Deign, O Holy Mother, to be drawn from Your Heavenly abode. By the moon and the stars we are guided, By the prayers and petitions of olde, May the sacred rites we have uttered, Draw You near our trembling hearts, May the holy names uncovered, Cleanse our souls before we depart. Deign, O Holy Mother, …
This paper was written at the beginning of my term as Junior Deacon of Runnymede Lodge No.619, a European Concept Lodge once based in Toronto, that has since become dormant. This paper investigates the history, the significance and the veracity of the historical documents that introduce the concept of “masonic landmarks”, to determine how they have shaped our understanding of Freemasonry today and what role they might play in its future.
The reality for those who genuinely seek to peer behind the veil of malkuth and experience the world of creation and infinite potential, is often a difficult and sometimes tragic one. Those who dare to shift their consciousness away from material reality, can often appear unsettling, or even threatening to others who are firmly anchored in the rational materialism of our consensus reality.
Jewish liturgical poetry, or “piyyutim”, was often composed by mekubalim as a means of drawing upon spiritual forces. Traditionally, they are written in acrostic style, encoding within themselves, certain divine names. While the following poem is not acrostic, but rather written as a tail rhyme, it nonetheless serves as a poetic initiation into the theurgic mysteries. It’s written in 7 stanzas and 49 lines; an allusion to the period of time between Passover (Pesach) and the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot) when mekubalim would engage in the ritual practice of the Counting of the Omer (Sefirat Ha-Omer) to reflect upon the self, dive into one’s psyche, rectify the ego and explore the depths of the soul.
