Taking all this into account, it is likely that Ashmole and Mainwaring's initiation contained some kind of both entered-apprentice and - swiftly - fellow craft ritual. This is evinced in surviving records of seventeenth century Scottish Acceptations, and it may well have been the case for Ashmole and Mainwaring.
We do not know for certain precisely what words passed by at Warrington in October 1646, but we may get an idea - perhaps an exact idea - from the earliest known English freemasonic catechism : Sloane Ms. 3329 (British Library), which has been dated to c.1700 or a little earlier, only fifty years or so after Ashmole's initiation. This manuscript (almost certainly referring to operative practices) was bound up by Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) in a large volume described as “Loose papers of mine concerning curiosities”. Like Ashmole, Sloane was a Fellow of the Royal Society and, being thirty-two when Ashmole died, he had ample opportunity to encounter the grand old man of British antiquarianism.
In his “Narrative of the Freemasons Word and signes” Sloane gives details of various means by which freemasons recognised one another. The grips for fellow crafts and masters are not those employed today (it is significant that the grips for fellows and masters are different). Sloane says that the former grip was made by thrusting the thumbnail “close upon the third joint of each others' first finger.” Could it be that the third degree came about in the early eighteenth century partly because accepted “fellows” required a distinct ritual way of being called a “master mason” - lodges now made solely, even exclusively, of Accepted Free-masons, bent on a wholly symbolic and allegorical interpretation of the craft? Practices seem to have varied; Sloane gives two forms of the master's grip, his information being, apparently, second-hand, so to speak. Sloane does mention the placing of the feet in a manner identical and familiar to Freemasons today. He then gives an example of “their private discourse” which is worth including in full, as it seems not unlikely that something very like it was experienced by Ashmole and Mainwaring on October 16, 1646. (I have put the words in modern spelling and added punctuation -the which is almost entirely absent from the original - not having been designed to be written down, but memorised).
Question : Are you a mason?
Answer : Yes, I am a freemason.
Q: How shall I know that?
A: By perfect signs and tokens, and the first points of my Entrance.
Q: Which is the first sign or token? Show me the first and I will show you the second.
A: The first is heal and Conceal or Conceal and keep secret by no less pain than cutting my tongue from my throat.
Q: Where were you made a Mason?
A: In a just or perfect or just and Lawful Lodge.
Q: What is a just and perfect or just and Lawful Lodge?
A: A just and perfect Lodge is two Interprintices, two fellow crafts and two Masters, more or fewer, the more the merrier, the fewer the Better Cheer, but if need require, five will serve, that is, two Interprintices, two fellow Crafts and one Master, on the highest hill or Lowest Valley of the world, without the crow of a Cock or the Bark of a Dog.
Q: From whom do you derive your principals?
A: From a greater than you.
Q: Who is that on earth that is greater than a freemason?
A: He it was carried to ye highest pinacle of the Temple of Jerusalem. [note the Christian reference].
Q: Whither is your lodge, shut or open?
A: It is shut.
Q: Where Lies the Keys of the Lodge door?
A: They Ley [sic.] in a bound Case or under a three-cornered pavement, about a foot and a half from the Lodge door.
Q: What is the Keys of your Lodge Door made of?
A: It is not made of Wood, Stone, Iron or steel or any sort of metal, but the tongue of a good report behind a Brother's back, as well as before his face.
Q: How many Jewels belong to your Lodge?
A: There are three. The Square pavement, the blazing Star and the Danty tassley [a corruption of “perpend ashlar” according to Knoop, Jones and Hamer's Early Masonic Catechisms. Manchester University Press 1963].
Q: How long is the Cable rope of your Lodge?
A: As long as from the Lop of the Liver to the root of the tongue.
Q: How many Lights are in your Lodge?
A: Three. The sun, the master and the Square.
Q: How high is your Lodge?
A: Without foots, yards or inches it reaches to heaven.
Q: How Stood your Lodge?
A: East and west, as all holy Temples Stand.
Q: Which is the master's place in the Lodge?
A: The east place is the master's place in the Lodge, and the Jewel resteth on him first, and he setteth men to work. What the masters have in the foornoon [sic], the wardens reap in the Afternoon.
In some places they discourse as followeth (Viz)
Q: Where was the first word given?
A: At the Tower of Babylon.
Q: Where did they first call their Lodge?
A: At the holy Chapel of St. John.
Q: How stood your Lodge?
A: As the said holy Chapel and all other holy Temples stand. (Viz.) east and west.
Q: How many lights are in your Lodge?
A: Two. One to see to go in, and another to see to work.
Q: What were you sworn by?
A: By god and the Square.
Q: Whither above the Clothes or under the Clothes?
A: Under the Clothes.
Q: Under what Arm?
A: Under the right Arm.
Sloane's notes also include reference to the “master's word”, which we may suppose might have been given to fellow crafts such as Ashmole and Mainwaring, since that degree was the highest degree - though it is noteworthy also that the word “degree” does not occur in Ashmole's diary entries, nor in the Sloane Ms.
Another [salutation] they have called the master's word, and is Mahabyn, which is always divided into two words and Standing close With their breasts to each other, the inside of Each other's right Ankle Joints the master's grip by their right hands and the top of their Left hand fingers thurst [sic] close on ye small of each other's Backbone, and in that posture they Stand till they whisper in each other's ears ye one Maha- the other replies Byn.
THE OATH
The mason word and every thing therein contained you shall keep secret. You shall never put it in writing directly or Indirectly. You shall keep all that we or your attenders shall bid you keep secret from Man, Woman or Child, Stock or Stone, and never reveal it but to a brother or in a Lodge of Freemasons, and truly observe the Charges in ye Constitution. All this you promise and swear faithfully to keep and observe without any manner of Equivocation or mental Reservation, directly or Indirectly, so help you god and by the Contents of this book. So he kisses the book &c.
The Old Charges
One feature of Ashmole's acception as a ‘Free Mason’ the which we can be almost certain was experienced by him on 16 October 1646 was the recitation of the ‘Old Charges’. This is the name given to the traditional histories of the Craft, of which a number have survived dating from the late 14th century through to the 17th century. They were intended to ‘charge’ or ‘load’ the initiate with due gravity, rich colour and acute consciousness of what joining the society of fellow freemasons bound him to. The initiate was to be very much obliged.
Dr Robert Plot, the first curator of Ashmole's epoch-marking Museum in Oxford, had obviously seen a copy of the Charges while producing his Natural History of Staffordshire (1686). Judged from the strictly historical point of view, we may not defer from Plot's assessment that the story contained in the Craft history was grossly “false and incoherent”.
While it is true that the Old Charges' account of masonry does indeed juxtapose vast tracts of history, rather in the manner of a gay pantomime or quick-fire masque, (a Greek who witnesses the building of Solomon's Temple, for example, proceeds to impart the craft to ‘Charles Martill’ in France), one nonet
heless suspects that Plot may have just missed the point of the plot's original authors, whoever they may have been. It should be noted that the precise wording and content of the Charges varies in different versions, but they are all unmistakable in spirit, emphasis and essential function. They represent a quite peculiar and not a little fascinating form of vernacular literature.
The Old Charges, with great imaginative charm and pleasant innocence delineate the mythos of masonry in terms of legend. Legend itself is the precise subject matter of the myth. Masonry is the inscription of history: the emphasis is always on what survives. The stones testify, and in doing so transcend the follies of man and the vicissitudes of time. Whoever rules, masonry remains the same dynamic force. Wise counsel dictates friendship with masons. There are those who build and those who destroy; a man is known by his friends.
Legendary achievements of great men past; the initiate was to ‘see’ in the recitation a kind of cartoon of the history of civilisation – even the little scrolls which have come down to us look like reels of film, ‘quickies’! The initiate would learn that masonry had first-class, nay unsurpassed bona fides. Born in the antediluvian civilisation of the middle east : Egypt, Phoenicia, Babylonia; the knowledge survives the Great Flood, thanks to legendary, larger-than-life guardian figures – and none more potent in mythic and legendary significance than Thrice Greatest Hermes, the ‘father of philosophy’, ‘psychopomp’ (Jung) of Alchemy and Patron General of Architecture and natural magic - science surviving to inform the Greeks, the Romans, and even to provide Jewry with her natural and supernatural Temple to crown her seven pillars of Wisdom.
Wheresoever civilisation grew in stone, the golden gift of the masons was present, like a tincture, a catalyst, a magic word and philosopher's stone: an eternal sign in time. It continues through the Dark Ages as the pursuit of wise rulers, giving incomparable form to castle, abbey and palace. Lofty ideals traced out, the Craft had high expectations of the initiate.
Ashmole would have been gratified in his curiosity. As the man who would soon appear to English readers as the Mercuriophilus Anglicus – English Mercury Lover - ever attentive lover passionate for the embrace of the Hermetic cosmic vision, suitor to mysteries and the buried yet breathing past, adept of alchemy, astrology and natural magic – Ashmole would have been delighted to hear of the rôle of Hermes as patron-guardian of architecture, with the Almighty himself seen as “heavenly archemaster” of the Craft (as John Dee put it).
And more, we can be fairly sure of the precise wording which met Ashmole's ears on that late autumn afternoon in 1646. For by a curious co-incidence, the manuscript copy of the ‘Constitutions of Masonry’ formerly in the possession of Sir Hans Sloane (Sloane Ms. 3848, British Library), ends with the following autograph : “ffinis p.me Eduardu : Sankey decimo sexto die Octobris, Anno domini 1646” – the very day on which Ashmole and his late wife's cousin Colonel Henry Mainwaring were made Free Masons. Warrington church registers record the baptism of “Edward son to Richard Sankeay [sic], gent., 3 ffebruarie, 1621/2” It seems highly likely that this was the son of the Richard Sankey recorded by Elias Ashmole as having been present at his initiation. We may be permitted to imagine Edward Sankey writing out the Charges – perhaps from memory – as part of his father's preparation for the ceremony. Edward Sankey wrote as follows:
Good brethren & ffellows, our purpose is to tell you, how and in what manner; this Craft of Masonrie was begun; and afterwards founded by worthy Kings and Princes; & many other worshipful men; and also to ym that are heare; wee will declare to ym the Charge yt doth belonge to every true Mason to keep ffor good sooth if you take heede thereunto it is well worthie to bee kept; or a worthie Craft and curious science, ffor there bee seaven liberall sciences;
before Noes flood was a man called Lameth as it is written in ye 4 chapt of Gene, and this Lameth had 2 wives; ye one was called Adar; ye other Sella: and by Adar hee begott 2 sonnes The one was called Jabell ye other Juball; And by ye other wife hee had a sonne & a Daughter; and these foure children found ye beginninge of all Crafts in ye world; This Jabell was ye elder sonne; and found ye Craft of Geometry;
and these children did knowe that god would take vengeance for sinne eather by fire or water; Wherefore ye writ ye Sciences wch weare found in 2 pillars of stone; yt ye might be found after the flood; The one stone was called Marble that cannot burne wth fire; The other was called Letera that cannot drowne with water; Our intent is to tell you truly how & in what manner these stones weare found; where these Crafts were written in Greek; Hermenes that was sonne to Cus, & Cus was sonne to Shem wch was ye sonne of Noath: The same Hermenes was afterwards Hermes; the ffather of wise men, and hee found out ye 2 pillars of stone where ye Sciences weare written, & taught him forth.
when Abraham and Sara his wife went into Egypt; there weare taught the seaven sciences unto ye Egyptians; And hee had a worthy Schollar called Euchlid and hee Learned right well and was Maister of all ye 7 Sciences;
And there was a King of an other Region yt men called Hyram and hee loved well Kinge Solomon; and gave him timber for his worke; And hee had a sonne that was named Aynon & he was Mr of Geometry; and hee was chiefe Mr of all his Masons; and Mr of all his graved works; and of all other Masons that belonged to ye Temple; & this Witnesseth the Bible in libro 2 Solo capite 5.
And soe it befell that a curious workman; who was named Nimus Graecus & had beene at ye makeinge of Solomons Temple; and came into ffrance; and there taught ye Craft of Masonrie; to ye man of ffrance that was named Charles Martill;
And all this while England was voyde both of any charge or Masonrie; until ye time of St. Albans; And in his time ye King of England that was a Pagan; and hee walled ye Towne wch is now called St. Albans;
until ye time of King Athelstone; yt was a worthy King of England; and hee brought ye Land into rest and peace againe; and hee builded many great workes & Castles & Abbies; and many other Buildings; and hee loved masons well; and hee had a sonne yt was named Hadrian:
And hee held himself assembly at Yorke and there hee made Masons, and gave ym Charges and taught them Mannrs of Masons; and commanded that rule to bee holden ever after: And to them took ye Charter & Commission to keepe;
And from time to time Masonrie until this day hath beene kept in yt forme & order, as well as might gov'ne ye same; And furthermore at dyvrs assemblies hath beene put to and aded certaine Charges; more by ye best advices; of Mastrs and fellowes; Heare followeth the worthie and godly oath of Masons; Every man that is a Masonn take Heede right well; to this charge; if you finde yo'self guilty of any of these; yt you amend you; againe especially you yt are to bee charged take good heed that you may keepe this Charge; for it is a great perill for a man to foresweare himselfe on a book;
And should the reader find this is all terribly old fashioned, consider for a moment the opening to Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968). Does the epic not commence with the discovery of a transformative pillar of curious substance – a key to all science awaiting discovery – only this time excavated upon the moon by astronauts, the dark pillar's contents charging these latterday argonauts to mount a quest, a quest that penultimately leads the last survivor “beyond infinity” itself?
The Lodge is in the Head – The Acception and the London Masons Company
“How high is your lodge?” asks the masonic catechism quoted earlier. “It reaches to heaven” comes the reply. It reaches to heaven. Something had happened to the conception of the medieval wooden lean-to, draughty shelter for masons in the shadow of the cathedral-in-the-making. The humble freemason's lodge has acquired some of the universal qualities inherent in the cathedral itself. Even more, the 17th century lodge has in some sense come to represent the dynamic of the infinite cosmos, however simple the locus of the brotherly gathering. The mind of the accepted freemason is to expand with the dimensions of the universe; the sacred book contains the spiritual laws of the universe. He is to dwell in the mind of the Great Architect to learn His Laws
and apply them according to His will.
The Edinburgh Register House Ms catechism of 1696 asks of the initiate, “Where is the key?” The answer: “In the bone box”, that is to say, inside the skull: the mind. It's all in the mind. The cosmic lodge comes alive in the imagination, activated by symbols and signs, as a chessboard may represent all the conflicts of a state, but this is the cosmic chessboard interiorised, then projected.
The freemason is drawn into a basic mnemonic system in which his mind partakes mysteriously of the ‘lost word’ that is, the logos. The familiar English translation of the Greek as ‘word’ is misleading. The dynamic logos (very close in conception to the alchemical mercurius) is the “second God” or “son of God” of the pagan and Christian Hermetists, the active, intelligent mind who is both responsible for and implicit in creation: the source of intelligence and creative power. This logos, or stone, comes from heaven and is to be found throughout the world, though invisible to the fool who ‘trips’ on it. (See Luke XX, 17-18) In the beginning was the logos, and He is incarnate in chapter one of John's Gospel and typified in Christian and masonic tradition as “the stone the builders rejected”. The logos is the “precious cornerstone” of the prophetic tradition, rejected due to human spiritual blindness. The logos is that stone which has now and will become “the head of the corner” of the new Temple, built when the ‘lost children of Israel’ return to Zion, that is, God's House: in the bone box and beyond it. “The higher you fly, the deeper you go” (John Lennon). I did not ‘read all this in’; freemasons did. Take, for example, a mason's grave in the west of England, dated 4 May 1639, inscribed as follows:
The Golden Builders Page 29