Excerpt:

I wish particularly to point out in the present volume that I am not giving the meanings of symbols in the vestments in which they are now garbed. I am giving their origin and original meanings.

Up to the time of Mu's submersion all symbols retained their original meanings. From the time of Mu's destruction I must pass over about 5,000 or 6,000 years. Those were years when seemingly no history was written except a few scraps in India and Egypt.

During this time mankind apparently was reviving and repeopling the earth, after its almost total destruction by the submersion of Mu and other lands and the subsequent formation of gas belts and mountains.

On entering Egypt 6,000 years ago we find that many of the original symbols had survived but were very much Egyptianized, especially in pattern or design, with an incomprehensible theology attached to them. A multitude of new ones had besides been added, most of them having esoteric or hidden meanings.

This confusion increased when Upper and Lower Egypt merged into one kingdom. The two peoples not only commingled personally, but also their two sets of symbols. Thus two sets were made into one without any being discarded. It meant at least two symbols for every conception. So great was the confusion of symbols in Egypt, 4,000 to 5,000 years ago, that hardly one-half of the priesthood understood those used in the temples of other cities, although they might be but a few miles away.

The next period to note in Egyptian history is the reigns of the Ptolemys.

Many Greek philosophers then went to Egypt and were taught the Egyptian Sacred Mysteries. This knowledge they took back to Greece, commencing about 600 B. C. In Greece the Sacred Mysteries were Grecianized, new names and further theology were added. The result, generally, was the creation of amusing myths. The familiar Grecian myths may therefore be said to be influenced by the legends and teachings of Egypt and India.

The next point to note is Mu's destruction, which removed her motherly control over religion and science throughout the world. The consequence was that each colony framed its own laws, at the same time making changes in religion to suit themselves.

It is very noticeable among all ancient people that directly the control of the Motherland was removed, those countries began to fall back. As time went on they so degenerated in science and religion that the teachings of the First Great Civilization were at last entirely forgotten and became a thing of the past. Myths, those shadows of the past, alone remained. Here and there, however, solitary flowers strove to raise their heads out of the weeds which now choked the world's garden.

Coming down to present times, I find writers, supposed to be scholars, giving meanings to symbols that are purely mythical, the outcome, it may be, of fantastic dreams, and absolutely erroneous. Where they got their ideas I cannot imagine. Certainly not from the ancient writings. The result is that science has drifted into an age of theories. Theories are made subservient to facts. A fact cannot be a fact unless their crazy theories prove it. The more abstruse and bizarre the theory is, the more, apparently, it is scientifically thought of. A theory that is not even understood by the originator himself, and by no one else on earth, meets with scientific approval.

SYMBOLS AND FREE MASONRY.--Freemasons in their ceremonies use many of the ancient symbols. They freely admit that the original meanings are now forgotten but they know that originally the symbols were sacred, being used in religious ceremonies in the infinite days that are past and had a religious and moral meaning in line with the First Religion of Man--their origin.

Symbols and symbolisms are a principal division of archaeology. I am not a professional archaeologist, but I love the ancient and for over fifty years have been diligent in the study of it. When Mu went down the school of archaeology went with her.

ARCHAEOLOGY.--The date when archaeology was first studied reaches far back into the distant past. More than 15,000 years ago, the ancients had special colleges for its study. In these colleges a very profound knowledge of their past was attained. The further we go back, the more profound we find that archaeological knowledge.

Like all other ancient sciences, archaeology had a dark cloud cast over it when Mu the Motherland sank and the First Great Civilization was wiped out. Only seeds, remnants of mankind, were left here and there, out of which a new civilization was in time to develop.

It is virtually within memory of living man that the study of archaeology has been again undertaken. Those who today call themselves archaeologists are, generally, diggers of the remains of man who lived, say, from 1,000 to 5,000 years ago. These are but of yesterday in human history. Why do they not go back to the beginning, as the ancients did 15,000 years ago? The archaeological study of the ancients included the whole history of man from his beginning 200,000 years before, if the astronomical evidence whereby such dates are computed may be accepted.

Archaeology embraces much more than it is thought to do. As the ancients studied it, it was a fascinating story. It may be deemed a religion for, at every step, the student is confronted with works of a Supreme Conception, with symbols of the power and wisdom of the Creator. The sights cause him contemplation, contemplation brings him in touch with the Supreme, the great Architect and Builder of all. As the student progresses, he becomes aware that other branches of science are intimately connected with it: geology, chemistry, astronomy and the Cosmic Forces. These must all be mastered to obtain the full benefit of what has been written and left behind by our forefathers for us, to act as guideposts to the greater knowledge.