The Journal of The Masonic Society
(Sometimes the words “Ethiopia” and “India” were likewise interchangeable, which also explains the confusion with why the native indigenous Americans came to be known as “Indians”.) Some have seen in this symbolism the idea that Freemasonry has retained a tradition from earlier cultures outside of Europe—with Egypt being the prominent source. At many times in the past the land of Egypt itself was referred to as Ethiopia. If the ruffians sought the secret of a Master Mason and couldn’t get it from Hiram, perhaps they symbolically sought to try and obtain these secrets from a Masonic country of origin? However, I felt like there had to be more to the meaning and symbolism behind Ethiopia. There was something about the word “Ethiopia” which seemed to have significance when the symbolic alchemical “green language”, or “language of the birds”, was applied. I looked through all my books on Freemasonry and all my alchemical books and couldn’t find anything specifically related to Ethiopia, however. Ethiopia is mentioned as existing in the Master Mason ritual, but I have not found a Masonic researcher who could explain why it was there. In fact, what I did find is that in the Emulation Ritual of Great Britain, this Ethiopia reference doesn’t even exist. However it does exist in the Scottish system and certain other systems in Europe—though some say the very origin of it comes from American Freemasonry. So I had to ask, why was it put in there? From my perspective, everything in Masonic ritual was added for a reason, and a place like Ethiopia wouldn’t be added arbitrarily. There are two theories behind the word “Ethiopia”. One theory is that it comes from the Egyptian words Etop-Bia, which translates as “truth of the higher land”. This may loosely have some association with why the ruffians sought shelter there- but personally, I think this may be forced interpretation as to why it was inserted into the third degree. In fact, if it was introduced into American Freemasonry in the late 1700s, it is hard to conceive of it being put in due to the meaning of its Egyptian translation. Most words of significance in the symbolic lodge of Freemasonry have either a Hebrew, Greek, or Latin origin. The other theory behind the word is that it comes from the Greek Aithiops—or Aithiopia. Now the meaning behind this is very relevant in my mind, especially from an alchemical standpoint. “Aithio” means “to scorch” or “to calcinate” in Greek, and was associated with fire. The Greek word “ether” or “aither” has similar origins, and related to the idea of “heavenly fire” or “divine fire”. “Ops” translates as “face” in Greek. So it has been
suggested that “Aithiops” meant “scorched face” or “black” and therefore referred to the color of the skin of the native inhabitants of that country. This may be its origin, but it still doesn’t explain why it would be put in Masonic ritual unless the word itself had a symbolic meaning- like the second degree password meaning “I revere a stone” in Greek3. However, if we remember that all the symbolism associated with the third degree is centered around fire, including: the penalty of the obligation, the password and what he did, the shape of the MM’s apron being an old alchemical cipher symbol for a calcination dish, and the Master Mason’s grip being in the form of the Hebrew letter “shin” (which was associated with fire in the Hebrew Qabbalah), then it begins to make sense why a reference to “scorching” or “calcination” may be in there. Qabbalistic traditions have associated the abdomen with water, the chest with air, and the head with fire, and the Master Mason’s penal sign likewise separates the water element so that air and fire exist—also mentioned in the penalty of the obligation for the 3rd degree. Fire appears again and again in the third degree- emphasizing it as a symbol. However, what about the “face” part- or the “ops” in Aithiops? In order to understand this, we need to look at it alchemically. In alchemy, right after you have leached the oils out of an herb through distillations (which has been associated with the second degree and the heart and vital parts of the herb being flown to the highest pinnacle of the distillation tower or Aithenor), you then “kill” the herb by calcinating it with fire so that you can liberate its salts. One of the terms for the residual matter that you torch is called “caput mortum” in alchemy—coming from Latin and meaning “dead head”, (which is alluded to with the first degree penal sign)4. Obviously a “head” symbolically has a “face”- so to “torch the face” in Greek would be “Aithiopia”. In this light, we see that the ruffians destroy Hiram and try to go to Ethiopia, just like in alchemy you have to destroy the herb and then “calcinate its face”—after which you can “raise it” back to life through the alchemical process. Ultimately the ruffians cannot accomplish the travel to Ethiopia because as Fellow Crafts, they don’t have King Solomon’s Master Mason pass associated with fire. If they did have the password associated with metallic operations by fire, then they could accomplish the calcinating associated with the word “Ethiopia,” ultimately gaining the secrets of a Master Craftsman. This seems to make sense in light of the other alchemical associations, and it would explain why Ethiopia was inserted into the ritual. After the fact, within the degree lecture, we learn that Hiram’s Summer 2008 • 31