Is Masonic Prayer and Ritual Sorcery & Magic?

With its various symbols, rituals, swords, clothing, prayers, etc., is Freemasonry just simply magic or sorcery? This is a question arising from time to time, along with the accusation of Freemasonry being Satanism in disguise.  Are the oral teachings, memorization, etc., used for casting spells? Sorcery is forbidden in the Bible, one of the sacred books which Christian and Mormon Masons may use as the sacred book in the lodge, exactly as a Muslim may use the Koran, and an Indian use the Bhagavad Gita or Upanishads for their sacred book.

What one needs to understand from the Bible is the meaning and use of sorcery if one is to see it in use within Freemasonry. A cursory examination of the main places sorcery is mentioned in the Bible is instructive.

Here are some ideas I found in my various lexicons and dictionaries. The sorcerer in Revelation is the masculine noun φάρμακος (pharmakos), he/she is one who practices black magical arts (Rev

 21:8; 22:15): it also is concerned with the use of magic, often involving drugs and the casting of spells upon people—‘to practice magic, to cast spells upon, to engage in sorcery, magic, sorcery.’

There simply is no casting of spells onto anyone within Freemasonry, so it can hardly be seen as sorcery with this definition. Other examples I found are:

φαρμακεία: ἐν τῇ φαρμακείᾳ σου ἐπλανήθησαν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ‘with your magic spells you deceived all the peoples (of the world)’ Re 18.23.

φάρμακον: οὐ μετενόησαν ἐκ τῶν φόνων αὐτῶν οὔτε ἐκ τῶν φαρμάκων αὐτῶν ‘they did not repent of their murders or of their magic’ Re 9.21.

 The Greek word φαρμακεία and the variant φάρμακον (as in Re 9.21) differ from the preceding terms in that the focus is upon the use of certain potions or drugs and the casting of spells. φάρμακον , ου also means witchcraft, magic; magic potion. When we read in Exodus 7:11 – “Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.^” The Hebrew used is כָּשַׁף (kā∙šǎp̄), which also is used in relation to the Greek μαγεύω; μαγεία (mageuo, mageia): to practice magic, presumably by invoking supernatural powers—‘to practice magic, to employ witchcraft, magic.’ We see this in New Testament situations.

μαγεύω: ἀνὴρ δέ τις ὀνόματι Σίμων προϋπῆρχεν ἐν τῇ πόλει μαγεύων καὶ ἐξιστάνων τὸ ἔθνος τῆς Σαμαρείας ‘in that city lived a man named Simon who for some time had astounded the Samaritans with his magic’ Acts 8.9.

μαγεία: προσεῖχον δὲ αὐτῷ διὰ τὸ ἱκανῷ χρόνῳ ταῖς μαγείαις ἐξεστακέναι αὐτούς ‘he had astounded them with his magic for such a long time that they paid close attention to him’ Acts 8.11.

 The Greek φαρμᾰκός, ὁ, ἡ, (pharmakos),  a poisoner, sorcerer, magician, in the N.T. was also one who is sacrificed as an atonement for others, a scape-goat, (Aristophanes. Comicus, v/iv b.c., Ed. F. W. Hall & W. M. Geldart, Oxford (OCT); suppl. J. Demiakczuk, Supp. Com. p. II.), and, since worthless fellows were reserved for this fate, φαρμακός became a general name of reproach, Id., (Demosthenes. Orator, 384-322 b.c., Ed. F. Blass, Leipzig (T.) 1888-92; Ed. S. H. Butcher & W. Rennie, Oxford (OCT). The φάρμακα (pharmaka) applied outwardly were χριστά, ἔγχριστα, ἐπίχριστα (ointments), and παστά, ἐπίπαστα, καταπλαστά (plasters), Theocritus, Aristophanes) those taken inwardly βρώσιμα, and πότιμα, ποτά, πιστά,: φ. νόσου a medicine for it, remedy against it, Aeschylus, φ. κεφαλῆς for a head-ache, φάρμακα applied outwardly were χριστά, ἔγχριστα, ἐπίχριστα (ointments), and παστά, ἐπίπαστα, καταπλαστά (plasters) those taken inwardly βρώσιμα, and πότιμα, ποτά, πιστά,  φ. νόσου a medicine for it, remedy against it, Aeschylus; φ. κεφαλῆς for a head-ache.

 There are no ointments, or internal ingestings of any form of liquid in the Blue Lodge of Freemasonry. There are no spells for headaches (and in fact, they are never discussed in Freemasonic rituals of the Blue Lodge either), gout, or other ailments either.

 The Hebrew word חַרְטֹם  (ḥǎr∙ṭōm) was a soothsayer priest, i.e., a class of persons in the Levant that interpret dreams and omens as well as perform (seemingly?) supernatural acts (Genesis 41:8, 24; Exodus 7:11, 22; 8:3[EB 7],14[EB 18],15[EB 19]; 9:11^(2×); Daniel 1:20; 2:2.

So far as the Bible is concerned, and what is happening in Freemasonic lodges, there is simply no way possible to equate anything done in Freemasonry with Sorcery, Witchcraft, or magic, unless, of course, one calls prayer magic, since that is invoking a higher power. But this would be quite unsatisfactory to all Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Indians. We Freemasons would just as surely as they, simply object to such an overly broad, undefineable definition of prayer as sorcery or magic.

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