Another revelation concerns the "evolution" of the races as given by Foster starting on page 31 and as explained more fully by H.P.B. and Alice in their works. Foster presents what he calls a basic hypothesis in discussing the question: "Is Masonry of vast antiquity and do we inherit it from a dim and distant past?"
That the hypothesis is far more than that for the New Agers is evident when later he says that if you can't accept this hypothesis, you just need to be more open to your intuition, a veiled reference to paying attention to the demons trying to influence you. Foster Bailey says the hypothesis, based on a study of the rituals and symbols and the allegory of initiation, is as follows:
"Masonry is the descendent of, or is founded upon, a divinely imparted religion which long antedates the prime date of creation as given in our Bible. [It] is all that remains to us of the first world religion which
flourished in an antiquity so old that it is impossible to affix a date. It was the first unified world religion. Then came the era of separation of many religions, of sectarianism. Today we are working again towards a
universal world religion. Again then, Masonry will come into its own, in some form or another." [F. Bailey, pp. 3031].
Bailey says that this ancient religion is attested to by "such symbols as the pyramids, both in Egypt and South America... what is left to us of the ancient mysteries." [ibid., p. 32].
He says these mysteries "were temporary custodians of the ancient truth and [are] closely allied to the Masonic work of today... and the golden thread of the living continuity can be traced through them to modern Masonry." [ibid.].
Bailey then says that we can go even further back than that in our search for the source of the Masonic inheritance:
"Masonry may therefore be as old as humanity itself, and religion as old as Masonry... the period when there emerged on earth that infant humanity of which our modern race of men are the fruitage. That period may also have been the founding of...our Masonic ritual and work...
Scientists hint at two races which preceded ours and give them names
The Lemurian civilization and the Atlantean civilization. Ancient Lemuria
saw the first human being walk on the earth. He was little more than an animal..." [ibid., p. 35].
Then Foster makes a statement about this prehuman creature that should set every Mason bolt upright in his chair:
"He was a soul in a deep and dark prison with the light that is hidden in each human form lost and veiled... He was a poor blind candidate for light, knocking blindly upon the door of the Temple. Blind and ignorant he wanders up and down, seeking light and unable to answer the
questions put to him." [ibid., pp.3536].
So we see that Bailey says this prehuman creature was "a poor blind candidate for light, knocking blindly upon the door of the Temple." That is a verbatim description of the initiate during the ceremony of the first degree of Masonry!
But for those of you who are not Masons, you need not take my word for it, because in the next sentence, Foster himself says that's what it represents:
"This is beautifully taught in the E.A. [Entered Apprentice] initiation where all he can do, until the gift of light is conferred upon him is to express his willingness to seek. Every other question, when put to him, is answered by his escort." [ibid., pp. 3536].
We can now better understand what Albert Mackey meant by his description of the symbology of the First Degree. Writing in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, he states: "The Entered Apprentice Degree symbolizes the creation of man and his first perception of light." [Mackey, p. 14].
Let's continue with the thread of the true meaning of the Blue Lodge initiations as Foster now proceeds to show that not only the First Degree has as its purpose to recount that time in prehistory when animalman became man, but that the second and third degrees also tell part of this story:
"Later the Atlantean civilization succeeds and the race of men reach a point where they can begin to `subdue their passions' and cultivate those arts and sciences which will raise them up into a higher scale of
living...This is the lesson of the F.C. [Fellow Craft, or Second] initiation.
Today in our Aryan race, humanity... is now ready for a further revelation. He can be permitted to take the sublime degree of M.M.
[Master Mason] and receive the Master's Word for which he so long has sought... All this racial history is indicated in the work of the three degrees of the Blue Lodge...and the rhythm of the threefold work of the Past, the Present and Future lies revealed." [F. Bailey, p. 36].
If you are a Mason, I suggest you reread the previous pages and consider how those you trusted in Masonry have lied to you from the start about the real meaning of what your initiation signified. If you were also a Christian at this time, whose Lord is the Light of the World, and "in Whom there is no darkness,"
can you really accept the description of your state as an Entered Apprentice as one who was in darkness, a poor, blind soul searching for light?
So there you have it. Masonry, say the New Agers, is the original religion of not only the world, but also of that part of the universe ruled by Lucifer, and it's a
worship carried out in the Grand Lodge on Sirius as well as in Masonic Lodges everywhere else.