I just finished reading Solomon's Builders by Christopher Hodapp (Ulysess Press, 2007). I need to send him...
Freemasons' and Rosicrucians' BIGGEST secrets are from the ancient Sacred Mysteries: immortality through reincarnation and sacred geometry/gematria with its precept of "As Above, So Below" primarily using the mathematical model of GOD=7_4. The Mysteries of seemingly every ancient culture included the belief in immortality through reincarnation/rebirth/transmigration of the soul/ metempsychosis/resurrection (up until Jesus' near-death-experience that was mythologized as "death and resurrection"). This belief was especially important for a culture to impart on its warriors so as to die bravely knowing that they would be rewarded in the afterlife - returning as human in an ideal scenario.
The ancients all observed the sacred 7 Luminaries/7 'Planets' - the 7 moving objects in the heavens - known today as the '7 Classical Planets' or '7 Naked-Eye Planets': Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. 4 of these can't be easily seen during daytime/4 don't cast shadows on Earth. There are 4 lunar phases of ~7 days (~7.4 days) each, hence the 7-day week and 4 weeks in a 'moonth'. Lunar year + 7 day week + 4 days = solar year. Orion has 7 stars with 4 being his shoulders and feet + Orion's Belt. The Big Dipper & Little Dipper are each 7 stars with 4 in the quadrilateral bowls. The Pleiades/7 Sisters is the 4th most recognizable asterism. Mars returns to the same point in relationship to the Sun and Earth every 47 years. Etc. This sacred combination of 7 & 4 from Above was then repeated Below by the Babylonians, Egyptians, and Hebrews where their royal cubits were 7 palms x 4 fingers = 28 digits. (Common cubits are 6 palms.) The Roman Calendar has 7 thirty-one day months, 4 thirty day months + February's 28 days (7x4).
Masons aligned July 4, 1776 using GOD=7_4, 7/4=July 4th or 7 April 30: Good(7__4) Friday(74) when Jesus(74=J10+E5+S19+U21+S19) the Messiah(74) was nailed on(74) the Cross(74=C3+R18+O15+S19+S19). This alphanumeric code is called Simple6,74 English7,74 Gematira8,74 using 'the key'74 of A=1, B2, C3...O=15 or zero...Z26.