The Western Gate

A Stranger In the Elemental Temple: The Rituals of the Ancient Order of Ishmael
Billy J.Hamilton Jr.
Lewis Masonic Books

It could be said that, yes, another book of rituals, blah blah, the rat is taught to figure the maze and get a treat, a shiny medal, again like Muttley (from the Wacky Races), delighting in the achievement. And. Why would I want to immerse myself in a ritual that, this time, emulates the wanderings of Abraham and then Ishmael.
The rituals here considered were a parallel order of freemasonry and what to occultists would be especially noteworthy is the first documented head of the order was one William Wynn Westcott, he who stumbled upon the cipher manuscripts that became the Order of the Golden Dawn.
What are we wanderers here to garner from this ‘obscure’ order, what possibly is there of value. In many respects, an awful lot. Rites in the nature of Freemasonry are emulations of a journey. In that journey we are made aware of both our limitations and our absolute potential for perfection, if we so choose.
The rites of this order begin with the patriarch Abraham and his brothers Nahor and Haran, the three candidates, arriving at sanctuary in the desert. The structure and imagery being similar here to the Order Templii Orientis-mayhaps.
At each stage of each degree there are of course, the sign, the word and the grip (handshake). These are common amongst many rites of freemasonry and their offshoots. Though I cannot comment on this with regards to Freemasonry, these are the reflection of Sight (sign) Sound (Word) and Touch (grip) synonymous with Fire, Air and Earth respectively, the oblation and gift of sustenance, by food and water thus given to the element of Water. Further and in digression from the book, in the wayfarer tradition it would the word that is first imparted. In the ancient of days this would/could be Ih AVr– let there be light, and light thus would give rise to fire and sight- the sign which would be the hand upon the eyes, that it is seen as ‘Good’ when the eyes are uncovered to behold the light is the sustenance and reward, in duality then the two are in eternal equilibrium- the handshake being betwixt ‘heaven’ and ‘Earth’ . or in terms of the path of the Fae (oh stop rummaging through the rabbit hole) The Flora and the Fauna, between the Self and Nature. Blood and leaf or the complimentary equilibrium of Red and Green. The sign, word, grip are archetypal ‘ideas’, symbolic of them.

The order/ritual of Ishamel evolves by the fact that the candidates progress through knowledge by means of instruction initially in the elements, fire, earth, air and water. This is after a ritual of a persons vulnerability, their finite view, in this case at the outset accusing them of a horrendous crime, being murder. Only after enquiry and persistence of innocence are they admitted to progress through these elemental grades. Other orders may instil here instead the idea of threat or harm that a ‘stranger’ dares to cross the threshold by means of daring them to progress under penalty, perhaps of running into the point of the sword.
These elemental quarters are given also to the history of e.g- Nimrod, Oannes &c, that symbolism and imagery is cast into the mind to convey the essence of each.
There are a few errors in the book, nothing that any cautious or person of due diligence couldn’t realise. i.e. The fifth grade determines that the grip is achieved by four taps of the finger onto the receivers hand, whereas it should be five, there are a few spelling mistakes and not sure whether this is because the book is a direct facsimilie of the original, errors and all, or a contemporary error.
Each of the elemental quarters are situated in a different part of the temple though in the book/ritual these are not fully understood as the ritual progresses, its omission to the lay reader dismissing the relevance of the journey, one understands only by further reading that, e.g. fire is of one quarter and so forth. That is, the elements do not reside or are presented in the same area. This does seem confusing and its importance overlooked, but there is a Floor plan of the tent that should be studied beforehand, The Master of Oxen and Asses in the South, of sheep and Goats in the North, etc that make the map of the journey clear.
The order divides itself into 36⁰, these being split into 4 sections, thus 9 in each or more properly 3×3, the triple Tau.
The Second phase is a lot more convoluted, one minute the ritual recounting Isaac, the next Ishmael, then the kerfuffle at Sodom and Gommorah and the visiting angels of judgement (or Faith, Hope and Charity). The rites do play out in part though the candidate seems to be wholly passive as more emphasise is giving to the accounts of Ishmael and Isaacs history, for example a small lecture on, that they reconciled even though it was of no fault of their own that they fell out.
Ishmael was the son of Abraham and Hagar. Abrahams Wife Sarah couldn’t conceive so they decided to bring in a ‘womb’ for Abraham to fill, and it was Hagar who came as an Egyptian handmaiden to serve that task, once Ishmael was born of Hagar however, Sarah became Jealous. Then …Sarah, by the ‘grace’ or cruelty of God was given a fertile womb at the age of 90, and therein Isaac was born to her from a still fruitful Abraham. At which point under the coercive manipulation of Sarah, Ismael and Hagar were sent into the desert. Yes, it all sounds like the worst soap opera plot and unimaginable story one could conceive, and let it be remembered that Sodom and Gomorrah were about to be reduced to ash at the same time, for immorality.
Re-enacting and revisiting the histories of Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac may well have its part to play in the broad spectrum of Freemasonry. For us wayfarers and free spirits it would perhaps raise more questions than illumination, the histories being a series of outrage and immorality. Lot’s lot let it be remembered sees his wife perish, she dared to look back and thus was turned into a pillar of salt, worried that Lots lineage would fail, his daughters promptly got him drunk and then bore his children, in today’s world this of course is statutory rape, incest and using drugs/alcohol for the purpose of deception and to commit a crime . Abrahams wife by the way(ward), Sarah, was his half sister. Hagar the womb of course was a surrogate mother who was, as we have seen, discarded once Sarah became pregnant at aged 90. Isaac married his cousin et Al…. ? “Oh Lord is there no help?”
If these emulations and stories were followed in the theatre of ritual by, let us say, pagans, there would be finger pointing, tongue wagging hellfire and brimstone to be paid. This however is the accepted and ‘moral’ religion ?
Abraham was the patriarch of these three religions that came from the desert, and IhVh was originally a desert god. In the struggle for life, everything and anything, by all means necessary is done to procure and prolong existence. Desert life is cruel and exacting.

The third set of nine rituals concerns Jacob and Eseau, there’s more deception and brotherly strife for dominance, Jacob marries his cousin, he did actually want to marry Rebecca but his uncle Laban swapped her for Leah, the other and older daughter instead so as to procure Jacobs labour for another seven years on promise of the hand of the favoured Rebecca. Jacob gets the right girl in the end and thus has sisters for wives, and cousins.
The final three rituals in this set concern hope faith and charity, but as I re-read the labours, fortunes and bitterness of the descendants of Abraham I am at a loss with all three.

The fourth and final cycle of nine degrees suddenly veers off into a potted history of the following dignitaries;- Plutarch, Cyrus, Plato, Daniel, Joseph, Solon, Alexander &c... it seems the order couldn’t bear any more casting out or family feuding. However Joseph of course was cast out by his brothers. Jealousy reigns supreme in the Abrahamic cult. There is so much abandonment and deception amongst the Abrahamic family it is almost as if the God they follow, likewise dealt in Abandonment, shame, jealousy and casting out his most, at one time, beloved… oh hang on.

The Rites of Ishmael, for the outsider are a curious set of rituals, fascinating in fact. For the freemason, perhaps pandering to the Hebrew/Muslim ‘want’ of inclusion, who knows? There is not much redemption or salvation to be garnered that I can gather, but there are 36 jewels to be had, alas in the sandy and dusty path of Abraham that bequeathed the world nothing but absolute misery, a patriarchy in obverse nature to- nature, and delivered by a proud angry hypocritical desert God. And all this calamity and disorder After the flood, Jesus wept.

Perhaps, in the end, the most valuable lesson is not in the rites themselves, but in the questioning they provoke. Perhaps that is the essence of knowledge.

Loth et ses filles ~ Guercino –  The Daughters of Lot, getting their father drunk so they can ‘rape’ him. And no-one’s blaming ‘Satan’ this time