When
he who was weary, plucked at a sprig of acacia, he had “evidence of things not
seen.”1
The sprig of acacia is an important symbol in Freemasonry.
For it is said allegorically that a sprig of acacia marked the head of the
grave of our beloved Grand Master Hiram Abiff, leading those travel-weary
Fellows of the Craft to discover the location where the three despicable ruffians
had deposited his precious remains. In addition to its presence in the Master
Mason Degree, the sprig of acacia also appears in the Perfect Master Degree, is
mentioned in the Elu of the Nine Degree, and is depicted on the cordon of, as
well as being referenced in the Perfect Elu Degree in the Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction.2 Symbolically, the sprig of
acacia is said to be emblematical of “our faith in the immortality of the
soul,”3 and this on account of the fact that the acacia happens to
be an evergreen, meaning that its leaves are suffered to fall neither in summer
nor in winter. But, perhaps there is still yet something more to this humble
yet potent symbol.
The immortality of the soul is an inference which
cannot be proven and therefore must
be taken on faith. The precipice of death is understood to be one beyond which
no man has ever returned. Direct knowledge; that is, Gnosis of the soul’s immortality is thus thought to be unobtainable
in mankind’s present state. But, is it? What of those individuals who, after
being pronounced deceased, or after being anesthetized or declared brain-dead
temporarily, return to waking consciousness with colorful tales and vibrant memories
of a vivid afterlife teaming with spiritual intelligences and illumination? Can
those accounts be taken as evidence of the soul’s existence beyond and outside
of the physical body? Or are they to be dismissed as the products of a randomly
firing and thus hallucinating brain? These are the problems which the present
article will venture to explore. But first, we will take a few moments to
review the significance of the acacia and its role within Freemasonry, as well
as certain other ancient and modern initiatory traditions.
In the Perfect Elu Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, we
learn that
“the acacia…is that genus of trees to which belong
that which yields the gum arabic, the mezquite, and the locust. It is the satah or satam wood of the Hebrew writings,…used in the construction of the
Tabernacle and the Temple4, and there fore a Symbol of Holiness and
Divine Truth.…It is…not the Symbol of Immortality alone, but of that life of
innocence and purity for which the Faithful hope when they shall have been
raised up to a new and spiritual existence.”5
To this, Gen. Albert Pike, 33° added in the formidable
lecture he penned for the Entered Apprentice Degree that the acacia is
“the same tree which grew up around the body of
Osiris. It was sacred among the Arabs, who made of it the idol Al-Uzza, which
Mohammed destroyed. It is abundant as a bush in the Desert of Thur: and of it
the “crown of thorns” was composed, which was set on the forehead of Jesus of
Nazareth. It is a fit type of immortality on account of its tenacity of life;
for it has been known, when planted as a doorpost, to take root again and shoot
out budding boughs over the threshold.”6
And, in an unassuming footnote to the Master Mason
Degree in his recently issued book Masonic
Formulas and Rituals, Pike wrote that the
“branch of Acacia [is] in memory of the true cross,
which, it is said, was made of that wood7. This branch of Acacia
took the place of the branch of myrtle, which the initiates of Memphis bore….[T]he
bough of gold, which Virgil gives Eneas, wherewith to descend to the infernal
regions, has the same origin.”8
The acacia has been an important symbol in many of
the ancient Mystery traditions, but, as we have yet to see, in the rites of passage
and shamanic ceremonies of some still extant indigenous and semi-civilized
societies, the acacia serves to this day as far more than simply a powerful symbol.
Like the Eucharist of the Christian Church, it is a veritable religious sacrament.
The term acacia
stems from a Greek word meaning innocence9
or freedom from sin10 and refers
to a genus of trees and shrubs that flourish in and around certain regions of Oceania,
Africa, North and South America, Asia, and even Europe. In addition to its role
as a sacramental incense, many species of acacia contain in the inner bark of
their roots high concentrations of the entheogenic11
compound dimethyltryptamine, better
known as DMT. In the form of insuffulates12
or concoctions, plants containing DMT have a long history of use in indigenous shamanic
and initiatory settings, especially those where a mystical or visionary
experience is desired13. The effect of the compound is such that it
induces an experience which is so comparable to the classic NDE or near-death experience that it has come to be known appropriately as
the spirit molecule. As Bro. Timothy
Hogan, 32°, K.C.C.H. explains,
“some scholars have associated this acacia with what
is called in Sanskrit the Akasha – or that collective consciousness that
transcends any one individual, and which can be perceived during periods of
deep death-like trances in meditation, or at the hour of our final departure
from this physical world. In fact, there is even some evidence that early
alchemists attempted to make elixirs from acacia in an effort to get into this
deep state...”14
The acacia flourishes in kaolenite-rich soils; that
is to say, clay. In regions where the compound is employed or administered in
the form of an insuffulate, the snuff,
known variously as yopo, epena, or jurema, depending on the dialect, is prepared by combining the
powdered inner bark of the acacia’s roots with the calcium carbonate15-containing
powder of ground bones and/or shells that have been ‘roasted’ over an extremely
hot ceremonial fire, the same having been prepared solely for that purpose.
This primitive yet complex process of chemical conversion – one which would
have given even the most seasoned of Alchemists a run for his money – renders
the inert plant material susceptible to absorption by the mucous membranes in
the nasal cavity, effectively producing a markedly powerful DMT-rich insuffulate. Conversely, in regions
where the concocted or brewed form of the sacrament is preferred, it is
prepared by combining it with another plant additive; one that is rich in
Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitor (better known as MAOI), thereby enabling it to
bypass the MAO in the digestive tract which otherwise would prevent it from
reaching the bloodstream and thus the brain. When the substance is prepared in
such a manner, it is called, again, depending on the dialect, ayahuasca or yagé. The indigenous peoples of the Amazon and the Caribbean are
particularly reverent of the compound, administering it to pubescent boys who
are passing through their native rite of passage into manhood, and the shamans
themselves even employing it personally for the purpose of acquiring and
maintaining their special manas or
magical wisdom and power. In the former case, the entheogen is quite literally believed to kill the child and, “after
having wandered in the gray halls of Hades,”16 his spirit is
resurrected, phoenix-like, in the form of a man, and he takes his place as a
productive member of the social order. In the latter, the compound serves as
that which enables the medicine man to take his mysterious ‘shamanic flights’
into the heavens, allowing him to commune with deity and/or the ancestral
spirits of the tribe.
This all may seem unbelievable to the modern Western
mind. However, for the individual suffering the effects of the compound, incontestable
and conclusive proof not only of the existence of the soul, but also of the
soul’s persistence even when it has been separated from its material anchor,
has been provided. For, here we have our traveller,
consciously experiencing either heavenly delights or hellish terrors, depending
on the karmic wages to which he is
entitled, all the while being somehow seemingly outside of his physical unit. He is quite literally having what anyone
might easily interpret to be an OBE
or out of body experience. In the rich
words of radical philosopher Terence McKenna,
“[t]he experience that engulfs one’s entire being as
one slips beneath the surface of the DMT ecstasy17 feels like the
penetration of a membrane. The mind and the self literally unfold before one’s
eyes. There is a sense that one is made new, yet unchanged, as if one were made
of gold and had just been recast in the furnace of one’s birth….Under the
influence of DMT, the world becomes an Arabian labyrinth, a palace, a more than
possible Martian jewel, vast with motifs that flood the gaping mind with
complex and wordless awe. Color and the sense of a reality-unlocking secret
nearby pervade the experience. There is a sense of other times, and of one’s
own infancy, and of wonder, wonder, and more wonder….Many diminutive beings are
present there…One has the impression of entering into an ecology of souls that
lies beyond the portals of what we naively call death….Here is a tremendum
barely to be told, an epiphany beyond our wildest dreams. Here is the realm of
that which is stranger than we can suppose.
Here is the mystery, alive, unscathed, still as new for us as when our
ancestors lived it fifteen thousand summers ago….The sense of emotional
connection is terrifying and intense. The Mysteries revealed are real and if
ever fully told will leave no stone upon another in the small world we have
gone so ill in.”18
These claims should come as no surprise considering
the fact that DMT is one of the most powerful psychoactive compounds known to
science. And, unfortunately, it is a substance which was once believed by
indigenous natives to induce an experience that has been subjectively
interpreted time and time again as the very liberation of the immortal soul
from the gross, physical body, thereby permitting it to wander freely the spiritual
planes of existential reality, but has since been relegated to the list of
scheduled narcotics under the Controlled Substances Act. However, in a society
where there is no context for or guidance in the intelligent and traditionally
sacramental use of such compounds, a reaction of the like is perfectly
understandable – and some say even warranted.19
Still, not every culture shares our conservative
sentiments regarding naturally-growing visionary compounds. According to Benny
Shanon, the Professor of Psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
(Israel),
“[t]he recourse of powerful psychoactive plants and
preparations in order to establish contact with the higher realms of
spirituality has been at the very heart of shamanic practices all over the
globe.”20
Whether we’re talking about the Soma of the Vedantists, the Haoma
of the Zoroastrians, or the mysterious Kykeon
of the Eleusinian Mysteries21, there is no debating that entheogenic
compounds have played a vital role in the development of a number of religious
doctrines and practices around the world, and thus have played an equally
prominent role in the lives of a multitude of worshippers. And, while these
ancient rites are in most cases no longer enacted in the same extreme way which
they once were, in many instances they still persist, not unlike the sprig of
acacia in Freemasonry, in the form of humble yet powerful symbols which
communicate similar, if not identical Truths.
In their daring book Mushrooms, Myth & Mithras, authors Ruck, Hoffman, and Celdrán made
a bold attempt to interpret the founding myth of Freemasonry in an
entheobotanical context, seeing in the allegory of Grand Master Hiram Abiff’s Raising a possible allusion to a
ritualized harvest of acacia root.
“[T]he murdered body of Hiram Abiff, a Master Mason
and Master of Works on Solomon’s Temple, was “raised” from his resting place
beneath an acacia sprig which marked the spot to those who would be sent by
King Solomon to search. After the interred corpse of Hiram was found, Solomon
himself went to the site to recover the body. Feeling beneath the ground at the
site of the acacia, the king felt Hiram’s “hand.” In the process of recovering
his corpse, he first used the grip of the Entered Apprentice, then that of the
Fellowcraft, but twice felt the skin slipping off Hiram’s hand. Finally Solomon
used the grip of the Master Mason to raise the corpse. In the entheobotanical
context, we feel that this myth is a description of a ritualized acacia
harvest. We note that the subterranean root bark of acacia and mimosa species
are known to contain high levels of Dimethyltryptamine, an entheogen which is
strongly psychoactive when extracted and inhaled, and which is easily combined
with other sacred entheogenic plants, and consumed as a potion.”22
Such an application of the Hiramic allegory, while
indeed startling to many, may actually illuminate perhaps one of the most
bizarre references to the acacia in the history of Freemasonry. In the
Apprentice and Companion rituals of Count Cagliostro’s Egyptian Rite, the
acacia is puzzlingly referred to as being the first matter in a particular and curious Alchemical operation
involving seven steps23, the same of which, when followed, results
allegedly in the production of a cubical
ashlar, i.e., a purified, crystalline
stone or salt that has been
extracted, or, to use Alchemical terminology, produced, from the acacia tree: a vegetable stone24.
““[T]he acacia is the primal matter and the rough
ashlar is the mercurial part. When this rough ashlar or mercurial part has been
purified, it becomes cubical; it is then, with this primal matter or this
dagger in your hand, you must assassinate this Master – this rough ashlar which
has become cubical; or this Father and this Mother of all the metals. This
operation being finished and the body enshrouded it is now a question of
purifying it by following the seven philosophical transitions which are
symbolized by the seven steps placed before the door of the Temple [on the
Tracing Board of this Degree].
The first 5 which are the primary colours the sixth which is the colour black
and finally the seventh which is that of purple, or fire or of fresh blood25.
It is thus that you may bring about the consummation of the marriage of the Sun
and the Moon, and that you shall obtain…the perfect [astral?] projection. Quantum sufficit, et quantum appetite
[as much as you need and as much as you have appetite for].”26
[T]he candidate…shall drink [the red liqueur placed
upon the Master’s altar], raising his spirit in order to understand the
following speech which the Worshipful Master shall address to him at the same
time.
“My child, you are receiving the primal matter,
understand the blindness and the dejection of your first condition. Then you
did not know yourself, everything was darkness within you and without. Now that
you have taken a few steps in the knowledge of yourself, learn that the Great
God created before man this primal matter and that he then created man to
possess it and be immortal27. Man abused it and lost it, but it
still exists in the hands of the Elect of God and from a single grain of this
precious matter becomes a projection into infinity.
The acacia which has been given to you at the degree
of Master of ordinary Masonry is nothing but that precious matter. And
[Hiram’s] assassination is the loss of the liquid which you have just received
and which must be killed with the dagger; it is this knowledge that, assisted
by the Great God, shall bring you these riches.””28
Just as in the myth of Osiris, in order to produce
the stone Alchemically the acacia
must be macerated, tossed into a fluid menstruum
or, in the case of Osiris, the Nile, and eventually resurrected or raised (via distillation in the
Alchemical process) to a sublime state of perfection; in Alchemical terms, to a
purified vegetable stone. Timothy
Hogan has argued in his book The
Alchemical Keys to Masonic Ritual that these same basic steps are encoded
within the three degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry, lending credence to the
claims that a similar Alchemical interpretation of the three degrees may indeed
have been provided to Fratres in the Juniorus Grade of the German Masonic Der Ordens des Gold und Rosenkreuzer29,
the first Rosicrucian Order to surface following the initial publication of the
Rosicrucian Manifestos over a century
prior. Perhaps it is Mysteries such as this to which the following excerpt from
Mackey’s Encyclopædia of Freemasonry
refers.
“It is admitted that the texts and nomenclature of
Medieval materials on [Hermetism]…were cryptic and queer; but for that there
are several explanations for the need for secrecy, the mixture of languages
owing to the many living and dead languages of the sources used, [and] the need to keep laymen from endangering
themselves with drugs they could not understand…”30 [italics
mine]
Remarkably, DMT is not limited to the plant kingdom
alone. In his book TIHKAL: Tryptamines I
Have Known and Loved, “psychedelic alchemist”31 Alexander
Shulgin declared that “DMT is…in this flower here, in that tree over there, and
in yon animal. [It] is, most simply, almost everywhere you choose to look.”32
And yes, in case you’re wondering, it also happens to be inside of you and me. For,
DMT is actually manufactured by the human organism, and high amounts of the
same have been found in the urine and bloodstream of meditating monks, praying
nuns, and even schizophrenics.33 Endogenous34 DMT
production is therefore believed by many scientists to be the physiological
basis for mystical experiences, near-death and out of body experiences, and a
whole host of subjective phenomena that cannot otherwise be explained or even begin
to be explored by modern science.
In an attempt to discover the source and function of
endogenous DMT production within the human organism, Rick Strassman, M.D.,
Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico
School of Medicine, became the first scientist to conduct governmentally
sanctioned research on humans with a scheduled psychedelic since the 1970’s. And,
with a generous grant from the Scottish Rite Foundation for Schizophrenia
Research, Dr. Strassman and his team were able to get their modest research
project up and running.35 What Dr. Strassman discovered was that
source of endogenous DMT production within humans is most probably the pineal
gland.
Situated between the eyes36 and at the
center of the brain, immediately betwixt the brain’s two hemispheres, the
pineal gland
“is located between the superior callosum, the
pulvinar, and the splenium of the corpus callosum. [It] is primarily associated
with the production of the brain chemical melatonin and may be indirectly
involved in the secretion of serotonin.”37
According to Dr. Rick Strassman, the pineal gland
“possesses a lens, cornea, and retina. It is
light-sensitive and helps regulate body temperature and skin coloration – two
basic survival functions intimately related to environmental light.”38
This has led to its (the pineal gland) appropriately
being called the third eye.39
When the pineal gland senses daylight, it is thought to labor for the
production of serotonin, which regulates appetite, mood, body movement, and a
number of other regulatory functions. When the pineal does not sense daylight, conversely,
it produces instead melatonin, and melatonin regulates sleep patterns as well
as body coloration. The conditions under which the pineal is thought to secrete
DMT, on the other hand, is considerably more complex.
“The most general hypothesis is that the pineal
gland produces psychedelic amounts of DMT at extraordinary times in our lives.
Pineal DMT production is the physical representation of non-material, or
energetic, processes. It provides us with the vehicle to consciously experience
the movement of our life-force [read soul]
in its most extreme manifestations. Specific examples of this phenomenon are
the following:
“When our individual life force enters our fetal
body, the moment in which we become truly human, it passes through the pineal
and triggers the first primordial flood of DMT. Later, at birth, the pineal
releases more DMT. In some of us, pineal DMT mediates the pivotal experiences
of deep meditation, psychosis, and near-death experiences. As we die, the
life-force leaves the body through the pineal gland, releasing another flood of
this psychedelic spirit molecule.”40
In other words, according to Dr. Strassman’s
hypothesis, the pineal gland may very well be the seat of the soul, and DMT, the catalyst which facilitates the
soul’s entry into and exit out of the body during birth, death, trauma, and
mystical or visionary experiences – a wild speculation which, without the
testimonies of the indigenous peoples who employ the compound sacramentally, as
well as those of Dr. Strassman’s research volunteers, who themselves also experienced
the spirit molecule firsthand, might
be easily dismissed.
Dr. Strassman’s views are not too dissimilar from
those of philosopher and mathematician René Descartes, who postulated a similar
function for our mysterious pineal. In his essay The Inter-Relation of Soul and Body, Descartes wrote that
“[a]lthough the soul is joined with the entire body,
there is one part of the body [the pineal] in which it exercises its function
more than elsewhere….[The pineal] is so suspended between the passages
containing the animal spirits [guiding reason and carrying sensation and
movement] that it can be moved by them…; and it carries this motion on to the
soul…Then conversely, the bodily machine is so constituted that whenever the
gland is moved in one way or another by the soul, or for that matter by any
other cause, it pushes the animal spirits which surround it to the pores of the
brain.”41
Descartes noticed too that the pineal gland happens
to be the sole singleton organ within the human brain. Recognizing via personal
introspection that thoughts arise only one at a time, Descartes also postulated
that the pineal gland is the source of the many thoughts that are aroused
within the mind throughout one’s life.
The pineal gland is a remarkable organ indeed, and
its association with light in particular might be of especial interest to the
contemplative Mason. As Dr. Strassman observed,
“Western and Eastern mystical traditions are replete
with descriptions of blinding white light accompanying deep spiritual
realization. This “enlightenment” usually is the result of a progression of
consciousness through various levels of spiritual, psychological, and ethical
development.”
As any Brother who has been brought to Light can testify, Freemasonry is absolutely no
exception.
Thus we see that the sprig of acacia is far more profound
in its significance than may have been previously suspected. Not only is it, as
an evergreen, an apt symbol for the immortality of the soul, but as a
DMT-containing plant, it is associated directly with the pineal gland as the possible
biological explanation for near-death experiences, out of body experiences, and
other subjective soul experiences.
Before closing, it is worth noting that our line of research has shed light not
only the significance of the sprig of acacia within Freemasonry, but also
potentially on the Master’s fatal blow,
the same of which strikes in the same general region, albeit superficially, wherein
the so-called seat of the soul; i.e., the pineal gland, resides. It was
perhaps with a remarkable flash of insight into this same profound and esoteric
knowledge that British Freemason Bro. W.L. Wilmshurst so cryptically but
eloquently declared in his 1922 classic The
Meaning of Masonry that
“[t]he “head” of the material organism of man is the
spirit of man, and this spirit consciously conjoined with the Universal Spirit
is Deity’s supreme instrument and vehicle in the temporal world. Such a man’s
physical organism and brain have become sublimated and keyed up to a condition
and an efficiency immensely in advance of average humanity. Physiological
processes are involved which cannot be discussed here, beyond saying that in
such a man the entire nervous system contributes to charge certain ganglia and
light up certain brain-centers in a way of which the ordinary mind knows
nothing….But the Master Mason, in virtue of his mastership, knows how to
control and apply those energies. They culminate and come to self-consciousness
in his head, in his intelligence….The same truth is…testified to, though…under
veils of symbolic phrasing, in the reference to the sprig of acacia planted at
the head of the grave of the Masonic Grand Master and prototype, Hiram Abiff.
The grave is the candidate’s soul; the sprig of acacia typifies the latent akasha (to use an Eastern term) or
divine germ planted in that soil and waiting to become quickened into activity
in his intelligence, the “head” of that plane. When that sprig of acacia blooms
at the head of his soul’s sepulcher, he will understand…the mystery of the
death of Hiram…. It is a mystery of spiritual consciousness, the efflorescence
of the mind in God, the opening up of the human intelligence in conscious
association with the Universal and Omniscient Mind.”42
END
NOTES
The Acacia, Short Talk Bulletin Vol. X No. 11, p. 8
Rex R. Hutchens, A Bridge to Light,
pp. 26, 59, & 91
Duncan’s Ritual of Freemasonry
The Ark of the Covenant was also said to have been built of “satah” or shittah wood.
Scottish Rite Ritual Monitor & Guide,
pp. 351-2
Morals and Dogma, p. 155
According to A.E. Waite, this claim is reiterated in the Grade of Novice and
Knight of St. John the Evangelist.
Masonic Formulas and Rituals, p. 112
Hence its status as an emblem of “that life of innocence and purity for which
the Faithful hope when they shall have been raised up to a new and spiritual
existence” in the Perfect Elu (14°) Degree of the A.&A.S.R., S.J.
Kenneth R.H. Mackenzie, Royal Masonic
Cyclopædia
relating to “mind-altering plants used in sacramental contexts” (Prof. Benny
Shanon), literally, ‘that which generates the Divine within’
i.e., snuffs
Christian Rätsch, The Encyclopedia of
Psychoactive Plants
Timothy Hogan, The Raising of the Body
Calcium carbonate is basically common, everyday chalk. Thus, provided the
charcoal which is required to fuel the flame needed to fire the skeletal
remains, and the clay wherein the acacia itself is known to flourish, we find
here an unexpected analogue to a unique particular of Masonic ritual; namely,
the Symbolic Minerals of the Entered Apprentice (1°) Degree.
Manly P. Hall, The Lost Keys of
Freemasonry
from the Greek ekstasis, literally
meaning to stand outside oneself, as in an OBE
Terence McKenna, Food of the Gods, p.
257-8
On February 21st, 2006 the Supreme Court of the United States issued a
unanimous decision affirming Religious Liberty in the case of Gonzales vs. O
Centro Espirita Beneficente União do Vegetal, permitting affiliates to use ayahuasca in a religious, ceremonial
context. ( http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/05pdf/04-1084.pdf )
Biblical Entheogens: A Speculative
Hypothesis
The eucharistic wine which stands as a sacrament within the Christian Church
would be another and perhaps a more well-known example of an entheogenic compound.
Mushrooms, Myth & Mithras, p. 225
“Know that this primal matter always exists in the hands of the Elect of God…I
assure you further, by all that is most sacred, that by means of the light
communicated to me by our Master, I came to know clearly that one grain of this
precious matter becomes a projection to infinity. Open wide your eyes and your
ears.
Seven are the transitions for perfecting the matter.
Seven are the colours.
Seven are the effects which shall complete the philosophical operations:
1st Ad sanitatem et ad
hominess morbis [of purity and of sick mortals]
2nd Ad metallorum [of
metals]
3rd To rejuvenate and repair the lost forces, and to increase the
radical heat and humidity.
4th To soften and liquefy the solid part.
5th To congeal and harden the liquid part.
6th To render the possible impossible and the impossible possible.
7th To procure all the means of doing good, taking at the same time
the greatest precautions against working, speaking, acting or doing anything in
this connection except in the most reserved and occult manner.” – Catechism of
an Apprentice of the Egyptian Lodge (The
Masonic Magician, pp. 208-210)
"As those who sought the stone wanted to climb, in order to retrieve it,
one grasped a hold of the green sprig or [Acacia] branch, which pulled out of
the ground, when they observed that it had no roots. This made them think that
this branch must signify something..." (Oration from the Reception of a Master Mason in the Rite of Strict
Observance, Collectanea Vol. XXI pt.
I, p. 37)
It is notable that these are the precise colors of “the subterranean root bark
of acacia and mimosa species [the same of which] are known to contain high
levels of Dimethyltryptamine,” as noted by Hoffman and Ruck.
Philippa Faulks and Robert Cooper, The
Masonic Magician, p. 214
That is, for man to realize the existence of his already immortal soul.
The Masonic Magician, pp. 225
Tommy Westlund, An Overview of the
Alchemical and Magical System of the Gold und Rosenkreuz Order
See the entry under The Ordinall of
Alchimy.
Rick Strassman, M.D., DMT: The Spirit
Molecule, p. 42
TIHKAL, pp. 247-84
John Horgan, Rational Mysticism
naturally produced within and by the human organism
Rick Strassman, M.D., DMT: The Spirit
Molecule, p. xii
Consider the location of the Master’s fatal blow.
William S. Burkle, Masonic Chant: An
Argument for the Return of a Tradition
DMT: The Spirit Molecule, p. 60
DMT: The Spirit Molecule, p. 60
DMT: The Spirit Molecule, pp. 68-9
René Descartes, The Inter-Relation of
Soul and Body
W.L. Wilmshurst, The Meaning of Masonry,
pp. 118-19
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http://udvusa.org/
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Newman, Phillip D. Freemasonry: A Rite of Passage for the Modern Man
Rätsch, Christian The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants
Ruck, Carl A.P. Mushrooms,
Myth & Mithras (with Mark A. Hoffman and Jose Alfredo Gonzales Celdran)
Shanon, Benny
Biblical Entheogens: A Speculative Hypothesis
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Talk Bulletin Vol. X No. 11 (The Acacia)
Shulgan, Alexander TIHKAL: Tryptamines I Have Known and Loved
Strassman, Rick DMT:
The Spirit Molecule
Waite, Arthur E. A
New Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry
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Valley of Corinth, Orient of MS
Disclaimer: This paper entitled. "THE SPRIG OF ACACIA: AN EMBLEM OF OUR FAITH IN THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL", was submitted to Tupelo Masonic Lodge No. 318 F&AM for publication by the author, P.D. Newman. The printing of this or any other writing does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Tupelo Masonic Lodge No. 318 F&AM or the Grand Lodge of Mississippi. Please read our Terms of Use for full details.
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Brother “The Cool Dude” P.D.Newman, 32° - Valley of Corinth, Orient of MS - Tupelo Lodge No. 318
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