Ceremony for the degree of Grand Pontiff of the Thebiad, 78°
Dit Amerikaanse rituaal dateert uit de tweede helft van de negentiende eeuw.
Thebes was the most ancient part of Egypt. Diodorus considered the Thebans
to be the most ancient of people; and that the Ethiopians originated Sacrifices,
divine worship and religious Festivals and solemn Assemblies, and introduced
these into their colonies in Egypt. In after ages the Delta was peopled by
Arabs, Syrians, and by Negroes with whom the older races intermarried. Hence we
have Pantheism, Deific Unity, and Immortality mingled. Lucian says that the
Ethiopians and Thebans invented the Science of the Stars and named the planets.
in time Memphis became the chief city but succumbed to Alexandria. The humanised
trinity of Heseri, Osiris, Isis, Horus was preserved at This, Thinis, or Abydos
the birth place of Menes, the first king of the two Egypts 7000 years ago, were
the enlightened Apostles of immortal life, and to later times was preserved by
the Cenobites of the Thebiad.
The seven first and primitive orders of Gods, developed 12 Cosmogonical
powers, and these seven humanised deities. Iamblichus says that Bytis, prophet
to King Ammon, restored the Initiatory Rites, even as he found them recorded at
Sais in Egypt, and that he gave the names of the planets, and declared the
self-existing great God throughout the Universe.
Sign: place left hand on the heart, right on forehead, then bow thrice.
Touch: join right hands, and place left hands on right shoulder.
Password: the same.
Secret Word: Bytis (early Theban Priest).
Battery: * * *.
Jewel and Symbol: two concentric circles within a square.