In the course of many years of historical research we have gathered together hundreds of discarded Masonic rituals that we have distilled and then put the events they describe into chronological order. We call this document The Masonic Testament. It is reproduced in the second section of The Book of Hiram.
The Masonic Testament corresponds very closely to the Bible but it contains many more details that are not recorded in the Old or New Testaments. There are only two possibilities about the traditions that only appear in old Masonic ritual, either they are relatively recent inventions or they stem from a very ancient source that was once kept secret.
Those with a predisposition towards the esoteric will be open to believe that this unique information is real and those with a more pragmatic attitude will strongly suspect that the answers lies in romantic invention. When we started our investigations were suspicious of esoteric traditions and we have tried to keep a healthy level of scepticism. But we have learned that people before the so-called ‘enlightenment’ did create secrets and conceal information in an esoteric manner. However, it is possible to evaluate the strangest of ideas contained in Masonic ritual by viewing them within a bigger, broader context of history.
For example verse 2 of chapter 2 of The Masonic Testament says:
In this vision Enoch saw a mountain and a golden triangle showing the rays of the sun. From that time this device became known as The Delta of Enoch.
In isolation (like virtually all Masonic ritual) this passage will mean precisely nothing to the modern reader. To us there is a potential meaning that makes so much sense that it unreasonable not to consider it as highly probable. (It is explained fully in The Book of Hiram)
It is known within academic biblical circles that there was an entire tradition based on Enoch that ran from the earliest times of the Jewish people right through to the time of Christ. Leading scholars such as Boccaccini believe that the Qumran Community, who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls, were an amalgamation of two rival priestly schools; the Enochic and the Zadokite (See Uriel’s Machine, Arrow. Page 101). As we have argued at length in The Book of Hiram, the Enoch tradition was centred upon astronomy/ astrology with particular reference to the Sun and Venus.
In Masonic tradition King Solomon’s workmen uncovered a subterranian vault of a long forgotten ruin of a temple originally built by Enoch on the same site that the new temple of the Jews was to be errected 3,000 years ago. Inside this vault was the secrets of science recorded from before the Flood, when such knowledge had become lost to the general world. We are also told that the delta was seen on a mountain and it shows the rays of the sun.
So, what could this ‘golden triangle’ or ‘Delta of Enoch’ be?
The latitude of the Jerusalem Temple is very interesting. If one places a sighting rod or deacon’s wand in the ground and mark the shadow of the first golden rays of the rising sun on the summer solstice (St. John’s day in Freemasonry) and do the same on the winter solstice (the other St. John’s day in Freemasonry) it forms a perfect equilateral triangle. This must have been seen as an important quality in ancient times by sun worshipers. And we must remember that the Qumran Community bowed their heads to the rising sun in the Temple until it was made punishable by death by the new Jewish priesthood.
We believe that the delta of Enoch is the badge that marks the holy city of Jerusalem. It is interesting to note that the angle of the solstice shadows gets wider as one travels north, as The Book of Enoch tells us that this ancient prophet did. At the latitude of Rosslyn something quite magical happens – the angle formed by the solstice dawn and dusk shadows become ninety degrees and forms a perfect square!
We do not think that it is a coincidence that the site of the Jerusalem Temple and Rosslyn (as a copy of the former) fall on these geometrically significant latitudes.
The full collection of ritual that was used to create The Masonic Testament is available on line – see The Web of Hiram.