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BACK NEXT Summer 2008 Issue 45 Letter from the Editor Grand Lodge News News and Views On The Level International News Beyond the Craft Perambulating the Lodge Masonic Dining and Celebration Interview: The Grand Chancellor The Orator Walking the Way of Saint James Abd el-Kader: Algerian Nationalist and Freemason Province of Cambridgeshire Library & Museum Brother Lightfoote's Journal Review: Committed to the Flames Review: The Mythology of Secret Societies Review: The Dawn of Astrology Letters to the Editor Internet Library & Museum of Freemasonry Grand Lodge Quarterly Communication Convocation of Supreme Grand Chapter RMBI Masonic Samaritan Fund Grand Charity RMTGB Canon Richard Tydeman: Looking unto the Rock Copyright 1997-2008 Grand Lodge Publications Ltd Designed and Maintained by: Cyberpoint Limited

FREEMASONRY TODAY Beyond the Craft Masonic Bodies Address List As promised in the last issue of Freemasonry Today, below is a list of the principal masonic bodies in England and Wales, together with the degrees which they control. In addition, contact addresses are included for the principal ones, although for the sake of space the full titles of the bodies have not been given. Further details, including the necessary qualifications for admittance, can be found in Beyond the Craft by Keith Jackson, published by Lewis Masonic (which also includes information on the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (S.R.I.A), The Order of Eri, and The August Order ... Masons in Mitres? The title of this article might seem on the surface somewhat disrespectful, but it has been chosen to make an important point. While all the dressing-up that goes on in Freemasonry, such as in the KT, and the rolling-up of the trouser-leg at initiation - the one thing all non-masons think of when the subject of Freemasonry is raised - might seem odd to many, the thought of Freemasons wearing priestly clothing such as surplices and, worst of all ... Orders of Chivalry Many masons flock to join the so-called Masonic Orders of Chivalry, keen to give themselves honours, medals, stars, robes, sashes, baldrics, swords and, above all, extravagant titles. My wife started to become a bit sceptical when she discovered that I was not so much a school-teacher or an historian, but in fact had been created a Knight of the Pelican and Eagle and Sovereign Prince Rose Croix of H.R.D.M. She soon became aware that ... In Search of the Wisdom of Solomon Why ‘Solomonic Degrees’? I call them so because it is the actions of Solomon, King of Israel, Hiram King of Tyre and Hiram Abif – as well as their successors – which form the allegorical and symbolic basis for the journey undertaken within them; the candidate searches for the masonic light in his quest for the Lost Word. Brethren should recall the exchange between Master and Wardens at the Third Degree opening : What is that which was lost? The genuine secrets of a Master Mason. How came they lost? By the untimely death of our Master ... 110 Degrees in the Shade Many masons are initiated, passed and raised in the three Craft degrees, hold office in their lodge and go through the chair without ever wanting to pursue Freemasonry further. Some are exalted into the Royal Arch, but that is it. Fine. Many, on the other hand, desire further masonic knowledge, but don’t know where to find it. There’s a lot of talk about ‘Side Degrees’ or ‘Higher Orders’, but it can be hard to know which ones to consider. After all, money is a factor with most of us, and in some areas it can be hard even to find out about these degrees ...   Beyond the Craft © Grand Lodge Publications Ltd 1997-2008