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BACK NEXT Summer 2007 Issue 41 Letter from the Editor News Briefing News and Views On The Level News Beyond the Craft International News Julian Rees A Question of Identity The Great and Lesser Lights International Conference Acre: The Templars' Last Battle Launching a Museum in Essex Nicholas Hawksmoor A Weekend Away Brother Lightfoote's Journal Letters to the Editor What is Freemasonry? Review: The Canonbury Papers, Vol 3 Review: Symbolism in Eighteenth-Century Gardens Review: Asclepius Review: The Triangle Canon Richard Tydeman Copyright 1997-2008 Grand Lodge Publications Ltd Designed and Maintained by: Cyberpoint Limited

FREEMASONRY TODAY Summer 2007 - Issue 41 - Index Letter from the Editor There is a curious mood afoot, a kind of cynical weariness; one no longer easily dispelled by promises of the ‘New’, or of ‘initiatives’ or of the almost intangible results of ‘Blue sky thinking,’ - whatever that really is. While the black arts of spin are still with us, most have long ago seen through it. Even its name reflects the spin: it used to be called ‘propaganda’ which very correctly warned people to be cautious of its claims. But as a culture we seem to have lost both caution and discrimination; faced with the emptiness of the shiny words which bombard us daily we seem to have almost abandoned all hope that we can have a fulfilling society. Ideology and social ... News Briefing: Art and Fraternity at the Library in London — Metropolitan Grand Lodge of London Looks Ahead — Grand Master at the Investiture — Grand Charity directly supporting in Darfur News and Views: The Blessing of Material Light, The Cornerstone Society Conference at Sindlesham — Blueprint Lodge for 21st Century — Clerkenwell Lodge of Installed Masters celebrate with music — Freemasons' ties with Hereford Cathedral — Success of Universities Scheme On the Level: New Lodge Banner — Lancs Masons Support Scouts — Local Artist Captures Masonic Work — Visit to Prince Hall — Canonbury Masonic Research Centre — Centre for Research into Freemasonry — The Cornerstone Society — Quatuor Coronati News Beyond the Craft: Red Cross of Constantine Orphanage — Knights Beneficent of the Holy City — New President Appointed to Mark General Board — Mark Masons Cementing Ties International News: Italian Grand Lodge Communication — New York Masons Develop Child ID Programme — Grand Lodge of Spain Celebrates 25 Years — British Royal Arch Masons in Germany — Co-Masons Le Droit Humain Instal New Grand Master — West Australia Masons Working for Children Hiding the Reality Travelling around as much as I do, I am constantly being told ‘Mind the gap between the platform and the train’. The phrase recently became mutated in my brain into ‘Mind the gap between the pretence and the reality’, reminding me how much and how often we substitute the semblance for the real thing. The playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht said that reality is not about the way things really are; it is about the way real things are. There’s an important difference. If we try to represent the way a thing ‘really’ is, we are bound to invest it with our own interpretation. If, instead, we stand back and consider what is real, what is true, what is beyond controversy and beyond debate, we have ... A Question of Identity An unusual print in the collection at Freemasons’ Hall in London features a fencing exhibition staged in front of the Prince of Wales in 1787. One of the participants, who appears to be a middle-aged woman, is in fact the Chevalier D’Eon, one of the most colourful characters in 18th Century Freemasonry, a diplomat, spy, swordsman and Freemason, who lived the first half of his life as a man and the second as a woman. Charles D’Eon de Beaumont ... The Great and Lesser Lights The three great, though emblematical, lights of masonry are revealed immediately after an initiate has been ‘restored to the blessing of material light’. Blinking, and for the first time conscious of his curious situation, the newcomer has a moment to glimpse the objects before him as each is briefly explained. A moment later, now standing, he is turned round. He sees for the first time the room in which he is situated, and the Brethren all ... International Conference on the History of Freemasonry In 1969 the leading Oxford historian, John Morris Roberts, published an essay in The English Historical Review in which he highlighted how Englishspeaking historians had largely ignored the world’s largest fraternal association: ‘In the country which gave Freemasonry to the world’ he wrote, the subject had attracted ‘hardly any interest from the professional historian’. The result of this neglect, he lamented had been essentially twofold. First, ignorance of this important social and cultural phenomenon had resulted in an impoverishment of English historians’ ... Acre: The Templars' Last Battle The great Crusader port of Acre - today Akko - is about one hour north of Haifa, Israel. Much of the old city of the Crusaders still exists, incorporated into later Islamic architecture. It is a fascinating warren of narrow streets, shops, squares and impressive buildings erected by merchant groups long ago. Yet it remains a working city with schools, restaurants, workshops and mosques all tucked away in the middle of the medieval stone buildings ... Launching a Museum in Essex As reported in the last issue of Freemasonry Today the Provincial Grand Master, John Webb, officially opened the Essex Masonic Library and Museum last autumn. The progress that has been made just eight months later when I visited, is quite astounding. A range of collectables are displayed in captioned trays and shelves in an attractive and well-furnished room. A section is dedicated to the library and the atmosphere is that of a fully-fledged ... Nicholas Hawksmoor That Sir Christopher Wren, the celebrated English architect, was a Freemason, has been claimed since the late seventeenth century by some writers, yet the debate surrounding his possible membership has obscured a little-known fact: Wren’s protégé and one of England’s finest baroque architects, Nicholas Hawksmoor, was indeed a member of the fraternity. Despite this fact, very little has been written on Hawksmoor’s association with the Craft ... A Weekend Away The range of schemes and projects which go to make up a Lodge or Ladies’ Festival is far wider than ever before. In days gone by lodges were restricted to the choice of a hotel or other venue in their immediate locality, with good travel connections to the home town. Nowadays, lodges have become much more adventurous and are ... Brother Lightfoote's Journal Perpetua and Felicitas, I read, were Carthaginian Christians persecuted by Septimius Severus (a good name for a persecutor) at the beginning of the third century. Perpetua had a little baby and Felicitas actually gave birth whilst they were imprisoned, awaiting the advent of the Games at which their deaths were to form part of the entertainment. During this period of anxious anticipation, Perpetua experienced many visions, the most striking of which was one in which she saw herself in the arena, before the baying mob, naked, transformed into a ... Letters to the Editor Spirituality in Freemasonry — Publicity for Freemasonry — Unity — Freemasonry and Hinduism — Women Freemasons — The Templar Cross — Ex-pat Freemasons — Supreme Being What is Freemasonry? I looked through much of the written information I had easily at hand and compared it with Wikipedia. As a Preceptor of a local lodge of instruction, I thought I would try to supply the newer Brethren with a definitive answer, backed by as much reference information as possible. This is the result of my brief endeavours. Freemasonry is a fraternal organization with millions of members. It exists in various forms worldwide, with shared moral and metaphysical ideals and in most of its branches requires a constitutional declaration of belief in a Supreme Being. Freemasonry is administratively organized into Grand Lodges that govern a particular jurisdiction made up of subordinate ... Review: The Canonbury Papers Vol 3 Review: Symbolism in Eighteenth-Century Gardens Review: Asclepius: the Perfect Discourse of Hermes Trismegistus Review: The Triangle Divested of Metal A candidate for Masonry might well be puzzled by what at first sight appears to be a paradox; for on the one hand he is told to pay the necessary fee before being admitted, and on the other hand he is informed that no money, in fact no metal of any kind, is to be taken into the lodge by him. Later, when he begins to understand the symbolism of the Craft, he will see that it was necessary to symbolise his ‘helpless indigence’ by making him poor and penniless as part of his preparation, and to remind him of the needs of others. Yes, but why extend the ban on money to a ban on all ‘metallic substance’? A conscientious Tyler will even insist on removing a candidate’s belt or braces ...   Issue 41, Summer 2007 © Grand Lodge Publications Ltd 1997-2008