housand of the many who
have taken the degree of "Knight Templar," who recognizes its esoteric
meaning.

But words have a trick of trapping us, and we note that the word
"taken" is invariably used in referring to modern Masonic initiation.
Verily they have "taken" the degree in its outward semblance. They
have not attained to its powers and privileges.

Nor can they do so, when they exclude the very "gate of life" from the
order. They may become masons (builders of the temple), but how can
they become Architects, when they have not entered the tabernacle?

In a search for hidden meanings, and for a secret tradition which is
believed to be discoverable in Kabalistic and Hermetic literature, we
find, if we possess true insight, the one indubitable truth,
subordinating all the other symbols, namely that of the supremacy, the
finality, of the sublimated sex-union, resulting in immortal
mastership.

Most modern interpreters of the archives of these ancient philosophers
ignore the sexual significance of the arcana, but a glimpse at the
symbols will readily convince the initiated of their identity with
sexual symbology.

For example in "The History of Transcendental Magic," by Eliphas Levi
(Abbe Constant), translated by Arthur Edward Waite, there is a plate
used to illustrate the author's theory of Alchemy, which he concludes
"had two aspects, one a physical and the other a moral one." The
sexual, as well as the spiritual, significance is ignored, but this
may be due to a disinclination to reveal the secret meaning of the
alchemical symbols, or it may be due to a materialistic tendency on
the part of the compiler.

The plates, however, speak for themselves, and in one, ascribed to
Basil-Valentine, an alchemist of the Fifteenth century, called "The
Great Hermetic Arcanum," the supreme and significant point of the
illustration, shows, within the circle of Experience, through which
the initiate travels in his search for the supreme god-head, two
doves, holding in their beaks a crown. The doves are perfectly
matched. The crown is balanced between them, and the figure tops the
circle, under the heading "regeneration."

In another plate, which the author presents as "the Philosophic Cross,
or Plan of the Third Temple as prophesied by Ezekiel," we note again,
that the crown of the symbolical temple represents the red rose upon a
cross, within a radiant circle; beneath this is a mother-eagle with
outstretched wings, shieldin