statue, time, square and compass, death, scythe

Time in Freemasonry

Continuing the series of the broken column and the weeping virgin, in this episode of Symbols and Symbolism we look at Albert Mackey’s entry into the Encyclopedia of Freemasonry as he examines the figure of time in the Jeremy Cross statue of early American Freemasonry. the statue, a newer invention in the collection of symbols, it remarkably follows in the vein of the 24 inch gage and the hourglass.

Mackey writes,

The image of Time, under the conventional figure of a winged old man with the customary scythe and hour-glass, has been adopted as one of the modern symbols in the Third Degree. He is represented as attempting to disentangle the ringlets of a weeping virgin who stands before him. This, which is apparently a never-ending task, but one which Time undertakes to perform, is intended to teach the Freemasons that time, patience and perseverance will enable him to accomplish the great object of a Freemason’s labor, and at last to obtain the true Word which is the symbol of Divine Truth. Time, therefore, is in this connection the symbol of well-directed perseverance in the performance of duty.

This symbol with the broken column, so familiar to all Freemasons in the United States is probably an American innovation.


statue, virgin, time, broken column, freemasonry

The Weeping Virgin

In this episode of Symbols and Symbolism we look at a short entry from Albert Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry examining the figure of the weeping virgin. A newer invention in the symbolism of Freemasonry, Mackey draws an ancient parallel to its cryptic iconography.

time, virgin, broken pillar, art, illustration
Time, the weeping virgin and the broken column.

The Weeping Virgin with disheveled hair, in the Monument of the Third Degree used in the American Rite, is interpreted as a symbol of grief for the unfinished state of the Temple.

Jeremy Cross, who is said to have fabricated the monumental symbol, was not, we are satisfied, acquainted with Hermetic Science. Yet a woman thus portrayed, standing near a tomb, was a very appropriate symbol for the Third Degree, whose dogma is the resurrection.

In Hermetic Science, according to Nicolas Flammel (Hieroglyphics, chapter xxxii), a woman having her hair disheveled and standing near a tomb is a symbol of the soul.


Jeremy Cross (b.1783, d. 1861) became a mason in 1808 and soon became a student of Thomas Smith Webb. In 1819 he published The True Masonic Chart or Hieroglyphic Monitor, in which he borrowed liberally from the previous work of Webb. The Weeping Virgin first appeared as an illustration as rendered by the American copperplate engraver Amos Doolittle, appearing in Crosse’s The True Masonic Chart.

the moon in masonic symbolism.

The Moon in Freemasonry | Symbols and Symbolism

Symbolic, even among the symbols of Freemasonry, the moon plays an essential part in the esoteric nature of Freemasonry. Not a primary component of the ritual, the celestial body none-the-less features prominently in the rites and rituals of the lodge harkening back to older and more esoteric traditions.

In this installment of the Symbols and Symbolism of Freemasonry, we look at a reading on the luminous orb that encircles our planet in both a reading of Albert Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and from an excerpt of the book, The Master Mason: The Reason of Being – A Treatise on the Third Degree of Freemasonry on the topic.

Mackey writes on the moon:

The adoption of the moon in the Masonic system as a symbol is analogous to, but could hardly be derived from, the employment of the same symbol in the ancient religions. In Egypt, Osiris was the sun, and Isis the moon; in Syria, Adonis was the sun and Ashtaroth the moon; the Greeks adored her as Diana, and Hecate; in the mysteries of Ceres, while the hierophant or chief priest represented the Creator, and the torch-bearer the sun, the officer nearest the altar represented the moon. In short, moon-worship was as widely disseminated as sun-worship. Masons retain her image in their Rites because the Lodge is a representation of the universe. where, as the sun rules over the day, the moon presides over the night; as the one regulates the year, so does the other the months, and as the former is the king of the starry hosts of heaven, so is the latter their queen; but both deriving their heat, and light, and power from him, who has the third and the greatest light, the master of heaven and earth controls them both.

From The Master Mason

In its culmination, [the third degree] is the transition through life and death in order to be reborn anew with an understanding of the spiritual world that has always been around us but now made visible. The moon, here, is key as Yesod leads to our understanding of becoming an emblem of the reflective nature we assume in this transformation. Like the moon, we reflect the light of the Great Architect capturing what is impossible to see without becoming blinded by its radiance. This is, of course, a metaphor but no less appropriate to the change we undergo and the purpose we assume in becoming masters. Like the moon, each of us reflect the glory of the divine sun in phases, exerting our gravitational force over the tides of our interactions.

book, The Great Work, knowledge, wisdom, willpower

The Great Work

book, The Great Work, knowledge, wisdom, willpower

The Great Work is, above all things, the creation of man by himself; that is to say, the fall and entire conquest which he effects of his faculties and his future. It is, above all, the perfect emancipation of his will.

For a good many years, I’ve written about the idea of producing to contribute to the Great Work. Yet, I don’t think I’ve taken the time to address what that idea means, to me or to the wide world when it comes to your self-development.

In basic terms, the Great Work is the idea of completing the development of our soul. By completing it, I mean finding within ourselves that spark of the cosmic consciousness and nurturing it to a state of understanding the wider universe around us.

A lofty goal and, not surprisingly, one that is seldom, if ever, brought to completion.

But, in undertaking such an endeavor, it’s important to not try and put the cart before the horse. While considering the Great Work as the length and breadth of a career, the reality is that the work itself is an ongoing pursuit made by degree, the production of which making small, nearly imperceptible changes to the inner life that slowly make themselves known in the external domain.

Complex Simplicity

So then, what is the Great Work? The easiest way to define what it is is to say that The Great Work is the quest for knowledge that ends in wisdom.

It seems almost too simple. It seems like a process many of us already undertake. In many respects it is. But what happens in the pursuit of the Great Work is the myriad distractions and attention-stealing interruptions that take us away from the pursuit of that work.

Like all the Mysteries of Magism, the Secrets of “the Great Work” have a threefold signification: they are religious, philosophical, and natural.
– Albert Pike

To further simplify the term, the Great Work is the betterment of oneself. Be it through learning and doing our trade, perfecting our life, providing for the health and welfare of our family or contributing to the uplifting of mankind. It’s in the undertaking of these tasks that the effort of the Great Work begins to shape the world around us.

The hardest part of understanding what the Great Work represents is knowing that the work is just that—work.

It isn’t something that you can buy on a shelf or order online. It isn’t something you can achieve in the simple reading of a text. No, the Great Work manifests itself in the assimilation of information and application in the real world. It comes out of the understanding of perspectives other than one’s own and seeing meaning from the eyes of the stranger. Think in terms of walking a mile in another person’s shoes. In this aphorism, the purpose is the development of empathy for the world around you, much in the way of the Golden Rule.

Purposeful Execution

With knowledge comes wisdom. From wisdom comes empathy. And yet, there is another component necessary to square the circle. That fourth component is the willpower to undertake such a change with the knowledge that it means a reexamination of past lessons learned in the past.

This is the purpose of the Great Work.

Without doubt, this path implies a measure of agreed upon change that, once begun, inculcates itself into your day to day existence. The seeker, desiring change (knowingly or not) wanting to assimilate knowledge must take the first step in this process by exercising their will to acquire it, fearless of where ever it may take them.

Many Paths, One Destination

Where does that knowledge come from? What path should one follow to pursue the Great Work? Many groups and organizations suggest theirs is the one true way. But, in reality, there is an infinite number of means to obtain knowledge, and just as many in applying it. The effort of undertaking the Great Work is in your mindful daily living, applying the lessons learned and when finding an impasse, seeking further enlightenment beyond where you find yourself now. This is the process of the Great Work, not the Great Attainment. It is work. It is an effort. It is a continually tested result and attunement to the world in increasingly broadening strokes and circles.

It is for this that the pursuit of the Great Work is called the Search for the Absolute; and the work itself, the work of the Sun.

This attunement happens in meditation. It happens in prayer. It happens in mindful interactions with other human beings in the world at large—both in your community and outside of it. One could argue that it happens in the comments in social media if they offer something constructive to the dialog seeking to uplift rather than tear down.

Pike, in Morals and Dogma, writes:

For all that we familiarly know of Free-Will is that capricious exercise of it which we experience in ourselves and other men; and therefore the notion of Supreme Will, still guided by Infallible Law, even if that law be self-imposed, is always in danger of being either stripped of the essential quality of Freedom, or degraded under the ill-name of Necessity to something of even less moral and intellectual dignity than the fluctuating course of human operations.

It is not until we elevate the idea of law above that of partiality or tyranny, that we discover that the self-imposed limitations of the Supreme Cause, constituting an array of certain alternatives, regulating moral choice, are the very sources and safeguards of human freedom; and the doubt recurs, whether we do not set a law above God Himself; or whether laws self-imposed may not be self-repealed: and if not, what power prevents it.

28th Degree—Knight of the Sun, or Prince Adept.

It is in this operation of seeking, working and finding the Great Work that we employ in the exercise of the Hermetic Art. This is the heart of the Great Work.


Read: Why Brotherly Love Relief and Truth in Freemasonry?

Lost Masonic temple, Los Angeles,

Something Lost: The Los Angeles Scottish Rite Cathedral

window, sculpture, Scottish Rite
Stained glass in Los Angeles Acottish Rite Temple.

I spent some time last weekend visiting the Marciano Art Foundation (and gallery) in Los Angeles. It is an amazing space with near limitless potential almost in the heart of the city of angels. What makes the space relevant to Freemasons is that the space that the Foundation Galley occupies was once the jewel of modern Freemasonry as the Los Angeles Scottish Rite Cathedral.

Building a Masonic Temple

sculpture, Albert Stewart, Los Angeles
the Double Headed Eagle of the Scottish Rite.

Built in 1961, the Scottish Rite Temple was the design by Millard Owen Sheets, a prominent American artist in the early century known for his mosaics on the mid-century Home Savings of America banks that populated California. His work stretched well beyond the Golden states adorning buildings with his mosaic and collections of collaborative artists work. Sheets was not a Mason but in his discussions with the then temple board, his charge was to construct a temple of epic proportions. Sheets own words in describing the project, recalls the project this way:

…I was surprised by the tremendous number of things that had to be incorporated in this temple. First of all, the upper degrees of [Scottish Rite] Masonry are given in an auditorium, and they are given in the form of plays. They have incredible costumes and magnificent productions of the basic concepts that are ethical and have at heart a religious depth, and they draw from many religions, as far as I understand. I’m not a Mason, but I do feel that it’s a tremendous attempt toward the freedom of man as an individual, and the rights of man as an individual, and respect for various races and creeds. I won’t say this is always obtained, but certainly, that’s been the spirit. They felt that they wanted to depict this in every form.

He goes on to describe the huge mural on the eastern wall, describing it as:

The huge mosaic on the exterior east end of the temple at that time was the largest mosaic I’d ever made. It starts out with the builders of the temple from the days of Jerusalem, and King Solomon, who built the temple, and Babylon. Then it jumps up to the Persian emperor, Zerubbabel. When the Crusaders went to the Holy Land, they built a place called Acre, which is still a very important historical monument to the period of the crusaders. Of course, there were other temples and I showed Rheims cathedral in the process of building. I showed the importance of [Giuseppe] Garibaldi, the Mason who broke away from the Roman Catholic church because of what he felt was its limitations and dogmatism. Ever since then, there’s been a certain quarrel, I gather, between the Masons and the Catholics. Then there is King Edward VII in his Masonic regalia as one of the great grandmasters. We had the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, which is part of the King Edward section. I think the final part of that mosaic shows the first grand master of California in his full regalia being invested in Sacramento. It’s a kind of historical thing going way back to the ancient temple builders and coming right up through to actual California history, which the California sun at the top symbolizes.

Millard Sheets, mosaic, Los Angeles, Scottish Rite
Millard Sheets History of Freemasonry mosaic in Los Angeles.

The mural he surmises represents that law and concepts of religion were involved in the great temples. Certainly, the Gothic cathedrals were the book for the people who couldn’t read. Well, they didn’t think of the American people not being able to read, but they wanted to show graphically the intensity of feeling throughout history toward the Meaning of Masonry.

In like manner, Sheets worked with sculptor Albert Stewart to adorn the master builders of history along the edifice.

The work and consideration alone that went into the temple might well be enough to say it was a great asset and jewel in the crown of Freemasonry. But like all crowns, they tarnish with time and often fall from the heads of the kings they once adorned.

Heyday of Masonry

By 1994, the Scottish Rite Temple in Los Angeles was all but abandoned. The Los Angeles Conservancy says of the space that it was the result of “years of declining membership” that the temple was vacated.

By their own telling, the Los Angeles Scottish Rite says of the temple that, “Due to zoning changes in Los Angeles over the years, it was increasingly difficult — and finally impossible — for the Valley to generate the revenue from renting the Cathedral necessary to maintain the building. It eventually became unavoidable that the building should be sold, which was accomplished in 2013.”

Ironic when you consider by its own admission that the Valley of Los Angeles held a “…one day class of 330 candidates in November 1974, [bringing] the membership to over 11,000. In 1980, Los Angeles was the largest Valley in the second largest Orient in the Southern Jurisdiction, and the 14th largest Valley in the Jurisdiction.”

And yet, this modern imposing temple fell into ruin.

After abandoning the temple it sat nearly empty save for a few unremarkable semi-urban businesses in the ground floor foyer. I remember that time, passing the building in awe at its grandiose presence and bewildered at the neon atm sign unintelligently fixed to its entryway. By all accounts, it could have been a Roman ruin in a landscape that had moved on and forgotten it.

But that was Freemasonry then

Millard Sheets, Scottish Rite, Los Angeles
Foyer at the Marciano Art Foundation.

In 2013, the temple was given a new lease on life in the hands of Maurice and Paul Marciano granting “the public access to the Marciano Art Collection (now closed) through presentations of rotating thematic exhibitions.”

Upon visiting, my first impression was that space is remarkable. Entering from the garage and walking through the foyer, it was impossible to not feel the energy of what it had been constructed for. Indeed, I had entered hallowed ground. It still felt like a once great Scottish Rite Hall. Standing at point, in the near pitch blackness of what was once the theater space, now the art installation of Olafur Eliasson’s Reality projector, I felt compelled to give the signs of the degrees — there, by my self, for the ghosts of the past to see that a brother had come to visit.

More on Masonic Art in Los Angeles.

Perhaps it was at this point that a deep feeling of sadness began to stir. That feeling stayed with me while I looked at the art. But, that stirring became a tempest of emotion when on the last stop in the space, in a small red-carpeted room in the north-west corner of the building. There, in the small ‘room’ sat the “artifacts” left by the “Masons who abandoned the building.” I use quotes here as these were the words used by the docent stationed in the space to tell interested visitors what the strange aprons and funny hats were.

Relics of the Life Masonic

relics, Freemasonry, Scottish Rite, hats, Los Angeles
The relic room of Masonic artifacts left behind at the Marciano Art Foundation in the Old Scottish Rite in Los Angeles.

Unremarkable to anyone familiar with the fraternity, in the room was an odd collection of ritual ephemera, staging books, old New Age magazines, odds and ends of the life masonic, and a padded altar bench. To the lay observer, these things are oddities in a building full of modern art — trinkets of a bygone era “…left behind by the Masons before they abandoned the building.”

I can’t say for certain if it was the space, the items in the space or the words taken in the context of the aforementioned relics of what Freemasonry once was. Leaving the relic room, I was moved to tears — not for the casual housing of materials sacred to me, but tears for what those relics once represented to the people in the space. To the owners of the history that poured the foundation and raised the marble edifice. Perhaps more so, the thought that this was the future of Freemasonry. That an empty building full of abandoned “relics” was really what lay at the end of it all.

Yes, the building is just a building, but it effects the priest no less to see the church he loves dearly, laid low by a fire or an earthquake.

Masons are builders and buildings can be replaced. Walking through the bones of a structure built to show the “intensity of feeling throughout history toward the Meaning of Masonry” felt like a priest walking through the ashes of his fallen church.

working tools, past master jewel, trowel, mallet, rough ashlar
Some of the “relics” of Freemasonry at the Marciano Art Foundation in Los Angeles.

I wanted to feel optimistic about the space. I wanted to appreciate it for what it once was.

Instead, I left haunted—feeling depressed and overwhelmed. Not at the space or the modern art within its walls.

I left feeling haunted by the ghosts of what it once was.

Sheets went on to design the San Francisco Scottish Rite Masonic Center building, a structure in perpetual use to this day. And, the Scottish Rite’s Valley of Los Angeles retains a presence meeting at the Santa Monica Masonic Center.

And yet, the bones of the cathedral remain in the heart of the city. A fitting fate for the Royal Art in the city of angels.

Lost Masonic Art

The following is some of the imagery and iconography that still adorns the exterior of the old Scottish Rite in Los Angeles.


You can read more on the theme of being a Priest for Freemasonry in the book, The Master Mason.

Is 2b1ask1 Working?

2b1ask1, joining freemasonry

The mechanism behind the aphorism simply implying that if someone wants to be a mason, they need to ask one. Short, simple, and to the point.

The phrase encompasses the admonition that no Mason will (or can) ask someone to join or become one, because then the decision to join is solemn one—a turning point if you will. From existing in the profane world and a desire to enter into the company of like-minded individuals in pursuit of moral excellence, a theme I explore in the book The Apprentice. 

2b1ask1 is a mantra familiar to every mason today. But does it work?

So, to join those in pursuit of that moral excellence, you have to ask for admission.

This website, itself, saying of 2b1ask1, that: 

This process is as old as the fraternity itself and ensures that the individual seeking the degrees is doing so of his desire and will.

But is that the right interpretation of the 2 be one—ask one mantra? Should it be used in a way to necessitate those interested in the fraternity too, literally, have to ask to be one?

Or, should 2b1ask1 (alternatively written 2be1ask1 or tobeoneaskone) be interpreted as a slogan illuminating the process of how to become a mason, but NOT a barrier of admission necessitating the potential member to know beforehand.

In writing this, I went looking through a grand lodge constitution, but couldn’t find anything that implicitly said that the only way to become a member was to ask someone who already was one. In a more roundabout way, it implied the prospective member need fill out an application and then undergo the requisite investigation. It was in this process that it seemed to me that 2b1ask1 idea found resonance by ensuring the investigation went smoothly and avoided any hiccups causing the applicant apprentice from failing out of the process or receiving a cube in the vote.

Tradition

So then, is the probation of having to ASK a Freemason to become a Freemason really a tradition from time immemorial?

Or is it a process to ensure the vetting process of admission be a near guarantee of entry—for a variety of reasons, all of which were mostly positive but to a degree (pardon the pun) the most beneficial to all involved on every level.

With that in mind, is the 2b1ask1 mantra working?

To assume someone would know to ask is a leap. The fact of necessitating it requires the asker knows in the first place their task. This would seem to be a barrier to entry without a large marketing campaign behind it telling prospective members “…Hey, you have to ask to join.” Maybe looked at in another way, it should be said: “Call us, we won’t call you.”

What would be the cumulative net value of flipping the script on this? Rather than necessitating a public who might not know anything about the fraternity to have to ask about it, approach it from the other way and work on a referral basis. Almost like an affiliate or feeder pipeline. You refer a friend, and they refer one, and so on… Yes, this would fly in the face of tradition to an extent, but wouldn’t solve the pipeline issue facing American Masonry today?

Morality Question

If people don’t know about something, they can’t join in. Think about this same concept in other terms.

Would you NOT invite people to come to your church? What about joining another social group you may belong to A club outing, a fantasy football league, a seminar on some social or political issue. Certainly, these are not necessarily on par with joining a Masonic lodge, but they still involve group participation with individuals you trust and hold in esteem. 

What is it that Freemasonry demands to morally obligate people to have to ask to be part of?

Imagine how different things would be if the onus of asking was on the other foot.

Imagine how different things would be if instead of relying on others to ask to join, the fraternity instead turned outward and asked those it believed in amity with the ideals to join its ranks. 

Maybe the idea of requiring outsides to ask has been the root cause all along for the decline in membership. 

What do you think?

symbol, ouroboros, time, freemasonry

Ouroboros | Symbols and Symbolism

In this edition of Symbols and Symbolism, we look at a reading on the Ouroboros, that serpent devouring its tail as a representation of eternity and the passage of time. This symbol, while existing in a mainstream context, is little known outside of most esoteric and occult circles. Its use triggers very specific meanings for those utilizing it as part of their overall allegorical narrative.

You can find more installments here: Symbols & Symbolism and on YouTube.

ordoThis symbol appears principally among the Gnostics and is depicted as a dragon, snake or serpent biting its own tail. In the broadest sense, it is symbolic of time and of the continuity of life. It sometimes bears the caption Hen to pan—’The One, the All’, as in the Codex Marcianus, for instance, of the 2nd century A.D. It has also been explained as the union between the chthonian principle as represented by the serpent and the celestial principle as signified by the bird (a synthesis which can also be applied to the dragon). Ruland contends that this proves that it is a variant of the symbol for Mercury—the duplex god. In some versions of the Ouroboros, the body is half light and half dark, alluding in this way to the successive counterbalancing of opposing principles as illustrated in the Chinese Yang-Yin symbol for instance. Evola asserts that it represents the dissolution of the body, or the universal serpent which (to quote the Gnostic saying) ‘passes through all things’. Poison, the viper and the universal solvent are all symbols of the undifferentiated—of the ‘unchanging law’ which moves through all things, linking them by a common bond. Both the dragon and the bull are symbolic antagonists of the solar hero. The ouroboros biting its own tail is symbolic of self-fecundation, or the primitive idea of a self-sufficient Nature—a Nature, that is, which, à la Nietzsche, continually returns, within a cyclic pattern, to its own beginning. There is a Venetian manuscript on alchemy which depicts the Ouroboros with its body half-black (symbolizing earth and night) and half-white (denoting heaven and light).

Freemasons and the New World Order

Is Freemasonry part of the New World Order?

To the unassuming public, the Freemasons are a society of likeminded men who come together to donate and raise money for good and charitable causes. But is this really true? Is the government a component of an underground Masonic society whose whole organization is a plot to form a new-world order?

Let’s look at the evidence.

A New World Order

The one world government, also referred to as the New World Order, is a theory that a select few elite people have a globalist agenda and aspire to rule the world as an authoritarian world government. This will replace sovereign nations and states and every country will become one under the same government. Culled in modern times out of Woodrow Wilson’s speech to Congress on January 8, 1918, in his Fourteen Points statement of principles for peace, he called for a League of Nations on the heels of World War I. In his list, point XIV calls for the formation of:

A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.

He closes that speech, saying:

An evident principle runs through the whole program I have outlined. It is the principle of justice to all peoples and nationalities, and their right to live on equal terms of liberty and safety with one another, whether they be strong or weak.

Unless this principle be made its foundation no part of the structure of international justice can stand.

George Bush, in 1991, took up the phrase in a speech to Congress, not ironically in reference to making the world safe. In the address, he said:

I come to this House of the people to speak to you and all Americans, certain that we stand at a defining hour. Halfway around the world, we are engaged in a great struggle in the skies and on the seas and sands. We know why we’re there: We are Americans, part of something larger than ourselves. For two centuries, we’ve done the hard work of freedom. And tonight, we lead the world in facing down a threat to decency and humanity.

What is at stake is more than one small country; it is a big idea: a new world order, where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind — peace and security, freedom, and the rule of law. Such is a world worthy of our struggle and worthy of our children’s future. (minute 6:40 in the video below)

He says further on,

We will succeed in the Gulf. And when we do, the world community will have sent an enduring warning to any dictator or despot, present or future, who contemplates outlaw aggression.

The world can, therefore, seize this opportunity to fulfill the long-held promise of a new world order, where brutality will go unrewarded and aggression will meet collective resistance.

(minute 49:42 in the video below)

You can read the full text of the speech at The American Presidency Project

Seemingly, this had less to say about world domination and more to insinuate peace, security and prosperity.

So where do the Freemasons come in?

Freemasonry and the New World Order

Great Seal of the United States, novus ordo seclorum

As one the world’s oldest secular fraternal organizations, the Freemasons have been at the heart or involved in a number of the world’s most pivotal moments. Let’s take the United States for example. The most powerful country in the world and yet on of the newest. George Washington and Benjamin Franklin were both Freemasons, and the influences of this society are seen throughout American state craft and culture.

Take a closer look at the Great Seal of the United States or the one dollar bill, The Great Seal bears the Latin phrase ‘novus ordo seclorum’ on the reverse, as proposed by non-mason Charles Thomson, translating to ‘new order of the ages.’

Ben Franklin, seal, united states
Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God

Yes, Ben Franklin was on one of the early committees to craft the early seal, but in the end, it was not his seal that was selected. Franklin’s seal, chose the more modest motto of “Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God” Some believe that the final motto selected alludes to the phrase New World Order and is a preamble for “Freemasonry is the Church of Satan masquerading as a fraternal mystical philanthropic order.” and are “fronts for Illuminati (Masonic & Cabalist Jewish) central bankers who started the US as a vehicle to advance their New World Order” pinning the phrase to “Illuminati bankers [who] have been plotting the ‘new order of the ages’ (featured on the US dollar along with the uncapped Masonic pyramid) for thousands of years.”

Was the American government created with the purpose of one day becoming the one world government?

One of the main reasons that the Freemasons have been the subject of the New World Order theory is that they rejected the traditional and orthodox authority because it didn’t fall into line with their idea that all people were equal. Not just this, but Masonic societies around the globe been known to treat all people, regardless of religion, as equals. This belief is often seen as highly un-Christian and, therefore, made masons a focus for people who believe in the one world government.

Secret World Government

But why are the Masons so secretive? What do they have to hide?

In this day and age where men and women are equal, why aren’t women invited to the Lodges all over the globe where these meetings take place? Many people believe that they are hiding something. Because of this secrecy, no one knows what really goes on except those who are involved in them. The Freemasons claim to be a charitable group yet they make no claims on the charities they donate to, and they ask for no official recognition. Why be so secretive?

Perhaps it comes out of another organization that has been linked to the Freemasons, the Illuminati.

Illuminati, founder, Adam Weinhaupt, philosopher
Adam Weishaupt

The Illuminati was founded in 1776, which coincidentally is the same year that America became independent. The main focus and beliefs of the Illuminati was a mixture of several different religions, mysticisms and even heavily borrowed the Freemasons ideologies. The main goal — that they spoke about — was to make people happy and people could become happy by becoming good. They want people to reject judgment and prejudices and believe that everyone should out for everyone. Sound familiar?

The Illuminati and the Freemasons are closely linked, and their beliefs are very similar, and its founder tried to infiltrate his organization into the contemporary Masonic lodge, but Weishaupt’s dream never say its full manifestation. Despite this fact, this is another reason why many believe that, together, they are one organization working together to bring about the New World Order. Because they want everyone to be treated as equals regardless of status, religion, gender, race or background, people believe that they are looking to create a world in which everyone is the same. What better way to do this other than create a one world government? If one government ruled the entire world then none of those things would matter and people would be truly equal.

American Founding Fathers

One of the other big reasons that people believe that Freemasons are looking create a one world government is because of what happened in the founding of the United States.

In the 1776, the United States of America didn’t exist. It was simply known as Mundus  Novus (New World) from a pamphlet written in 1503 by Amerigo Vespucci. The term was in opposition to the notion of an “old world” from which the age of exploration sprang. As the “new world” grew it took shape to include the 13 British colonies — each isolated from the other with degrees of different beliefs, different ideologies and even different religious practice (again, to a degree). They were made up of different races and ethnicities and all held widely differing political and societal beliefs. It was the organization by the Founding Fathers that sought to unify these disperate colonies under one government into a country that, after much bloodshed and heartache, would become known today as the United States. And what do we know about the founding fathers? That they were Freemasons.

founding fathers, America, history, new world order

It was the work of these founders that many see as the Freemasons unifying America under one government to be spread to the rest of the world. They started out with the United States, which many people dub the “practice country” and now have their sights set on the rest of the world.

The Big Picture

Obviously, none of these plans for world domination are proven fact.

Yes, the founding fathers were Freemasons and yes they did work together to unite the 13 colonies to become the United States. And yes, the Illuminiaiti sought to infiltrate European Masonic lodges to spread their ideology across the globe, but there is no real evidence that they did so because they wanted to rule the world under a “one world-government” despite what Wilson and Bush said in front of Congress to the American people (neither of whom were Freemasons).

The Freemasons are not a secret society, they are simply very traditional — a fact that many people don’t understand. And in that tradition, world domination is the last thing on its mind, unless that domination is in the form of doing good works and promoting civil society.

Ultimately, masons do a lot of good in the world and they do it without expectation of anything in return. There could stand to be a few more people who aren’t in it for the glory and just in it for the good of mankind. And really, if it were to come to light that they were looking to establish a world free of judgement a prejudices, would that really be the worst thing in the world?

Selected Sources

the master mason, book, masonic author, gregory b stewart

Between the Sun and Moon, A Master Mason is Born

the master mason, book, masonic author, gregory b stewart

Almost 6 months ago, on the day of the August, 2017, solar eclipse, I launched a project to publish the third book in the Symbolic Lodge series, The Master Mason. And, (almost) to the date of the January, 2018, lunar eclipse, that book went out to its backers and is available now to the public.

The Master Mason, our third step in becoming a Freemason, is out now.

The blurb for the book reads:

book, freemasonry, masonic, gregory b. stewart, master mason

The Master Mason: The Reason of Being – A Treatise on the Third Degree of Freemasonry

The Master Mason: The Reason of Being – A Treatise on the Third Degree of Freemasonry

Third, in the journey of the Symbolic Lodge, The Master Mason is a formal exploration of the symbolism and allegory at work in the third degree of Freemasonry. Through that lens, this work seeks to find the hidden esoteric connections and their connections with the centuries-old ritual that crowns the process of becoming a Freemason. As with its predecessors, The Apprentice and Fellow of the Craft, this work seeks to find parallel with its esoteric siblings, the Golden Dawn, Thelema, numerology, tarot, the Kabbalah and other arcane and occult traditions.

The Master Mason is a work that strives to understand the process of becoming a Freemason.

As many traditions hold the keys to achieve a degree of perfection, within the Masonic tradition we are shown this path through the becoming of a master. Truly, this degree opens as a mystery, and concludes on another, illuminating a path towards perfection and purpose.

You can find the book online at Amazon and other select sellers. Plus, if you’re a collector, there are a small number of special offers of The Master Mason available for a limited time including signed editions, very limited edition prints, and a collector coin — all of which you can find here.

flat earth, freemasonry, conspiracy

Is Freemasonry Behind Flat Earth Theory?

This article is one in a series exploring some of the ‘iconic’ notions of Masonic conspiracy theories.

As a Mason, there’s nothing better than a plausible conspiracy theory. However, one that makes even less sense now than it did a few centuries ago. This conspiracy says that the Earth is flat as a pancake and, for the really dark and mysterious, that it’s been one of the many attempts made by Freemasons to stifle intellectual progress and ignore scientific proof that says otherwise. So, with this in mind, let’s explore the conspiracy that says the Freemasons are behind Flat Earth Theory.

The Flying Pancake

Freemasons cooked this one up some time ago. The argument is that, since the Earth is flat, the place we call home is in fact the shape of an average pancake. If you were to fling that pancake across a room, you would be closely replicating the orbit of the Flat Earth which would account for tidal action and all kinds of weird tilting activity on the planet.

A flying flat earth pancake would certainly help to explain why rain and snow sometimes comes down sideways as opposed to straight down.

via GIPHY

The Ice Edge

Thanks to the wonderful minds of the wizards of Freemasonry (or is that magicians?), they claim that there is a reason why all of the water in the oceans don’t suddenly fall off the edge of the Flat Earth pancake. That’s because the edge of that pancake is encrusted with ice. The ice is so thick. In fact, that nothing can pass through it and slip off the edges. In other words, the Earth is more or less similar to a raised crust pizza. Just like the thick crust of a pizza keeps your toppings from slopping elsewhere, the crusty ice edge contains all the things on the planet.

The Solar System

By the way, wouldn’t you think that if the Flat Earth Pancake/Rising Crust Pizza was spinning through the air that it would eventually smack into another flat planet going the other direction? Well, the Freemasons have thought of an answer for that. Simply, there is no solar system.

We are the only pancake/pizza planet floating, or spinning, through the universe. In fact, we really aren’t spinning, rather we are, more or less, hovering around a section of space that is just big enough for our flat planet to exist in.

Did Hieronymus Bosch know know something about the Flat Earth when he painted The Garden of Earthly Delights tryptic exterior?

Hollywood Science Fiction Is Fake

Spoiler Alert! Movies produced in Hollywood that hint at anything related to life outside of the tiny atmosphere our flat pancake/rising crust Earth is hovering inside is straight up bunk. We know this because Freemasons created the sci-fi genre to entertain the masses and to make us all feel insignificant in a ginormous universe that does not exist outside of the imagination of Hollywood. The same goes for the small screen, too. Star Trek is a fine example. Why was it that each ‘foreign’ land that the Enterprise explored had gravity, people who resembled humans — most of whom could speak and understand English and oddly enough looked like an Earth landscape? Simple. Because none of it is real.

NASA is in On It

It really doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see through this one (pun intended). All the work put into creating the fake solar system and the equally fake landings on the Moon and other space exploration is part of the façade.

If the Earth is like a pancake, why do we see pictures and video of other planets that don’t look like our flat one? That’s because the top astronauts and scientific officials at NASA are all deeply involved in Freemasonry. Their goal is to keep us thinking that there is more out there and, by giving us round looking objects to gaze at with wonder, we grow to appreciate our flat pancake we call home just a bit more. Don’t even get me started on the fake Space Shuttle.

via GIPHY

Flat Earth Has a Meaning

The word ‘flat’ has a secret meaning to Freemasons.

It’s sort of a secret code word, you know, part of the ever-growing list of secrets that include special handshakes, phrases, riddles, symbols and games used to identify one Freemason from another. F.L.A.T. stands for “Freemasons Live Above the Rest of You.” Admittedly, Freemasons are supposed to be brilliant but Mensa intelligence may not be part of that package. Otherwise the statement would really read F.L.A.T.R.O.Y.

via GIPHY

Freemasons Have Infiltrated the School System

One place where Freemasonry has gained its best foothold is in the education system. With a particular focus on Earth Sciences, have you ever wondered why maps of the world are flat? That’s not because it makes them easier to draw on. It’s because Masonic teachers in your educational past were slowly planting the seeds of doubt into your young and impressionable minds. Sure, there were globes present in the classroom, but that was just to satisfy the non-believers. Take a look at any published atlas, road map or tourist street map — They’re all flat.

via GIPHY

Sure, if you can ever figure out how to fold them back up you may sense why flat maps work so well in keeping the theory alive.

The Flat Earth – Theory or Reality?

Well, there you have it. The flying pancake/rising crust pizza of a planet of ours could very well be flat. We’re just not all that interested in racing off to the ice edge to find out for sure. So, we’ll just accept the things we have learned and dream about the possibility that Freemasonry has screwed it up from the start in an attempt to dumb us down and take over the world. The entire flat world. We can’t really explain sideways snow or rain nor can we say for sure whether there are other planets as flat or round as we’ve seen pictures because we really only have pictures and video to go by. CGI may have been invented by Freemasons in order to solidify the Flat Earth Theory. We’d like to think of our planet as a round marble spinning around other, brighter space marbles but the pizza analogy keeps grabbing our attention. Especially the rising crust part. Maybe Freemasons cooked that up idea to distract us with a tasty food example to keep us off their trail.

Are Freemasons behind The Flat Earth Theory?

To say there is a Flat Earth Theory to begin with is an absurd enough notion. To suggest the Freemasons are behind the Flat Earth takes things down that conspiratorial rabbit hole of suspended belief in reality. The earth isn’t flat. Freemasonry isn’t hiding that it is. Freemasons celebrate the round globe atop one of its pillars when entering the masonic lodge (something the ancient world did, too) and utilize the compass (or dividers) as one of its key symbols. If you think the earth is flat, you probably need to get off the internet and spend some time in a text book.

via GIPHY