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the arcane schools
by
John Yarker
A Review of their Origin and Antiquity;
with a
History of Freemasonry
and its Relation to the Theosophic, Scientific,
and Philosophic Mysteries
"P.M., P.Z., P.M.Mk., P.P., etc., Past
Senior Grand Warden of Greece;"
"Hon. Grand Master of the G. L. of Cuba;
Past Gd. Constable or"
"Mareschal of the Tempi in England; in the
A. & A. Rite"
"Hon. 33{Degree} in many countries; Grand
Master General of"
"the A. & P. Rite of Masonry, G.H. of the
Confederate"
"Nations 97{Degree}; Grand Master
Swedenborgian Rite;"
"Hon. IX {Degree} of the Rosicrucian
Society;
Etc., Etc."
WILLIAM TAIT,
3 WELLINGTON PARK AVENUE, BELFAST.
-----
1909.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
R. CARSWSLL AND SON, LIMITED.
PRINTERS,,
QUEEN STREET. BELFAST.
"BY THE SAME AUTHOR."
---
CONSTITUTION, STATUTES, CEREMONIALS, & HISTORY OF THE A. & P.
RITE. Re-arranged. 12mo., Cloth. 1875.
MASONIC CHARGES AND LECTURES, translated from the French.
8vo., Cloth. Manchester, 1881 (100 printed).
LECTURES OF A CHAPTER, SENATE, AND COUNCIL. 12mo., Cloth.
London, 1882.
GENEALOGY OF THE SURNAME YARKER, with the Leyburn and allied
Families, 4to. Manchester, 1882.
RECAPITULATION OF ALL MASONRY, translated from the French.
8vo., Boards, with symbolic plates. Dublin, 1883 (100 printed).
TWO LECTURES ON HIGH-GRADE MASONRY. 8vo., Wrappers.
Liverpool, 1886.
THE CODE OF APEX AND OF THE SAT BHAI. Revised. 16mo. 1886.
CONTINUATION OF THE COMTE DE GABALIS. (Amsterdam, 175).
Bath, 1897.
THE ASSISTANT GENIES & IRRECONCILABLE GNOMES (1718). Bath,
1897.
CAHAGNET'S MAGNETIC MAGIC. Abridged translation. Bath,
1898.
REPRINTS OF PAPERS contributed to Ars Quatuor Coronatorum;
THE OLD SWALWELL LODGE AND THE HARODIM. 1902.
THE HAUGHFOOT LODGE. 1903.
ROYAL TEMPLAR CERTIFICATE OF 1779, AND PATENT OF A RUSSIAN
G.L. OF 1815. 1903.
THE VERY ANCIENT CLERMONT CHAPTER. 1904.
AN OLD YORK TEMPLAR CHARTER, 1786, facsimile. 1905.
CAROLUS OF OUR ANCIENT MSS. AND RITUAL OF THE VEHME. 1906.
ARAB MASONRY-PREHISTORIC. 1906.
ON MASONIC HISTORY - LET US SEEK TRUTH. 1907.
TWO TALMUDIC LEGENDS OF THE 1st TEMPLE. 1908.
For other Literary labours, Books now out of print, and Works
still in MS., see List at end of this volume. A few copies of the above
works are still in print, particulars and prices of which can be had from
WILLIAM TAIT,
3 WELLINGTON PARK AVENUE,
BELFAST,
IRELAND.
Pages in the original are marked
thus at the bottom: {page number}
Comments and descriptions are
also set off by curly brackets {}
Comments and notes not in the
original are identified with the initials of the source: e.g. WEH note = Bill
Heidrick note, etc. Descriptions of illustrations and symbols are
not so identified, but are simply in curly brackets.
Text Footnotes have been expanded
at or near the point of citation within double angle brackets, e.g.
<<footnote>>. For poems, most longer footnotes are cited in the text to
expanded form below the stanzas.
LIMITED LICENSE
Except for notations added to the
history of modification, the text on this diskette down to the next row of
asterisks must accompany all copies made of this file. In particular, this
paragraph and the copyright notice are not to be deleted or changed on any
copies or print-outs of this file. With these provisos, anyone may copy this
file for personal use or research. Copies may be made for other individuals at
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added. Not for "share-ware" distribution or inclusion in any commercial
enterprise.
Introductory notes to the
electronic edition
This book provides a background
necessary to understand elements of the Golden Dawn and O.T.O. initiations,
particularly in matters like the inclusion of the Samothraian deities in the
former and the details of the lower and middle degrees for the latter. The
Western Occult Revival is documented in it's origins.
Yarker's thesis is to demonstrate
universal and indigenous initiation in symbol and legend throughout the history
and places of the world; and, by relating the meanings and practices of ancient
and modern Masonry (through the 19th century), to disclose the universal content
of the rites and mysteries. The author is more skeptical than most, and there
is a distinct flavor of Frazier in the style of presentation. Many Christian
traditions are presented in great detail and multiple example to be ignorant
glosses of the ancient mysteries.
Theories of lost continents are
briefly propounded with open mind, some dated by limits of scholarship of the
period: e.g. Yarker did not know that Polynesians traveled thousands of miles by
ship, that mid oceanic sea floors spread, etc.
Theosophical legends are used with
more restraint than was common in the period.
"Aryan" is used for an imaginary
race, common in the period but not as later. "Learned" racist stereotypes of
the period are perpetuated, but with considerable more restraint than in other
contemporaries. At the time of writing, race and culture were muddled
concepts. Since universal "Masonry" is the subject of this work, "Aryan" is
better understood in most instances as "possessed of the secrets of
illumination" or some such concept.
There is occasional and excessive
dependence on philology for evidence, also common in the period of authorship.
In the last chapters of the book,
Yarker defends variant Masonry on the grounds of the United Grand Lodge of
England being ignorant of many traditions and indifferent to older charters.
"York" masonry is upheld as being more traditional.
The Arian and Cabiric races taken
for granted in this book are fictional, though based on far more limited actual
ancient cultures. At the period in which this work was written, a racist theory
of world civilization was current. This theory culminated in anti-Semitism and
ultimate atrocity in the second quarter of the 20th century. Caution should be
exercised by the reader to distinguish the later excesses of Arianism from the
altitude of Yarker's book. European scholars of the time were themselves a
development of history, as such remain today. These racist theories of world
history stem, in part, from the earlier religious belief in the age of the world
as roughly 5,000 years. For so short a span, a universal and simplistic view of
history is a natural concept. With the modern discovery of several millions of
years for human tenure alone, a more diverse genesis of history is appropriate.
For "Arian", take empire-building conquerors and invaders. For "Cabiric", take
indigenous pagans or settled people of the soil. The latter is sometimes
associated with "natural religion" by Yarker. The various theories and dates
must be further adjusted in light of modern archaeology and ethnology.
Scholars and students of European
literature will find unusual value in the work. How else may we understand
stray references like: "We should look like the two sons of Aymon, who had lost
their brother." -- from Chapter XXVIII of "The Three Musketeers" of Alexandre
Dumas?
(Spelling varies in the original
text for some names and common words. Punctuation also varies from contemporary
norms, perhaps representing the oratorical style of breaking long passages more
than error in usage. Original typos are also common. An alphabetical list of
variant spellings is available for this text.)
--- Bill
Heidrick
ALEISTER CROWLEY'S REVIEW IN THE
EQUINOX
The reader of this treatise is
at first overwhelmed by the immensity of Brother Yarker's erudition. He seems to
have examined and quoted every document that ever existed. It is true that he
occasionally refers to People like Hargrave Jennings, A. E. Waite, and H. P.
Blavatsky as if they were authorities; but whoso fishes with a net of so wide a
sweep as Brother Yarker's must expect to pull in some worthless fish. This
accounts for Waite's contempt of him; imagine Walford Bodie reviewing a medical
book which referred to him as an authority on paralysis!
The size of the book, too, is
calculated to effray; reading it has cost me many pounds in gondolas! And it is
the essential impossibility of all works of this kind that artistic treatment is
not to be attained.
But Brother Yarker has nobly
suppressed a Spencerian tendency to ramble; he has written with insight, avoided
pedantry, and made the dreary fields of archeology blossom with flowers of
interest.
Accordingly, we must give him
the highest praise, for he has made the best possible out of that was nearly the
worst possible.
He has abundantly proved his
main point, the true antiquity of some Masonic system. It is a parallel to
Frazer's tracing of the history of the Slain God.
But why is there no life in any
of our Slain God rituals! It is for us to restore them by the Word and the
Grip.
For us, who have the inner
knowledge, inherited or won, it remains to restore the true rites of Attis,
Adonis, Osiris, of Set, Serapis, Mithras, and Abel.
ALEISTER CROWLEY.
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