Freemasonry, Greek Philosophy, the Prince Hall Fraternity and the Egyptian (African) World Connection

© 2009 Keith Moore 32°. All rights reserved.

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transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  02/03/2022

ISBN: 978-1-4389-0905-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-5065-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-5066-6 (e)

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It is to correct Western misrepresentations and restore the true value and place of Negro culture and achievement in the sum total of human progress that makes the study of African history today a double necessity for both Africans and non-Africans.

--K.B.C. Onwubiko from The Importance of African History Today,

History of West Africa, A D 1000-1800 (1967. Nigeria: Africana-FEP Publishers Limited, 1985).

Scholars retell the story of African history and culture to debunk the myths and reveal the misperceptions that Western people have about Africa. Today, the rich history of the continent is being rediscovered by the rest of the world.

Retelling the Story, PBS Online’s Wonders of the African World with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 1999:

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter I: Secret Societies in African Culture, The origin of African American Freemasonry and Their influences in Masonic Literature

Chapter II: Nile Valley Influences on the Greek Hellenic Civilization and Its impact on the Greek and Masonic Societies

Chapter III: The Origins and Philosophies of Freemasonry In The West

Chapter IV: Secret Traditions In Freemasonry and Islamic Mysticism

Chapter V: The Moors and their Contributions to chivalry, Knighthood and Knight Templarism

Chapter VI: A Reflection Of History the Crusades Christianity Against Islam and Its Relation to The Nobles of the Mystic Shrine

Chapter VII Freemasonry The Origins of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Orientalism and its European Influences

Chapter VIII  Conclusion

Table of Illustrations

Bibliography

Preface

Time never was not when I see the world as a place to dwell freely. Never have I known Freedom until I came to the knowledge of self and this self knowledge refers to one’s particular mental state. This includes my beliefs, my desires and my Freedom of thought. This is only a small fraction of what self knowledge is and this Freedom is something that I will cherish for life. When God created the heavens and the Earth he created me with that same Passion. That is why my Love for the Almighty is undying and everlasting. Because I know he loves me and with that love I now know that Love is the strongest force in the universe. It is Invisible and it is the pure essence of existence. Freemasonry teaches its members the Philosophy of Fatherhood of God and Brotherhood Man. This is nothing new to the Mason it has been in existence since the dawn of time. For the Declaration of this Body of research I am a Prince hall Freemason and will always remain intact my loyalty to the Craft. Freemasonry is a system of learning that has been acquired from other learning Institutions. My Purpose for writing this book is to present to the reader a More Ideological approach to the Craft and all of its Mysteries. I have been a Mason for 15 years my first exposure to the Craft after receiving light in masonry was a book called the Craft and its Symbols written by Robert Allen. This book served as a foundation to my learning Masonic Symbolism as well the ritualistic work and for a number of years this my only exposure to the craft. 1996 I was exposed to the esoteric side of Freemasonry. In order for me to learn the hidden side of Freemasonry I first had to establish my Personal Library. My Library consisted of books not only written by Masonic authors but it incorporate many subjects ranging from History, Egyptology, Metaphysics, Greek Philosophy and Afro centrism. In this day and age I feel that Freemasonry needed a different voice in terms of its origins and its Symbolism. Over 80% of Masonic literatures have been written from a western European Freemasonry stance. The Majority of these books speak of subjects related to Europe’s history of Freemasonry Ranging from Greek Philosophy, the Knight Templar Gnostics, Rosicrucian’s, which is a watered down form of African knowledge. There is another side to this story. In spite the fact that Freemasonry as we know it began in Western Europe. What is not spoken often is the theory that it existed Thousands of years before the current form. Similar Systems were in all the ancient Civilizations; Egypt, Nubia the Phoenician the Assyrians, all had a secret society. This is history that is not fully recognized by most Masonic Scholars of Western Europe, However there are many comparisons and this book will explore those comparisons.

Keith Moore 32

Introduction

It has been my experience that the world‘s view of Freemasonry has always been observed from a western society perspective. Meaning that all the rituals degree work and philosophies were designed to reveal certain truths and these truths were hidden in the form of an allegory. Anyone who has ever studied Freemasonry must first learn that there is always a mystery behind an existing mystery and this will be the basis for writing this research.

When Freemasonry as we know it was created in Europe, it did not reveal to its members the true origins of its existence. Instead the founders made it a European art made for Europeans by Europeans and they spread this teaching throughout the world never revealing its original origins. At this moment it would be correct for me to dwell deeper into the truth of Freemasonry’s origins. And to find this answer I looked deeper into the ancient world. More in particular I began to study the Nile Valley Civilizations of Egypt and Ancient Ethiopia and discovered that a similar society existed before Freemasonry.

The Egyptians were one of the first inventors of secret societies and they existed for thousands of years. Once these societies had reached a level of understanding they spread throughout the ancient world existing under numerous different names. Europe’s first exposure to the societies were the Ancient Greeks who in turned were the students of the Egyptian priest. The Greeks were trained in the mysteries so that they could establish their own society. We know this for a fact because the Egyptians were dedicated teachers who felt that knowledge is something that should be given to those who are deemed worthy of it. Once the Greeks received the knowledge of the Egyptians they began teaching Egyptian knowledge under the veil of Greek philosophy. While in Greece the well known philosophers created institutions of learning in order to spread what they learned to the masses. This served as a beginning foundation to modern day Freemasonry. The reason for this is that Freemasonry depends so heavily on Greek philosophy that without it-it could not function properly.

The works of all the Greek philosophers can be seen in the ritualistic works of Freemasonry. One example is the study of Mathematics. In Freemasonry Mathematics are the very core and more notably the use of Geometry in structured building. Geometry was invented by the Egyptians who then taught it to the Greeks. These facts therefore prove that we cannot have a today’s world and even a today’s Europe without Africa’s Egypt of yesterday. However the question is, since the Greeks confess in their own Hellenic language that they received their learning from the original Africans; why then do world European scholars deny any African contributions to civilization.

Dr. John Henrik Clarke states that, Civilization did not start in the European countries and the rest of the world did not wait in darkness for the Europeans to bring the light. Clarke continues, Most of the history books in the last five hundred years have been written to glorify Europeans at the expense of other people. Most western historians have not been willing to admit that there is an African history to be written about and this history predates the emergence of Europe by thousands of years. It is not possible for the world to have waited in darkness for Europeans to bring the light because, for most of the early history of man Europeans themselves were in darkness. When the light of culture came for the first time to them who would later call themselves Europeans, it came from Africa and Middle Eastern Asia. It is too often forgotten that, when the Europeans emerged and began to extend themselves in the broader world of Africa and Asia during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. They went to colonize most of mankind, later they would colonize world scholarship, mainly to show or imply that Europeans were the only creators of what could be called a civilization. In order to accomplish this Europeans had to forget or pretend to forget, all they previously knew about Africa.

What Dr. Clarke has stated is the fact that no civilization of Europe could have contributed anything until their own ancient civilization was rediscovered and this event occurred when Europeans began to study under the Moors of Spain. This subject will be based more on historical events because it is the one topic that is usually ignored in the academic world. It is through the Moors of Spain that we find the translation of ancient works written in Greek, Hebrew and numerous other languages. Only then was Western Europe able to rediscover the lost heritage of Greek philosophy. Somehow between the 4th and 5th Centuries the Western Roman Empire was stripped of nearly all its classical knowledge and tradition.

It was not until the 6th Century AD when a man in Arabia introduced to the world a religion so influential it would sweep across North Africa and unite an ethnically and culturally diverse group of people known as the Moors. They would become the heirs of a legacy of knowledge dating back to Classical European, Asian and African civilization and in their 8th Century conquering of the Iberian Peninsula brought the drive necessary to awake Europe from its intellectual slumber. The Arts, Science, libraries and academics they brought and founded during the 8th Century presence in Spain, gave Western Europe a running start on the route from the Dark Ages to the Renaissance. Europe first step into the Dark Ages began with the fall of the Roman Empire. The empire itself split into two separate empires, the Western and the Eastern Byzantine Empire.

The Western Empire fell due to the influx of Germanic invasion from the North and the result was that the conquerors were not interested in academic scholarship and their non literate rural traditions triumphant over the urban based intellectual life of the Romans. The invasions of the west isolated the Western people from the Greco-Roman

Culture and yet knowledge was well preserved in the still powerful Byzantine Empire based in Constantinople.

This brief history lesson will lay the foundation to the introduction of this book. My primary goal is to give my brothers of the craft an idea of how Freemasonry relates to certain events in history. In this book I cover events that are separated into chapters and within these chapters are various topics examining subjects like African Civilization, Greek Philosophy, European freemasonry and the rise of Islam. They all have contributed to modern day Freemasonry; just as Freemasonry has borrowed from numerous civilizations. The system has become a universal tool of learning for all men who are deemed worthy to enter its ranks.

For centuries the waters of Freemasonry have deemed it a religion within a religion; however this is the total opposite of the truth. The term religion comes from the Latin word roots; re means back and ligion means to hold, to link, to bind. Because freemasonry only ask its members to believe in a supreme being it is only fitting that we don’t recognize religion only the pure acknowledgement of God himself. Religion is man made with man influences. Therefor not of God.

This book is about historical events as well as hidden esoteric knowledge that have been mistakenly misused for centuries. I will cover how and why the mysteries of ancient world were transformed into what we know today as occult sciences. Mentioned the word occult and you will have every religious fundamentalist staring you in the face to acknowledge that what you are studying is of the devil or the lower self. Since most of my research is geared towards studying the Nile Valley Civilization, I have come to terms with realizing the wrongs that have been placed on studying the Egyptians. Rather the world’s scholars want to believe it or not the Egyptians were an African race.

We know this for a fact because they are akin to the ancient Nubians of Abyssinia. Egypt was a colony of Ancient Nubia that grew to a civilization of greatness. The study of Egyptian civilization is not geared to the occult Sciences; it was merely placed in to this study for the simple fact of its numerous mysteries and rites and also its polytheistic deities. All this is the total inversion of the truth. We live in a society that is dominated by one dimensional thought. To be a Christian in our society to study only one doctrine and the thought of any new doctrine would quickly be challenged.

Let’s discuss for example the Old Testaments view of the Egyptians. In the first five chapters of the bible we easily see how the Egyptians were considered to be the tyrants and oppressors of the Jews. It is written how they were in captivity for 400 years as slaves building large monuments to the Pharaohs. This is mentioned in every Christian church so much that African American churches have turned against Egypt deeming it a wicked civilization worshipping false gods and committing all forms of sin.

Was it not the Egyptians who Abraham came to seek refuge and food from. Jacob and his sons settled in Egypt because of famine and hunger. We cannot forget Moses and the very religion that is practiced by Jews and Christians alike came from Egyptian wisdom. Moses was raised in the house of Pharaoh and was trained to be an adept. He took this knowledge and created a new religion. Today we call it Judaism. We know that the Hebrews remained in Egypt about 400 years. It is certainly obvious that they assimilated some of Egyptian culture during the sojourn there. In Jewish custom to be a Hebrew it is to trace your family lineage to father Abraham, a Babylonian not a Hebrew was called by God to create a great nation. From all of this we can easily understand when religion, culture, secret societies originated.

Of course I can go further into the study of the bible when dealing with the early Biblical patriarchs. This book is not a study of religion; however it is a study of how religion has impacted world history. Freemasonry is a part of this world connection and members of the fraternity need to learn this connection. This book contains 8 chapters in which I further define as stages untold in Masonic history. There are numerous books written on the subject of Freemasonry. The majority of them are written from a Eurocentric standpoint and there is nothing wrong with that. The problem comes when those written are displaying a one dimensional story of a whole meaning. The contribution of African people and African civilization is a rich and unexplored history. Most European Masonic writers begin Freemasonry among African people with Prince Hall who established the first African lodge in America.

This book will tell a different story. This book will have a different approach to not only Freemasonry origins, but its impact in world history and culture. Chapter 1 explores the origins of ancient African society. This chapter lays the foundation of African culture and its influences into the secret societies. Secret societies have been in existence since the dawn of time. In African culture they served as rites of passage form youth to adulthood. Next I discuss the concept of African spirituality which is the very source of our faith, though for centuries it has been disguised under different names and hidden under numerous New Age doctrines. This section further explains to the reader that Christianity has been influenced by this concept. Just think the very customs that are observed in African American churches have their origins in motherland Africa.

The second section of this chapter deals with Brother Prince Hall and his establishment of African Lodge #459. This is the first recognized Masonic lodge of African origins in America. Hall’s major concern was the establishment of slavery in the colonies. Prince Hall and other influential African American Freemasons wrote passionately against the harshness of slavery and sought an end to it. However the major impact of Hall’s contribution was his nationalist views. It was Hall who instructed his brethren that African people came from a great civilization that was filled with numerous contributions to the world. In his charge, Hall stresses an African history as well as an African unity. Next Hall influences spread to the modern day Afrocentric movement. What sprung from Hall’s teachings were individuals who impacted African history as a whole. Individuals like Martin Delaney, Arthur Shomburg and W.E.B. Dubois and countless others have written for the advancement of Africa and her people. What was brought forth was the Afrocentric movement-a response to the dominate European world view.

Freemasonry and Afro centrism

Now I must discuss another topic that is in some ways logical but yet controversial. When discussing history, especially world history, it is usually written from a one party perspective. European scholars have colonized and written history and historical facts based on their interpretation of world events. This brand of history was written without the input of other races and cultures. How is it that European scholars would write about the history of Africa without including African scholars? The response to this was the Afrocentric movement of the 20th Century.

Afro centrism is a response to dominate European interpretation to how history should be taught. For a number of years European scholars have attacked Afro centrism. In that approach the founders of this movement are basing their ideas from a mythical/Masonic theory. Meaning that Afro centrism is just a thought up fantasy response to the establish world history. Possible one of the earliest individuals of this movement was Brother Prince Hall. Hall somehow found a connection to a heritage that had been stolen, changed and even manipulated to fit the times of the European world communities.

In section 2 I discuss the contributions of Hall, Brother Martin Delaney and numerous others towards the movement. The Afrocentric movement is not a fantasy. It is design to retrace a lost history in which needs to be rediscovered by all people of African descent. Afro centrism is the challenge to the status quo. The basis for European scholars is that this movement began with a single book Stolen Legacy by George GM James. Though James’ research was a monumental work it was not the first nor was it the foundation of this movement.

Let’s us briefly discuss the contribution of Mr. James. His works have been in the spotlight of European scholars because from their analysis was based on Masonic resources. In reality this work was based on actual resources from European scholars who in their own words reveals where Greek philosophy came from. Stolen Legacy was never based on Masonic research; however it did explain where the sources of Greek philosophy in which Masonic literature came from. In his book James discuss the Egyptian mystery schools which he maintained that a complex system of Neophyte initiation were developed and worked in ancient Egypt. More importantly this ancient system of learning was of an African origin and not indigenous to Greece and Rome as traditional Eurocentric scholars have falsely maintained. Greek philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle and Socrates sat directly or indirectly at the foot of the Egyptian priest who inspired them to illuminate Europe.

Every movement rather it be Afro centrism that has challenge Euro centrism have been favored negative movements. Another example is Orientalism, which is the Asian/Middle Eastern response to Euro centrism. Orientalism was a response to Europe’s interpretation of the east. What sprung from Orientalism was the discovery of Europe’s fascination with Egyptians with Egyptology and the Eastern world. The end result of this is the fact that Eurocentric scholars accuse the African centered movement of being politically motivated as oppose to being treated as an intellectual school of thought. An intellectual school of thought whose mission is research, and exploring the environment in which breeds this sort of learning.

What I have observed from studying the Afrocentric movement are the opponents. The opponents meaning Europe’s scholars in order to maintain control over literacy and world history they had to quickly challenge Afro centrism. The responses were blind, racist and insensitive. One such Eurocentric scholar was Mary Leftkowiz in her published book Not out Of Africa she argues such theories as Egypt not being an African civilization but of a Mediterranean origin. She also writes that no African civilization could have produced a great civilization such as Egypt or Arabia. In the introduction of the book, Leftkowitz is attempting to incite university officials and administrators as well as politicians to construct and formulate policy designed to covertly challenge the concept of academic freedom. The freedom that is granted to professors, scholars and academicians have met the stringent requirements to be designated as a tenure professor.

Thus, in their minds Black scholars were too intellectually independent and were deviating from the Eurocentric script and they had to find ways to control these free thinkers. Leftkowitz argues that Afro centrism is based on a Masonic foundation and to her freemasonry is composed of nothing but myths and storied tales. I find that hard to accept taking into consideration that Freemasonry relies so much Judaism and Greek philosophy in its ritualistic work. I also remind the reader that Leftkowitz is both Jewish and a supporter of the so called Greek miracle. How can Ms. Leftkowitz state that Freemasonry is a mystic study when in fact it is based on the very religion that she practices? Her working knowledge of Freemasonry, its history, philosophy and ritualistic work are poor and misunderstanding. In her book it would leave the reader with a confused and vague understanding of this complex fraternal order.

Another topic to point out is Leftkowitz refers to Egypt as being geographically part of the near east, but according to my last viewing of the world’s map it is clear to me that Egypt sits on the continent of Africa. Egypt is in north east Africa and in reality there is no place on the map called the Middle East. The man made Suez Canal separates Africa from the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula. Pretty much all the biblical stories have their roots in Africa and Mount Sinai is in Africa as well. In reality the book portrays Blacks, their scholars and African people in general as the criminals just because they dare say that Africa is the cradle of world civilization. It was the African people that fed human civilization, medicine, architecture, science, religion, Freemasonry, etc.

Afro centrism is the plaintiff in an intellectual class action filed against Euro centrism, the Euro’ American power structure the Eurocentric world view and the curriculum of exclusion. Just as the world order represents a declaration of war against African people. The defendants, Eurocentric historians and educators stand accused of 500 years of distortion, falsification and misrepresentation of historical truth, with the sole purpose to ossify, defend, and perpetuate the big lie of European supremacy, invincibility and originality; coterminous with the big lie of African inferiority and nothingness. Kwame Nantambu

Historians often fail to recognize that the Prince Hall Masons make up the oldest enduring black institution in America. Black Freemasonry in America this began in 1775 when Prince Hall and several other Boston free blacks were initiated into a military lodge of Irish soldiers than stationed with British forces in the occupied city. After British troops evacuated Boston in March 1776, Hall and his brothers remained without an official lodge charter. Their warrant entitled them only to meet, match in public processions, and bury their dead, not to initiate new members. The