Double Headed Eagle

The double headed eagle, a symbol steeped in antiquity, stands as one of the Scottish Rite’s most venerable emblems, its lineage stretching back through countless cultures over millennia. This emblem, often juxtaposed with the Craft Lodge’s white-lambskin apron, carries profound significance, weaving itself into the tapestry of mythologies and symbols across the globe.

The eagle, as an icon, has long been associated with lofty ideals such as nobility, equitable governance, and the dispensation of justice. Its expansive wings offer shelter and protection, while its sharp talons are poised to mete out punishment to malevolence. The eagle’s regal white head symbolizes a just and noble leadership, embodying virtues like strength, courage, foresight, and an enduring spirit.

The enigmatic double headed eagle, however, resonates on a deeper, more primal level. It speaks to the core of human existence, transcending barriers of language, ethnicity, history, and the very fabric of time, presenting a vision of transformation and the immutable essence of humanity’s true nature.

To fully grasp the essence of this symbol, one must embark on an introspective journey to the innermost sanctuaries of the heart, to the sanctum sanctorum, the sacred shrine within. Echoing the ancient wisdom inscribed at Apollo’s temple in Delphi, “GNOTHI SEUTON” or “Know Thyself,” the double headed eagle harkens back to this timeless directive from the Greek philosopher Pythagoras. It serves as a beacon to enlightenment, truth, and the realization of humanity’s potential at its zenith

HISTORICAL SIGHTINGS

Nestled within the esteemed halls of the Louvre, two large terra cotta cylinders from around 3000 BC are on display, their surfaces intricately inscribed with cuneiform script. These artifacts, unearthed from the ancient Babylonian city of Lagash, chronicle the city’s establishment by King Gudea. The narrative etched into the cylinders paints a vivid picture of a drought-stricken land, where the Tigris’s waters dwindled and the populace feared divine wrath.

Transitioning to a Divine Revelation, the cylinders recount King Gudea’s dream of a celestial figure of immense stature, whose feet were planted on the earth and whose head soared to the heavens, crowned with a godly halo and accompanied by the Storm Bird, its wings outstretched over Lagash.

This divine figure, as the cylinders reveal, was the Babylonian god Ningersu, a deity of the sun. Associated with Ningersu is the eagle Imgig, often depicted with a lion’s head. Among the surviving depictions, some portray Imgig as a double-headed eagle, a motif of great antiquity. The earliest known representation of this dual-eagled symbol is found on a clay cylinder belonging to a priest of Ningersu, depicting a ritual scene before the goddess Bau.

Further Tracing the Symbol’s Journey, in the ruins of the Hittite civilization, dating back to the sixth millennium B.C., the double-headed eagle appears repeatedly. The Hittites, an empire that once spanned from Mesopotamia to Palestine and Syria, absorbed the cultural and religious legacies of the Babylonians they conquered. Their capital, Bogazkoy, was a nexus of commerce and culture until its fall to invaders around 1200 B.C., and despite a brief resurgence, it ultimately succumbed to Assyrian conquest.

Archaeological digs at Bogazkoy have uncovered cylindrical clay seals adorned with the double-headed eagle, suggesting their use as a form of currency. This emblem also graces religious artifacts from Alaca Huyuk and Yazilikaya, dating from 1400 and 1250 B.C., respectively, signifying its sacred status.

In the City of Cappadocia, the double-headed eagle symbol is a recurrent motif, often found at gate entrances, sanctuaries, or palatial doorways. The city’s Greek name, Pteris, translates to “wing,” hinting at a landscape dotted with representations of this majestic creature.

Within the Ruins of Boghaz Keui, the temple of Iasily Kaya stands with a sculpture depicting a royal and divine procession. J. Garstang, an archaeologist, described an ancient “house or temple of the Eagle” in the Land of the Hittites, suggesting local veneration of the eagle, further evidenced by a sculpted eagle head discovered at the site.

Before the Biblical Revelations, the Chaldeans of old worshipped a pantheon of deities, including a sun god akin to Ningersu, atop Mount Sinai. The 29th Psalm alludes to a thunderous and majestic deity, likely a legacy from the Hittites, symbolized by the double-headed eagle—a representation of power and divinity that has endured through the ages.

Tracing the lineage of the double-headed eagle symbol reveals a rich tapestry of history, woven long before the dawn of civilization as we know it. In the Epoch of Pre-Dynastic Egypt, well before King Narmer unified the two kingdoms and the iconic Pyramids of Giza were conceived, the Nile’s pre-dynastic culture revered an earth mother goddess. Remarkably, this era left behind stone carvings of a two-headed bird, a motif that predates our common era by millennia, found in numerous ancient tombs.

Fast Forward to the Byzantine Empire’s Final Dynasty, led by the Palaiologos family. In the wake of the Fourth Crusade’s conclusion, they rose to power in 1261 AD, reclaiming Constantinople. Their efforts to bridge the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches were symbolized by their adoption of the double headed eagle, which, following the empire’s fall, spread to the imperial insignia of various Eastern European nations.

Transitioning to the Crusades, the double headed eagle adorned the coats of arms of key crusaders, likely inspired by their encounters in the Eastern Turkish empires, as they ventured to safeguard the Holy Land.

Within the Masonic Tradition, this emblem was bequeathed from the Order of the Royal Secret, serving as the insignia for the esteemed degree of the Knight Kadosh, or Knight of the White and Black Eagle. Founded in 1761 by Etienne Morin, under the auspices of the Council of the Emperors of the East and West, the double headed eagle became a Masonic hallmark. This legacy is reflected in the rituals of the 17th degree, Knight of the East and West, and the 30th degree of Knight Kadosh.

Many Scholars Concur that the precursor to this body, the Council of the Emperors of the East and West, may have received King Frederick of Prussia’s blessing to use the emblem, symbolizing the aspiration to unify the fragmented Holy Roman Empire.

In Summary, the emblem of the double-headed eagle has graced countless cultures and epochs, evoking a sense of nobility, aristocracy, and divine essence within humanity. Its presence is felt from the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Babylon, through the Roman Empire and the Knights Templar, to the Greek Orthodox Church, underscoring its enduring significance.

Double Headed Eagle as a ALCHEMICAL EMBLEM

The double headed eagle, a symbol deeply ingrained in the collective consciousness of various cultures, holds a significance that prompts one to delve into its origins and meanings. Turning our gaze to the Scottish Rite, we find insights, particularly in the writings of Albert Pike, a pivotal figure in Masonic history.

Pike’s seminal contributions to the organization and enrichment of the Scottish Rite are widely recognized. He regarded the Rite as the pinnacle of Masonic practice, encapsulating the ancient wisdom and offering a comprehensive path to spiritual enlightenment. The degrees of the order are imbued with the doctrines of Western esoteric traditions, including Kabbalah, Hermeticism, philosophy, and Rosicrucianism.

Pike’s scholarly pursuits, particularly his studies in these esoteric fields, informed his efforts to revise the Rite’s rituals, transitioning from the old French customs to a more spiritually resonant practice. His aim was to infuse the rituals with deeper meaning and connection to these ancient teachings.

In a revealing correspondence with Masonic historian Robert Gould in 1888, Pike expressed his extensive research into Hermetic and alchemical texts to understand their correlation with Masonic symbols. He speculated that the integration of these symbols into Masonry was the work of men who, lacking their own association in England or Scotland, joined Masonic lodges to convene discreetly, preserving the esoteric meanings for themselves.

Pike postulated that the emblem of the double headed eagle was derived from alchemy, an ancient practice of science and art. The term ‘alchemy’ likely originates from the Greek ‘khemeia’, referring to the transmutation of metals, and is thought to be linked to the Arabic ‘al-khimiya’, a nod to the Egyptian art of transformation, with ‘khem’ denoting the fertile black soil of the Nile.

During the Middle Ages, alchemists flourished, particularly in Europe and Arabia, with lofty ambitions such as transmuting base metals into gold, concocting an elixir of life to cure diseases and extend life indefinitely, and discovering a universal solvent. These pursuits mirror the transformative essence of the double-headed eagle, symbolizing the alchemical process of turning the mundane into the sublime.

Alchemical literature is a rich treasure trove of puzzling metaphors, symbolic stories and dream like sequences presented as instruction for those with “eyes to see.”  At the center of alchemical research was the quest for the Philosopher’s  Stone, a fantastic material which was thought to be both physical and spiritual, an instrument by which  all of the alchemical transformations were empowered.  The Stone has many titles and attributes. It was called the lapsit exilis (“stone fallen from heaven”). In some texts it was said to be composed all of fire; in others, of a special water of the stars that does not wet. It was said to be composed of a common matter that was often overlooked or outright rejected, thought useless by the ignorant and discarded.

Alchemical work was called the spagyric art, and was under the aegis of Hermes Trismegistus or Thrice Greatest. This celebrated figure was an amalgamation of the Greek Hermes and the Egyptian God Thoth, both considered Lords of Writing and Magick.

Attributed to  thrice-greatest Hermes are a series of writings known as the Corpus Hermeticum, which formed the foundation of Alchemical and Rosicrucian texts. The texts are structured as several dialogues between Hermes and his disciple, covering a wide range of philosophical and spiritual subjects. The text contains traces of Gnostic and Egyptian thought, with the ultimate subject being the regeneration and spiritual illumination of man.

Thrice Greatest Hermes was also known as Poemandres, the Sheppard of Men. In one of the most famous passages from the Corpus Hermeticum, Poemandres explains the constitution and spiritual regeneration of humanity:

14. So he who hath the whole authority o’er [all] the mortals in the cosmos and o’er its lives irrational, bent his face downwards through the Harmony, breaking right through its strength, and showed to downward Nature God’s fair form.

And when she saw that Form of beauty which can never satiate, and him who [now] possessed within himself each single energy of [all seven] Rulers as well as God’s own Form, she smiled with love; for ’twas as though she’d seen the image of Man’s fairest form upon her Water, his shadow on her Earth.

He in turn beholding the form like to himself, existing in her, in her Water, loved it and willed to live in it; and with the will came act, and [so] he vivified the form devoid of reason.

And Nature took the object of her love and wound herself completely around him, and they were intermingled, for they were lovers.

15. And this is why beyond all creatures on the earth man is twofold; mortal because of body, but because of the essential man immortal.

The Hermetica also includes the celebrated Hymnodia Krypte, the “Secret Sermon on the Mount,” which stirs the mind towards its true Divine nature:

Ye powers that are within me, hymn the One and All; sing with my Will, Powers all that are within me!
O blessed Gnosis, by thee illumined, hymning through thee the Light that mind alone can see, I joy in Joy of Mind. Sing with me praises, all ye Powers!
Sing praise, my Self-control; sing thou through me, my Righteousness, the praises of the Righteous; sing thou, my Sharing-all,the praises of the All; through me sing, Truth, Truth’s praises!
Sing thou, O Good, the Good! O Life and Light, from us to you our praises flow!
Father, I give Thee thanks, to Thee Thou Energy of all my Powers; I give Thee thanks, O God, Thou Power of all my Energies!

Thy Logos sings through me Thy praises. Take back through me the All into Thy Reason – my reasonable oblation!
Thus cry the Powers in me. They sing Thy praise, Thou All; they do Thy Will.
From Thee Thy Will; to Thee the All. Receive from all their reasonable oblation. The All that is in us, O Life, preserve; O Light illumine it; O God in-spirit it.
It it Thy Mind that plays the Shepherd to Thy Word, O Thou Creator, Bestower of the Spirit.

Thou art God; Thy Man thus cries to Thee through Fire, through Air, through Earth, through Water, through Spirit, through Thy creatures.
‘Tis from Thy Aeon I have found Praise-giving; and in Thy Will, the object of my search, have I found rest.

In addition to the Corpus Hermeticum, the Tabula Smaragdina or Emerald Tablet of Hermes is the veritable cornerstone the Hermetic tradition. With possible roots in Arabic alchemical writings, the Emerald Tablet outlines the entire doctrine of the Alchemical work in a few short lines which purported to describe the work of the Philosophers Stone, also known as the Operation of the Sun. Found among the alchemical notes of Isaac Newton is a translation of the tablet:

1. Tis true without lying, certain & most true.

2. That which is below is like that which is above that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing.

3. And as all things have been & arose from one by the meditation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation.

4. The Sun is its father, the moon its mother,

5. The wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth its nurse.

6. The father of all perfection in the whole world is here.

7. Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth.

7a. Separate thou the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross sweetly with great industry.

8. It ascends from the earth to the heaven & again it descends to the earth and receives the force of things superior & inferior.

9. By this means you shall have the glory of the whole world & thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.

10. Its force is above all force, for it vanquishes every subtle thing & penetrates every solid thing.

11a. So was the world created.

12. From this are & do come admirable adaptations where of the means (or process) is here in this.

13. Hence I am called Hermes Trismegist, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world.

14. That which I have said of the operation of the Sun is accomplished & ended. 

Alchemists and Hermeticists of the middle ages wrote countless studies of the Philosophers Stone and its attributes. In the Golden Tract by an anonymous German philosopher, the Stone is described as

one, [and] the medicine one, which, however according to the philosophers, is called Rebis (Two-thing), being composed of two things, namely, a body and a spirit (red or white)…Rebis is two things, and these two things are one thing […]which is called Elixir[…] the nature of sulphur and mercury above ground, while underground they become gold and silver.

Furthermore, he writes “Know that the secret of the work consists in male and female, i.e. an active and a passive principle. “

The dual natured rebis was usually depicted as a two headed royal figure, and also often as a double headed eagle.

A somewhat more suggestive description of the Philosophers Stone was given in the tract La Lumiere sortant des Tenebres (The Light Coming forth from the Darkness):

The philosophers have given sulfur, or fire, the name gold not for nothing, because it is truly gold both in essence and in substance, but much more perfect than common gold. It is a gold that is completely sulfur, or rather a true sulfur of gold, a gold that is entirely fire, or the true fire of gold that develops; in philosophical caves and mines; a gold that cannot be changed or surpassed by any element, because it is itself the master of elements; a very fixed gold in which is only fixity; a very pure gold, because it is purity itself; a very powerful gold because without it everything else pines away; a balsamy gold, because it preserves all bodies against decomposition; an animal gold because it is the soul of elements of the entire lower nature; a vegetable gold, because it is the principle of the entire vegetation; a mineral gold, because it is sulfury, quicksilvery, and salty; an ethereal gold, because it is of heavenly nature and it is a true earthly heaven that is veiled by another heaven; finally it is a solar gold, because it is the rightful son of the Sun and the true Sun of Nature; its power gives force to the elements of which the warmth vivifies the souls and of which the movement of the entire Nature is brought into movement; from its influence the power of things arises, because it is the influence of the light, a part of the heavens, the lower Sun and the Light of Nature, without which even science would be blind; without its warmth reason would be stupid; without its rays imagination would be dead; without its influences spirit is sterile; and without its light intellect renaming in eternal darkness.

The alchemists held that the Philosophers Stone was created by unification of two opposites to create a third, perfected thing. The Operation of the Sun and Moon, sometimes described as the work of Gold and Silver, or Fire and Water, Male and Female, and so on. In this was God and Man mingled, and the powers of creation would open up to the perfected adept who had cultivated the philosophical stone. By the application of an intense heat, or fire, the separated elements would be combined into philosophical gold.

The sage Paracelsus wrote:

First, and chiefly, the principal subject of this Art is fire, which always exists in one and the same property and mode of operation, nor can it receive its life from anything else. It possess […] a state and power common to all fires which lie hid in secret, of vivifying. The fire in the furnace may be compared to the sun. It heats the furnace and the vessels, just as the sun heats the vast universe. For as nothing can be produced in the world without the sun, so also in this Art nothing can be produced without this simple fire. No operation can be completed without it. It is the Great Arcanum of Art, embracing all things which are comprised therein […]. It abides by itself, and needs nothing; but all others which stand in need of this can get fruition of it and have life from it. Know, then, that the ultimate and also the primal matter of everything is fire. This is, as it were, the key that unlocks the chest. It is this which makes manifest whatever is hidden in anything.

By the element of fire all that is imperfect is destroyed and taken away, as for instance, the five metals, Mercury, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Saturn. On the other hand, the perfect metals, Sol and Luna, are not consumed in that same fire […]. Fire separates that which is constant or fixed from that which is fugitive or volatile. Fire is the father or active principle of separation.[…] Fire contains within itself the whole of Alchemy […].

Gold, Fire, the Sun, and Silver, Water and the Moon find correspondence in the Eastern philosophies of the subtle energetic nerves which when activated stimulate the kundalini or fire serpent at the base of the spine which is said to be a sleeping goddess which, when awakened rises up the spine bringing with its ascent the spiritual illumination and ecstasy of the adept.  When the alchemical philosophers spoke of sulphur, mercury, salt, gold, silver, and so on, they were not referring to the base physical elements and metals as we usually understand them.  Rather, the alchemical elements referred to subtle energies within the alchemist himself.  The seven classical planets may be seen as a reference to the “interior stars” of chakras of the Hindu alchemical and tantric teachings. Aspects of consciousness which might be dissolved through analysis and deep insight, purified and consecrated, and then reconstituted by unification that results in the perfected man.

Anonymously published in 1670, the Invocation of the Flame from the comte de Gabalis is a beautiful, stirring invocation of the divine Light achived through the perfection of the Stone:

I call upon Thee, O Living God, radiant with illuminating fire. O Unseen parent of the Sun! Pour forth Thy light givin power and energise Thy divine spark. Enter into this flame and let it be agitated by the breaths of Thy holy spirit. Manifest Thy power and open for me the Temple of Almighty God which is within this fire! Maniest Thy Light for my regeneration and let the breath, height, fullness and crown of the solar radiance appear and may the God within shine forth!

From the Chaldean Oracles, cited often throughout alchemical literature, we read:

There is above the Celestial Lights an Incorruptible Flame always sparkling; the spring of lie, the formation of all beings, the original of all things. This Flame produceth all things, and nothing perisheth but what it consumeth. It maketh itself known by itself. This Fire cannot be contained in any place; it is without body and without matter. It encompasseth the heavens.

The heart should not fear to approach this adorable Fire, or to be touched by it; it will never be consume by this sweet Fire, whose mild and tranquil heat maketh the binding, the harmony, and the duration of the world. Nothing subisteth but by this Fire, which is God Himself. All is full of God, and God is in all.

Pike cited several of these works as evidence for the true meaning and significance of the double-headed eagle, which he equated with the alchemical Stone of the Philosophers.

THE REBIS AS CORNERSTONE

In Lambsprinks’s Tractatus de Lapide Philosophico there is an image of an alchemist in the garb of an Imperial messenger. Upon his chest is a double headed eagle of white and black, showing the union of opposites in one being and the noble ascent to the heavens in the guise of the proud bird of eternity.

Pike similarly noted a significant diagram from Basil Valentine’s Azoth, which depicts a double headed eagle in a shield, again symbolic of the combination of opposites. Around the circumference of the diagram is the sentence Visita Interiora Terra Rectificanto Inveniens Occultum Lapidem, meaning “Visit the Interior of the Earth; by rectification thou shalt find the Hidden Stone.” This formula was often referred to as V.I.T.R.I.O.L. in the alchemical texts.

The Arcanum Hermeticae Philosophiae of Jean d’Espagnet reads:

It is even so in the Philosopher’s Work; for the matter of the Stone possesseth his interior fire, which is partly innate, partly also is added by the Philosopher’s Art, for those are united and come inward together […] the internal standeth in need of the external, which the Philosopher administereth according to the precepts of Art and Nature […] Because the whole Work consisteth in separation and perfect preparation of the four elements, therefore so many grades of fire are necessary thereunto; for every element is extracted by the degree of fire proper to it.

Published anonymously in Altona in 1785, Gehime Figuren der Rosenkreuzer (Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians) contains alchemical and hermetic diagrams with many instances of the double-headed eagle. This book was purported to be a work of 16^th and 17^th century Rosicrucian adepts. Pike found much of the material in the book significant, and in particular one of the diagrams to be of a highly suggestive nature regarding the Double headed Eagle and its association with the Stone of the Philosophers.

The diagram shows the alchemical-hermetic Rosy Cross, which was considered to be the key of all esoteric knowledge. The Adepts of the Rosy Cross were said to wear this device in pure gold upon their breasts. The ribbon of the cross is surmounted by two double headed eagles, one white and one gold. The dual mouths of the white eagle hold the moon, and the gold eagle hold the sun. Upon their breasts are the alchemical symbols for mercury, sulphur and salt, considered to be the three foundational building elements for spiritual regeneration.

Sulphur represented the caustic agent, which was used to burn away the dross of the first matter and purify it. It was akin to self-consciousness, and the ability of the rational mind to analyse itself.  Salt was the preservative principle, representing the dormant and unenlightened state, as well as the vast storehouse of material in the subconscious. Mercury represented the illuminated, enlightened or super-consciousness.

Between the two eagles is the hermetic hexagram, again with the glyphs of mercury, sulphur and salt and the signs of the seven classical planets. The hexagram is held aloft by two angels, and in the center is an image of Christ bestowing blessings. The diagram shows the red and white tinctures, symbolized by the red and white double-headed eagles, and indicates that by unification of these opposites in the heart and mind of man, true illumination and spiritual grace may be achieved.

The double headed eagle as an alchemical symbol illustrates the hermetic and alchemical axiom SOLVE et COAGULA, the process of separating the elements and then bringing them together after purification and consecration.  This process is somewhat analogous to the psychological practice of depth analysis, where the personality is analyzed in detail, subconscious elements are brought to light and processed, and the personality is then made whole or fully integrated so that all the aspects of consciousness are in harmony – the divided self is healed and the person becomes whole.

Alipili’s The Center of Nature Concentrated alludes to this Great Work of regeneration:

He that hath knowledge of the Microcosm, cannot long be ignorant of the knowledge of the Macrocosm. This is that which the Egyptian industrious searchers of Nature so often said, and loudly proclaimed – that every one should KNOW HIMSELF. This speech their dull disciplis took in a moral sense, and in ignorance affixed it to their Temples. But I admonish thee, whosoever thou art, that desirest to dive into the inmost parts of Nature, if that which thou seekest thou findest not within thee, thou wilt never find it without thee. If thou knowest not the excellency of thine own house, why dost thou seek and search after the excellency of other things? The universal Orb of the world contains not so great mysteries and excellences as a little Man, formed by God to his won Image. And he who desires the primacy amongst the students of Nature, will nowhere find a greater or better field of study than himself. Therefore will I follow the examples of the Egyptians, and from my whole heart, and certain true experience proved by me, speak to my neighbor in the words of the Egyptians, and with a loud voice do now proclaim: O MAN, KNOW THYSELF, in Thee is hid the Treasure of Treasures.

Michael Maier also discusses:

Almost everybody who has heard of the philosopher’s stone and its power, asks where it can be found. The philosopher always answers twofold. First, they say that Adam has taken the philosopher’s stone with him from Paradise, and that it is now present within you, within me, and within everybody, and that the birds of far countries has taken it with them. Second, the philosophers answer that it can be found in the earth, in the mountains, in the air and in the river. Now what way should one seek? To me, both ways; but each way has its own way.

The Philosophical Stone may also be alluded to in the Bible. Revelations 2:17 reads:

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Could this in fact be referring to the spiritual perfection of man in the philosophical gold of the lapsit exilis – the Stone fallen from Heaven?

Furthermore, a passage from Psalm 118:22 is highly suggestive:

The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.

In Hebrew the phrase “the Stone which the builders refused” is Ehben masu ha-bonaim Using a method of letter substitution from the Hebrew Kabbalah, the phrase has the numerical value of 273. In the literal kabbalah, words with the same numerical value are thought to be related in significant ways. Other Hebrew words with the identical value of 273 are Aur Ganuz, meaning “Hidden Light,” and Hiram Abif.

Might the cornerstone of the Holy Royal Arch, and the hero of the Third Degree of our Blude Lodges be referring to this Stone of the Philosophers, the Hidden Light of the sages by which spiritual regeneration is to be accomplished? As if for further proof, the substitute for the Ancient Master’s word is encoded into the very Hebrew phrase itself: MAsu HA BoNaim. 

CONCLUSIONS

Throughtout the history of mankind, symbols have been used to represent universal truths. The most powerful of these find expression across cultures, in recurring motifs that seem to have their origin in the Platonic First Forms or Jungian archetypes of the race consciousness; a common origin and heritage which goes far in proving the ultimate universal brotherhood of humanity.

 “The aim of the alchemists,” wrote Joseph Campbell, “was to achieve not a terminal perfection but a process ever continuing, of which their ‘stone’, the lapis philosophorum, should become at once the model and the catalyst: a process whereby and wherein all pairs of opposites – eternity and time, heaven and hell, male and female, youth and age – should be brought together by something ‘midway between perfected and unperfected bodies.’

The double headed eagle, as the ensign of the Alchemical Rebus or Stone of the Philosophers, symbolizes this process, the magnum opus or Great Work of spiritual regeneration.  Through its unification of opposites and association with alchemical Fire, the path of regeneration and ascent up the Tree of Life is indicated.

As Scottish Rite masons, may we each undertake the task of so analyzing and purifying our natures, that we too may be as proud, noble, august and bold as the Eagle which is our symbol, showing our minds the direct path of the  ascent into the Heavens, carrying our souls aloft to the very throne of All Creation.