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BACK NEXT Spring 2004 Issue 28 Letter from the Editor News and Views On the Level International News Julian Rees Home Away From Home Piloting the Ship of Life The Lodge that Never Was New Science, New Spirituality The Origins of Temples The Order of the Secret Monitor A Most Public Museum Brother Lightfoote's Journal Letters to the Editor Review: Symbolism in Craft Masonry Review: Death and Architecture Review: The Radical Enlightenment Review: Solomon, Falcon of Sheba Canon Richard Tydeman Copyright 1997-2008 Grand Lodge Publications Ltd Designed and Maintained by: Cyberpoint Limited

FREEMASONRY TODAY Spring 2004 - Issue 28 - Index Letter from the Editor What does it mean to walk into a sacred space? There is no simple answer but it resides in a blend of heart and mind and place. A sacred space is one where the sky touches the earth; where the clamour of daily life is stilled by a lightness from above. But do we find it, or does it find us? One special symbol of a sacred space is that of Jacob’s Ladder, resting on the earth where its first rung is but a step away and its highest rungs lost in the divine brightness above. It is depicted on the tracing board exhibited in every lodge when opened in the First Degree. The basic form depicts a ladder reaching from earth to heaven. Its secret is revealed in the Biblical story ... News and Views Provincial Grand Master for Berkshire Installed — Installation of Provincial Grand Master for Bristol — History Made on Isle of Man — Recognition of Foreign Grand Lodges by Great Queen Street — Monmouth: Small Province Big, Heart — Festival Raising Money for Breast Cancer — Cosham Masonic Centre Holds Open Day — Masonic Fishing Club Entertains Kids — Family Festival Concert in Grand Temple — Oklahoma Indian Freemasons Visit England — Freddie Smyth Awarded Order of Service to Masonry — Our Brothers Bed at Trinity Hospice On the Level Cornish Masons Support Hospice — Zimbabwe Masons Help Children — Mark Masons 'Opportunity' — Brass Band in Lodge — Canonbury Masonic Research Centre — Centre for Research into Freemasonry — The Cornerstone Society — Quatuor Coronati International News Grand Lodge Nationale Française Celebrates 90 Years — Norwegian Day Parade in New York — Grand Master of India Retires — United States Mass Initiations — Florida Lodge Holds Mozart Competition — Queensland Masons Committed to Leukaemia Foundation Julian Rees Once again I have found myself impressed, in different ways, by images of events happening in the world around me. This time there are two of them, and they are at opposite ends of the same spectrum. The first was the image of Jonny Wilkinson in the Rugby World Cup. The second was the very disturbing spectacle of squabbling architects and developers concerned with the rebuilding on the site of the World Trade Centre in New York, that deeply painful scar that has come to be known as Ground Zero. You will wonder what these two have to do with each other. Taking the second image first, I see in the press that Ground Zero ... Home Away From Home In May 1938, on the eve of war, Winston Churchill urged Britons to do their part for Anglo-American relations. ‘It is in the homes, not the hotels, of a nation,’ he declared, ‘that we can learn the truth about our people.’ He addressed British businessmen in particular, imploring them to go beyond mere business contact with visiting Americans but instead ‘ask them to your homes and your clubs, so that they may see something of the real England ...' Piloting the Ship of Life His Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic, published by Oxford University Press in 1995, expounds a radically new approach: he demonstrates that the heart of the message expressed by the ancient Greek philosophers was experiential. It was not merely a system of argument and discussion - that came later, especially in the hands of Aristotle – but was a far richer system which through meditation, contemplation, music, chant, and ritual ... The Lodge that Never Was Two elements of Freemasonry which set it apart from virtually all other societies of men are firstly, the mystery within which it is enshrouded and secondly, the secrets which its Brethren gradually become privy to as they progress through the various offices. There is however one other body that is similarly enveloped in mystery as well as being the custodian of numerous secrets: the Magic Circle. Surprisingly there is a much closer link between Freemasonry and the world of magic than most Brethren have realised. For example, in the same way that a new initiate ... New Science, New Spirituality On hearing that Professor Margaret Jacob’s seminal The Radical Enlightenment - Pantheists, Freemasons and Republicans was now appearing in a revised second edition, Freemasonry Today sent me along to her for an exclusive tutorial. Margaret Jacob showed me into her study; its book collection would match a medium-sized town library for size: being there was, for me, to sit at the feet of the first mainstream academic ... The Origins of Temples The concept of the temple is a particularly familiar one to Freemasons because of the legendary associations of masonry with the Temple of Solomon. Less familiar is how the very notion of temples, or sacred places of worship in general, originated. The answer emerges if we look at examples of temples from three ancient cultural periods, namely ancient Egypt, Minoan Crete, and the pre-Columbian Americas ... The Order of the Secret Monitor The Order of the Secret Monitor, or Brotherhood of David and Jonathan is governed by the Grand Conclave from its headquarters at 86 St. James’s Street, London. The Order, which embodies a series of three ceremonies, constitutes one of the most significant international fraternities to be found within Freemasonry. Its teachings are embraced by Brethren from all the major religions of the world ... A Most Public Museum A Museum and Library for the masonic Province of Warwickshire was first created in 1908. It enjoyed a period of prosperity but when war broke out in 1939, the entire collection had to be housed in protective boxes which were then stored in the Congregational Church School in Manchester. It was not until the current purpose-built premises in Stirling Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, were finally opened in 1971 that the collection of books and artefacts ... Brother Lightfoote's Journal Good advice from Master Shakespeare, which Master Lightfoote would have done well to heed but did not. There are some days and some people that are best addressed by avoidance and today has witnessed both of them. Saint Longinus, I read, was the name of the Roman Soldier who, standing at the foot of the cross, pierced Our Lord’s side with his spear. The name is probably derived from the Greek word for lance – probably – possibly – it could safely be assumed – these words shall evermore put me on my guard! Anyway, our Centurion ended up ... Letters to the Editor Masonic Charity — An Alternative Ritual? — United States One-Day Classes — Ban on Freemasons ... Review: Symbolism in Craft Masonry Review: Death and Architecture Review: The Radical Enlightenment Review: Solomon, Falcon of Sheba Canon Richard Tydeman In one of the ‘optional’ parts of our ritual there is the statement that ‘distinctions among men are necessary to preserve subordination’. Now we have all heard of ‘insubordination’. From the fellow who is cheeky to the school prefect all the way up to the member of Parliament who refuses to vote as his Party tells him to, but we don’t often use the word ‘subordination’ on its own and may well wonder why it is necessary to preserve it. Breaking the word down to its original parts we have ‘ordination’ from the Latin meaning ‘placing in order’, ‘setting apart’, ‘appointing to office’. This is more often used of holy orders conferred on clergy though it can equally signify the appointment ...   Issue 28, Spring 2004 © Grand Lodge Publications Ltd 1997-2008