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The MasonicLetter GPaul Foster CaseMacoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Co., Inc.Richmond, Virginia

Copyright, 1981BUILDERS OF THE ADYTUM, LTD.Los Angeles, CaliforniaISBN-0-88053-066-9L.C. Catalog Card No. 81-84636Printed in the United States of America

IntroductionPaul Foster Case (1884-1954),author of this treatise, is known tostudents of occultism as the outstanding authority of Tarot,Qabalah, Alchemy and relatedsubjects of the Western OccultTradition. His other publications,including The True and InvisibleRosicrucian Order; Tarot, Key tothe Wisdom of the Age;. The GreatSeal of the United States; T h eMagical Language; The Book ofTokens, bear witness to his deepinsight and wonderfully readableapproach to these subjects.The present work makes itclear that his knowledge included a

viINTRODUCTIONthorough understanding of theIn i t heMasonic tradition.develops the unmistakable link thatexists between the Masonic degreesand rituals and the Qabalistictradition. He shows that Masonrycannot be fully appreciated o runderstood without knowledge ofthe Qabalistic Tree of Life and itsinsight into the true nature of manand of the Cosmos. One of theoutstanding concepts he developsi s the relationship between thegeometry upon which the buildingand architectural symbolism ofMasonry are based and the Gematria of the Qabalists, which is asystem of number correspondencesto words and phrases that reveals

INTRODUCTIONviithe i n n e r meanings behind thenumbers, measurements and geometrical proportions prominent inboth the Old and New Testaments.The contributions of Paul Caseto students of the spiritual goesbeyond t h e works mentionedabove. He founded BUILDERS OFT H E ADYTUM, a non-profitreligious organization which disseminates a spiritual training system based on his works in gradedlesson form through the mail. It isa system that allows sincere aspirants of the present day to receive training that in past ages wasavailable only to the few who couldenter a Mystery school and com-

viiiINTRODUCTIONpletely withdraw, at least temporarily, from society and the concerns of the outer world.Paul Case was charged with theresponsibility, by a Master of theInner School, of preserving, extending and updating the AncientWisdom that has existed since thebeginning of the World. His outstanding contribution is that he hasleft us a clear, graded system forspiritual development that enablesus to fully retain our relationships and responsibilities in themodern world while gradually butsurely unfolding insight into thehigher ones.

THE MASONICLETTER GAn InterpretationIt is difficult to determinewhen the letter G was introducedi n t o Speculative Masonry a s asymbol. Mackey's Encyclopedia ofFreemasonry says this letter is notderived from the operative masonsof the Middle Ages, and formed nopart of the architectural decorationsof old cathedrals. Whether it enteredthe symbolism under the influenceof those Rosicrucians and Qabalistswho joined the order during the lasthalf of the 17th century, or

2THE MASONIC LETTER Gwhether it was introduced at sometime subsequent to 1717, when thefirst Grand Lodge was establishedat the Apple-tree Tavern in London,seems impossible to decide.The Masonic meaning of the letter G never has been esoteric. Thewhole world has been told that thesymbol owes its prominence to thef a c t that "G" i s the initial ofgeometry. This makes it a symbolicsummary of the entire Masonicsystem. The heart of Freemasonryis an esoteric doctrine founded onthe science of geometry, and expressed by means of geometricalfigures and theorems. In the oldMasonic constitutions it is specifically stated that Masonry andgeometry are one and the same.

THE MASONIC LETTER GI3Neither is it any secret that theletter G is a symbol for the Deity. Itso happens that God is the Englishname of the Grand Architect of theUniverse. It does not follow that thefact that G is the first letter of "God"is the only connection between thesymbol and the Deity.Several modern writers on Freemasonry seem to think so, and haveeven gone so far as to say they feelMasonic symbolism has been hurtrather than helped by the adoptionof the letter G ."It is to be regretted," writesMackey, "that the letter G, as asymbol, was ever admitted into theMasonic system. The use of it, asan initial, would necessarily

4THE MASONIC LETTER Gconfine it to the English languageand to modern times. It wants,therefore, a s a symbol, thenecessary characteristics of bothuniversality and antiquity ."It is a singular coincidence,"according to McClenachan, "thatthe letters composing the Englishname of Deity should be the initialsof the Hebrew words wisdom,strength, and beauty; the three greatpillars, or metaphorical supports ofMasonry. They seem to presentalmost the only reason that canreconcile a Mason to the use of theletter ' G ' i n i t s conspicuoussuspension in the East of the Lodgein place of the Delta. The incidentseems to be more than accident."9,

THE MASONIC LETTER GI'11,I5Brother McClenachan goes onto say that the Hebrew word forbeauty is Gomer, Pa , from whichhe derives the initial G; that inthe same language, strength isOz,t y , whence the English0 ; and that D is the initial of, meaning wisdom.Dabar, 3Hence, he argues, G.O.D. may beunderstood Masonically as meaningwisdom, strength and beauty.This would be interesting, iftrue. The first objection, however ,is that in Masonry the supports ofthe lodge are always named in thefollowing order: wisdom, strength,beauty. If Brother McClenachan ssupposed Hebrew originals of thesewords be taken in the same

6THE MASONIC LETTER Ginvariable Masonic order, t h eEnglish equivalents of their initialsspell, not God, but dog! WereFreemasonry guilty of such a pieceof symbolism it would deserve theanathemas pronounced upon it bycertain prelates.As a matter of f a c t , theHebrew noun Dabar, 337 , does notmean wisdom. Its true significationis word, speech, order, command,matter, affair, event. Neither doesGomer, 3 2, mean beauty. It isthe Hebrew for to end, to cease tobe, or, in a secondary sense, toaccomplish. Moreover, while it iscertainly true that Oz, t Y , is oneof the Hebrew words signifyingstrength, it is not the word which,

THE MASONIC LETTER G(11,7in the ancient Hebrew Qabalah thathas left so marked an impress onMasonic terminology, is alwaysemployed in combination withwisdom and beauty. That word isgeburah, ill732 , not Oz, ty .Thus the three pillars of BrotherMcClenachan's argument turn out tobe pillars of sand. He is left withnothing but his objection to the letterG, for which he would substitute thedelta. Here he is at variance withMackey, who thinks the letter in theEast should be a Hebrew yod.Neither delta nor yod are a whitmore universal than G, and theyare only a little more ancient.English letters are really Roman,

8THE MASONIC LETTER Gand Roman letters are simplymodfied Greek, and both Greekand Hebrew are adaptations of aSemitic orginial alphabet, probablyPhoenician.Furthermore, the p r i m a r ysymbolism of the letter G relates togeometry, of which word it is theinitial, while its Greek counterpart,gamma, is the initial of theGreek name for the same science .Neither Hebrew yod nor Greekdelta has any direct connection withthis science, so that to substituteeither of them for the Masonic Gwould be to deprive the Craft of animportant symbolic reference tothe very basis of its esoteric systemof instruction.

THE MASONIC LETTER G9Again, G is the English equivalent of the Hebrew letter3 ,gimel and in Rabbinical Hebrew,gimel is the initial of a word whichis a Hebrew adaptation of theGreek noun geometria. Thus theletter G is actually the initial ofgeometry in the three languagesmost important to Freemasonry.For the Hebrew of the Old Testament, the Greek of Euclid,Pythagoras and the New Testament,and the English in which allregular Masonic rituals were castat the time of the revival of 1717,and from which all regular Masonic instruction in the tongues ofother nations has been translated,are certainly the languages

10THE MASONIC LETTER Gthrough which the mysteries of theCraft have been transmitted fromtime immemorial.When we come to the letter Gas a symbol of Deity, there is a surface plausibility to the contentionthat the Hebrew yod would bepreferable. For it is true that yod isthe first letter of the Tetragrammaton rl7, rendered Jehovahin the English Bible. The argumentin favor of yod would be moreconvincing if all Masonic ritualsagreed that G is placed in the Eastbecause it is the initial of the wordGod. Some modern American lectures do say just this; but an older ,and we think better, explanation ofthe symbol is simply that it denotes

THE MASONIC LETTER G11the Deity. Just how it does so is notexplained, but we hope to make thisclear .Certainly Hebrew yod, the initialof illl'l- , is neither more nor lessexclusive than G. The Greek deltaproposed by Brother McClenachanmight stand for the Greek dios, theLatin deus, or even for the Englishdeity, but would have no referenceto God in Hebrew.G, however, is the initial of God.Its Greek equivalent is the initial ofGaia, the earth mother, eldest bornof Chaos, whose name is the rootof the noun geometria, geometry.Gimel, the Hebrew correspondenceto G, is the initial 7 3 , gadol,majesty, and of 3 3 , gebur,

THE MASONIC LETTER Gstrong, words used to designate theDeity throughout the Hebrew sacred writings. Were nothing else tobe said for it, it seems to us thesefacts would make the letter G asufficiently universal, as well assufficiently ancient, symbol of theGrand Architect.As the equivalent of the Greekgamma, moreover, G is not only theinitial of Gaia, the earth mother ,and of geometria, the science bywhich her powers are measured,but it has yet another Masonic allusion. The shape of the letter gamma is I' , obviously neither morenor less than a mason's square.From the Hebrew equivalent ofG, however, we shall discover the1

THE MASONIC LETTER G13most important meanings of this ancient symbol. When we haveconsidered the esoteric significanceof gimel we shall find, not only thatit is the initial of a Rabbinical termborrowed directly from the Greeknoun geometria, and not only thatit is the initial of two Hebrew wordsfrequently applied to God, but alsothat the letter gimel itself is regarded by the wise men of Israel as being the alphabetical sign of the sacred wisdom which is founded onthe science of geometry. We shallfind, moreover, that gimel is directly connected with the triangulard e l t a favored b y Brother McClenachan, and that it is alsorelated, in an occult manner, to

14THE MASONIC LETTER Gthe letter yod preferred by BrotherMackey.In order to make this clear, wemust remind our readers that,throughout its rituals and lectures,Freemasonry bears the marks ofhaving been developed in its present form by persons having someacquaintance with the Hebrewsystem of occult philosophy knownas the Qabalah. Thus Mackey tellsus that the names of the threepillars which support the lodge(wisdom, strength and beauty),and the Masonic attribution of thethird of these pillars to the JuniorWarden and to Hiram Abif, areprobablyderivedf r o m theQabalah.

THE MASONIC LETTER Gi,II15These pillars, and their names,are taken directly from a Qabalistic diagram known as the Tree ofLife. The diagram consists of tencircles, connected by twenty-twolines. The circles represent tenaspects or phases of the DivineEmanation. They are numberedfrom 1 to 1 0 , and are calledSephiroth, or Numerations. Thetwenty-two lines which link theseten circles to one another are saidto represent the letters of theHebrew alphabet, and the forcescorresponding to those letters. Thewhole Tree, with its ten numbersand twenty-two letters, representsthe thirty-two paths of wisdom.Qabalists regard it as being of such