Promoting the Fraternity across the World
Peace, love and harmony? Those three essential Masonic commodities were apparently not very evident 300 years ago, as was delightfully demonstrated when the St Helens and Prescot peripatetic pageant players brought their excellent production of ‘A Timeline Drama and Pageant’ to Rowley Court, Lancaster at a meeting of the City of Lancaster Lodge No 281.
Freemasons are keen to dispel the secrecy associated with the movement, and held a series of We’re Open events this week to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the United Grand Lodge of England, the governing body of Freemasonry in England and Wales.
The annals of the work of the freemasons are filled with many worthy deeds, each performed in the spirit of the fraternity that has been inspired since the order was first established long ago in 1717 when the first Grand Lodge of England was formed in London. Personal growth and social betterment via individual involvement and philanthropy have been the guiding lights of the stonemason guilds that have survived through the ensuing centuries.
Apart from their practical uses to protect the hands from cold and injury, gloves have symbolic connotations. The old illustrations of operative masons at work do not show them wearing gloves. Their use, then, must have been mostly ceremonial, and their adoption in speculative Freemasonic ritual must be explained by their symbolism. The Italian writer Vanni considers that the origin of the symbolism lies not in their use by certain craftsmen or as protection against the cold, but rather in their military use.
In times gone by, in all pursuits of self-discovery and self-improvement, as well as spiritual quests, a pilgrimage was necessary. In the ancient world, the deities who controlled certain areas of life were unable to operate outside those areas. Their power to favour or to destroy only operated within their own area. So a man from the mountains who found himself in the plain and was in need of divine help, had to make a pilgrimage back to his place of origin in order once again to be one with the deity controlling the mountainous regions.
A self-made man who brought tea to the British masses, Freemason Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton also campaigned for the sick and the poor, as Philippa Faulks discovers
Many masonic lodges around the world can boast of a famous member among their ranks, but Glasgow’s Lodge Scotia, No. 178, has one rather remarkable brother – Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton. As with many other masons quietly carrying out acts of philanthropy, Lipton remains an unsung hero.
On Wednesday 14th December the brethren & I have the proud task of initiating a very special candidate into the the Lodge, a Mr Alan Foster. What…
The Initiation of Brother Simon Squires by the Worshipful Master Arthur Roberts was held recently in the company of VWBro Alan Glazier DepPGM and WBro…
On Saturday 19th November 2016 Bro. Benjamin Turvey was initiated into Abington Lodge 8041 at a meeting held at Masonic Centre in Sheaf Close…
