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BACK NEXT Winter 2005/06 Issue 35 Letter from the Editor News Briefing News and Views On The Level News Beyond the Craft International News Brothers in Arms in Iraq Julian Rees The Spirit Rising over Dresden A Temple which never sleeps: E-Masonry Advancing Medical Science Light of Siam Lodge No. 9791 The Royal Order of Scotland Seeking the Light: Freemasonry and Initiatic Traditions Giving our Past a Future... Specialists in Freemasonry Brother Lightfoote's Journal Letters to the Editor Review: Freemasonry in Music and Literature Review: La Chevalerie Maçonnique Review: Fama Fraternitatis: The True Story of the Rosicrucians Review: The Shadow of Solomon, the Lost Secret of the Freemasons Revealed Canon Richard Tydeman Copyright 1997-2010 Grand Lodge Publications Ltd Designed and Maintained by: Cyberpoint

FREEMASONRY TODAY Winter 2005/06 - Issue 35 - Index Letter from the Editor - Michael Baigent It has been fascinating for me, as editor of Freemasonry Today, to travel with Yasha Beresiner to the masonic libraries and museums. I have seen exquisite works of art created for the Craft and collections of daily objects with the Craft’s symbols skilfully introduced to form an integral part of their design. But in the midst of these treasures displayed up and down the country, two considerations remain ever-present. Firstly, with very few exceptions, these important collections are struggling for funds, are so short of money that many have given up expecting to be able to purchase new items for display and remain grateful for a pittance ... News Briefing: New Leader for Yorkshire West Riding — New Grand Inspector for Bermuda — Macedonian Grand Lodge Consecrated — Northants and Hunts New Provincial Grand Master News and Views: Trafalgar Celebrations — The Heart of Devonshire Masonry — Wiltshire for Charity — Provincial Grand Chapter Yorkshire North and East — Academic Masonic Research: A New Base in Sheffield — Masonic Makeover for Baden Powell Caravan — Cornerstone Northern Conference in Salford On the Level: Freemasons and Rotarians Gavel for Charity — Fraternal Unity Helps RMBI — Insurance Bonus for Provinces — Maidstone Lodges Support Hospice — Canonbury Masonic Research Centre — Centre for Research into Freemasonry, Sheffield University — The Cornerstone Society — Quatuor Coronati News Beyond the Craft: The Worshipful Society of Free Masons — New Royal and Select Masters Council — 137th Mark Fund of Benevolence Festival — The Allied Adventurer International News: New Grand Master Installed in Denmark — Robert Cooper International Lecture Tour — Bulgaria Adopts Emulation Working — Freemasonry in the Czech Republic — Brothers in Arms in Iraq Julian Rees Much of our time, for those of us who live and work in urban areas, is spent rushing around busy streets, or diving in and out of trains, buses and taxis. Everywhere I go in this environment, I am assailed by images of ugliness, some of it incidental, some of it actively contrived and devised ugliness. Advertising images I find absorbing. There is a great deal of good, clever advertising, some of it pleasing to the eye. But there is much that is gratuitously offensive and ugly, on television screens accompanied by loud discordant music and banal and corrosive script and dialogue. An image of a man with bloodshot eyes and a hideous blue face; people in ... The Spirit Rising over Dresden It was the light that really moved us. The soft, warm autumn glow that characterises rural landscape as well as city architecture in central Europe came flooding in from the west, bathing the side of the dome of this most beautiful of all churches, the Frauenkirche, the Church of Our Lady. A church, my wife and I had to remind ... A Temple which never sleeps: E-Masonry It was so pleasing when the Editor of Freemasonry Today kindly invited me to travel to Pennsylvania to meet a person - Josh Heller - with whom I had been in communication for over seven years: also, to meet and be royally entertained by his lovely family and other members of the E-group. Josh began by explaining how he had first become interested in Freemasonry. ‘It was in 1998, travelling to work I daily passed by a large masonic Centre and a Scottish Rite Cathedral. It was curiosity: what was it all about, where did these people come from and why ... Advancing Medical Science The years between 1830 and 1860 were rich years for Freemasonry, since in that period many of the men were born who later shaped the Craft. But one man, Henry Solomon Wellcome, who was born in that period, went on to be not only an exemplary Freemason, but also the leader of what became a world-wide pharmaceutical empire, and an extraordinary collector and archaeologist. Henry Wellcome was born in Almond ... Light of Siam Lodge No. 9791 The overwhelming awfulness was that we knew nothing. You could have been 500 yards from people consumed by the water and see and hear nothing. Forget the image of a cresting wave. The tide just went out and came in. Just very far and very fast. The wave was maybe six inches high, but 100 miles long – that’s a lot of water. The strange thing is the water was black with debris. Most damage was caused by the third wave ... The Royal Order of Scotland The Royal Order of Scotland is governed by the Grand Lodge which directs operations from its prestigious headquarters at St. John Street, Edinburgh, a building that embodies the Chapel of St. John, and is believed to be the oldest purpose-built masonic lodge room in the world. The Royal Order of Scotland occupies a unique position within Freemasonry and can rightfully claim to be a truly international masonic body, controlling in excess of eighty Provincial Grand Lodges situated in twenty-five different countries across the globe. In addition ... Seeking the Light: Freemasonry and Initiatic Traditions The first weekend in November saw the Canonbury Masonic Research Centre hold its seventh international conference – an event that drew speakers and delegates from as far afield as Finland, Italy, Poland, Romania and the United States. The North London based centre was established in 1999 to help facilitate scholarship on matters relating to Freemasonry, and the theme of this year’s conference, ‘Seeking the Light: Freemasonry and initiatic traditions’, focused on the heart of the matter – on Freemasonry’s role as an initiatory society ... Giving our Past a Future... The power of communication is no longer restricted to the ‘mighty pen’ or the ‘powerful word’ or even the interpretation of the stories that a picture can tell. In fact ever since the early visionaries saw the potential value of sharing information via a network of computers way back in the early 1960s, we have seen the skills of the pen, the word and, to a lesser degree, the picture become far less important when interacting with our fellow man. The serious researcher cannot deny the power that the Internet can offer, nor can we ignore the cost and time saving benefits that accompany this medium. Interestingly, the internet started its journey under the name ARPANET ... Specialists in Freemasonry One perennial legend associated with Irish Freemasonry is that of Mrs Elizabeth (Richard) Aldworth neé St Leger, ‘The Lady Freemason’. While very little of her story can be confirmed by solid documentation there is certainly evidence, according to the Grand Lodge of Ireland, of masonic activity relating to her story: she was ... Brother Lightfoote's Journal Saint Budoc was born at sea, in a barrel, his mother having been cooped up and cast into the English Channel as punishment for infidelity – of which she was innocent. Seems awfully harsh to me, but the story ends happily as they eventually reached Ireland and lived there, happily, ever after. There is more than an echo of Greek mythology in this tale. I recall that Acrisius, King of Argos, sealed his daughter, Danae, up in a chest and thrown into the sea for having been impregnated by Zeus who came upon her as a shower of gold. She gave birth ... Letters to the Editor Masonic Promotion — Losing the Plot — Regalia — Prayers and Obligations — Masonic Paintings in Aldermaston Church Review: Freemasonry in Music and Literature Review: La Chevalerie Maçonnique Review: Fama Fraternitatis: The True Story of the Rosicrucians Review: The Shadow of Solomon, the Lost Secret of the Freemasons Revealed Canon Richard Tydeman Let us reflect upon the subject of refreshment after labour. Is it a good thing or is it a bad thing? Masonry has sometimes been branded as a highly exclusive Dining Club; is there any truth in that? Is the dinner really necessary? Look at the bad side first: there is no doubt that it is the meal after the meeting that has attracted some recruits into Freemasonry and if the meal were to be abolished probably most of those recruits would drop out of the membership list straight away. Unfortunate, but inevitable. So, how necessary is the meal? Looking at the printed summons to a masonic meeting one might think it as important as the meeting itself: following the agenda for the meeting ...   Issue 35, Winter 2005/06 © Grand Lodge Publications Ltd 1997-2010