THE MYSTERIES OF MASONRY.

Auckland Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2404, 4 December 1877, Page 3

THE MYSTERIES OF MASONRY.

(TO THE EDITOR). Sir.—l was fortunate enough on the occasion of a recent Masonic Lodge-meeting to secure a place of concealment in an adjoining apartment, and having bored a spy-hole through the separation lining I was enabled to \vitnes3 the whole of the ceremonies. A certain RignS Reverend Bishop lias partly lifted a corner of the veil which has for ages obscured the mysteries of Freemasonry, most men will think now that further attempts at concealment are useless; that it had better be torn away altogether, and in order that the Bishop may be enabled to do 'so effectually, the following revelations are gratuitously offered, but fully as authentic as those already disclosed. As initiation, the novice is taken into the Lodge, led backwards on all fours, the light wrist and left ancle hobbled With a swivel chain ; a grated iron muzzlejj is placed over his month, through the bars of which the chaplain (who must be ordained) inserts a pair of red hot tweezers, and pulls out the superfluous hairs from, the nostrils. The novice, who is in natures puribus, naturally shrinks backwards at this process, is dexterously branded with the letters D.W.C. (Down with Christianity); a Past-Ma«ter then breathes the spirit of the order through his own nose into that of the candidate. This is the reason why so many of the Hebrew persuasion are Past-Masters, the noses of this people being found best adaptod for this portion of the rite ; a large cross, made of the wood prickly acacia, is now brought, in, on which the novice is seated astride, with the brands downwards; a billy-goat is harnessed thereto, and he is dragged seven times round the lodge, hopping seven times to make obeisance to? an effigy ; his feet and legs are then placed" in a pair of red stockings, and the Tyler places a conicalshaped hat on his he»d, much like those worn in Spain by heretics. (From this practice ■hats have long be n designated tiles). A puncture is made in the left breast of the novice, and the blood trickling therefrom is caught in a human skull fashioned like a cup, and all the brethren partake of it. This ti called the oath of blood, typifying that all the brotherhood are of the same consanguinity. The noAn.ce is then compelled to "dig" the pen into his right breast, and with his own blood sign the bonds of the order. If the novice should refuse i,o take this oath, he is at once slaughtered* and his body burnt on the grand altar, it being well known that fear of assassination prevents his friends seeking to learn his fate. The clothed figure is then divested of its raiment, suspended from a triangle, and is made to revolve by a species of bottle-iack. while the white novices flagellate the effigy, the Master Masons meanwhile pelting tho figure with asaCcetida pellets, and he who makes the bast hit is entitled to the degree of a Mark Mason. Thi3 ceremony concludes the first degree; the others can be revealed, it desired, by Paul Fry.