The
influence of light and darkness on the daily lives of the people was reflected
in all of the ancient religions, whence light and darkness acquired a profound
symbolism.
Light and darkness were phenomena of great importance
to mankind in ancient times, when people revered the regular succession of day
and night as tangible proof of the power of the spirits they believed were in
control of their lives and actions. The influence of light and darkness on the
daily lives of the people was reflected in all of the ancient religions, whence
light and darkness acquired a profound symbolism from time immemorial. Contests
between the good and evil principles, symbolised by light and darkness, played
an important role in the mythologies of ancient cultures in all ages. As in the
ancient mysteries, light and darkness also have an important place in the
ceremonials of freemasonry. When appropriate to the ceremonies, candidates in
freemasonry are suitably prepared so that the symbolism of light and darkness
will have a lasting impression on his mind. For example, a candidate is told
during his initiation that he seeks not only material light to remove his
physical darkness, but also intellectual illumination that to dispel the
darkness his mental and moral ignorance and to implant in his mind the sublime
truths of morality and virtue.
Material light is a tangible phenomenon that occupies
a unique position in the natural universe, exerting a profound influence
upon its evolution and the way in which it functions. We can measure the
intensity of light and the speed at which it travels and also can utilise its
power. Light is comprised of electromagnetic waves in the visible spectrum, but
it also exhibits the properties of the particles that make up the atoms. The
fundamental particle, or quantum of light, is called a photon. The speed of
light and of all other electromagnetic radiation in a vacuum is about 300,000
kilometres per second. This is the universal constant, called c,
used in the equation E = mc² developed by the renowned physicist
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) in his theory of relativity, expressing the
equivalence of mass and energy. The speed of light is of special significance,
because it cannot be exceeded in the natural universe. Light also is a vital
element in the development and sustenance of physical life as we know it.
Although intellectual illumination cannot be seen in the same way as material
light, nevertheless its influence is real and can be measured in various ways.
Moreover, as material light is essential to physical life, so also is
intellectual illumination essential to our moral and spiritual welfare.
In contrast to material light, darkness is neither
tangible nor measurable. It is merely a condition, which is the absence of
light. In this respect darkness is synonymous with the absence of knowledge and
truth, symbolising ignorance and falsehood. In another sense, darkness
represents the mysterious veil that surrounds death, which the eye of human
reason cannot penetrate unless assisted by that spiritual light from above. A
parallel in the natural universe is the black hole in space, where the force of
gravity is so great that nothing can escape from it, not even light. Matter that
has been drawn into a black hole behaves as if it is squeezed to infinite
intensity, which is the condition that the proponents of the Big Bang
say would have prevailed immediately before the creation of the universe of
which our solar system is a part. Because no light can escape from black holes
they cannot be seen, but they can be detected because the gases being drawn
towards them become so hot that they emit X-rays. Likewise human reason and
logic cannot penetrate the black curtain of death, except with the assistance of
the spiritual light of pure faith. Only the strength which comes to us through
pure faith enables us to approach that mysterious veil, secure in the knowledge
that the spirit which inhabits our frail and transient frame will be raised to a
spiritual life hereafter, when our body returns to the dust as it was.
The symbolism and rituals used in modern speculative
freemasonry had crystallised before the first Grand Lodge was formed in 1717,
but they were not the product of that era. Moreover, symbolism and ritual
continued to be a subject of considerable argument between the “Antients”
and the “Moderns” until those two persuasions were
consolidated under the United Grand Lodge of England established in 1813. In
reality the symbolism and rituals of speculative freemasonry evolved naturally
and in many ways inevitably development of the way of life of the operative
masons. For millennia the operative masons had worked closely with the
priesthood of successive religions, in association with whom they were engaged
in the design and construction of ecclesiastical buildings. The symbolism of
freemasonry has an interesting heritage that can be traced back through the
classical period of Greece and Rome to the Phoenicians, the Hebrews, the
Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Aryan (the Sanskrit arya, meaning noble)
and many other ancient cultures. Before considering relevant aspects of the
religions associated with those cultures, it would be appropriate to consider
the story of the creation recorded in the Book of Genesis, because it is a
synthesis of many beliefs that were widely held in the ancient world.
Light is a symbol of truth, wisdom and knowledge that
plays an important role in the teachings of all ancient religions. Primordial
light is a symbol of the truth emanating from the awareness generated by the
union of spirit and matter in the creation, which was the beginning of the
manifestation of the two great principles of light and darkness representing
good and evil. The descriptions of the creation in all versions of the Bible are
very similar, although the words of the Revised Standard Version
probably are those with which most people are familiar. In Genesis 1:1-4 it is
said that:
“In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form
and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was
moving over the face of the waters. And God said “Let there be light”; and
there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the
light from the darkness”.
It is of interest that “a mighty wind”
is substituted for “the Spirit of God” in the New
English Bible, with a footnote adding that it could be read as “the
spirit”. This is because the root word in Hebrew is ruha,
which is formed by the characters Resh Waw Heth, signifying spirit,
breath and wind, whence the well known expression “the
breath has passed away” has been derived, in the context that “the
spirit has left the body”. It also is interesting to note that the
Biblical description of the first phase of creation could be applied with equal
validity in the Big Bang theory. The initial stage of the Big
Bang is considered to have taken place about 15 billion years ago, when
all matter that had been compressed infinitely in a total void exploded
spontaneously, producing light and energy where previously there had only been
utter darkness. Moreover, if the “days” appearing in the
Biblical description were used in the indefinite Hebrew context of the root
word, as they appear to have been used, they could signify any of the periods of
the various stages of creation instead of discrete periods of twenty-four hours.
Thus “days” could be eons and the sequence given in the Bible
would aptly describe the known evolution of the universe that has taken place
since the Big Bang. This transposition in time would not be the
negation of a belief in a Creator, but a transcendence of long held religious
beliefs taking into account the continuing discoveries of modern science.
Most people are aware that the ancient Egyptians had a
profound religion, though many probably do not have any great knowledge of it.
Archaeological studies, especially those carried out since J-F. Champollion
deciphered the inscription on the Rosetta stone in 1822, which enabled the Book
of the Dead or Papyrus of Ani to be translated by E.A.
Wallis Budge in 1895, have ensured that the hieroglyphs and iconography in
Egyptian temples have become well known. A superficial acquaintance with the
sacred writings and icons of Egypt gives the impression that the Egyptians had
always worshipped a multitude of gods who had human bodies and the heads of
animals, but in fact these icons originally were intended to illustrate the
multitudinous attributes of the one god. However the pyramid texts indicate that
by the Vth Dynasty, in about 2400 BCE, monotheism and polytheism
were both flourishing. When the power of the pharaohs collapsed at the end of
the Old Kingdom in about 2100 BCE, the priesthood progressively acquired
supreme power, the substance of the true religion was lost and the grotesque and
often demoniacal representations were worshipped as individual gods.
Notwithstanding the inroads of polytheism, the texts show that a similar
doctrine of eternal life prevailed in all periods. When the devout pharaoh
Akhenaten was in power from about 1372 BCE to 1354 BCE, he declared
void the supposed functions of the multitude of gods. He also removed the power
of the priests and their intermediaries with the people, so that everyone could
participate freely in the religion of the one absolute god and believe in the
mystery of the resurrection. Unfortunately, when Akhenaten died, the priesthood
regained power and religion in Egypt degenerated again.
The true religion of ancient Egypt is typified by the
cosmogeny of Annu, which in the Bible was called On, the “city of the
pillar”, where the benben stone was kept in the Temple
of the Phoenix dedicated to Aten, called the Complete One
and later identified with Ra. Annu was renamed Heliopolis during
the rule of the Greek pharaohs. This cosmogeny was founded on a belief in one
absolute God, who was the beginning and end of all things visible and invisible.
It was believed that Ra, the Absolute Spirit or Light
and Conscience of the Universe, was diffused in primordial Chaos
or darkness before the creation. When Ra became aware of himself
in the Great Silence, he called up his own image, Amon
the Spirit of the Universe Itself. This call was the Word
that was the Creative Power that caused the kingdoms of space-air
or Shu and movement-fire or Tefnut to materialise.
They in turn generated and separated the earth Geb from the sky Nut,
to receive the creative forces of terrestrial and celestial life. They were Osiris
the fertilising force and Isis the generating force, which ended
the primordial Chaos and brought the universe into equilibrium. In
the beginning Ra watched over humanity in the paradise of the
kingdoms of Shu and Geb. Later however, like the
fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the forces of evil appeared as the
destroying couple known as Seth and Nephthys.
Ultimately Osiris and Isis overcame the repeated
assaults of the forces of evil and they became the life-bearing couple that
established resurrection and eternal life as it is described in the myth of Osiris.
The ancient system of religious thought and moral
rectitude of the Egyptians is based on the myth of Osiris, which
reflects historical events and also has a highly spiritual content. Briefly, we
are told that after the fall of man Ra, who was the Absolute
Spirit, became man in the form of Osiris so that he could
reach mankind, which had become lost outside paradise. This event is said to
have taken place at the First Sunrise of the Zep Tepi,
called the First Time of Osiris, which some investigators have
dated to be about 10450 BCE. In his capacity as a man Osiris
lived, suffered and died like other men, leading them to an awareness of
themselves and a belief in a resurrection and eternal life, which was brought
about by the boundless love of the creator for the created. This belief arose
because, when Osiris was slain by his brother Seth
and his dismembered body was strewn all over Egypt, he was brought back to life
by his sister-wife Isis. In her great love Isis
searched for and ultimately found all of Osiris’s pieces, which
she reunited so that he lived again. Seth was then defeated and
captured by their son Horus, who was described as the first
man-god to rule Egypt as a pharaoh.
The ancient Egyptian concept of death and resurrection
is interesting. It was believed that when the Ka or divine spirit
left Khet the body, it released the soul Ba to begin
its life in the afterworld of the terrestrial kingdom. The rebirth rites began
with repeated washings followed by mummification of the body. The intestines,
lungs, liver and brain of those who could afford the expense were removed
surgically and mummified separately in their individual canopic jars. The
mummified body was then bound in intricately plaited linen wrappings into which
amulets were inserted with the accompaniment of special prayers. The body, with
a painted or sculptured representation of its Ba was then placed
inside one or more coffins, often in the shape of the mummy itself. The coffin
was decorated with a representation of the deceased person’s Ka,
usually the human figure with its upper arms horizontal, forearms vertical and
palms of the hands to the front. Sometimes the arms and hands in that attitude
were shown placed on top of the head. The Book of the Dead and
various other funerary texts describe in detail how the soul was believed to
pass from its earthly abode through the underworld to the heavenly Duat,
to become an Osiris or star soul. Briefly, Horus
performed the ceremony of “opening the mouth” to give a new
breath of stellar life to the deceased. This was followed by Anubis
supervising the “weighing of the heart” in comparison with a
feather, the symbol of truth, to determine if the life of the deceased had made
him worthy of resurrection. It was believed that if the deceased’s life was
found worthy, he would become a star soul and that Anubis would
guide him through the underworld and that finally, after passing through the
underworld, the star soul would be conducted to the astral plane
of the heavenly Duat by Upuaut, the “opener
of the ways”.
The Egyptian doctrine of eternal life involved more
than the simplified explanation of the relationship between the body Khet,
the divine spirit Ka and the soul Ba outlined above.
A theme repeated down through the ages is recorded in texts from the Vth
Dynasty as “My soul is God, my soul is eternity”, which
confirms the Egyptian belief that the soul of man preceded the creation and
would enjoy an eternal existence in heaven in a state of glory. Texts from the Vth
Dynasty onwards also say “Heaven hath thy soul, earth hath thy body”,
which indicates that the body was not expected to rise again, notwithstanding
the superficial evidence of the Egyptian funeral rites. The texts also indicate
that the Egyptians believed that the Ka and Ba of
each person had an accompanying Khaibit or shadow,
more or less analogous to the Umbra that was an element of the
beliefs held by the ancient Greeks and Romans. The Khaibit was
believed to have an existence independent from the body and that it was free to
move wherever it pleased. However it was also was believed that the Khaibit
was intimately associated with the soul and therefore always stayed near it.
This belief is a recurring theme in the Book of the Dead, in
relation to which the following texts are typical examples:
“Let
not my soul be shut in, let not my shadow be fettered, let the way be opened for
my soul and for my shadow, may it see the great God”.
“May
I look upon my soul and my shadow”.
The ancient Egyptians also believed that there was
another important element of the body within their concept of eternity. This was
the Khu, which they visualised as a translucent and intangible
casing, frequently depicted in the form of a mummy and often translated as “the
shining one” or “intelligence”. In the usual context
of its usage, Khu could often be translated to mean “spirit”.
The following is a typical text relating to the imperishable Khu
or spirit:
“Horus
hath plucked his eye from himself, he hath given it unto thee to strengthen thee
therewith, that thou mayest prevail with it among the spirits”.
Hinduism is the ancient religion of northern India
that evolved and grew gradually over a period of nearly five thousand years. Its
adherents refer to Hinduism as the sanatana dharma, which
literally means the eternal tradition or universal truth.
Superficially and in some of its forms Hinduism appears to be polytheistic, but
it has a central concept of a supreme spirit, which is the essential reality or “Absolute
Being” called Brahman who is represented by many divine
manifestations. Chief among these manifestations is the Trimurti
or divine triad comprising Brahma the creator, Vishnu
the preserver and Siva the destroyer. In Hinduism Menu
is depicted as the son of Brahma and the founder of the Hindu
religion. In the Brahminical doctrine light and darkness are considered to be
the eternal ways of life. Someone who walks in the way of light is said never to
return, going on to eternal bliss. By contrast, someone who walks in the way of
darkness is said to return to earth, destined to pass through further
transmigrations of the soul until it has been perfectly purified by light. In
his treatise entitled The Institutes of Menu, Sir William Jones
describes the Brahminical code of ethics and explains that the teachings of
Brahminism say:
“The
world was all darkness, undiscernable, indistinguishable altogether, as in a
profound sleep until the self-existent, invisible God, making it manifest with
five elements and other glorious forms, perfectly dispelled the gloom”.
Contrary to the impression created by the Hebrew
prophets in their fulminations against “the abominations of the
Canaanites”, there are texts found since 1929 from Egypt in the
nineteenth century BCE and from Ras Sharma in the fourteenth century BCE, which
indicate that the elaborate pantheon and cosmogeny of the Mesopotamians were not
then a feature in the Canaanite religion. The Canaanites did not attempt to
explain the forces of nature and their effect on society, but declared their
dependence on the gods and set out to please them. They believed there was a
heavenly court ruled by a paramount king El, or simply God,
who sanctioned all decisions affecting nature and society. In the myths El
is described as the “Creator of Created Things” and is
referred to as the “Father of Men”, and the “Kindly
One” or the “Compassionate”, whence was derived the
Islamic appellation “Allah the Compassionate”. In the heavenly
court of the Canaanites El was assisted by Baal, who
was the divine executive of his will. The Phoenicians who were living in Canaan
from about 1200 BCE assimilated the local religion. They believed that the
beginning of all things was a wind of black air and chaos as dark as Erebus,
that dark and gloomy cavern of the lower world between earth and Hades, from
which light sprang forth at the Divine command “Let there be Light”.
Many of the ancient beliefs that originated in the
Near East have been absorbed into Judaism and Christianity. The stories of Cain
and Abel, of the expulsion Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and of the flood
described in Genesis all have counterparts in earlier Sumerian myths. In Genesis
14:18-19, God is called El Elyon when Melchizedek, as the priest
of the God Most High, blessed Abram saying: “Blessed be Abram by God
Most High, maker of heaven and earth”. In I Kings 22:19 the
prophet Micaiah says, in respect of the heavenly court: “I saw the Lord
sitting on his throne and all the host of heaven standing beside him”.
Again in Psalm 82:1, we read that: “God has taken his place in the
divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment”. The myths
of Canaan also describe Baal’s death and descent to the darkness of the
underworld, from which the concept of Satan was derived to explain the sinister
reality of sin and suffering. For example, it is recorded in I Chronicles 21:1
that “Satan stood up against Israel and incited David to number
Israel”, which the people believed to be the reason for the subsequent
plague. A wonderful example of the symbolism of light and darkness, which
originated in the Near East, is the record in Revelation 21:13-24 that “the
city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its
light . . . and there shall be no night there”.
Mithraism is an ancient religion of Persia that
probably was being practised before 3000 BCE. Mithra was the
Persian god of light, who represented the power of goodness and promised that
his followers would be compensated after death for their sufferings on earth. Mithra
is identified with the Aryan God Mitra and their characteristics
are similar. The oldest available texts are from India and refer to Mitra
as “a friend” who has connections with the sun and ratifies
contracts. A tablet in cuneiform script from Boghas Koi in Turkey, dating from
about 1400 BCE, confirms a contract between the Hittites and the Mittani, a
Persian speaking tribe in Mesopotamia, in which Mithra is invoked
as a god before whom an oath may be sworn. Zoroastrianism was the religion
founded in the sixth century BCE by Zarathustra, a prophet and
religious teacher of Persia. Zoroastrianism is still practised by the Parsees
who fled from Persia after its conquest by the Arabs, when they settled in
northern India. Zarathustra’s teachings reflect some aspects of
Mithraism and his doctrines are also similar in many respects to those of the
ancient religions of the Egyptians, the Hindus and the Canaanites. In
Zoroastrianism the principle of light or goodness was called Ahura Mazda,
or Ormuzd, who was the spirit of supreme good born of the purest
light. The principle of darkness or evil was called Angra Mainyu,
or Ahriman, who was the supreme spirit of evil called the lord of
darkness and death, who sprang from utter darkness. In a story that is very
similar to the Ramayana of Indian mythology, Ormuzd
wages war with Ahriman until such time as all humans choose to
lead good lives, when Ormuzd destroys Ahriman.
The renowned Greek philosopher, Pythagoras (580-500 BCE),
travelled widely in Egypt and the Near East to acquire knowledge. He is reputed
to have undergone many initiations in those countries and appears to have been
influenced by Zarathustra, whom he probably met. On his return to
Europe, in about 529 BCE, he established his celebrated school at Cromona
in southern Italy and taught the doctrine of two antagonistic principles. The
first he called unity or light, represented by the right hand and symbolising
equality, stability and a straight line. The second he called binary or darkness,
represented by the left hand and symbolising inequality, instability and a
curved line. Pythagoras attributed the colour white to the good principle and
black to the evil principle. He taught the mystical power of numbers and the
principal dogma of his philosophy was the system of metempsychosis, or the
transmigration of souls.
The mystical philosophy or theosophy of the Jews is
called the Cabala, or Kabbala, derived from Kaph
Beth Lamed in Hebrew, which is Kabal that means to
receive. It signifies the doctrine received from the elders and is
referred to as “the tradition”. The origin of the Cabala
is uncertain, but there is evidence suggesting that it may have been derived
from the system of Zarathustra. There are traces of Cabalistic
doctrine in the Book of Daniel, which researchers believe was compiled by an
unknown author in about 165 BCE. Daniel was a Hebrew prophet and a
contemporary of Ezekiel who was deported to Babylon, probably in the company of
Jehoiachim in 597 BCE. Daniel was renowned for his skill in the
interpretation of dreams, which may well have been derived from his knowledge of
the mystical philosophy. In its modern form the doctrines of the Cabala
are set out in writings dating from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries.
The Cabalists regard the Supreme Being as En
Soph, meaning the Infinite One, who is an absolute and
inscrutable unity, having nothing without him and everything within him. In
their system of cosmogeny the Cabalists place great emphasis on
light in the creation. They teach that before the creation all space was filled
with Aur en Soph or Eternal Light. They also teach
that when the Divine Mind willed the creation, the Eternal
Light withdrew to a central point, leaving around it an empty space in
which the process of creation proceeded by means of emanations from the central
mass of light. Nowadays it is mainly the Hasid sect of Orthodox Jews who base
their teachings on the Cabala.
The Rosicrucians of the seventeenth century claimed
occult powers and used the terminology of alchemy to expound their mystical
doctrines, reputedly derived from Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim
(1493-1541), who adopted the name of Paracelsus. He was the famous Swiss
physician, alchemist and scientist who developed the use of minerals and
chemicals in medicine and introduced the use of laudanum as a pain-killer. The
word alchemy is derived from the Arabic al-Kimya,
which was the supposed technique for the transmutation of base metals into the
noble metals of silver and gold using the “Philosopher’s Stone”,
a hypothetical substance to which the Rosicrucians attributed the power to give
eternal life. Among the Rosicrucians the Latin word Lux, meaning light,
was used to signify knowledge of the object of their desire, which was a
universal medium or elixir by means of which all truth would be
revealed. This elixir was their “Truth”, which
they commonly referred to as the “Philosopher’s Stone”.
There have been claims that freemasonry was derived directly from Rosicrucianism,
which has not been substantiated. Nevertheless there were several eminent
freemasons, including Richard Fludd and Elias Ashmole, who were prominent
Rosicrucians.
In all of the ancient Mysteries the
aspirant was shrouded in darkness in preparation for his reception into the full
light of knowledge. The duration of the dark period varied widely between the
different rites, being progressively longer as one goes further back in history.
Likewise the trials and tribulations that the candidate was required to survive
during his preparation were much more severe in earlier times. The candidate
usually underwent purification by water, by fire and by fasting as a preliminary
to the trials of his preparation, which commonly were conducted in the darkness
of underground caverns. Thus it is that from the earliest times darkness became
synonymous with preparation for initiation, reminding the candidate of his
ignorance, of his inherently wicked nature and of the obscurity of the world in
which he had been wandering aimlessly.
The initiation rites of Mithras were the
most stringent of all. Fifty days of darkness, solitude and fasting were imposed
upon the aspirant, who was subjected to fearful trials before he became entitled
to admission into the light. Because the serpent shed its skin annually, it was
a symbol of regeneration in those rites. Although the harshness of the trials
diminished over the centuries, the rites of Mithras continued in
one form or another until introduced into the Roman Empire as the rites of Mithras
in the time of the Emperor Pompey, in about 68 BCE. The rites of Mithras
overshadowed Christianity in Rome until Constantine the Great formally
recognised Christianity by the Edict of Milan in 313, but their practise
continued to flourish until proscribed by a decree of the Senate in 378, when
the sacred cave in which they had been celebrated was destroyed by the Pretorian
Prefect. It is interesting to note that in 1954 the remains of a Roman temple
dedicated to Mithras were discovered in London.
The Eleusinian Mysteries, celebrated
from 1800 BCE or earlier in the ancient Greek village of Eleusis near
Athens, were very popular and among the most splendid. They were dedicated to
the corn-goddess Demeter, worshipped by the Greeks as the symbol
of a prolific earth. They prtrayed the loss and recovery of Demeter’s
beautiful daughter Persephone, esoterically teaching the unity of God and the
immortality of the soul. The Eleusinian Mysteries comprised two
stages celebrated annually, the lesser or first stage at the vernal equinox and
the greater or second stage at the autumnal equinox. The aspirant was required
to wait at least a year after the first stage before he could undergo the second
stage. The Lesser Mysteries were celebrated on the banks of the
river whose waters were used for the aspirant’s purification. The Greater
Mysteries were celebrated in secret and originally required the aspirant
to spend twenty-seven days in complete darkness. Later they lasted for nine days
and were concluded in the magnificent temple destroyed by the Persians under
Xerxes in about 480 BCE. The temple was rebuilt, but it was utterly
destroyed again by Attila the Hun, the “Scourge of God”, in
about 450 CE. The temple had three elements: a subterranean vault
representing the infernal regions, a sanctuary and a holy of holies. Although
the ceremonial is not known in detail, it is known that the symbolism
represented a restoration from death to eternal life, in which the funereal part
of the initiation referred to the loss of a life and the subsequent exaltation
ceremony referred to its recovery and resurrection.
The Druidism of the Celts probably was
first practised in about 1000 BCE and was divided into three ascending
orders or grades, Bards, Prophets and Druids.
The Celt’s places of worship were of various shapes including circular, oval,
serpentine, winged and cruciform, respectively emblematic of the universe, of
procreation, of salvation, of the movement of the Divine Spirit and of
regeneration. They were constructed of earth and unhewn stones to avoid
pollution from any metal tool. As Druidism considered it improper
to attempt to confine the Omnipotent, the only roof to their temples was the cloudy
canopy. None was permitted to enter their sacred retreats unless wearing
a chain that signified their bonding within the sacred rites. The ceremonies of Druidism
were in three distinct stages. They included physical purification by ablution,
painful physical tests and stringent mental trials. The ceremonies commenced
with the aspirant being confined to darkness for nine days and nights, including
symbolic death within a coffin, through symbolic regeneration and concluding
with his confinement in a small boat emblematic of the ark on troubled waters.
The candidate initially was clothed in a tricoloured robe of green, blue and
white, colours that were considered to be sacred. When the candidate had
successfully completed the first stage of the trials his tricoloured robe was
changed to green, signifying hope. In the second stage he was
clothed in blue, signifying truth. When he had overcome all the
dangers of the third stage, the candidate had reached the summit of his
perfection and was clothed in a mantle of pure white, the symbol of light.
Finally he was crowned with a red tiara, symbolising the purification
and regeneration of the soul.