(1) Ancient Egyptian Tradition
"In the
ancient city of Annu (later called On in the Bible and Heliopolis by the
Greeks) there was a great sacred pillar, itself named Annu - possibly before
the city. This, we believe, was the great pillar of Lower Egypt and its
counterpart in Upper Egypt at the time of unification was in the city of
Nekheb. Later the city of Thebes, known then as 'Waset', had the title 'Iwnu
Shema', which meant 'the Southern Pillar'."
"The twin pillars of the Two
Lands became the Pillars of Hermes and the attributes of the ancient Egyptian
moon god Thoth became absorbed into Hermes...It was said that this god [Thoth]
possessed all secret knowledge on 36,535 scrolls that were hidden under the
heavenly vault (the sky) which could only be found by the worthy, who would use
such knowledge for the benefit of mankind."
- Christopher Knight & Robert Lomas, The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasons and the
Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Jesus
The
tradition of a secret doctrine of Thoth appears to be well established in
Egypt:
1.) According to a papyrus dating to Dynasty
12 of the Old Kingdom:
"Then [His Majesty] King Khufu,
the vindicated, said: Now as for the rumor that you know the shrines of the
secret chambers of the enclosure of [Thoth]? Dedi said: By your favor, I do not
know their shrines, Sovereign, my lord, but I do know the place where they are.
His Majesty said: Where are they? And Dedi said: There is a passage of flint in
a chamber called the Inventory in Heliopolis in that passage."
-
"A Marvel in the Time of King Khufu
Himself"
2.) A chapter in the Egyptian Book of the
Dead, according to its rubric, is said to have been found at:
"Shmun
[Hermopolis] under the feet of the majesty of this sublime god [Thoth] upon a
slab of upper Egyptian granite in the script of the god himself in the tomb
of...Mycerinus, by Prince Hor-dedef. He found the spell when he was engaged in
inspecting the temples."
- The Egyptian Book of the Dead
"Divine authorship elevates
religious literature from present day existence; similarly, the accounts about
the discovery of such works ascribe them to a more or less distant past. This
exemplifies the tendency to emphasize the antiquity of sacred writings, which
is particularly evident in the retention of ancient linguistic forms or the
deliberate choice of archaistic expressions. Egyptians could also adopt the
customs of bygone ages in their mode of writing."
"There is a particle of truth
in the statement of Clement of Alexandria that the Egyptians had forty-two sacred
writings by Hermes (Thoth), in so far as these texts, which include
geographical and medical works among others, constitute the entire range of
material available for the education of priests. The reference to Thoth's
authorship...is based on ancient tradition; the figure forty-two probably stems
from the number of Egyptian nomes, and thus conveys the notion of
completeness."
- Siegfried Morenz, Egyptian Religion
Regarding
the "Pillars of Hermes" of "Seth" and of
"Solomon"
"In the 9th chapter of the
[Egyptian] Ritual of the Dead they are referred to as the 'Pillars of Shu', the
'Pillars of the Gods of the Dawning Light', and also as 'the North and Southern
Columns of the Gate of the Hall of Truth'. In the 125th chapter, they are
represented by the sacred gateway, the door to which the aspirant is brought
when he has completed the negative confession. The archaic s on the one Pillar are painted in black upon
a white ground, and those on the other in white upon a black ground, in order
to express the interchange and reconciliation of opposing forces and the
eternal balance of light and darkness which give force to visible nature....The
archaic illustrations are taken from vignettes of the 17th and 125th chapter of
the Ritual of the Dead, the Egyptian Book of the 'Per-em-Hru' or the 'Book of
Coming Forth into the Day', the oldest book in the world as yet
discovered."
"...The general design of the
White Pillar is a pictorial synthesis of the gradual freeing of the soul from
the body, left to be mummied and its union with Osiris, Lord and Judge of the
Dead and of the resurrection, the sun in his rising....The Black Pillar
symbolizes the pathway of darkness, the Negative Confession, as the White
Pillar represents the Hymn to the Rising Sun, the Pathway of Light, and the
Positive Confession."
- G. H. Frater, "The Core of the Tradition" The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic