Did Freemasonry originate from The Knight Templars?

Transcription

The Independent Masonic Magazine
Bringing the best information to Mason’s worldwide.
Issue 21, September 2007
Did Freemasonry originate from
The Knight Templars?
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ON THE WEB AT WWW.TWTMAG.COM
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Contents


Masons in the News - Pg 7
Claudy - ―Old Tyler Talks‖ – Pg.15
Reader Submission ―Making Good Men Better‖– Pg.17



W. Bro George Moore ―True Toleration‖– Pg.20
Bro. Robert Cooper- ―Masonic Education‖- Pg. 22
Cover Story ―Did Masonry originate from the Knights
Templars‖ – Pg.26

Bro. Wyndell Furguson- ―Food and Fellowship‖– Pg.45
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

STB– ―Warren Harding‖- Pg. 47
Random Thoughts with Bro. Lance Ten Ekce– Pg.51

Astronomy with Bro. Rod Kennedy — Pg.52
York Rite of Freemasonry w/ Bro. Bill Price– Pg.53
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Bro. James Green- ―Masonic Status‖- Pg.55
Video Review- ―Freemasons– The Mystery, Myth and
Truth‖- Pg.56
Editor & Publisher– Cory Sigler
The Working Tools is published monthly by Corsig Publishing & Cory Sigler, It is not affiliated with any Grand
Lodge. Letters or inquiries should be directed to Cory Sigler, Editor, at E-mail: [email protected] ; Fax: 201825-1603. All letters become the property of the Working Tools. Photographs and articles should be sent to the
attention of the Editor. Every effort will be made to return photographs but this cannot be guaranteed. Please include
a self-addressed stamped envelope. The Editor reserves the right to edit all materials received. The deadline for the
next issue is October 27, 2007.
Sign up to be on the Mailing List @ TWT.com
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Letter From the Editor
Over 30,000 downloads
Worldwide
Hello Brothers
Well we had the summer off and now we are back in business. It‘s good to
recharge the batteries but it‘s even better to get back in lodge and see everyone again.
This month we expanded upon the monthly poll which asked if the Mason‘s
came from the Knights Templar. I included a couple of great articles that
really stress the authors point for a positive or negative opinion while illustrating it with many examples.
Also, many brothers have come to the aid when I sent out a call for submissions all have been an awesome addition to the feel of the magazine. There
were a whopping 8 submissions this month!!!!
Great job to all.
Your Brother– Cory
Cory Sigler
[email protected]
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Letter‘s From The Readers
Brother;
Where did you get the information that either or Roosevelt ,(Pres. of the USA), died in 1924 of Polio ? Not
true at all.
Also, story of the NH Tax evader; Randy Weaver's wife was also killed in the Ruby raid, her body was not removed for quite a while due to the stand off.
B/Regards for more accurate reporting- John J. Miller PM
Score = 2 for Bro. John and (-2) for Bro. Cory. Well you see John, because this publication is
done in my spare time 70% by myself (thank you Lance & Bill for adding to the other 28%, and
2% from the readers who send stuff in.) I rely on material found in books, websites and other
sources of information.
The information regarding President Roosevelt came from a book that provided things that
happened in time as it related to famous masons. As a whole I would say that the majority is
spot on but of course some stuff will fall in between the cracks.
The articles found in “Masons in the news” come directly from the newspapers so if a fact is
wrong I blame the reporter LOL. I hope that they check their facts better than I do!
Hopefully the rest of the magazine proved interesting and informative.
Greetings, Bro. Cory.
I'm taking a look at the August issue of TWTM as I write this. I look forward to reading the
remainder of the e-zine, but feel compelled to point out some inaccuracies in the "This
Month in History" page.
- Count Basie's name was William, and his last name was spelled Basie, not Basey. He
was known by friends as Bill.
- Teddy Roosevelt died January 6, 1919 of a coronary embolism.
- Franklin Roosevelt died April 12, 1945 of a cerebral hemorrhage.
- Warren Harding's middle initial was G.
Nit-picks, to be sure, but thought you might like to know.
Congratulations on another issue. I look forward to the rest.
Best fraternal regards,
Robert T. Addleman, Jr.
PDDGM, Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania
WM Lodge Ad Lucem No. 812, Pittsburgh, PA
PTPM Gourgas Lodge of Perfection, Valley of Pittsburgh, PA, AASR, NMJ
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This Month in History
September
6th 1901. Brother and 25th US President
William McKinley a member of Hiram
Lodge No 21 is shot. He died 8 days later.

19th 1776. Bro. George Washington‘s
farewell address to the nation was published this day.

• 3rd 1783. Treaty of Paris signed, ending
the American Revolution was signed by

3 Americans, Brothers Benjamin Franklin,
John Adams and John Jay.
• 21st 1832. Died—Sir
Walter Scott
8th 1925. Born actor
Brother Peter Sellers.
Made famous for his role
as Inspector Clouseau in
the Pink Panther movies.

11th 1944. Brothers
Winston Churchill

15th 1857: Born Howard
Taft, the 27th President
from 1909-1913
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
29th 1907. Born Cowboy Gene Autry, a
member of Catoosa Lodge No. 185.
and F D Roosevelt meet in Canada for
the 2nd conference in Quebec.
3rd 1874: Born in Hungry, brother Harry
Houdini. Made a Mason in St. Cecile
Lodge No 568.
9th 1890. Born—Harland Davis Sanders—better known as
Colonel Sanders
founder of Kentucky
Fried Chicken.
22nd 1989. Died Brother
Irving Berlin aged 101 years
old.


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3rd 1993 Died Brother
John J Robinson, renowned historian and
researcher. Author of ―The Lost Secrets of
Freemasonry‖ and ―Born in Blood‖. He died
a few months after joining the Craft.
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Masons in the News
Order of the Eastern Star -- I'm not worthy!
Rick Sigsby / Columnist
Some of you might remember the movie or Saturday Night Live skit called Wayne‟s World back in the 1990‟s. A classic
line uttered from the participants, Garth and Wayne was "We‟re not worthy. We‟re not worthy."
So whom might I check with to find out if I was worthy? Donna Bierlein,
the current Worthy Matron and Susan Phenix, Past Matron of the Gladwin
White Clover Chapter #84, Order of the Eastern Star, that‟s who.
You also might recall that a month ago I did a column on the Gladwin Masonic Lodge #397 and what some people think is a „secret‟ fraternity called
the Masons. I soon discovered after that column came out there are people
who think the Eastern Stars are also some kind of cult. As I found out with
the Masons – wrong!
Actually, the Order of the Eastern Star is the largest fraternal organization
in the world that both men and women can join. There are approximately
10,000 chapters with over 1 million members under the General Grand
Chapter, which oversees the „Stars‟ worldwide.
The Grand Chapter system oversees the local chapters and both Donna and Susan have served as state committee members. Susan has also served as an officer (the Grand Warder) at the state level. The White Clover Chapter #84, which as
in the case of a Mason Lodge number, indicates in 1891 Gladwin established the 84th chapter in Michigan.
The Order of the Eastern Star was started in 1850 by a lawyer/educator named Robert Morris, a Freemason from Boston.
The organization was created to give the entire family a social purpose with similar but separate association with the
principles of the Masonic Temple.
For a man to belong to the Stars he must be a member in good standing with the Masons and a woman member must
have a Masonic affiliation. I‟d write out the list of ways to qualify but let‟s just say there are 19 different ways to make
that connection.
Still the rumors persist about the Eastern Stars being a secret society and even some extremists think they participate in
occult practices. What I found was, as in any organization, there are certain things you learn after you join.
So my mission was to start my own “Mythbusters” investigation. Despite the fact that I probably could be bribed with
several of the Stars great meat pasties, which they make as a fundraiser three times a year, I tried to be impartial. And the
fact that they offered me an opportunity to read the entire Eastern Star Ritual Book right up front made me very suspicious.
These ladies were either "throw him off with kindness" crafty or not very secretive. Actually I discovered they were
both.
ROR: Sometimes the Eastern Star is referred to as the female Masons. What exactly is the Order of the Eastern Star organization?
(Continued on page 8)
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(Continued from page 7)
Susan: The Eastern Star is a charitable organization with both men and women. Both the
Masons and Eastern Star are very family oriented and place an emphasis on family involvement.
Donna: Because the Masons are exclusively for men, the founder Robert Morris felt it was
important to have an organization that included women. The ritual book has the five stories of the heroines of the bible, which are the fundamentals and principles of our organization.
How can you help TWT
ROR: Was it originally a women‟s organization?
Send me a page or two
about your lodge and why
you think it‘s special. Describe what you are doing
ROR: There are the five points in your organization symbol. Can you tell me the names,
to make a difference , if
colors and symbols they represent?
there is any special history
or brothers associated to
Donna: The names of each point (heroine) are Adah, Ruth, Esther, Martha and Electa.
it. Include some pictures
Each one represents the beliefs that Eastern Star is based on.
and show the whole world
why you are proud of your
Susan: They were each assigned a color to distinguish themselves and a symbol that repre- lodge
sents their story. Adah the daughter, her symbol is the sword and veil: she was slain by the
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sword and she lifted her veil so her father could see her. Ruth the widow, a sheaf of
Have you recently gone
wheat; she gathered food by gleaning the wheat. Esther the wife is a crown and sceptor;
she was a queen and saved her people. Martha the sister is a broken column, which repre- through a degree and want
sents no one can be bigger than life. And Electa the mother is the cup; that represents
to share your experience?
charity and hospitality.
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See an interesting news
ROR: As in the Masons, there seems to be a feeling there are secrets in the Eastern Star.
story regarding the craft–
How do you answer the questions about the organization being secretive?
send it over.
Donna: We do have words that can be used to identify a sister or brother within the or•
ganization, which you learn after you‟ve joined but those really aren‟t secrets.
Read a new book– send
over a review.
Susan: You receive exclusive or privileged information that makes our organization speSusan: No, women have always been the leaders of the Eastern Star through the Worthy
Grand Matron at the state level and local chapter‟s Worthy Matron but men have been
included from the beginning as long as they are Masons in good standing.
cial to belong to, as with any fraternal group.
ROR: Do you consider the Eastern Star a religious organization?
Donna: There are no religious restrictions other than believing in a supreme being. Personal beliefs can differ as in the Christians, Muslims or Jews but all are welcome.
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Write an original article
about anything you think
the readers of TWT would
enjoy
ROR: How long has the Gladwin Easter Star chapter been chartered and why is it called
the White Clover chapter?
Susan: We were chartered in 1891 as the 84th chapter in Michigan.
Donna: As far as our chapter being called White Clover, we don‟t know why (laughing).
I‟ve researched and can‟t find out why. There must have been a reason but we just don‟t
know what it was. And just to clarify one misunderstanding from your previous column
on the Masons, your column implied the Masons purchased the Presbyterian Church in
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1902. In fact, the Eastern Stars purchased the church. Also the Masons sit in the East and we stand in the East.
ROR: Well, I‟m glad for the chance to set Off The Record straight. How many members did the Eastern Star chapter
have in its peak years and what is the current membership?
Donna: We had real good attendance until the late 1990‟s with the membership at 154. As of last October, the membership was 71.
ROR: The Beaverton Eastern Stars merged with the Coleman chapter quite a while ago. Why didn‟t they join the White
Clover chapter?
Donna: They merged with Coleman in the 1995-96 year.
Susan: The primary reason they went to Coleman was the time factor, getting it done in time. We were dark (not conducting meetings) in July and August and they wanted the transfer completed before October. Coleman at that time
stayed open in the summer months.
ROR: What charities do the Eastern Stars support?
Susan: Locally we support the Special Olympics, Gladwin skate park, PTO, the Hospice duck race; we give scholarships
to local students, the Heart and Diabetes associations, and the affiliate youth organizations like Rainbow Girls, Job‟s
Daughters and the Order of DeMolay.
Donna: We don‟t turn down very many.
ROR: What do Stars do for fun?
Donna: We have a great time working together on various projects. You saw us yesterday making those meat pasties.
We were managing to have fun while working.
ROR: That‟s definitely one fundraiser I support and yes, you did seem to be having a good time and poking some fun at
me. Let me ask you this. Do you think there is too much pageantry in your organization…because you do have several
formal ceremonies?
Donna: I wouldn‟t call it pageantry. The initiation ceremony is a part of telling the stories of our organization, which is
very important.
Susan: We do wear formals for special occasions but are also very formal in our introductions during meetings, which is
also a part of our traditions.
ROR: How long have you each been involved in the Eastern Star?
Donna: I‟ve been involved for 25 years.
Susan: Since 1972, so I guess that would be 35 years…I‟m a 3rd generation Eastern Star.
ROR: What is the one thing you want people to know about the Eastern Star?
Donna: As mentioned before, there is a lot of emphasis on giving back to the community. We don‟t shout out about our
accomplishments and contributions and so many of the things are behind the scenes. But we‟re very proud of what we
do.
ROR: And you should be. Thank you, ladies.
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Secretive societies face membership challenges
By Andrei Bondoreff
Masons and Odd Fellows might seem mysterious, but both organizations played an important part in the development of Greater Victoria
They are iconic secret societies with close historical links to wealth and power.
Victoria Masons and Odd Fellows have been part of the fabric of the city by
doing charity work, leading commerce and providing political leadership since
the Gold Rush era. Recently, however, they‟ve faced significant membership
challenges that raise questions about their future.
Their exclusivity, secret methods of recognition, cryptic ceremonies and perceived influence have long stimulated people‟s fears of clandestine plots. They
are thought to be the hidden hands behind the selection of important leaders,
the operation of high finance and monumental diplomatic manoeuvres.
No group has been identified with this elitism and mystery more than the Masons. Their origins are shrouded in secrecy. A preponderance of Masonic literature traces the group‟s beginnings to Scottish stonemason guilds in the 14th
century, but many other authors have pointed to a lineage that runs back to the
Knights Templar – and even as far back as ancient Egypt.
The beginnings of Masonry in Victoria can be traced to the Gold Rush, with the first recorded meeting taking
place in 1858. The society‟s members have been pillars of the Island community as lieutenant-governors, premiers and entrepreneurs. They‟ve done important charity work, their names grace local schools and alleys, and
their keystones are found in many of Victoria‟s most precious heritage buildings. Despite this illustrious past,
the society faces serious modern challenges, says Stephen Godfrey, the Grand Master of Masonic orders in
B.C.
“Our largest membership in B.C. was in 1962, but since then it has been in decline. We have remained steady
at about 10,000 people now.”
A significant sign of the times is the absence of DeMolays in Victoria– a Masonic order for youth aged 11-20
that once thrived and functioned as a precursor to membership in the official lodge. Public perceptions have
undoubtedly played a part in the Mason‟s membership challenges. Stereotypes about the importance of bloodlines or candidates needing to be politically powerful and wealthy are legion.
Godfrey bristles when asked about these stereotypes and says that the group does not recruit from any particular demographic.
“People out there believe more about Masons than is actually happening. We aren‟t as closed as we appear.
“The only secrets are our words of recognition and our modes of recognition. Masonry is open to anyone of
any religion and any race. We welcome all men. People join because they want to learn about values, virtue
and philosophy.”
According to Godfrey, the minimum requirements for a nominee to join the group include believing in a supreme being and being of good moral character. Officially, a person must have at least six months‟ local residency and be nominated by at least two existing Mason members. Women‟s membership is limited to specific
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concordant bodies within the group.
Like the Masons, the Odd Fellows are another local secret society whose origins and future are unclear.
Authors such as Joseph Powley have traced the group‟s beginnings to Roman times, while official Odd Fellows‟ literature points to 18th-century England. Odd Fellows claim their eccentric name was given to them
more than 250 years ago by the English public, who believed that individuals extending aid to strangers were
“odd”.
The group has been active in Victoria since 1864 and its heritage building on Douglas Street (with its mysterious three-link chain moniker) has intrigued the public since 1887.
Odd Fellows, who are dedicated to “Friendship, Love and Truth”, provided health care and assistance to orphans and widows before Canada‟s social safety net was created. They continue to do many different kinds of
charitable work, but their capabilities have become limited as their membership has declined.
“There used to be a Lodge in every major town in B.C. and now we‟re down to 18,” says Odd Fellow Grand
Secretary Dino Fiorin.
“Our peak was pre-World War 2. Ever since, we‟ve seen a steady aging and loss in membership. Our average
age at the moment is between 65 and 70. We have no junior lodges in Victoria.”
Like the Masons, the Odd Fellows require potential members to be of good moral character and believe in a
supreme being. A committee of members then assesses candidates.
The membership of Masons and the Odd Fellows are similar, in that membership is based on closely guarded
secrets that include passwords for their ranks or “degrees”, and special greetings. Unlike Masons, however,
they welcome women to all their organizations.
The Masons and Odd Fellows – two organizations that thrived for so long and have left such an indelible mark
on Victoria‟s society through architecture, business and charity work (taking care of children, the sick and
widowed) – face important questions about how they can ensure their future survival.
This process may involve changing their approach to an issue that has, ironically, brought them the most attention; namely, secrecy.
A Few Famous Canadian Freemasons
John A. Macdonald (also an Odd Fellow) , John G. Diefenbaker, Amor de Cosmos, Sir Richard McBride
Harland C. Brewster, John D. Maclean, Byron “Boss” Johnson, W.A.C. Bennett , General James Wolfe ,
John D. Eaton (Eaton‟s), John Molson (beer), Lord Stanley, Tim Horton, James Naismith , John B. Maclean
(magazine), Lord Thomson , Chief Tecumseh, J.H. Bloedel (Mac Blo) ,Robert Butchart (gardens), Sir Arthur Currie , Charles Woodward (stores)
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Monthly Poll
Last month I asked “Did Masonry form out of the disbanded Knights Templar?"
I personally thought that the results would have been more one sided but clearly there is still an
uncertain conclusion among the brethren. I’m not sure this will ever be 100% cleared up.
Here’s what some of the TWT readers had to say on the topic.
I guess that it is possible, however I doubt it. WE WILL NEVER KNOW FOR SURE WILL WE?
Bro. Bob Carter PM , Missouri
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Dear Sir and Good Brother,
I have voted NO.
None of the known practices of the Knights Templar were apparent in the early rituals known to us. Never
mind the modifications to the rituals since the late 1600s.
My personal take on this is that architecture developed over many centuries, including the arch and keystone,
possibly from the middle-east countries, who have used the vaulted arch at about the time of its development
in western Europe.
It is quite possible, however, that the KT protected those who had gained the knowledge necessary for that particular and all important piece of agriculture. But the “master‟s cane, or stick” (about a yard), as well as other
measurement tools used in the 10th century (hand span, hand‟s breadth, grain [of oat], thumb [before it become
an inch in English], were used before the Templar‟s even dreamed of going to the Holy Land).
By the way, did I tell you about the fortress/castle of Guédelon, south-east of Paris? Go to
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www.guédelon.com. The site is being reworked and, at this time, is only in French, but the English version is
being worked on. My wife and I will go to visit again at the end of September to see the progress since 2004.
Michel (Mike) Sastre Ottawa, ON, Canada
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A noble concept, and I wish it were true. Even a small particle of truth. But, in fairness, I have not seen enough
historical proof to justify elevating this from myth and legend to the status of absolute fact.
Kevin Christians Boone, Iowa Master Mason Mirza #609
POLL QUESTION FOR OCTOBER:
Is it OK to show up at a lodge unannounced?
Let me know what you think.
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www.Masonicdiscussion.com
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Carl H. Claudy– ―Old Tyler Talks‖
A MASONIC SPEECH
"Old Tiler, I am in a jam!" The New Brother smiled, so the Old Tiler
did not feel too worried. "If you don't help me out, I will be up against
it."
"What's the trouble now?" The Old Tiler put down his sword to take
the cigar the New Brother held out. "Must be something very bad or
you wouldn't start me off with so good a cigar."
"I have to make a Masonic address."
"That has been done, and the addresser- yes, even the addressees- lived
to tell the tale," countered the Old Tiler.
"I don't want just to get by. I want to make 'em remember it. I want to
talk about something they haven't heard before. I've listened to many
Masonic speeches, and most of them bored me to tears."
"There are rules for making a good address," mused the Old Tiler. "The
three great rules are, have something to say- say it- sit down. Sometimes they are stated 'stand up, speak up, shut up.' Terminal facilities of
adequate proportions are needed by railroads and Masonic speakers."
"That's just it!" cried the new Brother. "I want to know what to say and
how to say it."
"Meaning you want me to make your speech for you, or to you, before you make it in there?"
"Well, er, no. Not exactly. But can't you, er, suggest something?"
"I could, but I won't. I'll suggest a method of handling your subject, however. Most Masonic speeches suffer
from lack of preparation, and of clear thinking about what the speaker wants to say.
"I can't prepare you. I can't make you think clearly. But I can tell you the essence of appeal. It is drama. If you
want your hearers to hang on your words, dramatize your subject. If you talk about the Rough and Perfect Ashlars, bring your workman before your hearer; let them hear the strokes of the mallet on the chisel, let them feel
the chips of stone as they fall to the ground. If you talk of the plumb line, make them see the Lord on His wall,
watch the Children of Israel gather around, wondering at his putting a plumb 'in the midst' of them, that He
would not pass by them any more. When you tell of brotherhood, don't have it an abstraction, a theory, a hope;
make it concrete. Tell some stories about it. Show one brother helping another; if you don't know any stories,
make them up. But bring the living thought, alive, into the lodge room; men are nothing but children grown up.
We all like stories.
"A most entertaining speaker made a talk on Masonic charity. One by one he brought vividly before the lodge
a child in a Masonic home, an old blind Mason who was helped to be self-supporting by a lodge, an old mother
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of a Master Mason who kept her home, thinking it was supported by what her son had left her; he hadn't left a
cent. The lodge pretended he had, and paid it during her life time. He made us see these people; we lived and
grew up with the child; we shut our eyes to see how the blind man felt; from a window we saw the world go
by, happy that our sons had kept us from want, as his simple words brought these things before us.
"The speaker spoke quietly, restrained, calmly. He didn't make the eagle scream; there was almost no applause
during his address. But he made us visualize the sweetness of Masonic charity, as distinct from the cool impersonality of mere giving. He made us proud that we belonged to an organization which worked. He dramatized
charity, and made us see its living human aspects, not its economic importance, or its religious duty angle.
"That's the answer of 'how shall I make any Masonic speech interesting,' my brother. Make it simple. Make it
human. Make it dramatic. There is drama in all the Fraternity; any symbol, any tenet, any part of Masonry has
a dramatic angle.
"I do not mean melodramatic. I don't tell you to put battle, murder, sudden death, in your speech. Melodrama
is action without character; drama is action with character. A railroad accident is melodrama. The mother who
saves for a vacation and gives her son the money to buy a set of golf clubs is dramatic.
"Find the character behind the symbols; get the human side of the Craft into its teachings; tell them in terms of
people and action, of the things they know only as theories, and your audience won't walk out on you. Talk
without ideas, and you'll speak to empty benches."
"I think," began the New Mason, "I think-"
"That's all that's necessary," smiled the Old Tiler.
"I think you'd better make this speech for me,"
"You think in melodrama," laughed the Old Tiler. "It's you trouble, not mine."
Now On Sale
Also by Chris Hodapp
Freemason for Dummies &
Solomon's Builders: Freemasons, Founding
Fathers and the Secrets of Washington D.C.
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Reader Submission
Brothers, this was passed along to me via email– I don‘t know the author to whom credit is deserved but I
do like the message and hope one day to assign a name to it. He makes many good points , I hope you enjoy
it like I did. Cory
"Make good men better"
This reminder should be posted inside the entrance of every lodge, and any mason who does not abide by it should be
reminded by his brethren first, then the Master of the lodge if he still refuses to understand its meaning. Some of our
new masons, and (sigh) some of our "more established" members must have it spelled out for them as well, so I will try
to convey it as succinctly as possible.
This is a great motto, if used properly, but lodges can quickly lose the meaning and spirit of this fine reminder if it is not
monitored constantly by all brethren. I have been to many lodges (even my own) where the brethren tout these
words, but do not make any attempt to live them.
Listen up, Brother Masons:
To make good men better, it takes "better men" to be role models for the "good men" to see and learn from.
We are all part of this imperfect lodge, which prevents us from always being the model we should be all the time, but
our charge is to learn to be as perfect as possible. How can we accomplish this if we do not make any attempt to
"mind our manners" when in the lodge, or fraternizing with other masons?
Should you meet a mason for the first time on the street you would not address him with distaste, nor would you
choose to tell him racist jokes or negative things about your lodge. Of course you wouldn't, because you are proud of
your lodge! If you do any of these things in your lodge, are you not defacing the very thing you have sworn to uphold?
For those who have yet to mature into the world, here is the Masonic warning: This is not high school, college, or a
"frat". It is not a place where you "let your hair down", or tell lewd jokes at the expense of another to make yourself
feel more important.
It is a place where masons "meet to work"; a place meant to be a haven clear of all negatives toward each other, a
place to model who can best work and agree.
What is good for the lodge?
o Fellowship - We should greet each other when possible as we enter the lodge. This should be the job of Entered
Apprentices (and/or FCs) so that they can learn the names of other brethren in the lodge, and begin to make bonds
with visitng brethren.
o Friendship - Brothers should have the contact numbers of all masons in their lodge in order to make contact with
any they choose. To withhold a cell number from a lodge brother is essentially saying that you do not trust him. (Shall
we continue?)
o Role Modeling - All Master Masons are role models for EA's and FC's. That is a plain, simple fact. Any Master Mason should be willing to take charge of a brother EA or FC and help him. That is an obligation, not a suggestion. MMs
should also be willing to teach EAs/FCs customs, manners, and remind them of etiquette for functions or introductions.
That is the fraternal way, and what we should be handing down to our new brothers.
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o Tutoring - Brothers should be willing to teach, listen, or assist the brother who is studying by finding a suitable
teacher for him. It should NOT be left to the student to "track down" the teacher…. EVER!!
o Counseling - When a brother who normally shows up to the lodge is absent for an extended time (for no apparent
reason) we should be worried about him. A lodge designee should have a list of these brethren, and should be contacting them monthly to determine their status, offer help, or to pass that request on to the lodge in case another brother
can provide the service. We help our own first, and we worry about them when they are not with us.
o Edification of another - I cannot count the number of times I have heard someone edifying (that's talking good
about) another mason in his absence and seeing the admiration of the younger masons in the group. I also cannot
count the times that the negatives were elicited about a mason, and younger masons started chiming in with their own
negatives about masonic issues or brethren. We cannot let this happen. The only way to prevent this is to ensure all
do not get this kind of conversation started.
o Controlled discussion of differences - Will we always work best or agree? Certainly not, but we should be constructive about how we solve our differences. Are we ever as ready and willing to take the constructive criticism we
dish out? Of course we aren't, so why should we think someone else would like to hear it. Craft your discussions without emotion, or just say you don't agree but cannot verbalize it. Don't be petty, rude, or condescending to another
mason because you do not agree. Get a neutral party (the Master perhaps?) involved, if necessary, but keep the level
of discussion to the point.
What is not good for the lodge?
o Attitudes - Of any kind, please leave them at the door. It doesn't matter if the mason with whom you are fellowshipping is a lifelong friend, all masons should have the same thoughts in mind when attending lodge. Do what you want
outside the lodge, but remember that you represent your lodge when you do ANYTHING!!!!
o Control Freaks - For those who think they run everything… be my guest (because I have been there) but first roll
up your sleeves and lead on. Never ask someone to do something you have the time to do yourself, unless you are
asking them to help you. Nobody wishes to be ordered around, and I guarantee you that nobody will think very highly
of you if you do.
o Discriminatory thoughts, remarks, or actions - These are NEVER to be tolerated in a lodge, whether it be in
the Bathroom, Kitchen, Dining room, or Lodge room. We are adults, gentlemen, and we should act like adults… not
children! Our physical and mental differences are what make us unique, but not what Masonry is supposed to regard.
These things should not be used to denigrate any person, more especially a brother mason. They should be used to
understand the
o Blaspheming the Creator's name - This is antithetical to Masonry. Any mason doing this should be taken behind
the woodshed immediately. (No joke!) Seriously, this is an offense to many people, and you never know who is going
to hear it. Said in reaction to pain is no excuse. Masons should be prepared to reprimand any Mason who represents
himself (and the lodge) in this manner.
o Other profanity - Ok, it is bad enough that I have to include this item, because the above should take care of it, but
just for those of us who are a little slower….. NO PROFANITY IN THE LODGE, WHATSOEVER!!!
o Lewd or racist jokes - I cannot believe this still exists. I learned them as a child from more racist adults of that age,
but as an adult I know they are not proper under any circumstances. I cannot "un-learn" what I learned, so I try to for(Continued on page 19)
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get them. These have no place in lodges that are trying to mold young men's minds.
Some will most certainly take offense at the above words, and if they knew me would probably convict me of them
occasionally. I am not saying that I am on the "high road". I am just as humble as the next mason in trying to conquer
the vileness within me. It is my duty to myself to quell those thoughts and actions as much as it is my obligation to aid
a falling brother in his reformation.
Please join me in making this lodge, wherever you may choose to display this, full of proud masons who exude the following qualities for younger masons to see:
1. Honor to the fraternity to never to let it be defaced by bad intentions.
2. Virtuous in our lodges, and in our daily lives.
3. Truthful to ourselves about our need to change.
4. Fidelity to our practices, so that younger men will want to be like us.
5. Courage to speak out when others are not following Masonic principles.
6. Loyalty to our brothers in letting them know we care, and are willing to help.
7. Patience enough to wait and watch them change.
8. Humble enough to accept criticism when we falter, or commendation when we succeed.
9. Proud enough to commend the changes we see in our brothers.
Thank you for your help.
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Reader Submission
TRUE TOLERATION
Written By: W.Bro. George Moore
16th April 2006
One of the greatest things that I have admired about Masonic lectures is their ability to focus on particular
single words and present them to the brethren in a new or expanded context. Words such as improvement,
when coupled with intellectual, moral, spiritual or perhaps social order. Harmony, when used to describe
how it enables us to do everything together, for without harmony there
would be discord and ultimate failure. Other words such as Obedience,
Zeal, Fidelity, Justice and Enlightenment, all have their own stories to tell. A
more accurate description is probably that they present a deeper meaning
than one would normally observe. This, of course, is because many of these
words are presented through the ritual, thereby encouraging the participant
to think repeatedly about their meaning, so that it can be presented to the
brethren in the proper context. It also creates a huge void between those
that have performed the ritual and absorbed the meanings and those who
have merely listened to the lecture and perhaps forgotten most of it, if even
understood in the first place. This is one of the many differences between
the involved and the uninvolved, between those who ―get the message‖ and
those who do not.
TOLERATION is one of those great words that assist to present many thoughtful lessons about life, how
we should try to live it and how we should treat others as they go about living their lives. In Freemasonry,
we are taught to war incessantly against intolerance and one would think that the best way to conduct
this war would be to practice tolerance, leading by example so to speak. There are many within our craft
that do this and I have been fortunate enough to know and to be able to spend quality time with several of
them. However, several is not enough, and we still hear the ugly voice of intolerance whether it be the
young among us who are critical of the old ways, the aged who are reluctant to change, or the back benchers
who are critical of every movement and word if it was not performed to meet their perception of how it
should be done. Freemasonry takes us a step further, it teaches us to be tolerant even of intolerance. We
have all been young, we will all be old, and we have all made many errors. We expose our ignorance repeatedly as we strive towards moral and spiritual excellence. This is not a bad thing, but an acceptable and necessary part of our lives. It reminds me of the old axiom ―it is better to have tried and failed than not to have
tried at all‖, because through failure we learn.
True Toleration holds that every man has the same right to his opinion and faith that we have to
ours. We appear to be very good at the ―faith‖ part of this lesson; for I can truly say that during my Masonic
career I have never heard any brother voice an adverse comment about another brother‘s faith. This statement is particularly apropos to the history being created today, as we are bombarded constantly via the media with opinion and reports of violence amongst warring factions, often related to creed. Our tolerance
over opinion doesn‘t seem to fare so well. I am sure that this, to some degree, is inherent in us and many of
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us feel very strongly sometimes that ours is the true way. This may well be so, and Freemasonry clearly
teaches us that everyone has the right to expression, but we must not forget that others have the same right,
and what another person who is equally honest and sincere, and firmly and conscientiously believes, is the
truth to him.
We are taught to guard the reputations, respect the opinions and be perfectly tolerant of the errors of
each other. So let‘s give each other a break and offer the helping hand of tolerance that we might improve
and grow together in harmony. Let us remember that all actions have consequences, and we must be just, if
judging others.
How fortunate we are as Freemasons to have the benefit of the lessons of Toleration and all of the other
great lessons that Freemasonry presents to us with such simplicity and passion, leaving no room for error or
misunderstanding. How fortunate we are to belong to a fraternity that offers a common ground upon which
to grow, the tools to guide us along the way, and the option to set our own pace. How fortunate we are, not
only to be part of such an elite organization, but to have the ability and opportunity to introduce this privilege, observing proper protocol of course, to all men who are searching for improvement, belonging, knowledge and the host of other good things that Freemasonry offers.
Now is the time, and now will always be the time, to practice True Toleration. We should inform each new
petitioner that we are indeed a Tolerant Society and upon entering our gates one of the things that will be
expected from him is the practice True Toleration.
Wor. Bro. George Moore
District Education Officer
District # 23
AF&AM
British Columbia & Yukon
Check out the Grand Lodge of British Columbia & Yukon website at
http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/texts/index.html
One of the greatest Masonic websites of all time.
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Masonic Author Submission
Today I chatted with Robert Cooper, author of “The Rosslyn Hoax” and Curator of the Grand Lodge of
Scotland about submitting an article regarding the Templars. As expected his schedule was very tight
and wouldn’t be able to make the deadline but he suggested that I republish an earlier work about Masonic Education which is an issue I am very interested in.
When time frees up Bro Robert promises to put together an article for us to enjoy. CS
Masonic education - who is responsible?
By Brother Robert L D Cooper
It has become something of an industry – books about Freemasonry and which are available to the public. Often written by non-Freemasons their treatment of the subject can vary enormously. They often very speculative, and can be
sympathetic, or not, accurate or not, positive or negative, historically accurate or way off-beam. The fact that they exist, and in such huge numbers, and are produced seemingly from a production line immediately tells us something there is a huge demand for a material about Freemasonry. So who buys all of these books? - we do, of course! This
means that there is a more or less guaranteed market. I suspect that non-Masons who buy these books are considered
to be ‗icing on the cake‘ – in other words it is we Freemasons who are the target market.
This phenomenon first appeared in its modern form about 25 years ago and has accelerated in the size and number
ever since. The book ‗Holy Blood and The Holy Grail‘ (1982) was the first of these modern, speculative, books which
touched very briefly on Freemasonry, but it was ‗The Temple and The Lodge‘ (by the same authors), which started the
ball rolling in 1988. The success of such books has meant that the publishing industry has produced a juggernaut and
which shows no sign of slowing down although recently it may have changed direction – of which more later.
Many of these books deal, to a greater or lesser extent, with Freemasonry in my country - Scotland. Almost without
exception, they do so from a historical point of view, and none so far as I can tell, discuss Freemasonry as it presently
exists in Scotland. This again tells us something very important - it is far, far easier to write books about the past than
it is about the present - there are people around today to argue about today‘s facts whereas there are no Freemasons
from 100 years ago, to argue with the author writing today about them, what they did and what they believed. This
also ensures, unfortunately, that most modern writing on Freemasonry is backward looking. This does not provide
Freemasons today with any kind of vision about what Freemasonry ought to be in the future. It certainly does not assist
in educating and encouraging Freemasonry about the Craft today and rarely provides Freemasons with information as
to what Freemasonry is ‗about‘. There is, for example very little discussion in these popular books about the ethos of
the Craft and its purpose and function in society. Instead we are treated to mystical mumbo jumbo about our part that
has no apparent relationship with Freemasonry today.
One reason why a historian studies the past is to attempt to perceive the future and to enable people to avoid making
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the same mistakes made by out forbears. Yet Masonic history is rarely used for this purpose. Why?
It is perhaps the useful to mention here that writing about Freemasonry can be divided, roughly, into two ‗types‘ popular which writing usually is produced for sale in the public domain and material such as this paper, which is produced for private (or at least, semi-private) consideration by Freemasons. Of course, this is an artificial division for the
purposes of argument-of course it is well known that some writers produce material of both ‗types‘. It is surely significant that hardly any of the popular writers, produce material for journals such as this for which they would receive no
payment.
This phenomenon is, however, nothing new. Many popular authors, Freemasons or not (and of those that are none
are Scottish Freemasons) discuss specific subjects within Freemasonry - ritual, origins, symbolism, famous Freemasons,
etc. The first publication about Freemasonry, which was intentionally sold to the public was ‗Freemasonry Dissected’ by
Samuel Prichard, which was published in London, England, in 1730. He claimed to be a Freemason, but did not give any
details of where he was initiated or the name of his lodge. He explains the reason for publishing the ritual in the following manner:
In other words, he attempts to justify (to Freemasons) why he is selling the ritual to non-Freemasons. But if he were
genuinely concerned, as he claims to be, one wonders why he did not give it away for free. That question remains unanswered today and is applicable to some modern authors. Prichard's work was essentially theft - and a cheeky one at
that – after all the ritual was already ‗owned‘ by Freemasons. He printed and repackaged it and then sold it back to
them! Publications have such as these are known to us as ‗Exposures‘ and they continue to be published today principally by non Masons who have made them widely available through the Internet. Although making money from such
‗Exposures‘ it is often claimed that the ‗real‘ reason for publishing them is in order to ‗expose‘ the evil, criminal, ungodly, corrupt, immoral, (etc., etc.,) practices of Freemasons to stop the unwary from being lured in the Craft. This
returns us to Prichard‘s self-justification offered to us more than 275 years. That he historian, I find this more than a
wee bit amusing - it has not destroyed Freemasonry despite the repeated publication of these exposures throughout
that period. Inevitably, mammon is really the reason for these ‗exposure‘ and their publication proves, sadly, that they
continue to sell. In any event, the Masonic historian can benefit from this situation. For example, there is a web site
which provides a huge number of different Masonic rituals from all over the world. What a great resource because it
allows us, for example, to compare rituals from different countries from different times. It can also allow us to track
changes and developments in ritual over. It would have taken me a very long time to acquire hard copies of all the ritual is available on that website and even if I did manage to obtain them all it is very unlikely that I could have converted
them all into electronic format. I e-mailed the owner of the web site to thank him for the service he provides to Masonic historians such as myself. I did not receive a reply – I wonder why? I know of some Research Lodges that have
downloaded and printed these rituals for all of their members thereby saving considerable sums of money. They too
thanked to the owner of the web site but received no response.
This reveals a difference from the time of Prichard. Non-Freemasons of 270 years or so ago were not all that interested in Freemasonry per se. Writing about Freemasonry was an activity for Freemasons, by Freemasons. The last 20
years or so has seen a huge amount of material being written about Freemasonry and even Prichard falls into this category as the bulk of his sales were to Freemasons. The last 20 years of so has seen a huge amount of material being
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written about Freemasonry by non-Masons for non-Masons. Perhaps we can now begin to understand why and how
Freemasonry has come to be grossly distorted in the public‘s perception - because popular books do not inform them
accurately as to what the Craft is, its purpose and its ethos. However, we only have ourselves to blame – we have allowed this to happen.
We Freemasons have not satisfied the obvious demand for information about the Craft. Instead, we have allowed
popular writers, Masons and non-Mason alike, to do that for us. Let me put this in another way. Imagine if Microsoft
produced no instructions whatsoever about how to use its software. For people to use the software they would be
forced to buy whatever third party instruction manuals were available - whether they were good, bad or indifferent.
Grand Lodges ‗produce‘ Freemasonry (the software), but it does little or nothing to explain how to use that software.
Enterprising authors, good, bad or indifferent, have stepped in supply the demand.
That is the problem, is there a solution? There is, but if not an easy one. Perhaps it is time to retake what is already
ours and take the responsibility of educating our own members instead of leaving it to others? I am of course well
aware that some Grand Lodges do just that and therefore these comments are a generalisation but the fact remains
that there is no comprehensive system of Masonic education. One reason, arguably the principal reason, is because
every jurisdiction is independent and can educate (or not) its members however it likes. Another problem, I believe,
lies with the structure of Freemasonry itself and the way that structure does not mean the demands and needs of the
members. For the purposes of this paper I divide Freemasons into two distinct groups one which I shall call the Administrative class and the others the Philosophical class. I acknowledge that this division is crude and that there are a huge
number of Freemasons (some would say the majority) who fall into neither class nor does it take account of the small
number that are of both types. The Administrative class holds all the decision making power whereas the Philosophical
class have none. That is an observation not a criticism for administrators are needed to ‗run‘ Freemasonry. This is
usually done as a business however successfully or not. This imposes one set of priorities, which are usually quite different from all the cares, concerns and interests of the Philosophical class. The latter are, in my view, the custodians of
the history, culture and ethos of the Craft - the ‗soul‘ of Freemasonry if you like. These two groups (artificially created
by me) view the craft quite differently and their measure(s) of success and failure are equally different and use entirely
separate criteria. One group is focused on maximising income, increasing the number of members, maintaining buildings and attending essential Masonic conferences and functions. The other group, recalls that Freemasonry did not, and
does not, need large sums money in order to function, does not need large numbers of members to exist, and does
not need to own buildings in which to hold meetings. Information about Freemasonry (be it historical, philosophical or
even, dare I say it, spiritual) tends to be sough by those of the Philosophical class and is not generally of interest to
those who administer the Craft and who therefore do not provide material of interest to the other group. There is
therefore a disconnect between the two classes. The supply, by third parties who often are not Freemasons, is I believe but one worrying manifestation of this. Reconnecting these two groups in terms of their needs and aspirations
would be an important advance although I suspect that the benefits would not be apparent for some time. That brings
me to the ‗juggernaut‘ mentioned earlier. The market for books, articles and even movies is enormous and well established and whatever we do within Freemasonry it is unlikely that this situation will change. Perhaps then the direction
of the ‗juggernaut‘ needs to be changed in our favour. We need to take change of it and turn the steering wheel in the
direction we desire. Some signs that this is already happening can be seen from authoritative books being published by
recognised Masonic authors (those S. Brent Morris and Mart Tabbert spring to mind). If enough Freemasons are en(Continued on page 25)
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couraged to write and research the Craft then the more likely it will be that good quality material will find its way into
the bookstores and the third party mumbo – jumbo stuff will be squeezed off the shelves.
One final thought for you to consider when you next purchase a book which discusses Freemasonry. Having bought it
and read it and have concluded that it is absolute rubbish what will you do with the book? I am sure that, like me, you
will simply put it on your ‗Masonic bookshelf‘ - you certainly will not take it back to the bookstore and ask for a refund! Now you why there are so many people out there who are willing (if not able) to write so many books about Freemasonry!!
Robert L D Cooper is the Curator of the Grand Lodge of Scotland Museum and Library and an Honorary member of the Walter
F. Meier Lodge of Research. Brother Cooper has recently has had published two books on Freemasonry – Cracking the Freemasons‘ Code and The Rosslyn Hoax? (see: www.rosslynhoax.com) . The views expressed in this paper are the authors alone and do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Grand Lodge of Scotland or any other Masonic body of which he is a member.
Paper originally presented to Walter F. Meier Lodge of Research (Seattle WA) published in volume #12 of Transactions.
www.rosslynhoax.com
The Rosslyn Hoax? - would you like to know the truth about Rosslyn Chapel? 20 years
ago books such as The Temple and The Lodge began to offer a variety of 'alternative'
theories regarding the origin of Freemasonry. The number of books and articles which
continue to examine that theme shows no sign of declining in number. Since the publication of the novel "The Da Vinci Code" the interest in the subject has increased enormously. Huge numbers of non-Masons have been asking questions and putting forward
their own theories about Freemasonry and its alleged connection with the Knights Templar, the St. Clair family and Rosslyn Chapel. This book is a product of the research undertaken by Robert Cooper to answer those thousands of questions received over the
years he has been Curator of the Grand Lodge Museum and Library. The results will surprise a lot of people.
Here are some of the questions author asks:
• Have the public been the victims of a massive hoax?
• Are the Freemasons themselves the victims of an enormous conspiracy?
• Has the meaning of the Kirkwall Scroll been hijacked for a particular purpose?
• Is it true that Rosslyn Chapel has been physically changed to make it appear Masonic?
• Who benefits, and why, from trying to cover it all up?
Robert L. D. Cooper is the Curator of the Grand Lodge of Scotland Museum and Library of Scottish Freemasonry in
Edinburgh and is custodian of the oldest and most precious Masonic documents anywhere in the world. He is in the
most privileged position to know „from the inside‟ the truth about all the various theories regarding Rosslyn Chapel,
Freemasonry, the Knights Templar and the St. Clair family. For the first time a Scottish Freemason, one pre-eminent in
the field, speaks out. At last, he says, "Freemasons themselves are being asked about Freemasonry, Rosslyn Chapel, the
Knights Templar etc." This book will provide many of the answers readers of, for example, 'The Temple and The
Lodge'; 'The Hiram Key'; and 'The Da Vinci Code' etc. have been seeking.
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Cover Story
Did Masonry Come From The Knight Templar's?
Great question and I bet if you ask your lodge brothers chances are you‟ll get as many “no‟s” as “yes's” . It‟s a fascinating topic that has captured many Mason‟s interest.
One side of the group wants to believe our history originates from the Templar Knights after they were arrested, tortured
and rather quickly disbanded by Philip the fair. Stating facts that early Masonic manuscripts came not too far after the
date 1317 which is when the Knights went down in flames and that the Rosslyn Chapel has both Masonic and Templar
icons throughout.
On the opposite side of the spectrum are the nay-sayer‟s that state that nothing proves there is a connection between the
two groups. Leading Templar historians say that it is a ridiculous claim that was brought upon fiction like the “Da Vinci
Code”.
Presented here are both sides of the story to help you decide for yourself. Whether or not we are “brothers” of the KT we
may never know for sure. I‟m some what torn in the middle, I would be honored to say that I am following in the steps
of these warriors but I also know that it might be wishful thinking on my part.
So without further ado sit back and enjoy these various points of views. We start with a synopsis of “Born in Blood” one
of my favorite books.
BOOK SYNOPSIS OF
BORN IN BLOOD THE LOST SECRETS OF FREEMASONRY
By Russell Johnson
http://www.aristotle.net/~russjohn
The author purports to prove that Freemasonry is directly descended from the medieval monastic Knights Templar, and
in the process to solve a number of minor mysteries concerning Masonic ritual, including the meanings and origins of
words like cowan, cabletow and tyler, which occur in Masonic ritual and nowhere else in the English language. His best
evidence centers on the English Peasant's Revolt of 1381.
In 14th Century England life sucked for all but a very few people. You worked hard and were paid little if you were freeborn and nothing if you weren't. You had no rights at all. Anything you grew or built or invented belonged either to the
king or the pope. Malnutrition was a way of life, and if you were caught hunting on land that belonged to an aristocrat
you could be beaten or executed. The penalty for criticizing the church was that your lower lip would be cut off. And if
you did it again, you had another lip, didn't you?
Into the mix add frequent crop failures from 1315 to 1318 and then a big famine in 1340 then follow that up with three
plagues and a simultaneous war with Scotland and by 1350 the population of England had gone from 4M to 2.5M. Life's
a bitch.
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For a moment there seemed to be a silver lining to the cloud. The labor shortage
caused by all your friends and family dropping dead meant that for the first time
ever, a commoner could get some meaningful cash for his labor. The authorities didn't like the idea of working people having economic clout, so they passed the Statute
of Labourers which, among other things, fixed wages at preplague levels. Also at
about that time the Hundred Years War had begun, so that meant increased taxes.
Landowners who wanted to reduce the cost of their human resources could hire a
lawyer to comb genealogies to discover freemen who had descended from serfs, thus
forcing them into unpaid servitude.
WAT TYLER'S REVOLT
There's only so much a people can take, and in 1381 a peasants' rebellion occurred,
organized by reform-minded parish priests in contact with a shadowy, secretive
"Great Society" and led by a guy called Walter the Tyler. Now it may be that tyler is
an obsolete spelling of the occupation roof tiler, but Robinson contends that tyler in
this case is sergeant at arms of a Masonic lodge, a natural choice to lead a violent
mob. During this insurrection, there was a great deal of lopping off of heads of aristocrats and upper church officials,
lawyers and authority in general; but the mob seems to have been deliberately guided toward the destruction of property,
particularly property belonging to the Knights Hospitaller and the Church. One piece of Hospitaller property was spared,
that temple which had been the principal temple of the Knights Templar prior to the suppression of the order in 1307.
When the king's party finally went out to meet with the leaders of the rebellion, two men conspicuously not in the party
were the Archbishop of Canturbury and the prior of the Knights Hospitaller. Tyler and a few men found them anyway in
the Tower of London and beheaded them. The young king agreed to parley with Tyler, but Tyler was stabbed by members of the king's excourt as he spoke. As Tyler lay wounded, the king rode to the rebels and announced to them that he
would personally see to their concerns. The now leaderless rebellion petered out in London and carried on for a couple
more days in outlying towns.
So that's the closest Robinson came to a historical smoking gun. The shadowy Great Society of the Peasant's Revolt has
one foot in the Masons, based on the name Walter the Tyler, and one foot in the Templars, based on the fact that the mob
singled out Hospitaller leadership and property, the Hospitallers being the rival monastic order which had most directly
participated in and profited from the Pope's supression of the Templars.
It's not perfect evidence, but it's pretty good. The troublesome part is the possibility that tyler might be an alternate spelling of tiler. Robinson tries to add weight to his argument mainly in that it just makes so much sense that a man who occupied the position of sergeant at arms of a secret society would be a natural choice to lead a violent rebellion and that a
roof tiler would be a less likely leader. Also, from the moment he appeared on the scene he was universally recognized
as the leader of the rebellion, even though rioting had been taking place under other leaders for a couple of days before
he arrived. Robinson doubts that could have happened so easily if Wat had been a "tiler" and not a "tyler."
Tyler issued the command that men within 36 miles of the coast should stay put, lest the French take advantage of the
upheaval in order to stage an invasion. Tyler was a man used to giving commands and apparently accustomed to having
those commands carried out, which in this case they were. Further, these commands covered ranges miles from London
and coordinated concurrent rebellions as far north as Scotland. Robinson takes this coordination and discipline as evidence that a command structure was in place and ready to go when the rebellion erupted. That's a lot to expect of a roof
tiler, but all in a day's work for a sergeant at arms of a secret society.
THUMBNAIL HISTORY OF THE KNIGHTS OF THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON
For supporting evidence, Robinson backtracks to the history of the Knights of the Temple of Solomon. These guys were
soldier monks who fought in the crusades and had as their stated purpose the aid of pilgrims traveling from Europe to the
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Holy Land (from West to East, and possibly the other way, too). To accomplish this, they maintained chains of castles,
supply depots, armed escorts, banks, secret intelligence networks, farms, vineyards, ranches and so on throughout
Europe and the Middle East. In modern terms they were a diversified multinational religious and financial corporation
which became stinking rich offering support services to the crusades.
For example, if you were a young knight on your way from Paris to Jerusalem, you could carry a box of gold with you
with which to purchase supplies along the way. You could camp in the woods exposed to robbers while you sleep. Or
you could deposit your gold with the Templars in Paris and carry a note for the amount with you like a traveler's check.
Templar facilities were conveniently spaced and feed, pack animals, supplies, even armaments could be purchased there
and debited against the note you carried.
Of course, these notes were just that. Handwritten notes. In order to guard against the possibility of disbursing gold to
people carrying forged notes, the Templar clerics developed secret signs, and ciphers, apparently accidental marks, tears,
and the like which one Templar could use to authenticate a document written by another a
thousand miles away and presented by a stranger. When you're handing out gold, you
want to be sure. Also with a large geographically diffuse organization requiring the frequent disbursement of funds among its members, you have to know that the guy you're
handing the cash to is a brother Templar and not a fake. So they developed other secret
signs, handshakes, knocks and so on, manners of speaking and dressing that would allow
them to identify their own. Those signs, customs, raps and marks would have to be standardized throughout the order across Europe and the Middle East from the Atlantic to the
Euphrates.
In this way, Robinson begins to pile up a mountain of circumstantial evidence. The Templars did this --the Masons do something similar. The Templars had ciphers and secret
grips -- the Masons have ciphers and secret grips. The Templar order took its name from
the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem -- elements of Masonic ritual revolve around the construction of the Temple of
Solomon. Masons wear sheepskin aprons, Templars wore a sheepskin loincloth under their robes. The Templars were
monks and called one another "brother." Masons refer to themselves as "brother" Masons, and since the Templars were a
French order, "brother Mason" might once have been "frére macon" which is transliterated into English as "freemason."
THE FRENCH CONNECTION
While we're on the subject of French, there's an old French word "tailleur," meaning "one who cuts." The pronunciation
approximates "tyler," and it would be an appropriate name for a man who is stationed at an entrance to a Masonic lodge
with his sword drawn and deciding who does and doesn't "make the cut."
Still on the subject of French, there's a phrase in Masonic ritual, "cowans and eves droppers" which has confused people
over the years. Noplace else in the English language does the word "cowan" appear, but there's an old French word
"couenne" which is pronounced kuh-WAHN and means ignoramus or bumpkin. The French
word for protective gesture is geste du garde, which Robinson posits as the source of the Masonic identifying gesture, or
"due guard" for each degree. There's an old French equivalent for the enigmatic "cable-tow" as well, although it's meaning is not all that surprisingly a rope used tie down a ship.
Still on the subjects both of French and the Temple of Solomon, the biblical telling of the story of the temple's construction names the chief builder as Hiram. The Masonic version gives him a last name, Abiff. That last name is not mentioned in the Bible. But in French, "Hiram à Biffe" means "Hiram who was eliminated," or perhaps "Hiram, the guy who
got whacked," which is exactly what happens to Hiram in the Masonic telling of the story, not in the biblical version.
There was a pirate city in Muslim North Africa known as Mahadia. Robinson speculates that the Templar fleet escaping
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from La Rochelle might have gained refuge in a Muslim port like Mahadia, possibly referring to it as "Mahadia the
Good." In French, Mahadia le Bon, later shortened to "mahabone," one of the Masonic secret words.
THE SUPRESSION OF THE ORDER
King Philip of France and Pope Clement conspired in 1307 to arrest the Templars on
trumped up charges of everything from blasphemy to buggery (the usual accusations in
the time of the Inquisition). Once confessions were tortured out of them, their lands and
fortunes would be forfeit, turned over to Philip and Clement, and their real estate and
charter turned over to the Knights of the Hospital of St. John -- the Hospitallers.
That was a lot of wealth. At the time, the Templars had property every few miles from
Scotland to Egypt and from Portugal to Palestine. In addition to that, they were lending
money to every nobleman in Europe and renting out their knights as mercenaries and
security guards. They were managing agricultural property for a fee.
They were required to recognize no political boundaries within all cristendom and were
bound only by the laws of their own order, so they acted as bonded couriers, political
messengers and mediators. If there was a dispute between a feudal lord and some church
authority, the Pope might have dispatched a couple of Templars to settle the matter instead of an army of soldiers.
The Hospitallers
So concentrated within that order was more money and power than any individual king in the world. Although they were
sworn to obey the pope, it's easy to see that Clement could have seen them as a threat, like having a lion in your house,
even if it's YOUR lion....
The arrest operation was a disappointment for Philip and Clement. Templars in Germany simply declared their innocence and offered trial by combat to anybody who cared to cross the Rhine and say that. When the order was outlawed
five years later, one assumes the Templars would have entered civilian life or joined the Teutonic Knights or some other
order. Templars in Portugal and Spain changed their names to the Knights of Christ and melded into the feudal systems
of those countries. The English King stalled for almost a month before carrying out the pope's order, so that by the time
he had to make the arrests, all the treasure and all the Templars had vanished. And in Scotland, well, forget it. Any pain
in the pope's neck was a friend of the Scots.
Even in France much of what wasn't nailed down was gone when the soldiers showed up to arrest the Templars. Only a
few older members of the Order stayed behind, letting themselves be arrested. Possibly they hoped to delay the authorities so the others could make good their escape. Possibly they thought they had the best chance of legally defending their
charter. Whatever the reason, only a small fraction of the Templars were ever apprehended. The 18 ships in the Templar
fleet vanished from their port of La Rochelle and were never hear from again. This might explain why a man undergoing
the rite of a Master Mason is told that this degree will make him a "brother of pirates and corsairs."
BLOODY OATHS AND OTHER MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS
Robinson demolishes the widely held notion that the Freemasonry arose from medieval stonemasons craft guilds. In his
chapter describing medieval craft guilds, he mentions that he visited the archives of some of the world's great libraries in
London, Oxford and Lincoln, towns known for having lots of medieval stonework. Although he found documentation
for guilds covering everything from vintners to fishmongers to gold wire drawers, he was unable to find even one documented instance of a medieval guild of English stonemasons.
A Mason swears to keep the order's secrets under the threat of having his body chopped into pieces, his throat cut, his
tongue ripped out by the roots, his entrails burned and many other gruesome fates. What secret could a stonemason have
that requires that kind of oath? This wasn't just a matter of "cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye." Guys
running from the inquisition would have a good reason to require that kind of oath from his brothers, because that
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"burning entrail" stuff is right down the inquisition's alley.
Masonic membership requires that the candidate be freeborn. Like Masonry there were three classes of Templars,
(Knights, Sergeants and Clerics) all of which were required to be freeborn. Masons require a professed belief in a Supreme Being, but require that the specifics of religion not be discussed in the lodge. Doesn't make much sense from the
point of view of a stonecutter's union, but regarding men evading religious persecution it makes a lot of sense.
THE OLD CHARGES
Some of the oldest documents in Freemasonry, one dating right back to the fourteenth century, are known as the Old
Charges. This is a short list of rules about how Masons are to treat one another. One rule goes that a Mason may not reveal a secret that would result in a brother Mason losing life or property. A Mason may not have illicit sex with the female relations of a brother Mason. A Mason visiting a town should not go about the town unless escorted by a brother
Mason who can vouch for him. A Mason passing through is to be given two weeks' employment by a brother Mason,
then given some spending money and sent on his way to the next lodge.
Seriously, doesn't this sound like rules of conduct for an underground railroad? And what possible relevance could these
rules hold for a craft guild of stonecutters?
SO WHERE DID ALL THE STONEMASON STUFF COME FROM?
According to Robinson the veneer of stonemasonry is the most convenient available cover story. If a bunch of guys are
gathered in an inn and the authorities burst in wanting to know what you lot are up to, you're a bunch of Masons relaxing. Scattered around the room can be seen rules, compasses, squares and mauls. A suspicious authority can't verify your
name with the roll of the local stonemason guild, because as Robinson discovered to his surprise earlier, there were no
stonemason guilds in England. Masonry was the perfect unfalsifiable cover for an underground organization. They
couldn't very well pretend to be fishmongers. Their names would have to be on the rolls at the local fishmongers guild.
Not only that, it would be hard to keep your lodge secret due to the telltale aroma of mackerel.
Ritual might have arisen around the stonecutting paraphernalia early on. In this way, even people who didn't know or
care anything about the Templar supression could be recruited and used for the underground railroad and still have some
ritual that they could make sense of, inoccuous parables about self-improvement.
At some point all the Templars are going to die of old age and the original purpose of the secret society dies with them.
However, those original Templars persecuted by their monarch and their church had over the course of their lives recruited a body of men who were anti-pope and anti-authoritarian while on the surface being churchgoing, taxpaying upright citizens. That's the kind of men they would have to recruit. So by the time of the Peasants Revolt of 1381, the secret
lodges consisted entirely of men who thought that common people were getting screwed by the authorities, and when a
revolt spontaneously broke out, the post-templars (or proto-Masons if you prefer) were ready to leap to the fore and aim
the mob at the specific authorities which they considered to be the source of the most immediate social ills.
Of all the connections with Masons and Templars that Robinson links to the Peasants Revolt, none of them involve the,
rule, maul, compass, square and so on. It's tempting, but not really warranted to say that the Masonry trappings were
added after 1381. The clues are just too sparse to be that specific.
So if there's an intellectual inheritance the Masons got from the Templars it's anti-authoritarianism, anti-tyrranism. You
can't read the Bill of Rights (written by Masons) without hearing the echoes of Masonic ritual. For example, the constitution prohibits the establishment of a state religion, Masonry also leaves religious observance to the conscience of the individual.
Perhaps those Masonic sermons about improving one's self bit by bit and rebuilding Solomon's Temple brick by brick
are an admonishment favoring gradual improvement of our political environment, and warning against the mistake made
by the Great Society when it tried to uproot all authority in one grand violent swoop. If this is the case, the addition of
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the Masonic trappings would have occurred after 1381, and the story of Hiram Abiff, the builder murdered before the
Temple could be completed, roughly corresponds to the story of Wat Tyler's revolt.
JUBELA, JUBELUM AND JUBELO
In the story of Hiram Abiff, the three Jewes (or Jubes) named Jubela, Jubelum and Jubelo, use the implements of their
lower degrees, the maul, the rule and the square, kill Master Mason Hiram in an attempt to get the Master's Masonic secrets before the completion of the Temple. They hide the body, which is later "raised" and properly buried. Later in the
story they wail mournfully that it would have been better to have suffered the fates of their bloody oaths than to have
killed their master.
In a medieval church there's a thing called a "rood screen." It's a latticework screen on which is hung a cross. In a spot in
front of the rood screen is where monks do their pennace in front of the assembled order. In France, that screen is called
a jubé. There's a french colloquialism venir à jubé, which means "to do one's pennance," and the three Juwes in the story
certainly were loudly and publicly penitent.
Robinson interprets this story as the naming of parties guilty of the attempted destruction of the Templars. Hiram represents not any one person, but Masonry itself and the three Juwes represent the Crown, the Pope and the Hospitallers, the
three conspirators of the arrest and suppression.
FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OF SECRET OPERATION
Masonry, whether or not it was called that, operated in secret in Britain from 1307 to the formation of the Grand Lodge
of London in 1717. That's over four hundred years. How is that possible? Robinson's explanation is that Masonry was
formed around refugees fleeing religious and political persecution. The Pope kept right on burning heretics, and England
was Protestant/Catholic off and on right up through Elizabeth I. Once established, a secret organization that protected
heretics would have no trouble finding new members. Masons wouldn't have felt safe about revealing themselves unless
England was a political non-catholic superpower and her heretics protected by law, thus making secret lodges unnecessary. In 1685 the last claim of a Catholic to the British throne fell apart. In 1701 it was made law that the British Royal
Family would be members of the Church of England. Shortly thereafter the Grand Lodge of London was formed.
Masonic Lodges have from time to time served their ancient purpose right up through the twentieth century. While outlawed by fascist countries in WWII Europe, some Masonic lodges went underground in the old fashioned way and
served as the foci of resistance efforts. Masonic initiations are even said to have taken place in prison camps, using a pair
of sticks to inscribe a circle in the dust, just as described in Masonry's oldest rituals, the ones most closely resembling the
Templar secret rituals.
In the WWII example, Masonry provided what the Templar organization provided 640 years earlier, a force in readiness,
a pre-existing organization with a tradition of secret communication and a charter focused on reli
gious and political tolerance.
YOUR HOST COMMENTS
There's lots more in this book (The Masonic mosaic resembles the black and white Templar Beau Seant, for example.),
but if you aren't convinced by now, doubling up on the coincidences isn't going to convince you. If you're interested in
the material, get a copy and read it for yourself. The author's reasoning is impeccable, even if he does stretch things a bit
at times. For example, the proposed etymology of the word "mahabone" is little more than a guess. To his credit, when
he does put forth a weak argument he's not shy about letting you know that it's a weak argument.
Most of his arguments are pretty strong, however, and given that the Templar trail has had seven centuries to cool, Robinson has put together a wholly convincing argument for the proposition that the three degrees of Craft Masonry are
rooted in the fugitive Knights Templar in hiding in 14th Century England. Period.
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Of course the whole time I was reading I was wondering just what you've been wondering. "What happened to all the
stuff?" All the treasure that disappeared. Where is it hidden? Then I read the part about the Old Charges and how money
was to be distributed to brothers passing through, and how lodging was to be provided and so on. My suspicion is that all
that treasure went to hide the Templars, shift them around the country, lodge them in safe houses, find new identities for
them, buy them new clothes to replace the monks robes, set them up in new professions and so on and was probably
gone within a generation of the suppression. If the fabled Templar Treasure was not spent, it was wasted.
According to Robinson, though, there is a treasure of sorts which might yet exist. Along with the Templars and their
treasure and their fleet, their records also vanished. This would include everything from membership rolls to expense
accounts for military expeditions to wine recipes. Those might still be around, maybe all in one place, maybe in fragments, maybe dispersed throughout the world, but maybe somewhere. In 1717, when a few London lodges "went public"
and Masons first publicly admitted that Masonry existed, a number of lodges, fearing persecution, panicked and burned
their records. Let's hope the Templars didn't do that back in 1307.
THE SON OF A WIDOW
One place where Robinson and I disagree is in the interpretation of the story of Hiram Abiff. Robinson represents the
story as a roman a clef with the three Juwes representing Clement, Phillip and the Prior of the Hospitallers. While this
reading is valid, I think there's a more reasonable interpretation that is more introspective from the Mason's point of
view. Hiram represents not any one person, but Masonry itself and the three Juwes represent the impatient elements of
the membership who very nearly destroyed the secret order in a premature attempt to accomplish its goals. As evidence
for this proposition recall that Hiram was killed by masons with implements pertaining to all three degrees of Masonry.
The point that the workers proceed in the rest of the story repeatedly mentioning that no plans were left for the workers
by the master builder might indicate that the executions at the end of the Peasants' Revolt effectively removed the leadership of the secret society. And at the end of the story they install a makeshift Mason's secret word to take the place of the
genuine article until somebody comes along who can figure out what that secret word was. It's an allegorical expression
of the order's loss of purpose.
I find Robinson's explanation regarding mention of a Widow's Son a little vague and cursory. He holds that every Master
Mason symbolically becomes Hiram Abiff, the son of a widow, the phrase being merely a description of Hiram. I interpret that phrase as an allegorical lament about an absent father. The Templars, a holy order, have lost their Holy Father,
the Pope, or in Latin Papa, literally, father. The Templars are the widow's son. The Pope is the absent father.
ARTICLE # 2
The Origins of Freemasonry
http://www.robertlomas.com/Freemason/Origins.html
A Lecture given on 25 August 2000, at the 5th International Conference of Great Priories
in The Albert Halls, Stirling, Scotland by
Dr Robert Lomas
Where Freemasonry Started
Freemasonry, in the form we would recognise today, started at the building of Rosslyn Chapel near Edinburgh.
How do I know this?
There are three important pieces of evidence which support this statement.
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1. Rosslyn links the Jewish Temple through the Knights Templar to Freemasonry.
2. The ground plan of Rosslyn is a copy of Herod‟s Temple and above ground it replicates the Herodian Architecture of
Jerusalem.
3. Rosslyn contains the oldest document showing a modern First Degree Ceremony being conducted by a Knight Templar.
The Ground Plan
The layout of Rosslyn, which was started in 1440, is an exact replica of the ground plan of the Third Temple, built in
Jerusalem by Herod and destroyed in the First Century by the Romans.
(See The Hiram Key, Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, Arrow, London, 1997 for full details)
A Stone Document showing the First Degree
of Freemasonry
All the carvings in Rosslyn were first cut in wood and produced to the Master of Works for inspection before being
cut in stone. This is one of the earliest examples of Quality
Control in Britain.
On the lower frame of the window in the South West corner
of the Chapel there is a carving which seems to be of a Freemasonic First Degree.
(See The Second Messiah, Christopher Knight and Robert
Lomas, Arrow, London, 1998 for full details)
Is it Just Chance?
John Hamill, the Librarian of the United Grand Lodge of England, has suggested that it may be just co-incidence that
this little figure seems to show a link between Templarism and Freemasonry.
The figure shows a man kneeling between two pillars. He is blindfolded and has a running noose about his neck. His feet are in a strange and unnatural posture and in his left
hand he holds a bible. The end of the rope about his neck is held by another man who is
wearing the mantle of a Knight Templar.
Now for those of you are not familiar with our strange ways of within the craft, when
somebody is admitted they are called the Candidate. Men are admitted to men's lodges
and women to separate women's lodges. The candidate is dressed in a very odd manner
but will only be admitted when properly dressed for the ceremony.
The way of dressing is to wear a rough white clothing folded back to reveal particular
parts of the body. The candidate is blindfolded and has a running noose about his neck.
Here is a picture of a Masonic candidate who is correctly dressed for the ceremony standing before the two pillars that appear in every Masonic Lodge.
This carving shows seven distinct points of similarity to the modern First Degree of Freemasonry, and
it was carved between 1440-50. It was inspected and
passed before being cut in stone so the features
within it are intended to be there.
The problem for John Hamill is that the statue was carved five
hundred and fifty years ago and this is two hundred and seventy
years before the claimed founding of the Craft in England. When
Chris Knight and I published this information it caused a tremen(Continued on page 34)
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dous fuss in English Freemasonry. Many articles were written by various Masonic writers supporting the Hamill's view
that these similarities were simply co-incidence.
How, the gentleman from England must have asked themselves, could Freemasonry have come from such an outlandish
place as Scotland? :-)
(This lecture was delivered in Stirling surrounded by many Scots, as well
as a considerable number of overseas delegates. This statement caused
considerable amusement)
However, their counter claim of co-incidence, can be tested using standard
techniques of Hypothesis Testing and here is the detailed calculation.
There are seven points of congruence (agreement) between the carving and
the modern Masonic ceremony. These are
The statue at Rosslyn shows a number of
features which are now considered to be
Masonic. Here is a drawing of the main
features of the Statue.
1. The man is blindfolded. This is unusual in medieval statues and the
only other example it the figure of blind justice. There is no other blindfold
figure carved in Rosslyn.
2. The man is kneeling. This is fairly common in medieval carvings and
there are other kneeling figures in Rosslyn.
3. The man is holding a bible in his left hand. There are a number of other carvings showing figures holding books or
scrolls within Rosslyn.
4. The man has a noose about his neck. There are few known figures of the period showing nooses about their necks.
The best known is the statue called 'The dying Gaul'. There is one other figure in Rosslyn which has a noose in it and
that is the figure of the hanged man which represents the angel Shemhazai whose sins caused God to send the Flood and
who was so afraid to face God that he hung himself between heaven and earth with his face away from God. Shemhazai
is carved with a noose about his feet but there is no other noose carved in Rosslyn.
5. The man has his feet in the posture that is still used today by Masonic candidates. This is a very unusual position and
does not occur in any other carvings in Rosslyn.
6. The ceremony is being carried out between two pillars as it is in a Masonic Lodge. Pillars figure in a lot of the carvings at Rosslyn.
7. The noose is being held by a man clearly dressed as a Templar. There are many Templar symbols and images of Templars carved in Rosslyn.
So what is the chance of all these factors coming together by chance? I set up a null hypothesis that it was pure co-incidence that all these elements linking Templarism and
Freemasonry occurred in the same carving and then set out to test the probability of the
idea.
1. The probability that the figure is blindfolded by chance is 0.5 as it can only be blindfolded or not blindfolded. This is a worst case probability that gives the null hypothesis
the best chance of succeeding as there is no other blindfolded figure in Rosslyn.
2. The probability that the figure is kneeling by chance is 0.5 as it again can only be kneeling or not kneeling.
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3. The probability that the figure is holding a bible by chance is 0.5 as there are again only two possibilities. Holding a
bible or not holding a bible.
4. The probability that the figure has noose about its neck by chance is 0.5 even though it is the only figure in Rosslyn
with a noose about its neck. Again I am giving the Null Hypothesis the best possible chance of succeeding.
5. The probability that the figure has his feet in a Masonic posture (which the ritual says is the only way a Candidate will
be admitted to Freemasonry) by chance is 0.5 because he can have them that way or not. No other figure in Rosslyn
holds in feet in this strange symbolic way so again the Null Hypothesis is being given the full benefit of any doubt.
6. The probability that the ceremony is taking place between two pillars by chance is 0.5 because the alternative would
be not to place the two pillars there.
7. The probability that a Templar is holding the noose by chance is 0.5 and this is generous towards the Null Hypothesis
because the rope could be loose or held by somebody who is not a Templar. In the modern Masonic ceremony the rope is
held by the senior deacon whilst the candidate takes his oath hold the bible.
I now needed to consider the possibility of all these seven probabilities occurring at the same time. To find the composite
probability I must multiply the separate probabilities together.
So the highest possible probability of the null hypothesis being true is
(0.5)*(0.5)*(0.5)*(0.5)*(0.5)*(0.5)*(0.5) which works out as 0.0078
So there are only eight chances in a thousand that all these elements linking Freemasonry to Templarism and Sir William
St Clair are there by co-incidence. This probability is less than the 95% confidence level one in 20 and less than the 99%
confidence level of one in 100. There is only one chance in 128 of the links being co-incidence. On this evidence I reject
the null hypothesis, that leaves me with a strong claim that Sir William was linked to Freemasonry in 1440 and that this
link involved Templars.
So to sum up, if each point of similarity is given a 50% chance of being there by accident. (Which is giving the opposite
view the best odds possible) There are only 8 chances in 1000 that it is pure chance.
Who Built Rosslyn?
Rosslyn was built by Sir William St Clair Last St Clair Jarl of Orkney. He was a direct descent of William de St Clair Last Temple
Grand Master of Scotland, who died taking the heart of the dead
king, Robert de Bruce on a last crusade to Jerusalem.
Sir William, the chapel builder, is also the direct ancestor of First
Grand Master Mason of Scotland, also named William St Clair
(Sinclair)
Why did William Build Rosslyn?
To house artifacts brought by the Knights Templar to Scotland in
1126. Between 1118 and 1128 the Templars excavated the ruins
The Tombstone of the Templar Sir William St Clair,
of Herod‟s Temple in Jerusalem. Hugue de Payen, first Grand
preserved in Rosslyn
Master of the Knights Templar, served on the First Crusade with
Henri St Clair, First Earl of Roslin and Hugue visited Roslin in
1126 where he was given land to build the first Templar Preceptory outside the Holy Land.
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How do I know about the Templar Excavations?
In 1860 the British Army Engineers mounted an expedition to Jersualem
and two Lieutenants ,Wilson and Warren, mapped out the city to Ordnance
Survey standards. They excavated beneath Temple Mount and found many
deep tunnels in which they also found and recorded Templar artifacts.
(See The Second Messiah, Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, Arrow,
London, 1998 for full details)
Why Build a Copy of Herod’s Temple?
In 1440 William St Clair was the most powerful man in Scotland.
He decided to build Rosslyn to house the treasures he had inherited from
the Templars and establish a seat of spiritual authority to rival James II
who was dabbling in English politics and finally got himself killed during
the War of the Roses.
William brought in Masons to build Rosslyn and built the town of Roslin
to house them.
When James II died (1460) his son, James III, thought William was posing
Here is an illustration of the shaft and tun- to great a threat to the Crown of Scotland so he stripped William of Orkney and broke up his estates
nels dug by the Templars beneath Temple
Mount, taken from the Army report of 1870
So now we have visited briefly some of the key events involved in the
creation of Freemasonry. There is much more to the story, for example the
St Clairs had lands at Kilwinning and were involved with famous Mother Kilwinning Lodge there, but there is not
enough time today to tell the full story. So let me finish with a Timeline of the Key events which led to the Formation of
the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1736.
The Timeline of Freemasonry
1440 Masons given the Mason word by William to preserve the secrets of the Templars he was building Rosslyn to house.
1483 The burgh of Aberdeen is recorded as being involved in settlement of a dispute between six „masownys
of the lurge‟. Masonry is starting to spread out as lodges initiate Candidates and give the the 'Mason Word'
1599 Earliest surviving Lodge Minutes from Edinburgh
1601 James VI made a Mason at Lodge of Scoon and Perth.
1602 William Schaw sets up the modern lodge system in Scotland following the instructions of James VI
1602 The Lodges of Scotland affirm William St Clair of Roslin as hereditary Grand Master Mason of Scotland
from TI
1603 James VI takes Freemasonry to England when he becomes James I of Britain
1641 Sir Robert Moray becomes the first Mason recorded to be made on English Soil.
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1715 First Jacobite Rising, lodges begin to disclaim their Scottish roots
1717 Formation of Grand Lodge of London denies Jacobite Heritage
1725 First National Grand Lodge formed in Ireland
1736 Grand Lodge of Scotland Formed as a counter measure to London expansionism.
1736 William St Clair of Roslin made First Grand Master Mason of Scotland
and signs away his hereditary rights in favour of elected officers.
Incidentally, William had to be made a Mason before he could take over as grand
master mason.
Portrait of William Sinclair of
Roslin, First Grand Master Mason
of Scotland 1736
ARTICLE # 3
The Story Of The Scottish Templars
From The History of Freemasonry
by Albert Mackey, 1898
The story, which connects the Knights Templars with Freemasonry in Scotland, after their return from the Crusades and
after the suppression of their Order, forms one of the most interesting and romantic legends connected with the history of
Freemasonry. In its incidents the elements of history and tradition are so mingled that it is with difficulty that they can be
satisfactorily separated. While there are some writers of reputation who accept everything that has been said concerning
the connection in the 14th century of the Freemasons of Scotland with the Templars who were then in that kingdom, or
who escaped to it as an asylum from the persecutions of the French monarch, as an authentic narrative of events which
had actually occurred, there are others who reject the whole as a myth or fable, which has no support in history.
Here, as in most other cases, the middle course appears to be the safest. While there are some portions of the story,
which are corroborated by historical records, there are others, which certainly are without the benefit of such evidence.
In the present chapter I shall endeavor, by a careful and impartial analysis, to separate the conflicting elements and to
dissever the historical from the legendary or purely traditional portions of the relation. But it will be necessary, in clearing the way for any faithful investigation of the subject to glance briefly at the history of those events, which were connected with the suppression of the ancient Order of Knights Templars in France in the beginning of the 14th century.
The Templars, on leaving the Holy Land, upon the disastrous termination of the last Crusade and the fall of Acre, had
taken temporary refuge in the island of Cyprus. After some vain attempts to regain a footing in Palestine and to renew
their contests with the infidels, who were now in complete possession of that country, the Knights had retired from Cyprus and repaired to their different Commanderies in Europe, among which those in France were the most wealthy and
the most numerous.
At this period Philip IV, known in history by the sobriquet of Philip the Fair, reigned on the French throne, and Clement
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V. was the Pontiff of the Roman Church. Never before had the crown or the tiara been worn by a more avaricious King
or a more treacherous Pope. Clement, when Bishop of Bordeaux, had secured the influence of the French monarch toward his election to the papacy by engaging himself by an oath on the sacrament to perform six conditions imposed upon
him by the king, the last of which was reserved as a secret until after his coronation.
This last condition bound him to the extermination of the Templars, an order of whose power Philip was envious and for
whose wealth he was avaricious. Pope Clement, who had removed his residence from Rome to Poictiers, summoned the
heads of the military orders to appear before him for the purpose, as he deceitfully pretended, of concerting measures for
the inauguration of a new Crusade. James de Molay, the Grand Master of the Templars, accordingly, repaired to the papal court. While there the King of France preferred a series of charges against the Order, upon which he demanded its
suppression and the punishment of its leaders.
The events that subsequently occurred have been well called a black page in the history of the order.
On the 13th of October, 1307, the Grand Master and one hundred and thirty-nine Knights were arrested in the palace of
the Temple, at Paris, and similar arrests were on the same day made in various parts of France. The arrested Templars
were thrown into prison and loaded with chains. They were not provided with a sufficiency of food and were refused the
consolations of religion. Twenty-six princes and nobles of the court of France appeared as their accusers; and before the
judgment of their guilt had been determined by the tribunals, the infamous Pope Clement launched a bull of excommunication against all persons who should give the Templars aid or comfort.
The trials, which ensued, were worse than a farce, only because of their tragic termination. The rack and the torture were
unsparingly applied. Those who continued firm in a denial of guilt were condemned either to perpetual imprisonment or
to the stake. Addison (editors note: Charles Addison was another author writing about the Templars in the 1800's ) says
that one hundred and thirteen were burnt in Paris and others in Lorraine, in Normandy, at Carcassonne, and at Senlis.
The last scene of the tragedy was enacted on the 11th of March, 1314. James de Molay, the Grand Master of the order,
after a close and painful imprisonment of six years and a half, was publicly burnt in front of the Cathedral of Notre
Dame, in Paris.
The order was thus totally suppressed in France and its possessions confiscated. The other monarchs of Europe followed
the example of the King of France in abolishing the Order in their dominions; but, in a more merciful spirit, they refrained from inflicting capital punishment upon the Knights.
Outside of France, in all the other kingdoms of Europe, not a Templar was condemned to death. The order was, however,
everywhere suppressed, and a spoil made of its vast possessions, notwithstanding that in every country beyond the influence of the Pope and the King of France its general innocence was sustained. In Portugal it changed its name to that of the Knights of Christ - everywhere else the Order
ceased to exist.
But there are writers who, like Burnes, (1) maintain that the persecution of the Templars in the 14th century did not close the history of the order, but that there has been a
succession of Knights Templars from the 12th century down to these days.
Dr. Burnes alluded to the Order of the Temple and the pretended transmission of the
powers of de Molay to Larmenius.
With this question and with the authenticity of the so-called "Charter of Transmission,"
the topic which we are now about to discuss has no connection, and I shall therefore
make no further allusion to it.
“The events that
subsequently occurred
have been well called
a black page in the
history of the order.”
It is evident from the influence of natural causes, without the necessity of any historical proof, that after the death of the
Grand Master and the sanguinary persecution and suppression of the Order in France, many of the Knights must have
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sought safety by flight to other countries. It is to their acts in Scotland that we are now to direct our attention.
There are two Legends in existence, which relate to the connection of Templarism with the Freemasonry of Scotland,
each of which will require our separate attention.
The first may be called the Legend of Bruce, and the other the Legend of D'Aumont.
In Scotland the possessions of the order were very extensive. Their Preceptories were scattered in various parts of the
country. A papal inquisition was held at Holyrood in 1309 to try and, of course, to condemn the Templars. At this inquisition only two knights, Walter de Clifton, Grand Preceptor of Scotland, and William de Middleton appeared. The others
absconded, and as Robert Bruce was then marching to meet and repel the invasion of King Edward of England, the Templars are said to have joined the army of the Scottish monarch.
Thus far the various versions of the Bruce Legend agree, but in the subsequent details there are irreconcilable differences.
According to one version, the Templars distinguished themselves at the Battle of Bannockburn, which was fought on St. John the Baptist's Day, 1314, and after the battle a
new order was formed called the Royal Order of Scotland, into which the Templars were
admitted. But Oliver thinks very justly that the two Orders were unconnected with each
other.
Thory says that Robert Bruce, King of Scotland under the title of Robert I., created on
the 24th of June, 1314, after the Battle of Bannockburn, the Order of St. Andrew of the
Thistle, to which was afterward added that of Heredom, for the sake of the Scottish Masons, who had made a part of the thirty thousand men who had fought with an hundred
thousand English soldiers. He reserved for himself and his successors the title of Grand
Master and founded at Kilwinning the Grand Lodge of the Royal Order of Heredom. (2)
The Manual of the Order of the Temple says that the Templars, at the instigation of
Robert Bruce, ranged themselves under the banners of this new Order, whose initiations
were based on those of the Templars. For this apostasy they were excommunicated by
John Mark Larmenius, who is claimed to have been the legitimate successor of de Molay. (3)
Robert the Bruce
None of these statements are susceptible of historical proof.
The Order of Knights of St. Andrew or of the Thistle was not created by Bruce in 1314, but by James II. in 1440.
There is no evidence that the Templars ever made a part of the Royal Order of Heredom. At this day the two are entirely
distinct. Nor is it now considered as a fact that the Royal Order was established by Bruce after the Battle of Bannockburn, although such is the esoteric legend. On the contrary, it is supposed to have been the fabrication of Michael Ramsay in the 18th century. On this subject the remarks of Bro. Lyon, who has made the Masonry of Scotland his especial
study, are well worth citation.
"The ritual of the Royal Order of Scotland embraces," he says, "what may be termed a spiritualization of the supposed symbols and ceremonies of the Christian architects and builders of primitive times, and so closely associates the
sword with the trowel as to lead to the second degree being denominated an order of Masonic knighthood, which its
recipients are asked to believe was first conferred on the field of Bannockburn, as a reward for the valor that had
been displayed by a body of Templars who aided Bruce in that memorable victory; and that afterward a Grand Lodge
of the Order was established by the King at Kilwinning, with the reservation of the office of Grand Master to him and
his successors on the Scottish throne. It is further asserted that the Royal Order and the Masonic Fraternity of Kilwinning were governed by the same head. As regards the claims to antiquity, and a royal origin that are advanced in
favour of this rite, it is proper to say that modern inquiries have shown these to be purely fabulous. The credence that
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39
is given to that part of the legend which associates the Order with the ancient Lodge of Kilwinning is based on the
assumed certainty that Lodge possessed in former times a knowledge of other degrees of Masonry than those of St.
John. But such is not the case. The fraternity of Kilwinning never at any period practiced or acknowledged other than
the Craft degrees; neither does there exist any tradition worthy of the name, local or national, nor has any authentic
document yet been discovered that can in the remotest degree be held to identify Robert Bruce with the holding of
Masonic Courts, or the institution of a secret society at Kilwinning." (4)
After such a statement made by a writer who from his position and opportunities as a Scottish Mason was better enabled
to discover proofs, if there were any to be discovered, we may safely conclude that the Bruce and Bannockburn Legend
of Scottish Templarism is to be deemed a pure myth, without the slightest historical clement to sustain it.
There is another Legend connecting the Templars in Scotland with Freemasonry, which demands our attention.
It is said in this Legend that in order to escape from the persecution that followed the suppression of the order by the
King of France, a certain Templar, named D'Aumont, accompanied by seven others, disguised as mechanics or Operative
Masons, fled into Scotland and there secretly founded another order; and to preserve as much as possible the ancient
name of Templars as well as to retain the remembrance of and to do honor to the Masons in whose clothing they had disguised themselves when they fled, they adopted the name of Masons in connection with the word Franc, and called
themselves Franc Masons. This they did because the old Templars were for the most part Frenchmen, and as the word
Franc means both French and Free, when they established themselves in England they called themselves Freemasons. As
the ancient order had been originally established for the purpose of rebuilding the Temple of Jerusalem, the new order
maintained their bond of union and preserved the memory and the design of their predecessors by building symbolically
spiritual Temples consecrated to Virtue, Truth, and Light, and to the honor of the Grand Architect of the Universe.
Such is the Legend as given by a writer in the Dutch Freemasons' Almanac, from which it is cited in the London Freemasons' Quarterly Review.
Clavel, in his Picturesque History of Freemasonry, gives it more in detail, almost in the words of Von Hund. See Freemasons' Quarterly Review, London, 1843, p. 501, where the Legend is given in full, as above.
After the execution of de Molay, Peter d'Aumont, the Provincial Grand Master of Auvergne, with two Commanders and
five Knights, fled for safety and directed their course toward Scotland, concealing themselves during their journey under
the disguise of Operative Masons. Having landed on the Scottish Island of Mull they there met the Grand Commander
George Harris and several other brethren, with whom they resolved to continue the order. D'Aumont was elected Grand
Master in a Chapter held on St. John's Day, 1313. To protect themselves from all chance of discovery and persecution
they adopted symbols taken from architecture and assumed the title of Freemasons. In 1361 the Grand Master of the
Temple transferred the seat of the order to the old city of Aberdeen, and from that time it spread, under the guise of Freemasonry, through Italy, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, and other places. It was on this Legend that the Baron Von
Hund founded his Rite of Strict Observance, and with spurious documents in his possession, he attempted, but without
success, to obtain the sanction of the Congress of Wilhelmsbad to his dogma that every Freemason was a Templar.
This doctrine, though making but slow progress in Germany, was more readily accepted in France, where already it had
been promulgated by the Chapter of Clermont, into whose Templar system Von Hund had been initiated.
The Chevalier Ramsay was the real author of the doctrine of the Templar origin of Freemasonry, and to him we are
really indebted (if the debt have any value) for the D'Aumont legend. The source whence it sprang is tolerably satisfactory evidence of its fictitious character. The inventive, genius of Ramsay, as exhibited in the fabrications of high degrees
and Masonic legends, is well known. Nor, unfortunately for his reputation, can it be doubted that in the composition of
his legends he cared but little for the support of history. If his genius, his learning, and his zeal had been consecrated, not
to the formation of new Masonic systems, but to a profound investigation of the true origin of the Institution, viewed
only from an authentic historical point, it is impossible to say what incalculable benefit would have been delved from his
researches. The unproductive desert, which for three-fourths of a century spread over the continent, bearing no fruit except fanciful theories, absurd systems, and unnecessary degrees, would have been occupied in all probability by a race of
Masonic scholars whose researches would have been directed to the creation of a genuine history, and much of the labors
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40
of our modern iconoclasts would have been spared.
The Masonic scholars of that long period, which began with Ramsay and has hardly yet wholly terminated, assumed for
the most part rather the role of poets than of historians. They did not remember the wise saying of Cervantes that the
poet may say or sing, not as things have been, but as they ought to have been, while the historian must write of them as
they really were, and not as he thinks they ought to have been. And hence we have a mass of traditional rubbish, in
which there is a great deal of falsehood with very little truth.
Of this rubbish is the Legend of Peter d'Aumont and his resuscitation of the Order of Knights Templars in Scotland.
Without a particle of historical evidence for its support, it has nevertheless exerted a powerful influence on the Masonic
organization of even the present day. We find its effects looming out in the most important rites and giving a Templar
form to many of the high degrees. And it cannot be doubted that the incorporation of Templarism into the modern Masonic system is mainly to be attributed to ideas suggested by this D'Aumont legend.
As there appears to be some difficulty in reconciling the supposed heretical opinions of the Templars with the strictly
Christian faith of the Scottish Masons, to meet this objection a third legend was
invented, in which it was stated that after the abolition of the Templars, the clerical
part of the order - that is, the chaplains and priests - united in Scotland to revive it
“Much as the Legend of
and to transplant it into Freemasonry. But as this legend has not met with many
D'Aumont has exerted an
supporters and was never strongly urged, it is scarcely necessary to do more than
thus briefly to allude to it.
influence in mingling
Much as the Legend of D'Aumont has exerted an influence in mingling together
the elements of Templarism and Freemasonry, as we see at the present day in Britain and in America, and in the high degrees formed on the continent of Europe, the
dogma of Ramsay, that every Freemason is a Templar, has been utterly repudiated,
and the authenticity of the Legend has been rejected by nearly all of the best Masonic scholars.
together the elements of
Templarism and
Freemasonry”
Dr. Burnes, who was a believer in the legitimacy of the French Order of the Temple, as being directly derived from de
Molay through Larmenius, and who, therefore, subscribed unhesitatingly to the authenticity of the "Charter of Transmission," does not hesitate to call Von Hund "an adventurer" and his legend of D'Aumont "a plausible tale."
Of that part of the Legend which relates to the transfer of the chief seat of the Templars to Aberdeen in Scotland, he says
that "the imposture was soon detected, and it was even discovered that he had himself enticed and initiated the ill-fated
Pretender into his fabulous order of chivalry. The delusions on this subject had taken such a hold in Germany, that they
were not altogether dispelled until a deputation had actually visited Aberdeen and found amongst the worthy and astonished brethren there no trace either of very ancient Templars or of Freemasonry." (5)
In this last assertion, however, Burnes is in error, for it is alleged that the Lodge of Aberdeen was instituted in 1541,
though, as its more ancient minutes have been, as it is said, destroyed by fire, its present records go no further back than
1670. Bro. Lyon concurs with Burnes in the statement that the Aberdeenians were much surprised when first told that
their Lodge was an ancient center of the High Degrees. (6)
William Frederick Wilke, a German writer of great ability, has attacked the credibility of this Scottish Legend with a
closeness of reasoning and a vigor of arguments that leave but little room for reply. (7) As he gives the Legend in a
slightly different form, it may be interesting to quote it, as well as his course of argument.
"The Legend relates," he says, "that after the suppression of the order the head of the Templar clergy, Peter of Boulogne,
fled from prison and took refuge with the Commander Hugh, Wildgrave of Salm, and thence escaped to Scotland with
Sylvester von Grumbach. Thither the Grand Commander Harris and Marshal D'Aumont had likewise betaken them(Continued on page 42)
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selves, and these three preserved the secrets of the Order of Templars and transferred them to the Fraternity of Freemasons." In commenting on this statement Wilke says it is true that Peter of Boulogne fled from prison, but whither he went
never has been known. The Wildgrave of Salm never was in prison. But the legendist has entangled himself in saying
that Peter left the Wildgrave Hugh and went to Scotland with Sylvester von Grumbach, for Hugh and Sylvester are one
and the same person. His title was Count Sylvester Wildgrave, and Grumbach was the designation of his Templar Commandery. Hugh of Salm, also Wildgrave and Commander of Grumbach, never took refuge in Scotland, and after the abolition of the order was made Prebendary of the Cathedral of Mayence.
Wilke thinks that the continuation of the Templar order was attributed to Scotland because the higher degrees of Freemasonry, having reference in a political sense to the Pretender, Edward Stuart, were called Scotch. Scotland is, therefore,
the cradle of the higher degrees of Masonry. But here I am inclined to differ from him and am disposed rather to refer the
explanation to the circumstance that Ramsay, who was the inventor of the legend and the first fabricator of the high degrees, was a native of Scotland and was born in the neighborhood of Kilwinning. To these degrees he gave the name of
Scottish Masonry, in a spirit of nationality, and hence Scotland was supposed to be their birthplace.
This is not, however, material to the present argument. Wilke says that Harris and D'Aumont are not mentioned in the
real history of the Templars and therefore, if they were Knights, they could not have had any prominence in the order,
and neither would have been likely to have been chosen by the fugitive Knights as their Grand Master.
He concludes by saying that of course some of the fugitive Templars found their way to Scotland, and it may be believed
that some of the brethren were admitted into the building fraternities, but that is no reason why either the Lodges of
builders or the Knights of St. John should be considered as a continuation of the Templar order, because they both received Templar fugitives, and the less so as the building guilds were not, like the Templars, composed of chivalrous and
free thinking worldlings, but of pious workmen who cherished the pure doctrines of religion.
The anxiety of certain theorists to connect Templarism with Freemasonry, has led to the invention of other fables, in
which the Hiramic Legend of the Master's degree is replaced by others referring to events said to have occurred in the
history of the knightly order. The most ingenious of these is the following:
Some time before the destruction of the Order of Templars, a certain sub-prior of Montfaucon, named Carolus de Monte
Carmel was murdered by three traitors. From the events that accompanied and followed this murder, it is said that an
important part of the ritual of Freemasonry has been derived. The assassins of the sub-prior of Montfaucon concealed his
body in a grave, and in order to designate the spot, planted a young thorn-tree upon it. The Templars, in searching for the
body, had their attention drawn to the spot by the tree, and in that way they discovered his remains. The legend goes on
to recite the disinterring of the body and its removal to another grave, in striking similarity with the same events narrated
in the Legend of Hiram.
Another theory connects the martyrdom of James de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Templars, with the legend of
the third degree, and supposes that in that legend, as now preserved in the Masonic ritual, Hiram has been made to replace de Molay, that the fact of the Templar fusion into Masonry might be concealed. Thus the events, which in the
genuine Masonic Legend are referred to Hiram Abif are, in the Templar Legend, made applicable to de Molay; the three
assassins are said to be Pope Clement V., Philip the Fair, King of France, and a Templar named Naffodei, who betrayed
the order. They have even attempted to explain the mystical search for the body by the invention of a fable that on the
night after de Molay had been burnt at the stake, certain knights diligently sought for his remains amongst the ashes, but
could find only some bones to which the flesh, though scorched, still adhered, but which it left immediately upon their
being handled; and in this way they explain the origin of the substitute word, according to the mistranslation too generally accepted.
Another theory connects the martyrdom of James de Molay, the last Grand
Master of the Templars, with the legend of the third degree.
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Nothing could more clearly show the absurdity of the legend than this adoption of a popular interpretation of the meaning of this word, made by someone utterly ignorant of the Hebrew language. The word, as is now well known to all
scholars, has a totally different signification.
But it is scarcely necessary to look to so unessential a part of the narrative for proof that the whole legend of the connection of Templarism with Freemasonry is irreconcilable with the facts of history.
The Legend of Bruce and Bannockburn has already been disposed of. The story has no historical foundation.
The other legend, that makes D'Aumont and his companions founders of the Masonic Order in Scotland by amalgamating the knights with the fraternity of builders, is equally devoid of an historical basis. But, besides, there is a feature of
improbability if not of impossibility about it. The Knights Templars were an aristocratic order composed of highborn
gentlemen who had embraced the soldier's life as their vocation, and who were governed by the customs of chivalry. In
those days there was a much wider line of demarcation drawn between the various casts of society than exists at the present day. The "belted knight" was at the top of the social scale, the mechanic at the bottom.
It is therefore almost impossible to believe that because their order had been suppressed, these proud soldiers of the
Cross, whose military life had unfitted them for any other pursuit except that of arms, would have thrown aside their
swords and their spurs and assumed the trowel; with the use of this implement and all the mysteries of the builder's craft
they were wholly unacquainted. To have become Operative Masons, they must have at once abandoned all the prejudices
of social life in which they had been educated.
That a Knight Templar would have gone into some religious house as a retreat from the world whose usage of his Order
had disgusted him, or taken refuge in some other chivalric order, might reasonably happen, as was actually the case. But
that these knights would have willingly transformed themselves into Stonemasons and daily workmen is a supposition
too absurd to extort belief even from the most credulous.
We may then say that those legendists who have sought by their own invented traditions to trace the origin of Freemasonry to Templarism, or to establish any close connection between the two institutions, have failed in their object. They
have attempted to write a history, but they have scarcely succeeded in composing a plausible romance.
Notes:
(1)
"Sketch of the History of the Knights Templars," by James Burnes, LL.D., F.R.S., etc., London, 1840, p. 39.
(2) "Acta Latomorum," tome i., p. 6.
(3) "Manuel des Chevaliers de l'Ordre du Temple," p. 8
(4) "History of the Lodge of Edinburgh," by David Murray Lyon, chap. xxxii., P. 307.
(5) Burnes, "Sketch of the History of the Knights Templars," p. 71.
(6) "History of the Lodge of Edinburgh," p. 420.
(7) In his "Geschichte des Tempelherren's Orders." I have not been able to obtain the work, but I have availed myself of an excellent
analysis of it in "Findel's History of Freemasonry," Lyon's Translation.
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Food and Fellowship
By Bro. Wyndell Ferguson
In the 1950‘s the creed of the American Housewife was ―the way to man‘s heart was through
his stomach.‖ Recently, W:. Tim Bryce wrote a provocative article about the Masonic tradition of providing a meal before, or after, the lodge meeting. His powerful words were meant
to inspire lodges to realize the importance of the lodge meal and how it can affect lodge attendance.
The rewards for having a quality meal cannot be measured! Im sure many will agree that more fellowship occurs at the dinner table than during the stated meeting. If your lodge has the reputation of having good food you
should have an increase in members attending lodge night. More attendance always means more fellowship!
In most American lodges the preparation of the meal is delegated to the Stewards with hopes that donations
to the kitty will help defer the cost of the meal. One of the pitfalls of having the Stewards prepare and serve the meals
is that in many cases they have no experience cooking for large crowds and in some cases no cooking experience!
Having done competition cooking and catering I hope to help! Over the next few months I hope to discuss
things to consider in menu planning, food selection, cost savers, short cuts, recipe scaling and food safety. I will also be
offering suggestions on how to ‗guesstimate‘ how much food you will need. Each month there will also be included a
recipe that I have used for catering or for other large events. If I have the nutrition breakdown of a recipe Ill be including it along with the serving sizes.
If you have any questions, comments, feedback etc. please contact me either through The Working Tools or at [email protected].
The recipe for this month is an old favorite in this area! It can easily be made in advance and reheated at the
lodge, or if you have the facilities, put together at home and then tossed in the oven at the lodge to finish it off. Good
side dishes for this are Mexican rice, refried beans or my favorite green beans with peppered bacon added!
King Ranch Chicken
1 package corn tortillas
1 fryer ; cooked
oil
1 bunch green onions; with tops, sliced
1 green bell pepper; chopped
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken broth
garlic salt; to taste
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
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1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 can rotel tomatoes
1/3 pound cheddar cheese, grated
1/3 pound pepper jack cheese; grated
1/4 cup ripe olives; sliced
1/4 cup Spanish olives; sliced
Sauté green onions and bell pepper in a small amount of oil in a large skillet until limp. Combine soups and broth. Add
to skillet.
Season with garlic salt, salt, pepper, chili powder and cumin.
Break up Rotel tomatoes and add to mixture. oil a large casserole dish.
Place in layers, quartered tortillas, chicken, sauce, mixed cheeses and olives.
Repeat layers; tortillas, chicken, sauce, cheeses and olives.
Bake at 325 º for 20 to 25 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.
Yield: 10 servings
Time Saving Hint: Store bought rotisserie chickens can be bought almost cheaper than a good fryer cost! Save the
hassle and time and use one of these store bought birds!!!
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Short Talk Bulletin
WARREN HARDING - FREEMASON
Vol.I September, 1923
A Nation is not simply a human encampment, or a business concern. It is
both of these, but much more. It is the fusing of millions of people into a
vast fraternity, a great friendship, into a unity of faith, feeling, purpose and
destiny. It is a collective memory and a collective hope; a thing of spirit, ideals, sentiment - a fellowship in history, service and that obligation to the future which is one of the noblest sentiments of mankind, and the most disinterested.
Of the faith, history, genius and destiny of the Republic, the President is the
embodiment. He is a symbolic figure. When he is running for office he is
only a man like the rest of us, chosen from among ourselves by virtue of his
strength of intellect and nobility of character, as these have developed before the eyes of his fellow citizens. When he is elected he is something
more. He becomes then the incarnation of the spirit and will and purpose of
a great people, and we need not apologize to any sentiment of equality for
regarding him with reverence. There is, in one way of looking at him, something sacred about the President, as
the instrument of the execution of the organized will of the nation.
This is not a mere fancy, but a fact of deep import which we need to ponder. The investure of the President with
the power and purpose of millions of people makes him other than he is in his private capacity. What the President does before the world he does for and through us, typifying the nation as no mere ruler could typify it. He is
a servant of the people, not a master. His character as revealed in his stewardship is our character, his work in no
real sense our work, doing things which free people decree shall be done. He stands for the only Divine right that
Republics know - the right of men to rule themselves. The accolade of the popular will changes him and makes
him a High Priest of humanity in this land, where, are being wrought out the highest ideals of the race.
The President is the nation brought to a focus of personality, and we see him walking in a fiercer light than ever
beat upon a throne - from humble life to the highest office a mortal may hold while wearing our morality. We
have had many great Presidents, never a bad one. No one on that great roster has betrayed his people, or proved
unworthy of his mighty trust. Each is known to have been moved by pure motives - doing with an honest purpose
all he could for the glory of the Republic. Read the life of each President, and, in the light of all the facts and the
posture of the hour, it will be seen that a better choice could not have been made than was made at the time.
In a manner not merely accidental, but providential, each of our Presidents, by virtue of his temperament, training,
character and personality, has been the man to match the hour - for, to a degree not realized, the personality of
the President gives and receives the tone and temper of the nation. The names and services of our Presidents are
a testimony to all the world that the plain common people can be trusted, while showing what kind of men a democracy can discover and develop. Most of the great Presidents revealed their greatness after the wise ones won46
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dered why they had been elected. What was then the future and now the past has vindicated the intuition of the
nation, in an almost miraculous manner.
Into this great tradition of honor and service came President Harding, at a time of disillusion and confusion, in the
wake of a gigantic War, when the world was feverish and almost fanatical with shell-shock; a quiet, gentle- hearted
man of fraternal instincts and humanitarian sentiments, having wisdom of patience and the patience of love; conservative, conciliatory, seeking to plant seeds in the good soil of understanding; friendly of spirit, faithful of heart; a
man of haunting sympathy and healing goodwill; a small-town man, who loved all kind of folk, at once our neighbor
and our President; honored for his character, beloved for his simple, unveneered humanity, and to be remembered as a man in whom the spirit of our Republic revealed itself as a great Friendship.
Alas, just as he was striking his stride as a servant and leader of the people, God touched him and he fell asleep plunging the nation and the world into a bereavement as unexpected as it was profound. Each of us, whether we
agree with the politics of the President or not, felt a sense of personal loss, as if a near neighbor and old friend
had suddenly passed away - leaving us to wonder at the fleetingness of life and the strange ways of God. He
brought the people close to the Government, and the Government close to the people; he wanted to foster fellowship, understanding, brotherhood, co-operation between classes, creeds, nations, races. In short, he was a man
and a President to whom Fraternity was the fundamental need, faith and hope of the nation and the world, without which chaos comes again; and in this he was a true Master Mason.
To the judgment of statesmen and the verdict of historians we must leave the final appraisal of the public acts of
the President. Leaving these large matters for some ultimate estimate yet to be made, it is with the more intangible influences of character and personality that we have to do now; those things which seem imponderable, but
which are more precious that any official act. Such influences are spiritual, mystical, incalculable, but they are beyond all price and make it worth our time to live.
As has been said, the President was a great fraternalist, alike by temperament and by the habit of his life. Brotherliness was native to his spirit, and he was a Mason in his heart, as all men should be, long before he was made a
Mason, in the Lodge. "I like the atmosphere of Fraternity," he said in one of his last speeches; and that was no affectation, but the literal truth of the man. "I think I know the very soul of Masonry," he said in his address to the
Imperial Council of the Shrine; and he rejoiced in the great place which fraternalism in general, and Masonry in
particular, has in America. He saw its value, both as a bulwark against anti-social forces, and as a constructive
force in behalf of social stability and advance. His estimate of Masonry was shown by the place he held in its fellowship, and the part he took in the assemblies, his Masonic affiliations being as follows:
Marion Lodge No. 70, F. & A.M., Marion, Ohio; Marion Chapter No. 62, R.A.M., Marion, Ohio; Marion Commandery No. 36, K.T., Marion, Ohio; Scioto Consistory, A. & A.S.R., Columbus, Ohio; Aladdin Temple,
A.A.O.N.M.S., Columbus, Ohio. Honorary Member Albert Pike Lodge No. 36, A.F. & A.M., Washington, D.C.;
Columbia Chapter No. 1, R.A.M., Washington, D.C., and Almas Temple, A.A.O.N.M.S., Washington, D.C.
The President was elected to receive the Thirty-Third Degree of the Scottish Rite in 1920, but owing to the illness of Mrs. Harding, was unable to be present at the conferring of the Degree at Cleveland. It was his intention
to attend the session of the Supreme Council, Northern Jurisdiction, in New York in the autumn, to receive the
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Degree; but in the hearts of his Brethren he had already been crowned with the highest Degree within the gift of
the Fraternity, as much for his spirit and character as for his devotion to the Craft. At the time of his raising, and
on various Masonic occasions, he left many expressions of his vision of Masonry, one of which, in his address to
the Shrine, is as follows:
"No man ever took the oaths and subscribed to the obligations with greater watchfulness and care than I exercised in receiving the various rites of Masonry; and I say it with due deliberation and without fear of breaking faith. I have never encountered a lesson, never witnessed an example, never heard an obligation uttered which could not be openly proclaimed to
the world. More, if the lessons taught were heeded, if the obligations read were assumed, if the relationships urged were
adopted men would be infinitely better in their relationships.
"There is an honest, righteous and just fraternal life in America. It embraces millions of men and women, and a hundred
fraternal organizations extend their influence into more than a third of our American homes, and make ours a better Republic for their influences. Fraternity is inherent in man. It is our obligation to make the most of it for human betterment . . .
In the Lodge room there is molded what becomes public opinion, and contributes to the moving forces of developing civilization.
"I wish somehow we could have fraternity among nations, as it is taught in America among men. I do not mean to employ
sign, grip and password; which afford an appealing mystery to our relationship, but the insistent demand for just dealing,
the respect for the rights of others, and the ideals of brotherhood recited in the Golden Rule, and the righteous fellow- relationship which every man knows his God approves. Under such a reign of fraternity cruel human warfare will never come
again."
Naturally, the President had a special affinity for the stately Order of the Knights Templar, in which two of the most beautiful things in the world are united - Freemasonry
and Christianity. He was a Christian, holding his faith with the simplicity of a little child wherein he was wiser than any philosophers - striving to live by its high principles, in
private life and public office; and he died in its great assurance of the life immortal.
Three days prior to his inauguration, at Marion, Ohio, the Order of the Temple was
conferred upon him. After the conclusion of the ceremonies he addressed the assembled Templars as follows:
―The President had
a special affinity for
the stately Order of
the Knights Templar,
in which two of the
most beautiful
things in the world
are united - Free"Sir Knights: It seems for a moment as though Masonry must have been designed for my help- masonry and Chrisfulness at this particular time. If I have had a thought that I believed was my own, in all sincertianity.‖
ity of a man's soul I believe that I have had the thought approaching my great responsibility in
humility and faith; and I come tonight to the Temple of this splendid Knighthood and find it teaching me and empha-sizing
those things I have been thinking. And so I have come to the new assurance and new confidence in the knowledge that the
manhood of America which bears the stamp of Masonry is back of me.
"I thought while the Eminent Commander was speaking of the Flag, that he need not worry about the Flag. All America is
consecrated to the Flag, and I promise you, though I may fail you in many ways, God knows I will not fail you in that one
thing. While I love peace no less than any man on earth - While I think peace is the greatest thing to be thought of - I
should have no hesitancy to draw this sword in the preservation of our national honor.
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"Have you ever stopped to think that tradition seldom preserves anything not worth while? Oh, how beautiful is the story of
Christ, and how you can bring it home to every man! Every man has his Gethsemane. Every man has his cross to bear, and
the measure of his manhood is the way he bears it. Men are crucified every day, as was Christ; and, while they do not rise
again, perhaps, in the same great way, any man who performs his service to Christ never fails to live again.
"Knighthood is no more forgotten today than when it flourished in its outward manifestation. I believe the world is everlastingly growing better. The Order of the Temple made a great impression upon me. One of the twelve chosen apostles privileged to be with the Master daily, failed, and today we do not expect one man in twelve, or indeed, one in many more than
twelve to fail. We are going on to a finer and better order in the world. The World War isn't chargeable to the Christian
Religion, but to the failure of those who profess it. Too often we take an obligation carelessly. Too often we do not give it
the consideration which we should. "I am mindful tonight that three days hence I am to take an oath - a solemn one, one
that no man can approach without solemn thought. I mean to take that obligation to defend and preserve in humility and
faith; and in love of truth. I want your help. I want you to realize that the next administration of the greatest land on earth
is yours, not mine; it's that of one hundred million, and I want the help of all of them."
His last address, read by his secretary almost at the hour when he passed away, was in presentation of a traveling
banner, of which he was the honored bearer, from the Grand Commandery, Knights Templar of Ohio, to the
Grand Commandery of California, at Hollywood, on the afternoon of August 2nd. The banner was inscribed with
the text, "Not unto us, O Lord, Not unto us; but unto Thy Name be the glory;" and the President said:
"We should glorify the Holy Name, not by words, not by praise, not by display of arms, but by deeds of service in behalf of
human brotherhood. Christ, the great Exemplar of our Order, repeatedly urged this truth upon his hearers. There was nothing mystical or mythical in the code of living preached by Jesus Christ. The lessons He taught were so simple and plain, so
fashioned to be understood by the humblest of men, that they appealed to the reason and emo-tions of all. His words to
the fishermen bore conviction to the learned men of the Roman bench. All his teachings were based upon the broad ground
of fraternalism, and justice, and understanding from which flows peace, always. 'A new commandment I give unto you, that
ye love one another.' Surely this is 'all the Law and the Gospel.'. . .With the universal observance of Christ's commandment
we would have the essentials of all religions. Perhaps I will best express my thought if I say we need less of sectarianism,
less of demoninationalism, less of fanatical zeal and its exactions, and more of the Christ spirit, more of the Christ practice,
and a new and abiding consecration to reverence for God."
Thus passed President Harding, Friend and Brother; on his lips words of love to man and faith to God, leaving a
legacy of honorable character and gracious service. All the Craft unite in the words, "Hail and Farewell, until we
meet in the Great White Lodge," the while we wonder in our hearts what it must be like to be past death - to
have accomplished that one amazing act which we have yet undone before us, and which awaits our adventure to know what that awful and mysterious thing is, and that its pains and terrors are gone past forever. For,
whether we be Presidents or peasants, walking in high or humble lot, these things will pass away like a dream of
the night, leaving only the Eternal God and the immortal soul, and the loves and fellowships of these many days
and years!
- Source: Short Talk Bulletin - Sep. 1923
Masonic Service Association of North America
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What Comes To Mind w/ Lansing V. Ten Eyck, III
The State of Modern Masonic Art?
I Have Thoughts!
For the last few years I’ve been wondering why there hasn’t been more Masonic Art
out there? In the various publications, newsletters
and computer generated publishing’s we see many of the same art that
has been around for hundreds of years. Now I’m not putting down
these very beautiful and striking works of art but, I’m very surprised
that there aren’t more artists out there trying their hands to get new
art in the public eye.
I realize that there are various artists out there that do cartoon strips
or some accompanying article art but, nothing that we see in various
books on the past arts and crafts of Freemasonry.
In this, I include all sorts of arts and crafts like glasses, bottles, woodcrafts just any
form of art. I guess that I’m probably hinting at a new renaissance of Masonic Art to
happen in this world.
Though I must say that there are a few people out there, both Mason and non-Mason
that are challenging others in a way, to join a new renaissance of the Art of Freemasonry.
One of the foremost artists who uses the Graphic Arts to create some breathtaking work is Stephen
McKim. A Freemason who’s works are seen in many Lodge sites and various
publications both in print and on the computer
Then we have a person who I feel is a modern day Renaissance man by
the name of Stephen Dafoe. He has dotted some of his written works with
cartoons to
illustrate his points. He also, uses Brother McKIm’s works in his latest publication, “Masonic Magazine.” They also combine their talents on “Templar
History Magazine.”
Stephen Defoe has created so many outlets for his boundless knowledge of
every area of Freemasonry that I have named him as a true Renaissance man
of our time.
Now, I’m not saying that there aren’t many others out there but, these Brothers that I’ve mentioned are sharing their knowledge and talents in a big way.
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Another Brother I found who uses his drawing talents is, Brother Eric Kikkert’s cartoons. Though
many of you might not have seen his works, they are very amusing. He’s been published in Australian
Masonic publications but, is best known in the Netherlands, where he lives. This is entitled “Rough
Ashlar.”
There are many artistic Brothers out there and it would be really
Great if we could get them working on new works of art for our
Millennium to pass on to future Brother Masons to come. Adding our marks upon the stones of our time
for those who shall follow.
I’m in the process of working on a plan to bring some of our young artists out of the mists to have their
work shown.
The first item on the list is to get the subject set, say “The Tools of the Craft.” Then get some sponsors to
put up prizes for first, second, third and honorable mention. Along with that an exclusive art show of
their work for a month in a “Public Area” of a large Lodge or Masonic Temple.
All these shows would take place in every state and every town in the US. These towns would not have to
hold these art competitions if they didn’t want to.
Finally, each state would send their winning artists’ works to say, Washington D.C. for a National Art
Show. The winners of this national show would have their works published in a book to be offered for
sale through Grand Lodges in each state to be used for fund raising.
Of course I’ve not gotten it all put together but, if someone out there thinks it’s an idea with some merit,
to present new Masonic art for our time. Please feel free to use the basic idea and run with it and let me
know your plans, would like to hear your thoughts.
Author's Note: The above cartoon is by Brother Eric Kikkert: AMT Masonic Journal - June - 1997
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Astronomy w/ Rod Kennedy
Written in the Sky- the Master’s Word
The Fellowcraft degree teaches us that to improve ourselves we must do so, in part, through education. This education is to
include the seven liberal arts and sciences, namely: Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Mathematics, Music, Astronomy and Geometry. Yet I believe that this, like many aspects of Freemasonry, holds a double meaning. I believe that this means that we
should not only pursue knowledge for personal growth, but also to become careful observers of the world around us. This
is particularly true of Astronomy.
Astronomy is the original observational science. It may seem difficult to comprehend in
our fast paced modern world, but our ancient ancestors depended on astronomy for
their very lives. Their very existence was bound up in careful observation of the sky. For
example, the ancient Egyptians knew the annual flooding of the Nile was eminent when
the star Sirius rose with the sun. The Pawnee people of North America marked the beginning of their year when a constellation we know as Corona Borealis was directly overhead at dawn.
Yet ancient peoples did not observe the sky only to mark the passage of the seasons.
Many ancient cultures attempted to interpret what they believed to be messages in events that occurred in the sky. Chinese
astronomers recorded what they referred to as a ―guest star‖ in the constellation Taurus the Bull; an event we now know to
have been the super nova of 1054. The Pawnee used a conjunction of the planets Mars and Venus as a basis for their story
of the Creation of mankind. Some scholars even believe that a prominent conjunction of the planets Venus and Jupiter in the
constellation Leo sent the Magi toward Bethlehem.
Why did our ancient ancestors look so intently to the sky? Surely the skies were no more interesting thousands of years
ago than they are now. Perhaps the ancients saw the sky as their connection with something they could not touch, and
could barely explain. Perhaps the sky was their link to the infinite; something imperishable in this world where all things
eventually pass away. To behold the stars is to behold, at least in our own limited way, the designs of the Great Architect
of the Universe.
Yet today we seldom consider the sky at all. We have our wrist watches and cell phones to tell us the time; electricity
warms our winters, cools our summers and turns night to day. Most of us don‘t stop to consider a sunrise or sunset, much
less the moon or planets. Oh occasionally a rare event such as an eclipse catches the attention of the media. Yet even
events such as these lose their power to move us when the Internet is flooded with bogus stories of impossible events such
as Mars appearing as large and as bright as the full moon.
The sky has changed very little in the past three thousand years. Granted our view is a little murkier but only in the most
populous areas. So if the sky has not changed, what has? Simple logic will tell us that if the sky is the same then it must be
us, human beings, who have changed. We no longer require the sky to tell us the time, the month or the season; and we
have long ceased to look to the sky for advice on how to govern our affairs. The unfortunate result is that we no longer
look to the sky for spiritual guidance. By this I mean that we have ceased to look to the sky with the same awe and wonder
that our ancient ancestors did. Our information packed world has taught (or perhaps conditioned) us to view many things
with a clinical detachment. The emotional connection has been lost, much like the Word of the Master.
The Fellowcraft degree teaches us to improve ourselves through education. Yet I believe that it also teaches us to find the
awe and wonderment in all the things that reveal the architecture of the universe around us. There is a grand order to the
universe which we can observe if we only take the time to do so. With this I invite all brethren to step outside, while the
summer is still fine, and simply look up. Look up in wonder and once again feel the awesome connection with the infinite.
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The York Rite Of Freemasonry w/ William Price
The York Rite of Freemasonry
MEC William “Bill” W. Price, KYGCH
PGHP of California, 1993-1994
Part II
Operative and Speculative Masonry
In this session, we shall be discussing operative and speculative Masonry,
the historical and architectural invention of the Arch, and the creation of the first Grand Lodges.
The Royal Arch of Freemasonry has been referred to as “the Copestone of Ancient Craft Masonry”
and forms the Capitular Rite. In the United States, a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons confers the degrees of Mark Master, Past Master, Most Excellent Master and The Supreme Order of the Holy
Royal Arch.
{Wikipedia refers to a capstone, cape-stone, copestone, or coping stone, as one of the finishing or
protective stones that form the top of an exterior masonry wall or building. The term is also used for
the stones that form the top of an exterior of an archaeological tomb. Figuratively, the capstone of an
endeavor means the crowning achievement, or culminating event.}
First and foremost, let us remember that we, as Masons, are members of an ancient fraternity who
designed and built the great cathedrals, abbeys and fortresses of medieval Europe. Our forefathers
traveled unhindered as Masons to those building sites and many remained there through out their
life. They have borne the name Freemason since the 14th century. Their tools are the same ones
that every Mason, as he starts his travels, has been taught regarding their operative and speculative
use.
The tools are the 24-inch gauge and common gavel, the plum, square and level and lastly the
trowel. These were used in the erection of those great edifices of which many still stand today, which
are testimony to the good and square work of the craftsmen. As the building progressed, so did the
knowledge and expertise of the Master Builders.
Consider these words from the Fellow craft Degree lecture, “A survey of nature, and the observation
of her beautiful proportions, first determined man to imitate the divine plan, and to study symmetry
and order. This gave rise to societies and birth to every useful art. The architect began to design;
and the plans which he laid down, being improved by time and experience, have produced works
which are the admiration of every age.”
This portion of the FC lecture can also be interpreted that the building is our own temporal and Ma(Continued on page 54)
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sonic edifice; however, that building has not been completed. What it needs now is an arch, a Royal
Arch. From the origin of the name, Royal Arch, there are several possibilities: (a) Arch from the architectural arch and Royal from the Royal Art, (b) could refer to the star decked heaven or Clouded
Canopy, (c) from the rainbow and (d) like the capstone as a crowning achievement.
I would suggest another more significant and historical fact in the discovery of the Arch. The Egyptians and Greeks, nor the Mayans, invented the arch, since their temples and buildings were
bounded by straight edges and set square and their temples were crowded avenues of pillars. They
seem open as we see them as ruins, but in fact they are monuments without spaces.
The arch, which was based on the oval and not a circle, is attributed to the Romans. This does not
seem a great difference, and yet its effect on the articulation of buildings is spectacular. The pointed
Gothic arch is higher and therefore opens space and light. The arches revolutionize architecture
since the stresses flow through the arch to the outside of the building. Commencing around the 12th
Century, this design was included in most all-future master construction plans. This was a stunning
achievement of human foresight, because they were built before any mathematician knew how to
compute the forces in them. These were our Masonic forefathers and are just one more reason why
a Mason can be proud of his operative heritage.
Now Fast Forward to Speculative Masonry.
In the late 16th Century there was much discussion among the lodges to form a Grand Lodge of
England, so it could act in some sort of consensus, but that consolidation was slow and loose. In the
first few years, no records were kept in either the newly formed Grand Lodge nor the four old lodges
which had participated in the movement. They had no exclusive or jurisdictional territory, just
Greater London and Westminster, and not much was being accomplished to establish any administrative control of the Order. It was not until 1723 that a Constitution was prepared by one Dr. James
Anderson, A. M. and approved by Grand Lodge. The Constitution established the rules and guidelines for the government of Freemasons. This may all sound quite orderly and well organized, but
not so.
At the same time, another group of Masons, mainly Irish, outside of London and Westminster, were
establishing their own Grand Lodge and calling themselves, the Ancients or York Masons, and the
other became known as the Moderns. It is more complex that what it sounds, but primarily that’s
what occurred.
So, now we have established Grand Lodges, but they are marching down different roads. What
separates them are social and cultural differences and a new innovation in Craft Masonry called
“The Royal Arch”. Can a house so divided long stand? What can bring them and their visions of
Freemasonry together? Next time, we will discuss their differing views and the path they choose,
which lead to York Rite Masonry.
May You Always Travel Well.
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Masonic Status w/ Bro. James Green
What is the status of Masonry as far as the public is concerned??
Recently the Supreme Council of the International Order of Jobs‘ Daughters approved a requirement that all future leaders must be have back ground checks to
make sure we have honest and reliable people for leaders and advisors. I believe DeMolay a few years ago made the same requirement. The International
Order of Rainbow for Girls also does a background check of new members to
the local advisory Boards. I fully understand it is for the protection of the youth
girls and boys. As one person pointed out to me look what has happened in the
Catholic Church. On these back ground checks they ask you to give them your
social security number so they can check credit and criminal records. They are
doing this so they do not have a liability issue if something did happen. Now it
makes me wonder if there is a liability issue with identity theft problems stemming from the social security
number of an individual.
Our Masonic Center recently has changed from key locks to card swiping locks of the main entrance. They
are also instituting that the door will automatically lock at certain times at night if the people do not lock the
doors themselves. If a person comes to a meeting late they are to use their cell phones to call (I did not
know that membership in Masons required the purchase of a cell phone). You would think that we do not
want to turn members away just because they are late. Another item that was changed was the locks on the
office door, which before was accessible to the Master and Secretary in case they needed to make copies or
what ever. The reason given was for security and confidentiality (all the Center‘s records are in files in the
office). If you want an event you have to send a letter five days in advance explaining the event even if it is
sponsored by the Lodge, or any Mason.
What does this all mean? The public sure does not look at us like they used to. That was when Masons
were the pillar of the community. Masons were to be trusted and their motives were of the highest regard.
I know over the years there has been some black marks appear, but they have been dealt with. But it does
make you wonder if the West Gate has been left open to much the last decade or two, as we tried to get
our membership back to what it was at the pinnacle of our fraternity.
Most of the problem is with the investigating committee, which reflects back to the Master who should be
appointing members who will do a better job. It is in the best interest of the Lodge that a more complete
check of a petitioners character and background today than it has ever been. We have a lot of curiosity
seekers, of questionable motives, who have read some of the books that bring Masonry into the picture.
Then we also have those that have no interest in Masonry, but just want to be part of the good times with
the Shrine. I say that with some tongue in cheek as that is how I started and felt. So many Nobles do not
participate or know much about Masonry since they dropped the requirement of being a member of one of
the Rite‘s that I think we are feeling the effects in the Symbolic Lodge. Those same individuals I believe do
not have a full understanding about the Shrine Patient program. Then we have to look at Masonry in other
parts of the world and see what they are doing and what are their problems, because they do not have the
Shrine so the problems mentioned before become more prominent. Not that they are becoming Shriners,
but because they are not required to be a member of a Rite, which enhances the teachings of the Symbolic
Lodge.
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Video
“The Freemasons– The Mysteries, Myth and Truth”
http://www.freemasonsfilm.com/
The producers of this DVD sent me a review copy this month so I could help
spread the word about their new video. Honestly, I went in thinking it was going
to be the same old same old information I have heard numerous times before on
the History channel but I have to say right off the bat this was a very informative
and fun movie to watch.
Coming in just under an hour the video is just long enough to give you the rundown and answer the questions without going to far and losing your interest. This
is perfect for getting the brothers together after a meeting and getting in some
education. Since it isn‘t too preachy it is also good for the non Mason or potential
candidate who wants to learn more about us and what we do.
While it is not all new footage, apparently from the 70‘s or 80‘s it does feature
John J. Robinson my favorite Masonic author of ―Born in Blood‖. That alone made
it worth while for me. What I found interesting was this was made before Robinson became a Mason so his intentions were pure and can be seen as unbiased.
Speaking of unbiased, this is very much one sided and can not be seen as ―fair and balanced‖ since it doesn‘t feature
any conspiracy theorists claiming we are an evil bunch of men trying to take over the world one beefsteak dinner at a
time.
Overall I would give the video a B+ for offering something new but because the footage is old it may be seen as irrelevant or out of touch with today‘s Mason (which it‘s not!). Definitely a worthwhile purchase and a nice addition to your
library.
Here is what the website says the video features:
* Why do so many falsely believe that there is a link between the movement to establish a "New World Order" and
the Masons?
* Was the infamous Casanova assisted in his escape from authorities by influential Masonic Brothers?
* What is the real source of the Freemasons' fascination with the Temple of Solomon?
* Is there a historical link between a centuries old order of warrior monks and the present day Masons?
* Was Mozart the victim of foul play or were his Masonic Brethren there to help him?
* Why are modern day Nazi-like fascists marching in Russia against the so-called "world-wide conspiracy of Jews and
Masons"?
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* What have so many powerful and influential men found in Freemasonry that has made them join despite opposition
from church and state?
With never-before-seen, selected footage of the beautiful Masonic rituals and a probing examination of this omnipresent fraternity, "The Freemasons" provides the answers!
View this riveting documentary film for yourself and answer the questions of friends, foes, detractors and supporters of
the Masonic Fraternity with this objective look at "The Freemasons."
Now only $24.95 (plus S&H)
DVD (all regions) will play in most countries.
DVD EXTRAS:




Six deleted scenes from the final film.
Subtitles in Spanish and English.
Essay about the film.
Chapters.
Links to interesting and important Masonic web pages.
Watch the trailer online at
http://www.freemasonsfilm.com/downloadvideo.html
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ANNOUNCMENTS
Brothers if you have an announcement for a Masonic activity covering a wide geography let
me know about it and I‘ll include in the issue (time & space permitting).
Greetings,
For those of your visitors interested, the Midwest conference on
Masonic Education will be held in Omaha, Nebraska, USA in April 2008.
http://www.midwestmasoniceducation.com/
Fraternally,
Mike Webb
PM Rob Morris Lodge #46, A.F. & A.M.
Kearney, Nebraska, USA
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Brothers, You’ve ask me for it and the printed version of
The Working Tools Magazine is now available. (YES,
you can still download it for free)
For $5.50 (shipping Incl.) you will receive a printed
Black and White - staple bound copy. Now you can read
all the Masonic news and info away from your computer
screen.
Order online or send a check with your Name, Address,
and Issue Month to:
Cory Sigler
30 Armour Rd
Mahwah, NJ 07430
Check payable to: Cory Sigler
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The Independent Masonic Magazine – Bringing the best
information to Mason’s worldwide.
Keep on Traveling
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Did Freemasonry originate from The Knight Templars?

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