Ne eS Se 
—_— 
~1 
THE NEED FOR ASCERTAINING THE TIMES OF THE EQUINOXES. 
Now the Hele stone gave them the day when the Sun’s 
declination was the highest—and in passing I may remind such of 
you as are Freemasons of the obligation laid upon the apprentice at 
his initiation, namely, to hele, and conceal, and never to reveal the 
secrets and mysteries about to be communicated to him—the word 
to hele meaning to hide, just as this stone may have seemed to 
hide the Sun at his rising, and hence we see the true reason for 
the name of the stone: or the word may be from Heol, or Haul, 
or Geol, or Jul all which are names for the Sun. 
So much for the longest day, which would be determined 
by observation at the rising of the sun. The shortest day 
would be determined by observation when the sun was 
selting, and as the sun on the shortest day sets in the point of 
the horizon precisely and diametrically opposite the point of his 
rising on the longest day, the same station, pickets and signals 
could be used for each of these observations, only reversed. In 
the one case the observer looked from behind the great trilithon 
to the peak of the Hele stone. In the other he would stand with 
his back to the Hele stone and would look towards the great 
trilithon. 
Thus, two of the four seasons of the year could be definitely 
determined by the Sun alone with reference only to marks fixed by 
man on the surface of the Earth, the one North of East, the other 
South of West. For beyond those marks the Sun would never 
pass. But the days of the Equinoxes could not be so determined. 
And, therefore, in ancient times astronomers fixed the Equinoxes 
by reference to the stars, One among many proofs of this is 
supplied by Aratus who was a poet, an astronomer, and an 
astrologer, and who flourished and wrote 270 B.c. Aratus in his 
work, entitled Phenomena, versified a treatise by Eudoxus, who 
lived about 360 B.c., whose works are lost, but certain of their 
contents are known to us through the treatise ‘‘_4 Commentary on. 
