The double-headed eagle was probably first accepted by Masonry, as a symbol, in the year 1758. In that year the body calling itself the Council of Emperors of the East and West was established in Paris. The double-headed eagle was in all probability adopted by this Council, which claimed a double jurisdiction; one head inclined to the East to guard any and all who might approach from that direction, the other head guarding the West for a like purpose. The Council adopted a ritual of twenty-five degrees, all of which are now contained in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, to which eight more were added so as to make thirty-three Degrees of which our Rite is now composed.

The Eagle, as a symbol, is rooted in antiquity. According to Albert G. Mackey the great Masonic encyclopedist, the bird was sacred to the sun in Egypt, Greece, and Persia. To the pagans it was an emblem of Jupiter, that is, the Greek Zeus, god of moral law and order, protector of suppliants and punisher of guilt. Among the Druids, a religious order of the ancient Celts, it was a symbol of their Supreme Being. Reference is frequently made to the eagle in the Scriptures.

Among the pagans, the eagle symbolized great strength and endurance as evidenced by its keen sight, aerial prowess and resourcefulness in outwitting its prey, never wanting for its daily necessities.

Cicero, Roman Orator, Statesman and man of letters, in speaking of the myth of Ganymede -- The beautiful shepherd boy who was carried to Olympus by Zeus in the form of an eagle to be the cupbearer of the mythical gods --states that ‘it teaches us that the truly wise, irradiated by the shining light of virtue, become more and more like God, until by wisdom they are borne aloft and soar to Him.”

And so goes the story of the Double Headed Eagle. May its shining light of virtue guide and guard our pathway of life.