KABALLAH and FREEMASONRY, The, Martin Wagner The Hebrew Kabbalah is one of these ancient schools, and is pointed out by eminent Masons as one of the sources of Freemasonry and a channel through which the ideas and doctrines of the divine nature as held in the mysteries and eastern philosophies, have come down to and become incorporated in this modern institution. Buck states that “Freemasonry in its purity has been derived from the Hebrew Kabbalah as a part of the great wisdom religion of remotest antiquity,” (Mystic Masonry, p. 143). Garrison says that “it is in the speculations of the Kabbalah in which the traditions of the previous ages have come down to us, under the form in which we as Masons and especially in the chapter degrees are accustomed to receive them.” “The points of identity are so many, so various and essential in the very structure of the order that I do not hesitate to infer, and I think every competently instructed Mason will agree with me, that at some period in their history, the association of the great builders of western Asia and which passed over later into the Masonic guilds of Latin and Teutonic Europe, had made or found the mystery of the omnific word an integral element of their secret science, and that which is called the “Faculty of Abrac” under substantially the same form as the Kabbalah has preserved and still remains as an essential portion of the traditions and symbols of the Masonic order in different degrees.” (Garrison, In Fort, p. 458). While Fort does not concede the connection of Freemasonry with the mysteries, he traces its descent in its outward forms from the ancient builder’s guilds, but concedes the entrance into it of many heathen ideas, some of which are of a priapic character. Albert Pike drew largely from the writings of Eliphas Levi, the Abbe Constant, a great Kabbalist, and whom Buck considers as knowing more of the occult science than any one since the days of the old initiates, for illuminating and illustrating Freemasonry. A candid investigation convinces us that Freemasonry is indebted in a very large measure to the Kabbalah for its philosophical ideas, its methods of interpreting the scriptures, its doctrines of emanations, its art speech, its cosmogonical views, and its veils and glyphs. In a certain sense it is a continuation of the Kabbalah under a different name and guise.
Another source from which Masonic ideas are derived and which also became a channel for their transmission is Gnosticism. As the Kabbalah was an attempt to harmonize the Hebrew religion with the peculiar philosophy of the east, so Gnosticism which was Jewish before it became Christian, was an attempt to harmonize the New Testament doctrines with the Platonic philosophy. This Gnostic theory of pairs, powerfully influenced the early church, and traces of it can be found in every period of her history. Heckethorn says that “Gnosticism permeates every vein of Freemasonry.” The point we here wish to make is that the Kabbalah was the phallicized Judaism and Gnosticism was an attempt to phallicize Christianity so as to give it at least external harmony with the doctrines of’the mysteries.
The Essenes is another one of the orders to which Freemasons look as a source of their doctrines and practices. In the ritual in our possession there is an account of the order from which we take the following. They devoted themselves to a life of contemplation and studying the mysteries of nature and revelation, they were ruled by a Rabban, they rose early in the morning and offered a prayer for the return of the light of day, they partook of a common frugal meal, had special lustrations and studied and expounded the holy scriptures. Their doctrines were completely esoteric and the most mysterious were taught only in their place of secret meeting. They were divided into three grades or ranks, and candidates were admitted only after their characters had been severely scrutinized. They were bound to the order by a solemn oath. According to this ritual. Freemasonry is a revival of this order, and its principles are adopted by this modern institution. (See Rit. pp. 5-12).
In addition to those mentioned above, the Pythagoreans, the professed followers of Pythagoras whom Freemasons regard as one of the prophets of Masonry, and various sects of the Mithraic philosophers, are sources from which Freemasonry has derived many of its ideas, and the media through which the ancient doctrines were transmitted to modern times. The channels through which these mystic ideas and religious notions passed into England are numerous, and in 1717 many of them became synthetized in Grand Lodge Freemasonry.
If Masons must go to these ancient cults in order to learn the secrets of the institution, to learn its philosophy, and the secret knowledge concealed in its ceremonies and symbols, surely the “profane” also can do so and learn what was in the minds of their founders, and get the thought the ancients intended to express by them. These mysteries we can study. We can learn their moral and religious ideas. We can trace their ceremonies and symbols back until we find in what “necessities of human nature they originated.” We can ascertain what ideas concerning the divine nature pervaded these services, and what was venerated and worshipped as the Creator. All this we can do quite as well as the Mason. Sectarian bias need not affect the conclusions reached. The monumental evidence, the documentary material, and archaeological science is ample to permit a candid investigation and ascertainment of the facts. Martin Wagner in An Interpretation of Freemasonry ppg 65-67.