Thutmoses III - Founder of the White Brotherhood and Solomon- Founder of Masonic Lodges

Thutmosis III - FOUNDER OF THE WHITE BROTHERHOOD
Akhenaten - FOUNDER OF THE MASONIC LODGES

The Rosicrucian tradition traces the group's origin to the School of Mystery for members of "The Great White Brotherhood" started by Pharaoh Thutmosis III . This
should not be confused with Free Masons , which was started by King Solomon .

The original hieroglyphic inscriptions in "The Book of the Dead," by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, we find the following translation for their rules:

To allow no one to see it,
It was not to be recited to even a close friend
Never let the ignorant person, or anyone whosoever look upon it
The things which are done secretly in the hall of the tomb are the Mysteries

In some cases, classes of a very select nature were held in the private chambers of the reigning Pharaoh. The members of such assemblies became more and more
select, the teachings more profound, and the discussions so dialectic that there arose a most autocratic and secret society of the truly great minds of the day. Thus
was laid the foundation of the Great White Brotherhood.
.

Thutmose III organized the present physical form followed by the present Secret Brotherhood and outlined many of its rules and regulations. He ruled during the 18th
Dynasty of Egypt.

Under his rule he permitted the commoners to indulge in all their fanciful beliefs and religions. Yet, he believed that a gradual development in the existing mystical
beliefs could be more easily and permanently accomplished by establishing a secret school of philosophy where the students of which would put into practice the
high standards selected.

As in all ages there were those who might be called advanced thinkers, true philosophers, sages, and scholars. Many of these were students of the mystical
doctrines as taught by Thutmose's predecessors. They evidently had great faith in the final success of the principles; when Thutmose III proposed that those
meeting in his chambers become a closed and secret order, there was no dissenting voice and the articles of limitations were established where the assembly
dispersed in the early hours of dawn."

This grand "Council Meeting," for such it is considered in all official records of the Order, occurred during what would be the week of March 28th to April 4th of 1489
B. C., according to our present calendar.

Twelve known Fratres and Sorores were present at this first Supreme Council. The Sorores were the wife of Thutmose III, known in the Order as Mene; the wife of
one of the Fratres; and another who was a descendant of one of the rulers of a preceding dynasty. Therefore, there were nine Fratres and three Sorores at this
Council, a combination of numbers of great significants.

No worldly name was decided upon for the Brotherhood, the records showing that the predominating thought was the maintenance of secrecy. The organization had
no publicity; it required no propaganda other than personal advice to those whose presence was desired, and as the one word, translated into Brotherhood (a
secret, fraternal body), was sufficient name for all purposes.

Though the Order had no definite name, Thutmose III saw that it had very definite rules, and modes of procedure, all of which have come down today without
material change.

At the close of his reign there were thirty nine Fratres and Sorores in the Council, and the meetings, which had become regular and systematic, were held in a hall of
the Temple at Karnak, outside of which Thutmose III erected two obelisks bearing a record of his achievements.

Thutmose signed most of the decrees of the Council with his own cartouche and it became the Seal of the Order "in testimony of the great work of our teacher
(Master) to be forever a mark of honor and loyalty." As was customary with these rulers when any event of national importance occurred, Thutmose III issued a
scarab bearing his cartouche on one side, plus a mark which has a special meaning to all mystics. One original scarab, which was used for hundreds of years in
Egypt by various officials to impress the Seal of the mystic fraternity in wax on all official documents was given to the Grand Lodge of America with other jewels and
papers of an official nature. It is considered one of the rarest antiquities of Egypt now in this country - if not the most sacred, of all mystic jewels, one which has never
been used by other than the Masters in Egypt.

It means virtually the passing of the Master's Spirit from Egypt to America, as was planned by the founders centuries ago.
In this connection it may be explained that the Obelisk is now in Central Park New York City - It is one of the two that was erected in Egypt by Thutmose III and had
intended to stand some day in "the country where the Eagle spreads its wings" -

Before his death, Thutmose III left his son Thutmose IV (Amenhoptep II) as co-regent . After his death at the age of 89 Amenhoptep II took up his father's work in the
Brotherhood about the end of September, 1448 B.C. and ruled until around 1420 B.C.

He was known as a conquering warrior pharaoh. Amenhotep II was faced with a major rebellion in Syria by the vassal state of Naharin in his third Year, almost
immediately after the death of his father and dispatched his Army to the Levant to suppress it.

He also embarked on his second and third Syrian campaigns in the seventh and ninth year of his reign. Both rebellions were caused by a revolt in the Syrian
regions of the Egyptian Empire, which was likely instigated by Egypt's chief Near Eastern rival, Mitanni.

The Year 9 battle occurred on the heights of Niy and resulted in Egypt's loss of control over the entire area between the rivers Orontes and Euphrates despite the
recorded Egyptian pillaging in Retenu and the capture of 3,600 Apiru prisoners-of-war. After this campaign, no further conflicts developed between Mitanni and
Egypt, and an informal peace was maintained between Amenhotep II and the king of Mitanni. Thereafter, Amenhotep II concentrated on domestic matters but
maintained Egypt's imperial control over Canaan and Egypt's overall prosperity.

He was a diplomat who established cordial relations with Babylonians and Hittites in exchange for acknowledging Egyptian hegemony of the region. With peace
secured, Amenhotep II set about initiating various building projects. He commissioned a column to stand in the courtyard between the fourth and fifth pylons in the
Temple of Karnak commemorating the agreement between him, Artatama I and other Mitanni leaders.

He also built a temple to Horemakhet near the Great Sphinx at Giza and expanded the Temple of Karnak. Amenhotep II also ordered the decoration of the Temple at
Kalabsha and continued Thutmose III's construction projects at Amada in Nubia.

Fought against King David.

Amenhotep III (King David) did not record the names of his queens; some Egyptologists theorise that he felt that women had become too powerful under titles such
as "God's Wife of Amun". But I rather doubt that because he married to Nefertiti, who was "God's Wife of Amun" , sister to Moses and Aaron, known biblically as
Miriam.

"Soon Thutmose IV sent out a large force to fight against king David in the Valley of the Giants. This was made up from the armies of the alliance and troops from
Egypt as well. However, David's army caught them by surprise and defeated Thutmose IV's force and drove them all the way back to Egypt's boundary south of Gaza.

Amenhotep III's birth is splendidly depicted in a series of reliefs inside a room on the east side of the Temple of Luxor. Built by Amenhotep III, the room was dedicated
to Amun. However, it portrays the creator god, Khnum of Elephantine (at modern Aswan) with his ram head, fashioning the child and his ka on a potter's wheel under
the supervision of the goddess Isis. The god Amun is then led to Amenhotep III's mother by Thoth, god of wisdom, after which Amun is shown in the presence of the
goddesses Hathor and Mut while they nurse the future king

Upon the transition of Amenhotep III the Empire fell to his son Amenhotep IV . (Solomon or Akhenaten) with whose history all Rosicrucians are greatly concerned. He
was the last Great Master in the family of the founders and the one to whom we owe the really wonderful philosophies and writings used so universally in all Masonic
Lodge work throughout the world.

Amenhotep IV was born in the Royal Palace at Thebes, November 24th, 1378 B.C. His mother Tiy or Tia was of Aryan {Hittite} birth, but both he and his father paid
the most sincere respects to her and were ever proud of designating her Queen Tia upon all monuments.

He was only eleven years old in 1367 B.C. when he was crowned and immediately began a career unequaled by any pharaoh of Egypt.

His father, having been the Master of the Order for a number of years, built the great Temple of Luxor and dedicated it to the Brotherhood. He also added to the
Temple of Karnak and in many ways left "monuments of testimony and praise."

The Brotherhood numbered two hundred and eighty-three Fratres and sixty-two Sorores at this time, and at the time of the crowning of young Amenhotep IV, the
Master was one The hopset who remained in the office until 1365 B.C.

Amenhotep IV installation as Master-by-Council-Decree occurred in the Temple of Luxor, April 9th, 1365, at sunset, in the presence of his bride and her parents.

Amenhotep IV being the only descendant, it was deemed advisable that he marry as early as the customs then permitted in order that an heir to the throne would be
assured. But Amenhotep's children unfortunately were daughters, which proved disastrous to the throne.

He was thoroughly instructed in the secret philosophy. So keen was his understanding that in his fifteenth year he composed many of the most beautiful prayers,
psalms, and chants used in the organization today, as well as contributing to the philosophy and sciences.

To him , as Akhenaten, came the inspiration of overthrowing the worship of idols and substituting the religion and worship of one God, a supreme deity, whose spirit
was in Heaven and whose physical manifestation was the Sun - the Symbol of life. This was in accordance with the secret doctrines, and it changed the worship of the
Sun as a god to the worship of the God symbolized by the sun. This was the beginning of monotheism in Egypt and the origin of the worship of a spiritual deity which
"existed everywhere, in everything, but was nothing of the earth" i.e., had no physical existence on earth in the form of inanimate or nonspiritual images.

Akhenaten left many monuments to the glory of the Brotherhood. First, he removed as far as possible all "pillars to the god Ammon" and all references to Ammon as
a god. So thorough was his work that he did not hesitate to mutilate the work done by his father, Karnak and Luxor, by effacing all reference to the god Ammon - put
there to appease the heathen priesthood - even to removing the name of his father and mother where they were connected with such idolatry. This naturally
provoked the populace especially since Akhenaten substituted beautiful monuments to the "living God."

In the fifth year of his reign - when he was only sixteen years of age - a sweeping reform was initiated throughout Egypt by his decree, which prohibited any other
form of worship except that already mentioned. In one of his decrees he wrote: "This is my oath of Truth which it is my desire to pronounce, and of which I will not say:
'It is false,' eternally forever."

He changed his name from Amenhotep III which meant "Ammon is satisfied to Akhenaten which meant 'Glory to Aten'.

He built a new capital at El Amarna in the plain of Hermopolis on a virgin site at the edge of the desert . At El Amarna he also built a large Temple for the
Brotherhood, in "the form of a cross," and a large number of houses for his Council. Here was the beginning of a monastic life, for within the boundaries of El
Amarna lived two hundred and ninety-six Fratres of the Order, each having taken an oath never to pass "beyond the shadow of the Temple."

These Fratres wore special costumes which included a "cord at the loins" and a covering for the head, while the priests in the Temple wore a surplice of linen and
had their head shaved in a round spot on the top.

It is from this institution that all monastic orders, especially that of St. Francis, derive their methods, even their costumes.

During these years at El Amarna the Brotherhood was being made into a concrete organization, and the Fratres at this community outlined the initiations and forms
of service as used today.

Akhenaten not only built his Temple in the form of a cross, but he added the cross and the rose as symbols and further adopted the Crux Ansata,* in a special
coloring, as the symbol to be worn by all teachers (Masters). In fact, the last year of his life was spent in evolving a wonderful system of symbols used to this day, to
express every phase and meaning of the Rosicrucian sciences, arts, and philosophies, and while some of these have become known to the uninitiated through the
researches of Egyptologists, many remain secret and all are understandable only to the initiated.

Akhenaten was a monotheist, militantly devotee to the worship of Re-Herakhty, the sun-god whom he believed manifest in the form of Aten, the solar disc, his
revolutionary religious doctrine allowed for no competition. Especially offensive to him was the worship of Amen, chief deity of Thebes and widely celebrated as the
King of the Gods. So strong was his animosity that in an act of theological intolerance never before experienced in that nation's millennia-long history, he dispatched
agents throughout the land to shut down the god's temples and excise the offensive name from walls, tombs, statues, and inscriptions
.
He then created a temple which came at a great expense for the kingdom. Solomon started selling off cities to pay off his debts . ,The population had to endure
forced labor, with gangs of ten thousand people and more being sent for months at a time as slaves to work for Hiram, king of Tyre."