in the measure still allowed by present conditions. In Masonic initiation, on the contrary, the 'substituted word' is concerned with restoring the possibility of finding the 'lost word' again, and therefore of restoring the state preceding its loss. This is one of the fundamental differences between the exoteric and the initiatic points of view, expressed symbolically in a rather striking way.15 But before going any further, a digression is necessary so that what follows may be clearly understood. Masonic initiation essentially relating to the 'lesser mysteries', as do all the craft initiations, reaches its completion with the grade of Master since complete realization of this grade implies the restoration of the primordial state; but we might well wonder what the meaning and role of what are called the high grades of Masonry can be, some for just this reason having insisted on their being no more than vain and useless 'superfluities'. Here we must first distinguish between grades16 linked directly with Masonry on the one hand, l 7 and on the other, grades that can be considered vestiges or memories18 of other ancient Western initiatic organizations that have been grafted onto Masonry as it were or 'crystallized' around it. When all is said and done, the purpose of these last grades ( assuming one does not consider them as having a merely 'archeological' interest, which would obviously be an altogether insufficient justification from the initiatic point of 15. We point out incidentally that in the grade of Master there is not only a 'substituted word' but also a 'substituted sign': if the 'lost word' is identified symbolically with the Tetragrammaton, certain indications suggest correlatively that the 'lost sign' should be that of the benediction of the Kohanim. Here again it is unnecessary to see this as the expression of a literal historical fact, for in reality this sign has never been lost; but one could legitimately ask whether, when the Tetragrammaton was no longer pronounced, it could effectively conserve all its ritual value. 16. Naturally, we leave aside here the all too numerous grades in certain 'systems' that have only a rather fanciful character and obviously reflect only the particular conceptions of their authors.

1. One cannot however strictly say that they are an integral part of it, with the single exception of the Royal Arch. 18. We add here the word 'memories' in order to avoid any discussion on the more or less direct filiation of these grades, which would risk taking us too far, especially as concerns organizations related to various forms of chivalric initiation.

Now, the point we have been aiming at is that among the high grades in question, a certain number place greater emphasis on the 'search for the lost word', that is to say on what, following what we have explained, constitutes the essential work of Mastership. Some grades even offer a 'word found', implying, it seems, the successful completion of their search; but in reality this 'word found' is never anything but a new 'substituted word', and given what we have said it is easy to understand that it could not be otherwise, since the true 'word' is strictly speaking incommunicable. This is especially the case with the grade of Royal Arch, the only grade that should be regarded as strictly Masonic, and whose direct operative origin is beyond doubt: it is the normal complement, as it were, of the grade of Master, with a perspective opening onto the 'greater mysteries:21 Since in this grade the term representing the 'word found' appears in a much altered form, as do so many others, it has given rise to various suppositions as to its meaning; but according to the most authoritative and plausible interpretation it is in reality a composite word formed from the union of three divine names drawn from as many different traditions. This is interesting from at least two points of view, first, in its obvious implication that the 'lost word' is indeed considered to be a divine name, and then, in that the association of these different names can only be explained as an implicit affirmation of the fundamental unity of all traditional forms. But it goes without saying that such a compounding of names derived from several sacred languages remains an entirely exterior juxtaposition and could in no way adequately symbolize a restoration of the primordial tradition itself, and that in consequence it is really no more than a 'substituted word',22 to which he belongs; this is quite clearly expressed in the ancient conception of 'Master of all grades', which seems completely forgotten today.

1. We refer the reader to what we have already said on this subject, especially in our study'La pierre ;mgulaire' (issues of April-May) [see 'The Cornerstone', Symbols of Sacred Science, chap. 45).
2. It must be understood that what we are saying here relates to the Royal Arch of the English Rite, which despite the similarity of title has only a slight relation to the grade called Royal Arch of Enoch, a version of which became the 13th degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in which the 'word found' is represented by

Another though very different type of example is the Scottish grade of Rosicrucian, in which the 'word found' is presented as a new Tetragrammaton intended to replace the ancient one that had been lost; in fact these four letters, which are moreover only initials and do not form a word, cannot here express anything other than the situation of the Christian tradition vis-a-vis the Hebraic tradition, or the replacing of the 'Old Law' by the 'New Law', and it would be difficult to say that they represent a state closer to the primordial state, unless this were meant in the sense that Christianity has accomplished a 'reintegration' opening certain new possibilities for the return to the latter, which, moreover, is in a way true for every traditional form founded at a certain age as conforming more particularly with the conditions of that age. It is worth adding that other interpretations are naturally superimposed upon the simply religious and exoteric meaning, these interpretations being chiefly of an Hermetic order, which are certainly not without interest in themselves. But aside from leading us away from a consideration of the divine names essentially inherent in the 'lost word', this derives far more from Christian Hermeticism than from Masonry properly speaking, and whatever may be the affinities between the one and the other, they nevertheless cannot be considered identical, for if they make use of the same symbols to a certain extent, they nonetheless proceed from initiatic 'techniques' differing greatly in many respects. Moreover, the 'word' of the Rose-Cross grade obviously refers to the point of view of one specific traditional form, which in any case is far removed from a return to the primordial tradition that lies beyond all particular forms. In this respect, as in many others, the grade of Royal Arch certainly has more reason to declare itself as the nee plus ultra of Masonic initiation. We think we have said enough about the different 'substitutions', and in bringing this study to a close we must now return to the grade of Master in order to seek the solution to another enigma that

the Tetragrammaton itself, inscribed on a gold plate deposited in the 'ninth vault'. Moreover, the attribution of this deposit to Enoch constitutes an obvious anachronism as concerns the Hebraic Tetragrammaton, but it can be taken as indicating an intention to go right back to the primordial, or at least 'antediluvian', tradition.