Can anyone ident the following:

I am not sure if this is from a secret society or occult board or what. I will tell you what I do know. The guy in the picture I know nothing of him but his name S. Butchart and that this(picture) was sent to William McKinley in 1898. Now just trying to figure out what it's symbolic meaning is. The base of the main area pillars look interesting upside down but thats it.




[edit on 5-10-2006 by sb33rd]

To me this appears "religious" But it's definetely not free masonic. By the way not all masons are bad just to let you know, but don' listen to me ok, I want you to think for yourself. Never ever listen to anyone here on ATS. listen to yourself. However, listening to their opinions is fine.

Well, considerig the time period you've said it's from, from just the
picture, I'd say it's some sort of ad for a machine that does somne
'wonderous' thing, or in other words, like many so called machines
created at the time, a hoax to get peoples money.


Could you post what some of the writing says, that would be helpful.


And fo course listen to us, don't take everything everyone says as
truth of course, but alot of us do know a good amount about our
respective favorite subjects.

Yeah I am the type to take 5 answers and end with a little from all as in agreement. The only thing that was mildly in relation to a Masonic print was the a double pillar but as the photograph shows it has the arch.

The text to the side only mentios the dates and source as well as who made it and who it was sent to. I found this in an old series set of books called American Heritage.

Originally posted by sb33rd
Yeah I am the type to take 5 answers and end with a little from all as in agreement. The only thing that was mildly in relation to a Masonic print was the a double pillar but as the photograph shows it has the arch.

It does indeed strongly resemble the Royal Arch, although some non-Masonic symbolism has been added. Perhaps it is Kabalistic, but difficult to tell without further info.

The circles between the two people look like they could be chakras (Hindu and some associated Asian religions). The "ball" in the centre at the bottom appears to have a set of scales (as in measuring scales = justice) over it. Both the people look like they have haloes around their heads which would seem to indicate that they are "holy" and they are holding hands which could mean that they are a earthbound "gods". Perhaps they are the gods responsible for giving humans laws to live by - they are the link between heaven and earth which is why they have haloes, are standing on a globe with scales and are looking heavenward! Just a thought! Sorry I couldn't be of more assistance!

this may shed a small amount of light onto what it is. it is likely his name was allen s butchart link

en.wikipedia.org... should shed some light

When viewed upside down as the orginal poster suggested does anyone notice what looks like 2 faces or skulls at the base just above the very bottom part with black swuare shaped indents?

well the circles in the middle (plus the halos around the sacred male and female who might be in a masonic type [mason help requested] pose of handshake and heel touching. also symbolizes a type of trinity where their hands meet) form a cross

the two pillars have skulls (upside down) on the bottom and two rainbow type figures on the top (different for male female) symbolizing rebirth through gnosis

the archway over the pillars symbolizes a doorway

and the 3 circles on either side of the pillars and the 4 circles in the middle (not the halos) look like the 10 part sepiroth cabbalistic tree of life.

basically just read genesis 3.

This looks very symilar to what the Golden Dawn delve into. Perhaps and very likely Rosicruician.

Originally posted by Masonic Light

It does indeed strongly resemble the Royal Arch, although some non-Masonic symbolism has been added. Perhaps it is Kabalistic, but difficult to tell without further info.

This picture is chocked full of qabalistic symbolism, the spheres are angled slightly off, but they are clearly representative of the 10 sephiroth of the tree of life, the globe at the bottom being Malkuth,(Edit, In a quick recount, i realised there are infact 11, not 10 spheres.. the sphere between the faces of the two figures is Daath, the so-called 11th sphere) the two colums of the arch being the right and left pillars, This imagery is strengthend by the two figures holding hands, The male on the right, and the female on the left, the right pillar is the masculine pillar of severity. The left pillar the feminine pillar of mercy, and joined togther at the middle, in what would be the pillar of mildness (Not shown in the picture, but implied by the joining of the hands)

Now while these symbols are by no means masonic exclusives, you will find similar symbolism in the tomes of those within freemasonry that were adherents of the qabala, as well as many of the splinter groups like the golden dawn

[edit on 18-10-2006 by Becon of Light]

it looks really qabbalistic.

Looks very similar to the 'tree of life' to me, which I believe is part of Kaballa.

Interesting photo the two pillars looks like where people stand under & get married ?