square and compass, freemasonry, S&C, freemason information

The Masonic Bible

Two interesting “non-Masonic” takes on the Masonic bible.

I have to admit its amusing to me the degree that these are extolled as “satanic” or “evil” which I suppose just goes to show how little is known or understood about the fraternity today from these obviously very old Bibles.

Enjoy

I really like the 2nd video’s bible, lots of images to go along with the content.

If you don’t already have one of your own, you can still pick up a Master Mason Edition Bible on Amazon.

The Gift of Irish Freemasonry from WEOFM

The latest video in the 2011 Worldwide Exemplification of Freemasonry is up at the weofm.org website, which is titled The Gift of Irish Freemasonry.

The video is presented by the Right Worshipful Brother Bob Bashford, PM, Past Grand Master Standard Bearer, Provincial Grand Librarian, and Editor of the Irish Lodge of Research, under the Grand Lodge of Ireland.

The Gift of Irish Freemasonry from WEOFM on Vimeo.

Presentation by Bob Bashford, PM 1-8-11

The video explores the development of the Irish Masonic constitution and its role in history and its development from early Roman era builders to more modern times.

The Grand Lodge of Ireland is thought to be the second oldest Grand Lodge of Freemasonry in the world, dating to its founding in 1725 when the 1st Earl of Rosse, Richard Parsons, who was installed as Grand Master.  The Grand Lodge has jurisdiction over 13 provincial Grand Lodges and 12 outside of the territory including Grand Lodges in Bermuda, Ghana, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe.

The audio is on the low side, so you may want to turn up your speakers.

The Four Crowned Ones

Quatuor Coronati LodgeFrom the World Exemplification of Freemasonry

The Four Crowned Ones

This grand overview is presented by Dr. John S. Wade, PM and W.M. of Quatuor Coronati Lodge, No. 2076, which meets under the United Grand Lodge of England. It covers the past, present, and future of the the Lodge of the Four Crowned Ones, and its links to Masonic scholarship and academia today.

Quatuor Coronati was founded in 1884 by nine Brethren to take an evidence-based approach to the study of Masonic history and research which was to replace the imaginative scholarship of earlier authors about the history of Freemasonry. This style of research would come to be called the ‘authentic school’ of Masonic research.

The Four Crowned Ones from WEOFM on Vimeo.

Meeting in the Bollywood Sanctum Sanctorum!

Is it me, or does anyone else out there wish some of the meetings were conducted like this? Is guess its how they do it in Jorhat, in the Indian state of Assam.

Freemasons Kaun Hai Jorhat
Part I

Part II.

Bollywood GhostHunters – so I appologize in advance for the audio – my guess, its Indian?

Occult Forces at the Heart of Freemasonry

Occult Forces at the heart of Freemasonry is an English translation of the film titled Forces Occultes – Au Coeur De La Franc-Maconnerie.

The film’s full title is Occult Forces – The mysteries of Freemasonry and was released in French theaters in 1943.

None of what’s in this video could possibly be real, its French Vichy propaganda, right?

IMDB has a great review on the film.

The Plot, from Wikipedia – recounts the life of a young député who joins the Freemasons in order to relaunch his career. He thus learns of how the Freemasons are conspiring with the Jews to encourage France into a war against Germany.

The history of the film, also from Wikipedia:

The film was commissioned in 1942 by the Propaganda Abteilung, a delegation of Nazi Germany’s propaganda ministry within occupied France by the ex-Mason Mamy. It virulently denounces Freemasonry, parliamentarianism and Jews as part of Vichy’s propaganda drive against them and seeks to prove a Jewish-Masonic plot. On France’s liberation its writer Jean Marquès-Rivière, its producer Robert Muzard and its direction Jean Mamy were purged for collaboration with the enemy. On 25 November 1945, Muzard was condemned to 3 years in prison and Marquès-Rivière was condemned in his absence (he had gone into self-imposed exile) to death and degradation. Mamy had also been a journalist on L’Appel under Pierre Constantini (leader of the Ligue française d’épuration, d’entraide sociale et de collaboration européenne) and on the collaborationist journal Au pilori, and was thus condemned to death and executed at the fortress of Montrouge on 29 March 1949.

Sharpen up your French if you want to get something from the dialog, otherwise, follow along with the visuals and you’ll get a good idea of whats going on.

From the Google Video posting:

In 1943, the film “Forces occult” spell on the screens. The scenario this means fifty-minute film was directed by two former brother Jean Marques-Riviere and Jean Mamy (under the pseudonym Paul Rich). This film shows some aspects of the usual dark Freemasonry had its status as a secret society. The filmmakers will be at the end of the war and the Vichy regime were tried and convicted, but Marques-Riviere happens to escape the vengeance of the allies. He will be sentenced to death in absentia.

Directed by Jean Mamy, who was a a French actor, producer, film, theater director, screenwriter and journalist, and more notably Vichy regime collaborator. He was, a Venerable [Master] between 1931 and 1939 of the Renan lodge of the Grand Orient de France, until he parted ways. This film, Forces Occultes, was his last.  The film was written by Jean Marques-Riviere who was a French writer and journalist.

Want to find out more about the film?  The Canonbury Masonic Research Centre is hosting its twelfth annual conference, the theme of which this year is ‘Anti-Masonry’ which will also host a screening fo the film.

The Canonbury Masonic Research Centre
2010 Conference – Anti-Masonry,
6 Canonbury Place, London N1 2NQ
October 30 and 31, 2010
Tickets to which are available now for are £140 which includes the film and Saturday dinner.

Canonbury Masonic Research Centre was founded in October 1998 and began work in December the same year. Its purpose is the study of western esotericism and related fields, in particular that of Freemasonry and the traditions linked to it. Our eventual aim is the development of an academic programme.

Rick Ross’s Free Mason = Fraternal Shark Jump?

The new song from Rick Ross featuring Jay-Z off the Teflon Don Album.

I’ll let the song and lyrics speak for themselves.

Free Mason.

I get that Free masonry is deep in the pocket of material culture, and that it has a variety of meanings all around, but rapper Rick Ross has adapted Freemasonry’s other spelling, Free Mason, to make it his own in the new song Free Mason on his Teflon Don album.

The onetime correctional officer from Florida turned rapper seems at home using the fraternity in his lyrics, but based on what I’ve seen so far, he’s not using it as a member of the fraternity, but rather using the idea of it to illustrate his point in the song.

From the lyrics:

like gifts of gold
I embark on life,
My path is all math
I understand the codes
these hackers can’t crack

Free Mason, Freelance,
Free Agents, We faster

Personally, I have mixed thoughts on the song.  No one likes their sacred cows trampled, but in context, the song isn’t a terrible message.  It has flow, and I think the heart was behind it in the right way.  What sticks more is the use of the term Free Mason without understanding the work, knowledge, or philosophy that goes into it.

On the reverse side of that coin, have the Masons made that wisdom known in recent years so using their name in a song like this would of commanded more respect?

You be the judge, how do you feel good/bad indifferent?  Is this a good representation of the ancient and honorable fraternity that you belong to?  Or is this a good reference point to mark as when Masonry jumped the shark in its institutional memory in society?

Circa 1939

A remarkable film showing women Freemasons at the Masonic Temple in London congratulating Mrs Seton Challen on her enthronement as Grand Master at a reception in Mayfair…

WOMEN FREEMANSONS

Click the image to play the video.

British Pathe historical archive.

Moving Fremasonry into the MMORPG

MMORPG: Massively multiplayer online role-playing game

Just read a blog post on We Fly Spitfires, an MMORPG blog (which is another way of saying online gaming). The post was called Video Games and Freemasonry and the author, a brother, made some great points about how the lodge could attract younger members.

How you may be wondering? Simply by changing the degrees into video game levels.

Some of his ideas and my thoughts to them:

  • Replace the rituals with video game tournaments: OK, I know this is a bit of a stretch,but most tweens today are more at home with Xbox controllers than they are with pens and paper.
  • Instead of Degrees, have levels: Honestly, its something ever tween today can relate to from the lowliest game on the Play Station to the ever expanding World of Warcraft.
  • Online Degrees – with virtual attendance: With the proliferation of Video & Web Conferencing and Skype Conference Calls, why not do things virtually.
  • Freemason Facebook (or MySpace) App (a la Farmville or Mafia Wars):  If you know what your looking for, Freemasonry is all over Facebook already (including this site) but a step up in the interactivity may be an interesting take on something most of us do on a daily basis already. Instead of watering our virtual plants in Farmville, we could be learning about degrees and symbols.

masonic hammer in warcraftIts an interesting concept, and if your already familiar with the on-line gaming world, then maybe you could see some of the applications in your head already.

Why not have a sanctioned World of Warcraft Guild of Freemasons? Several already exist depending on the game server you join.

Besides guilds, there are already several Masonic-esque items living in Warcraft, including the Masons fraternity ring, and this spiffy hammer.

Imagine what that raiding party would look like.

This is just one example of a lodge built in Minecraft.

How about a Masonic skin for Minecraft?

Have you found Freemasonry in other games, MMORPG or otherwise?  Drop us a not in the comments below.

The Realization of Truth

purest form of worshipOne of my favorite scenes in any movie occurs at the climax of the classic film Ben-Hur. During the scene where Jesus is carrying his crucifix through Jerusalem, he collapses underneath the weight of his burden. As Simon of Cyrene is ordered by the Roman soldiers to pick up Jesus’ cross, Judah Ben-Hur (played by Charleton Hesston) pushes through the crowd to give the man they call ‘King of the Jews’ a drink of water.

What I find so beautiful about this scene is that it is the purest form of worship. At this moment, Charleton Hesston’s character is devoid of dogma or religious opinion. He knows that he is witnessing a moment of great realization and does not try to rationalize it or explain it. He only feels the power of the event and offers his praise for the gift of enlightenment which he is receiving.

While the movie is portraying a fictional aspect of the story of Jesus’ crucifixion, it is also providing the piece of the story which is so desperately yearned for when reading the Biblical account of the event. None of the Gospels speak of any assistance given to Jesus during his crucifixion. They are all in agreement that Mary Magdalene remained faithful to him at the end, but we only read of the disciples betraying Jesus. Judas Iscariot had betrayed him and Peter had denied knowing him. Certainly the others would continue proselytizing men to become Christians later, but where were they at the darkest time for their Lord? Were they too busy writing down what they saw and forming the doctrine for their new religion? It is an easy thing to speak of faith, it is another thing to actually have it.

The character of Ben-Hur has nothing to offer the man in suffering, whom he has come to regard as the messiah. However, he throws himself before him with the only offering that he can provide. This is a beautiful action and properly displays the pure realization of truth. In that moment when we discover truth, we can neither define nor rationalize our feelings. We can only find ourselves on our knees in wide-eyed awe of our new understanding.

In many ways, it reminds me of the Masonic process of coming to light. I was only able to truly accept a great realization once in my Masonic career and that was during my first degree. This was because I had no idea of what to expect, I thought of nothing and only focused on the moment. When I was brought to light, it was a truly transcendent moment and it really did change the course of my life. However, after the first degree I had an idea of what to expect and was simply too busy trying to anticipate my next step rather than accept the truth as it came to me.

Perhaps that is the greatest challenge facing the craft today. Are we too busy anticipating the next step in the fraternity’s future and developing a plan to fill our lodges with members? Are we too concerned with the mistakes that the organization has made today and how to fix them? Do we put too much effort into making sure that the recitation of ritual is perfect without understanding the truth which it teaches? Do we rush to research the ritual’s deeper meanings in order to fill volumes rather than letting the realization come to us?

Masonry embodies pure worship. It only offers lessons which are left to its initiates to decipher. It has no dogma and is not concerned with the particular beliefs of its individual members. Perhaps we as Masons must be like Ben-Hur. In our moment of realization, we may have little to offer Masonry, but let us offer whatever we can to the fraternity with sincerity. It is not for us to define the fraternity or propound upon its value to the profane world. What we must do is recognize its truths not with words, but with action.

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