By David J. Reilly, 32°, KCCH From the March 1996 Scottish Rite Journal   The Southern Jurisdiction' s double-headed eagle logo (left) is just one variation of this powerful image which dates back to 3,000 B.C. As stated in Coil’s Masonic Encyclopedia and concurred in by Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, the double-headed eagle symbol first appeared about 3,000 B.C. in the brickwork of Lagash, a city in Sumer in southern Babylonia, between the Tigres and Euphrates Rivers and near the modern city of Shatra in Iraq. Lagash was an ancient center of art, literature, military, and political power. Subsequently, the symbol was used by many tribal and national groups, and in 102 B.C., Marius, the Roman Consul, decreed it as the symbol of imperial Rome. Later, the Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire used the double-headed eagle to symbolize the universality and unity of the empire. Charlemagne, for instance, as reported in an article from the New Age (Scottish Rite Journal) of February 1907, employed the double-headed eagle as early as 802 A.D. The Holy Roman Empire, generally, had the double-headed eagle on its seals by 1414 A.D. According to Dr. Albert Merz, 33°, in an article from the New Age (Scottish Rite Journal) of March 1959, the double-headed eagle symbolized the amalgamation of the Holy Roman Empire’s western and eastern realms. Illustrious Brother Merz asserts the double-headed eagle was first introduced to Freemasonry in 1758 by a “Council of Emperors of the East and West which met in Paris.” Apparently the eagle symbolized double jurisdictions. Thus the eagle’s heads face two opposite directions. We under the auspices of The Supreme Council, 33°, of the Southern Jurisdiction came under the double-headed eagle in 1801.   The question of wings being up or down is determined by the design of the seal of aparticular Supreme Council. In a letter to the librarian of the Lake Worth, Florida, Scottish Rite, dated April 1978, then Sovereign Grand Commander Illustrious Stanley F. Maxwell, 33°, reported, “Our Northern Jurisdiction Supreme Council regulations concerning regalia do provide that the lapel pin of an Active Member have the eagle with the wings pointed upward, while the description of the Honorary Members lapel pin specifies that the eagle shall have the wings extended downward.” Illustrious Brother Maxwell also included a copy of the International Bulletin No. 5 of December 1972 in his response. This Bulletin contains the story of the double-headed eagle and includes examples used by various Supreme Councils. Images from this Bulletin illustrate this article. There is no uniformity except that the wings appear up or down. The eagles themselves are as different in graphic design as the language and customs of the countries they represent. Below are listed Supreme Councils with wings up and down from the December 1972 article. UP: Germany, Canada, El Salvador, Spain, Costa Rica, Scotland, Bolivia, Honduras, England, America Northern Masonic Jurisdiction-Active Member. DOWN: Phillipines, Mexico, Paraguay, Belgium, Turkey, France, Iran, Israel, Chile, Brazil, Columbia, Italy, America Southern Jurisdiction, America Northern Masonic Jurisdiction-Honorary Member. Research reveals no clear knowledge of why wings are up or down. However, there seems to be some relation of the image to those Supreme Councils who were born from the Masonic roots of Grand Lodges. Charles S. Lobinger, 33°, Grand Cross, reported in The Supreme Council, 33° (1931, p. 813) that “in the beginning, as there were no other Supreme Councils with which to correspond or exchange representation, the Mother Supreme Council addressed itself merely to the Grand Lodges.” It appears that for those Supreme Councils which have ties from the Grand Lodge of England, their seals show the wings up, while those which have ties to the Grand Lodge of France, their seals show the wings down. There is a pattern, whether it is intentional or not. The question stands: does the fate of the eagle’s wings lie in the Grand Lodge influence, in the fact that the man, Mason, commissionee, or volunteer who designed the seal took upon himself to design an eagle as he saw it, or did the Supreme Council simply determine its eagle would be the same as or different than the one of the Council which was assisting it to come into being?   In conclusion, the image of the double-headed eagle is a powerful and compelling symbol whether one first saw the “storm bird” in Lagash in 3,000 B.C. or in the White and Black Eagle of the Scottish Rite 33°. Possibly, you saw the double eagle on your father’s ring as a child. It did then and does now demand a second and third look. Whether the wings are up or down, or which Supreme Council one’s membership is with, is not important. What is important is the man, the Mason under the wings of that double-headed eagle. It is the knowledge, behavior, responsibility, and charity that we as Masons possess and exhibit which influence our respected societies. For we, as Scottish Rite Masons, are truly the “wind” under the wings of our eagles.

Belgium Canada Chile Columbia Costarica El Salvador France Germany Honduras Italy Turkey Paraguay Scotland Philipines