Book Review: The Masonic Myth
The Masonic Myth by Jay Kinney
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
If you’re a mason, this is the book to give your friends who ask you what freemasonry is. Well-informed and written with sufficient detachment to inspire confidence, the tone is neither reverential nor apologetic, and makes needed criticism of the institution where it’s deserved.
Familiar anti-masonic claims are debunked efficiently, placing their origins in historical context.
Book Review: I Just Didn’t Know That
I Just Didn’t Know That by Neville Barker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
While it needs some editing and is a little amateurishly presented, the content of these lectures is very interesting if you are a mason who has wondered why we do things the way we do.
This book is worth the asking price if only because it provides the best explanatory summary of the masonic journey from Initiation to Royal Arch that I think I have found. Useful for explaining to a mason what they have experienced and why in about seven paragraphs.
The All-Seeing Eye
The eye within a pyramid: a symbol of an evil masonic conspiracy?
Actually, no. This symbol was used in European religious art as a representation of God. The eye represents God surveying his creation, reminding Christians that they are accountable to their creator.
That’s not a pyramid either. It’s a triangle representing the Holy Trinity.
Helsinki Cathedral
Pyramids, by the way, don’t really have much place, if any, in masonic art as the mythology of the masonic degrees isn’t located in ancient Egypt.
I found this particular example of the “All-Seeing Eye” not in a masonic building, but in a frieze at the front of the 19th century Helsinki Cathedral when I was visiting that city earlier this week.
I’ve seen the same design in a 17th century German church.
Ample evidence, I hope, that this symbol is not “masonic” in origin. It was obviously borrowed by freemasonry as a symbol for God because it was already familiar to people through religious art.
Further reading: http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/anti-masonry02.html#eye_pyramid
Books for freemasons: Wilmshurst’s “The Meaning of Masonry”
Written in the 1920′s, the writer interprets Masonic ritual and mythology in a deeply mystical light, positing the Craft as a spiritual system. Its style can appear dated and overly tinged with the theosophical influences of its era, but it rewards in the end. For those masons who prefer not to see the Craft in such a way, this book can be startling, but for those who are truly “speculative” it provides a sane and informed perspective. If you view Masonry simply as an ethical dining club, this is not for you! Otherwise, an important classic of its type.
Incidentally, if you are curious about Wilmshurst’s legacy, he founded a lodge in Leeds, still going strong today, called the Lodge of Living Stones.
Jay-Z’s “On To The Next One” video is “masonic”. Oh give me a break.
I’m seeing tweets tagged #freemasonry that allege the video for Jay-Z’s “On To The Next One” contains masonic symbols. So I’ve watched the video looking for squares, compasses, paired columns, plumb rules, twelve inch guages, Jacob’s Ladder, acacia sprigs, symbols of mortality… that kind of stuff, familar to masons worldwide and easily researched. A four minute (yes, this was thorough) analysis of the visual motifs by this freemason of fifteen years, revealed none of these old favourites, but plenty of this stuff:
Cars, ink, jewelled skull, “Joker” character in face paint, guy in hood, horse, symmetry, flapping bird, running paint, woman, flaming basketball, milk bottles, dice, middle fingers, antelope skull, yacht, shoe, animal skull, teeth, face paint, black and white symmetrical liquids, three parallel lines, bullets, rosary and crucifix, champagne bottles.
No masonic symbols.
Just plenty of pseudo-occult posturing.
This just makes the point, obvious from the bonkers comments linking freemasonry with non-existent “Illuminati” and satanism, that much of Twitterdom is happy with very flawed information. So flawed, in fact that these ill-informed tweets are turning me into a gibbering maniac in the mould of Chief Inspector Dreyfus in the Pink Panther films.
A functional and elegant makeover for the UGLE website
The United Grand Lodge of England’s website has had a pretty professional-looking redesign. It’s much more accessible to the non-mason and spells out, in a more articulate, eye-catching and , above all, contemporary way, what we are about.
Website updated
Just a plug for my lodge website: www.hamptonian.org
I’ve given it a makeover to make it easier to manage. That has meant some pruning of detail, but it should have a more consistent look and feel.
I also want to try this new feature that allows me to insert pictures. What happens if I click thi..
Oh OK I need to pay for that.
Watch this space.
Form, Function and Renaissance
The Marquess of Northampton, Pro Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England (governing body of Freemasonry in England and Wales) delivered a speech in June. Its text has recently been published in Grand Lodge’s house magazine MQ and I have just picked myself up from the floor after reading it. The speech expresses in bold terms his radical vision of Freemasonry’s function as a vehicle for personal enlightenment and doesn’t shy away from proposing that the way to reverse Freemasonry’s decline is for its membership to rediscover the spirit of enlightenment that guided its founders.
He acknowledges that we are in decline, that new members are rushed through the essential degree ceremonies and lose interest quickly. He goes on to explore the motives of the founders of the fraternity, who, he argues, were motivated by idealistic visions of a perfect society in an age of political and religious intolerance.
Rejecting unfair criticism of the Craft based on ignorance and prejudice, he urges more openness of the Craft’s membership which exists in a society that demands disclosure, even going as far as to recommend that Masons should talk about the lessons learned in the degree ceremonies. To potential detractors appalled by his suggestion to invite non-Masons to buy and read our ritual books for themselves, he points out that you can no more appreciate the profound lessons Freemasonry can offer by reading a ritual book than you can learn to swim by reading a book about swimming.
After an extended section proposing that Freemasons are “the inheritors of an important initiatic system containing universal truths”, and participants in a “system which guides man in his search for the sacred”, Lord Northampton expands on his understanding of Freemasonry’s role in individual enlightenment, using illustrations from, among other sources, the Bhagavad Gita, Emmanuel Swedenborg and Walt Whitman.
In what may become known as modern English Freemasonry’s first call to return to its core values, he states that “Anglo-Saxon Masonry has strayed from its original purposes and no longer teaches its candidates the fundamental truths which underpin the Craft”. Freemasonry, he suggests, can offer an answer to those men who are seeking “spirituality” in their lives without dogma and doctrine.
Why is this so significant? Well, it is unheard of in modern times for a leader of the Craft to set out such a challenging and personal vision. And challenging it will be for those who believe that the Craft is nothing more than an eccentric dining club.
The speech was not delivered to Grand Lodge and was prefaced by a disclaimer that the views expressed therein were personal and not those of Grand Lodge, but it is still a remarkable text and one which must have taken courage to make public. I, for one, heartily endorse its sentiments and hope it has the desired effect. If you are curious about what Freemasons do and why and you never read anything else about Freemasonry, read this speech.
Dinner in Oxford, the Kabbalah Denudata and a walk
On Saturday, K and I were invited to dinner at a college in Oxford. Good company and fascinating surroundings made for a really enjoyable evening. For the record, the menu was:
Potage d’Hiver au Gingembre
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Sorbet au Champagne
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Noisettes d’Agneau
Pommes de Terres Nouvelles
Carottes
Tomates Farcies
Asperges
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Eton Mess
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Diable à Cheval
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Dessert, Café et Chocolats
The meal was served, by candlight in the old library of the college, a narrow two-storey wood panelled room, filled, of course with books. With champagne aperitifs, white and red wine, followed by port, it was a sumptuous affair. We fairly rolled back to our rooms afterwards. Between courses I browsed the shelves stuffed with vast, old leather-bound volumes, among which I was excited to find an orginal edition of Johnson’s Dictionary and an edition of the occult classic Kabbalah Denudata. What was that doing there and who had been reading it?
Today we went as far north along the west bank of the Wye as we could with a toddler (Little A.) in a push-chair. That was about an hour each way and we crossed the border into England. Trees are beginning to turn colour but the rolling, Arcadian landscape was still mostly a rich green.
Hopefully this week we will have our offer accepted on a semi-detached 1970′s house in the suburb of Wyesham on the east bank of the Wye, overlooking Monmouth. The neighbourhood is fairly suburban, but has a nice enough feel to it and importantly, is around the corner from the bungalow for which Mum has just made a successful bid.
Monnowman's Flickr Photos
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