Proposed New Chapter for Oxfordshire

Holy Royal Arch

Over the last few months, there has been a considerable amount of activity within Semper Paratus Lodge concerning the possible formation of a new Chapter. Due to the increasing success of the Lodge, which had 14 members when it relocated from London to the Province 5 years ago and now has over 40, there is a need to provide additional stimulus and growth within the Semper Paratus circle.

Esoteric Freemasonry A Growing Trend

pic Khunrath’s Amphitheatrum sapientiae aeternae (1595)

The body of Freemasonry is comprised of many types of individuals whose Masonic pursuits vary according to that individual’s personality and interests. Freemasonry has been very aptly been compared to a complex tapestry composed of many colourful overlapping individual threads which taken as a whole form a larger picture.

Historical Origins of the Mark Degree

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The Mark is a ceremony or degree [sometimes called the ‘friendly’ degree], conferrable today only to Master Masons and forms part of a hierarchical organization. In Craft Masonry it was quite a late innovation making its appearance during the mid-1700s.  However we do know that Operative Masons, without any kind of ceremony, were taking marks 150 years before the Mark came into use as part of that particular ceremony.

Freemasons donate £40,850 to Shelterbox Caribbean Appeal

Shelterbox

“Thanks go to the Brethren and Provinces for their continued generosity in helping those in the Caribbean in their time of distress. Ring-fenced donations via the Mark Benevolent Fund are now closed but you can still help by donating directly to the Shelterbox charity.” Darren Coleman – Charities Manager of The Mark Benevolent Fund

Alain Bernheim: My Approach to Masonic History

Square and Compasses

As a French citizen who was successively a member of the Grand Orient of France – ‘that irregular body’ –, then of the Grande Loge Nationale Française – a regular one –, then of the United Grand Lodges of Germany and, for the past ten years, of the Swiss Grand Lodge Alpina, Alan presents his approach to Masonic history