In my previous post on the Order of the Eastern Star (OES) I briefly gave a history of the secret society, highlighted its Masonic ties, and discussed a few of the gods represented by the “Eastern Star” on which they base their name.  I will now highlight the goddesses behind the Order, some of the symbols they embrace, and their Cabalistic Motto.

Embracing the goddesses

When Rob Morris was organizing the basic layout of the OES, he decided there would be five degrees, or points, and that there would be five female figures representing the Order.  Originally, he chose five goddesses from ancient paganism as his five female figures, then had second thoughts about bringing pagan ideas to the forefront, possibly thinking that the majority of women would probably be turned off if the pagan ideas were the focus since most of the U.S. at the time professed Christianity.  So he pulled what I would call a “Constantine” by giving his goddesses Biblical concepts or names, but keeping the symbols of the women the same as the pagan goddesses.  Here they are:

1. Jephthah’s daughter, who Morris named Adah: The OES claims that she illustrates respect to the binding force of a vow.  Jephthah made a vow to the Lord in Judges 11 that the first thing to greet him from his house when he returned from battle with a victory from God would be offered to the Lord.  The first to greet him when he returned home from that battle was his daughter, so he kept his vow to the Lord in spite of how much it would cost him.  Adah was originally the goddess Luna, the goddess of the moon.  Luna is the “goddess with three forms” and also called Diana, Selene, Artemis, and Hecate.  She is also goddess of witchcraft, sorcery, night (darkness), the lower world, and patron saint of feminists and lesbians since she perpetually shunned males.  The followers of Diana were the ones who started a riot against Paul and his companions in Acts 19 for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
2. Ruth: She illustrates devotion to religious principles. Originally she was Flora, the goddess of springtime and flowers who was also called Chloris.  Every year in honor of Flora, the Romans held the festival of Floralia in the spring.  Floralia was much like Mardi Gras where the people participated in “merriment and licentiousness.”¹ This is a nice way to say they had drunken orgies.²
3. Esther: Illustrates fidelity to kindred and friends.  Esther was previously Hebe, the goddess of youth who was cupbearer to the gods and goddess of domestic matters.  The Romans called her Juventas.
4. Martha: Represents undeviating faith in the hour of trial.  Her corresponding goddess was Thetis (Thesis), goddess of creation and the sea.  She was mother of Achilles and dipped him in the river Styx to make him invincible.  Thetis had the power to prophesy (i.e. fortune-telling) and was a shape-shifter.
5. Electa: This name is not in the Bible, but Morris gave this name to the woman hosting the church in her house in 2 John.  The goddess who she replaced in the original plan of the Eastern Star was Areme, a secret goddess of the Egyptians whose name is not widely known.

Symbols

Masonic organizations like OES rely heavily on the use of symbols to hide the true meanings behind the doctrines they embrace.  One Masonic publication admits,”It may be asserted in the broadest terms that the Freemason who knows nothing of our symbolism knows little of Freemasonry.  He may be able to repeat every line of the ritual without an error, yet, if he does not understand the meaning of the ceremonies, the signs, the words, the emblems and figures, he is a Masonic ignoramus.”³ So here is a look at some of the symbols used by OES:

• Broken Column: This symbol can be traced back to ancient Egypt and symbolizes the fall of Osiris.  Some depictions show Isis weeping over the column while holding a sprig of wheat in her right hand and a canopic jar in her left with Horus (Chronos, Saturn) standing behind her while she reads in a book of incantations to try to resurrect her husband. The broken column is also a phallic symbol where the column is the male member and the circular base is female genitalia.  So here we see again how Masonic organizations are preoccupied with sex.

• Pentagram:  The emblem of OES has a five-pointed upside-down star.  This, of course, represents black magic, the Goat of Mendes, Baphomet, or his most popular name, Satan.  They also use the right side up five-pointed star which represents white magic, the Light Bearer, or Lucifer, the other name for Satan.

• Gavel: Symbol of power and Thor’s hammer.  Thor was the Norse god of thunder, lightning, air, and fertility.  Thor was lord of the air and the Bible reveals clearly to us who that really is in Ephesians 2:2.  Thor’s hammer was also a phallic symbol of the male member.

• Equilateral Triangle: It is used on Eastern Star badges and represents the perfection or divinity of humankind.  Manly P. Hall, a 33 degree Mason, in his book The Lost Keys of Freemasonry (1923) states on p. 92 that “Man is a god in the making.”  This idea that man can become a god is also taught by various other Masonic authors like Joseph Fort Newton, Arthur Edward Waite, and J. D. Buck.  The origins of this doctrine go all the way back to the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3 when the Serpent told Eve “…ye shall be as gods…”

• Hexagram: Also called King Solomon’s Seal, the Star of David, this double equilateral triangle is the joining of the “Water Triangle” and “Fire Triangle.”  It symbolizes contact with the dead (necromancy) and calling up devils.  It is also a phallic symbol of the joining of male and female genitalia.

These are just a few of the symbols Eastern Star uses.  Since they are Masonic, they also use all of the symbols promoted by Freemasonry.  When the whole body of symbols is taken into account, it becomes obvious how corrupt an organization OES really is.

Cabalistic Motto

Cabala, or Kabalah, or Qabalah, is Jewish-based theosophy (occultism).  Eastern Star has a motto based on this mystic cult which appears as an acronym on their seal–FATAL.  The acronym is a warning to its members about divulging their secrets but also stands for the motto, “Fairest Among Thousands, Altogether Lovely.”  This password used in Eastern Star rituals is an offshoot of phrases found in the Song of Solomon.  In Song of Solomon the man in chapter 5 was called chiefest among ten thousand and altogether lovely and he represents Christ.  The phrase was used by Christians of old to express their love for Christ.  The OES has given it a bastardized meaning.  By reciting the motto, OES believes the initiate achieves salvation.

The following statements are used with the five women in each degree mentioned above:

• Jephthah’s daughter, because she devoted her life to preserve her father from eternal infamy, was the Fairest Among Thousands, Altogether Lovely
• Ruth, because she forsook home, friends, and all things, in a heathen land, to seek out the people of God, was the Fairest Among Thousands, Altogether Lovely
• Esther,  because she offered her crown and life to preserve her people, was Fairest Among Thousands, Altogether Lovely
• Martha, because amidst all the despair of death and the woe of desolation, she preserved her faith in the Word of God, was the Fairest Among Thousands, Altogether Lovely
• Electa, because in her martyrdom for Christ’s sake she hesitated not to sacrifice all things that love can prize or friendship cherish, was the Fairest Among Thousands, Altogether Lovely⁴

So the Eastern Star has turned a phrase once used to represent Christ into a phrase to represent their initiates and have essentially pushed the Lord Jesus Christ aside to save themselves by their own works so they can become a god.

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. [Romans 1:21]

The context of the OES is found from 1:28:00 to 1:39:00

References:

¹ New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology (Prometheus Press, 1972) p. 210.
² Charles G. Berger, Our Phallic Heritage (New York: Greenwich Book Publishers, 1966) p. 78-79.
³ Short Talk Bulletin, “Symbolism” (March 1925, vol. 3, no. 3) p. 15.
⁴ History of the Order of the Eastern Star (Cedar Rapids, IA: Torch Press, 1917) p. 572.

Source: Cathy Burns, Hidden Secrets of the Eastern Star (Mt. Carmel, PA: Sharing, 2006).

–posted by Harry A. Gaylord–

History of the Eastern Star

The Order of the Eastern Star (OES) is a masonic organization that is the sister organization of the Freemasons.  It boasts that it is “the largest organization upon the face of the globe to which both men and women are eligible,”¹ although the majority of its members are female. Dr. Rob Morris (1818-1888), a very well-known and very active Mason, is credited with founding the Eastern Star, but the origins of the order are also said to be “shrouded in mystery,”² just like the origins of their brothers, the Masons.  Some historians for the Order state that Eastern Star’s founding pre-dates Morris, going back as far as 1730 in France, having its roots in French “Androgynous Masonry,” also known as the “Adoptive Rite.”

Morris admitted in 1852 that he borrowed the structure of the organization from the French who introduced the “Androgynous degrees” into America when they came to help out the Americans in their struggles against Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. Morris was born Robert William Peckham and changed his name years later to Rob Morris, adopting the last name of his foster father and shortening his first name to distinguish himself from the Robert Morris who signed the Declaration of Independence.

Rob Morris had a hand in establishing the five degrees of the organization and helped it grow internationally.  Eastern Star was mainly established because the wives of Masons kept complaining that the secrecy of their husbands was ruining their households since Masons could not discuss their dealings with their wives even when those husbands were putting large amounts of the money they earned to help out the Freemasons’ causes.  Since the wives were essentially being robbed of funds to run their households, the men knew that the women would not put up with this indefinitely and thought it would be best to create an organization for them based on the principles of Freemasonry where they could be close partners in Mason causes.  This is why females who join Eastern Star have to be related to a male Mason.

In 1868, Morris passed his mantle on to Robert Macoy, a fellow Mason, to carry on and expand the work of the Eastern Star.  Macoy rearranged how the Order was run and established chapters to give more organization to the Order.  He also updated the rituals.  His efforts created vast growth in the membership, but the high fees he charged for all of his work for the Order made him very wealthy, much to the chagrin of some of the members.

OES’s Masonic ties

There is some doublespeak that goes on with the OES.  On one hand they and the Freemasons claim they are not part of the Masons,³ but on the other hand they were founded by Freemasonry with rituals written by Freemasons.⁴ The OES by their actions show that they are Masonic. A “Worthy Matron” of the OES often explains to initiates that “We are not part of the Masonic institution, yet we are connected with Masonry by intimate and tender ties.”⁵ They are also told in a ritual “Ladies, you are connected with Masonry by ties far more intimate and tender than you are aware of, or than I can even inform you of.”⁶

At OES meetings where degrees are bestowed upon a person, it is a requirement that a Master Mason or Mason of higher rank be present to be the moderator.  Additionally, it is required that each Eastern Star chapter have Master Masons as their officers.

“We have seen His star in the East…”

In a false attempt to portray themselves as a Christian organization, the Eastern Star uses the motto, “We have seen His star in the East, and are come to worship Him,” which is a quote from Matthew 2:2.  They claim that the name “Eastern Star” refers to the star over Bethlehem that the Magi followed to find the Christ child to worship him.  However, a close look at the scripture shows this is faulty theology.  First of all, we see in Matthew 2 that the Magi came from lands that were east of Bethlehem.  If they were headed toward Bethlehem from their eastern Asian lands, they would be headed west, not east.  This means the star of Bethlehem was to their west.  When the Magi said, “We have seen his star in the East,” they meant that they were the ones in the East, speaking of what their earthly position was in reference to the star, when they saw the star to their west over Israel.

That being the case, we know that their claim of being “Christian” is unfounded and the star they embrace has nothing to do with Christ, the Lord of glory.  Even Albert Mackey, a Master Mason, in his A Manual of the Lodge (1870, pp. 50-51) admitted that the idea of the star representing Christ was “considered as too sectarian in its character and unsuitable to the universal religion of Masonry.”  So who is this star really referring to?  In various Masonic publications, this star is called the hex sign, the pentalpha (i.e. pentagram), the blazing star, and the astral light.  Masons such as George Oliver, Francois Ribadeau Dumas, Eliphas Levi, Albert Pike, Henry C. Clausen, and others, in their Masonic writings say that the star symbolizes the following:

Thor: Norse god of thunder, lightning, and fertility.  In Norse paganism, he carried a hammer, which was a symbol of his physical strength and phallic symbol of his romantic prowess.  He was also known as the one who “presides over the air.”

The Dog Star, Sirius: An Egyptian god, also called Anubis, who was god of the Underworld and god of magic and divination.

Saturn: the Greek name for the Roman god, Chronos.  He is the god of time, temptations, malediction (curses), and lord of death.

Mercury: Called Hermes by the Greeks, this Roman god was messenger of the gods and god of commerce and travel.  He ushered souls of the dead to the lower world.  He was also the god of incantations, astrology, magic, and necromancy.

Pan: Greek god of nature, forests, pastures, flocks.  He is portrayed as a satyr, or faun, (part man, part goat) and is the god on whom Baphomet is based.  Pan is also god of mischief, sexual lusts of all kind, and androgyny.  It is from this god that we derive the word “panic,” which is what he caused in the mythological stories when he would scare shepherds and animals with his noises in field or forest and the feelings of fear he caused when he grabbed women, girls, and boys to sexually molest them.

These are just a few of the many deities this star represents.  All of these gods are just different forms of one spiritual being–Satan himself.  Yes, Satan is the god behind the OES.

…the god of this world [i.e. Satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not… [2 Corinthians 4:4]

References:

¹History of the Order of the Eastern Star, p. 37.
²Ibid, p. 18.
³The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Institutions: Fraternal Organizations (Greenwood Press, 1980) p. 97
⁴What? When? Where? Why? Who? in Freemasonry (Masonic Service Association of the U.S., 1956), p. 28.
⁵F. A. Bell, Bell’s Eastern Star Ritual (P. R. C. Publications, 1988 rev. ed.), p. 94
⁶Thomas Lowe, Adoptive Masonry: Eastern Star Ritual (Ezra A. Cook, 1913), pp. 20-21.

Source: Cathy Burns, Hidden Secrets of the Eastern Star (Mt. Carmel, PA: Sharing, 2006).