Handel composed an oratorio entitled Solomon in 1749. The story follows the basic Biblical plot. ...

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King Solomon, King Solomon - The name Solomon, King Solomon - The Biblical account, King Solomon - Succession, King Solomon - Solomon's Wisdom, King Solomon - Buildings and other works, King Solomon - Decline and fall, King Solomon - Solomon in the Qur'an, King Solomon - George Rawlinson's evaluation, King Solomon - Later legend, King Solomon - Solomon in fiction, King Solomon - Solomon in the arts, King Solomon - Footnote

Read more here: » King Solomon: Encyclopedia II - King Solomon - Solomon in the arts

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King Solomon, King Solomon - The name Solomon, King Solomon - The Biblical account, King Solomon - Succession, King Solomon - Solomon's Wisdom, King Solomon - Buildings and other works, King Solomon - Decline and fall, King Solomon - Solomon in the Qur'an, King Solomon - George Rawlinson's evaluation, King Solomon - Later legend, King Solomon - Solomon in fiction, King Solomon - Solomon in the arts, King Solomon - Footnote

Read more here: » King Solomon: Encyclopedia II - King Solomon - Later legend

Solomon also appears in the Qur'an, where he is called Sulayman. The Qur'an refers to Solomon as the son of David, as a prophet and as a great ruler imparted by God with tremendous wisdom, favor, and mystical powers. Solomon was said to have under his rule not only people, but also hosts of invisible beings (i.e., jinn). And like his father David, Solomon is said to have been able to understand the language of the birds, and to see some of the hidden glory in the world that was not accessible to common human beings. Surah 27 (An Na ...

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King Solomon, King Solomon - The name Solomon, King Solomon - The Biblical account, King Solomon - Succession, King Solomon - Solomon's Wisdom, King Solomon - Buildings and other works, King Solomon - Decline and fall, King Solomon - Solomon in the Qur'an, King Solomon - George Rawlinson's evaluation, King Solomon - Later legend, King Solomon - Solomon in fiction, King Solomon - Solomon in the arts, King Solomon - Footnote

Read more here: » King Solomon: Encyclopedia II - King Solomon - Solomon in the Qur'an

Solomon or Shlomo (Hebrew: שְׁלֹמֹה; Standard Hebrew: Šəlomo; Tiberian Hebrew: Šəlōmōh, meaning "peace"; Arabic: سليمان Sulayman) in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), also called Jedidiah, was the third king of the united ancient Kingdom of Israel (there was no Kingdom of Judah in his time). Solomon was the builder of the first Temple in Jerusalem, also known as Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. He was renowned for his great wisdom, wealth, and power, but also blamed fo ...

Including:

King Solomon - The name Solomon King Solomon - The Biblical account
King Solomon - Succession King Solomon - Solomon's Wisdom King Solomon - Buildings and other works King Solomon - Decline and fall
King Solomon - Solomon in the Qur'an King Solomon - George Rawlinson's evaluation King Solomon - Later legend King Solomon - Solomon in fiction King Solomon - Solomon in the arts King Solomon - Footnote

Read more here: » King Solomon: Encyclopedia - King Solomon

Solomon or Shlomo (Hebrew: שְׁלֹמֹה; Standard Hebrew: Šəlomo; Tiberian Hebrew: Šəlōmōh, meaning "peace"; Arabic: سليمان Sulayman) in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), also called Jedidiah, was the third king of the united ancient Kingdom of Israel (there was no Kingdom of Judah in his time). Solomon was the builder of the first Temple in Jerusalem, also known as Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. He was renowned for his great wisdom, wealth, and power, but also blamed fo ...

Including:

King Solomon - The name Solomon King Solomon - The Biblical account
King Solomon - Solomon's Wisdom King Solomon - Buildings and other works King Solomon - Decline and fall
King Solomon - Solomon in the Qur'an King Solomon - George Rawlinson's evaluation King Solomon - Later legend King Solomon - Solomon in fiction King Solomon - Solomon in the arts King Solomon - Footnote

Read more here: » King Solomon: Encyclopedia - King Solomon

The name Solomon (Shlomo) means "peaceful," from the Hebrew Shelomoh (Arabic Sulaiman). The name given by God to Solomon in the Bible is Jedidiah, meaning "loved by God", (2 Samuel 12:25), and some scholars have conjectured that Solomon is a "king name" taken either when he assumed the throne or upon his death. King Solomon, founder of the Solomonid dynasty, was the builder of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. The Song of Solomon is attributed to him by traditionalists, but not the Odes of Solomon, the Psalms of Solomon, the Wisdom of Solomonnor the Key of Solomon. T ...

Read more here: » Solomon: Encyclopedia - Solomon

According to the Bible, the (unnamed) queen of the land of Sheba heard of the great wisdom of King Solomon of Israel and journeyed there with gifts of spices, gold and precious stones, as recorded in First Kings 10.1-13 (largely copied in 2 Chronicles 9.1-12). The queen was awed by Solomon's wisdom and wealth, and pronounced a blessing on Solomon's God. Solomon reciprocated with gifts and "everything she desired," whereupon the queen returned to her country. The queen was apparently quite well off herself, as she brought 4.5 tons of gold (more than 4,000 kilo ...

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Queen of Sheba, Queen of Sheba - Biblical account, Queen of Sheba - Later Jewish legends, Queen of Sheba - Qur'anic account, Queen of Sheba - Modern Arab view, Queen of Sheba - Ethiopian account, Queen of Sheba - Renaissance depictions, Queen of Sheba - The Queen of Sheba in popular culture, Queen of Sheba - Operas, Queen of Sheba - Movies, Queen of Sheba - Books

Read more here: » Queen of Sheba: Encyclopedia II - Queen of Sheba - Biblical account

The decalogue begins with the declaration that Yahweh is to be worshiped in exclusion to all others, and followed by an injunction against idolatry. Accordingly, the worst sin of man or woman is to turn a believer from Yahweh (Meyers, pages 225-226). The men and women that do are treated as the most wicked in the Hebrew Bible. Solomon, as a king, is lauded both for his power and wisdom, and yet, neither of these virtues could save him from the love he had for his foreign wives, and the turning away from Yahweh it engendered: ...

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Old Testament views on women, Old Testament views on women - Social position of women, Old Testament views on women - Morality Plays: Women as Victims, Old Testament views on women - Morality Plays: Women as the cause of Sin, Old Testament views on women - Women as Leaders

Read more here: » Old Testament views on women: Encyclopedia II - Old Testament views on women - Morality Plays: Women as the cause of Sin

King Solomon

(Hebrew- peaceable) Third king of Israel (965-925 BC), son of David by Bathsheba, built the famous first temple of Israel and established the great empire of the Jews, (the kingdom of God). the legend is told in I Kings 3 that God offered the young Solomon, either wisdom or wealth, he chose wisdom. God was so pleased that he gave him both wisdom and wealth. The wisdom of Solomon has become proverbial.

(See also: King Solomon, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

King Solomon

(Hebrew- peaceable) Third king of Israel (965-925 BC), son of David by Bathsheba, built the famous first temple of Israel and established the great empire of the Jews, (the kingdom of God). the legend is told in I Kings 3 that God offered the young Solomon, either wisdom or wealth, he chose wisdom. God was so pleased that he gave him both wisdom and wealth. The wisdom of Solomon has become proverbial.

(See also: King Solomon, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

SOLOMON

The biblical king, 1000 B.C., noted for his infinite wisdom. In fact, when he first became king of Israel, an angel asked him what he wanted above everything else and Solomon chose wisdom over wealth. He was also a great magician. He was the inventor of a television-like mirror used in divination, which Paracelsus reinvented 2500 years later. Solomon means "peaceful," for he ruled in a time of peace. This is important, because until then the kings of Israel had busily engaged in war. It was this miracle, in ancient times of peace, that enabled Solomon to build, with the help of angels, elementals, aethyrs and spirits, a great temple from cedars of Lebanon donated by Hiram, King of Tyre. The temple was seven years in the making and exceedingly beautiful. It housed many great Gods (despite the Judaic aversion to polytheism). When Solomon did finally go to war, he transported his armies on flying carpets and gliders. In Talmudic teaching, according to Wade Baskin's Sorcerer's Handbook, Solomon was instructed by Ashmedai, king of the Shedim.

(See also: SOLOMON, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

Solomon, King of Israel and Judah shelomoh (Hebrew) [from shalom prosperous cf Arab zuleima, Greek Salomon Latin solomo, genitive solomonis, French Salomon]

Peace, prosperity; according to orthodox Biblical chronology, he lived 993-953 BC, the youngest son of David whom he succeeded through the influence of his mother Bathsheba and the prophet Nathan. Throughout the East, especially in Arabia and thence in Europe, there are many legends of his wisdom and magical powers, and notably with regard to his seal, the six-pointed star or double interlaced equilateral triangles (Solomon's seal); his meeting with the Queen of Sheba and his answering of the questions and riddles propounded by her and others; and his judgments. Solomon is said to have gotten "his secret learning from India through Hiram, the king of Ophir, and perhaps Sheba" (IU 1:135, 136n).

If the exoteric literal account in the Bible is accepted, Solomon in his later years showed himself as very far from wise, indulging in licentiousness and idolatry (1 Kings 11); further, he began his reign with the murder of Adonijah, Joab, and Shimei and his last recorded act was that he sought to kill Jereboam.

In Freemasonry, King Solomon is especially honored as the builder of the Temple and as the first of the Three Grand Masters -- the other two being Hiram, King of Tyre, and Hiram Abif -- all of whom were concerned with the building of the Temple. The evil ending of Solomon's life, according to the Biblical account, is almost overlooked in Masonic ritual and literature. In the Jewish Encyclopedia ("Solomon"), according to one writer, Solomon is represented as "the wise king par excellence"; and "in Arabic literature, Solomon is spoken of as 'the messenger of God' "; according to another writer in the same work, however, "a critical sifting of the sources leaves the picture of a petty, Asiatic despot, remarkable, perhaps, only for a love of luxury and for polygamous inclinations." Only by interpreting the Bible esoterically can we arrive at the truth regarding King Solomon; and such interpretation fully corroborates the characterization of "the wise king par excellence"; and fully supports both Masonic ritual and tradition in regarding King Solomon as the first and chief of the Three Grand Masters.

What then is the explanation of the otherwise contradictory statements in the Bible regarding Solomon? Even from a historical and ethnological standpoint one may find a clue, for along purely exoteric lines there is nothing foreign in Solomon's "idolatry" and his worship of other deities. The same racial strain ran through all the surrounding peoples as in Israel, and the respective worships, gods, and goddesses were all closely interrelated, derived from the same Babylonian concepts, appearing under different names -- Blavatsky shows the identity of the mystery gods of the Phoenicians, Chaldeans, and Israelites (SD 2:3). The gods and goddesses of the nations surrounding the Jews were all theologically interrelated, aspects or permutations of the same basic idea; and, as worshiped by the people, all were variants and, in their exoteric forms, degradations of the original conception on which every great theogony and cosmogony was built (cf SD 2:535 et seq).

As for Solomon's 700 wives and 300 concubines, these "are merely the personations of man's attributes, feelings, passions and his various occult powers: the Kabbalistic numbers 7 and 3 showing it plainly. Solomon himself, moreover, being, simply, the emblem of Sol -- the 'Solar Initiate' or the Christ-Sun, is a variant of the Indian 'Vikarttana' (the Sun) shorn of his beams by Visvakarman, his Hierophant-Initiator, who thus shears the Chrestos-candidate for initiation of his golden radiance and crowns him with a dark, blackened aureole -- the 'crown of thorns.' (See The Secret Doctrine for full explanation.) Solomon was never a living man. As is described in Kings, his life and works are an allegory on the trials of Initiation" (BCW 10:162-3n).

Solomon the Wise is a type-figure, and the legendary story of his life, wisdom and glory, and temptations and apparent fall, is a variant of the traditional history of certain wise ones recounted in every world-religion. Even granting that a king names Shelomoh reigned over Judah and Israel, the Biblical account and the many traditions of his life are an allegory of initiation.

(See also: Solomon, King of Israel, Judah, Shelomoh, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Temple of Solomon The building of this temple, according to the Bible, was first projected by King David, but on command of the Lord was not carried out by him because he had "shed much blood." David, however, assembled materials and workmen. To aid him in building the Temple, his son Solomon appealed to Hiram or Huram, King of Tyre, to send him a skillful artisan, and King Hiram sent Hiram Abif to Solomon, also workmen and additional supplies of timber.

According to the Biblical account the Temple was completely built, while according to Masonic tradition the building was left unfinished on account of the death of Hiram Abif. The temple after its completion retained its original splendor for only 33 years when the Egyptian King Shishak made war upon Rehoboam, Solomon's son, captured Jerusalem, and took away all the treasures of the temple and of the king's house. Its history is one of repeated profanation and of alternate spoilations and repairs, until finally in 588 BC it was entirely destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in the reign of Zedekiah. Yet Herodotus who, some 150 years later, visited Tyre and described the temple of Melkarth and Astoreth, does not even mention the Temple of Solomon, supporting the view that there never was such a structure actually built.

Granting that there may be some historical background for the Biblical account, it is nevertheless allegorical throughout. Blavatsky compares the measurements given in the Bible with those of the Great Pyramid and the Tabernacle of Moses, all of which were constructed upon the same abstract formula derived from the number of years in the precessional cycle, and also upon integral values of pi, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to the diameter. Moses symbolized these "under the form and measurements of the tabernacle, that he is supposed to have constructed in the wilderness. On these data the later Jewish High Priests constructed the allegory of Solomon's Temple -- a building which never had a real existence, any more than had King Solomon himself, who is simply, and as much a solar myth as is the still later Hiram Abif, of the Masons, as Ragon has well demonstrated. Thus, if the measurements of this allegorical temple, the symbol of the cycle of Initiation, coincide with those of the Great Pyramid, it is due to the fact that the former were derived from the latter through the Tabernacle of Moses" (SD 1:314-5). And she refers to "the undeniable, clear, and mathematical proofs that the esoteric foundations, or the system used in the building of the Great Pyramid, and the architectural measurements in the Temple of Solomon (whether the latter be mythical or real), Noah's ark, and the ark of the Covenant, are the same" (SD 2:465).

The key to the meaning of Solomon's Temple is given by W. Q. Judge: it

"means man whose frame is built up, finished and decorated without the least noise. But the materials had to be found, gathered together and fashioned in other and distant places. . . . Man could not have his bodily temple to live in until all the matter in and about his world had been found by the Master, who is the inner man, when found the plans for working it required to be detailed. They then had to be carried out in different detail until all the parts should be perfectly ready and fit for placing in the final structure. So in the vast stretch of time which began after the first almost intangible matter had been gathered and kneaded, the material and vegetable kingdoms had sole possession here with the Master -- man -- who was hidden from sight within carrying forward the plans for the foundations of the human temple. All of this requires many, many ages, since we know that nature never leaps. And when the rough work was completed, when the human temple was erected, many more ages would be required for all the servants, the priests, and the counselors to learn their parts properly so that man, the Master, might be able to use the temple for its best and highest purposes" (Ocean 20).

Thus David, who collected materials for the building but was not permitted actually to build the temple, represents the evolutionary and preparatory work of earlier rounds and of the earlier root-races preceding the middle of the third root-race of this round, when humanity appeared upon the scene -- Solomon, David's son -- takes up the task of the actual building of the human temple. David thus mystically may stand for the lunar or barhishad-pitris, and Solomon for the solar or agnishvatta-pitris.

According to the Old Testament, the building of the temple was completed, but it was used for its high purposes only briefly. Allegorically this was during the Golden Age of the childhood of the human race -- the building was complete only as regards childhood when the gods walked among mankind and were their divine instructors; but humanity was not yet truly human, for manas (mind) had not yet been awakened by the manasaputras of whom Hiram Abif was a type. It is here that Masonic tradition should be studied together with the Biblical account. Then with the awakening of manas, and the eating from the Tree of Knowledge and hence the power to choose between good and evil -- in other words, with the beginning of self-directed evolution, the temple was desecrated again and again. "The building of the Temple of Solomon is the symbolical representation of the gradual acquirement of the secret wisdom, or magic; the erection and development of the spiritual from the earthly; the manifestation of the power and splendor of the spirit in the physical world, through the wisdom and genius of the builder. The latter, when he has become an adept, is a mightier king than Solomon himself, the emblem of the sun or Light himself -- the light of the real subjective world, shining in the darkness of the objective universe. This is the 'Temple' which can be reared without the sound of the hammer, or any tool of iron being heard in the house while it is 'in building' " (IU 2:391).

Again, the building of a temple, sanctuary, Holy of Holies, etc., always signified in the occult language of ancient days the founding and dissemination throughout the world or a portion of mankind of a secret doctrine of nature. In a more restricted sense, the building of a temple referred to the actual establishment of an initiation center, where not only for such territory the ancient wisdom and its divine significances were taught, but disciples were trained and brought to the "new" or "second" birth, and thenceforth themselves became adepts or initiates. On these lines the building of Solomon's Temple was the inauguration and establishment of the teaching of nature's occult wisdom in Judea and surrounding territory.

(See also: Temple of Solomon, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Jachin yachin (Hebrew) The right-hand pillar set up before the temple of Solomon by Hiram (1 Kings 7:21). From the Qabbalistic standpoint, Jachin is the right pillar of the Sephirothal Tree composed of Hochmah (wisdom), Hesed (mercy), and Netsah (firmness).

Its companion Boas (Bo`az), the left pillar, consists of Binah (intelligence), Geburah (strength), and Hod (splendor). Jachin and Boaz together represent the dual manas, or higher and lower ego.

(See also: Jachin, yachin, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

JACHIN & BOAZ

The white and black pillars of the High Priestess (entrance to the Temple of Solomon: I Kings, 7.21). Strength and Beauty. Jachin = establishing principle, right, active, male; Boaz = left, passive, female (and according to Case, Strength). Jachin or yod, the phallus, requires beth, the house to contain it. Jachin (He will establish) stands for Man. Boaz (In strength) stands for God. The pillars represent the difficulty in distinguishing Self from Other, which is the source of all opposites and dichotomies. When viewing the temple from outside, Boaz is on one's left and Jachin on the right. From within, looking out, Boaz is on ones right. When there is a middle pillar, it generally stands, rather vagely, for wisdom.

(See also: JACHIN & BOAZ, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

The Three Ancient Grand Masters In Freemasonry, a title applied to King Solomon, Hiram King of Tyre, and Hiram Abif, who are regarded by Masons as having been the Three Grand Masters of the Craft at the time of the building of Solomon's Temple: Solomon as architect upon whom his father King David laid the charge to build "an house for the Lord," and to whom he had given the plans, "the pattern of all that he had by the spirit" (1 Chron 28:12); King Hiram, who supplied the materials, in addition to those which had been collected by David; and Hiram as builder and artificer.

The Temple representing as it does both the universe and man, as the microcosm, the Three Ancient Grand Masters can be viewed either cosmically or particularly with reference to man. Cosmogonically these Grand Masters represent the trinity of nature and are identical with the triads which are found in all the great world religions: Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva in India; Osiris, Isis, and Horus in Egypt; the highest three Sephiroth in the Jewish Qabbalah -- Kether (the Crown), Hochmah (Wisdom), and Binah (Intelligence); and Father, Holy Ghost, and Son in Christianity.

Microcosmically the Three Ancient Grand Masters represent the highest triad of man's composite sevenfold nature: atman, the inner divinity; buddhi, spiritual soul, the principle of spiritual intelligence and understanding and of spiritual will; and manas, the mind which is the artificer or builder. More generally they represent threefold human nature: spirit, soul, and body, for the Temple of Man is built by each one from within himself by the unfolding of his inner faculties and powers. This trinity of man whether as highest triad or as spirit, soul, and body, being the key to the "lock of Magic," the trinity of nature.

Because nature is repetitive throughout, these Grand Masters are correspondentially related to the highest three of the four lower manifested planes of the seven planes of cosmic consciousness, in which exist the sevenfold manifested cosmos, the solar system, and the seven sacred planets. Specifically with reference to the seven globes of our earth-chain, Blavatsky gives these in the Chaldean Qabbalistic system as: 1) Archetypal World; 2) Intellectual or Creative World; and 3) Substantial or Formative World (SD 1:200). The lowest of the seven cosmic planes is the plane of our physical earth, which is the focus, result, and outermost expression of the energies and forces of the three higher planes. Thus our physical earth, as also physical man, are each the Temple, planned and built by the Three Grand Masters, according to the pattern which David has "by the spirit," the divine plan which is hidden in the heart of everything that is. In accordance with this divine plan all evolution proceeds by the progressive manifestation of the divine life and the cosmic and human spiritual energies, powers, and faculties, evolving and unfolding from within, until at last the building of the Temple shall be completed and adorned as a fit and worthy habitation of the inner god.

(See also: Three Ancient Grand Masters, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Masonry Operative masonry, the art of building in stone; speculative and emblematic Freemasonry, called such since 1717 when four English Lodges of operative masons established the Grand Lodge of England of Speculative and Emblematic Freemasonry, so called because building materials, tools, and instruments are symbolically and analogically used in the building of the universe and of man as a temple enshrining a god.

Originally, however, among the ancient Masons, and today throughout the Orient "wherever magic and the wisdom-religion are studied, its practitioners and students are known among their craft as Builders -- for they build the temple of knowledge, of secret science. Those of the adepts who are active, are styled practical or operative Builders, while the students, or neophytes are classed as speculative or theoretical. The former exemplify in works their control over the forces of inanimate as well as animate nature; the latter are but perfecting themselves in the rudiments of the sacred science" (IU 2:392).

Modern Freemasonry includes many Rites and Degrees, all the so-called higher degrees being based upon the three fundamental craft degrees -- 1) Entered Apprentice; 2) Fellow Craft; and 3) Master Mason -- which degrees alone comprise true Masonic secrets and have any valid claim to descent from ancient Masonry. The lessons or keynotes of these three degrees are respectively 1) ethical, to subdue the passions; 2) intellectual, the training of the mind, the seven liberal arts and sciences, and the mounting of the stairway of wisdom; and 3) spiritual, the conquest of death. The lessons in each degree are enforced and illustrated by appropriate symbols and allegories. The central theme of modern Masonry is the building of King Solomon's Temple; the death of Hiram Abif and the consequent loss of the Word; the raising of Hiram Abif, and the communication of a Substitute Word.

"Modern Masonry is undeniably the dim and hazy reflection of primeval Occult Masonry, of the teaching of those divine Masons who established the Mysteries of the prehistoric and prediluvian Temples and Initiation, raised by truly superhuman Builders" (SD III 165).

"The Temple was the last European secret organization which, as a body, had in its possession some of the mysteries of the East. True, there were in the past century (and perhaps still are) isolated 'Brothers' faithfully and secretly working under the direction of Eastern Brotherhoods. But these, when they did belong to European societies, invariably joined them for objects unknown to the Fraternity, though at the same time for the benefit of the latter. It is through them that modern Masons have all they know of importance; and the similarity now found between the Speculative Rites of antiquity, the mysteries of the Essences, Gnostics, and the Hindus, and the highest and oldest of the Masonic degrees well prove the fact. . . .

"Freedom of intellectual thought and the restoration of one and universal religion was their secret object" (IU 2:380, 382).

"The simple truth is that modern Masonry is a sadly different thing from what the once universal secret fraternity was . . ." and "the time has come to remodel Masonry and restore those ancient landmarks, borrowed from the early sodalities, which the eighteenth century founders of speculative Freemasonry meant to have incorporated in the fraternity" (IU 2:387, 377).

Freemasonry in fact was started as a minor theosophical movement as also were the original Order of the Temple, and the Rosicrucian Order, each of which was designed with the purpose of keeping alive in the outer world as far as the times permitted a knowledge of the ancient wisdom-teachings.

(See also: Masonry, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Wordpassing, Passwords Communication or passing of the word or words in two contexts: 1) in the sacred Mysteries, by one hierophant just before his death to his successor; and 2) as the culminating act of initiation, from the initiate to the candidate or neophyte, as in Freemasonry by the Master of the Lodge, representing King Solomon, to the candidate after his raising.

In the first case, the hierophant could either offer his pure life "as a sacrifice for his race to the gods whom he hoped to rejoin," or an animal victim. This last is a blind, for no initiate of the right-hand path ever sacrificed the life of an animal or any life. The sacrifice performed is the complete conquest of the lower, animal nature, either in this or a lower degree; hence the alternative. The sacrifice of their lives "depended entirely on their own will. At the last moment of the solemn 'new birth,' the initiator passed 'the word' to the initiated, and immediately after that the latter had a weapon placed in his right hand, and was ordered to strike. This is the true origin of the Christian dogma of atonement" (IU 2:42). Blavatsky mentions a widespread superstition among the Slavs and Russians that a magician or wizard cannot die before he has passed the word to a successor, which she traces to the ancient Mysteries.

In the Egyptian initiatory rites taking place in the Great Pyramid, the neophyte, "upon returning -- received the Word, with or without the 'heart's blood' of the Hierophant.

"Only in truth the Hierophant was never killed -- neither in India or elsewhere, the murder being simply feigned -- unless the Initiator had chosen the Initiate for his successor and had decided to pass to him the last and supreme Word, after which he had to die -- only one man in a nation had the right to know that word . . .

"But he died, he was not killed. For killing, if really done, would belong to black, not to divine Magic. It is the transmission of light, rather than a transfer of life, of life spiritual and divine, and it is the shedding of Wisdom, not of blood" (BCW 14:262-4).

That the initiate was compelled to kill the initiator was allegorical and exoteric.

Turning to the second meaning, in Freemasonry every degree has its password or words, which are given to the neophyte during initiation into that degree, the possession of which is a requisite for admission into the working of that degree, and to the conferring of it upon others. By means of it, initiates, as of Freemasonry, may become known to one another. In the ancient Mysteries such words were key words, words of power -- not mere words or phrases which could be communicated to anyone merely after taking part in a ceremony however symbolic, but only to those who were inwardly qualified and worthy of receiving them; who, in fact, had achieved the right of demanding them. Thus in a sense such words were ineffable, not only not to be uttered but unutterable to anyone not entitled to receive them, anyone who had not attained through aspiration, self-conquest, and inner development of mind and heart that stage wherein an understanding of them would be possible. Such inner development must in fact have been begun before one could be truly initiated even into the lowest degree, and must be attained progressively in greater and greater measure as an indispensable qualification for advancement into a higher degree. This use of passwords is also seen in the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

(See also: Wordpassing, Passwords, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Lost Word According to the Masonic ritual of the third or Master Mason's degree, the Word which was in the possession of the three Grand Masters of the Craft, King Solomon, Hiram of Tyre, and Hiram Abif, and could be given only when the three were "present and agreed," was said to have been lost on the death of Hiram Abif, in consequence of which it was decreed that until the True Word was again found, a Substitute Word should be used.

By the death of Hiram Abif not only was the Master's True Word lost, but it was discovered that there were no plans upon the Trestle-Board for continuing the work of the building of the Temple. This gives a clue to the meaning of the Lost Word which "ought to stand as 'lost words' and lost secrets, in general, for that which is termed the lost 'Word' is no word at all, as in the case of the Ineffable Name" (TG 191). Communicated to man in the childhood of the human race, these lost secrets were passed on from hierophant to hierophant in turn.

Every true Mason is in search of the Lost Word, the secret knowledge or gupta-vidya, yet the lost secrets of the Royal Art can never be communicated to, because they cannot be comprehended by, one who does not recognize and in degree at least realize his own inner divinity, the immanent christos or buddha within, which is his true self; i.e., through initiation become, actually and in fact, a Christos, an Osiris, a Hiram Abif. Every degree of initiation into the Mysteries has its secrets, its Word, its sacred formula, which may be communicated only to those who, according to Masonic ritual "are duly and truly prepared, worthy and well qualified," else the penalty is death to the one so revealing the Word or secrets.

The mythos of Orpheus and Eurydice is a Mystery-story of the loss of the Word -- Eurydice being a personification of the esoteric wisdom. The recovery of the Word is possible only to him who, during initiation, descends into the Underworld fully prepared, and who fulfills the inescapable conditions for return therefrom in possession of the Word, as was Orpheus through his marriage with Eurydice. Should he like Orpheus lose it -- fail to bring Eurydice back with him -- such loss brings inevitable death, or at least a rupture between the personal man and his higher spiritual nature, so that the personal man, unprotected by his spiritual nature, becomes the prey of remorse and of the lower terrestrial passions, the Bacchantes, and is finally slain by them.

But this is not necessarily final failure, for in the next or in a succeeding life he may again begin his search for the Word, and if undaunted by obstacles, even by repeated failures, he continue in his search, he may and probably will ultimately find it.

(See also: Lost Word, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Solomon is David's second son by Bathsheba. In the Hebrew Bible, the prophet Nathan informs David that God has willed that his firstborn son must die, as punishment for David's method of execution of Uriah the Hittite, and his relationship with Bathsheba, Uriah's wife, which was fornication (although whether or not it was adulterous is disputed 1.) [1]. After praying and fasting for a week, David heard the news that his son had died, and comforted the grieving Bathsheba, who became pregnant with Solomon.

King Solomon, King Solomon - The name Solomon, King Solomon - The Biblical account, King Solomon - Succession, King Solomon - Solomon's Wisdom, King Solomon - Buildings and other works, King Solomon - Decline and fall, King Solomon - Solomon in the Qur'an, King Solomon - George Rawlinson's evaluation, King Solomon - Later legend, King Solomon - Solomon in fiction, King Solomon - Solomon in the arts, King Solomon - Footnote

Read more here: » King Solomon: Encyclopedia II - King Solomon - The Biblical account