From the book
Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry
R. Swinburne Clymer · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordOsiris, Isis, and Typhon are the Egyptian figures used to explain death, restored life, generative power, and the apparent loss and return of solar vitality.
- In Ancient Mystic Oriental MasonryThe book narrates the murder of Osiris and Isis’s search for his body, then reads the drama as astronomical symbolism.
- In this editionThe source’s names are retained.
- A place to readM.73: … “to recognize in the Master Mason Hiram, the Osiris of the Egyptians, the Mithras of the” …
Meaning
Osiris, Isis, and Typhon are the Egyptian figures used to explain death, restored life, generative power, and the apparent loss and return of solar vitality.
Use in the book
The book narrates the murder of Osiris and Isis’s search for his body, then reads the drama as astronomical symbolism. Osiris is compared with Hiram and with figures in other traditions. Typhon can represent destructive winter, while another explanation associates the loss of the sun’s generative power with night. Isis appears both in the story and as nature or a maternal principle. These interpretations are assembled for comparison rather than reconciled into one exclusive account.
Places to read
- Mystic Masonry · Block 73… “to recognize in the Master Mason Hiram, the Osiris of the Egyptians, the Mithras of the Persians, the Bacchus of the Greeks, the Atys of the Phrygians, of which these people” …
- Masonic Symbolism · Block 45“251. "The Mysteries of Osiris formed the third degree or summit of the Egyptian Initiation. In these, the legend of the murder of Osiris, by his brother Typhon, was represented, and” …
- Masonic Symbolism · Block 46“252. " This legend was purely astronomical. Osiris was the sun, Isis the moon. Typhon was the symbol of winter, which destroys the fecundating and fertilizing powers of the sun, thus,” …
- Masonic Symbolism · Block 132… “originated in Egypt, where, after the murder of Osiris by Typhon, which is symbolically to be explained as the destruction or deprivation of the sun's light by night, Isis, his wife,” …
In this edition
The source’s names are retained. Their assigned meanings here describe this book’s interpretations rather than every ancient Egyptian use.
Reading the argument
Follow the level of explanation at each point: narrated figure, cosmic emblem, or analogy with the candidate’s experience. The book’s assertion of a common pattern does not establish that all the named traditions taught an identical doctrine.
Osiris
“Osiris” — 19 occurrences in 15 text blocks: M.73, 79; F.58, 82; S.6, 28, 33–34, 41, 45–46, 48, 113, 132–133.
Isis
“Isis” — 10 occurrences in 9 text blocks: F.58; S.15, 28, 33–34, 45–46, 132–133.
Typhon
“Typhon” — 7 occurrences in 5 text blocks: S.45–46, 48, 113, 132.