HOME Current Issue Index by Issue Search the Site Translate On-Line Printer Friendly Internet Help Centre Regulars Specials Humour Book Reviews Links Affinity Lodges Subscriptions About FMT ADVERTISING Contact Us

BACK NEXT Winter 2003 Issue 27 Letter from the Editor News and Views On the Level International News Julian Rees Hidden Treasures Gold and Freemasonry The Inner Voice of Freemasonry A Long Term Commitment Knights of the Holy Sepulchre and St John the Evengelist Freemasonry in Music and Literature Unique Finds in Manchester Brother Lightfoote's Journal Letters to the Editor Review: Reality Review: Slight Verse Review: The Lectures of the Three Degrees in Craft Masonry Review: The Book of Hiram Canon Richard Tydeman Copyright 1997-2008 Grand Lodge Publications Ltd Designed and Maintained by: Cyberpoint Limited

FREEMASONRY TODAY Winter 2003 - Issue 27 - Index Letter from the Editor There is a tendency for Freemasonry to be left behind at the Lodge door; for its precepts to be intellectually appreciated but not lived in the manner that they require. That is, should you wish to continue your journey on the chequered path which leads from the rough ashlar to the smooth. Remaining true to the path requires constant attention and that is one of the uses of our symbolism: not only to communicate a wealth of ideas and insights, but also to remind us of that great aspiration which we share. Great? Certainly. For we all aspire to become better men. And that is about as great as aspiration comes ... News and Views New Provincial Grand Master for Hertfordshire — United States Mass Initiations — Staffordshire New Provincial Grand Master — Changes Proposed in Royal Arch — New Deputy Grand Master — The Northern Conference of the Cornerstone Society — Gloucestershire Masons Annual Cathedral Service — Reunion of the Anglo Foreign Lodges Association — Federation of Police Lodges — Berkshire Masons Supporting Sue Ryder Care — Hereford Cathedral Honours Freemasons On the Level Leicester M.A. Students Visit Library at Freemasons' Hall — Essex Charity Auction for Cardiac Care — Battle of Britain Pilots Active in Freemasonry — Masons and Scouts Open New Building — Canonbury Masonic Research Centre — Centre for Research into Freemasonry, Sheffield University — The Cornerstone Society — Quatuor Coronati International News New Australian Governor General a Freemason — Grand Master of Russia Joins Royal Arch — A Nomad's Lodges in Iraq — Sydney Anglicans Ban Freemasons — New Zealand Freemasons Go To School — California Masons Protecting Kids Julian Rees It seems to me that we expect a lot from our candidate for initiation. Apart from the principles of Freemasonry, he may have only a hazy idea of what is to come. Almost certainly he cannot yet grasp anything about the individuality of the lodge he is to join. I was initiated into a lodge of ritual perfectionists, but only found out about that after my initiation. It is a lodge which still boasts the largest number of holders of the coveted Emulation Silver Matchbox award for conducting a ceremony without need of correction. So the members spend a great deal of time concentrating on the words of the ritual and learning them to as near perfection as possible ... Hidden Treasures Freemasonry has always attracted men of great skill in the crafts. Probably one of the most famous was Thomas Harper, Deputy Grand Master of the Antients Grand Lodge from 1801 to 1813, who created large pierced jewels of exquisite beauty. Any masonic museum which holds examples of his work has readily displayed them... Gold and Freemasonry The mighty Yukon River, from its source at the Llewellyn Glacier high above Atlin Lake in north western British Columbia, runs about 2,300 miles, northwards through the Yukon territory, the Cities of Whitehorse and Dawson, continuing westwards across Alaska to the Yukon Delta, where it empties into the Bering Sea. In 1896 prospector George Carmack and his Indian brother-in-law ‘Skookum Jim’ Mason, and another Indian relative ... The Inner Voice of Freemasonry In the huge headquarters of the United Nations in New York, there is a small room arranged by its former Secretary General, Dag Hammarskjöld. This small room, which has only eleven chairs, is called the room of silence. In the center there is a polished dark stone illuminated by a single shaft of light, and on the wall facing the entrance, an abstract painting in soft colours. That is all. The idea was to create a sanctuary for men and women to meditate, to seek some form of inner peace, where there was nothing to divide them, nothing ... A Long Term Commitment Charity is a fundamental and vitally important part of masonry. Its practice is a cardinal commitment that we all made on the day of our initiation. The four central charities, each with their separate objects, are the best way that we can pool our resources to discharge that commitment. Each has benefited to a remarkable extent from the generosity of the generations that have gone before us. That has enabled the Charities to take on ... Knights of the Holy Sepulchre and St John the Evangelist These additional Orders, the so-called ‘Appendant Orders’, comprise the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy Order of St. John the Evangelist. These degrees are of particular significance to the enlightened Christian Freemason. Both the degrees are administered from 86 St. James’s Street, London, by the Patriarchal Council, a body which is synonymous with that of the Grand Imperial Conclave, where the Grand Sovereign assumes ... Freemasonry in Music and Literature During the first weekend in November the Canonbury Masonic Research Centre held its fifth international conference which drew speakers and delegates from the UK, Germany, Holland, Italy, Hungary, Romania, and the USA. Delegates heard twelve presentations on the theme of ‘Freemasonry in Music and Literature’, and were treated to a series of highly enjoyable musical recitals. The proceedings commenced with a paper by Andrew Pink, who is based at the Music Department of Goldsmith’s College, London University ... Unique Finds in Manchester Our visit to the Manchester Masonic Hall was sandwiched, so to speak, between a delightful attendance at the rededication ceremony of the newly discovered masonic painted floor cloth hosted by Beneficent Lodge at Macclesfield, Cheshire, and Michael Baigent’s address next evening to the Manchester Lodge for Masonic Research. The evening’s ceremony in Macclesfield was conducted by the quintessential Provincial Grand Master ... Brother Lightfoote's Journal I once danced with a girl who’d    danced with a boy who’d danced with the Prince of Wales. Strange days indeed, but none stranger than a recent one, at the close of which, by candle light, Lightfoote encountered Dark Forces… The Festive Season is upon us, seeming to begin earlier every year. The holly and the ivy are put out almost before the harvest is gathered in these days – and what have the holly and ivy got to do with Christmas, one asks. Nothing, one replies, they are but the echoes, or more appropriately the embers of savage, pagan rites ... Letters to the Editor One-Day Classes — In Support of One-Day Classes — Instruction or Rehearsal? — Chatres Cathedral — A Masonic Brand — Freemasonry and Aviation ... Review: Reality Review: Slight Verse Review: The Lectures of the Three Degrees in Craft Masonry Review: The Book of Hiram Canon Richard Tydeman Or should it be ‘The Two Saints John’? I can never remember. Anyway, we know there were two of them. Actually there were quite a lot more ‘Johns’, including John the Almoner, John the Divine, Prester John et al., but the two we immediately recognise are John the Baptist and John the Evangelist. John the Baptist was a close relative of Jesus, their mothers being cousins, and his life was devoted to preparing people for the coming of Christ. What has all this to do with Freemasonry? Very little of a direct nature but masons had early adopted John the Baptist as their Patron Saint. He was, after all, a splendid example of uprightness and square conduct, unshaken fidelity ...   Issue 27, Winter 2003 © Grand Lodge Publications Ltd 1997-2008