Encyclopedia Masonica

The Egyptians selected the erica as a sacred plant.

The origin of the consecration of this plant will be peculiarly interesting to the Masonic student
There was a legend in the mysteries of Osiris, which related that Isis, when in search of the body of her murdered husband, discovered it interred at the brow of a hill near which an erica grew; and hence, after the recovery of the body and the resurrection of the god, when she established the mysteries to commemorate her loss and her recovery, she adopted the erica as a sacred plant, in memory of its having pointed out the spot where the mangled remains of Osiris were concealed
Ragon (Cours des Initiations, page 151) thus alludes to this mystical event:

Isis found the body of Osiris in the neighborhood of Biblos, and near a tall plant called the Erica.
Oppressed with grief, she seated herself on the margin of a fountain whose waters issued from a rock.
This rock is the small hit! familiar to Freemasons; the Ertca has been replaced by the Acacza. and the grief of Isis has been changed for that of the Fellow Craits.

The lexicographers define ApeA77 as the heath or heather; but it is really, as Plutarch asserts, the tamarisk tree; and Schwenk tDie Mythologie der Semiten, The Semitic Mythology, relating to the Assyrians, Arameans, Hebraeo-Phenicians, Arabs and Abyssinians, page 248) says that Phyloe, so renowned among the ancients as one of the burial places of Osiris, and among the moderns for its wealth of architectural remains, contains monuments in which the grave of Osiris is overshadowed by the tamarisk.

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.