Ceremony for the degree Knight of Scandinavia, 34°

Dit Amerikaanse rituaal dateert uit het einde van de negentiende eeuw. 


This is a Philosophical degree, and consists of 3 parts or points:
1, the Elect; 2, the Mystic; 3, the Epoptae. In these are studied the Masonic doctrine; the historic and philosophic; the Sciences termed Occult or Secret. The temple is a square; the hangings of sky blue, sprinkled with silver stars. The East has a Dais of violet stuff fringed with gold, where is the throne of the Venerable; on the 3 thrones are 3 Hierophants wearing Crowns. In the centre is an Altar upon which are the Scriptures, a glaive, and the Square and Compasses. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd thrones have 3, 2 and 1 steps. The banner is flame coloured, and in the middle is represented a sword, a palm branch, the two crossed.
The Ribbon is colour of fire worn with a black rosette, and the Jewel suspended thereto is a Star of Silver for Knights, and of gold for Dignitaries. There is no change made during the points.
Jewel: Sword and palm crossed, form of a star; gold for Officers, silver for Knights: The ribbon is red.

Opening

The Very High, knocks ***  ***  ***     ***  ***  ***: Worthy Brother, why are we assembled here?
The High:
To instruct each other in Sacred Things.
The Very High:
Worthy Equal, how do we hope to do this?
The Equal:
By knowledge brought from Asgaard.
The Very High:
Then I declare the Assembly duly open for instruction.
Each gives ***  ***  ***.

1. Elect - Reception

Introducer, knocks ***  ***  ***, door opened a little way.
Guard:
Whence comest thou, Stranger, and what is thy desire?
Aspirant:
My name is Pilgrim; I have wandered long and am weary and desire rest. To whom belongs this fair mansion?
Guard:
To the King and to him will I lead thee. Admitted

Accompanier, draws Sword, stands on defensive, and leads Aspirant six times round the Hall, saying softly:
Scan every gate! Ere thou go on, With greatest caution, For 'tis hard to say!; Where foes are lurking! In this fair Mansion. After the 6th round Aspirant is brought suppliantly before the three thrones, one raised higher than the other two upon which are seated the three with Crowns.

Accompanier:
Pilgrim behold the Three! He who Sitteth on the lowest throne is called. The High, or Lofty one; the 2nd is named Equal To The High; and the 3rd is called The Highest. Listen to what they say to thee. Question them and they will answer.
The High:
Stranger, thou art welcome, and mayest eat and drink, without cost in the Hall of the Sublime. What is thy errand and what dost thou desire from us?
Pilgrim:
I desire instruction in your Mysteries.
Equal of the High:
The knowledge which you seek was brought from Asgaard by Sigge the High Priest of our All-father Odin, when he led his all-conquering armies from the Pontus and Euscine Seas. As Priest he sought not Kingly rank but gave to the Scandinavians a Mystic Theology which descended to after ages in a Symbolic poem named the Voluptia amplified in the Eddas. He it was who established in Scandinavia the secret religious Mysteries and appointed as their Guardian Twelve Great Pontiffs. From these Mysteries sprang numerous Fraternities or Guilds - warlike, religious, social, and operative, whose members were bound by Oath to give each other mutual aid and assistance. It is believed that Sigge having quarrelled with the Roman General Popmey, withdrew from that imperious and all conquering nation and making Kings as he passed along to Scandinavia he found Gylphi occupying that throne, and having established his Mysteries the King sought Initiation.
Gylphi hastened to acknowledge the great and warlike Hierophant Sigge, and went to his temple to seek Initiation disguised as a Gangler or Pilgrim. He beheld on his arrival a very lofty mansion, the roof of which was covered with golden shields. This Gangler formed the entrance to the mansion to be Guarded by one who was tossing seven small swords in the air, and catching them as they descended. Upon seeing the Gangler he addressed him, in the same words as you were, when you sought entrance, Gylphi was admitted and the great iron door closed with a crash like thunder. They traversed many stately rooms crowded with people. some drinking, some fencing. and finally he was brought before the Three, as you have been.
The great and warlike priest of Odin, the All-father, is said to have acquired Magical command of the Elements, to have possessed, the power of rendering himself invisible, as is asserted of many ancient religious persons: and when he reached old age, and was weary of life, he called his friends around him, and piercing his body with wounds, departed to the All-father.
Before I go further I must require from you a sacred and solemn promise, upon your honour, and upon your life, that you will conceal from all men what you have seen or heard, or may hereafter see and hear further in this Assembly.
Do you promise. on such terms?
Aspirant:
I promise sacred fidelity upon my honour and upon my life.

2. Mystic

The Highest: I accept your promise, Stranger, demand from us what thou wilt. What wishest thou?
Pilgrim:
Tell me. O! Lofty one, who is the first of the Gods?
Where doth he dwell? What is his Power? What hath he done to display his Glory?
The High:
He liveth from all ages, he governeth all realms; he swayeth all things, great and small.
The Equal to the High:
He hath formed the heavens; the Earth; the air; and all things thereunto belonging.
The Highest:
And what is more still, he hath made man, and given him a soul which will never perish; though the body shall have mouldered away, or may have been burned to ashes.
Pilgrim:
When and how was the beginning of all things?
The High, quoting the Voluspa:
'Twas times first dawn,
When naught yet was,
Nor sand, nor sea,
Earth was not there,
Nor heaven above,
Naught save a void,
And yawning gulf,
But verdure none.
The Equal to the High: For the unregenerate man there is Niflheim, (or Hell), the abode of anguish, misery, and anihilation. But before all there is Muspelsheim, or the luminous world, where rules Surbur the black, "Surbur filled with deceitful stratagems, who cometh from the South. The paths of death, and heaven was split asunder."
The Gods were created - Bure the father of Bore, whose wife was Beyzla the daughter of Baldron, of whom was born Odin, Vile, and Ve, who rule this world. The Voluspa says: "Formerly the sun. Knew not his place,
The Moon was ignorant of its powers,
And the Stars knew not their stations."
"Of the flesh of the Giant Ymer was formed Earth,
Of his Sweat the Seas, of his bones the Mountains,
Of his hair the herbs of the field, and of his skull the heavens
But the Merciful Gods built of his eyebrows the City Midgard
For the Children of Men, and of his brains the clouds
The Sense of which it is for you to discover."
Odin, Vile, and Ve, the sons of Bore, walking on the sea shore of this world created the first man Aske, and, the first woman Emla. Odin is therefore justly called the All-father, and Lidskialf is his palace. His wife Frigga, is the goddess of nature, fertility, and love, and is the daughter of Fliorgun.
Odin, says the Edda, has 46 names, because each Nation, having a different language translated it into their own tongue; the Earth is his daughter and wife, on her hath he begotten Asa-Thor, his first born, the god of war, strength and valour (Mars)
Loke is the evil God, full of cunning and deceit, and caused the beautiful Balder to be slain by a shaft of the baleful Mistletoe, for he was otherwise invulnerable. Balder having thus perished, his mother Frigga proclaimed that whosoever would descend to Nerfiheim where rules Hela, and restore him to life should merit all her love. Hermode, his brother, the nimble of foot, traveled, in dark valleys for nine days, and when he arrives at the abode if the Hela agrees to deliver him up, if all things animate and inanimate would weep for him. As in other allegories, and mythologies, all nature wept and mourned for the beautiful Balder, save Loke disguised as a cavedwelling witch, who said "Thok will weep with dry eyes the funeral of Balder, Let all things, living or dead, weep if they will, but let Hela keep her prey." So Balder remains with Hela till the restoration of all things, and Loke was bound in a cavern by the other Gods, and serpents discharge their venom upon him.
Pilgrim:
What did the All-father after building Asgard?
The Highest: He established Governors. Their first work was to build a Hall wherein are 12 seats for themselves, besides the throne of Odin. Its name is Gladheim (gladhome) They also built another Hall for the goddesses ... they called it Vinglod or the Mansion of love and friendship .... That age was called the golden age ... and lasted till the women arrived from the country of the giants.
Pilgrim:
Which is the Capitol of the Gods, or sacred city?
The Highest:
It is under the Ash Ydrasil where the gods assemble every day and administer Justice. It hath three roots, one amongst the Giants; one amongst the Gods; the third covers Nerfiheim (Hell). Under the root of that in the country of the Giants is a spring, and whoever drinks of that is named Nimis and is full of wisdom. The Voluspa says: "Where hast thou concealed thine eye Odin?
I know where; even in the limpid fountain of Minis,
Every morning does Minis pour Hydromel,
Upon the pledge which he receives from the All-father.
Do you understand this?
The third root of the Ash is in heaven,
Under it lies the holy fountain of past times,
There are in heaven very many pleasant cities,
And none without a divine garrison
The large Ash suffers more than man would believe
A Stag eats and spoils it above
It rots on the sides, and a serpent gnaws it below
There are Nomies (Fairies, past, present and future)
Of different origins, some proceed from the gods
Some from the Genii, and some from the dwarfs."
Pilgrim:
What cities are to be seen in heaven?
The Highest:
There are many fine cities to be seen there. One of them is Alfheim, where dwell the luminous Genii; the black dwell under the Earth and differ from the others, still more in their actions than in their appearance, the luminous Genii are more splendid than the Sun, But the black Genii are darker than pitch. The inside of Breidablik is of gold. the roof of silver. The great City Valasridlf belongs to Odin, and is of pure silver. Men of goodness and integrity shalt abide there for ages.
The Voluspa says: " I know that there is a place brighter than the Sun;
Entirely covered, with gold, in the city of Gimle.
There the virtuous are to reside, there they live happy through all ages."
Pilgrim:
Can you tell me ought of the nature of the Gods?
The High:
There are 12 of these. Besides Odin and Frigga, Thor already mentioned whose chariot is drawn by two He-goats; there is Balder who hath his palace in Breidablik; and there I know, says Voluspa, are Columns upon which are engraven verses, capable of raising the dead to life.
Kiord is the ruler of the winds and dwelleth in Noution, and took to wife Skada the daughter of the giant Thiasse: his children are Frey who presides over rain, and is the mildest of the gods: and Freya, the propitious from whom the ladies take their name. Tyr is the most bold and intrepid of the gods. Brage is celebrated for his wisdom, his eloquence, and his majestic air; his wife is Iduma who hath in charge certain apples that renew youth.
Heimdall is the son of nine virgins who are sisters, he dwells at the end of Birfrost in a castle called the "Celestial Fort", and is the Watchman of the Gods. Hoder is blind but exceedingly strong. The Ninth God is the silent Vidar. The tenth God, Vile or Vali is the son of Odin, and Rinda, bold in war and an excellent archer. The eleventh is Tellar the offspring of Gissia and son-in-law of Thor, and a quick archer. The twelfth is Forsette son of Balder he administers Justice, and dwells in Glibner. "Glibner is the name of a place which is supported upon pillars of gold, and is covered with a roof of silver. There it is that Forsette resides the greater part of the time, to reconcile and appease all sorts of quarrels." Loke is designated "the Calumniator of the Gods; the artificer of frauds; the disgrace of Gods and. men" (a Christian devil) ; he has children like himself, and these include Wolf Fenris. the serpent Nidhogger, and a third called Hela, to whom is sent the indolent who die of old age and sickness. The Valiant, and those slain in battle are welcomed by the All-father Odin.
Pilgrim: Who are the Goddesses?
The Equal to the High: The principal is Frigga, who path a magnificent palace called Fensalar, or the divine abode. The second is Sagar. Eira performs the function of healer. Gefione is a virgin, and takes into her all chaste maids after their death. Fylla is also a virgin and wears her beautiful locks flowing over her shoulders. Freya ranks next to Frigga. She was married to Oder who left her to travel and her tears for his loss are drops of pure gold. The seventh is Sione who draws young men and maidens together. Lorna is so gracious that she has the power of reconciling lovers at variance Vara the ninth, presides over oaths, and punishes those who are false Vora is wise, and can penetrate secret things. Synia is the Poctess of the heavenly palace. The twelfth is Lyna and she has care of those whom Frigga intends to deliver from peril. Snofra is a wise and intelligent Goddess. The Messenger of Frigga is named Gna.
We reckon also Sol and Bil amongst the Ases or Divinities; and there are besides a great number of Virgins in Valhalla who supply mead to the heroes.
Pilgrim:
What can you tell me of the time of Darkness of the Gods?
The Highest:
It is the end of the cycle. First will arrive a great and desolating winter, and snow will come from the four corners of the world. There will be severe frost, and violent and dangerous tempests. See how the first Hierophant states it in Voluspa. Brothers will become murderers, and will stain themselves with a brothers blood; kindred will forget the ties of consanguinity; and life will become a burthen; adultery shall reign throughout the world. A barbarous age! An age of swords! An age of tempests! An age of wolves! The bucklers shall be broken in pieces, and these calamities shall succeed each other until the world falls in ruins.
Heimdal will lift up his crooked trumpet and sound it aloud. Odin consults the head of Minis, the great Ash; the sublime and fruitful Ash will be violently shaken and send forth a groan. The Giant bursts his irons.
What is then doing amongst the Gods? What is doing amongst the Genii? The land of the Giants is filled with uproar. The Deities collect and assemble together. The dwarfs sigh and groan before the entrance of their caverns. O! ye inhabitants of the mountains, can ye say, whether anything shall remain in existence? The sun is darkened, the earth is overwhelmed by the sea; the shining stars disappear from the heavens, vapour mixed with fire arises, vehement heat prevails even in heaven itself.
But I know that there is in Nastrade an abode remote from the Sun, the gates of which look towards the North; their drops of poison rain through the windows; for it is built on the carcases of Serpents.
There in rapid rivers swim the perjurers, the assassins, and those who seek to seduce the wives of others. In another place there is still worse for an all-devouring Wolf perpetually torments the bodies of those who are sent in thither. Such is the account given us by the Voluspa, of what the Hindu Vedas term the great Prehtya, the night or inbreathing of Brahm, the Unknowable.
Pilgrim:
Whom of the Gods will then survive? Will they all perish and will there no longer be a heaven, and an earth?
The Highest:
There will arise out of the sea, which has overwhelmed the old, another Earth most lovely and beautiful.
Vidar and Vale shall survive, because neither the flood, nor the black conflagration can do them harm. Mode and Magne, the son of Thor repair Thither. Thither will come Balder, the beautiful, and Hoder from the mansions of the departed. Two persons, male and female, Lif and Liftbraser lie, concealed under a hill, and will propagate so abundantly that the new Earth is soon peopled anew. The Sun, once again, the brilliant monarch of fire, shall beget an only daughter, before the devouring Wolf commits his devastations; and, after the death of the gods, she will pursue the same route as her parents.

3. Epoptae (Seer)

The High: Now have Sublime Strains, been sung in Sublime Halls! Useful are they to the sons of men Hail to him who sang them! Hail to him who hath seen, and understood them! May they profit him who hath retained them! Hail to those who hath lent an ear to hear them! O! Pilgrim, thou who hast seen and heard! Make the best use of what we have imparted to thee! Study the inner meaning of the allegory.
The Highest:
Before you depart, I would say to you, that we have deemed it best, in beginning this special section of our Rite to point out to you, that we have deemed it best to give you the Initiation fully of the Scandinavian King Gylpke by the Highest Priests, of the Temple of Odin, as it is related in the Eddas. You will be the better enabled to understand in studying the mythology of the Scythian Priest Sigge that of others which follow.
There are in it traces of the primaeval creed which taught that humanity arose from a marriage of Heaven and Earth. Much of the Aryan Theology of the Vedas is to be found in it, and its closing strains are of the Destruction and Renovation of all thingr in the Outbreathing and Inbreathing of the Unknowable Deity, the Para-bratin of the Vedas.
I cannot better reward the attention you have given, than by formally creating you a Knight of Scandinavia in its highest point. You will therefore kneel before me.
Does so. Master strikes both shoulders saying:
In the name of the All-father, I create you a Knight of Scandinavia. Be valiant, bold, and true: ever esteem death with honor, before a life with dishonour. I decorate you with the Insignia of the Order. and proceed to instruct you iti the modes by which we recognise each other.
1st. Section: Sign of Order: Draw the sword with right hand and hold it by the middle of the blade.
Sign of Recognition: Strike two blows on Sword with left hand, fingers of the right hand on the heart.
Answer: Place right index on the lips.
Sign of Help: Right hand on left shoulder, left on brow.
Password: Sigge; Answer: Oromaze (most pure light).
Recognition Word: Stella Sedet Soli. (Science. Wisdom, Holiness).
Sacred Word: Zoa.
Battery: ***  ***  ***      ***  ***  ***.
March: Six ordinary steps, draw sword. Stand to order.
2nd Section: Odin; Answer: Autopsei (Contemplation).
Password: Anagogie (Elevation of Spirit).
3rd. Section: Password: Aborigene (Society without origin).
Sacred Word: Rurosta (Truth).

Closing Conference

Hierophant: You will now take your seat and listen to the Lecture.
Question:
Do you believe in the immortality of the Soul.
Response:
Yes. It is the ancient teaching of this degree.
Question:
Do you believe that the Soul is an Emanation of God?
Response:
God is truth, then all which lives must be in affinity.
Question:
What is individuality?
Response:
Individuality is the Soul which is immortal. It is the Ego which may sleep, but never cease to be. Free and immortal, moved by grievous things of necessity. the will can embrace worlds and raise itself even towards Divinity.
Question:
What is will?
Response:
Will is the principle of our actions, and all that is organised.
Question:
Are the exterior senses then the instruments of the soul co form itself?
Response:
Yes. Because the soul feels through the body: it sees with its eyes; hears through its ears; and these can be developed and perfectioned in like manner as the exterior senses perform these functions, the soul has also its interior and spiritual sensations.
To wit:
1. It has humane feelings and sentiments of humanity;
2. A moral sense, with sentiments of human good;
3. The intellectual, or sentiments of the true and the just;
4. The aesthetic, or sense of the beautiful Sublime.
5. The religious Sense, or of the holy and divine.
These five admirable Senses, like those of the natural body, are susceptible of the highest development, and it is in this art of perfectioning itself that the education of the soul consists.
In order for this development, conformable to the souls natural dignity, we must recognise all its facilities, and put them in activity in the way that reason prescribes.
The soul can only receive the impressions of exterior nature, and must therefore feel, receive, reflect, imagine, understand, will: in one word it is the soul which thinks. It is more or less perfect, in proportion that it is more or less pure, and the perfect goodness of a man constitutes his sovereign perfection.
The soul which perfects its divine nature may thus, by degrees, approach the divine; it knows its origin, its nature, and its destiny; it feels that it comes from God, and seeks to return to Him.
The divine essence of the humane Soul, is shown in Thoughts of God, and of immortality, and is part of its intellectual and spiritual nature; it constitutes its divine nature, its sovereign good, its supreme felicity.
A noble and great Soul is one which feels in itself the Divine force, and thinks and acts in it, and reposes constantly in thoughts of God and immortality.
With this single thought when all die fails in the empire of the world, it rests unflinching and preserves its energy, its liberty, its almost divine power. Nothing else, under the Sun, can be compared to a strong soul: if the universe was anihilated before its eyes, it would survive and remain peaceful, for it is immortal.
O! Man, as thy soul is immortal form it for immortality, by raising it towards the Supreme Architect of the Universe. Listen to the voice of God, to that celestial voice which speaks to thy heart, crying perpetually ‘Immortality’.
Question:
If the perfection of the vital breath which animates us is the direct reason of civilization are we not involuntarily led to conclude that certain souls which are impeccably filled with the divine breath, may be attached to a more perfect existence in order that they may tend to approach the infinite Being from whom they have sprung?
Even the insert which then is the object of our disdain, may give up its last breath to a being of superior order; thus by transmigration upon transmigration, with a series of beings, the most imperfect may arise towards its creator, to repose in the bosom of God; such was the belief of the ancient priests.
Hierophant:
These Ancient Priests said: The soul is immortal, but to reach heaven, it has to pass through seven doors of lead, tin, copper, iron, bronze, silver, and gold. The Alchemists had analogous doctrines, they supposed that the soul must pass through the development of the Seven planets, before it reposed in the centre of felicity.

Closing

The Highest, knocks ***  ***  ***     ***  ***  ***: Our Labours being ended I close the Assembly. Depart to your homes and the blessings of the All-father be with you.
The battery is repeated by the two other Priests.


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