The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies Which Have Influenced Modern Masonic Symbolismp

In an oracle delivered to the King of Cyprus, Serapis described himself thus: ''A god I am such as I show to thee, The Starry Heavens are my head, my trunk the sea, Earth forms my feet, mine ears the air supplies, The Sun's far-darting, brilliant rays, mine eyes." Several unsatisfactory attempts have been made to etymologize the word Serapis . Godfrey Higgins notes that Soros was the name given by the Egyptians to a stone coffin, and Apis was Osiris incarnate in the sacred bull. These two words combined result in Soros-Apis or Sor-Apis , "the tomb of the bull." But it is improbable that the Egyptians would worship a coffin in the form of a man. Several ancient authors, including Macrobius, have affirmed that Serapis was a name for the Sun, because his image so often had a halo of light about its head. In his Oration Upon the Sovereign Sun , Julian speaks of the deity in these words: "One Jove, one Pluto, one Sun is Serapis." In Hebrew, Serapis is Saraph , meaning "to blaze out" or "to blaze up." For this reason the Jews designated one of their hierarchies of spiritual beings, Seraphim . The most common theory, however, regarding the origin of the name Serapis is that which traces its derivation from the compound Osiris-Apis . At one time the Egyptians believed that the dead were absorbed into the nature of Osiris, the god of the dead. While marked similarity exists between Osiris-Apis and Serapis, the theory advanced by Egyptologists that Serapis is merely a name given to the dead Apis, or sacred bull of Egypt, is untenable in view of the transcendent wisdom possessed by the Egyptian priestcraft, who, in all probability, used the god to symbolize the soul of the world ( anima mundi ). The material body of Nature was called Apis ; the soul which escaped from the body at death but was enmeshed with the form during physical life was designated Serapis . C. W. King believes Serapis to be a deity of Brahmanic extraction, his name being the Grecianized form of Ser-adah or Sri-pa , two titles ascribed to Yama , the Hindu god of death. This appears reasonable, especially since there is a legend to the effect that Serapis, in the form of a bull, was driven by Bacchus from India to Egypt. The priority of the Hindu Mysteries would further substantiate such a theory. Among other meanings suggested for the word Serapis are: "The Sacred Bull," "The Sun in Taurus," "The Soul of Osiris," "The Sacred Serpent," and "The Retiring of the Bull." The last appellation has reference to the ceremony of drowning the sacred Apis in the waters of the Nile every twenty-five years. THE LION-FACED LIGHT-POWER. From Montfaucon's Antiquities. This Gnostic gem represents by its serpentine body the pathway of the Sun and by its lion head the exaltation of the solar in the constellation of Leo. *** A SYMBOLIC LABYRINTH. From Montfaucon's Antiquities. Labyrinths and mazes were favored places of initiation among many ancient cults. Remains of these mystic mazes have been found among the American Indians, Hindus, Persians, Egyptians, and Greeks. Some of these mazes are merely involved pathways lined with stones; others are literally miles of gloomy caverns under temples or hollowed from the sides of mountains. The famous labyrinth of Crete, in which roamed the bull-headed Minotaur, was unquestionably a place of initiation into the Cretan Mysteries.