Thursday, June 7, 2007

Sirius as the Masonic "Blazing Star"

The first degree of Freemasonry mentions the Blazing Star as one of the ornaments of the Lodge. In my jurisdiction, there is no explanation of what this star is. Several theories have been put forth as to what it may be: the sun, the Bethlehem star, or the dog star-Sirius.

Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky and is located in the constellation Cannis Major, hence the name "Dog Star." Could this actually be the Blazing Star at the center of the Lodge?

This star was very important to the ancient Egyptians. They based their calendars on the rising of Sirius and positioned their temples so that the light of the star would reach the inner altar.

Albert Pike claimed that Sirius was the Blazing Star in Morals and Dogma:

To find in the BLAZING STAR of five points an allusion to the Divine Providence, is also fanciful; and to make it commemorative of the Star that is said to have guided the Magi, is to give it a meaning comparatively modern. Originally it represented SIRIUS, or the Dog-star, the forerunner of the inundation of the Nile; the God ANUBIS, companion of ISIS in her search for the body of OSIRIS, her brother and husband. Then it became the image of HORUS, the son of OSIRIS, himself symbolized also by the Sun, the author of the Seasons, and the God of Time; Son of ISIS, who was the universal nature, himself the primitive matter, inexhaustible source of Life, spark of uncreated fire, universal seed of all beings. It was HERMES, also, the Master of Learning, whose name in Greek is that of the God Mercury. It became the sacred and potent sign or character of the Magi, the PENTALPHA, and is the significant emblem of Liberty and Freedom, blazing with a steady radiance amid the weltering elements of good and evil of Revolutions, and promising serene skies and fertile seasons to the nations, after the storms of change and tumult. - Albert Pike from Morals and Dogma, page 14-15.

The Ancient Astronomers saw all the great Symbols of Masonry in the Stars. Sirius glitters in our lodges as the Blazing Star. - Albert Pike from Morals and Dogma, page 486



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