Aldo Reno, Author at - Page 5 of 11

The Mason Lodge – by Wolfgang Goethe

Our Brother Johann Wolfgang Goethe was born in Frankfurt-on-Maine, Germany, on August 29, 1749. He joined Amalia Lodge in March of 1780. Goethe is considered to be the greatest of German poets. Here is his beautiful poem about the Mason‘s immortality, his journey through life and his freedom to choose a good life.

The Mason’s ways are

A type of Existance
And his persistance

Is as the days are
Of men in this world.

The future hides in it

Gladness and sorrow,
We press still thorow,

Naught that abides in it
Daunting us-onward.

And solemn before us

Veiled, the dark Portal,
Goal of all mortal;

Stars silent o’er us,
Graves under us silent.

While earnest thou gazest
Comes boding of terror,
Comes phantasm and error

Perplexes the bravest
With doubt and misgiving.

But heard are the Voices-
Heard are the Sages,
The Worlds and the Ages;

“Choose well; your choice is
“Brief and yet endless;

“Here eyes do regard you
“In Eternity’s stillness;
“Here is all fullness,

“Ye have, to reward you.
“Work, and dispair not.”

Rotary and Lions: two quasi masonic societies

Aside from Freemasonry and the Fraternal Orders like The Odd Fellows, there are Masonic-like societies all over the world that promote philanthropic causes. The Lions Club and The Rotary Club are two of the most well-known service organizations. Both were established in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. in the early 1900s and developed in Europe twenty years later. The Lions Club was founded in 1917 by Melvin Jones[1]; the Rotary in 1905 by a group of business managers. They were Gustav Loehr, a mining engineer, the coal shopkeeper S. Schiele, the tailor H. Shorey and Paul Percival Harrys, a lawyer. The group met in rotation in each other’s office or shop, hence the name Rotary.

The first Rotary Club in Italy was set up on 20th November 1923 at the Restaurant COVA in Milan, a city that would become the Nation’s economic capital. The founder, however, was not an Italian but Sir James Henderson, an Englishman and fascist sympathizer who was living in Italy at the time. In 1932, Henderson became the Managing Director of Coats [2] in 1932 and was regularly seen to dine with dictator Benito Mussolini [3]; we also know that Henderson had many business deals with the fascist party during the Duce’s reign of terror[4].

The Italian Rotary was an elitist and aristocratic organization that included prominent Italian businesspeople such as Motta, Pirelli and Borletti. After Milan, the Rotary Club expanded to Genoa, the Piedmont region, and then throughout the Italian peninsular. By then, the list of notable members had grown to include Giovanni Agnelli, Marzotto, Giovanni Treccani, Guglielmo Marconi and King, Vittorio Emanuele III, who served as an Honorary Member.

However, there is no need to retort to a nearly century-old controversy in order to show that a symbiosis between the Rotary, Lions and Freemasons existed in Italy. Suffice to say that it was none other than Giordano Gamberini [11], a former Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy [10] – who declared–on page 5 of the February 1981 issue of the Masonic periodical Hiram – that the two service Societies were Masonic Societies.

Indeed, the Lyons Club’s founder Melvin Jones was the Worshipful Master of Chicago’s Masonic Lodge “Garden City” N.141 of Chicago. Even He later became Lions’ General Secretary and Treasurer and the editor of the Club’s magazine.

The first Lions’ logo of 1918 even displayed the capital letter L (similar to the square symbol) and the Compasses, which are both of Masonic origin and interpretation. The major difference between Rotary, the Lions Clubs and Freemasonry is the lack of esoteric teaching; otherwise, they essentially are “Masonry without the apron” [12]

The Rotarian Lodge N. 415, whose twenty-nine founders were also members of a Rotary Club in London, received the patent in 1920 from the United Grand Lodge of England. The Lodge has survived the test of time and now meets at Freemasons Hall in Great Queen Street.

But under the guise of philanthropy, the Lions, the Rotary Clubs and other Societies like The Fabian whose history I invited you to read, hide a clear elitist and sometime even sinister agenda. Vilfredo Pareto [16], an Italian sociologist and philosopher, has previously warned that “a community is always governed by an elite, even when it appears to have a democratic constitution”.

Continue reading Rotary and Lions: two quasi masonic societies

THE ANTI-MASONRY PHENOMENON

Anti-Masonry is not a new phenomenon: it has been going on almost since Freemasonry began.

‘The first published attack on Freemasonry was in a leaflet distributed in London in 1698 accusing Masons of being “this devilish set of men”, based on religious grounds. On 7 July 1722 a letter was published in a London newspaper accusing Masons of being a pretentious and illegal association and calling them “a set of low gentry among our artificers, who lately make a great bluster among us”.

The following year 1723 saw the publication of a naughty poem THE FREE MASONS, which suggested that Masons were notoriously heavy drinkers and sexual libertines, with a sordid reputation as far as women were concerned. It ran to a second and third edition. The full poem can be read in Wallace McLeod’s book The Grand Design. When it was published again in 1944 by those well known Masonic scholars Knoop, Jones and Hamer they printed only 158 out of 366 lines, stating that ”’we have omitted portions displeasing to modern tastes”.

In 1738 the Pope issued a Bull or Decree and forbade all Catholics to join Freemasonry, accusing it of ”perverting the hearts of the simple” and working against the Catholic Church. Some years later there was the ‘Morgan Affair‘ in the USA when Masons were accused of murdering William Morgan, who had threatened to publish all their rituals after he had been refused permission to enter a lodge in New York. He disappeared and although some unscrupulous politicians and the media made the most of the story, it was pure speculation. This affair created much anti-Masonic feeling and even led to the formation of an Anti-Masonic Party, which had a presidential candidate. The upshot was that

Morgan was never found and nobody was charged with his murder. He simply disappeared. But the damage had been done, which resulted in the number of lodges falling from 480 to 82 in a three year period. Many lodges, particularly on the east coast, closed, never to open again and it took Freemasonry many years to recover from the scandal.

One of the worst periods of anti-Masonry in the 1800s was when a French pornographer, Leo Taxil, decided to turn against Masonry when his true

character was discovered after he had been initiated into a lodge in Paris and then expelled. He published several anti-Masonic books and was the darling of the Catholic Church until he revealed at a public meeting in Paris in April 1897 that it had all been a hoax and he had conned the Church into supporting him. He escaped from the meeting with help of the police, but was not worried, for by then he had made a fortune and he retired to the South of France where he died at the age of 57.

During the twentieth century Freemasonry came under attack in several countries, not least in Germany prior to and during World War II. Under the Nazi regime, Freemasonry was banned and its members hunted down, beaten, imprisoned and sometimes killed. Masonic Temples were sacked and destroyed, the Temple in Jersey being a prime example. Propaganda against Freemasons and its alleged connection with Judaism was rife. In 1925 Mussolini passed an anti-Masonic law in Italy; Masonry was suppressed in Portugal in 1931 and in Spain by Franco in 1941. Romania followed in 1948 and Hungary in 1950. Sukarno banned it in Indonesia in the 1960s and it was banned in Pakistan in 1972. The Ayatollah Khomeini took action against Freemasonry in Iran in 1979. And so it goes on.

What is clear is that the type of regime that prohibits Freemasonry is usually a dictatorship of some sort. However, Freemasonry has since recovered in some of the countries mentioned, but not all.

In the 1990s Freemasonry in the USA suffered from scurrilous attacks by a faction within the Southern Baptist Church. They tried time and time again to have church’s members barred from membership of the Craft. They failed but their endevours crossed the Atlantic when much of their anti-Masonic literature was published over here and taken up by different churches. Interestingly whilst I was writing my paper on anti-Masonry I was able to buy several anti-Masonic books from the Christian bookshop situated under the Masonic Hall in Wigan, which was owned and rented out by the Masons.

The Presbyterian Church of Ireland voted at the General Assembly in 1992 to “disapprove of involvement in Freemasonry on the part of its members”. The same church in Scotland had done the same thing earlier in 1979. The Methodist Church in England had a go in 1986 and in the same year the Church of England also had a go at us somewhat inconclusively.

The former Local Government Management Board issued advice to Local Authorities requiring applicants to declare if they were a Freemason or not. This was clear discrimination and it took several years to remove.

Chris Mullen MP famously tried to introduce a Register of Freemasons in the Police and Judiciary in 1998. This failed and he admitted eventually that he had only read one book on Freemasonry, the infamous Inside the Brotherhood , a book that frankly was so untrue as to be almost a joke.

Finally, some years ago Grand Lodge changed its policy towards anti-Masonry. Instead of being silent about attacks, now whenever somebody ‘has a go’ we respond vigorously and this has paid off and the image of Freemasonry is improving for the better day by day.

To end, I leave you with this thought: the surest guarantee of our freedom from criticism is the integrity of individual Freemasons themselves.

A 5 Minute Talk

Bro. Fred Lomax

DE MIDI À MINUIT – une poème Maçonnique

Dans un endroit couvert, connu le-gros-horloge-de-rouen-8d33c288-27c3-4ac4-9f76-0512a08bfbd5
des seuls maçons,
Est recrée un temps d’une autre dimension.

Moment privilégié du début des travaux,
Il permet à chacun d’oublier ses métaux,
D’un éclat maximum le soleil
resplendit,
Il est l’instant précis qui commence à midi.

À l’heure où l’ouvrier peut oeuvrer pleinement.

Mais pour avoir vécu activement ce temps,
Il doit de sa lumière en être le garant.
Ne pas rompre son lien ni sa
pérennité,
Une fois refermé ce brin d’éternìté
Il doit le transcender dans la
profonde nuit. Tout en le prolongeant de midi à minuit.

(Lina Chelli)

A Acácia para a Maçonaria

A Acácia: planta símbolo por excelência da Maçonaria; representa a segurança, a clareza, e também a inocência ou pureza. A Acácia foi tida na antiguidade, entre os hebreus, como árvore sagrada e daí sua conservação como símbolo maçônico. Os antigos costumavam simbolizar a virtude e outras qualidades da alma com diversas plantas. A Acácia é inicialmente um símbolo da verdadeira Iniciação para uma nova vida, a ressurreição para uma vida futura.

NA LENDA DE H.‘. A.‘.
Ao cair da noite, o conduziram para o Monte Mória, onde o enterraram numa sepultura que cavaram e assinalaram com um ramo de Acácia. Quando, extenuados, os exploradores enviados pelo Rei Salomão chegaram ao ponto de encontro, seus semblantes desencorajados só expressaram a inutilidade de seus esforços. … Caindo literalmente de fadiga, (um)… Mestre tentava agarrar-se a um ramo de Acácia. Ora, para sua grande surpresa, o ramo soltou-se em sua mão, pois havia sido enterrado numa terra há pouco removida. Esse “ramo de Acácia” criou vida própria, cresceu e tornou-se o maior Símbolo do Grau de M.‘. M.‘..

Em outra versão, os M.‘. M.‘. que foram a procura do Mestre H.‘. A.‘. encontraram um monte de terra que parecia cobrir um cadáver, e terra recentemente removida; plantaram ali um ramo de Acácia para reconhecer o local. Conforme uma terceira versão, a Acácia teria brotado do corpo do Resp.‘. M.‘. morto, anunciando a ressurreição de Hiram.

Sendo a morte de H.‘. A.‘. uma lenda, resulta evidente que existam diferentes versões, mas o importante é que todas elas coincidem na sua sepultura surgir um ramo de Acácia.

NA BOTÂNICA
A Acácia é uma árvore espinhosa que possui espinhos penetrantes, da família das leguminosas-mimosas, Acácia Dialbata. É dela que se extrai a goma arábica.

No texto original grego do Novo Testamento o termo usado é akanqwn (akanthon), que foi traduzido ao português tanto como Acácia ou como acanto, e que também pode significar espinho, espinhoso, etc. Esta palavra grega aparece em várias passagens da Bíblia mencionando a coroa de espinhos e também a árvore conhecida como shittah. A coroa de Acácia espinhosa na cabeça de Jesus é símbolo de sabedoria. Mas como devemos interpretar o gesto dos soldados romanos quando coroam Jesus com espinhos?

Podemos entender como mais um ato de crueldade com sentido unicamente pejorativo ou será que, aparentemente, houve alguém que conhecendo a simbologia encetada no ramo de Acácia induziu à soldadesca a usar este tipo de ramo?

NA ANTIGUIDADE
Em hebraico antigo o termo shittah é usado para Acácia sendo o plural shittin. Os povos antigos tiveram um respeito extremado pela acácia chegando a ser considerada um símbolo solar porque suas folhas se abrem com a luz do sol do amanhecer e fecham-se ao ocaso; sua flor imita o disco do sol. Entre os árabes, na antiga Numídia seu nome era Houza e acredita-se ser a origem de nossa palavra “Huzé”. Também é chamada como Hoshea, palavra sagrada usada num capítulo do R.‘. E.‘. A.‘. e A.‘.. O sentimento dos israelitas pela Acácia começa com Moisés, quando na construção dos elementos mais sagrados é utilizada a Acácia (Arca, Mesa, Altar) devido, principalmente, por suas características de imputrescibilidade. Os Egípcios também a tinham como planta sagrada, mas Maomé ordenou que a destruíssem.

A Acácia é dedicada a Hermes – Mercúrio e seus ramos floridos relembram o celebre “Ramo Dourado”, dos antigos mistérios. Trata-se, efetivamente, da Acácia Mimosa, cujas flores se parecem pequenas bolas de ouro. É a planta de que fala a fábula de Osíris e o Rito Maçônico do Grau de Mestre. Essa planta teria florescido sobre o túmulo do deus, o iniciado, morto por Tifão e que era para fazer reconhece-lo.

NA BÍBLIA

Altar dos Holocaustos – “Farás o altar de madeira de Acácia. Seu comprimento será de cinco côvados, sua largura de cinco côvados e sua altura será de três côvados”. (Êxodo, 27 – 1).

Arca da Aliança – farão uma arca de madeira de cetim (Acácia)… (Êxodo 25:10)

Mesa dos Pães Propiciais – farás uma mesa de madeira de cetim (Acácia)… (Êxodo 25:23)

Bete-Sita, no hebraico significa Lugar da Acácia, e no Atlas moderno aparece localizado no paralelo 32 e 30’ ao lado do rio Jordão.

A Bíblia é rica em alusões da madeira de Acácia dando para ela usos sagrados (a cruz do sacrifício de Jesus teria sido feita de Acácia) o que, por sua vez a converte em uma árvore sagrada. A Acácia é o Shittah ou Shittim no plural (Espinho em Hebreu), como o Pau de Cetim da Arca da Aliança (Êxodo, 35 e seus versículos).

A Acácia é considerada como árvore sagrada. Moisés, a pedido do Senhor, ordenou seu povo, enquanto descansava no deserto, ao pé do Sinai, usasse a Acácia – Pau de Cetim na fabricação do Tabernáculo e nos móveis nele usados – A Arca da Aliança, a Mesa dos Pães da Proposição, os Varais da Arca, os adornos, etc.

NA MAÇONARIA
Entre os rosacruzes, assim como em alguns ritos maçônicos já desaparecidos, ou de pequena expressão, na Europa, ensina-se que a Acácia teve a sua madeira utilizada na confecção da cruz, onde Jesus foi executado, o que é pura especulação.

Quando o Resp.‘. M.‘. pergunta ao Ven.‘. Irm.‘. 1º Vig.‘. “Sois M.‘. M.‘. ? E o interpelado responde ”A A.‘. M.‘. é C.‘.” ele estabelece de imediato sua qualidade de Maç.‘., o que, equivale a dizer “tendo estado na tumba, e triunfado levantando-me dentre os mortos e, estando regenerado, tenho direito à vida eterna”. A interpretação simbólica e filosófica da planta sagrada é riquíssima e lembra a parte espiritual que existe dentro de nós que, como uma emanação de Deus, jamais pode morrer. A Acácia é, simplesmente, a representação da alma e nos leva a estudar seriamente nosso espírito, nosso eu interior e a parte imaterial de nossa personalidade.

Outra importante significação simbólica da Acácia foi dada por Albert Gallatin Mackey e Bernard E. Jones que ressaltam a Inocência e a iniciação; o grego akakia também é usado para definir qualidade moral, inocência ou pureza de vida. E do Maç.‘., que já conhece a Acácia é esperado uma conduta pura e sem máculas. Estima-se que em 1937 a Acácia nasce em nosso simbolismo junto com a Maçonaria especulativa, sendo a consciência da vida eterna. “Este galho verde no mistério da morte é o emblema do zelo ardente que o M.‘.M.‘. deve ter pela verdade e a justiça, no meio dos homens corruptos que se traiçoam uns aos outros”.

Maçônicamente simboliza Inocência, Iniciação, Imortalidade da Alma (os 3 I.‘.) e Incorruptibilidade, porém na lenda de Hiram simbolizou a Inveja, o fanatismo e a Ignorância. Incorruptibilidade, por isso, foram enterrados os membros de Osíris, num caixão de Acácia; Imortalidade, Ressurreição (renovação, metamorfose) de Osíris, Hiram e Jesus; Iniciação, pois a Imortalidade é o apanágio dos adeptos e Iniciados; Inocência, pois os espinhos representam aqueles que não se deixam tocar por mão impuras. Sendo da família da “mimosa” , como a planta “sensitiva”, fecha as folhas ao serem tocadas. Akakia (em grego) quer dizer sem maldade ou malícia. Quando O Maç.‘. diz que a A.‘. M.‘. é C.‘., significa que conhece a imortalidade da alma.
Na história de Jacques Molay, também, surge a citação de que alguns Cavaleiros disfarçados que colocaram Ramos de Acácia sobre suas cinzas quando as mesmas foram levadas para o Monte de Heredom. Três dos quatros Evangelistas a mencionam em seu Evangélio, Mateus (27:29), Marcos (15:17) e João (19:2), ligando-a ao “coroamento de Jesus”.

Concluindo, quando o M.‘. M.‘. responde A.‘. M.‘. é C.‘., significa: Levantei-me do túmulo e saí com vida. Sou eterno, consciente de meu ser como homem livre e regenerado; estou cultivando o desenvolvimento de todas as minhas dificuldades, procurando engrandecer, amar e socorrer meus irmãos que tiverem justas necessidades; estou procurando significar minha existência, fazendo feliz a humanidade; a vida presente é a preparação da futura. A felicidade eterna do homem começará quando ele tiver alcançado a mais profunda paz, que resulta da harmonia e do equilíbrio perfeito, com a Sublime Luz do G.‘.A.‘.D.‘.U.‘..

A Acácia á a árvore da vida. Suas flores cegam, suas sementes matam, as suas raízes curam. A semente é o veneno; a raiz o antídoto.

Autor: Alcinei Feitosa M.‘. M.‘. - ARLS Baluartes do Atlantico, Or de Caraguatatuba (São Paulo, Brasil)

BIBLIOGRAFIA:
1. BOUCHER, Jules. A Simbólica Maçônica, 1996;
2. CARTES, Osmar Or:. de São Paulo – SP, www.triumpho.tripod.com.br ;
3. CARVALHO, Assis, O Mestre Maçom;
4. Jose@castellani.com.br
5. VAROLI, Theobaldo Filho, Curso de Maçonaria Simbólica;
6. Portalmaconico.com.br;
7. Agradecimento à assessoria do consultor Ir.‘. Jose Roberto Mira do G.‘.O.‘.P.‘. Caraguatatuba;

Origen de las corporaciones de Constructores de Catedrales

Existen en la literatura diferentes opiniones sobre el génesis de la palabra francmasón, freemason, Freimaurer, todas relacionadas con el mismo concepto de un hombre libre dedicado a la construcción. En Inglaterra la palabra fue mencionada por primera vez en 1376 indicando a un masón operativo de nivel superior. Sin embargo el término es lo suficientemente ambiguo para que se sugirieran otras alternativas de origen. Atendiendo a la vasta utilización del francés en la Edad Media, es posible que derive de A frère maçon o sea hermano masón. Otra posibilidad es que derive del concepto inglés de Afreeman, utilizada también en la Edad Media, para indicar a una persona que goza de libertad personal. En Escocia en la logia operativa de Edimburgo hay una acotación de Afrie mesones para los que están autorizados a ejercer el oficio de escultor de decoraciones o figuras en la construcción. Logias y masones por otra parte derivan del latín, que se ha modificado para ser empleado en los diferente idiomas.

Los artesanos citadinos agrupados en los gremios ya descritos, no participaban normalmente en la construcción de catedrales. Es cierto que muy ocasionalmente prestaban sus servicios en estas obras, pero sólo en asuntos secundarios. La calidad de artesano tallador de piedra que se necesitaba aquí debía ser de un perfeccionamiento muy superior. Debía en la mayoría de los casos tener la experticia de un escultor. Por estas razones, como ya lo vimos parcialmente en el capítulo anterior, su formación era también más prolongada y exigente. Para lograr esto también se agrupaban en organizaciones diferentes llamadas Hütte, Lodge o Logia. Estos canteros especializados, se formaron inicialmente bajo la dirección de los benedictinos y los monjes de Cluny en la construcción de monasterios e iglesias en estilo romanesco. Cuando estas organizaciones monásticas dejaron la construcción de establecimientos religiosos, los canteros por ellos formados comenzaron a organizarse en instituciones laicas.

Continue reading Origen de las corporaciones de Constructores de Catedrales

SAVING FREEMASONRY

The growing popularity of the idea of ‘observant’ Masonry has found brethren in all corners of the Craft asking the question of what exactly an observant Lodge is, and how they might go about increasing Masonic observance in their own Lodges. This document offers eight basic measures which, if observed, should result in the development of an observant Lodge. Each of these steps is either entirely consistent with Anderson’s Constitutions of the FreeMasons [the foundational document of the Premier Grand Lodge, published in 1723 and hereafter simply referred to as the Book of Constitutions], or historical Masonic practice in North America, or both. Nothing proposed in them is alien to our Grand Lodges or their respective histories. The success or failure of these steps is entirely up to the brethren of each Lodge. First, however, it might be helpful to offer an answer to the primary question: what exactly does one mean by ‘observant’? Simply put, observant Masonry means observing the intent of the founders of speculative Masonry. That intent was not to build a mere social club or service organisation. While the Craft—like any other human organisation—has always been burdened by men in its ranks who subverted the purposes of the fraternity to a more mundane or profane enterprise, that was never the intent of the institution. That intent was to build an institution that calls men to their highest level of social being, in a state of dignity and decorum, which could serve as a place for serious, mindful discourse on the lessons and meaning of life, and search for the better development of oneself. That intent means building a space where such an experience can be created, and carrying ourselves in a manner that is consistent with our highest ideals and noblest behaviours. Observant Masons believe that by observing what the history of our Craft tells us in regard to that intent, we will find the optimal Masonic experience. We say observant, and speak of observance, because we seek to observe the blueprints of that intent to the best of our knowledge and ability. Even more simply, we want to do things right, and we don’t want to settle for less. We want to pursue excellence in all aspects of our Masonic labour. The eight steps offered here have proven to be successful in greatly increasing the experience of Freemasonry for brethren new and old alike. They serve as a quality control system for the operation of any Lodge, and when followed, result in a group of men who, regardless of the number of members in their Lodge, or the external nature of their temple, can find a sense of accomplishment and pride in what they have done, and who they have become. That too, is consistent with the intent of our founders.

Guarding the West Gate

This point is first among these, because we are nothing more or less than who we let in to our Fraternity. Not every man should be a Mason, and not every Continue reading SAVING FREEMASONRY

The Cowan in Freemasonry

Once in every year, on a specific date, each Masonic Lodge selects from its skilled Brethren a Mason who will officiate in the capacity of Master. The process of the installation comprises three parts. To begin with, the candidate has to come out the winner from a ballot; then he has to swear to conscientiously discharge his duties and uphold the principles of the Craft. Finally, the departing Master installs him in the Chair of King Solomon. With that achieved, the new Master concentrates on investing his Principal and Assistant Officers with the collar and tools of their Station. The Tyler is among those Officers and his place is outside the door of the Lodge because, as his title implies, he has “to tile” i.e. to cover, protect and conceal. The Master will invest him by reciting these words: “(…) your duty consists of keeping off all Cowans and eavesdroppers to Freemasonry and ensure that none shall pass save those who are duly qualified”. He then explains to the congregation the symbolical teaching of the sword and hands the tool to the Tyler. Let us now consider the two characters that the Master mentions to the Tyler.

In the Middle Ages the eavesdropper was a person who spied by hiding in the eaves, i.e. a part of the roof that meets or overhangs the face of a wall in an building. But the changes in style and technique that the art of construction has undergone through the course of the centuries, have rendered this now nigh improbable. We have in consequence come to identify the eavesdropper as that individual who stands by the door of a chamber or leans onto a partition wall, to carry out his [1] devious design. Yet this was just the kind of sneaky work that centuries ago defined the Cowan! His description reads: “a person who lurked under the window (s) of people’s homes and who carried the overheard conversation from neighbour to neighbour, to the great disquiet of many.” Through the ages, those two separate figures appear to have blended into one.

The often cowardly nature of the eavesdropper means that the Tyler often meets no difficulty in escorting him away from the lobby of the Lodge,when he catches one in action. And should the Tyler fail to be on his guard, the suffering that the eavesdropper could bring to Freemasonry only consists in capturing masonic secrets that are audible to him. The Cowan, in Freemasonry, however, is altogether another matter. He is from a difference plane of jeopardy and attacks a more serious vulnerability.

Bernard E. Jones, in his “Freemasons’ guide and compendium”, calls the Cowan “the most misunderstood of all characters mentioned in the Masonic ritual”. This is certainly the case and not just Masonically speaking. The reason the Cowan is a misunderstood character lays in there being two of them! The historical Cowan – who is the builder from the ancient operative Masonry – and the figurative Cowan of our modern and speculative Freemasonry whose profiles are partly listed in this paper.

Continue reading The Cowan in Freemasonry

Der erste Freimaurer in Deutschland – Graf Albrecht Wolfgang zu Schaumburg-Lippe

Albrecht Wolfgang (27April 1699-24Sept1748) wurde als erstes Oberhaupt eines regierenden deutschen Hauses ein Freimaurer und kommt im Jahr 1725 in den Listen der Loge “Rummer and Grapes” (“Römer und Trauben”) in Westminster, London.

Wolfgang Schaumburg.Lippewww Albrecht Wolfgangs Mutter, Johanna Sophie von Hohenlohe-Langenburg, trennte sich 1702 dauerhaft von ihrem Mann, Graf Friedrich Christian von Schaumburg-Lippe, und lebte unter schwierigen Verhältnissen mit ihren beiden Söhnen Albrecht Wolfgang und Friedrich an verschiedenen Fürstenhöfen, u.a. in Hannover am Hofe des Kurfürsten Ernst August und seiner Frau Sophie.

Nach 1714 folgte Johanna Sophie mit ihren Söhnen Kurfürst Georg Ludwig nach London, wo dieser als Georg I. englischer König wurde. Inzwischen zwang Graf Friedrich Christian seine Frau unter dem Einfluss der Wiener Hofburg, die gemeinsamen jungen Söhne nach Wolfenbüttel zu schicken und einem katholischen Erzieher zu unterstellen. Der Graf forderte nunmehr von seinen Söhnen, den katholischen Glauben anzunehmen. Ermutigt durch eine Aufforderung Georgs I., gelang den beiden jungen Grafen die Flucht, die sie in den ersten Maitagen des Jahres 1718 von Hannover in die Niederlande, zunächst nach Utrecht, führte. Von dort ging Albrecht Wolfgang nach Paris und im Jahre 1720 nach London an den Hof Georgs I., wo er in St. James unterkommt.

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Gilbert & Sullivan, famous musical Freemasons

Everyone has heard of the lovely Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas which are so widely performed throughout the English speaking world by amateur operatic companies, schools and grand opera houses, not to mention popular excerpts being constantly broadcast on radio. Of the fourteen comic operas they wrote together their most famous works are probably Trial by Jury, The Mikado, HMS Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance. The witty libretti by W S Gilbert and the beautiful tuneful music by Arthur Sullivan have entertained the English speaking world since their creation in late Victorian times.
Both Gilbert and Sullivan were Freemasons and this lecture looks at their masonic and non-masonic careers briefly, together with their most enduring works, the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas. What is not generally known is how much is owed to Freemasonry for the existence of these operas.

SIR WILLIAM SCHWENK GILBERT

Sir William Schwenk Gilbert’s Life

Sir Wm Gilbert was born in London in 1836, the son of a naval surgeon turned novel and short story writer, some of which were illustrated by his talented son. Gilbert’s parents were distant and stern, quarrelling increasingly before the marriage broke up. After schooling, he graduated from King’s College, London, and then went into the Civil Service, which he hated; at the same period, to relieve his boredom, he served in the militia part time. With a fortunate family bequest he was able to escape the Civil Service, and take up, what turned out to be an unsuccessful career as a barrister; he only had 5 clients a year.

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