Encyclopedia Masonica

The Mysteries of Atys in Phrygia, and those of Cybele his mistress, like their worship, much resembled those of Adonis and Bacchus, Osiris and Isis. Their Asiatic origin is universally admitted, and was with great plausibility claimed by Phrygia, which contested the palm of antiquity with Egypt. They, more than any other people, mingled allegory with their religious worship, and were great inventors of fables; and their sacred traditions as to Cybele and Atys, whom all admit to be Phrygian gods, were very various. In all, as we learn from Julius Firmicus, they represented by allegory the phenomena of nature and the succession of physical facts under the veil of a marvelous history. Their feasts occurred at the equinoxes, commencing with lamentation, mourning, groans, and pitiful cries for the death of Atys, and ending with rejoicings at his restoration to life. AUDI, VIDE, TACE. Latin, meaning Hear, see, and be silent. A motto frequently found on Masonic medals, and often appropriately used in the documents of the Craft.

It was adopted as its motto by the United Grand Lodge of England at the union between the Antients and the Moderns in 1813. AUDITOR. An officer in the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States. His duty is, with the Committee on Finance, to examine and report on the accounts of the Inspector and other officers. This duty of auditing the accounts of the Secretary and Treasurer is generally entrusted, in Masonic bodies, to a special committee appointed for the purpose. In the Grand Lodge of England, the accounts are examined and reported upon annually by a professional auditor, who must be a Master Mason. AUDITORS. The first class of the secret system adopted by the Christians in their early days. The second class were Catechumens, and the third were The Faithful. AUDLEY, LORD JOHN TOUCHET. Anderson gives him as Grand Master of England, 154O -8, a patron of the building art in Magdalen College. AUFSEHER. The German name for the Warden of a Lodge. The Senior Warden is called Erste Aufseher, and the Junior Warden, Zweite Aufseher. The word literally means an overseer. Its Masonic application is technical. 
AUGER. An implement used as a symbol in the Ark Mariners Degree. AUGUSTINE, ST. See Saint Augustine. AUGUSTUS WILLIAM, PRINCE OF PRUSSIA. Born in1722, died in 1758. Brother of Frederick the Great, and father of King Frederick William II. A member of Lodge Drei WeltkugeIn, or Three Globes, Berlin. AUM. A mystic syllable among the Hindus, signifying the Supreme God of Gods, which the Brahmans, from its awful and sacred meaning, hesitate to pronounce aloud, and in doing so place one of their hands before the mouth so as to deaden the sound. This triliteral name of God, which is as sacred among the Hindus as the Tetragrammaton is among the Jews, is composed of three Sanskrit letters, sounding Aum. The first letter, A, stands for the Creator; the second, U, for the Preserver; and the third, M, for the Destroyer, or Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. Benfey, in his Sanskrit English Dictionary, defines the word as "a particle of reminiscence" ; and this may explain the Brahmanical saying, that a Brahman beginning or ending the reading of a part of the Veda or Sacred Books, must always pronounce, to himself, the syllable Aum; for unless that syllable precede, his 1earning will slip away from him, and unless it follow, nothing will be long retained. An old passage in the Parana says, "All the rites ordained in the Vedas, the sacrifices to fire, and all sacred purifications, shall pass away, but the word Aum shall never pass away, for it is the symbol of the Lord of all things. " The word has been indifferently spelled, O'm, Aom, and Aum; but the last is evidently the most proper, as the second letter is in the Sanskrit alphabet (see On). AUMONT. Said to have been the successor of Molay as Grand Master, and hence called the Restorer of the Order of the Templars. There is a tradition, altogether fabulous, however, which states that he, with seven other Templars, fled, after the dissolution of the Order, into Scotland, disguised as Operative Freemasons, and there secretly and under another name founded a new Order ; and to preserve as much as possible the ancient name of Templars, as well as to retain the remembrance of the clothing of Freemasons, in which disguise they had fled, they chose the name of Freemasons, and thus founded Freemasonry. The society thus formed, instead of conquering or rebuilding the Temple of Jerusalem, was to erect symbolical temples. This is one of the forms of the Templar theory of the origin of Freemasonry. AURORA. In Hebrew the light is called Aur, and in its dual capacity Aurim. Hence Urim, lights-as, Thme, Thummim, perfections. Ra is the sun, the symbolic god of the Egyptians, and Ouro, royalty. Hence we have Aur, Ouro, Ra, which is the double symbolic capacity of Light. Referring to the Urim and Thummim, Re is physical and intellectual light, while Thme is the divinity of truth and justice. Aurora is the color of the baldric worn by the Brethren in the Sixteenth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, which in the legend is said to have been presented by King Darius to the captive Zerubbabel on presentation of his liberty, and that of all his people, who had been slaves in Babylon for seventy years. AUSERWAHLTEN. German for Elu or Elect. AUSTIN. See Saint Augustine. 
AUSTRALASIA. The first Masonic Lodge in this region was held in 1803 at Sydney, but was suppressed by the Governor, and it was not until the year 1820 that the parent Lodge of Australasia was warranted to meet at Sydney by the Grand Lodge of Ireland; it is now No. l on the New South Wales register and named the Australian Social Mother Lodge. After that many Lodges were warranted under the three Constitutions of England, Scotland and Ireland, out of which in course of time no less than six independent Grand Lodges have been formed, viz., South Australia founded in 1884, New South Wales 1888; Victoria, 1889 ; Tasmania, 1890; New Zealand, 1890, and Western Australia, 1900.

The Encyclopedia Masonica exists to preserve the wealth of information that has been generated over the centuries by numerous Masonic authors. As Freemasonry is now Speculative and not Operative, the work of a Mason is now conducted in the quarries of symbolism, literature, history and scholasticism. Freemasonry encourages intellectual exploration and academic achievement in its members and many Masons over the years have taken up this calling. The result has been that an incredible amount of philosophy, symbolic speculation and academic insights have been created. However, as Freemasonry teaches, human knowledge is frail and fragile. It is easily lost in the turnings of the ages and unforeseen catastrophes can result in great setbacks to human knowledge.

For too long these great works have sat on forgotten shelves, gathering dust and concealing the light that could be shed on the darkness of our ignorance. The Encyclopedia Masonica has been created to act as an ark, sailing through time, to ensure that future generations of Freemasons have access to the same knowledge that inspired the Brethren that came before them. It will contain the works of such Masonic Luminaries as Albert G. Mackey, Manly Palmer Hall, G.S.M. Ward, Albert Pike and many others. The Encyclopedia Masonica is a living work and the volunteers of Universal Co-Masonry will continue to labor until the most comprehensive Masonic reference work the world has ever seen has been created. The Encyclopedia Masonica is open to any who wish to use it and will remain open so that the treasures contained within may increase the wealth of all those who seek its wisdom.