Posted by:
Jim Huston
(
)
Date: February 15, 2011 11:13AM
The symbols on the garments were taken directly from Freemasonry, with the two main symbols being the compass and square. Also Masonic symbols are the honey bee, the all seeing eye, the upright and inverted pentagram, sun stones, moon stones and many others. Freemasonry took many of these symbols from Kabbalism which was 12-13th century Jewish mysticism which was started by the Hasidic Jews in France and Spain.
Albert Pike, in the 1800's recognized that the Masonic traditions came from Zohar (principle texts of Kabbalism), and through that channel he claimed a tie to the temple of Solomon.
>The Kabalah is the key to the occult sciences; and the Gnostics were born of the Kabalists. (Morals and Dogma, p. 626)
(He had it backward, the Gnostics predated Kabbalism by a thousand years.)
>Masonry is a search after Light. That search leads us directly back, as you see, to the Kabalah. In that ancient and little understood medley of absurdity and philosophy, the Initiate will find the source of many doctrines; and may in time come to understand the Hermetic philosophers, the Alchemists, all the Anti-papal Thinkers of the Middle Age, and Emanuel Swedenborg. (Morals and Dogma, p. 741)
>All truly dogmatic religions have issued from the Kabalah, and return to it: everything scientific and grand in the religious dreams of all the illuminati, Jacob Boehme, Swedenborg, Saint-Martin, and others, is borrowed from the Kabalah; all the Masonic associations owe to it their Secrets and Symbols. (Morals and Dogma, p. 744)
Morals and Dogma was the book given to candidates upon receipt of the 14th degree of the Scottish Rite for nearly 100 years. Pike was commissioned by the Supreme Council to take the earlier writings and develop a guide for the Scottish Rite similar to "Duncan's Masonic Ritual and Monitor" by Malcolm C. Duncan (1866), which was the handbook for York Rite Freemasons. Albert Pike was the Grand Commander of the Supreme Council for 20 years.
Gershom Scholem, the foremost expert on Kabbalism in the world has written several books on the subject and has pin pointed the birth of Kabbalism. While Kabbalism was initially conceptualized and has very early roots in France with the hasidut, however the development and writing was done in Gerona and Castile Spain and was not disseminated throughout Europe until there expulsion from Spain in the 14th Century.
Like Pike, Gershom Scholem has also recognized the influence of Kabbalism on Freemasonry.
Joseph Smith was a student of Kabbalism studying under Alexander Neibaur. He had also become a Mason. He felt he had it all under control. The Masons were in part an outgrowth Kabbalah traditions and Kabbalah claimed links back to Adam. Freemasons claimed links back to the Temple of Solomon.
A number of years ago a Mormon intellectual informed us that it was his understanding that one of the top scholars in the church had pointed out to church authorities that the words pay lay ale or pe le el could be translated from the Hebrew language as "mouth to God." This, of course, could be considered to be a condensed version of "Oh God, hear the words of my mouth!" That this translation is plausible can be confirmed by consulting Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, word #6310—"peh... the mouth." The Hebrew letter Lamed (transliterated in English as l) is often added on the front of words and means "to, at, for" (Hebrew Primer and Grammar, by C. P. Fagnani and A. B. Davidson, page 50). Word #410 in Strong's Concordance is "ale... God (god)." Kyle D. Williams has also pointed out to us that the Biblical name "Lael," found in Numbers 3:24, is translated by Strong (#3815) as "(belonging) to God." At any rate, we were told that the Mormon scholar was so convincing in his presentation to the leaders of the church that they changed the wording of the temple ceremony to "Pay Lay Ale."
In connection with this priesthood JS chose a new name - Baurak Ale which is a transliteration of a Hebrew name, also Baraqi'el, Barak-el, Barkayal or Barakel. This is a Kabbalah name of power. This was the name of 1 of the 7 archangels and 1 of the 4 ruling seraphim. He was known as the "Lightning of God" angel of the month of February and ruled Jupiter. JS was placing himeslf as a equal to Melchizedek as one of the archangels. It is again Hebrew, not the "Adamic language."
I do have some further information. The reason that some of the words are not in the standard Hebrew dictionary is that at that time, Smith was learning Sephardi Hebrew from Joshua Seixas, which is a fairly minor dialect.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2011 11:16AM by Jim Huston.