Lost Word of Kabalism (in Freemasonry)
Lost Word of Kabalism (in Freemasonry)
Also known as the Lost Word in Masonry. A word relating to some mystic plan, which, although it is held to have disappeared, will at some time be restored, and will then make the whole system plain. It is not really lost, only withheld for a season. In the same way the Grail was not lost, but withdrawn to its own place, the search for it occupying the noblest figures in chivalry. It represented the Key to the enigma of Creation, or, in terms of Christianity, the Kingdom of Heaven.
Occultist and mystic Arthur E. Waite associated the Lost Word with the virtues of faith, hope, and charity, stating: "The quest of the Lost Word is followed in one of the High Degrees within a spiritual area which is delineated by these Pillars [Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty], and that which is hidden within them, leading to the term of quest, is symbolical of these virtues, connoting their inward and sacramental sense."
Sources:
Waite, Arthur E. New Encyclopedia of Freemasonry. N.p., 1921.