Freemasons

Click this link:
http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/burtonlist.html

Loads an applet and shows a list of his writings.

_________________
Hadyn Nicholls PM
Homewood Lodge 447
Recruitment & Publicity Officer
http://www.homewood-lodge.net.nz
Wellington District Education Officer

Thanks for that Gary.
I have found in discussions with Brethren in mainly UK that there and in USA there is a growing trend towards the mystical / religious / occult, even to the extent of maybe trying to form a Lodge for "esoteric Freemasons".
I still tend to the Operative route, although I can see your point.It is perhaps more believable (as a theory) than the Knights Templars in Scotland idea which has in my opinion now been thoroughly discounted.

_________________
Keith Walker
Kaimanawa 426
Waikato Lodge of Research 445

Yep - I have read it. For some reason it has upset the fraternity in the US, however I believe that it is an excellent book to give to anyone who is a little skepticle of Freemasonry. Why? Well it was writen by a non-mason - I believe he is now a member but wasn't when he wrote the book. Secondly, it focuses, from a historical point of view, why we have "secrets".

TODD "Bucko" BUCKLAND
SW, Lodge Mana #352

The more I have read and the more I have studied, the more convinced I am that Speculative Freemasonry, and I emphasise Speculative, is / was a child of the time of the Renaissance and later of the Age of Reason and fortuitously arrived at the time that the Operative Craft was starting to decline.
The Operative Craft in Britain was at its height during the 12th to 14th centuries, when after the Norman Conquest the new rulers built a chain of castles to subdue the Saxon poulation. These castles were originally timber which could be thrown up in a hurry but as time went on, were replaced by stone. At the same time, and earlier, town walls, churches, abbeys, convents etc were also built of permanent materials. There are approximately 10,000 medieval churches in Britain.

The arcane knowledge of building would have been passed among Masons, carried perhaps from the Roman builders via perhaps the Comacines who could have preserved the knowledge during the European Dark Ages after c500AD .

Similar building problems would have been common wherever building occured, the Mayas and Incas of South America , the Egyptians, Greeks, Phoenicians of Europe and the Mediterranean, and similar solutions would have been discovered , not by a line of descent but by the human mind faced with the same problem in different parts of the world.

I don't believe that there would have been anything at all similar to the Speculative Craft with which we are familiar nowadays during these far off ancient times. In those days it was a very practical trade careful to preserve its specialised knowledge of building practice from those who were not properly qualified. It had strong religious overtones because that was the climate and mores of the time

_________________
Keith Walker
Kaimanawa 426
Waikato Lodge of Research 445

The more I have read and the more I have studied, the more convinced I am that Speculative Freemasonry, and I emphasise Speculative, is / was a child of the time of the Renaissance and later of the Age of Reason and fortuitously arrived at the time that the Operative Craft was starting to decline.
The Operative Craft in Britain was at its height during the 12th to 14th centuries, when after the Norman Conquest the new rulers built a chain of castles to subdue the Saxon poulation. These castles were originally timber which could be thrown up in a hurry but as time went on, were replaced by stone. At the same time, and earlier, town walls, churches, abbeys, convents etc were also built of permanent materials. There are approximately 10,000 medieval churches in Britain.

The arcane knowledge of building would have been passed among Masons, carried perhaps from the Roman builders via perhaps the Comacines who could have preserved the knowledge during the European Dark Ages after c500AD .

Similar building problems would have been common wherever building occured, the Mayas and Incas of South America , the Egyptians, Greeks, Phoenicians of Europe and the Mediterranean, and similar solutions would have been discovered , not by a line of descent but by the human mind faced with the same problem in different parts of the world.

I don't believe that there would have been anything at all similar to the Speculative Craft with which we are familiar nowadays during these far off ancient times. In those days it was a very practical trade careful to preserve its specialised knowledge of building practice from those who were not properly qualified. It had strong religious overtones because that was the climate and mores of the time

_________________
Keith Walker
Kaimanawa 426
Waikato Lodge of Research 445

I have been thinking for some time about what books I would recommend to a new Freemason; and I suspect its not very different from thinking about what books I would recommend for a person who is not a Freemason but who is interested in the Craft.

For a new Freemason my lodge either presents or lends the book 'Questions and Answers" by R Hepburn (Masters and Past Masters Lodge No 130; my copy is 2nd ed. 1983.

I also read fairly early on at least parts of "Freemasons' Guide and Compendium" by Bernard E Jones - a fairly standard reference work.

I have a copy of the book by Jasper Ridley, and I agree that it is very dry. It is however better than a book "Secrets of the Lodge" by "Tubal Cain" - a modern 'expose' with some fanciful theories of the origins of Freemasonry including Atlantis and the Knights Templar. This seemed to me to be a quick book for money rather than a serious attempt to put forward the origins of Freemasonry.

I have read quite a few of the more 'popular' speculative books; I think it good to read more than one, as they do conflict with each other in their theories - one learns to take each new theory with more than a little pinch of salt!

A good reference is also 'The History of English Freemasnry" by John Hamill (5 CD collection with illustrated book.

Lux, if you wish to read more about Freemasonry and its origins then I do recommend that you make yourself known to someone at a Masonic Lodge (the Grand Secretary can put you in contact through this site), as most centres have at least a small library that you may be able to access - many books about Freemasonry are either now out of print or are not often stocked in New Zealand.

Best wishes for your reading!

I would suggest there is little doubt about it being a result of the Renaissance, Keith.

One of the reasons I doubt any formal links between operative and speculative masonry is that the development of philosophy has tended to be associated with people who have had some leisure time available to them. Operative masons from the middle ages (not middle earth you will note!!) may have been an elite amongst craftsmen and artisans but they still had to work long and arduous hours merely to survive - and that with a much shorter life expectancy than we now enjoy. There would have been little time to devote to philosophy.

The Renaissance was a start to that process - but, again, only for those who were reasonably educated and had time to consider life philosophically. It is significant that in the 17th century many who were involved in the formative period of what we now consider to be Freemasonry were also involved in the formation of The Royal Society.

From that point of view I don't think there is anything fortuitous about the formal establishment of Speculative Masonry. I doubt, too, there is anything fortuitous about the selection of the titles, given the development of the allegorical and symbolic basis of teaching adopted by the first Grand Lodge.

Of course "speculative" may merely mean that we are free to speculate on matters of this nature

What is fascinating to me is that the organisation may have been founded as a way of breaking away from the formulaic strictures of the established churches but that it developed formulas as a way of promoting its philosophies.

_________________
Gary Kerkin
PG Lec (GLNZ)
PG Lec (SGRACNZ)
PM Waikato Lodge of Research No 445
PSR Three Arrows Research Conclave No 30

The more I go into the origins of Freemasonry, the more I suspect that it started as a philospohical movement in reaction to the Reformation and gained further traction during the build up of religious schism in England and Scotland which led to the Civil War. Basically, it boiled down to a conviction that good men could respect each other and work together for the good os society regardless of their personal religious preferences - this has always been the cornerstone of Freemasonry as far as we know and this attitude was at its most relevant during the period I have described. It would seem that this movement grafted itself on to the operative stonemasons craft at some point but how, and for what reason I am far from resolving. I am currently researching a paper on the Craft Guilds and possible Masonic connections - which are, quite frankly, very difficult if not impossible to prove.
Martin McGregor
Southern Cross 9
Research Lodge of Southland 415.

_________________
Martin I.McGregor
Secretary,Southern Cross Lodge No.9
Master, Research Lodge of Southland No.415
Past Grand Steward
Southland District Publicity Officer
Editor Southland Masonic Newsletter

Certainly some effort has been put into these last few dozen posts or so, thanks to the brethren who have been prepared to put down ideas for discussion, from those of us that read them

Fraternally - William

_________________
William Durning
Hamilton
Waikato - New Zealand

Lodge Hillcrest #363
Waikato Royal Arch #22

durning@xtra.co.nz

What to do...
_________________
Effective intellectual advertising at forums. Analogues are not present. e-mail: info@advv.ru, ICQ: 352734559

Having only recently entered the world of Freemasonary, I am still very unaware of its origins, and eager to learn more. I stumbled across this site and was excited to see a lengthy thread pertaining to the history of Freemasonary. I sat and read through the entire thread, hoping (somewhat optimistically!) to learn once and for all where it all began. However, after reading it all, despite feeling I am much better informed I'm none the wiser as to where it all began!

As suggested by one of the replies, I wil be sure to check our library at Ara Taimau lodge on St Benedicts Street in Auckland, and look forward to participating in a most fascinating debate! I read there are numerous books for me to read, so no suggestions needed at this stage!

Crowley reckoned that baphomet was merely one of the pillars of the christian church. He came to this conclusion by translating the name baphomet by means of gematria, which ultimately is supposed to spell out the name of one of the saints (Paul?), or at least have the same value of the name of one of the saints. Those whom have read about crowley will probably have read about this.

A previous poster commented on the templars not being into the liberal arts. Forgive me for my ignorance, Just what constitutes the liberal arts. I would of thought Gematria and thus the cabalah were under the umbrella of the hermetic arts and thus one area of liberal arts. According to crowley the templars would have had to have been into such things. This all relates to his theory regarding the true nature of what baphomet represented.

This seems to be on the wrong forum entirely!

_________________
Keith Walker
Kaimanawa 426
Waikato Lodge of Research 445

Here's my two bobs worth.

Firstly, let us accept that the statement "nothing is known of Freemasonry prior to 1717" was a political statement attempting to divorce FM from those kilted heathens north of the border. In fact in 1717 there were still two Scottish Jacobite noblemen in the Tower of London awaiting the punishment of hanging, drawing and quartering.

Freemasonry was a child of the Enlightenment (some argue the reverse). This did not occur in an instant and a man could still face severe censure for arguing rational science over biblical myth. Like minded men needed a forum that a) was established and appeared harmless, and b) had an existing structure of secrecy that would protect them from the religious authorities. Schaws statutes of 1598 and 1599 shows that Scots masons lodges fitted the bill perfectly.

This also provides a logical explanation of why non-masons of education joined masons lodges north of the border with the idea spreading south.

By the late 1600's the Church in England realised it was losing the battle against science and with the royal support enjoyed by the Royal Society, it could do nothing about it. However, it was in the FM lodges that the debates on morality and ethics were taking place. This was originally the domain of the Church and the clergy and many religions still despise us for what they see as poaching on their territory.

_________________
Jeff Allan, P.G.Lec
Librarian, Hawkes Bay Research Lodge No305
Secretary, The Heretaunga Lodge No73