A Grand Lodge For Tasmania.

and the result was the constitution of the Grand Lodge of South Australia , which is recognised in this country , and has for its Patron the Prince of WALES , M . W . G . M . of England , and Patron of the Grand Lodges of Ireland and Scotland . This Grand Lodge now has close on 40 lodges on its roll , with an aggregate

membership of some 2500 brethren , more or less , and is undoubtedly in a very flourishing condition , Then followed , in 1888 , the constitution of the United Grand Lodge of New South Wales , with about 190 lodges on its muster roll , ancl composed of nearly all the lodges under the English , Irish , and Scotch

Constitutions , together with those of the then unrecognised Grand Lodge of New South Wales . Early in the present year was established on similar lines the United Grand Lodge of Victoria , with about 150 lodges , consisting of those established by the Grand Lodges of the Old Country ancl the formerly

unrecognised Grand Lodge of Victoria . There is now an agitation in New Zealand ancl Queensland for the establishment of similar Grand Lodges out of the materials already to hand in the shape of the lodges under the English , Irish , and Scotch Constitutions , and , though there

does not now appear to be any supreme desire on the part of the brethren , except it be among those who have put forward the idea that the change should be made , the time will no doubt come when there will be United Grand Lodges in Queensland and New Zealand , as in South Australia , New South Wales , ancl

Victoria . These are all of them large colonies , which are capable of almost infinite expansion , Masonically as well as commercially , and by and bye , when the country is more thickly populated , the Grand Lodges which have been , ancl the Grand Lodges which may be , constituted will be as regards the former

still more worthy than they are now , and as regards the latter in all respects worthy of the ancient Grand Lodges in the United Kingdom from which they derive their origin . But Tasmania , with its two dozen lodges , or thereabouts , ancl a total number of brethren which cannot exceed , if indeed it reaches , 1000 or 1200 ,

can hardly be considered sufficiently advanced or strong enough to undertake the duties and responsibilities of self-government , nor , being an island , is there likely to be—for some considerable time , at least—such an increase in population and wealth as would justify so bold a venture for the present . It is

true it is nearly as large as Ireland in respect of superficial area , but the population from which Freemasonry must be recruited , if it is even to maintain its strength , is inconsiderable in proportion to its size , and is likely to remain so for many years to come . Masonically , Tasmania is about as strong as the Province of

Somersetshire as regards the number of its lodges , but if we attempt to compare the resources of the two for maintaining those lodges at their present strength , we shall find the advantages possessed by the English county over the Australasian colo * y are immeasurably superior . Then , as regards the cost of

maintaining a Grand Lodge , the modest amounts which are now remitted for warrants ancl registration , even if they were tacked on to the present expenditure , would provide but a poor stipend for a Grand Secretary ; while , if we consider the position which the Fraternity in Tasmania under an

independent Constitution would occupy towards the rest of the Masonic world , we are not speaking over boastfully when we say that it would be nothing compared with what it is under the present system . Now the members of lodges in Tasmania are certificated English , Irish , or Scotch Masons , and , when on their

travels , they carry about with them the prestige which is always associated with brethren enrolled in those ancient systems ; but a few generations must pass away before the fact that a man is a member of the Grand Lodge of Tasmania or one of its subordinate lodges will be properly appreciated . If our lodges in

Tasmania are wise they will remain as they are for the present . Let them be content with the substantial advantages they , as constituent parts of the oldest Grand Lodges in existence , have , rather than cry out , like spoiled children , for advantages which , to say the least , are shadowy .

Brief Essays On Curious Subjects.

BRIEF ESSAYS ON CURIOUS SUBJECTS .

5 . " SOLAR MYTHS , " & c . The first article of this series , labelled " St . George and the Dragon , " dealt mainly with some relics of serpent worship still distinctly traceable in our critical age . Let us now revert in this paper to a few existent , or recently existing , evidences of the former influence of other manifestations of the SOLAR

MYTHS , as they are usually denominated b y students . To a casual enquirer it may not at first sight be quite plain why Phallic , Tree and Fire Worships , as well as Totemism , are

assumed to be so intimately connected , as we claim is the case . If we eliminate theprominent thinkers andhierophants of old time , who to great natural powers of intellect added the highest training then obtainable—of a far superior character

Brief Essays On Curious Subjects.

to what many of us moderns are willing to acknowledge—we may consider that , to the mass of even the moderately cultured , the Sun under some one of the cognomens by which he was variously known in different countries , represented

the beneficent power from whom descended the good gifts that ameliorated the lot of humanity . He was the celestial luminary whose action , after the winter ' s rest , called forth the bud and ripened the grain ; but he was far out of their reach , and in order to become more closely associated by a physical emblem

which they could tend ancl regulate , the priests adopted FIRE as a type of that heavenly body . The productive power of Sol also caused men to pay attention to animal examples of the generative forces , and , for these reasons , as well as on account of their position in the Zodiac , Taurus ancl Aries were raised to hi gh

honour . A further development followed in clue course , when the organ itself became an object of veneration , and here we obtain an explanation of Batylia ancl Lingam Worshi p . Jacob set up a stone pillar ( Beth-el ) and anointed it . In Hebrew , " Beth " is a house , and " El" II , Baal , Bel , is the

Sun God , to which further reference may be made at a later stage . The patriarchal mode of emphasising a solemn promise was to " lay the hand under the thigh , " which is merely another phase of the motive that actuated Jacob . At the present day , the " anointing , " just mentioned , is a portion of the Lingam

ceremonies performed by the Siva devotees in India , and a very close resemblance may be found in certain performances that take place at the "Donpin Stane" in Burghead , on the

Morayshire coast ; though the Presbyterian females who engage in them can have no real conception of the relationship between their superstitious observances and those of the unenli ghtened heathen .

What the translators of the authorised version render as the " worship of the groves" by the Israelites is nothing more notless than the rites of their Phoenician neighbours , who thus celebrated their devotion to the active ancl receptive sides of

nature , no matter how we choose to designate these forces . An upright stone , to one section , and a cleft in the earth , to a different set , are rough and ready methods of typifying important doctrines to a disciple of Siva or follower of Vishnu , as the case may be .

1 he Isiac boat or Argha—whence the fable about the Argonauts , still alluded to in a part of our address to the E . A . P . —and the emblem of Osiris are instances of this direct Phallic worship ; the crook and whip of Osiris are believed to be in the same connection . We must carefully guard ourselves against the

supposition that these observances in their inception were sensual , or necessarily so in their subsequent phases . We say this advisedly , and in full knowledge of hideously degrading results exemplified in many of the later mysteries , such as some of those hallowed under the names of Bacchus and Demeter ,

and the nominally religious habits of certain Indian sects , not forgetting that in many cases the priests are the chief offenders , ancl that to their depravity was probably owing the decadence of the cult . Most religions seem to drift away , in time , from their original aims , and there are not wanting men who declare that this is due to the conduct of those

to whose charge the dissemination of the knowledge was committed , and who , for their own purposes , prostituted the teaching entrusted to them . When a stone was not at hand to serve as a Lingam , a stick or a tree would answer the purpose in view ; and its soaring

upwards naturally , perhaps devoid of branches , to the crowning ' boughs , would rather heighten the devotional feeling . One or other kind of tree has been sacred in most countries , the oak was not more valued by the Druids than the palm of the happ )' lands of the West by the Egyptian initiate . The oaks of Mamre were held in repute even in Abraham ' s time .

I otemism may be briefly dismissed b y saying that it is < manifestation of filial devotion allied to hero worship with an admixture of the generative cult . The English Maypole is a reminiscence of the allied and intimately associated myths of Bel , Stauros , and Tree , and Bel-ta . nt fires are distinct recollections of the Eastern faiths . In most Cathedrals ancl other ecclesiastical fabrics we find tlie " Vesica pise is , " or oval ; it is also a usual shape for clerica seals ; ancl tracing this backwards we discover another link *\ Vi y the Yoni worship , at various periods , so prevalent over the won' Certain Catholic vestments , if laid clown flat , yield proof ot a similar character ; and the Mitre of the Bishop is merely the " os tineas , " or mouth of the Jish , such as we have in some of t 1 ^ Assyrian sculptures , where the officiating priest seems clad wi the fish—head , body , and tail . r The adherents of the Zend , by the late eminent Profess ^ Palmer , considered to be the purest form of the older tai •' have steadil y adhered to EIRE as their symbol , without W addition of degrading concomitants such as we find in ° directions .