that takes part in, or something that becomes divine. That with mastery over the material and spiritual realms, we can bring ourselves back to unity with the All.

But the deeper meaning this image has for me, I can’t articulate. This is why I love esoteric and occult symbolism. Partly because with just some simple symbols you can convey truths and realities that cannot be articulated. As I stated above, just as the subtle parts of the raven is what makes it divine, and the subtle parts of our nature is what makes us divine, occult symbolism speaks to that higher more ethereal parts of our nature. It stimulates and invites out our divine nature to step forward. The universal language of symbolism is a direct path to diety and brings you closer to divinity with every step. This is a Symbolist’s vision.

Posted on by Kyle Roques

Why Esoteric Traditions Veil Their Truths

Many people look down on institutions or organizations that openly claim to keep secrets. Christians have been one of the harshest critics about this and baselessly claim Masonic secrets are kept for nefarious reasons. Yet even Christianity veils truths in their scripture and their teachings. Just about every esoteric and/or occult group, practice veiling their deepest truths in symbolism and allegory. Even nature hides Truths in plain sight.

Below are some quotes on the subject, one even coming from the bible.

Masonry, like all the religions, all the Mysteries, Hermeticism and Alchemy, conceals its secrets from all except the adepts and sages, or the elect, and uses false explanations and misinterpretations of its symbols to mislead those who deserve only to be misled; to conceal the Truth, which it calls Light, from them, and to draw them away from it. Truth is not for those who are unworthy or unable to receive it, or would pervert it.

Albert Pike

Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not cast your pearls before swine, or they will trample them underfoot and turn and mow you.

Matt 7:6

There are a few reasons this is done and it’s not done for any nefarious reasons. Though, obviously a corrupt institution can do it for nefarious reasons.

One of the main reasons this is done is to prevent people from perverting the truth for their own gain. I can use the mainstream accepted “Truth” about Lucifer, from the Bible, as an example. The veiled truth is that Lucifer (as stated in the Bible, he is the Light Bringer) is to be thought of more as a force, not an existing personified demon. Understanding Lucifer as a force means that as an individual, seeing evil in their heart, has to take responsibility for that evil. Because it is a force that stems from them and that they partake in. If the uninitiated, profane, and/or unworthy find out this truth they would pervert it. They would rather think of Lucifer as a personified demon, as something separate from them, so that they can avoid all responsibility for that evil. “It’s not me, it’s the devil, it’s his fault!”

People would rather deny the torture of understanding their baser yearnings in self deceit. The more the actual truth is pushed on certain individuals the more they push back. Self deceit turns into denialism and a whole new way of seeing the world. These people build a new a better truth for themselves, at the detriment to the world around them, so it’s better to veil these deeper truths from the profane.

Another main reason the truth is veiled is because truth is actually a very subjective thing. “Truth is the aim of belief” and we all have different beliefs and aims.

Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality. In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs, propositions, and declarative sentences.

Wikipedia: Truth

Just telling an individual the Truth doesn’t work, they have to find the Truth for themselves. So you veil the Truth in such a way that it leads people on a journey to discover it for themselves, in their own way.

Without this method people will never understand the Truth on their own. This is the main reason Masons hide their Truths in symbolism and allegory. This is the philosophy of a Freemason, to attempt to lift the veil of reality into the deeper Truths that lay hidden in plain sight.

Posted on by Kyle Roques

Morals and Dogma

This edition of the book is of very high quality paper, illustrations, and binding.

Reading morals and dogma is an epic adventure punctuated by rhapsodic beauty and sheer confusion. Pike and his sources swing our attention to the perennial grear questions: Where do we come from? Who are we? Why are we here? What are the duties of man? What assurance do we have of a Divine Presence in the human spirit? What is the nature of reality? What ethical and moral obligations does one have to the world at large? Is there anything to be learned from human suffering? Can people of different faiths agree on a shared religious duty?

These questions, and many others, agitate the mind, and rivet our attention as much today as they did in Plato or Aristotle’s time, let alone a mere 140 years ago.

The relevance of Morals and Dogma today lies in it’s exploration of the great questions and philosophical dilemmas which have always moved humanity. Particularly for the Mason, this book serves the useful purpose of putting Masonic morality and ethics within the context of the general society. Morals and dogma bids man to think large – to cast aside the petty concerns of everyday life and to be better than he even believes he can be. As initiates of the 30 degree Knight Kadosh are aware, “Strive not to be better than others, but to be better than thyself” Is one of the duties of a Masonic philosopher.

Supreme Council 33 Degree
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The Many Dimensions of a Freemasonic Lodge Meet

In the course of one lodge meeting, Freemasonry is a spiritual organization when the chaplain leads the brethren in prayer and asks for the blessing of Diety. It is a guild when the Master of the lodge teaches the new Mason the symbolic uses of stonemason’s tools. It becomes a school of instruction when the new brother learns about the importance of the 7 liberal arts and sciences. At other moments, it is an amateur theater company when the ritual is performed. The lodge becomes a men’s social club when meeting for dinner and fellowship. It becomes a charitable group when relief is provided to distressed brothers, their families or the local community perlocal community. It is also a business association when members with similar interests share ideas. The lodge resembles a family when fathers and sons, strangers and friends bond as ‘brothers’, and it is a community league when volunteers are needed for a project.

Mark Tabbert
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So, What is Masonic Ritual?

Traditionally, the primary purpose of the ritual is to educate the candidate. The rituals are closer to a play/drama/performance than anything else.

The ceremonial lore revolves around the period during which the First Temple at Jerusalem was built by King Solomon. King Solomon. The stories build from a peaceful and regal beginning which explains the inspiration for and construction of the Temple, leading up to a cataclysmic event which has come to symbolize the central morality of Speculative Freemasonry.

Throughout the series of short plays, you’ll come across dozens of metaphors, imparting the moral criteria which a Freemason is expected to aspire to. The ritual is composed of exquisitely crafted language, and for most masons the messages go in and stay in, enabling them to live a more positive and fulfilled live.

Rick Smith

Many avoid Freemasonry because they feel it would be “too religious” for them (myself included, until I learned more about the fraternity). If you have no issues with attending a church wedding or funeral, or being a Godfather for someone’s new baby, you should not meet any greater religious demands in craft masonry. Masons do not worship in craft lodges; that is the role of the Church.

The obvious overlap between Religion and Freemasonry is morality, which both teach as a primary function. The key difference in their approach is that fundamental religion tends towards ‘God-fearing morality’ whilst craft masonry speaks more to the Moral Compass, and the idea that your behavior in life should be geared towards preserving the stability of society and the happiness of everyone around you. For the purpose of learning and executing Masonic craft ritual, religion has no direct relevance whatsoever.

The say that “Politics is showbiz for ugly people!” For the rest of us, there’s Masonry. Ritual’s primary purpose is to implant the moral metaphors of Masonic teaching. That’s unequivocal.

Rick Smith

Being initiated into the 1st degree of Freemasonry, passed to the 2nd degree, and raised to the 3rd degree of Master Mason, does not at all make you instantly enlightened. You’re more or less just obligated into keeping the “secrets” of Masonry at that point. Being the candidate, going through the three degrees (plays), you’re really not participating, you’re just being instructed and walked through. So actually learning the ritual, being engaged and involved, actually playing a role in the ritual (drama/play), is what enables you to really learn the metaphors/teachings. It really is something you’ll be taking in and learning for a lifetime – and that’s the point. While also finding fulfillment in having an active role in passing down these teachings, bettering yourself, your brothers, and community.

So in short: As I’ve stated before, there really is no secrets in Freemasonry, all the “secret” knowledge is passed down through the ritual. This secret knowledge being universal teachings we all know and live by as humans. The only real secret being how this knowledge is delivered, via the ritual.

The main reason for the secrecy is because it’s like spoiling a movie. If I tell you what the ritual is, everything that’s in it and how it’s delivered, then when you experience it yourself it won’t have the same impact and effect as it would if you didn’t know anything about it. Knowing all that beforehand would totally ruin the experience and the effect it is supposed to have on your psyche.

Posted on by Kyle Roques

Ritual and the Freemasonic Tradition

Freemasonry is different things for different men. We all join the fraternity for different reasons, nonetheless, we are all bound by one core tenet, and that is: to make good men better. We’re all here to improve ourselves individually and to help lift each other up as a group. 


I became a Freemason, and maintain my position in the lodge, for a few reasons. One of the main reasons, the one that has had the most profound effect on me, is the ritual. 


There really are no secrets in Freemasonry. All of their teachings are self evident, universal truths, known to all of humankind. The only thing that is “secret” (i’d say a better term is hidden, or rather, occult knowledge) about Freemasonry is how that information is taught/delivered. They do this through ritual. Most people start thinking Satan worship when they hear of occult rituals, this couldn’t be further from the truth in Freemasonry. Their rituals are basically just plays we act out and that’s how the knowledge is delivered. 


As humans, we all have a part of ourselves that extends itself out to the world, in an attempt to understand the things that we don’t know. We do this in our behavior, in image, myth, story, drama, ritual, symbolism, etc..There is something very profound about ritual as a phenomenon. Evolutionarily, this is one of the most vital and essential ways we have passed down our knowledge, for 100s of 1000s (if not millions) of years. The most ancient stories we have as a species allude to this. Using the Bible for example, the biblical stories were created in part from observing each other and our behavior for millennia. They are patterns of human behavior that we observed, acted out (ritual/play/drama), then articulated in the biblical narrative. (Partly why Bible verse is used in our ritual)


Ritual is at the very core of how we evolved as a species, it cannot be stressed enough how crucial this has been for our evolution. Understanding and knowledge begin with ritual. We first act things out as human beings, behaviorally, it’s essentially just a drama/play. Understanding isn’t just knowledge, understanding means you embody the information and act it out. It’s like children playing (“rough housing”), they don’t KNOW what they’re doing conciously, they’re just acting it out, observing each others behavior (learning), then distilling that information. That’s why we are able to dance with each other, it’s just knowledge and understanding that we embody and act out.


So this process of acting things out in our environment behaviorally, observing it, then distilling that information, is a process that has taken place for millions of years (arguably since beings with nervous systems have existed). This eventually led us to a place where we could actually articulate that knowledge, like the biblical narratives. This is powerful beyond comprehension. This how we have been able to pass down information, largely un changed, for millennia. Just like you can only get certain information/knowledge from a book that you can’t get from a movie, or movie to a book, or video game to movie or book etc., ritual is unique in the information it contains and how it distills that information. Ritual being a core process for our evolutionary success, it can teach you in ways nothing else can. It is absolutely fundamental to understanding. Ritual is powerful in inarticulate ways, something you just have to experience yourself to understand. These rituals are far from being just archaic and silly superstition (as many believe).

Many people may claim to understand and know Masonic teachings, and while they are universal truths, you will never quite understand what Freemasonry is about without experiencing their rituals. One thing is for sure though, I can attest to the profundity in the Freemasonic tradition. There is also a very powerful feeling knowing that you are part of, and have gone through, the same experience as many other very influential men from the past (14 presidents included). With vague ties as far back as the ancient Egyptian temple initiations, all the way through the ancient Mystery School traditions, culminating in the Age of Enlightenment when the fraternity was founded. 


I am an initiate of the flame, a seeker of Truth, bringer of light, warden of wisdom, and a candidate that has been raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason. I have been forever changed for the better, this no doubt has been another rebirth for me, and a start to a very new and exciting chapter of my life. 

Posted on by Kyle Roques

The Divine Power

Nearly all the sacred books of the world can be traced in anatomical analogy. This is most evident in their creation myths.

Proceeding from this assumption of the first theologians that man is actually fashioned in the image of God, the initiated minds of past ages erected the stupendous structure of theology on the foundation of the human body. The religious world of today is almost totally ignorant of the fact that the science of biology is the fountainhead of its doctrines and tenants. Many of the codes and laws believed by modern divines to have been direct revelations from Divinity are in reality the fruitage of ages of patient delving into the intricacies of the human constitution and the infinite wonder is revealed by such a study.

Christianity itself may be cited as an example.

The entire New Testament is in fact an ingenuously concealed exposition of the secret processes of human regeneration. The characters so long considered as historical men and women are really the personification of certain processes which take place in the human body when man begins the task of consciously liberating himself from the bondage of ignorance and death.

Manly P. Hall
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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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Heaven of the Wise, A Divine Science

Materialism is a comparatively modern invention of the human mind. Materialism not only ignores but actually denies the metaphysical factor in thought and action.

Man has exiled himself from the empire of Space and is satisfied to live without wisdom and die without hope. One of the primary functions of metaphysics is to incline the human reason towards an intelligent consideration of man’s place in divine plan. Metaphysics seeks to establish a closer harmony between divine will and human action.

Metaphysics does not infer blind faith, or the unquestioned worship of unknown gods, but rather seeks to establish a rational sympathy between heaven and earth, a conscious and intelligent cooperation between man and the laws that govern him.

A philosophical definition of heaven, as distinct from the modern theology’s concept, may result in a better understanding of spiritual factors. Theologies, blinded by their jot and title creeds, have come to regard heaven as a place, distant and formal, populated by a spiritual genus, and ruled over by a capricious anthropomorphic deity. This celestial despotism exists nowhere except in the imagination of the unenlightened.

The heaven of the wise is Space itself – an immeasurable empire extending throughout the uttermost extremities of Being. It is the empire of universal life, established upon the immovable foundations of existence. It is populated by a myriad of principals – luminous energies, as the ancient called them; gods, as it were known to the pagans.

Heaven is the empire of truth and fact. He who abides and truth and according to fact, abides in the celestial world. He who lives in his opinions and conceits, is exiled to the outer darkness.

Hermes said the law of analogy was the priceless key to divine mysteries. With the aid of this law the ancient philosophers explored the heavenly world, creating a divine science which they preserved in their temples, imparting its elements only to those whom they regarded as worthy of so noble a learning.

Manly P. Hall
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Sterilized Christianity – Alchemist Redemption

This final value, the goal of the pursuit of the alchemist, is discovery and embodiment of the meaning of life itself: integrated subjective being actively expressing its nature through manipulation of the possibilities inherent in the material / unknown world. This final goal is the production of an integrated intrapsychic condition – identical to that of the mythological hero – “acted out” in a world regarded as equivalent to self. Production of this condition – the lapis philosophorum – constitutes the antidote for the “corruption of the world,” attendant upon the Fall [attendant upon the emergence of “partial” self-consciousness.] The lapis is “agent of transformation,” equivalent to the mythological redemptive hero – able to turn “base metals into gold.” It is, as such, something more valuable than gold – just as the hero is more valuable than any of his concrete productions. The “complete” alchemical opus – with production of the lapis as goal – is presented schematically in figure 66.

Alchemy was a living myth: the myth of the individual man as redeemer. Organized Christianity had “sterilized itself,” so to speak, by insisting on the worship of some external truth as the means to salvation. The Alchemist (re)discovered the error of this presumption, and came to realize that identification with the redeemer was in fact necessary, not his worship; that myths of redemption had true power when they were incorporated, and acted out, rather than believed, in some abstract sense. This meant: to say that Christ was “the greatest man in history” – a combination of the divine and mortal – was not sufficient expression of faith. Sufficient expression meant the attempt to live out the myth of the hero, within the confines of individual personality – to voluntarily shoulder the cross of existence, to “unite the opposites” within a single breast, and to serve as active conscious mediator between the eternal generative forces of known and unknown.

Jordan Peterson