A DAILY ADVANCEMENT IN MASONIC KNOWLEDGE R. J. Hollins, 5 Vols., Olton, 2003. Paperback, £4.00 per volume from R.J. Hollins, The Briars, 69 St Bernards Road, Olton, Solihull, West Midlands, B92 7DF.

Masonic education is receiving an increasing amount of attention these days; and rightly so. There are a number of initiatives underway aiming at broadening and deepening the knowledge and understanding of Brethren and in this way enriching their experience of Freemasonry while, at the same time, encouraging a move away from the ‘degree mill’ attitude which has often become entrenched.
    The Province of Worcestershire has just successfully completed an ambitious scheme to address this question of education: five booklets have been produced containing fifty short talks on areas of masonic concern. Each is presented clearly, simply and in a short enough form to be read to a Lodge in ten or fifteen minutes. They are also a welcome contribution to all those who would like to see masonic education introduced into the Lodge working itself – as it used to be in the past. There is little value in performing the rituals if we have forgotten – or have never been told – what the symbolism means. One of these talks could be read to the Lodge, for example, each meeting prior to the Lodge closing.
    The author of these booklets, R. J. Hollins, must be congratulated for his ability to range widely, investigate deeply and to present the materials in a dramatic and easily comprehensible manner. The subjects he chooses are varied. Each booklet contains ten chapters (or talks) from topics such as exploring masonic history: the first Grand Master, the ‘Ancients’ and the ‘Moderns’, Mozart, William Preston, Rudyard Kipling; explaining masonic symbolism: allegory and symbols, the legend of Hiram Abiff, the point within a circle, hoodwink, the Warden’s columns, globes, the Sanctum Sanctorum; to more philosophical matters such as: Isis and Osiris, the mystic tie, the geography of ritual, the 47th problem of Euclid and the numerology of Freemasonry.
    Many of the topics covered in the chapters have no ‘answers’ as such but the author is happy to explore through and around a subject, drawing out the nuances and implications. In fact, one could say that truly puissant symbols are to be explored rather than defined for it is the exploration itself which brings the education and realisation of the richness of symbolism as a means of expression.
    I would recommend all Freemasons to buy these booklets; and every Lodge to purchase a set of them.
    Michael Baigent