Writings of Arturo Reghini (1878-1946) are quite unknown outside Italy, but things are beginning to change. I heard of Reghini long ago, but it was only until Fabio Venzi’s book Studies on Traditional Freemasonry (2013) that I could read something of him. Then in 2016 there finally was an extensive biography with one translated text. Also, even though the two had their disagreements, Julius Evola (1898-1974) did not leave out the texts of “Pietro Negri” from the UR/KRUR texts that are translated to English as the three volumes of Introduction to Magic (2001, 2019, 2021).
A while ago I ran into the website La Melagrana (‘the pomegranate’) which contains 25 texts of Reghini in Italian. Most of them are descent PDFs (a few are scanned books) which I could just open in Microsoft Word en translate to Dutch. Sure, the translations are not great, but the texts are understandable. It took me a while to work through them all as the total covers quite a few pages. Unfortunately La Melagrana does not mention the sources or years of publication of the texts. Only when the author is listed as “Pietro Negri” I know that it is a (KR)UR text, but of the rest I have no idea.
I was quite surprised to learn that Reghini wrote more about Freemasonry than I expected. Several of the titles are entirely or partly about Masonic subjects. The entire range of subjects of the collection is fairly wide and the length of the texts are as well. They go from articles of a few pages that were initiatally published in articles (also UR/KRUR), to complete books.
Freemasonry
Reghini’s (Masonic) birth
Reghini was born in Florence on 12 November 1878. He was schooled a mathematician and as a young man, he was attracted to things esoteric. At the age of 20 he joined the Theosophical Society and helped it grow in Italy. In 1902 he joined his first Masonic lodge, one working in the rite of Memphis-Misraim. As we will see, this is notable. He was well aware the Memphis-Misraim is not ‘ordinary’ Freemasonry. He saw it as a kind of Freemasonry for the few people who aimed ‘higher’ than Freemasonry proper. Memphis-Misraim is not recognised by most organisations that regard themselves as “regular”.
A year later, Reghini also joined a lodge working on the Grand Orient of Italy. Regarding “regularity”, the Grand Orient of Italy has an odd position. Many European Grand Lodges recognise the Grand Orient of Italy as “regular”, together with Regular Grand Lodge of Italy. The United Grand Lodge of England, though, only recognised the Grand Orient of Italy from 1972 until 1993 and many American “regular” Grand Lodges only recognise one Grand Lodge per country and all opt for the Regular Grand Lodge of Italy. So also in Reghini’s time, his second Grand Lodge was a bit of an odd one out.
I have not been able to find out if Reghini has been a member of both Memphis-Misraim and the Grand Orient and if these two recognised each other; or if Reghini ‘started anew’ in the Grand Orient and resigned from Memphis-Misraim.
Reghini saw ‘high degrees’ as more esoteric than the three “craft”/”symbolic”/”blue” degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason.
The ancient origins of Freemasonry
In his work, Reghini kept stressing the esoteric side and origins of Freemasonry. As you can see below, the website that I plundered has several texts about Freemasonry. From basic texts such as Sull’origine del simbolismo muratorio (‘On the origin of Masonic symbolism’) or Considerazioni sul Rituale dell’Apprendista Libero Muratore (‘Considerations on the Ritual of Entered Apprentice’) to more interesting sounding titles like Primi contatti tra Ermetismo e Massoneria (‘First contacts between Hermeticism and Freemasonry’) and Sull’origine del simbolismo muratorio (‘On the origin of Masonic symbolism’). It is mostly the text Le Parole Sacre e di Passo (The Sacred and Passwords) that is of interest, even though he himself described it as youthful work later in his life.
Reghini wrote about the Roman “collegia”, (building) fraternities:
The Roman Mysteries, therefore, existed; there were guilds in possession of an initiatory science, and their prestige was such that they survived the ruin of the Empire, placed themselves under the protection of the four Crowned Saints (which brings to mind the figure of Janus Quadrifrons), manifested themselves in the guild of the Magistri Comacini and then in that of the Franks Masons of the Middle Ages. (I)
And in another text:
Not only is Freemasonry an initiatory institution, but it is the only Western institution in which the mysteries handed down from classical antiquity survive (II)
And so we have an easy bridge to the next subject:
The esoteric origins of Freemasonry
For this and other reasons, therefore, we consider it all but impossible and implausible that a pagan Initiatic Centre survived the collapse of the Empire and the destruction of ancient civilisation, and has survived down to us with even a physical continuity of transmission. (III)
Here you get a bit of a ‘Guénonian feeling’, but, Reghini was not an uncritical follower of René Guénon.
Reghini traced the origins back to initiations of the past, like those of Eleusis and Isis:
To have attributed such a function to Hiram shows the evident intention to reconnect Masonic initiation with the classical ones, the Isiac and the Eleusinian in particular. (IV)
In this he is not original. What is worth of note, is that he is critical about other authors with similar theories.
The work, of considerable breadth although uneven in tone and content, on today’s re-reading appears aged and relatively deficient in the selection and hierarchy of sources. Suffice it to say, in this regard, that questionable “modern” elaborations such as Ragon’s and Teissier’s Tuileurs, not to mention Yarker’s rituals or Marconis’ fantasies, were placed on the same level as Prichard’s Masonry dissected (1730) or The Grand Mystery of Free-Masons discovered (1724). This does not detract from the fact that Reghini was the first in Italy to discuss, with first-hand knowledge, these materials and authors such as Hutchinson, Hawkins, Mackey, Findel, Preston, Tschoudy, Thory, de Bonneville, Oliver, Pike, etc., as well as the studies published on the Ars Quatuor Coronatorum: the best, that is, the historical-ritualistic culture on Freemasonry offered at that time. As for the treatment of the main subject matter, the sacred and passwords of the first three degrees of Freemasonry, alongside many exact notations, it presents others that are questionable or frankly erroneous. (V)
The (to me) unknown person who wrote these introductory words, says that Reghini was of the opinion that people like Yarker made “questionable “modern” elaborations”; John Yarker (1833-1913) an avid, American Freemason who was also active within Memphis-Misraim and who wrote extensively about similar subjects as Reghini.
Where in the opening quote of this paragraph Reghini appears to describe a “filiation” (in Guénons words), he does seem to have been toying with that concept, as he also writes:
The similarity of Masonic initiatory symbolism to Eleusinian and Isiac symbolism does not, of course, prove a derivation by secular secret transmission of the Masonic mysteries from the classical ones. The transmission of the initiatory torch is certainly independent of historical events, profanely considered, and it is ridiculous to seek continuity in the traces and materials of the esoteric tradition. And as for the forms, the correspondence between Masonic symbols and ceremonies and the Isiac and Eleusinian ones is due to the deliberate work of the compilers of the rituals, to whom the works of Plutarch, Apuleius, Jamblichus, Proclus, Plotinus etc. were accessible and perhaps familiar, as well as the special works on the ancient mysteries already published before 1700. (VI)
To which I can add the quote:
Plutarch’s account of the killing of Osiris by Typhon, the widow Isis’s search for the disjecta limbs, the recomposition of the corpse, and the resurrection and immortality of Osiris, is enough to prove that the compilers of the 3rd degree ritual targeted the Isiac and Eleusinian initiation, known to them from Plutarch, Apuleius, and some Christian writers, and for being the subject of works by scholars such as Pieri Valeriani, Hieroglyphica seu de sacris Aegyptiorum (1604), and Meursii – Eleusinia (1619), which preceded them: Pieri Valeriani, Hieroglyphica seu de sacris Aegyptiorum (1604). (VII)
Which is an interesting notion. Did any investigator ever (try to) find out what books the “compilers of the 3rd degree” had in their possession?
Reghini’s sources
Interesting in quote (V) above is that Reghini is mentioned as being: “the first in Italy to discuss, with first-hand knowledge, these materials and authors such as Hutchinson, Hawkins, Mackey, Findel, Preston, Tschoudy, Thory, de Bonneville, Oliver, Pike, etc.” Especially interesting I find the reference to Tschoudy. Théodore Henri “Baron” de Tschudi (1727-1769) was one of the famous collectors of old rituals. Degrees of his hand are translated in Ravignat’s book about early “Egyptian Freemasonry”. Reghini was familiar with sources of information that even in our own time are not very well known.
In Primi Contatti Tra Ermetismo E Massoneria (‘First Contacts Between Hermeticism And Freemasonry’) Reghini speaks about documents available in the National Library of France in Paris. It would be only late in the previous millennium that the massive archives of the Grand Orient de France found their way to this library. It is an interesting thought that this library already contained Masonic archives a century before and that Reghini knew about them and their contents. The documents of Tschoudy that Ravignat used, are not in the National Library of France, but in the Bibliothèque Numérique Patrimoniale (Alençon, Fonds Gaborria). Paris does have a set with alchemical rituals of Tschoudy. Perhaps they were already in their possession in Reghini’s day.
Be that as it may, nowadays parts of the Masonic archives in both Paris and Alençon can be assessed online. A century ago you surely had to know about the documents and travel to the libraries to consult them. Would Reghini have been so active that he travelled to Paris to read old documents or where the contents of the documents already known in these days?
A pagan Freemasonry
Reghini (and in his wake Evola) opted for a Roman paganism. In his early work about the sacred words and the passwords of Freemasonry, he sets out to try to prove that these words are not Jewish in origin, but Greek. (Eleusian, Pythagorean). At the end of his life, Reghini said that he was wrong about this.
There is something interesting about the mysteries of Eleusis. Nicola Bizzi, a modern day Eleusinian initiate presents Reghini as a fellow initiate in an unbroken chain from the dawn of time to the present. Reghini, on the other hand, always seems to refer to the mysteries of Eleusis in the past tense. From his texts, I do not get the idea that Reghini saw the mysteries of Eleusis as a living tradition. He sure does put a lot of weight on them, as they are one of the sources of Masonic initiation.
Of undoubted originality appears, on the other hand, Chapter V on ‘Initiatic and Ceremonial Resurrection’ (pp. 140-208), in which Masonic initiation was interpreted in parallel with a reconstruction of the Eleusinian and Isiac initiations based on a remarkable knowledge of ancient and modern sources. (VIII)
Says the author of the introduction to Le Parole.
Or even more strongly in Reghini’s own translated words:
By returning to a right and full understanding of its mysteries, the Masonic Order would return to its principles; it would regain the ancient splendour of the pagan mysteries, assume a glorious function in modern society, and, by renewing itself, acquire a more certain chance of enduring, in fact and not in name. (IX)
Masonic symbolism
Here and there Reghini comes with interesting angles as explanations of Masonic symbolism. Following more esoteric Masonic authors, Reghini has remarks such as:
In fact, the three initials J. B. M. of the three sacred words of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd symbolic degree respectively are the three initials of the name Jacobus Burgundus Molay of the Grand Master of the Order of the Temple (X)
But he also has more interesting and original notions. In some Masonic “Old Charges” a certain “Naymus Graecus” is mentioned. Quite some theories have been posed to explain the name. Reghini also dedicates a few lines to the question.
Naturally, the assertion that this singular Freemason would have assisted in the construction of the Temple of Solomon should not be taken literally, but in its allegorical sense: the compiler of the manuscript, in order to better point out the exceptional initiatory value of Marcus Graecus, i.e. his skill in the ‘Art’, places him in direct relation with the source of the Masonic tradition, making him one of those who assisted if not participated in the building of the Temple of the Holy City, symbol of the inner and universal sacred Temple, i.e. of the supreme spiritual hierarchy, transmitter, heir and depositary of the primordial and eternal initiatory tradition. (XI)
And later in the same text:
On the other hand, it seems much simpler and more natural, without the need to calculate on the hypothetical blunders of others or to alter the spelling, to identify the singular Freemason of these ancient Masonic documents with the alchemist Marcus Graecus, author of a well-known ‘Liber ignium ad comburendos ostes’, in which we find, among other things, the oldest mention of cannon powder. A late 13th century manuscript copy of this book exists in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, and another manuscript copy from the same period in the Royal Library in Munich.
It was first printed under the First Empire on the initiative of Napoleon himself; then in 1842 and 1866 by Hoefer in the two editions of his ‘Histoire de la Chimie’, in 1891 in French by Poisson, and finally Berthelot published a critical edition in 1893. (XII)
Reghini refers to a certain Bochart claiming that: “Vulcan is Tubalcain” (XIII) and later in the same text also about Tubal Cain:
This identification and alchemical character of Tubal Cain remained in vogue throughout the 18th century, a vogue that was probably not unrelated to the adoption of Tubal Cain as a “pass word” by the Masonic lodges of Rhine France between 1730 and 1742. In fact, it first appeared in the Ordre des Franc-Maçons trahi Genève, 1742, and in Der Neuaufgesteckte Brennende Leuchter Leipzig, 1746, at a time when Freemasonry, especially on the continent, was beginning to flourish with distinctly hermetic degrees. (XIV)
In the often quoted La Parole Reghini writes the following about a wholly different subject:
And the technical name of tau is also the name of the corresponding letter in the Greek alphabet. This sign of the mystical tau has remained in the Latin alphabet identical to the sign of Hiram. It is the symbol of occult Freemasonry, it is the Stauros of the Gnostics, the shirt of lights, the keystone of the temple, the Christian cross, the symbol of Jesus’ passion, upon which he died and then rose to eternal life. (XV)
Esotericism in Freemasonry
With these quotes we have a bridge to another subject in Reghini’s texts, the contacts between Hermeticists and Freemasons. As we saw, Reghini dedicated an entire text to the subject, two quotes from that text we just ran into above. In another text, Regehini also touched upon the subject.
An important confirmation of this assimilation and affinity between Hermeticism and the Loyalists is offered to us by the fourth of the so-called “Templar degrees” of Freemasonry that arose in France or Germany in the mid-18th century. These are the Princes de Mercy, also known as the Knights of the Sacred Delta. Their task, says the ritual, is “to faithfully guard the Treasury of traditional wisdom, always veiling it to those who do not know how to penetrate the third heaven”. Third heaven is the name of their temple and is, as everyone knows, the heaven of Venus. We also note that in Orphism and Pythagoreanism, the third heaven was the last. Philolaus in fact says that there are three heavens: Uranus, the cosmos and Olympus. The third heaven, Olympus, is the abode of the gods, and St Paul was referring to this Orphic-Pythagorean classification of the heavens when he recounted being raptured to the third heaven. (XVI)
Here we again see, that Reghini was familiar with several ‘exotic’ French ‘high’ degrees.
A point I promised to come back to is the rite of Memphis-Misraim. As we saw, this rite is not recognised by most of the so-called “regular” Grand Lodges. I do not know if Reghini joined a Grand Orient of Italy lodge because he wanted to transfer to “regular” Freemasonry, but we already know that that did not entirely succeed. The Regular Grand Lodge of Italy was only founded in 1993, so perhaps in Reghini’s time the Grand Orient of Italy was the best option. He does refer to French Freemasonry frequently and the largest part of French Freemasonry has been “irregular” since 1882, which Reghini undoubtedly knew.
He did have a strong opinion about “Anglo-Saxon” Freemasonry:
But we are pagans; we do not trust this Anglo-Saxon super-idealism; and we urge Italians to curb these infiltration attempts, which have repercussions in all fields, political and economic, and not to allow the balanced Italic idealism to be contaminated by new exotic currents. And we remind Italian Freemasons once again that Masonic science has nothing to do with the religion of Jesus, or with any other; instead, it is the same wisdom that classical civilisation guarded and perpetuated in the sacred mysteries. (XVII)
Reghini was of the opinion that the British and American stress on Christianity in Freemasonry is exactly what makes it ‘irregular’. I am sure some of his ideas would not be welcomed with open arms within “regular” Freemasonry. Of course this quote would have fitted very well under the header ‘A pagan Freemasonry’.
Still, Reghini aimed for Freemasonry that is “regular” by his definition and (other) Masonic bodies that did not fit his bill, are treated with the same scorn:
There is also a third Masonic organisation in Italy, the “Droit Humain”, but due to its poor following, its absolute irregularity, its anti-traditional and feminist character, it does not deserve our attention. Let us then not mention Comasonry, a pseudo-Masonry set up by the Theosophical Society, also mixed, and with few adherents. (XVIII)
These are perhaps not the words of Reghini, but of the author of the introduction to La Parola, but Reghini says something similar later in that text:
One must especially be on guard against theosophical societies and masonic apes set up by Besant and Steiner. (XIX)
Odd to note is that this appears to have been written in the time that he was himself still active in the Theosophical Society. Also within mixed gender Freemasonry there were ‘anti-Theosophical Theosophists’, but I find it remarkable that one of the problems appears to be the mixed gender approach of this form of Freemasonry, while the largest part of Memphis-Misraim is also open to both men and women. Could Reghini have stumbled upon a men-only Memphis-Misraim lodge? I cannot imagine that he was unfamiliar with the Egyptian Masonic landcape though.
Esotericism
It will be no surprise anymore that Reghini also wrote about esotericism proper. He sometimes refers to René Guénon, both approvingly and critically. He is also critical towards other esoteric authors.
It then often happens that each of these thinkers rambles on on his own. For example, Louis Claude de Saint-Martin, known as le philosophe inconnu or also le theosophe d’Amboise, indulges in all his books and particularly in his posthumous work Des Nombres, Paris 1861, in his System of Mysticism of Numbers. (XX)
This quote refers to the ‘mathematical incompetence’ of the authors, but it also shows that Reghini does not shy to criticize famous esoteric authors. He often approvingly refers to his countrymate Kremmerz, but also he is not without error:
Unlike Saint-Martin, Kremmerz is not hostile to Pythagoreanism; on the contrary, he has all the air of presenting himself as a continuer and representative of the Pythagorean tradition, which is why it is unfortunate that he sometimes includes no small errors in his writings. (XXI)
Agrippa
One of the texts available on La Melagra is Reghini’s 90 page introduction to the Italian translation of De Occulta Philosophia. In that introduction Reghini describes the life of “Enrico Cornelio Agrippa” (Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, 1486-1535), but he also speaks about the text in detail. He shows how Agrippa was able to withstand the inquisition on more than one occasion, shows that the books are about ‘good magic’, finds sources, cross-references, Reghini speaks about magic and in general makes an excellent introduction to the renowned work, the title of which has a wholly different ring today than what Agrippa intended it to bring. Again, Reghini proved himself an encyclopaedia, so he certainly did not only think and write about Roman paganism, Freemasonry or esotericism, but also magic and occultism belonged to his sphere of expertise.
Summery
The texts that I have quoted (and had Deepl translate for me) were written over the entire span of Reghini’s 68 year life. He has that tone of authority that you also see in a Guénon or Evola. He was obviously well read, well informed and a critical reader. In spite of all the storms that Italian Freemasonry went through in Reghini’s time (the P2 affair, two world wars, etc.) Reghini remained an active Freemason as far as possible. But he was more than that. A school teacher, a group leader, a solitary esotericist whose life was not always easy. He left behind a large number of works that deserve more attention outside the Italian speaking world, so I hope that my little text and previous works about Reghini in English, will inspire more works to be translated and published.
The available texts on La Malagrana:
- Il Santo Impero (The Holy Empire)
- Cagliostro in documenti inediti del Sant’Uffizio Cagliostro in unpublished documents of the Holy Office)
- Commento alle Massime di Scienza Iniziatica di Amedeo Armentano (Commentary on the Maxims of Initiatory Science by Amedeo Armentano)
- Conoscenza del simbolo (Knowledge of the symbol)
- Considerazioni sul Rituale dell’Apprendista Libero Muratore (Considerations on the Ritual of the Freemason Apprentice)
- Dei Numeri Pitagorici – Prologo Of the Pythagorean Numbers – Prologue)
- Enrico Cornelio Agrippa e la sua Magia (Henry Cornelius Agrippa and his Magic)
- I numeri sacri nella tradizione pitagorica massonica (Sacred numbers in the Masonic Pythagorean tradition)
- Il carattere fondamentale delle Costituzioni originarie della Massoneria (The Fundamental Character of the Original Constitutions of Freemasonry)
- Il fascio littorio The fasces)
- Il Giardino dei Filosofi (The Garden of the Philosophers)
- Il linguaggio segreto dei Fedeli d’Amore (The secret language of the Fedeli d’Amore)
- Il Santo Impero (The Holy Empire)
- L’allegoria esoterica in Dante (Esoteric allegory in Dante)
- L’androgino ermetico e un codice plumbeo alchemico italiano (The hermetic androgyne is an Italian leaden alchemical code)
- La morale ed il lavoro massonico (Masonic morality and work)
- La quaresima iniziatica (Initiatory Lent)
- Le Parole Sacre e di Passo (The Sacred and Passing Words)
- Primi contatti tra Ermetismo e Massoneria (First contacts between Hermeticism and Freemasonry)
- Si puo’ dire Massoneria (You can say Freemasonry)
- Sub specie interioritatis (Sub specie interioritatis)
- Sull’origine del simbolismo muratorio (On the origin of Masonic symbolism)
- Sulla Tradizione occidentale (On the Western Tradition)
- Un’Ode Alchemica di Fra Marcantonio Crassellame Chinese (An Alchemical Ode by Fra Marcantonio Crassellame Chinese)
- Una Pagina Ermetica e Cabalistica di Osvaldo Crollio (A Hermetic and Kabbalistic Page by Osvald Crollius)
Notes:
(I) I Misteri romani, dunque, esistevano; esistevano le corporazioni in possesso di una scienza iniziatica, e il loro prestigio era tale, che esse sopravvissero alla rovina dell’Impero, si misero sotto la protezione dei quattro Santi Coronati (il che richiama alla mente la figura di Giano Quadrifronte), si manifestarono nella corporazione dei Magistri Comacini e poi in quella dei Franchi Muratori del Medioevo. (Sulla Tradizione Occidentale)
(II) Non soltanto la massoneria è una istituzione iniziatica, ma è la sola istituzione occidentale in cui sopravvivono i misteri tramandatici dall’antichità classica (Considerazioni Sul Rituale Dell’apprendista Libero Muratore)
(III) Per questa e per altre ragioni, quindi, riteniamo tutt’altro che impossibile ed inverosimile che un Centro iniziatico pagano sia sopravvissuto allo sfacelo dell’Impero ed alla distruzione della civiltà antica, mantenendosi sino a noi con una
continuità anche fisica di trasmissione. (Sulla Tradizione Occidentale)
(IV) L’avere attribuito ad Hiram una funzione di questo genere mostra l’evidente intenzione di riallacciare l’iniziazione massonica a quelle classiche, la isiaca e la eleusina in ispecie. (Le Parole Sacre E Di Passo Dei Primi Tre Gradi E Il Massimo Mistero Massonico)
(V) L’opera, di notevole respiro sebbene di tono e di contenuto diseguali, all’odierna rilettura appare invecchiata e relativamente carente nella selezione e nella gerarchia delle fonti. Basti dire, al riguardo, che discutibili elaborazioni “moderne” come i Tuileurs del Ragon e del Teissier, per non parlare dei rituali dello Yarker o delle fantasie del Marconis, erano poste sullo stesso piano della Masonry dissected del Prichard (1730) o di The Grand mistery of Free-Masons discovered (1724). Ciò non toglie che il Reghini sia stato il primo in Italia a discutere, con cognizione di prima mano, di questi materiali e di autori come lo Hutchinson, lo Hawkins, il Mackey, il Findel, il Preston, lo Tschoudy, il Thory, il de Bonneville, l’Oliver, il Pike, etc., come pure degli studi pubblicati sull’Ars Quatuor Coronatorum: ciò che di meglio, cioè, la cultura storico-ritualistica sulla massoneria offriva a quel tempo. Quanto alla trattazione dell’oggetto principale, le parole sacre e quelle di passo dei primi tre gradi della libera muratoria, accanto a molte notazioni esatte ne presenta altre discutibili o francamente errate. (Le Parole Sacre E Di Passo Dei Primi Tre Gradi E Il Massimo Mistero Massonico)
(VI) La somiglianza del simbolismo iniziatico massonico col simbolismo eleusino ed isiaco non prova naturalmente una derivazione per secolare trasmissione segreta dei misteri massonici da quelli classici. La trasmissione della fiaccola iniziatica è certo indipendente dalle vicende storiche, profanamente considerate, ed è ridicolo cercare la continuità delle tracci e materiali della tradizione esoterica. E quanto alle forme, la corrispondenza tra i simboli e le cerimonie massoniche e quelle isiache ed eleusine è dovuta all’opera deliberata dei compilatori dei rituali, cui erano accessibili e forse
famigliari le opere di Plutarco, di Apuleio, di Jamblico, di Proclo, Plotino ecc., e le opere speciali sopra i misteri antichi già pubblicate prima del 1700. (Le Parole Sacre E Di Passo Dei Primi Tre Gradi E Il Massimo Mistero Massonico)
(VII) Plutarco dell’uccisione di Osiride per opera di Tifone, della ricerca delle disjecta membra fatta dalla vedova Iside, della ricomposizione del cadavere, e della resurrezione e della immortalità di Osiride, basta a provare che i compilatori del rituale del 3° grado tennero di mira la iniziazione isiaca ed eleusina, nota ad essi per quanto ne ricordano Plutarco, Apuleio, ed alcuni scrittori cristiani, e per essere l’argomento di opere di studiosi come: Pieri Valeriani, Hieroglyphica seu de sacris
Aegyptiorum (1604), e Meursii – Eleusinia (1619) (38), ad essi precedenti. (Le Parole Sacre E Di Passo Dei Primi Tre Gradi E Il Massimo Mistero Massonico)
(VIII) D’indubbia originalità appare, invece, il cap. V su “La resurrezione iniziatica e quella cerimoniale” (pp. 140-208), nel quale l’iniziazione muratoria era interpretata in parallelo ad una ricostruzione delle iniziazioni eleusina ed isiaca basata su una notevole conoscenza delle fonti antiche e moderne. (introduction to Le Parole Sacre E Di Passo Dei Primi Tre Gradi E Il Massimo Mistero Massonico)
(IX) Tornando ad una retta e piena comprensione dei propri misteri l’Ordine massonico si riporterebbe ai principi suoi; riprenderebbe l’antico splendore dei misteri pagani, assumerebbe una funzione gloriosa nella società moderna, e, rinnovandosi, acquisterebbe una più sicura possibilità di durare, di fatto e non di nome. (Le Parole Sacre E Di Passo Dei Primi Tre Gradi E Il Massimo Mistero Massonico)
(X) Infatti le tre iniziali J. B. M. delle tre parole sacre rispettivamente del l°, 2°, 3° grado simbolico sono le tre iniziali del nome Jacobus Burgundus Molay del Gran Maestro dell’Ordine del Tempio (Le Parole Sacre E Di Passo Dei Primi Tre Gradi E Il Massimo Mistero Massonico)
(XI) Naturalmente l’asserzione che questo singolare massone avrebbe assistito alla costruzione del Tempio di Salomone non va presa alla lettera, ma nella sua accezione allegorica: il compilatore del manoscritto, a meglio far notare l’eccezionale valore iniziatico di Marcus Graecus, ossia la sua abilità nell’«Arte», lo pone in diretto rapporto con la fonte della tradizione muratoria, facendone uno di coloro che assistettero se non parteciparono alla edificazione del Tempio della Città Santa, simbolo del sacro Tempio interiore ed universale, ossia della gerarchia spirituale suprema, trasmettitrice, erede e depositaria della tradizione iniziatica primordiale ed eterna. (Primi Contatti Tra Ermetismo E Massoneria)
(XII) Ci sembra invece molto più semplice e naturale, senza bisogno di fare calcolo sopra ipotetici spropositi altrui né di alterare la grafia, identificare il singolare massone di questi antichi documenti massonici con l’alchimista Marcus Graecus, autore di un «Liber ignium ad comburendos ostes» assai noto, e nel quale trovasi tra le altre cose la più antica menzione della polvere da cannone. Un esemplare manoscritto della fine del XIII secolo di questo libro esiste alla Bibliothèque Nationale di Parigi, ed un altro esemplare manoscritto dello stesso periodo alla Biblioteca Reale di Monaco.
Fu stampato per la prima volta sotto il primo Impero per iniziativa dello stesso Napoleone; quindi nel 1842 e 1866 dall’Hoefer nelle due edizioni della sua «Histoire de la Chimie», nel 1891 in francese dal Poisson, e finalmente il Berthelot ne ha pubblicato l’edizione critica nel 1893. (Primi Contatti Tra Ermetismo E Massoneria)
(XIII) E Samuele Bochart: «Vulcano è Tubalcaino, cosa che lo stesso nome indica». (L’androgino Ermetico E Un Codice Plumbeo Alchemico Italiano)
(XIV) Questa identificazione e questo carattere alchemico di Tubalchain si mantennero in una certa voga per tutto il XVIII secolo, voga che non fu estranea probabilmente all’adozione di Tubalchain come «parola di passo» da parte delle logge massoniche di Francia del Reno tra il 1730 ed il 1742. Essa compare infatti primieramente nell’Ordre des Franc-Maçons trahi…, Genève, 1742, e nel Der Neuaufgesteckte Brennende Leuchter…, Leipzig, 1746, nel periodo cioè in cui nella massoneria,
specie nel continente, cominciavano a fiorire gradi spiccatamente ermetici. (L’androgino Ermetico E Un Codice Plumbeo Alchemico Italiano)
(XV) Ed il nome tenicio di tau è pure il nome della lettera corrispondente dell’alfabeto greco. Questo segno del tau mistico (96) è rimasto nell’alfabeto latino identico al segno di Hiram. Esso è il simbolo della massoneria occulta (97), è lo Stauros degli gnostici, il maglietto delle luci (98), la chiave di volta del tempio, la croce cristiana, simbolo della passione di Gesù, sopra la quale egli mori per poi risorgere a vita eterna. (Le Parole Sacre E Di Passo Dei Primi Tre Gradi E Il Massimo Mistero Massonico)
(XVI) Una importante conferma di questa assimilazione ed affinità tra ermetismo e Fedeli d’Amore ci è offerta dal quarto dei così detti «gradi templari» della Massoneria sorti in Francia od in Germania verso la metà del XVIII secolo. Si tratta dei Princes de Mercy, detti anche Cavalieri del Delta sacro, e designati anche in altro modo. Loro compito, dice il rituale, è «custodire con fedeltà il Tesoro della sapienza tradizionale, sempre velandolo a coloro che non sappiano penetrare nel terzo cielo». Terzo cielo è il nome del loro tempio ed è, come tutti sanno, il cielo di Venere. Notiamo peraltro che nell’orfismo e nel pitagoreismo il terzo cielo era l’ultimo. Filolao infatti dice che i cieli sono tre: Urano, il cosmo e l’Olimpo. Il terzo cielo, l’Olimpo, è la dimora degli Dèi, e San Paolo si riferiva a questa classificazione orfico-pitagorica dei cieli quando raccontava di essere stato rapito al terzo cielo. (Il Linguaggio Segreto Dei «Fedeli D’amore»)
(XVII) Ma noi siamo pagani; di questo superidealismo anglo-sassone non ci fidiamo; ed esortiamo gli italiani ad arginare questi tentativi di infiltrazione, che si ripercuotono in tutti i campi, politici ed economici ed a non permettere che l’equilibrato idealismo italico venga contaminato da nuove Correnti esotiche. Ed ai massoni italiani ricordiamo ancora una volta che la scienza massonica non ha nulla a che fare colla religione di Gesù, o con qualsiasi altra; ed invece è la stessa sapienza che la civiltà classica custodiva e perpetuava nei sacri misteri. (Le Parole Sacre E Di Passo Dei Primi Tre Gradi E Il Massimo Mistero Massonico)
(XVIII) Esiste in Italia anche una terza organizzazione massonica, il «Droit Humain», ma per lo scarso seguito, l’assoluta irregolarità, il carattere antitradizionale e femminista, non merita la nostra attenzione. Non parliamo poi della Comasonry, una pseudo-massoneria messa su dalla società teosofica, anche essa mista, e con scarsi aderenti. (Le Parole Sacre E Di Passo Dei Primi Tre Gradi E Il Massimo Mistero Massonico)
(XIX) Bisogna stare in guardia specialmente colle società teosofiche e colle scimmiottature massoniche messe su dalla Besant e dallo Steiner. (Le Parole Sacre E Di Passo Dei Primi Tre Gradi E Il Massimo Mistero Massonico)
(XX) Accade poi spesso che ognuno di questi pensatori farnetichi per conto suo. Per esempio Louis Claude de Saint-Martin, detto le philosophe inconnu od anche le theosophe d’Amboise, si sbizzarrisce in tutti i suoi libri e segnatamente nell’opera postuma Des Nombres, Paris 1861, in un suo Sistema di mistica dei numeri. (Dei Numeri Pitagorici Prologo)
(XXI) A differenza del Saint-Martin il Kremmerz non è ostile al pitagoreismo, anzi ha tutta l’aria di presentarsi come un continuatore ed un rappresentante della tradizione pitagorica, e per questo dispiace dover constatare che talora inserisca nei suoi scritti errori non piccoli. (Dei Numeri Pitagorici Prologo)