The Apprentice of Creation Pt. 2 Working Tools of the Spirit

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

By J.E. Frey, 32°

Part 2 Working Tools of the Spirit

These working tools of the mind and body together symbolize both the force of change in the natural world.   As well as corresponding psychological forces which drive us to change both the world and ourselves, and whether these forces are natural or psychological they are rooted in the same  place: divine consciousness. 

The idea of Divine Consciousness and its direct relation to the individual consciousness is echoed during the ceremony of initiation when the Candidate is brought to light from the darkness. The Rite of Illumination is conducted with aid from the moment of creation itself.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” (Gen 1:1-3)

The Apprentice is then brought to light after being inspected and found to be qualified for moral improvement. This moment is closely connected with the Kabalistic moment of creation, the Candidate upon taking his obligation and receiving the light of  “Ein Soph” or Infinite Conscious, Limitless Light. This First Principle of Consciousness is the moment in which Divinity realizes it’s own conscious and potential, just as the Candidate on a psychological level must realize his own connection to the “collected unconscious” which correlates to a step in the psychoanalytic process of “Individuation”. 

Following the Rite of Illumination the Candidate is made know of the lesser lights of the Order, the Sun, Moon, and Master of the Lodge which is a reverberation of the next line found in (Genesis 1:4) “God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness he called night.” 

It is clear to me that this ceremony is recreating the moment of creation of the Apprentice’s individual consciousness, revealing his own inner divinity unto himself. But how does the creation of the individual’s consciousness connect with the meaning of the working tools? It connects through the Kabbalistic creation of the universe. A fundamental premise of the Kabbalistic creation is that there is a pure and indefinable state of consciousness, which manifests as an interaction between force and form, which the Apprentice now brought to light represents. But for the potential for creation to take place is based upon the trinity of consciousness, force, and form. Consciousness emerges with an inherent duality; there is an energy associated with consciousness which causes change or force, (The Gavel) and there is  a   capacity   within consciousness  to constrain that energy and cause it to  manifest in a form (The 24 inch gauge). 

                                                                     First Principle             
                                                                                of                              
                                                                   /  Consciousness   \                                   
                                                                 /     (Ein Sof)             \                  
                                                                /                                   \            
                                                    Capacity                                   Raw                          
                                                   to take form  ______________ Force 
                                                      (Binah)                             (Chokhmah)

                                                                            

So if the Apprentice and his working tools are symbolic for the inner divinity of the Apprentice and his ability to create a spiritual, and psychological change in himself and his environment. The Apprentice should understand that his consciousness and matter and intertwined and unified through divinity. In this theory of creation this unity creates the world of perfect form balanced between heaven and earth.

                                               First Principle

                             of                              

                     /  Consciousness   \                                   

                    /         |          \                  

                   /          |           \            

               Capacity       |           Raw                          

               to take  _____________ Energy/Force

                Form          |

                   \          |           /

                    \         |          /

                     \        |         /

                           Material

                            World

This perfect form, which is the product of the Apprentice’s labor, is the understanding that the perfected man is balanced between his material and spiritual selves. It is at this moment the Apprentice stand in the northwest corner contemplating both the rough, and perfect ashlars. How his own consciousness is connected with infinity, how the force of his will can change the world around him through morality and justice, how his own choice gives form to change, and how true change is both spiritual and psychological. It is a change in social consciousness, a unifying of humanity regardless of ideals, religion, or creed. It is the realization that all is united through act of creation and exists in Infinite Consciousness. That life is but a vision, and that he is but a thought. 

James E Frey, 32° is a Past Sovereign Prince and current librarian of Valley of Danville AASR. Founder of the R.E.B.I.S Research Society he sits on two Blue Lodge Education committees as well as a guest lecturer on Occultism and Esoteric studies in masonry. He is also a Member of the Oak Lawn York Rite, Medinah Shriners, and Golden Dawn Collegium Spiritu Sancti. He also works as a counselor with emotionally and behaviorally challenged children.