Yalla
A word said to have been used by the Templars in the
adoration of the Baphomet, and derived from the Saracens.
Year
of Light
Anno Lucis,
in the Year of Light, is the epoch used in Masonic documents of the Symbolic
Degrees. Between the creation of the world, according to sacred
chronology, and the advent of Christ, 4000 years intervene; thus A. L. 2001
added to 4000 gives the Masonic year, 6001. The Masonic era commences
with the creation of the world (Anno Mundi), or Masonically expressed, (Anno
Lucis), year of light or year of the Lodge. Genesis 1:1
Yod
The Hebrew
letter equivalent in sound to I or Y. It is the initial letter of the
word Jehovah, the tetragrammaton, and hence was peculiarly sacred among the
Talmudists. Basnage (lib. iii., c.13), while treating of the mysteries
of the name Jehovah among the Jews, says of this letter: "The yod
in Jehovah is one of those things which eye hath not seen, but which has been
concealed from all mankind. Its essence and matter are incomprehensible;
it is not lawful so much as to mediate upon it. Man may lawfully revolve
his thoughts from one end of the heavens to the other, but he cannot approach
that inaccessible light, that primitive existence, contained in the letter yod;
and indeed the masters call the letter thought or idea, and prescribe no
bounds to its efficacy. It was this letter which, flowing from the
primitive light, gave being to emanations. In
Symbolic Masonry, the yod has been replaced by the Letter
"G". But in the high degrees it is retained, and within a
triangle, thus constituting the symbol of Deity. EXAMPLE
York Rite
Strictly
speaking, there is no such Rite today. At one time this term was applied
to the first three degrees of Masonry, the Entered Apprentice, Fellow-Craft,
and the Master Mason. But at that time the Third Degree included what is
now known as Royal Arch Masonry. The Ancient York Rite, though no longer
an active title, must be recognized in Masonic History as the oldest and
purest of all the Rites.
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