Masons, Druids and Washington, DC

The American patriot Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense, wrote also about the Freemasons, though less famously.  Freemasonry, he stated, “is derived and is the remains of the religion of the ancient Druids, who, like the magi of Persia and the priests of Heliopolis in Egypt, were priests of the sun.”  I had never before associated Masonry with the Druids, but the idea of the Masons, Druids and Egyptian priests being connected through sun worship makes sense to anyone who has toured the Masonic House of the Temple in Washington, D.C.—the building is full of Egyptian iconography and symbolism, highlighted by the pair of giant marble sphinxes flanking the structure’s entryway.

 

If the Freemasons truly did derive from the Druids as Paine argued, and if the Masons truly did design Washington, D.C. in such a way as to imbed their secrets within that design as so many modern observers have suggested, then shouldn’t there be evidence of Druidic influence in the city’s layout?  It turns out there is, in a stunningly obvious way.

Pennsylvania Avenue and Maryland Avenue radiate out from the Capital building in a northwesterly (Pennsylvania) and southwesterly (Maryland) direction.  The angle in which they do is approximately 20.5 degrees off of due west, a seemingly random angle.  Or perhaps not.  Importantly, each avenue connects the Capital building with a crucial D.C. landmark—Pennsylvania Avenue leads to the White House, and Maryland Avenue to the Jefferson Memorial.  So, again, is there anything significant about the placement of these roads/structures?  (Obviously there is, else I would not have bothered with this blog post.)

As readers may know, the sun-worshipping Druids marked and observed not only the equinoxes and solstices, but the cross-quarter days as well.  These cross-quarter days fall between an equinox and solstice, and occur in early February, May, August and November.  In many ways they are the most accurate way to mark the seasons—the height of summer occurs in early August and the height of winter in early February.  For the pastoral communities of the British Islands that were home to the Druids, these days also mark important events in the calendar.  For example, Samhain in early November was the traditional time to slaughter livestock for consumption during the winter months, while Beltane in early May was the time to drive cattle to their summer grazing lands.

So do the Freemasons observe these cross-quarter days?  If Thomas Paine is correct, logic would argue that modern Masons should follow the practices of their Druidic antecedents.  As with many things with the Masons, the answer to this inquiry is hidden in plain sight. Pictured below is a Masonic Royal Arch banner, commemorating the Royal Arch degree—I will not get into this too deep other than to say the Royal Arch degree’s importance is reflected in the fact that it is the only degree in Freemasonry which is a prerequisite to becoming a Master Mason.

 

 

Note the four symbols portrayed on the four crests that surround the central Royal Arch degree insignia:  Clockwise from upper left we have an eagle, a lion, a man and a bull.  Those familiar with astrology will recognize the signs of Scorpio (the eagle being a symbol, along with the scorpion, of Scorpio), Leo, Aquarius (man being the water carrier) and Taurus.  These signs, in turn, directly correlate to the four cross-quarter days:  Imbolc occurs at the height of Aquarius (that is, at the precise midpoint of Aquarius’ Zodiacal cycle), Beltane at the height of Taurus, Lunasa at the pinnacle of Leo, and Samhain at the apex of Scorpio.  So it appears Paine was correct in his assertion.  Masonic ritual marks and celebrates the cross-quarter days just as the Druids did before them.

So, back to Washington, D.C. and our seemingly-random layout of the White House and Jefferson Memorial vis-à-vis the Capital building.  Savvy readers will not be surprised to learn that on Beltane the sun sets on the horizon directly above the White House along Pennsylvania Avenue (White House pasted into image):

 

Similarly, on Imbolc the sun sets down Maryland Avenue atop the Jefferson Memorial (also pasted into image):

 

In conclusion, it seems that Paine was correct in his assessment that Freemasonry derived from the religion of the ancient Druids, as evidenced by the Masonic-inspired Druidic solar alignments prevalent in the layout of Washington, D.C.