Dan Brown, author of The Lost Symbol, has "enormous respect" for the Craft...
"I have enormous respect for the Masons," Brown told The Associated Press during a recent interview. "In the most fundamental terms, with different cultures killing each other over whose version of God is correct, here is a worldwide organization that essentially says, `We don't care what you call God, or what you think about God, only that you believe in a god and let's all stand together as brothers and look in the same direction.'
"I think there will be an enormous number of people who will be interested in the Masons after this book (comes out)," Brown said.
Friday, 25 September 2009
Freemasonry in Court
This from the Belfast Telegraph...
The internal workings of one of the most secretive institutions in Ireland, the Masonic Order, may be publicly exposed after a writ was issued in the High Court in Belfast against a provincial grand master and the general secretary in Dublin.
News of the unprecedented legal action comes as The Lost Symbol, the new novel by Dan Brown about the pursuit of “ancient mysteries” hidden in Washington DC by the Freemasons, hit the shelves and sold millions in its first week of publication.
The legal proceedings by father and son Stewart and Brian Hood has rocked the arcane world of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Ireland.
Neither party would discuss the issues behind the High Court action but sources within the Masonic say it relates to serious disagreements and disciplinary actions within the Antrim provincial lodge that arose more than two years ago.
A writ naming Barry Lyons, the grand secretary of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in Ireland, whose headquarters is in Molesworth Street in Dublin, is expected to be served in the coming days.
Mr Lyons is named in the writ lodged in the High Court in Belfast on September 10, which afforded the order 21 days to have an appearance entered on behalf of the Grand Lodge.
In February 2007, the Antrim provincial lodge was rocked after secretly taped recordings of meetings held in its Rosemary Street Hall in Belfast were sent in the post to members of the lodge. The PSNI was asked to investigate the incident but detectives told the Masons that they were unable to establish that a criminal offence had been committed.
Since then there have been attempts to resolve the issues that have caused friction within the Antrim Masons, which is thought to have around 7,000 members.
Within the Masons, the official line has been that the dispute was resolved through Grand Lodge-directed mediation, but the High Court writ issued 10 days ago by the Hoods against John Dunlop, the provincial grand master of Antrim and the general secretary of the Masons in Ireland, has stunned the membership.
Businessman Brian Hood declined to discuss any details of the action, but did say: “I can confirm that my father and I have laid the writ. We are happy to be Freemasons but are appalled at the conduct of the management of the provincial lodge of Antrim.
“It is our intention to have a court hearing. If we cannot get a fair hearing and justice within the Masonic Order, then we have to seek justice elsewhere and take steps to have injustice addressed.”
In a quarterly communication in June 2007, posted on its website, the Grand Lodge of Ireland included a minute referring to the dispute in Antrim.
“The assistant grand master reported on the findings of the sub-committee chaired by himself, set up to consider complaints between Brethren in Antrim and Senior Provincial Grand Lodge Officers in Antrim,” it said.
In June of last year, the Grand Lodge website assured members that the dispute in the Antrim Lodge had been resolved.
When asked last week whether the Antrim provincial grand master and the general secretary would defend the writ, a member of staff at the Masons Rosemary Street office in Belfast would only say: “We are not making any comment at the moment.”
The internal workings of one of the most secretive institutions in Ireland, the Masonic Order, may be publicly exposed after a writ was issued in the High Court in Belfast against a provincial grand master and the general secretary in Dublin.
News of the unprecedented legal action comes as The Lost Symbol, the new novel by Dan Brown about the pursuit of “ancient mysteries” hidden in Washington DC by the Freemasons, hit the shelves and sold millions in its first week of publication.
The legal proceedings by father and son Stewart and Brian Hood has rocked the arcane world of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Ireland.
Neither party would discuss the issues behind the High Court action but sources within the Masonic say it relates to serious disagreements and disciplinary actions within the Antrim provincial lodge that arose more than two years ago.
A writ naming Barry Lyons, the grand secretary of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in Ireland, whose headquarters is in Molesworth Street in Dublin, is expected to be served in the coming days.
Mr Lyons is named in the writ lodged in the High Court in Belfast on September 10, which afforded the order 21 days to have an appearance entered on behalf of the Grand Lodge.
In February 2007, the Antrim provincial lodge was rocked after secretly taped recordings of meetings held in its Rosemary Street Hall in Belfast were sent in the post to members of the lodge. The PSNI was asked to investigate the incident but detectives told the Masons that they were unable to establish that a criminal offence had been committed.
Since then there have been attempts to resolve the issues that have caused friction within the Antrim Masons, which is thought to have around 7,000 members.
Within the Masons, the official line has been that the dispute was resolved through Grand Lodge-directed mediation, but the High Court writ issued 10 days ago by the Hoods against John Dunlop, the provincial grand master of Antrim and the general secretary of the Masons in Ireland, has stunned the membership.
Businessman Brian Hood declined to discuss any details of the action, but did say: “I can confirm that my father and I have laid the writ. We are happy to be Freemasons but are appalled at the conduct of the management of the provincial lodge of Antrim.
“It is our intention to have a court hearing. If we cannot get a fair hearing and justice within the Masonic Order, then we have to seek justice elsewhere and take steps to have injustice addressed.”
In a quarterly communication in June 2007, posted on its website, the Grand Lodge of Ireland included a minute referring to the dispute in Antrim.
“The assistant grand master reported on the findings of the sub-committee chaired by himself, set up to consider complaints between Brethren in Antrim and Senior Provincial Grand Lodge Officers in Antrim,” it said.
In June of last year, the Grand Lodge website assured members that the dispute in the Antrim Lodge had been resolved.
When asked last week whether the Antrim provincial grand master and the general secretary would defend the writ, a member of staff at the Masons Rosemary Street office in Belfast would only say: “We are not making any comment at the moment.”
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Robert Burns' Royal Arch apron for sale
Poet Robert Burns' masonic apron that he received when he joined the Royal Arch Chapter in 1787 is to be sold - and could fetch an astonishing 25,000 pounds.
The lamb skin apron is exceptionally rare in itself, but its association with the great Scots poet makes it hugely valuable.
Burns became a mason in 1781 and was appointed Companion of the Holy Royal Arch at St Ebbe's Lodge, Eyemouth, Scotland six years later.
He was allowed in for free to this particular order of fremasonry because of his poetic genius and an extract from the minutes of the chapter, Land O' Cakes N0. 15, states:
"At a general encampment held this day the following brethren were made Royal Arch Masons, viz Robert Burns from the Lodge of St James, Tarbolton, Ayrshire..."
The apron is decorated with masonic symbols including two columns, a chequered pavement, square and compass, three candles, a sun and a moon.
It is framed in a wooden case and an inscription reads: "Robert Burns. Masonic Apron. 1787."
Current owner Michael Bennett-Levy recalls the apron hanging in his grandmother's flat but now it could be snapped up by collectors anywhere around the world.
He said: "Throughout my life the apron hung in my grandmother's flat and, after her death, in my parent’s home.
"When I inherited it some years ago I did some research, but could not associate it with any of the Scottish lodges to which Robert Burns belonged.
"I did nothing further until February this year when I decided to have it X-rayed.
"The X-ray photos showed clearly the top of an archway under the apron flap and a London Freemason instantly identified it as an 18th century Royal Arch apron."
Jon Baddeley, from Bonhams, who is selling it, said: "Bonhams is delighted to be offering this rare masonic artefact once owned by the Scottish cultural icon, Robert Burns.
"It has remained in the same family since the 1830s and has been to Australia with the family and returned to Britain in the early 1900s.
"It is a very rare piece of masonic memorabilia in its own right, but its association with Burns makes it more important.
"Having been consigned from north of the border, I am confident it will returning to Scotland again after the auction."
Th apron has been passed down the generations of Bennett-Levy's family and has long been a treasured heirloom.
Initially the apron belonged to Michael's great, great grandfather Sir Benjamin Benjamin (Mayor of Melbourne and Senior Mason).
He later passed it on to his son-in law Bernhard Sinauer, who had the valuable piece framed whilst living in Brisbane, Australia.
The item was then repatriated to England following the Australian Masonic schism of the early 1900s and passed down to Bennett-Levy’s grandfather Esmond Sinauer, his daughter Valerie and then finally Bennett-Levy himself.
Burns first joined the Freemasons when he was inducted as an Apprentice at the St David Lodge, Tarbolton, in 1781.
By 1784 he was Deputy Master and, on moving to Edinburgh in 1786, joined the St John, then Cannongate Lodges, Kilwinny.
Two other aprons have been identified as belonging to Burns, but neither was a Royal Arch apron.
The sale takes place on September 30.
The lamb skin apron is exceptionally rare in itself, but its association with the great Scots poet makes it hugely valuable.
Burns became a mason in 1781 and was appointed Companion of the Holy Royal Arch at St Ebbe's Lodge, Eyemouth, Scotland six years later.
He was allowed in for free to this particular order of fremasonry because of his poetic genius and an extract from the minutes of the chapter, Land O' Cakes N0. 15, states:
"At a general encampment held this day the following brethren were made Royal Arch Masons, viz Robert Burns from the Lodge of St James, Tarbolton, Ayrshire..."
The apron is decorated with masonic symbols including two columns, a chequered pavement, square and compass, three candles, a sun and a moon.
It is framed in a wooden case and an inscription reads: "Robert Burns. Masonic Apron. 1787."
Current owner Michael Bennett-Levy recalls the apron hanging in his grandmother's flat but now it could be snapped up by collectors anywhere around the world.
He said: "Throughout my life the apron hung in my grandmother's flat and, after her death, in my parent’s home.
"When I inherited it some years ago I did some research, but could not associate it with any of the Scottish lodges to which Robert Burns belonged.
"I did nothing further until February this year when I decided to have it X-rayed.
"The X-ray photos showed clearly the top of an archway under the apron flap and a London Freemason instantly identified it as an 18th century Royal Arch apron."
Jon Baddeley, from Bonhams, who is selling it, said: "Bonhams is delighted to be offering this rare masonic artefact once owned by the Scottish cultural icon, Robert Burns.
"It has remained in the same family since the 1830s and has been to Australia with the family and returned to Britain in the early 1900s.
"It is a very rare piece of masonic memorabilia in its own right, but its association with Burns makes it more important.
"Having been consigned from north of the border, I am confident it will returning to Scotland again after the auction."
Th apron has been passed down the generations of Bennett-Levy's family and has long been a treasured heirloom.
Initially the apron belonged to Michael's great, great grandfather Sir Benjamin Benjamin (Mayor of Melbourne and Senior Mason).
He later passed it on to his son-in law Bernhard Sinauer, who had the valuable piece framed whilst living in Brisbane, Australia.
The item was then repatriated to England following the Australian Masonic schism of the early 1900s and passed down to Bennett-Levy’s grandfather Esmond Sinauer, his daughter Valerie and then finally Bennett-Levy himself.
Burns first joined the Freemasons when he was inducted as an Apprentice at the St David Lodge, Tarbolton, in 1781.
By 1784 he was Deputy Master and, on moving to Edinburgh in 1786, joined the St John, then Cannongate Lodges, Kilwinny.
Two other aprons have been identified as belonging to Burns, but neither was a Royal Arch apron.
The sale takes place on September 30.
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
National Geographic
The National Geographic has a story prompted by Dan Brown's new book The Lost Symbol.
It is entitled "8 Myths Decoded".
It begins...
Novelist Dan Brown's new book, The Lost Symbol, is doing for the Freemasons what its predecessor, The Da Vinci Code, did for the Catholic Church's Opus Dei—showering new fame, and new fictions, on a brotherhood that's already catnip for conspiracy theorists.
Since long before The Lost Symbol, Freemasons have been accused of everything from conspiring with extraterrestrials to practicing sexual deviancy to engaging in occult rituals to running the world—or trying to end it. Detractors include global conspiracy theorists and religious organizations, including the Catholic Church.
Released today, The Lost Symbol isn't likely to squelch any rumors, beginning as it does with a wine-filled skull, bejeweled power brokers, and a dark Masonic temple steps away from the White House.
But what if Freemasons—the world's largest international secret society—are just a bunch of guys into socializing, non-satanic rituals, self-improvement, and community service?
To separate Freemason fact from Lost Symbol-style myth, National Geographic News went inside the centuries-old order with two Masons and a historian of the ancient Christian order from which some claim the Masons sprang in the 17th or 18th century.
It is entitled "8 Myths Decoded".
It begins...
Novelist Dan Brown's new book, The Lost Symbol, is doing for the Freemasons what its predecessor, The Da Vinci Code, did for the Catholic Church's Opus Dei—showering new fame, and new fictions, on a brotherhood that's already catnip for conspiracy theorists.
Since long before The Lost Symbol, Freemasons have been accused of everything from conspiring with extraterrestrials to practicing sexual deviancy to engaging in occult rituals to running the world—or trying to end it. Detractors include global conspiracy theorists and religious organizations, including the Catholic Church.
Released today, The Lost Symbol isn't likely to squelch any rumors, beginning as it does with a wine-filled skull, bejeweled power brokers, and a dark Masonic temple steps away from the White House.
But what if Freemasons—the world's largest international secret society—are just a bunch of guys into socializing, non-satanic rituals, self-improvement, and community service?
To separate Freemason fact from Lost Symbol-style myth, National Geographic News went inside the centuries-old order with two Masons and a historian of the ancient Christian order from which some claim the Masons sprang in the 17th or 18th century.
Monday, 14 September 2009
The Lost Symbol
Author Dan Brown's new book, The Lost Symbol, is launched tomorrow and according to the article below it "skewers" Freemasonry as his previous blockbuster The Da Vinci Code skewered the Catholic Church.
It mixes fact and fiction in just the right ratio, I would imagine, to cause maximum reaction from those in the Craft and those without.
The following is from UK's left-leaning newspaper the Guardian.
Washington DC is used to hordes of eager tourists, brandishing guidebooks and rushing around the sights, but it is bracing itself for a different influx this week – and a potentially hostile one.
From Tuesday, when Dan Brown unveils the long-awaited sequel to his blockbuster novel The Da Vinci Code, fans are expected to descend on the US capital to gawk at the locations featured in it. They swarmed to places in Britain, France and Italy mentioned in Brown's previous works. The new book, The Lost Symbol, is set largely in Washington and will give the reader a picturesque tour of the seats of American power. But it is also expected to reveal a more mysterious side to the city by exposing the influence that freemasonry exerted not only on the design of Washington DC but on the founding fathers .
Brown skewered the Roman Catholic Church in The Da Vinci Code. He is now likely to do something similar with the freemasons. The plot of The Lost Symbol is under wraps until Tuesday. But after that readers can follow his protagonist, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, as he tears about the capital rattling the skeletons of the establishment.
The book will mix fact and fiction, of course. But it is true that some of the founding fathers who signed the Declaration of Independence, such as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, and at least a dozen presidents including Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Gerald Ford, were powerful masons.
"George Washington was the biggest mason of them all. He laid the cornerstone of the Capitol Building in a masonic ceremony wearing an apron. And President James Polk, also a mason, presided over the ritualistic laying of the cornerstone of the Washington Monument. The city and leaders were influenced by the principles of freemasonry," said David Shugarts, whose book Secrets of the Widow's Son predicted Brown would target Washington and freemasonry. Many experts even believe that masonic symbols such as the square and compass, the five-pointed star and the triangle can be discerned in the very layout of the city's streets.
"Dan Brown is going to open the eyes of many to just how authoritative the masons were here," said Warren Getler, an author and consultant on freemasonry. He is already devising a visitor tour of "masonic Washington" to be launched after he has digested The Lost Symbol.
The theory goes that if you draw a line along the avenues connecting the White House with four key road intersections it traces a five-pointed star or pentagram. Similarly, a square and compass and triangle shapes can be traced along streets that centre on the Capitol.
Getler's tour will explain that and also visit the extraordinary Temple of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. It sits directly in line with the White House and is odds-on to feature in The Lost Symbol. The forbidding Temple is guarded by two male sphinxes and supported by 33 columns, a significant number in freemasonry. Despite appearing intimidating, the Temple runs tours. Freemasons in the US are usually more open than their British counterparts, and are not, unlike the British, perenially accused of influencing the judiciary, police, civil service or academia. The 1.5 million members of America's 2,000 lodges are, however, routinely accused of occultism and Satanism, which they vigorously deny.
For good or ill, Heather Calloway, director of special programmes at the Temple, says only that she expects visitor numbers to "skyrocket".
The precise origin of freemasonry in Britain is unclear but is believed to date back to medieval craft guilds, which formed into lodges in the early 18th century. Their traditions migrated to the US, where freemasonry flourished by promoting interfaith religious freedom and the separation of church and state.
Meanwhile the obscure but contentious Albert Pike will surely figure in The Lost Symbol. His eerie statue stands in Judiciary Square, accompanied by a weeping virgin holding a masonic banner with the number 33 inside a triangle. Pike wasn't just a powerful mason but a Confederate general, accused of leading the Ku Klux Klan and assassinating Abraham Lincoln. He is interred at the Temple of the Scottish Rite.
A stone's throw away, the Capitol stars on the cover of The Lost Symbol. Above the Capitol the cover depicts the looming seal of the Scottish Rite, superimposed on a zodiac. Masonic control over a Congress by leaders suspiciously influenced by astrology? Dan Brown fans have less than two days to wait.
Inside, the rotunda of the Capitol is painted with a mural of George Washington ascending to heaven. An empty crypt marked with a star lies beneath.
Just across the Potomac, the George Washington National Masonic Memorial towers over Alexandria, Virginia. Inside is a statue of Washington in his masonic apron and sash. "We have a rich, introspective, mystical tradition. I think it [The Lost Symbol] is going to bring an influx of interest and new members," said guide Michael Seay, 23. He added, on the subject of the city being laid out on a masonic grid: "It's rubbish," then politely declined to demonstrate the secret handshake.
The memorial's director of collections Mark Tabbert is more concerned. "I'm worried that Dan Brown is going to make millions and I'm going to be left with thousands of unthinking tourists only interested in intrigue," he sighed.
Many don't appreciate freemasonry's philanthropy and egalitarianism, Tabbert said. And he concluded glumly: "Dan Brown's made his pile, he has no need to roast the masons."
Most suspect he will not be deterred.
It mixes fact and fiction in just the right ratio, I would imagine, to cause maximum reaction from those in the Craft and those without.
The following is from UK's left-leaning newspaper the Guardian.
Washington DC is used to hordes of eager tourists, brandishing guidebooks and rushing around the sights, but it is bracing itself for a different influx this week – and a potentially hostile one.
From Tuesday, when Dan Brown unveils the long-awaited sequel to his blockbuster novel The Da Vinci Code, fans are expected to descend on the US capital to gawk at the locations featured in it. They swarmed to places in Britain, France and Italy mentioned in Brown's previous works. The new book, The Lost Symbol, is set largely in Washington and will give the reader a picturesque tour of the seats of American power. But it is also expected to reveal a more mysterious side to the city by exposing the influence that freemasonry exerted not only on the design of Washington DC but on the founding fathers .
Brown skewered the Roman Catholic Church in The Da Vinci Code. He is now likely to do something similar with the freemasons. The plot of The Lost Symbol is under wraps until Tuesday. But after that readers can follow his protagonist, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, as he tears about the capital rattling the skeletons of the establishment.
The book will mix fact and fiction, of course. But it is true that some of the founding fathers who signed the Declaration of Independence, such as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, and at least a dozen presidents including Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Gerald Ford, were powerful masons.
"George Washington was the biggest mason of them all. He laid the cornerstone of the Capitol Building in a masonic ceremony wearing an apron. And President James Polk, also a mason, presided over the ritualistic laying of the cornerstone of the Washington Monument. The city and leaders were influenced by the principles of freemasonry," said David Shugarts, whose book Secrets of the Widow's Son predicted Brown would target Washington and freemasonry. Many experts even believe that masonic symbols such as the square and compass, the five-pointed star and the triangle can be discerned in the very layout of the city's streets.
"Dan Brown is going to open the eyes of many to just how authoritative the masons were here," said Warren Getler, an author and consultant on freemasonry. He is already devising a visitor tour of "masonic Washington" to be launched after he has digested The Lost Symbol.
The theory goes that if you draw a line along the avenues connecting the White House with four key road intersections it traces a five-pointed star or pentagram. Similarly, a square and compass and triangle shapes can be traced along streets that centre on the Capitol.
Getler's tour will explain that and also visit the extraordinary Temple of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. It sits directly in line with the White House and is odds-on to feature in The Lost Symbol. The forbidding Temple is guarded by two male sphinxes and supported by 33 columns, a significant number in freemasonry. Despite appearing intimidating, the Temple runs tours. Freemasons in the US are usually more open than their British counterparts, and are not, unlike the British, perenially accused of influencing the judiciary, police, civil service or academia. The 1.5 million members of America's 2,000 lodges are, however, routinely accused of occultism and Satanism, which they vigorously deny.
For good or ill, Heather Calloway, director of special programmes at the Temple, says only that she expects visitor numbers to "skyrocket".
The precise origin of freemasonry in Britain is unclear but is believed to date back to medieval craft guilds, which formed into lodges in the early 18th century. Their traditions migrated to the US, where freemasonry flourished by promoting interfaith religious freedom and the separation of church and state.
Meanwhile the obscure but contentious Albert Pike will surely figure in The Lost Symbol. His eerie statue stands in Judiciary Square, accompanied by a weeping virgin holding a masonic banner with the number 33 inside a triangle. Pike wasn't just a powerful mason but a Confederate general, accused of leading the Ku Klux Klan and assassinating Abraham Lincoln. He is interred at the Temple of the Scottish Rite.
A stone's throw away, the Capitol stars on the cover of The Lost Symbol. Above the Capitol the cover depicts the looming seal of the Scottish Rite, superimposed on a zodiac. Masonic control over a Congress by leaders suspiciously influenced by astrology? Dan Brown fans have less than two days to wait.
Inside, the rotunda of the Capitol is painted with a mural of George Washington ascending to heaven. An empty crypt marked with a star lies beneath.
Just across the Potomac, the George Washington National Masonic Memorial towers over Alexandria, Virginia. Inside is a statue of Washington in his masonic apron and sash. "We have a rich, introspective, mystical tradition. I think it [The Lost Symbol] is going to bring an influx of interest and new members," said guide Michael Seay, 23. He added, on the subject of the city being laid out on a masonic grid: "It's rubbish," then politely declined to demonstrate the secret handshake.
The memorial's director of collections Mark Tabbert is more concerned. "I'm worried that Dan Brown is going to make millions and I'm going to be left with thousands of unthinking tourists only interested in intrigue," he sighed.
Many don't appreciate freemasonry's philanthropy and egalitarianism, Tabbert said. And he concluded glumly: "Dan Brown's made his pile, he has no need to roast the masons."
Most suspect he will not be deterred.
Friday, 11 September 2009
Gourd Basket
This peculiar gourd basket is possibly from the West Indies. Written upon it is the name of a masonic lodge, along with masonic emblems.
It is inscribed: "W. Crossman 1834 Born Dec 5th 1782"
Mellors and Kirk in Nottingham is selling it on September 24 where it is expected to make £150.
Monday, 7 September 2009
George Washington
This fellow is of course George Washington, pictured in his Masonic regalia.It is being sold by the Stair Galleries in Hudson, New York. It is unsigned and no date is given but it is oil on panel and described as "American School".
It is valued up to £3,666 and will be sold on September 11/12.
Saturday, 5 September 2009
A Mason's Wife Speaks
This is an account from the Eastern Daily Press and is titled "The Mysterious World of a Freemason's Wife"
Look here for the story, pictures and extra copy.
Freemasons have been shrouded in secrecy for centuries. The international network of many thousands of men, linked by strange handshakes and solemn vows, has intrigued, and sometimes incensed, outsiders.
And until now, even their own wives were often outsiders.But when Philippa Faulks' husband decided to become a mason, she wanted to know more.
“A lot of the wives I spoke to either had no idea what it was all about, or didn't want to know,” said Philippa, known as Pip.
Pip, of Bungay, very definitely did want to know. She was already fascinated by the history of magic and when her husband, Martin, began finding out more about freemasonry she became more and more interested.
“I was quite jealous really,” she admitted.Every time Martin returned home from a meeting she quizzed him about what he had seen and done, intrigued by the rituals, the costumes, the philosophy - and the myths and misconceptions.
Now she has written a book about freemasonry - aimed at other wives.
“It's for wives, partners, friends, family, potential freemasons…It's a very basic outline of what freemasonry involves,” said 40-year-old Pip, who has previously written books on meditation and magic.
Philippa with her book.
“I think it was the history that drew me in first,” she said. “Over the last century there was a heck of a lot of persecution of freemasons, which reached a peak with Hitler.
The majority of people don't know that Hitler hated freemasons as much as he hated Jews and gypsies.”
Then, as Martin progressed through the various stages of initiation she gleaned as much as she could of modern day masonry.
“I must admit, it was like 'go on, go on…' whenever he was talking about it!” she said.And Pip found she liked what she was learning.
“It's about teaching men to be better men,” she said. “It's not some kind of sinister gathering where they conspire to rule the world.
The truth is that they sometimes find it hard enough to run a meeting!”
Martin joined when he was only 25. Seven years on, he is still the youngest in both his Lodges (or groups of masons).
For him, freemasonry is very definitely a force for good.
“It's like boy scouts, but on steroids!” said Martin. “I first read about free-masonry as a teenager.
The idea of this secret society that had been instrumental in promoting, learning and science and freeing slaves…For me these secret, virtuous protectors of the universe were so cool, and they've even got a super-hero uniform!”
Martin now works for a masonic publisher but his colourful past includes being a schoolboy martial arts champion, an escapologist, hypnotist and a member of the Magic Circle.
Indeed, as a student of ninjitsu he can call himself a ninja.It is the ritual, history, training and brotherhood of freemasonry that fascinates him.
He believes the formal initiation ceremonies are, like many martial arts, another path towards self-improvement.
“For me they are so beautiful and inspiring,” he said. And he loves the shared experience of masonry, and finding out who else is involved.
“I will do a handshake, or quote a little bit of the ritual, but I find just asking 'Are you a freemason?' works well!” he said.
Masons, and there is a clue in the name, are thought to have started out as stone-masons.
Many of the rituals and symbols can be traced back to the medieval stonemasons who built our great churches and cathedrals.
As they travelled around Europe they developed a code to demonstrate their level of skill, protecting their craft with secret signs and passwords. Many of these were focused around the only building described in detail in the Bible - King Solomon's Temple.
That is the basis of the Temple used by freemasons today. And even today a mason must believe in a “supreme being” (although not necessarily the Christian or Jewish God) who is called the Supreme Architect.
The Norwich Temple is deep within a grand building on St Giles. The huge, ballroom-sized space is surrounded by wooden pews, looking on to a black and white chequerboard floor.
Right at the centre of the high panelled ceiling is a big golden G - variously believed to represent God, or geometry, or even goodness.
Masonic symbols abound - the square and compass of the medieval stone mason, a block of rough stone and cube of highly polished marble, representations of ancient building tools.And during formal meetings the masons will be dressed in their regalia - aprons and collars, adorned with medal-like “jewels”.
“I got a lot of 'Why will you put on an apron for them but not put on an apron at home?'” said Martin.
Alongside the heritage from the Old Testament and medieval masons, is a theory that freemasons had to become even more secretive because they believed in religious and political tolerance, and equality (at least of all men).
Even today, formal meetings are still guarded by a ceremonial look-out, plus a man at the door with a sword and another outside with a dagger.
There are thrones for the chief masons representing the sun and the moon and it is here that the ceremonies are carried out - ritual dramas which new masons must learn and re-enact.
In the first, the man is blindfolded and has a noose placed around his neck and is taught never to reveal the secrets of masonry.
“They make you question what you are doing in the world, and make you want to do your best, and there are parts of the ritual which do take some guts to get through,” said Martin.
And while some of the ritual is still kept secret - parts have entered into common parlance. Giving someone “the third degree” refers to the third initiation ritual, which deals with the inevitability of death.
And masons vote on admitting a new member using glass balls like marbles. Each mason puts a marble in a box, with a black ball a “no” vote.
The sense of mystery and strangeness is intensified by the use of old paintings or “tracing boards” in the ceremonies.
As Alan Fairchild, information officer for the Provincial Grand Lodge of Norfolk, dragged a selection from a storeroom, the Norwich temple filled with pictures of skulls and skeletons, stylised trees, figures with swords and arrows and hour-glasses, huge eyes, broken buildings and the tools of stonemasonry.
They are two centuries, or more, old but have strangely futuristic dates because freemasonry counts its years from King Solomon's time.
One reads AD5811, amongst the semi-erased symbols and skeletons.It's all very Dan Brown, So has the mass of interest in Dan Brown generated more curiosity about freemasonry?
“Very much so,” said Pip. “I think it has opened up a new wave of interest that has generated both positive and negative feelings towards the craft. It has made it seem more mystical to some, which again has had a double edged effect. One great thing about writing The Handbook for the Freemason's Wife, was being able to dispel the majority of ridiculous and often downright damaging myths that have surrounded Freemasonry for so long.”
As she researched freemasonry, and watched her husband being drawn into its ancient embrace, Pip fell for its combination of mystery and brotherhood.
“I love freemasonry! I believe it is a powerful force for good in a society that has really lost its way,” she said.
And she admitted: “I often wished I could do it too.”She has considered joining one of the break-away European lodges which welcome women members and has written another book about the self-styled masonic magician who helped found them.
But she does not resent being excluded from the English masonry. “It doesn't really bother me as the whole system of freemasonry per se is geared up towards making men better men,” she said.
Philippa Faulks wrote A Handbook for the Freemason's Wife with fellow freemason's wife Cheryl Skidmore. It includes explanations of the words and symbols used by masons plus information on the ceremonies, aims, roles, history and charitable work of freemasons. It is available locally from Waterstones and from publisher Lewis Masonic at www.lewismasonic.com
Look here for the story, pictures and extra copy.
Freemasons have been shrouded in secrecy for centuries. The international network of many thousands of men, linked by strange handshakes and solemn vows, has intrigued, and sometimes incensed, outsiders.
And until now, even their own wives were often outsiders.But when Philippa Faulks' husband decided to become a mason, she wanted to know more.
“A lot of the wives I spoke to either had no idea what it was all about, or didn't want to know,” said Philippa, known as Pip.
Pip, of Bungay, very definitely did want to know. She was already fascinated by the history of magic and when her husband, Martin, began finding out more about freemasonry she became more and more interested.
“I was quite jealous really,” she admitted.Every time Martin returned home from a meeting she quizzed him about what he had seen and done, intrigued by the rituals, the costumes, the philosophy - and the myths and misconceptions.
Now she has written a book about freemasonry - aimed at other wives.
“It's for wives, partners, friends, family, potential freemasons…It's a very basic outline of what freemasonry involves,” said 40-year-old Pip, who has previously written books on meditation and magic.
Philippa with her book.
“I think it was the history that drew me in first,” she said. “Over the last century there was a heck of a lot of persecution of freemasons, which reached a peak with Hitler.
The majority of people don't know that Hitler hated freemasons as much as he hated Jews and gypsies.”
Then, as Martin progressed through the various stages of initiation she gleaned as much as she could of modern day masonry.
“I must admit, it was like 'go on, go on…' whenever he was talking about it!” she said.And Pip found she liked what she was learning.
“It's about teaching men to be better men,” she said. “It's not some kind of sinister gathering where they conspire to rule the world.
The truth is that they sometimes find it hard enough to run a meeting!”
Martin joined when he was only 25. Seven years on, he is still the youngest in both his Lodges (or groups of masons).
For him, freemasonry is very definitely a force for good.
“It's like boy scouts, but on steroids!” said Martin. “I first read about free-masonry as a teenager.
The idea of this secret society that had been instrumental in promoting, learning and science and freeing slaves…For me these secret, virtuous protectors of the universe were so cool, and they've even got a super-hero uniform!”
Martin now works for a masonic publisher but his colourful past includes being a schoolboy martial arts champion, an escapologist, hypnotist and a member of the Magic Circle.
Indeed, as a student of ninjitsu he can call himself a ninja.It is the ritual, history, training and brotherhood of freemasonry that fascinates him.
He believes the formal initiation ceremonies are, like many martial arts, another path towards self-improvement.
“For me they are so beautiful and inspiring,” he said. And he loves the shared experience of masonry, and finding out who else is involved.
“I will do a handshake, or quote a little bit of the ritual, but I find just asking 'Are you a freemason?' works well!” he said.
Masons, and there is a clue in the name, are thought to have started out as stone-masons.
Many of the rituals and symbols can be traced back to the medieval stonemasons who built our great churches and cathedrals.
As they travelled around Europe they developed a code to demonstrate their level of skill, protecting their craft with secret signs and passwords. Many of these were focused around the only building described in detail in the Bible - King Solomon's Temple.
That is the basis of the Temple used by freemasons today. And even today a mason must believe in a “supreme being” (although not necessarily the Christian or Jewish God) who is called the Supreme Architect.
The Norwich Temple is deep within a grand building on St Giles. The huge, ballroom-sized space is surrounded by wooden pews, looking on to a black and white chequerboard floor.
Right at the centre of the high panelled ceiling is a big golden G - variously believed to represent God, or geometry, or even goodness.
Masonic symbols abound - the square and compass of the medieval stone mason, a block of rough stone and cube of highly polished marble, representations of ancient building tools.And during formal meetings the masons will be dressed in their regalia - aprons and collars, adorned with medal-like “jewels”.
“I got a lot of 'Why will you put on an apron for them but not put on an apron at home?'” said Martin.
Alongside the heritage from the Old Testament and medieval masons, is a theory that freemasons had to become even more secretive because they believed in religious and political tolerance, and equality (at least of all men).
Even today, formal meetings are still guarded by a ceremonial look-out, plus a man at the door with a sword and another outside with a dagger.
There are thrones for the chief masons representing the sun and the moon and it is here that the ceremonies are carried out - ritual dramas which new masons must learn and re-enact.
In the first, the man is blindfolded and has a noose placed around his neck and is taught never to reveal the secrets of masonry.
“They make you question what you are doing in the world, and make you want to do your best, and there are parts of the ritual which do take some guts to get through,” said Martin.
And while some of the ritual is still kept secret - parts have entered into common parlance. Giving someone “the third degree” refers to the third initiation ritual, which deals with the inevitability of death.
And masons vote on admitting a new member using glass balls like marbles. Each mason puts a marble in a box, with a black ball a “no” vote.
The sense of mystery and strangeness is intensified by the use of old paintings or “tracing boards” in the ceremonies.
As Alan Fairchild, information officer for the Provincial Grand Lodge of Norfolk, dragged a selection from a storeroom, the Norwich temple filled with pictures of skulls and skeletons, stylised trees, figures with swords and arrows and hour-glasses, huge eyes, broken buildings and the tools of stonemasonry.
They are two centuries, or more, old but have strangely futuristic dates because freemasonry counts its years from King Solomon's time.
One reads AD5811, amongst the semi-erased symbols and skeletons.It's all very Dan Brown, So has the mass of interest in Dan Brown generated more curiosity about freemasonry?
“Very much so,” said Pip. “I think it has opened up a new wave of interest that has generated both positive and negative feelings towards the craft. It has made it seem more mystical to some, which again has had a double edged effect. One great thing about writing The Handbook for the Freemason's Wife, was being able to dispel the majority of ridiculous and often downright damaging myths that have surrounded Freemasonry for so long.”
As she researched freemasonry, and watched her husband being drawn into its ancient embrace, Pip fell for its combination of mystery and brotherhood.
“I love freemasonry! I believe it is a powerful force for good in a society that has really lost its way,” she said.
And she admitted: “I often wished I could do it too.”She has considered joining one of the break-away European lodges which welcome women members and has written another book about the self-styled masonic magician who helped found them.
But she does not resent being excluded from the English masonry. “It doesn't really bother me as the whole system of freemasonry per se is geared up towards making men better men,” she said.
Philippa Faulks wrote A Handbook for the Freemason's Wife with fellow freemason's wife Cheryl Skidmore. It includes explanations of the words and symbols used by masons plus information on the ceremonies, aims, roles, history and charitable work of freemasons. It is available locally from Waterstones and from publisher Lewis Masonic at www.lewismasonic.com
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