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.
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