Our So-Called Knowledge

 by Midnight Freemason Contributor

WB Darin A. Lahners

As much as I preach about the evils of social media and try to limit my use of it and especially commenting on it, occasionally I succumb to doing so. Recently I did succumb to that temptation when I came to the defense of MWB Robert Davis who had innocently responded to a comment in a Masonic Facebook group from someone who stated that they were not a Freemason, but that our "so-called knowledge" is easily available to anyone who seeks it.  Now, MWB Davis replied to the comment stating that what he read in ritual exposures are not the "secrets".  This lead the commenter to attack MWB Davis, with claims that the Freemasons are nothing more than men pretending they are better than other men and that MWB Davis was egotistical for replying in such a fashion.  Those of you who like me have had the extreme honor of meeting MWB Davis know this is not the case.  In any case, I got involved and the commenter went back and forth with us.  

While one might think that can read the multitude of Masonic Rituals available for public consumption for our "so called knowledge", they will never understand it.  The key to the understanding of our "knowledge" is the transformative art of our degree system.  An egregor is a term used in Ritual Magick which is the collective energy or force of a group of individuals that are united toward a common purpose. The continued reverent repetition of our ritual over time creates this egregor as a reservoir of spiritual power which influences the ritual, the lodge members and the lodge itself. 

The lodge is a sacred space because we make it into one.  It is through our reverent presentation of our opening ritual which includes a pray to deity for it's blessing upon all the lodge members that we seal this space for our sacredotal and royal art, invoking the egregor to empower us to meet on the level and act by the plumb.  When we perform our closing ritual, we unseal the same space. While it might seem trite to do this for our stated business meetings, the egregor that we tap into it is hoped will help guide the proceedings to be positive and productive.  However, the egregor is most powerfully employed during the initiatory degrees.  It is only as part of this egregor where the transformative energies of our degree work takes hold on each candidate, on a sublime and spiritual level.   

I believe that the key to true understanding of Freemasonry is not something that is found in parroting the ritual, going through the motions of the floorwork, and laissez faire adherence to Masonic etiquette. It is only found through meaningful, thoughtful and reverent presentation of the ritual and floorwork to create the egregor.  When lodges are united in this cause, I believe that the lodge is healthy on both a spiritual and material level because the egregor is being maintained and perhaps fed by the actions of the lodge.  When lodges and their members do not care to treat our ritual and floorwork reverently, by not memorizing it and continuing to practice it, that we see dysfunction because the egregor is no longer maintained, the reservoir of power is continually drained until it ceases to exist. 

Which type of brother do you want to be?  One that only has "so-called knowledge" or one that has understanding?  We are told in the opening of the Entered Apprentice degree in my jurisdiction that we come to lodge to subdue our passions and improve ourselves in Masonry.  I believe that we should be doing this all of the time.  It is through the study, observation and practice of our ritual and floorwork whereby we should endeavor to learn to meaningfully, thoughtfully and reverently employ it in our lodges.  When we along with our brothers are able to do this, then we achieve true understanding of Freemasonry.  That understanding is that while Freemasonry can be studied individually, it can only be employed properly in unison with your brothers.  My hope is that you are aspiring to maintain and feed the egregor within your lodges. 

~DAL

WB Darin A. Lahners is our Co-Managing Editor. He is a host and producer of the "Meet, Act and Part" podcast. He is currently serving the Grand Lodge of Illinois Ancient Free and Accepted Masons as the Area Education Officer for the Eastern Masonic Area. He is a Past Master of St. Joseph Lodge No.970 in St. Joseph. He is also a plural member of Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL), where he is also a Past Master. He’s also a member of the Scottish Rite Valley of Danville, a charter member of Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter No. 282, Salt Fork Shrine Club under the Ansar Shrine, and a grade one (Zelator) in the S.C.R.I.F. Prairieland College in Illinois. He is also a Fellow of the Illinois Lodge of Research. He was presented with the Torok Award from the Illinois Lodge of Research in 2021. You can reach him by email at darin.lahners@gmail.com. 

The Magick of King Solomon

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Bro. James E. Frey 32°

King Solomon before the Djinn by Jacobus de Teramo, 1473

"I pray thee, O king. Listen to what has befallen all that thy child hath. After we are all released from our work on the Temple of God, after sunset, when I lie down to rest, one of the evil demons comes and takes away from me one half of my pay and one half of my food. Then he also takes hold of my right hand and sucks my thumb. And lo, my soul is oppressed, and so my body waxes thinner every day." (Testament of Solomon, v4)

My Brethren, one tenant of the Masonic system is the constant reflection of the self. We must re-evaluate who we are morally as well as psychologically. It is this constant progression of self understanding that makes us face our archetypal shadow and conquer the negative aspects of the self. This is best personified by the Archetype of Wisdom in the Masonic system, King Solomon. King Solomon is interesting because his archetypal characteristics are found throughout Mediterranean cultures. According to the Old Testament King Solomon was charged to build the Temple of Solomon and was known as the wisest of all men. In the Islamic tradition Solomon is regarded as a prophet and representative of Allah. But there is a hidden side of King Solomon, a side that has been repressed from the western mythos, just as we hide the darker aspects of ourselves.

In the Christian tradition there is a separate myth that recounts Solomon not only as a wise King, but a very powerful Ceremonial Magician. This tradition is recounted in the 15th century Grimoire the Greater and Lesser Keys of Solomon, and the Testament of Solomon, a Christian text dating to around the 1st and 5th centuries CE. Although the author of these obscure texts is unknown, its legend holds that it was the secret firsthand account of Solomon himself. Solomon’s Testament deals with a variety of astrological and magical themes that even deal with acting as a bridge between Greek Mythology and Christian Theology. The book deals with vast legions of demons, summoning spirits, and magick rings.

The legend begins with a young man who is favored by King Solomon, one day he is attacked by a demon by name of Ornias who used his demonic powers to suck the vitality and life from the Youth’s spirit. Upon hearing this news Solomon summons the archangel Michael through the magickal practice. According to the Lesser Key of Solomon this magickal practice was known as the Almadel, which is how Solomon was said to have received wisdom from the angels. Michael arrives to the troubled King and entrusts him with a magick ring bearing the six pointed star, or seal of Solomon, upon it. With this ring Solomon gained the power to summon demons and sprits using his will to control them and command them to complete tasks.

Solomon then took control over Ornias who then infiltrated the demonic Prince Beelzebul granting Solomon power over the legion of demons. According to the lesser Key of Solmon of the Ars Goetia, there are 72 demons that are paralleled to the fallen angels described in the Book of Enoch who rebelled against God because they lusted after the daughters of man. It is important to note that these fallen angels also first brought sorcery and the magickal arts to the material realm. Beelzebul reveals how he was once a high ranking angel before the fall. It was the four archangels Michael, Raphael, Gabriel and Uriel that descended down with their 72 angels of the Almadel and banished the rebellious demons unto the four watchtowers of the universe.

With King Solomon in full command of the 72 demons he commands them to aid in the construction of the Temple of Solomon. This is where the legend of the Goetia and the Masonic system begin to meet. The Goetia’s connections can be found in various places throughout the Masonic system, but often hidden so that the true initiate sees not the Adept’s design. The Angelic names bore on the cross of the older versions of the 29th degree Knight of St. Andrew are a prime example. There is nowhere else in Kabbalistic or Magickal lore are these Angelic names referred to, except the Greater Key of Solomon as the last pentacle of the Sun. But these angels are referred to in Phoenician legend, so it seems to understand the importance of the Testament of Solomon we must look at it from the theological perspective of the time. This book acts as a way to reinterpret Pagan Gods of various cultures and rework them into the roles of demons. I believe King Solomon was chosen by Christians as the Master Magician because of his close association with the worship of Pagan gods to please his many foreign wives. 

Solomon’s Magick Circle, Lesser Key of Solomon

According too Talmudic texts and the Book of Tolbit King Solomon soon was placed face to face with the king of demons Asmodeus. Asmodeus is known for tricking King Solomon into gaining his ring of power that he then cast to the sea where it was swallowed by a fish. This allowed the legions of demons under King Solomon’s power to rise up against the king. Asmodeus then cast the King 400 miles outside Jerusalem. Solomon then lived as a beggar wandering from city to city, working in kitchens and doing hard labor. Ancient Rabbis claim this was a divine punishment by God for Solomon worshiping foreign deities. Years later he was walking in a market and bought a fish for his supper, the same fish that held the Magick ring in his belly. King Solomon then returns to Jerusalem to expel Asmodeus and his demonic rule. Asmodeus is said to be thwarted by the Archangel Raphael who binds him. According to a tale found in the 1001 Arabian Nights King Solomon is known as a master of the Djinn, and captures all the Djinn or demons into a brass vessel and seals it with a magickal symbol and casts the vessel out to the sea trapping the Djinn whom he first summoned to build his temple. This legend is the bassis for the Greater and Lesser Keys of Solomon. 

The Lesser Key of Solomon, or the Goetia, is a medieval magickal text that claims to give the techniques and materials needed to embark on the mystical path of Solomon. It gives directions for casting magick circles, and invoking demons and dark Djinn into the consciousness of the magician. Here like Solomon the magician must unleash the demon from the brass vessel and symbolically slay the demon with a magical sword. Like the Djinn trapped in the magick lamp, the demon may also grant the wishes and desires of the magician, but it is the test of fortitude for the magician to resist these temptations and expel the demon from his mind.

"The spirits of the Goetia are portions of the human brain. Their seals therefore represent methods of stimulating or regulating those particular spots (though the eye)." (Aleister Crowley, The Initiated Interpretation of Ceremonial Magic in the Goetia.) 

If we as masons want to look at this in a philosophical sense we are all seeking to be the wise King Solomon. We must unlock the brass vessel of our own unconscious mind releasing all the aspects of ourselves we care not to let out. Each demon can be seen as an aspect of our personality that we keep hidden from the world. It is the goal of the magician with the aid of angels and magickal weapons to face the dark aspects of him and symbolically slay and expel those forces from our own spiritual nature, thus purifying him. This medieval system of what some would consider “black magick” is simply a way to reflect upon the aspects of our own psyche. If we as individuals wish to gain the wisdom of the archetypal king, we should face the shadow of ourselves and the demons that well in the void of our own nightmares. 

Before one sincerely attempts to evoke these demons, one should first spend some time invoking the 72 counterpart angels of the Almadel. The Almadel is a very enlightening experience and puts the magician in touch with the aspects of virtue within the psyche of the individual. This should be required for two reasons, one: one should be in touch with their inner strength before they face the demons, and two: the angels of the Almadel have direct control over the demons of the brass vessel. The Almadel is a system of scrying into a crystal ball over a altar made of wax upon which are engraved the Holy names of God. Remember that invocation is to call down a power within your spirit and mind, so you invoke angels to bring them closer. The Magician will evoke demons, to to bring from within ones self into manifestation. 

Almadel Altar

After one has made meaningful contact with his own inner angelic forces, he is now mentally and spiritually prepared to venture into the darkness of his own being. This system of High Magick should only be attempted by those who have magickal training, or are learned practitioners of ceremonial magick. This system to the unprepared is VERY DANGEROUS, and can be disastrous for those who approach the subject manner with a light heart or contempt in the mind. A short exert from the Lesser Key of Solomon will show the level of seriousness this system deserves. 

“Curse you and deprive you from all your offices and places of joy and place and do bind thee in the depths of the bottomless pit, there to remain until the day of judgment; I say into the lake of fire and brimstone… let all the company of heaven curse thee… let the hosts of heaven curse thee, I curse thee into fire unquenchable, and torments unspeakable as thy name and seal is contained in this box, chained and bound up and shall be choked in sulphurus and stinking substance and burnt in this material fire… which is prepared for thee damned and cursed spirits and there to remain until the day of doom and never more remembered of before the face of God which shall come to judge the dead and the world by fire.” (Lesser Key of Solomon, Book 1: Ars Goetia)

The Goetic demons require quite an elaborate array of magical implements such as a magic robe, wand, sword, circle, ring, brass vessel containing the 72 sigils of demons, black mirror within the magick triangle, and a very good memory. These evocations are quite lengthy and the magickal ritual can last quite awhile, especially when in a hypnotic trance which is required. 

Bro. Carroll Poke Runyon, 

before the Dark Mirror 

of the Goetic Demon

For those of you who simply wish to greet your shadow self and do some soul searching, I recommend you find a mirror and paint it with up to 7 layers of black paint, light some candles in a darkened room as gaze into the mirror without evoking the Goetic demons. This is a form of meditation similar to Trataka yoga techniques and can be very beneficial for self-discovery, or to just scare yourself the way kids have been doing while playing “Bloody Mary” for years. 

For those of you inspired to follow in steps of the archetypal King Solomon, to gain insight of the self or wisdom for above, with a sincere nature this system can be very beneficial and enlightening, even life changing. But for those of you who dabble, or foolishly rush into such things and unleash the spirits of the brass vessel Solomon trapped so long ago… well… like the ancient Djinn say… be careful what you wish for.




~JEF

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.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone + The Royal Art of Freemasonry

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

WB Darin A. Lahners

FORWARD: RJ had been after me to give the readers a little taste of the “Harry Potter and Freemasonry” presentation that I’ve been giving to lodges in the 7th Eastern District in Illinois.  We were in a pinch for an article so I present part of my presentation below. I hope that it is well received.  - DL  

It may or may not come as a surprise to you that author JK Rowling has gone on record to say that the symbol of the deathly hallows from her Harry Potter series of books may have been subconsciously inspired by the Masonic Square and Compass.   In the below link, you can hear her in her own words discuss this.  (https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/jk-rowling-deathly-hallows-symbol-harry-potter-inspiration-mason-a8025626.html)  Although Harry Potter is filled with a plethora of interesting symbolism, I see a lot of other symbols used in Harry Potter which have connections with Freemasonry.  I will attempt cover one of these below.

First and foremost, the monomyth or hero’s journey is applied quite well to the journey that Harry Potter takes in each of his books, as well as the overall series.  Our own progress through the degrees also follows the monomyth.     

Step 1: The Ordinary World - This is where the hero exists before his adventure begins. The hero is oblivious to the adventure to come. In general, this part of the monomyth humanizes the hero so that we can identify better with them and empathize with them during their journey. This is Harry prior to getting his invitation to attend Hogwarts. Masonically, this would be a candidate prior to petitioning a lodge. 

Step 2: The Call to Adventure – This is where the hero receives the invitation for his adventure For Harry, this occurs when Hagrid shows up at the Dursley’s doorstep with his invitation to Hogwarts in his hand.   Masonically, this represents the candidate when he decides ultimately to petition a lodge, undergoes his investigation, and ultimately is accepted to receive his degrees in Freemasonry.  

Step 3: Cross the First Threshold – When the hero enters the world which is foreign to him.  This occurs when Hagrid brings Harry to Diagon alley and to Gringots, he introduces him to the wizarding world.  Masonically, this occurs when the candidate knocks 3 times on the door of the preparation room and enters the lodge for his first degree.   

Step 4: Trials, Friends, and Foes –  Just as it suggests, the hero has trials, meets allies and his foes.  In the Sorcerer’s Stone,  Harry meets Hermoine and Ron, they make it past Fluffy and enter the trap door in the forbidden corridor,  together overcome the obstacles in their path, allowing Harry to confront Voldemort for the 1st time, who has partially possessed Prof. Quirrell.  You continue to see Harry repeat this step in the subsequent novels where he overcomes obstacles with the aid of his allies.  Masonically, this represents the candidate who is received by the Senior Deacon, who leads them around the lodge, where they are challenged by the Junior Warden, Senior Warden and Worshipful Master. 

Step 5: Magical Mentor (or the Mentor with Supernatural Aid) – The hero meets an older and wise mentor, often with magical powers and/or possessing a magical object. In the Harry Potter novels, Dumbledore fills this archetype (giving Harry the Invisibility Cloak in the Sorcerer’s Stone), however Sirius Black (Gives Harry the Firebolt Broomstick) and the other members of the Order of the Phoenix, and Dobby (gives Harry the Gillyweed in the Goblet of Fire) also act as Mentors for Harry.  Masonically, the Senior Deacon would fulfil this role, as the Senior Deacon who escorts the candidate around the lodge, and assists the Worshipful Master with the candidate at the altar where they take their obligation, receive the due guard, sign, pass and token of each degree. 

Step 6: Dragon’s Lair – When the hero crosses a second threshold, he faces a significant physically and psychological risk.  This would be represented by Harry’s journey to his second confrontation with Voldemort at the end of the Goblet of Fire, where upon touching the triwizard’s trophy at the same time as Cedric Diggory, it reveals itself to be a portkey, bringing them both to a graveyard where his blood is used to reconstitute Voldemort.   Masonically, this would be when the candidate takes his steps toward the altar, to undertake his obligation.  

Step 7: Moment of Despair – The hero is close to defeat, and he has to dig deep inside himself to be able to escape the moment. In the Goblet of Fire, Harry uses knowledge he has been taught (the disarming spell) to counter Voldemort’s killing curse.  The wands are connected, and the spirits of Voldemort’s past victims emerge from his wand.   Once the connection is broken, the spirits remain, protecting Harry and allowing him time to grab Cedric’s body and escape by grabbing the trophy. Masonically, this can be thought of when the candidate takes his obligation.   He must honor the obligation every day for the rest of his life, or face the penalty of his obligation.    

Step 8: Ultimate Treasure – The hero receives a prize for successfully escaping from his moment of despair.  The reward can take on many forms, however it normally is secondary to the personal transformation the Hero undergoes.  For Harry, the second confrontation with Voldemort transforms him, helping instruct Defense Against the Dark Arts to Dumbledore’s army in the Order of the Phoenix, as well as giving him courage to face the obstacles ahead of destroying the horcruxes and defeating Voldemort .  Masonically speaking, the reward given to a candidate is the password, grip or token, due guard and sign, how to wear their apron and their working tools, as well as the explanatory lectures and charges for that degree, but also the transformation that takes place where the candidate becomes a brother.       

Step 9: Homeward Bound – This represents a retracing of the hero’s steps in reverse order.  This means that once again the hero must face challenges, resolve to defeat his enemy and return home. There might be a moment where the Hero is forced to choose between personal objectives, or to answering to a higher cause.  For Harry, this covers the events of The Deathly Hallows, where Harry and his allies hunt Horcruxes, they are captured, escape, and ultimately Harry faces Voldemort for the last time.  Masonically, this can be thought of as the beginning of the second section of the third degree, where the candidate represents Hiram Abiff, and the three ruffians attempt to pry the secrets of a Master Mason from him.     

Step 10: Rebirth & The Champion’s Return – This is the climax of the hero’s journey, where he faces his final and most difficult encounter with death and returns back to the Ordinary World changed.  For Harry, this occurs when he goes to the Forest encampment outside of Hogwarts and allows Voldemort to kill him.  He wakes up in a dreamlike version of Kings Cross Station, where he meets Dumbledore and learns that he hasn’t died.   He learns that the protective charm his mother Lily placed on Harry is kept alive inside of Voldemort, because Voldemort used Harry’s blood to reconstitute himself. Thus, Voldemort could not kill Harry, and Harry can now go back and finish him off.  In Masonic terms, I think this is pretty self-explanatory to those that have gone through the 3rd degree. There is a deeply moving and profound thing that happens which transforms the candidate.

It’s probably appropriate that Harry’s journey begins in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s (Sorcerer’s) Stone.  It’s during this first book that Harry begins his adventures as a Wizard.  In the book, the philosopher’s stone is an artificial stone created by an alchemist named Nicolas Flamel.  The stone is used to create the Elixir of Life, which extends the drinker’s lifespan, as well as transmute any metal into Gold.  The main villain of the series, Lord Voldemort, wants the stone so that he can regenerate his body as he only exists in a non-corporeal form.  As a quick aside, Voldemort’s name roughly translated from French means “Theft (Flight) From Death”, which is an illusion to his obsession with conquering death.   He’s robbed death of taking him at Godric’s Hollow by his creation of the horcruxes.  He spends the first few books attempting to regain his corporeal form, only doing so in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  In legend, the stone was an alchemical substance with the powers as ascribed above.  

The perfect ashlar that all Freemasons aspire to transform themselves into is another representation of the Philosopher’s Stone.  By following the lessons of Freemasonry, we transform ourselves from imperfect material to a perfected one, much like the Philosopher’s stone would transmute imperfect metal (like lead) into Gold.   The elixir of life from the Philosopher’s stone that grants immortality parallels the idea that since we as Masons are humans in an imperfect state, we aspire to become a perfect one, so that we may obtain immortality in that lodge on high which was not built with Human Hands.  Manly P. Hall states in The Secret Teachings Of All Ages (https://archive.org/stream/The_Secret_Teachings_Of_All_Ages_-_Manly_P_Hall/The_Secret_Teachings_Of_All_Ages_-_Manly_P_Hall_djvu.txt): 

“Albert Mackey sees a correspondence between the Philosophers Stone and the Masonic Temple, for both represent the realization and accomplishment of the ideal. In philosophy the Stone of the Wise Man is "supreme and unalterable Reason. To find the Absolute in the Infinite, in the Indefinite, and in the Finite, this is the Magnum Opus, the Great Work of the Sages, which Hermes called the Work of the Sun. He who possesses the Philosophers Stone possesses Truth, the greatest of all treasures, and is therefore rich beyond the calculation of man; he is immortal because Reason takes no account of death and he is healed of Ignorance --the most loathsome of all diseases. The Hermetic Stone is Divine Power, which all men seek but which is found only by such as exchange for it that temporal power which must pass away. To the mystic, the Philosophers Stone is perfect love, which transmutes all that is base and 'raises' all that is dead.”

In order to create a perfect ashlar, we are instructed as an Entered Apprentice Mason to use the common gavel.  In using the common gavel, you will begin to remove these rough edges and shape your character so as to "divest your heart and conscience of all the vices and superfluities (excesses) of life".  In order to first do this, the Entered Apprentice must look deep into himself and examine his own soul.  We see a parallel with Harry looking into the Mirror of Erised.  Harry discovers the “Mirror of Erised,” a mystical mirror that shows us the “deepest and most desperate desires of our hearts.” The mirror shows Harry images of himself surrounded by a loving family, and he becomes entranced by the images he sees, wanting to return to the mirror again and again to stare into it. The school’s headmaster, Dumbledore, warns him, “The mirror will give us neither knowledge nor truth,” and that “it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”

Later Harry is able to retrieve the Philosopher’s stone from the mirror because as Dumbledore puts it:”Ah, now, I’m glad you asked me that. It was one of my more brilliant ideas, and between you and me, that’s saying something. You see, only one who wanted to find the Stone – find it, but not use it – would be able to get it, otherwise they’d just see themselves making gold or drinking Elixir of Life.”

A man can only become a Freemason if he is uninfluenced by Mercenary motives, as affirmed by his answer to the secretary during the 1st degree interrogatories.  If he enters the lodge due to someone else’s desire or due to his own desire to use Freemasonry for personal gain, then he is not able to form himself into the perfect ashlar, ie: Posses the philosopher’s stone.  The freemason that aspires to become the perfect ashlar does so only out of the pureness of his own heart and spirit, and without any thought of selfishness or material gain.

~DAL

WB Darin A. Lahners is the Worshipful Master of St. Joseph Lodge No.970 in St. Joseph and a plural member of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL), and Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL). He’s a member of the Scottish Rite Valley of Danville, a charter member of the new Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter No. 282, and is the current Secretary of the Illini High Twelve Club No. 768 in Champaign – Urbana (IL). He is also a member of the Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees. You can reach him by email at darin.lahners@gmail.com