Promoting the Fraternity across the World
For centuries Masonic historians have been puzzled by the motives for, and the purpose of, the formation of the craft of freemasonry, both in its operative, and speculative form, and whilst endeavouring to investigate the mysteries surrounding the formation of our order, it seems that the riddle actually forms itself into three distinct questions
Why is memory so important to Freemasons? I’m sure to many of you, that will seem obvious. Yet, beyond memorizing material so that you can do things like prove up to a higher degree, perform your ritual part well, do the floorwork, deliver a charge or even deliver a tracing board, there is a great deal more to this topic than one might think at first glance. Thus, in this brief paper, I hope to sketch out three interrelated areas in which memory may – whether consciously or inadvertently – be of significance to Freemasons.
there has been very little agreement among our scholars either as to its (the letter ‘G’) origin or to its meaning. Usually, we can hit upon the manner in which a symbol was introduced into the Ritual by studying the records of the early eighteenth century in England, at which time and place the Ritual was cast in its modern form, but such a study cannot help us here because the eighteenth century Masons were themselves confused about the matter
What do the masons who built medieval cathedrals, the philosopher Voltaire and the artist Marc Chagall have in common? Give yourself a pat on the back if you knew that they are all associated with freemasonry. The history of freemasonry is the subject of a major exhibition at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, open until 24 July 2016, to which the British Library has loaned two medieval manuscripts.
The links between Freemasonry and Canterbury Cathedral have helped preserve this iconic building. Glyn Brown gets to the foundations of a historic relationship that was only renewed 10 years ago
The early history of the so-called “Higher Degrees” is even more obscure than that of the Craft, and in consequence a tendency has grown up to regard them as “Manufactured” during the 18th century.
In my opinion this is too hasty a conclusion, for some of these degrees at any rate bear every evidence of antiquity, and contain that wisdom which has been handed down from generation to generation.
by Bro. H.L. HAYWOOD, Editor THE BUILDER The Builder Magazine, June 1924 – Volume X – Number 6 FREEMASONRY AND THE COMACINE MASTERS In a chapter on…
Kenneth L. Mitchell explores the ancient and continuing link between the engineering profession and the fraternity of freemasonry in Ireland, starting…
During research I was doing into the Holy Royal Arch of Jerusalem I came across a book in the George Holden library at the Solent Masonic Centre at Freshwater, Isle of Wight called the Book of the Chapter and printed in the United States in 1856, the Author being the famous American Masonic historian Albert Mackey MD. The book had been part of the collection of the Bombay Masonic Library in the latter half of the 19th century.