{"collection":"Freemasonry","full_text_available":false,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/sacred_texts_v1_mas_sof_sof15_htm/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/sacred_texts_v1_mas_sof_sof15_htm","id":"sacred_texts_v1_mas_sof_sof15_htm","license":"unknown_pending_legal_review","rights_basis":"sacred_texts_v1_preview_gate_primary_text_only; acquisition-method/ToS and compilation-copyright questions still open, not resolved by this gate","source":"sacred_texts_v1","source_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/mas/sof/sof15.htm","summary":"This is an excerpt from a 19th-century Masonic treatise (likely Albert Mackey's *Symbolism of Freemasonry*), belonging to the tradition of speculative or philosophical Masonry that attempts to decode the deeper allegorical meaning behind lodge rituals and physical arrangements. The central argument is that a Masonic lodge, in its physical form, is a symbol of the world or universe: the oblong square shape of the lodge corresponds to the ancient conception of the inhabited world as known in Solomon's era, roughly bounded by Spain in the west and Asia Minor in the east, with the two pillars at the temple porch mirroring the Pillars of Hercules. The author distinguishes between \"Pure\" and \"Spurious\" Freemasonry \u2014 the former being a philosophical religion traced through biblical patriarchs and refined at Solomon's Temple, the latter being the same system corrupted by pagan polytheism \u2014 framing Masonry as the heir to an ancient, worldwide tradition of sacred symbolism. A notably distinctive claim is that the lodge's oblong shape actually serves as *evidence of Masonry's antiquity*, since it reflects a pre-modern cosmological assumption that would have been natural at the Solomonic era. The author promises to extend this analysis to the symbolic meaning of lodge officers, its \"covering,\" and ornaments, positioning this essay as part of a larger systematic effort to link Masonic ritual to the mystery religions of the ancient world.","tags":[],"text":null,"title":"The Symbolism of Freemasonry: XIII. The Form of the Lodge","tradition":"Freemasonry","translated_text":null,"word_count":945}