pod cast

From HELL – Masonic Central by gas light.

February 16, 2010 by Masonic Traveler

Madness, mayhem, mystery, and murder, these are but a few of the terms one could use to define the book, and later film, From Hell.

“It’s Dark”…

“Hawksmoor cut stone to hold shadows; a Gothic trait, though Hawksmoor’s influences were somewhat…older.”

“The Dionysiac Artificers?”

“Unmistakably. A Secret fraternity of Dionysus cultists originating in 1,000 B.C., they worked on Solomon’s temple eventually becoming the Middle Ages traveling Masonic guilds. Their ingenious constructions merely symbolized their greater work: the Temple of civilization, chiseling human history into an edifice worthy of God, its Great Architect.”

“…What is the 4th dimension?”

-From Hell, the Graphic Novel

How often do you get the opportunity to explore Freemasonry by gas light? Its not Steampunk Masonry, but as close as you can get with the science part of the fiction.

Written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Eddie Campbell (and Pete Mullins), the book version of From Hell is at the for of recent fictional works in print and celluloid that feature the fraternity of Freemasonry in some aspect. From Hell has transformed the benign fraternity into something malignant and nefarious. And, on its ascendancy to the cinema, the seductive spell of aristocracy and secret society takes center stage (pardon the pun) to position the fraternity at the very heart of the Jack the Ripper murders.

This week on Masonic Central, we take some time to explore the two tellings of the From Hell tale, from the Graphic Novel for-bearer to the present day annotated From Hell (Two-Disc Special Edition) DVD staring Johnney Depp and Heather Graham. As similar as the two works may seem on their covers, there is a surprising amount of difference between the two works, from the perspectives of the characters, the focus of the story, to the psychology and outcome of the leading villain (a Masonic Knight of the East), as played by Ian Holm. Two sides of the same creative coin.

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Masonic Central Japan with guest Br. Jim Johnston

February 8, 2010 by Greg Stewart

Masonic Central Japan!

Brothers Michael Pearce and Bill Patterson launch their inaugural edition Masonic Central Asia with their guest Br. Jim Johnston, PhD., who is one of the foremost scholars on Masonry in Japan. Also, Br. Johnston is a Past Grand Master of the island nation, a 33º Brother of the Scottish Rite, and a founding member of the Lodge of research Japan.

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This episode was pre-recorded for the time difference but your questions and comments are very much welcome and encouraged!

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Table Talk – post holiday catch up on 2009

January 23, 2010 by Masonic Traveler

Update, leave your comment on this post to enter to win a signed edition of the book Crown of Serpents!

I know, its been a few weeks since the holiday… now that the christmas trees down, the bits of wrapping paper out of the nooks and the couch, and all the returns of unwanted gifts made, its time to catch up. With the holidays past and the cold embrace of winter upon us, what better time to catch up with a warm conversation and some reminiscence of what was the Masonic year 2009.

This week on Masonic Central, join us as we go over the highlights (and low lights) of Masonry in 2009 and look ahead at some of the trends that seem to be already charting the course of 2010.

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The show goes live promptly at 9pm EST/6pm PST Sunday evening January 24 and the phone lines will be open for your questions and comments. I know it will be a lively show, and I hope you can make it!

Call-in Number for the show is (347) 677-0936 – we have a new high capacity for your call-ins, so don’t be shy and call in!

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Masonic Central with Paul Bessel and Jerry Samet

January 18, 2010 by Greg Stewart

This is a special Masonic Central re-broadcast from August 2008 when brothers Paul Bessel and Jerry Samet, past Grand Master Washington DC, joined us on the program for an enlightening conversation about Paul’s fantastic research and publication website, his book Masonic Questions and Answers and a deep discussion into some of the further edges of mainstream masonry delving deeply into the Document of Exclusive Territorial Jurisdiction and the space between ‘regular’ Masonry and Prince Hall Freemasonry. We also spent some time talking about the success (and challenges) of one day classes.

It was a great conversation and a fantastic program and one that I guarantee that you will get much from listening to, even if you heard on its original airing. These terrific brothers gave us some great discussion on how to make Masonry interesting and more enjoyable if we can keep it alive and relevant.

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Mark Koltko-Rivera on Masonic Central

December 12, 2009 by Masonic Traveler

This week on Masonic Central:

With the release of The Lost Symbol, many have had the opportunity to read though the work and see the results of Dan Brown’s non-Masonic contribution to the mythology of the fraternity. Like his past work, Without a doubt The Lost Symbol is a layered thriller that can be analyzed on many different levels to find a variety of different meanings, not surprisingly, not unlike Freemasonry itself.

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This week we welcome Brother Mark Koltko-Rivera, author of the forthcoming book, Discovering The Lost Symbol to help us deconstruct some of the underlying ideas of Brown’s book and to look at some of the things that Brown got wrong. Specifically we plan to look at evidence for an actual Masonic

message encoded into Brumidi’s famous fresco, “The Apotheosis of Washington”, a message that it appears Dan Brown missed; the round about source of Brown’s idea about apotheosis (humanity becoming gods), and the Masonic connection to that source; Further, we plan to talk about the psychological underpinnings for Dan Brown’s immense popularity, and the implications that has for both Freemasonry as a whole and individual Freemasons.

Br. Mark Koltko-Rivera is the author of the forthcoming book, Discovering The Lost Symbol: Masons, Magic, Mystery Religions, and the Thought that We Could Become Gods. He holds a doctoral degree in counseling psychology from New York University. He is an elected Fellow of the American Psychological Association, and has been recognized for his scholarship regarding the psychology of worldviews, humanistic psychology, and the psychology of religion. Within Freemasonry, Brother Koltko-Rivera is an active member of the Blue Lodge, the Scottish Rite, and the York Rite. His papers on Freemasonry have appeared in The Philalethes, the Scottish Rite Journal, and Heredom. He provided the Masonic content (and the conspiracy fiction) for the recent Wiley publication, Cracking Codes and Cryptograms For Dummies (For Dummies (Sports & Hobbies))
. A second edition of his Freemasonry: An Introduction should also appear in 2010. He also writes the blogs “Freemasonry: Reality, Myth, and Legend” and “Freemasonry 101.”

Join us as we talk to Br. Mark Koltko-Rivera this Sunday, December 13th, starting at 6pm PDT / 9pm EST. We encourage your questions and comments to the show by calling (347) 677-0936 during the program.

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Publisher and Br. Michael Poll of Cornerstone Publishing on Masonic Central

December 6, 2009 by Masonic Traveler

Ever stop to think for a few moments where some of your favorite Masonic books and imprints come from? Or how certain books get published (or don’t end up in print)? What about e-books, or that really rare hard to find text that you heard mentioned once, but can’t seem to find?

This week on Masonic Central we step out side of the electronic publishing world and into the traditional publishing one as we host a very special guest in publisher and author Michael Poll, who is the owner of Cornerstone Book Publishers and its retail site Lost Word.

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Br. Michael’s dedicated work to the Masonic community has included services such as: original content and reprint publisher, used book seller and search service, and gift item and ephemera supplier, all the while remaining a small family run store. In addition to his work in publishing Masonic books, he has published two of his own including Masonic Words and Phrases, and The Freemasons Key – A Study of Masonic Symbolism.

In addition to several lodge memberships, Michael is also a Founding Fellow and 1st Vice-President of The Masonic Society, a Fellow of the Philalethes Society and a contributor to Heredom, the publication of the Scottish Rite Research Society.

Join us as we meet and talk to Br. Michael Poll this Sunday, December 6th, starting at 6pm PDT / 9pm EST. We encourage your questions and comments to the show by calling (347) 677-0936 during the program.

The show goes live promptly at the hour. On Blog Talk Radio at 6pm PST/9pm EST.

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Surprise mystery guests on Masonic Central

November 22, 2009 by Masonic Traveler

In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday, tonight’s show is a detour from the norm with a duet of suprise mystery guests. It offers a unique glimpse into a little seen segment of Masonry that we know will delight and entertain you on this last Sunday before the Thanksgiving holiday.

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I hope you can make it for this fun and festive program.

Join us this week as we meet and talk with these surprise mystery guests this Sunday on Masonic Central, November 22nd starting at 6pm PDT / 9pm EST. We encourage your questions and comments to the show by calling (347) 677-0936 during the program. The show goes live promptly at the hour. On Blog Talk Radio at 6pm PST/9pm EST

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The Sanctum Sanctorum on Masonic Central

November 15, 2009 by Greg Stewart

This week on Masonic Central, we get to spend some time talking to the good brothers of The Sanctum Sanctorum

Freemasons like to talk, a lot, and usually for good reason. Beyond the usual what time a dinner is being held or who has knocked at the temple door with interest, a great driving aspect of the fraternity is understanding why it is we do what we do, and to hear from others who may have gone down that road and can offer some insight to the journey. Thankfully, many groups exist in the fora, on a range of topics and with varying focus. Some are tiled, while others governed by subscription fees. But one that has stood out to us here at FmI has a specific focus on the esoteric, and a willingness to engage Masonic roots with its parallels of the distant past, and that site is The Sanctum Sanctorum.

By its own admission it is “not a simple archive of Masonic facts or trivia, but a true group of like minded men seeking and sharing Masonic Knowledge through this medium of an interactive Masonic online community.”

“To meet as a Freemason is to know that the Brothers you sit in Lodge with are all “on the level.”

To their credit, they have played host to an ongoing virtual Alchemy 101 course and a course for entered apprentices look at the Tarot. And, if the sharing of knowledge wasn’t enough, the board is packed with brothers from all walks of life and background to offer their insight and help where ever they can.

If there were a lodge that met and lived virtually on line, it would be The Sanctum Sanctorum.

Join us this week as we talk to our brothers behind the fantastic forum The Sanctum Sanctorum this Sunday on Masonic Central, November 15th starting at 6pm PDT / 9pm EST. We encourage your questions and comments to the show by calling (347) 677-0936 during the program. The show goes live promptly at the hour. On Blog Talk Radio at 6pm PST/9pm EST

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Building Boaz – Author John Nagy on Masonic Central

October 24, 2009 by Masonic Traveler

Join us on Masonic Central this Sunday as we meet and talk to Brother John Nagy who is the author of the new book “Building Boaz – Uncommon Catechism for Uncommon Masonic Education.”

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Once you start something, what do you do next? You take the next step of course but as with any journey into the unknown (or the unexplained) the question is where that next step should land. “Building Boaz” is the exactly where the next step in becoming a Mason should take you. In his New book Br. John Nagy sets out to help the reader find the means to answer A few of the touch points in this paths first step is the idea of Threshing to masonry, the flanked circle, the Broached Ladder, and the Chamber of Reflection.

Join us as we talk to author and past guest Br. John Nagy about his book, Masonic education, and this 2nd step in this non-fiction series in this hour long program on Masonic Central Sunday, October 25th starting at 6pm PDT / 9pm EST. We encourage your questions and comments to the show by calling (347) 677-0936 during the program. The show goes live promptly at the hour.

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Crown of Serpents on Masonic Central

October 17, 2009 by Masonic Traveler

Where does National Treasure meet The Lost Symbol? Wound together into a Crown of Serpents.

Masonic fiction is an infrequent thing, especially when written by a brother. The Lost Symbol is a good example of the fraternity in a modern fiction, in the same way that National Treasure brought the fraternity to the cinema. This Sunday, we have the opportunity to talk about the latest edition of Masonic fiction from author Michael Karpovage, who has just released his new book Crown of Serpents.

From the books website the Crown of Serpents is a mystery thriller set in the former heartland of the Iroquois Empire and takes its hero, Jake Tununda, on a fast-paced hunt to find and protect the elusive crown. In the story he teams up with Rae Hart, who is an alluring state police investigator, and together they snake their way across a politically turbulent landscape marked with murder, lies, and deceit, deciphering codes, digging up war loot, and fending off a ruthless casino magnate. Their survival skills are put to the test when the clues to the crown ultimately lead them deep within sacred Indian caves hidden under the abandoned Seneca Army Depot where the magnitude of the crown’s power is revealed.

The Crown of Serpents is every bit as exciting as its synopsis suggests, and its weaving in of the fraternity of Freemasonry makes the mystery thriller all the more exciting.

Join us in this episode as we talk to author Michael Karpovage about his book, Masonic fiction in general and the real life history of Freemasonry that swirls around his new novel, in this hour long program on Masonic Central recorded Sunday, October 18th , 2009.

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