"Veiled in Allegory and Illlustrated by Symbols -
the Second Degree - Corn"

Corn is the recognised symbol of regenerated life and has been used in the Mystery system from remote antiquity.   In the Egyptian rituals the candidate, holding an “ ear of corn” fertilised by the sacred water of the Nile, declared; “I am a germ of eternity”, while at his death grains of corn were buried with him as emblems immortality.   The advanced initiation rites, or Greater Mysteries, at Elusius were sacred to Ceres and an “ear of corn” was presented to the candidate.   In entrusting the candidate with the P.W. which is emblematically “depicted in our Lodges’ by an ear of corn near to a fall of water,” we are perpetuating a sacred practice of an extreme age.

Why, it may be asked , was corn used in preference to any other plant as the symbol of soul growth?   The actual source of corn has always puzzled botanists;  it is never found, like other cereals, in the wild state.  It is traditionally taught that this golden, graceful, prolific and needful plant was never a growth of this earth, but was a gift of the Gods, who in the dawn of time transported it to our world from another planet with the double purpose of providing the staple food of humanity, and giving man an emblem of his own soul.   So, too, with the human soul; like the corn it is not indigenous to this time-world but is a native of eternity, whence it has become transported and sown as bare grain in the patch of earth which constitutes the individual human body.   There, like the seed of corn, it is subjected to the painful process of disintegration, dying and rising again, but multiplied exceedingly as a result of the trying experience.   The Scriptures bear witness to the ancient doctrine;  “ He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him”( Psalm 126:6).   When the Consecrating Officer scatters corn to the four quarters, he is performing a profoundly sacramental act for the instruction of the Founders.   He is emulating in miniature the cosmic activity of the Great Sower of the Universe who continually goes forth sowing souls in space, like grain, which fall into natural bodies that they may grow and finally be raised therefrom into spiritual bodies.   This will likewise explain why in the Craft today, as in the Ancient Mysteries, there is presented to the Candidate at this (ie. The F.C. Degree) stage in his progress the “Time Immemorial” emblem.   The Candidate can now, so to speak, think of himself  as a growing ear of wheat destined to ripen in due time into abundant corn that will sustain him, and haply, serve as the “bread of life” to others . 

W. Bro. C. A. WILD.