review

Footsteps of the Gods

June 2, 2017 by Greg Stewart

Having just finished Graham Hancock’s Fingerprints of the Gods and Magicians of the Gods, I feel as though I’ve been walking in the footsteps of the gods, and it’s made me a believer.

Seldom do I binge watch more than a few TV episodes at a time. When I do, it feels like an information overload that makes the whole thing hard to process and nearly impossible to enjoy. The same could be said for books and reading. When I finish one book on a particular subject I like to move on to another, to cleanse the mental palate and process what I just read.

I thought about this when I picked up Graham Hancock’s Fingerprints of the Gods. Fingerprints was one of those books I’d spent the better part of 30 years avoiding just out of sheer will because, I had thought, it was an alt-history cavalcade and the well-spring of countless conspiracy, cryptozoology and pre-history anecdotes. This hesitancy in picking up Fingerprints was on the heels of an Art Bell fascination and right around the time I became a Freemason.

Still, like the mantra emblazoned on Fox Mulder’s poster — I wanted to believe.

The idea of a pre-history has always fascinated me. I had my own theories from history courses in college. Early on, I considered a minor in Greek and Roman art history, but sufficed myself on being an armchair historian consuming academic and literary explorations of ancient history. Field work on the subject, however, wasn’t in the cards.

But all the while, nagging at the back of my brain (along with Fingerprints maybe) was the notion that the timeline of history couldn’t possibly be sufficient to achieve some of the marvels that spawned out of a few short centuries only to go so silently quiet.

So, I’d passed on Fingerprints… and waited. I waited so long I had, for the most part, forgotten about it and lost myself in studying Freemasonry. Fingerprints of the Gods had receded so far in my head that when I caught a YouTube video with Graham Hancock presenting his ideas and theories, it all came back to me such that, within a week I was out at my local book seller buying a new copy to start reading on the spot.

So, in the span of a few weeks, I consumed Fingerprints of the Gods, feeling as though I was right there with Graham climbing the steps of the Giza pyramid and digging around in the water worn stone of the Sphinx. Reading it slowly, I measured every word of every chapter and gave considerable thought to the ideas he put forth — ideas, I’ll add, that while on the fringe of academic study, are not outside the philosophical reality as they intersect the realms of the history before history. Isn’t that part of the great mysteries of the human species? How did we build the pyramids? Why did we build them?

In Fingerprints of the Gods, Hancock sets the theoretical stage for a cataclysmic event at about the period of Younger Dryas (about 14,500 years ago) that wiped out a civilization more advanced than its contemporary hunter-gatherer counterparts. His theory is that this civilization, in collapse, struck out across the globe establishing megalithic monuments and reorganizing the hunter-gathers enclaves they encountered into porto-civilizations turning them into agricultural-socities. Hancock’s theory in Fingerprints was an earth crust displacement that moved and sizable landmass from a habitable zone into an inhospitable one — destroying in an instant an ancient advanced civilization. Upon its demise, this great civilization fled the disaster zone and seeded themselves around the globe erecting megalithic monuments to memorialize the event and warn subsequent generations of the cataclysm that happened to them and it’s recurrence in the future.

Immediately I was sucked into the text with the mention of an ancient map accurately depicting the coastline of Antarctica. It was compelling, and took me down the rabbit hole I’d so long resisted — loving every word of it. While some of the conclusions were broad in their scope, I had to admit that the conclusions were plausible and worth greater consideration. Why couldn’t a species that’s been on the planet only have created a “modern” society in barely the last 7,000 years. Personally, I don’t take this to mean there were flying machines in antiquity or weapons of mass destruction that wiped out society. But, notion of history before history was just as intoxicating to think about in consideration of the imaginings from the sundry religious texts Hancock sites as parallels to his theories.

Finishing Fingerprints, I was compelled to immediately start reading his follow up book Magicians of the Gods.

Written in the same mesmerizing fashion as his earlier work, Magicians was different. Published 22 years after Fingerprints, Magicians of the Gods felt in one hand a mia culpa (on the earth crust displacement and link to the Mayan calendar 2012 debacle) and a in the other a substantiation on the cataclysm of the Younger Dryas period, illiterated across the globe in the surviving (and reachable) megalithic structures, in particular the nascent discovery of Gobekli Tepe in the Anatolia region of Turkey. As in his earlier work, Hancock paints an even greater detailed picture of the province of ancient antediluvian culture. In Magicians of the Gods, with the aid of science and observational inputs, Hancock adds further mass to his scaffold of an ancient civilization being wiped from the memory of time. I don’t want to give too much away but Hancock’s arguments are compelling and worthy of deep consideration and, dare I say, exploration further.

Embed from Getty Images

A point in the work I did find of great interest was a reference in the text to the esteemed Masonic author Timothy Hogan and his observational analysis of marks in Temple of Bacchus in Lebanese megalithic structure at Baalbeck. Another was, much to my surprise, was a broad weaving in of the Hermetic texts, expounding the very oft mentioned “as above, so below” but with great consequence in his meaning. In a very brief encapsulation, resting on Hermetica, the thrust of his hermetic connection is that the universe affects life on Earth, and the Earth reflects the effect of the universe upon it. This reflection is encoded in the megalithic monuments of that share uncanny similarities in their construction and in the sheer mass of their existence from a time before recorded history.

In a general reference, Hancock writes of the cataclysmic events that they were,

…embedded in myths and legends and in mathematical and architectural precepts that would be passed on and renewed again and again by the different cultures that received them, thus boosting the signal and allowing it to remain intact for thousands of years. Even if those through whose hands and minds the signal passed no longer understood its meaning, the weight of sacred tradition, hoary with age would ensure that they were continued to transmit it and would do their utmost to keep it free from interference.

Throughout Magicians, Hancock seems reflective of what on what he’s discovered — different than the tone of the Fingerprints when the reporter turned author was carving out a Hyperborean like view of humankind emerging out of the era of hunter-gathers in the prehistoric Clovis period. Maybe the reflectiveness comes at the realization of what he’s proposing is very real and, again, set in a framework of a very clear and present danger in the annual annual passing through the Taurid meteor showers.

Yet, the cycle of the universe moves slowly, and the mysteries of processional time and the rise and fall of the human species is forgetful — it’s an informational overload at a glacial pace. Hancock’s declaration may be a solitary voice in the wilderness with the message of Fingerprints of the Gods and Magicians of the Gods. But science, it seems, is teasing points of validation to both works, if even in validating ancient comet strikes or finding ancient megalithic sites bedecked in astronomical corollaries dating to near the period of the Younger Dryas event. Hancock made me a believer, or at least validates my suspicions of ancient history and the history before history, whether upon the shores of Antarctica or the now underwater regions submerged in the great flood, a point Hancock brings into full focus with the mystery of Atlantis.

Yes, it’s extraordinary. Yes, it’s a lot to take in. And, no, it isn’t a scientific treatise. Fingerprints of the Gods, and it’s follow up Magicians of the Gods, are fantastical works about the fluid history past, present and future of humankind. And, just as Hermetica (and Hancock in the conclusion) reminds us,

The forces do not work upward from below, but downward from above…All the world which lies below has been set in order and filled with contents by the things which are placed above… The source of all earthly things are on high: those sources pour forth upon us by fixed measure and weight; and their is nothing that that has not come down from above.

Graham Hancock knows it, his Fingerprints of the Gods and Magicians of the Gods illustrates the points. You should probably know it, too. Even if you have to binge read it like I did.

A book that turned a man into a Mason

November 4, 2010 by Greg Stewart

OK, maybe the title is presumptive, but I couldn’t resist the hook especially given its coming from the Scottish Rite.

Where it comes from is a review that mentions the iconic Bruce Dickinson, of Iron Maiden fame, and the intelligent and modern Alchemist – Timothy Hogan, both very good company to be in.

You can find the review in the Scottish Rites Holiday Book Review list written by Jim Tresner published in the upcoming November-December 2010 edition of the Scottish Rite Journal.

From the review:

This is a great little book. A non-Mason friend saw it on my table and asked to borrow it. He brought it back two days later, asked some questions, and told me he was going to petition the lodge in his home town. I enjoyed all the essays in the book, but especially XVII, on the E.A. Tracingboard. I am a bit more optimistic (or perhaps a bit more in denial) than Bro. Stewart when it comes to the future of the fraternity, but no one can deny his essays are thought-provoking and powerful.

My thanks to the AASR and to Br. Tresner for the kind review and, from the sounds of it, the soon to be brother it will make.

Imagine what it could do on your coffee table. The Masonic Traveler is available on Amazon.

An 86 Year Old Book Review

October 5, 2010 by TimBryce

Looking for something to read, I went back into my library and pulled out a copy of The Autobiography of Mark Twain which I have had since High School.

I’ve always been an admirer of Samuel Clemens’ work, but I have to admit I balked at taking his autobiography seriously years ago. This time though, I was in the proper frame of mind and wanted to know more about the renowned author and humorist, not so much about the facts and history of his life, but more about his perspective of the times. I wasn’t disappointed.

The book was originally published in 1924 (fourteen years after Twain’s death) and basically consists of sketches describing his life spanning the years from 1835 to 1910, which is known as a very rich period of American history. He describes life prior to the Civil War, his involvement during the war, and the expansion west. I found his narratives of life in the Midwest, both as a child and an adult, particularly colorful and interesting. Clemens did a remarkable job describing life as a boy living on a farm. His description of the foods of the period made me hungry and I could vividly visualize the school he attended and life on the farm.

I’m afraid African-Americans will not be too happy with the book as Twain uses the “N” word liberally, but not maliciously. It was just the way people talked back then. There was no ulterior motive for using the word, nor venom in his language, it was simply a snapshot of the times. Nonetheless, African-Americans may call for the book to be banned from schools if they read it.

As a writer, I found his rich vocabulary, sentence structure, and punctuation particularly interesting. It was much different than what I am used to in the 21st century. Unlike today where we typically try to gorge ourselves on a novel as expeditiously as possible, Twain’s style forces the reader to slow down and savor each sentence. You can tell that it was written by a craftsman intimate with the English language.

His humor is also different. Instead of today’s “in your face” approach to comedy, Twain mischievously takes the reader down an unknown path where he inevitably springs a humorous conclusion on you. It is not backslapping funny, just elegant humor very tastefully presented. His anecdotes are always designed to teach a lesson and cause a chuckle in the process.

I wanted to read his autobiography, not so much to learn about his family history, which he volunteered reluctantly, but more to understand his perspective of the times which I found was essentially no different today than 100 years ago.

He made a few comments that particularly caught my attention; the first was the cycle of life, to wit:

A myriad of men are born; they labor and sweat and struggle for bread; they squabble and scold and fight; they scramble for little mean advantages over each other. Age creeps upon them; infirmities follow; shames and humiliations bring down their prides and their vanities. Those they love are taken from them and the joy of life is turned to aching grief. The burden of pain, care, misery, grows heavier year by year. At length ambition is dead; pride is dead; vanity is dead; longing for release in their place. It comes at last – and they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence; where they achieved nothing; where they were a mistake and a failure and a foolishness; will lament them a day and forget them forever. Then another myriad takes their place and copies all they did and goes along the same profitless road and vanishes as they vanished – to make room for another and another and a million other myriads to follow the same arid path through the same desert and accomplish what the first myriad and all the myriads that came after it accomplished – nothing!

The second observation that caught my attention was his comments regarding success. In the book, he comments on the many bad business deals he had made in his lifetime which cost him dearly. He also missed an opportunity to invest in Alexander Graham Bell’s new invention, the telephone. However, an acquaintance of Twain’s invested $5,000 in the company and was paid back many times over thereby causing the writer to observe:

It is strange the way the ignorant and inexperienced so often and so undeservedly succeed when the informed and the experienced fail.

Concerning heroes:

Our heroes are the men who do things which we recognize with regret and sometimes with secret shame that we cannot do. We find not much in ourselves to admire, we are always privately wanting to be someone else. If everybody was satisfied with himself there would be no heroes.

On writing, which I wholeheartedly agree:

…when the tank runs dry you’ve only to leave it alone and it will fill up again in time, while you are asleep – also while you are at work at other things and are quite unaware that this unconscious and profitable cerebration is going on.

Although Clemens was known to be a Mason (Polar Star Lodge No. 79, St. Louis, MO) there was no direct mention of his affiliation with the fraternity in the book. However, there were a couple of passages that suggested Masonic influence (I believe it was “wrong, cheat or defraud” and something else along those lines). The only other Masonic connection was Clemens’ meeting with Bro. Rudyard Kipling (Hope and Perseverance Lodge No. 782. E.C., Lahore, India, and one of the original forty Fellows of the Philalethes Society). Clemens spoke at length of his meeting with Bro. Kipling while the latter was but a young 24 year old visiting the United States for the first time. In his travels, he made it a point to look up Clemens where he was working in Elmira, New York.

Although they only met for a couple of hours, Kipling impressed Clemens by his breadth of knowledge, causing Twain to write:

He is a stranger to me but he is a most remarkable man – and I am the other one. Between us, we cover all knowledge; he knows all that can be known and I know the rest.

Samuel Clemens was a past master of the anecdote. His autobiography was assembled more as a collection of such stories as opposed to a flowing history. I appreciated his cogent comments regarding the world of the 1800’s. His ability to paint a picture with words and tell a story was like taking a ride on a time machine. I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed the trip, but I’m not sure today’s younger readers would feel likewise as his stories are less about the complexities of life and more about the simple truths of living it.

Most book reviews are printed either just prior to publication or shortly thereafter. I apologize for the slight delay.

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Tim Bryce is a writer and the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

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http://www.phmainstreet.com/timbryce.htm

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The Lost Symbol: The Road Best Not Traveled

October 27, 2009 by Fred Milliken

There’s nothing I like better than a good murder mystery. I cut my teeth on Sherlock Holmes, Lord Peter Wimsey, Perry Mason, and Ellery Queen. Nowadays I turn to such luminaries as John Grisham, Scott Turow, Richard North Patterson, and William Bernhardt. And that is what Dan Brown’s Lost Symbol is a good murder mystery, at least superficially.

Actually, the storyline is a good carrier for philosophy—Masonic philosophy and Dan Brown’s philosophy which somehow become intertwined. Brown has more hidden meanings attributed to Masonry than all the members of any American Grand Lodge would have in a lifetime. But, without all the puzzels, Brown wouldn’t have had a good carrier for his philosophy which he tries to convince you is part of Masonry. The philosophy of Noetics is not part of Masonic thought, nor is a Gnostic religion endorsed by Masonry although you can find many Gnostic Masonic practitioners.

This is the first criticism of The Lost Symbol and the most telling. Millions of people unfamiliar with Masonry will pick up the book (or film) and go away believing that the gospel of Dan Brown is the real deal of what Freemasonry is all about. That the United States was founded by Masons who were predominately Deists is not a fact but a hotly debated hypothesis. The idea that Washington DC was modeled on ancient Rome has some merit but giving the impression that it was the totality of the city is just plain wrong. Not to provide any room for Christian/Jewish thought, Christian /Jewish philosophy and Christian/Jewish symbolism is to steer the discussion and the minds of readers into a mode of Masonic/Deists/Gnostic “God is within you and you are God” philosophy which is not generally representative of where most Masons were two hundred years ago nor where they are now.

Read: Freemasonry and the Hermetic Arts

The second criticism of The Lost Symbol is the constant mentioning of a special knowledge that 33rd degree Masons possess and a certain special inner circle within the secret society. Believe me when I tell you that many Evangelical Christians and “New World Order” conspiracy freaks have made these charges for years. Just ask Pat Robertson. I’ve had these people tell me personally, “Well, if you don’t see it, you just aren’t privy to the inner circle.” So we have the profane telling a Mason that they know more about the Freemasonry than a mason does. The Internet is full of these conspiracy theorists who will tell you how satanic and evil Masonry is. We need another supposedly intelligent and celebrated testimonial affirming this loony vision like we need another hole in our head.

And because Masons like things in threes, let me add a third criticism of the book. Why are we, as Masons, so quick to jump on the bandwagon of sensationalism? Why do we believe that this book will be our Savior; that it will bring us all kinds of new membership? Are we that desperate? Is sensationalizing Masonry not corrupting it? Has the message of Masonry and the true philosophy of who and what we are been somehow compromised for the sake of personal profit? And are we just a tad too willing to sacrifice our doctrine for the sake of popularity? If so why don’t we promote a few books with the hidden Masonic meaning of the phallic symbol? After all, sex sells everything from cars to soap.

Lest you think I have been too hard on the book, there is much to be said in its favor.

The science of Noetics that Brown talks about is a serious scientific investigation today. There is a whole school of Quantum Physics that brings science and religion together. There are tests being performed that show that the speed of light has been far surpassed and that the power of thought is energy, an energy that can be created by human beings. This line of inquiry is not far fetched. And it is a development which I feel is the next human frontier. That being said connecting it into Masonry is a stretch, but one that if you don’t take seriously and see Brown smiling all the way to the bank makes a good story.

The way The Lost Symbol is written is a very effective way to get a message across if that is your intent. That is if you have an agenda or a definite message which you want to put forth, wrapping it within a powerful fictional story is always more effective than a dry recitation of philosophical thought written in the manner of a documentary or nonfiction work. Those who have read Atlas Shrugged will recognize this same technique employed by Ayn Rand. John Galt’s long soliloquy at the end of Atlas Shrugged matches the same dissertations of Peter & Katherine Solomon in chapters 131 AND 133 of The Lost Symbol.

The Lost Symbol is a great read and a book that will bring many newcomers to Masonry. I enjoyed reading it. But I have to ask if going down this road and becoming dependent on the growth of the Craft welded to sensationalism is not a corrupting influence, the road best not traveled.

Sex and Rockets – The Occult World of Jack Parsons – A Review

June 24, 2009 by Masonic Traveler

The occult, in the early part of the 20^th century, set the stage for how it has come to be perceived in the 21^st Century. Never has the explanation of the third way come into a mainstream light (except in works of fiction books and film) where it has been readily played up with bright flashes of scintillating energy and half mad megalomaniacs bent on short cutting their way to the realms of the Gods. Few have gone so far as to suggest the connection between space and the realm of the divine powers except in some of the more bizarre Lovecraftian tales of horror and suspense. (See The Best of H. P. Lovecraft). But the ground work of this 20^th century occult, while shaped in one part by Manly P. hall was

also shaped in character that was formed by the man Marvel “Jack” “John” Parsons. And this tale, as told in the book “Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons” by John Carter is every bit science fact of rocket to the moon as it is Aleister Crowley‘s failure in inspiring his new aeon and Babylon working to manifest in his Thelemic following in Los Angles circa 1946. In Jack Parsons, hubris and vanity were very much a part of his wonder at the idea of sending rockets into space. But even in his explosive demise, Parson’s legacy on earth has crowned him a father of modern Rocketry with a crater dedicated to him on the dark side of the moon.

First published in 2004, Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons is the biography of Jack Parsons. A self taught scientist and rocketer, Parsons started his career path as a hobby of sorts, fueled in the exhaust of creating rockets to soar into the high earth atmosphere. This was in the age of fiction and rockets were only the dreams of explorers and fiction writers. Like all men of vision, however, Parsons worked endlessly to create sufficient thrust to make the rocket work. In this early life he also found and embraced the works of Aleister Crowley which became his faith, of sorts, by his practice of Thelema. His devotion grew over time in that he became the head of the Agape Lodge of the OTO in the mid 1940’s which met and practiced in his Bohemian home in Pasadena. In this period, Parsons regularly corresponded with Crowley, whose agents locally praised him as the successor of Crowley’s New Aeon and great work.

left to right: Rudolph Schott, Apollo Milton Olin Smith, future JPL Director Frank Malina (white shirt, dark pants), Ed Forman and Jack Parsons (right, foreground). Nov. 15, 1936. Image from NASA/JPL-Caltech

The book spends a considerable amount of time on Parsons life, but also included some interesting details on the Ordo Templi Orientis order that Parsons was at first so devoted to. As it reads Carter spends considerable time in developing the history of the OTO from 1895 through Crowley’s taking over and the credibility collapse of its founders Kellner, Reuss, Mathers, and Westcott. The history, as encapsulated in the book, is an interesting read especially as it contextualizes their history with Crowley, but also with their connections in Los Angeles in the early incubation of the occult today. Unlike Manly P. Hall (the author of The Secret Teachings of All Ages), Crowley sent Wilfred Smith (himself a student of the OTO and Crowley) with the purpose of opening an OTO lodge, which was incorporated in 1934 and met for the first time in 1935.

It was in this era that Jack Parson’s variously worked at the predecessor of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a variety of explosives companies, Electric companies, and gas stations (notably, even rocket scientists needing to work). In this mix of engineering academia and occult practice, Parson’s path merged in a John Dee/Edward Kelly fashion with the infamous L.Ron Hubbard (before his Scientology fame). In this time, Hubbard variously played scribe, confidant, and polyamerious love interest to Parson’s spouse Betty who, Carter writes, Hubbard absconded with along with the start up capitol that he and Parson’s had used to start a business. Crowley even going so far to say of Hubbard: “Suspect Ron playing confidence trick–Jack Parsons weak fool–obvious victim prowling swindlers.” In a letter a few days later he said, “It seems to me on the information of our brethren in California that Parsons has got an illumination in which he lost all his personal independence. From our brother’s account he has given away both his girl and his money. Apparently it is the ordinary confidence trick.”. Included in the book are the notes Hubbard took while acting as scribe in Parsons ritual workings.

From his start, it seemed Parsons was destined for something great (magickly or otherwise), but ultimately met his demise in a fiery explosion in his garage turned laboratory/workshop. Sensing his end, perhaps, Carter reports that the last words spoken by Parsons were “I wasn’t done…“. This final utterance is cryptic in that his professional life had blurred the line with his occult life leaving us to wonder which work he saw unfinished. Carter suggests that Parson’s was a man drawn by an over arched Oedipious complex and a life long search for a father figure, both in Smith and in Crowley himself. At his end, it would seem he found it in neither.

Carter does an ample job in giving life to Parson’s beyond his mundane occupation of jet propulsion and established him as one of the patriarchs of the occult in Los Angeles. As notable as he is in the scientific community, few know his name in the occult community. What his tangible contribution is will be up to those who follow in his footsteps, but his early dalliances and their display in the public sphere ushered in the modern perception of the occult and quite possibly the era of the baby boomers and their unknown working of the Thelemic philosophy that Parsons hoped would take hold. Parson’s, despite his end, explored the paths he wanted to physically and spiritually. His unfinished work being his legacy, left for us to continue to explore.

I recommend the book Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons by John Carter, which is available at Amazon.

Nobly Born and The Compasses and the Cross by Stephen Dafoe

March 24, 2009 by The Euphrates

Note: Stephen Dafoe is a contributor to this site, but this review was conducted independently. In fact, the author of this review has no personal relationship with Bro. Dafoe. Therefore, this critique is that of an unbiased reader.

Stephen Dafoe has two recent releases on the Knights Templar: Nobly Born and The Compasses and the Cross. The former was released in 2007, the latter in 2008. Nobly Born is a book which gives an unromantic account of the medieval order of the Knights Templar. It is a book based strictly on documented historical evidence and serves to debunk many of the myths surrounding that order.

The author of this review admittedly has very little prior knowledge of the Knights Templar, beyond the documentaries shown about the order on the History Channel which appear to encourage the viewer to create suspicions about the secret nature of the Templars. Therefore, it was great to discover that Nobly Born is written in a way so that the Templar novice can truly grasp the history of the order. The book gives an excellent brief history of the crusades and explains the society in which the Templars existed. Perhaps the most impressive part of this book is the look into the lives of the Templars, which was more monastic that chivalric. Many common myths which have surfaced concerning the Templars are specifically rebutted with historical evidence. If you currently believe that the Templars discovered some great treasure beneath King Solomon’s Temple and escaped with the goods to Scotland or the New World, this book is a panacea for your ailment.

The Compasses and the Cross by Stephen Dafoe

The Compasses and the Cross gives a detailed history of the modern day fraternal order of the Knights Templar. This book discusses many of the works of invented history which have misled many Masons to believe that the modern day organization somehow is the descendant of the Templars of old. However, like in Nobly Born, Dafoe refutes these claims with historical evidence. A large amount of the book is a summary of the information found in Nobly Bor

n. It serves as a great refresher on medieval Templar history, but if you read the books back to back (like the author of this review) it can seem repetitive. Nevertheless, this account of Templar history is absolutely necessary for the reader who is unfamiliar with the order’s story. The Compasses and the Cross also gives a detailed account of the reception of new Knights in the medieval order to show the separation of modern day ceremonies from the rituals of the original Templars. The best quality of The Compasses and the Cross is that it devotes a chapter to the fraternity of the Knights Templar in Britain, the United States, and Canada. This focus on the fraternity’s history in each of these countries shows how each locale developed its particular flavor.

My only complaint with these two works is their format. The books are large (10×8 in) which makes them inconvenient for packing them in a bag to read on the airplane or a park bench while on break. However, these books are illustrated histories and the photos and art work provided in them are needed. The illustrations play an important part in visualizing the regalia and equipment of both the medieval and modern day Templars and the books without them would doubtlessly be less informative. The size of the books is the unfortunate form of their function.

I highly recommend both of these works to any Mason who is interested in the Templars of old and their connection with Freemasonry or the modern day Templars and the history of that fraternal organization. They will provide the reader with an excellent education on both subjects. You can find ways to purchase these books on Stephen Dafoe’s website.

Further Light…by Jim Tresner

March 10, 2009 by The Euphrates

This work is a little informational book subtitled Helpful Information for New Master Masons, by Jim Tresner, and is intended for those Masons just beginning their journey in the fraternity. It is published by the Masonic Service Association and contains a general summary of the basic fraternal knowledge.

One of the book’s triumphs is that it gives a small discussion for most of the symbols found in each degree. However, unlike most pamphlets created for similar purposes as this, it does actually mention some very esoteric Masonic concepts. These include a brief mention of some Jewish mystical concepts such as the Tree of Life. The book also includes a section pertaining to the Landmarks of Freemasonry which are so often ignored in these types of publications. While this discussion only lists Mackey’s list of Landmarks, it is still better than no mention of the Landmarks. It also contains a few points about lodge protocol such as not walking between the Master and the altar, how to address the lodge, and the attitude of prayer. These customs are rarely mentioned in text.

The book has some shortcomings as well. The information on the symbolism of the degrees found in this booklet is already printed in some sort of introductory Grand Lodge publication in most states. This leads to yet another iteration of the processed and formed definitions of Masonic symbolism to which young members have already been exposed. The brief Masonic history given is also a rather romantic account of the fraternity’s development. It includes the possibility that the Knights Templar somehow influenced Freemasonry and covers Masonic history at at period of time which offers only speculative history at best. Also, 19 and a half pages of the book’s 49 pages deal with nearly ever single Masonic affiliated body, including some of the most obscure of Masonic organizations. It would seem that a little more time on the symbolism of the Blue Lodge and a little less on the subject of other bodies would be more useful to the new initiate.

Overall, the book is a decent resource for those Masons who have not been provided with any information about the degrees. However, there are a number of better resources available through the Grand Lodges as well as the Internet for those looking for a cursory knowledge of the fraternity.

You can find the book at the Masonic Service Association’s website.