Part 1 – The Rose-Cross Secrets of Occult Masonry
Note about Arnoldo Krumm-Heller (Huiracocha)
Krumm-Heller was a Mason and member of the Memphis-Mizraim branch of High Grade Masonry. This Rite had 97 degrees and was established in France in 1881 from the combination of two so-called ‘Egyptian’ Rites: the Rite of Memphis and the Rite of Misraïm. The Rite of Misraïm is said to have been popularized by Cagliostro in the late 1700s and was introduced in France in 1814. The Rite of Memphis was introduced in France in 1839.
Eliphas Levi mentions this association in one of his letters to his student the Baron Spédalieri in 1862, saying:
“Eckhartshausen belonged to the occult Masonry of the Misraim rite, and he was the grand master therein. This rite was profaned in France by the materialistic disciples of the mysterious Cagliostro. The rite of Misraim was affiliated with the Joannites or Templars of whom the actual Grand Master was the baron of Szapari. Their doctrine materialized itself and was corrupted…”
Krumm-Heller says in his book Logos, Mantram, Magic (1930) at the end of the Section entitled ‘EVERYTHING RADIATES’:
“I, who have nearly half a century of study in these matters behind me, who possess the highest degrees of masonry 3-33-97 … declare for myself that in vocalization, in the use of mantrams and of prayer, and through the awakening of the sexual secretions, exists the only path to arrive at the goal and all else, that is not here, is a miserable waste of time.”
Krumm-Heller has a unique perspective on the subject of Masonry which is evident in the following three articles. But there is something that must be remembered: Krumm-Heller speaks with the language and terminology of his time and perspective (the end of the Age of Pisces, prior to beginning of the Age of Aquarius).
Krumm-Heller talks about the same subjects and topics that we discuss in Gnosis, but he just uses different terms to describe them. Do not let this confuse you in your studies. Remember to extract what is useful and discard what is useless, so that you can benefit from anything.
-from “Editor’s Note about Arnoldo Krumm-Heller (Huiracocha)” in Ch. 6 of
The Gnostic and Esoteric Mysteries of Freemasonry, Lucifer and the Great Work
The Rose-Cross Secrets of Masonry
Often it has been requested of me that I write about occult Masonry, but I have always refused because I have thought that I should not have to waste any time with this. But, lately, Leadbeater has published a book on Masonry, just as Heindel had done before him, and so I have resolved to exit from silence.
When reading these works (same as the one by Jinaradasa), I have said to myself: “either these authors do not know anything about occult Masonry or maybe they know and they do not want to speak about it”. What is more probable is that thousands and thousands of masons are going to the Workshops dedicating themselves to a very beautiful humanitarianism, but in order to not over salt them with Masonry and so as to make more practical work possible, they are being enlisted into the salvation army with the degree of lieutenant.
For some years, the theosophists have been installing masonic bodies that they call, I believe, “masonry of adoption” or “adoptive rite masonry” and in them they receive women and when practicing their ritual they give some quite accurate symbolic explanations, which always means a step forward, but what they know and what they say is nothing compared with the true secrets of the Fraternity.
We must not forget that Masonry, just as much as the catholic religion, in its rites and ceremonies, is nothing more than recollections of the Real Art or Magic.
…The eminently wise Standemeyer in his work Magic as Experimental Science, says:“We have certain nervous centers that we must excite in the experiments. With them we can awaken and exteriorize our magical forces.”
[Ludwig Staudenmaier’s Die Magie Als Experimentelle Naturwissenschaft (1912)]
These centers are in intimate relation with our endocrine glands and they, in their turn, are susceptible to being provoked into functioning (in a given sense) with the oppression of certain arteries or the suppression of other nervous centers. The practice of how to do all this is locked up in the giving of the signs, grips and passwords of Masonry. How insignificant sometimes is the grip that is required!The treatments of Dr. Asuero have proven, who (when slightly interrupting the trigeminal nerve) heals diabetics in the act and quadriplegics throw their crutches away. Who among the masons present has ever suspected that such things existed behind our grips?
And, nevertheless, in Turkish Masonry and in the Rite of Memphis and Mizraim the key is exhibited with complete clarity. The ancient rites, and those which are from the ninth century, give the practices mentioned with all the details: the days in which to do the practices, the grips, how they are done, and in the same manner, their association with vocalization. All this is indicated in the masonic calendar. They give instructions on the awakening of the chakras, that a mason of the middle ages called “flames” and in those times the neophytes had to learn to magically handle the passwords of the first and the second degrees.
In Rosario Argentina they have come back to realize this ancient rite, but nowadays something curious happens; they do not have anything more than the masonic patent issued in Italy, but they are missing what is essential: THE KEY, because those degrees precisely lack it. They wanted me to give it to them, but, despite my efforts, it was not possible.
When I was giving a conference in the beautiful halls the Union Lodge Number 17, a brother who presided there launched himself into a discourse, from the title of my presentation, which proved with complete clarity that they don’t know much beyond what is in Masonry itself and in its relation with the ROSE CROSS Fraternity, and at that time I said to myself: “here you should not reveal anything, because they are not yet mature for these things”.
They want the ancient and sacred Rite of Masonry to be handled the same way the Scots handle it, but I am not ready for that, since they have converted their Masonic system into a corpse.
The masonic brothers can be sure that I, as a ROSE CROSS adept, am a mason, not by the diplomas that I own (because sometimes these are not worth the cost of the paper that has been spent on them). No, I am a mason because I have comprehended the great secrets of the Order.
The vowels I A O, which are enclosed within the passwords of the first degrees, must be pronounced in combination with the grips and immediately the sanguineous current of our organism undergoes an instantaneous modification and it puts us into a condition for provoking psychic phenomena.
A turkish master mason who was with me for a time, took a rabbit and he put his fingers upon him in the form that the apprentice mason must make, and immediately the little animal was put into a state of catalepsy, soon he did the same with a boy of 20 years, whom I believed was dead, but it was enough to give him the hand like the master mason does for that boy to, instantaneously, return to himself.
For years and years I have experimented in the laboratory with the masonic subjects and every day I have been more and more convinced that we are truly possessors of a real, grandiose, and superior art with which we can teach official science.
Will I be able to let the brother masons participate in that which I have discovered? The future will say and I will be seriously happy to be able to do so.
What I can assure you of is that if you have seen me cure a paralyzed person, or a blind person, like Doctor Asuero, and many other so-called incurable patients, sometimes very instantaneously, I did not learn it in the school of medicine, but by meditating on the intimate subjects of Masonry, where I found much more, so much more, than is commonly suspected.
The dualism represented by the two columns of the temple signify the two aspects of the consciousness, that is to say, the conscious Self and the subconscious Self.Masonry has always appealed to reason and has applauded France when it excluded God glorifying Reason in a woman. Our Reason certainly is, like the consciousness, the divine voice in us, but we cannot listen to its dictations clearly, since we are put to sleep by our vices and bad habits, our prejudices and preoccupations and it is necessary to liberate ourselves from them.
We have been guided by our instincts too much, forgetting that we have intuition as a prominent divine factor, which can guide us, but intuition does not work for us if we do not do magical exercises, we should study the movements before we do the exercises and this has always been the privilege of the initiatic societies.
Then, these exercises and everything that we do, like the steps and movements, in the different masonic degrees, are not only psychotechnical practices, but they are also practices that can take us to a superior state of consciousness from the commonly known state of consciousness…
The masonic catechism says that a Masonic Lodge represents the Universe and that we admire the Great Architect of the Universe.
It has also been called the Macrocosmic Universe, putting it in front of us (we who are the Microcosm), signifying that we are a synthesis of the great All, and since we do not have a way to study the Universe, the Mason must occupy himself with the study of their SELF (or themselves) in order to start their study of the secrets of the Universe by analogy.
Our SELF is represented for the Mason by the dualism of their columns, the “J” and the “B” columns.
The letter “J” should be the letter “I”, because this vowel has always been the representation of the SELF in the primitive languages, and it has preserved itself in the German in the “Ich “, in the English “I”, the French “Je “, the Italian “Io “, and the Spanish “Yo “. We could follow with other languages.
But the letter “I” not only has symbolic value, but also has real value, through its sound, and the apprentice Mason must learn the articulation of the “I” well in order to awaken the inherent force in the sound of this vowel, which is always in intimate relation with the Tattwa, reflected in the Atmosphere and in the magnetic centers of the body.
For these things the dualism must be conscious.
The columns are separated; one represents the subjective SELF and the other the objective SELF. When we say: “I enter through the door”, we generally confuse our two Selves, and thus we do not realize the true situation of the Universe.
The apprentice Mason should accustom themselves to the following way of thinking: “I take my body through this door”. Equally when speaking, one should think: “I make the ‘I’ sound with my vocal cords.” There is a difference between the internal Self which speaks and the external Self which pronounces.
For the exercise of meditation the Turks advise the apprentice masons to take a grain or a seed and meditate upon it, on the potentiality which is locked up inside of it, and the faculty to be developed, which will come to be a flower, plant and tree, thanks to the impulse of the Great Architect of the Universe.
Then they will take an imitation of a grain or seed, as we see in the wax or rubber imitation fruit. If that occult power did not reside in the seed or grain, then the Great Architect of the Universe would not act. That takes care of the real and unreal things, that living or dead aspect of things.
The black and white floor represents the day and the night, in relation to our Self either we are in state of vigilance and or we are in a sleeping state.
-from THE SECRETS OF MASONRY 1 in Ch. 6 of
The Gnostic and Esoteric Mysteries of Freemasonry, Lucifer and the Great Work
The Occult Masonry of Huiracocha
If we study the Ancient Mysteries, of which Masonry is undoubtedly a continuation, we will constantly observe that its symbolism is separate from its legitimately real philosophical value.
If the purpose of the Mysteries was to know a supra-physical World, this was because it truly exists and because this is where one goes after death. Whereas the ordeals (that are still maintained in apparent form) were, in the ancient Mysteries, real and highlighted some aspect of the work that is needed in order to reach that supra-physical World.
The Aleph [ א ] of the Hebrews, which represents man between two worlds, would have lent itself beautifully to fulfill this symbolism in a most perfect way.
Why, let us ask, was the “I” [ י ] taken for one column and the “B” [ or the Hebrew Beth ב ] for the other and why then are the words which start with those letters Jakin and Boaz, the names of the columns of the Temple of Solomon?
The finishing apprentices could give us a wealth of responses which would rectify our ignorance and we would have to hide because of embarrassment since we, 33rd degree members, did not know these things and asked such childish questions.
But… we, ignorant 33rd degree members, know that there is something more and that this what our companions ignore…
The symbols, we can say, are worth nothing in themselves if their meaning is not known, but the “I” [ י ] and the “B” [ ב ] are realities and there are concrete ways for those who know how to read.
We have signs, grips and passwords. Something that at first seems silly and childish, may have been invented in a more complicated way and, nonetheless, these grips, these signs and these words, have not been respected… Do you not think that all this could be an expression of something occult? Such is, in fact, the case. The signs, are seen. The grips, are they not felt? And the words, are heard… Then surely you need to See, Feel and Hear something which is ignored and which is, much later, to be perceived in its entirety.
We see it, but do not feel nor hear it and we must, we absolutely must, feel and hear it. To do this, the ancient Masons had a section of secret instructions where they taught how to practically Feel an “I” [ י ], and a “B” [ ב ], that is to say, a Vowel and a Consonant.
Each of these senses, taken separately, are important in order to fulfill that which is desired and this is the reason you need the cooperation of the three senses. Now let’s take a piece of wood with a very interesting figure that is painted bronze and we would not doubt that what we see before our eyes is truly shaped in bronze. Until we touch it we do not know its content, and the touch tells us that in reality either it is metal, or that it has the properties of wood. But one look convinces us that the work is of bronze, dropped to the ground and then the sound is what shows us our mistake. Behold two senses were powerless to perceive the truth and we needed to use a third.
As for the sign of the Apprentice. Masonry could change and use, for example, the sign of the Fascists whose salute is more airy and arrogant, but, nonetheless, the Masons have to use their own sign, that which is peculiar to them, bringing the right hand up to the throat where the organ of the voice is and where it flows with more or less intensity according to how this organ is constricted or loosened.
This, no doubt, has a significance. The Sign is combined with the voice, but this is in ourselves and we must observe that we are not alone, our brothers are with us from which our SELF is but an extension and we need the help of others in order to fulfill with them what is wanted: the sign and the word… But Ah!, then we speak…
Masonry is not useful for anything when it is taken alone because we need another, a companion, a brother, who will be Touched by the sign… And if we did not have anyone for this purpose, where would one find him? Note that there is always Another, another who can not be seen, another who is enclosed within ourselves and it is this other one who must recognize the sign…
This brother of our’s who goes with us through life, is our Internal Master, to whom the sign, the word and the grip are given, in order to achieve certain hidden effects that will lead to another degree, in the other plane: the astral plane itself.
Few know of it and it is better that way. We ourselves can not divulge it.
The Key is conquered through internal preparation or is given to the chosen by the Master in the Superior Room. The only reason we have to write the above, is in an effort to arouse the curiosity of those who study and encourage all to meditate.
In Constantinople, I was recognized in Occult Masonry and saw the effects of our signs based on the teaching of a Guru (Master) between columns and who was giving masonic instructions. At the conclusion of the session, the astral spectrum was dissolved and all the participants took this phenomenon as natural.
In any Masonic Lodge in Spain or America this would have scared some, others would have ignored the spiritualist centers and few, very few, would have tried to repeat it, but we in our Rose Cross Lodges will do so.
-from “Occult Masonry” in ‘Rosicrucian Magazine
Year VI: No. 02 Berlin, May 27, 1932’ available in Ch. 6 of
The Gnostic and Esoteric Mysteries of Freemasonry, Lucifer and the Great Work
Part 2 – The Practice of the Ancient Turkish Freemasons
‘Oriental’ or Turkish Masonry and the Grips or Hand-Signs for I A O
In 1924, a book was published in German called The Practice of the Ancient Turkish Freemasons: The Key to Understanding Alchemy [Die Praxis der alten türkischen Freimauerei: Der Schlüssel zum Verständnis der Alchimie] by Rudolf Freiherr von Sebottendorf.
It presented some very interesting concepts, including the idea that certain secret formulas were given to the Prophet Mohammed and that he passed these down to an intimate circle of disciples. This is the secret knowledge of the “Oriental Freemasons”.
“The Prophet distributed these formulas throughout the Koran according to a precise key (the so-called ‘abbreviated letters’, which are like esoteric acronyms or ‘holy abbreviations’). This secret doctrine explains that the Sura (or Chapter of the Koran) in which a formula occurs and specifies the number of days that a practice is to be repeated. The formulas are present in 29 Suras, which are said to be related to the 29 days of a Synodic lunar month as well as to 29 divisions of the physical body.
This is the path the Dervish Order is accustomed to taking. This not only has to do with a general sort of knowledge, but they also attempt to acquire special powers by means of a specific practice. However, for the most part, the Dervishes are the people who strive after higher knowledge, and from whom the spiritual leaders of Islam will be drawn. If they pass the time of testing (which usually lasts 825 days), then they will receive higher initiation. Or, on the other hand, they may receive a more special instruction in order to attain certain magical characteristics.”
Sebottendorf says that this higher initiation is related to certain Exercises of Freemasonry, and the work of the Alchemists and Rosicrucians. These exercises are characterized by the use of the three signs of recognition employed by modern Freemasons: sign, grip and word.
Sebottendorf clarifies that these are not merely signs of recognition, nor symbols, but rather “magical operations designed to induct the finer radiation of the primordial power, in order to incorporate them into the body and thereby make the body more spiritual, to give the balance of power to the spirit over the body”. The signs are three different positions of the hand, known by the vowels which are indicated by them:
1. The I-sign The right hand is in a fist and from the fist the index finger is extended straight out; the hand is put in such a Position that the finger is directed straight upward into the heights so that the letter I is represented.
2. The A-sign The hand is held in such a way that all the fingers lay in a flat plane; the thumb is now extended so that it forms an angle of 90 degrees, a right angle with the line of the index finger.
3. The O-sign One is to bend the fingers and thumb of the angled hand in such a way that the tip of the thumb just touches the tip of the index finger. The thumb, index finger and the part of the hand between these two digits form a circle, an O.
‘Oriental’ or Turkish Masonry and a Glimpse into its Practice of Vocalization
“…The indispensable condition upon entering the exercises is faith in GOD, the awareness that the individual is one with GOD. I repeat this reminder for those who wish to begin these exercises, which in no case can cause harm to anyone who has a selfless spirit.
But they may be harmful to anyone who undertakes them with the selfish intention to delve into secrets which he is not supposed to know. In the best case he will perform the exercises without success and will become annoyed at having spent money on such a worthless book.
The work is divided into three parts:
I. the Preliminary work
II. the Main work
III. the Pursuant work
The Preliminary WorkOne stands upright, forms the I-sign and concentrates his whole attention on the uplifted finger while continuing to think of nothing other than “I, I, I”. One will soon notice that the finger begins to become warm in a most peculiar fashion. When this warming becomes noticeable one allows the hand to fall, and after a while the A-sign is formed. One should attempt to vivify the A in a similar way until one feels a dry warmth in the thumb. Then one immediately forms the O-sign and animates it in the same way.
The Oriental, who Sequesters himself in the solitude of his Dervish Order, will feel definite signs of the kind indicated on the first day. The Occidental, who will do the exercise no more than about 10 minutes in the morning or evening, will need a few days longer.
As soon as the warming takes place, the student must form the I-sign and animate the finger with “Si, Si, Si” until he feels that is becoming warm. He then lets his hand drop and immediately forms the A-sign.
He animates the angled hand with “Sa, Sa, Sa” and after a while guides his hand to his neck, makes the hand grip, and thereby conducts the inducted rarified forces of nature to his neck. During this he constantly thinks “Sa, Sa, Sa”, then sharply removes his hand [*Note: this movement is related to a certain masonic body posture] and forms the O-sign, which, after he has animated it with the syllable “So, So, So”, he moves to his solar plexus in the Master-grip after a while.
This preliminary works encompasses a time span of ten days, that is: three days of animation with the simple vowel sounds and seven days with the syllable made up of the vowel compounded with S…”
Without going any further into this system, it certainly seems that Huiracocha was familiar with it, but we refer you to the source material for additional investigation.
Part 3 – Runic Mudras and their similarity to the ‘Oriental’ Masonic Signs
Rune Occultism, Hand-Signs and Vocalization
In 1933, another book was published in German called Rune Magic [Runen-Magie] by Siegfried Adolf Kummer. It describes some interesting things, including Runic Hand Postures or Positions, which he called Rune-Grips [Runengriffen ].
We find some remarkable similarities between Kummer’s system and that of so-called “Oriental Freemasonry” mentioned above. The Hand Positions (or Hand-Signs) are very similar to those mentioned above by Sebottendorf:
I – Is Rune …raise the left Arm vertically upwards, the left Hand will take the Is- or Ich-Rune-Hand-Grip shown in Figure 9. The Practitioner clenches the left Hand, extends the Index-Finger upwards and sings (from a deep to a high Tone) the “i-i-i” sound repeatedly. Thoughts are directed to Universal-Love [Alliebe ] and to the Development of the magical Force of the Self or Inner-Being [der magischen Kräfte des Ichs ]… This Grip can also be performed with the right Hand, it then produces a different Body-Current which is also recommended.
A – Ar Rune …Figure 10 shows the Ar-Rune-Grip which is executed right-handed and with the thumb bent as far as down as possible. Here, when singing the “A-a-a-a” sound especially electrical Subtle-Forces [besonders elektrische Feinkräfte ] are accumulated in the hand, causing the Practitioner to feel a subtle Tingling and a slight Stinging/Prickling in the thumb, the Base-of-the-Thumb, and the Middle-of-the-Hand; the outstretched Fingers begin to vibrate slightly. …Thoughts or inner Meditations are directed towards Absorbing Ar-Fire and Solar-Force [Ar-Feuers und der Sonnenkräfte ]. This Grip has a particularly rejuvenating and strengthening effect on the Life-Force [Lebenskraft ]. When it is Circulated in the Body by conscious-willpower [willensbewußt ], a strong effect is produced on the solar plexus. The astral color is silver-grey to light/bright grey-green.
O – Os Rune …One stretches the left Arm upwards, bending the Thumb and Forefinger of the outstretched Hand so that the Fingertips touch, as Figure 4 shows. One sings the “O-o-o” sound in the way already explained (raising and lowering the Tone). Soon one will feel a circulating Oscillation of Subtle-Forces [Feinkräften ] in one’s Hand. …This is the Grip of Odem , Ode and Breath [Atems ]. It has an especially beneficial spiritual effect for the conscious Rune Practitioner. Often after this Exercise the Smell of Ozone can be detected on the Hand. After finishing the Exercise, the collected Subtle-Forces are to be directed throughout the entire Body by conscious-willpower [willensbewußt ]. The astral Color-Vibration is light-purple.
Note that these are only 3 of the hand exercises given, the rest we will review as part of our Gnostic Runology course.
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