HOME Current Issue Index by Issue Search the Site Translate On-Line Printer Friendly Internet Help Centre Regulars Specials Humour Book Reviews Links Affinity Lodges Subscriptions About FMT ADVERTISING Contact Us

BACK NEXT Winter 1998 Issue 03 Tobias Churton - Editor's Letter The Eye A Mason in Prague Inside Mark Masons' Hall And Who Is My Neighbour? So What Is This Freemasonry Anyway? The Mystery of the Royston Cave A Mason in the Real World Review: Who's Afraid of Freemasons? Review: Isaac Newton, the Last Sorcerer Old Fireglass Good (?) Ordinary Claret Letters to the Editor Shakespeare and Freemasonry Copyright 1997-2008 FREEMASONRY TODAY Designed and Maintained by: Cyberpoint Limited

FREEMASONRY TODAY Winter 1998 - Issue 03 - Index Tobias Churton - Editor's Letter Welcome to the Winter/New Year Issue of Freemasonry Today: a bright spot in a cold hemisphere. In the darkness of winter, the fire enlightens us. The alchemists of old who sought a living, spiritual fire, hidden within all things, knew that nothing is brought to light which has not first passed through the blackened night. Likewise, beneath the cold skin of winter, the seed lives: the Craft is alive. The theme of emergence is strong in this issue. Our lead article on the mystery of the Royston Cave asks us to consider symbols long hidden in a cave beneath a busy market-place. We go inside Mark Masons' Hall in order to bring to light its littleknown work. Julian Rees gets into the heart ... The Eye UGLE Grand Secretary to Retire — YWR Media Team Fast-Tracks PR — Masonic farewell to Canberra — New Police Lodge Consecrated — Topping Out Ceremony at Guernsey's New Masonic Centre — US masons give flag to Washington's ancestral home — Russian Grand lodge Recognised — Christ's Hospital- 100 Years on — Brethren Brave Elements — 72 Years a Mason! — Artist's Revelation — Calcutta Lodge Centenary in London — New Lodge in Helsinki — Masonic Caravan and Camping Club — Masonic Philatelic Club — Curacao Lodge Fires Up PR — Unusual Meeting Place — Victorian Lodge of Research — YNER Takes Tough Stance On Openness — Worcestershire Initiatives A Mason in Prague The spirits of centuries gone by are never far away. One of them, Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor from 1576 to 1612, was celebrated last summer with a remarkable series of exhibitions relating to his life and reign. One contained objects from his famous cabinet of curiosities. Others were devoted to his patronage of scientists (Kepler, Tycho Brahe) and the arts, both visual and occult - there were probably more alchemists, cabalists and hermeticists in Rudolfine Prague than anywhere else in history. The occult aspects of Prague's history were also the subject of a magnificent exhibition entitled Opus Magnum, mounted under the initiative of Vladislav Zadrobílek ... Inside Mark Masons' Hall This building has a lot on its hands. Perhaps that's why there's a block of stone - liberated from 'Solomon's Quarries' - on the ground-floor. Ballast? Gravitas? Or just to remind you of what Mark Mason's Hall is really all about? But how un club-like the place is: clear and light (like the texture of the stone), busy but quiet; you feel ... And Who Is My Neighbour? When former Royal Naval Captain Paul Bootherstone took over the helm of the New Masonic Samaritan Fund in January 1994, he found a striking similarity to his Navy days. After 38 years in the Senior Service he favourably compared its comradeship with that found in Masonry and with his "crew" at 26 Great Queen Street. The Falklands veteran is proud to serve "this great Brotherhood" but is also quick to emphasise the teamwork involved. "I could not function without the help of my staff and brethren" said the man who was awarded the DSC after commanding HMS Arrow in the Falklands conflict ... So What Is This Freemasonry Anyway? If I say to a child "boat" and point to a picture of a boat, for her or him the picture itself becomes the boat. The child will not automatically call the real object "boat" because the picture now owns the name. I haven't yet imparted the essence of that object. We, and our children, find ourselves unable to relate to things that are nameless. Umberto Eco, interviewed on television some years ago about his novel The Name of the Rose opined that naming things destroys them. I call this flower "rose" and you, who are not looking at the same flower, have a peconceived notion of what is "rose" which does not do justice to the particular delicateness of the velvet on the petals, the subtlety of ... The Mystery of the Royston Cave How true the celebrated medievalist's sceptical statement really is, can be amply demonstrated by a unique case study: the Royston Cave. Tucked away in the heart of a lovely English shire not far from Cambridge, the Royston Cave has jealously guarded its 'secrets' over the centuries. Behind an unassuming entrance, the gawping mouth of a narrow shaft alerts the visitor to the uncanny experience in store. The pale light of the electric bulb reveals ... A Mason in the Real World The ritual is always the same. It is an early Saturday morning and Graham Worrall leaves his Black Country home, catches a bus to Wolverhampton railway station and then a train to London. Once aboard he meets up with some 14 others and the socialising starts. It lasts throughout the day as each goes to their various Saturday lodges and then meet up for the return journey, to arrive home in the early hours. Graham is a 60 year old former Treasurer, Secretary and Master of the Tulse Hill 4462 Lodge, holding London Grand Rank, who describes himself as ... Review: Who's Afraid of Freemasons? Review: Isaac Newton, the Last Sorcerer Old Fireglass Old Fireglass took to the high seas this quarter, across the Solent to the beautiful Isle of Wight where my old mate Yatesy works as Head Brewer for Burts' in Sandown. A trip round his bustling little empire left the Prince of Ales a-leaping and a-laughing after a sampling of his delicious brews ... Good (?) Ordinary Claret Glancing along the shelves of my local Waitrose, my eye was caught by a bottle labelled "Good ordinary claret". I was a little surprised at this; since for many years that title had been associated with a very reasonable Bordeaux from Berry Brothers & Rudd, known to its friends ... Letters to the Editor Speaking to Rees — St. John Masonry — Munster Lodge — Rebuilding of the Wall — Information Wanted — Women Masons — Web of GIN — Ancient Monuments Restored — A Worthy Mason — Bad Press — A Selection of Extracts from Letters Relating to The Hiram Key — Enough is Enough! Shakespeare and Freemasonry In July 1929, Lord Ampthill, pro Grand Master of the UGLE, accompanied by 600 masons in full regalia, laid the foundationstone of Stratford's Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. United Grand Lodge perceived a link between the craft and the bard. Why? "For charity itself fulfills the law, and who can sever love from charity?" (Love's Labour's Lost, IV.iii). This speech expresses the essence of a Freemason's purpose: to be a builder of love. Shakespeare was an ethical teacher. Could he also have been a mason? Look at the Dedication in the first Shakespeare Folio, addressed "To the Most Noble and Incomparable Pair of Brethren, William, Earle of Pembroke... and Philip, Earle of ..."   Issue 03, Winter 1998 © FreemasonryToday 1997-2008