SEEKING THE LIGHT. FREEMASONRY AND THE INITIATIC TRADITIONS, Robert A. Gilbert (ed.) Lewis Masonic, Hersham, 2007. Hardback, xiv and 140 pages, £18.99. ISBN: 978-0-85318-290-0

There are different approaches to the study of initiation: one can go through a ceremony and express an understanding of the events from a personal basis; one can seek to describe parallels in other initiatic systems around the world from European ecclesiastical rituals to archaic tribal rites; or, for example, one might seek similarities in the expression of human ‘hard wiring’ which might be the cause of the parallel development of certain rites and symbols which have an effect on human consciousness independent of the particular tradition in which they were found.
     The papers in this conference represent these approaches and more. For example, Kirk McNulty looks at initiation as a ‘supernatural adventure’ and Freemasonry as an initiatory practice which grew out of the influx of mystical ideas in the Renaissance. David McCready looks at the similarities between Baptism and masonic ritual; the Revd. Neville Cryer looks at two different eighteenth century forms of initiation into Freemasonry noting that this occurred when a man became a Fellow of the Craft rather than being admitted into the Lodge. Julia Cleave revealed a parody of a proto-masonic ‘sworn brotherhood’ with very suggestive similarities to masonic ritual found within the Shakespeare play All’s Well that Ends Well.
     Henrik Bogdan explores the relationship between secret societies such as Freemasonry and the Western esoteric tradition; with, importantly, the experiential aspect of the tradition. There is also a valuable introduction by Andrew Prescott, formerly Professor of Freemasonry at Sheffield University, where he sets out a context by which initiation might be academically studied and by which ‘the study of Freemasonry [might be related to] the wider study of human society.’
     He does not, however, mention the possibility of the central experience perhaps being one devoid of context, one which transcends culture and history. A valuable study was published by Oxford University Press in 1990, The Problem of Pure Consciousness, edited by Robert Forman, which examines the moments when consciousness breaks through all historical and cultural context into a pure experience which is perceived as the same world-wide.
     This is not a popular approach for those who stress the differences between spiritual and religious systems but there is a very good argument to be advanced that, in the end, this is the point of initiation.

Michael Baigent