The whole article relies wholly on the condemnation the use of pentagrams (inverted, five-point stars), focusing on their use in Satanism (which is a relatively recent development). Although the pentagram is not used in Masonry, it is a principal part of the logo of the Order of the Eastern Star, which the article mislabels as "the women's division of Freemasonry."
First and foremost, the Order of the Eastern Star does not constitute Masonry in any way, shape, or form. Instead, it is a separate group that is affiliated with Freemasonry. It does not confer Masonic degrees on anyone.
Second, symbols are finite and ambiguous; there is not a single symbol that is limited to one sole group or interpretation. Do Satanists use the inverted, 5-point star? Sure. That does not take away from the fact, however, that multiple cultures (including traditional Christianity for centuries) have been using it for far longer (Child and Colles; Morgan). Here is a small list of old Christian buildings of various denominations that display the inverted, 5-point star to represent the Five Wounds of Christ.
For a bit more context, in addition to representing the Five Wounds of Christ, it also represents Him as the Bright and Morning Star, which title He claimed for Himself (Revelation 22:17). Morning stars are historically depicted as inverted, whereas evening stars are traditionally depicted as upright; this is because after a star is first seen in the evening in the East, it maintains its same orientation as it goes across the sky until showing in the West towards morning, at which point it would be show as upside down. If you take any object, place it in front of you in your hand, and arc it up and behind you while maintaining it fixed in the same position in your hand, then it will end up being inverted as it reaches past and behind you. The same concept applies.
Given that the Order of the Eastern Star takes its allegories from the Biblical accounts of the five heroines of the Bible, it is therefore fitting that such a Christian symbol as the inverted pentagram be used.
The article's attempt to force Satanic interpretations on the Masonic use of symbols is a dishonest tactic, and would be akin to labelling the Christians who use the fish symbol as worshippers of the pagan god Enki.
The article claims that the inverted pentagram must only have to do with the Goat of Mendes (also known as the Baphomet); let's see what has been said on the subject by Masonic authority (Myth of the Baphomet):
The Baphomet is not a masonic symbol, nor is it worshiped by [Freemasons. Freemasonry] has no traditional relation to the pentagram, nor the Goat of Mendes, nor Pan, nor the Green Man. … What does this have to do with Freemasonry, or more particularly, anti-masonry? The presumed link is the pentagram. Over six hundred years after the suppression of the Knights Templar, one Éliphas Lévi took it upon himself to determine the value of the pentagram and equate it with the Baphomet. He termed the Baphomet, "the Goat of Mendes" — confusing it with Banebdjedet, an Ancient Egyptian ram god— and included a fanciful illustration of it as a frontispiece to his Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic in 1861.
As has been discussed in another one of my posts here, Lévi was a 1° Entered Apprentice for about 5 months before permanently resigning his membership. He had minimal firsthand experience in Masonry, and the majority of his works (including Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, published in 1856, which is where his illustration of the Baphomet or Goat of Mendes first appears) were published years before his initiation in 1861 (Éliphas Lévi). Any mention of the Baphomet or Goat of Mendes is therefore wholly irrelevant to the subject of Freemasonry.
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Benjamin Franklin's proposed and
rejected design for the US Great Seal.
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The article next tries to force its own baseless interpretations of two other symbols onto Freemasonry:
- The Triangle (since pentagrams and hexagrams contain them)
- The US Great Seal
The triangle in and of itself does not constitute a Masonic emblem. The same applies for the US Great Seal, which was designed by non-Mason Charles Thomson. In fact, the only Freemason who was on the committee to design the US Great Seal was Benjamin Franklin, and his design (pictured below) was rejected.
The notion, therefore, that the US Great Seal must have any Masonic significance in and of itself is unfounded.
Finally, the article makes a false claim that Freemasonry teaches that man can become god. Of course, the article relies on an opinion-piece by Manly P. Hall entitled
The Lost Keys of Freemasonry (which the article falsely attributes to George H Steinmetz, another Mason) and another opinion-piece by George Steinmetz called
Freemasonry, Its Hidden Meaning. Neither of these works were backed or published by a grand lodge (which is the only entity in Masonry that carries the weight of Masonic authority), which means that these works are irrelevant to the subject. The same applies for other opinion-pieces referenced by the article written by Albert Churchward, J. S. M. Ward, and Alice Bailey (who was not even a Mason by mainstream standards as described
here).
Also, as I have noted before, The Lost Keys of Freemasonry was published in 1923, decades before Hall was even initiated, and decades more before he received the honorary title of 33° in the Scottish Rite.
The author is invited to provide primary, authoritative sources (i.e. materials published by legitimate grand lodges) to support their position. I happily await the day that this challenge is met.
Works Cited
Child, Heather, and Dorothy Colles. Christian Symbols, Ancient and Modern: A Handbook for Students. Bell and Hyman, 1979.
Morgan, Gerald. “The Significance of the Pentangle Symbolism in ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.’” The Modern Language Review, vol. 74, no. 4, 1979, pp. 769–790., doi:10.2307/3728227.
“Myth of the Baphomet.” Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon, Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon A.F. & A. M., 2 May 2015, freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/baphomet.html.
“Rituals of Freemasonry: Freemasonry Proven To Worship Lucifer (Part 3 of 5).” Biblioteca Pleyades, www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/sociopol_brotherhoodss01c.htm.
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