- Page 2 of 13 - A Masonic website

GOETHE’S JOURNEY TO SICILY

Among the most celebrated visitors to Italy of the 18th c. was the German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman and theatre director, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who dedicated a significant part of his work Italienische Reise (The Italian Trip) to his journey to Sicily, and left us a vivid impression of its inhabitants’ way of life.

Freemasonry officially appeared in Sicily, part of the Kingdom of Naples, in 1768 when England’s leading Grand Lodge in Naples conceded a warrant to the Perfect Union N. 433, which met in Palermo. The Lodge had been established by and for the benefit of military Irishmen under the command of Col. Francis Everard, but in order to survive it soon began to also admit civilians, culminating in Carlo Cottone, Prince of Villermosa, being its Worshipful Master at the end of 1785. There was another lodge in Palermo that operated under the rival National Grand Lodge of Naples, working on the rituals of the Rite Rectiﬁé, successor of the Rite of Strict Observance, but it was in decline.

The Danish philosopher Friedrich Münter and Goethe were among the many Freemasons who in the 18^th century visited the enchanting Mediterranean island. They were both disciples of Neo-Templarism and members of the Illuminati sect and had met in Rome. It is unquestionable that Goethe’s eagerness to broaden his Italian experience by visiting Sicily, rose directly from the description that Münter gave him of that captivating place. Goethe claimed he scheduled his trip to Palermo around the middle of March and that he delayed it on at least two occasions, only sailing from Naples on March 29th after he had learned that the vessel’s captain, Filippo Cianchi, was also a Freemason. Turbulence hampered the sea crossing, but Goethe safely arrived in Palermo on the bright afternoon of 2^nd April. In Italienische Reise, he described the marvelous sensation he felt when he saw the gulf with on the right the Mount Pellegrino – “the most beautiful promontory in the world,” he called it – and the Conca d’oro on the left (The Golden Shell).

Goethe journey to Sicily — _{View of the gulf of Mondello and Monte Pellegrino, Palermo, Sicily island, Italy}

In Palermo, Goethe checked in at Mme. Montaigne’s hotel with the alias Philip Moeller. He hoped that by not revealing his true identity he would stay away from prying eyes, but to his surprise one evening, two men in uniform came to escort him to the Palace of the Viceroy, Francesco d’Aquino Prince of Caramanico. This nobleman had left the Dutch Lodge Les Zelés in Naples in 1769 to become a founding member and first Master of the Well Chosen Lodge, sanctioned by the Grand Lodge of England. He became also the Grand Master of the newly formed National Grand Lodge of Naples in 1773, but he resigned and withdrew from the Craft in 1775, when King Ferdinand IV banned Freemasonry in his realm.

It is unknown who had notified Prince Caramanico of the presence in Palermo, under an assumed identity, of the important German Brother; but it is reasonable to suspect the tip-off came from the Naples Freemasons. Other potential informers are the German landscape painter Jacob Philipp Hackert, who had met Goethe in Naples and had been Prince Caramanico’s guest at Palermo, the English Ambassador in Naples, Sir William Hamilton, and the ship’s Captain Cianchi himself.

Count Statella, the Viceroy’s Master of Ceremonies and a Knight of Malta, greeted Goethe on his arrival at the Palace. According to an anecdote, the Count – believing the visitor was a German called Philip Moeller – made an embarrassing blunder and casually mentioned that he had just finished reading “Werther,” a novel by another German named Goethe, whom he then talked about in derogatory terms. At this point Goethe revealed his true identity much to the dismay of the Count, who was even further embarrassed when the Viceroy, requesting him that Goethe be sat next to him at the table, grinned back at his Master of Ceremonies’ surprised reaction.

_{Francesco D’Aquino Prince of Caramanico}

By traveling under a false identity, Goethe wanted to avoid contact with anyone from academic circles or high society and thus remain free to fully absorb and enjoy the island’s natural beauty. Despite his best efforts to remain incognito, however, we know he also met and frequented in Palermo the Baron Antonio Bivona, a lawyer engaged by King Louis XVI of France to investigate Giuseppe Balsamo and his family. Balsamo, a self claimed magician and healer who was using the alias Count Cagliostro on his far and wide travels in Europe, had become famous particularly for his frauds and supposed role in Queen Marie Antoinette’s necklace scandal. We know that in March 1787, the Baron had lent his report on Balsamo/Cagliostro to Goethe, who after reading it, visited Giuseppe’s mother and sister on Via Terra delle Mosche, a street in a much run-down area of Palermo.

This time Goethe introduced himself as an Englishman by the name of Mr. Winton, and informed the Balsamos that Giuseppe had traveled to London after being released from the Bastille. Goethe sympathized with the two destitute women, who had a big family to support and in Italienische Reise, he expressed the remorse for not being able to take care of them right away.

_{Giuseppe Balsamo akas Count Cagliostro}

According to one account cited by several sources, on his return to Germany, Goethe showed his Brothers of the Order the letter that Giuseppe’s mother had written to her son, in which she begged for financial help. And those generous and caring men, moved by the tragic story, raised a sum of money and conveyed it to the Balsamo women via the English merchant Jacob Joff. The truth, however, may be that which is found in the memoirs of Brother Karl August Bottiger, a well-known archaeologist who knew Goethe and was a member of the Lodge Der goldene Apsel in Dresden. He wrote:

“(…) the amount delivered to the Balsamos was [just] the honorarium the publisher Unger had paid Goethe for his Der Gross-Cophta,” a satire on Freemasonry that was staged in 1791 and proved a failure.

Whatever version of the events you choose to believe, there is no doubt that the financial gift to the the Balsamos was a noble, generous gesture performed in classic Masonic fashion !

After traveling across the island of Sicily, Goethe came to the following conclusion about the locals , which is a strong testament of their bravery:

Messina, Sunday 13 May 1787 – “I thought how interesting it was to see how gentlemen could get together and speak freely and with impunity, under a dictatorial government, to protect their own as well as foreign interests.”

Extracted and revised by the Editor from the paper Goethe in Palermo written by Bro. M.R. Maggiore and published in AQC 1985,vol. 98, page 205-207

SPILSBURY – THE FREEMASON FATHER OF FORENSIC SCIENCE

Sir Bernard Henry Spilsbury was the most distinguished medical detective in England and a Freemason, like some of his colleagues and the criminals he helped bring to jail. Only the imaginary character of Sherlock Holmes exceeds him in popularity.

Spilsbury was responsible, with Scotland Yard, for the introduction of the “Murder Bag” following the “Crumbles murder” case in 1924. Patrick Mahon had killed Emily Kaye, his lover, and then dismembered her body and when Spilsbury arrived on the murder scene, he was surprised to find investigators picking up body parts with their bare hands. As a result, he devised a kit consisting of a collection of instruments – tweezers, evidence bags, and other items -which forensic detectives presently still use.

Spilsbury was also responsible for establishing the character of the “legal expert” by integrating pathology and cause-of-death examinations into the legal criminal context.

— *** —

Bernard Henry Spilsbury was born on January 16, 1877, in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England and was one of four offspring from the union between Marion Elizabeth Joy and James Spilsbury, a chemist. Bernard adopted his father’s passion for science but – according to the crime author Michael J Buchanan-Dunne – he also absorbed his coldness, arrogance and lack of empathy. After receiving home education, at the age of nine Bernard was sent to boarding school for three years and at the age of 15, with his parents living in Crouch End in London, he went to study chemistry, physics and biology at the Owen’s College in Manchester.

In 1895 Bernard Spilsbury enrolled at the Magdalen College, Oxford and earned his BA in natural science in 1899. He subsequently attended St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in Paddington’s Praed Street, London, where he meant to qualify as a general practitioner. Instead, he went on to study pathology and never repented.

THE MASONIC GLOVES

_{There is a time-immemorial tradition, both in Masonry and outside it, of the wearing and giving of gloves”}
Bernard E. Jones

The function of the gloves is to protect and avoid injury to our hands and skin. The Medieval Knights wore them in fight to have a stronger grip on the sword. Later, their metal version was introduced; called gauntlets, they better protected against blows. The gloves thus took on a meaning of strength, courage and authority, with Kings and nobles also wearing them to affirm their supremacy over the simple folks. But they were also a useful tool for avoiding direct contact with dirty objects and not so hygienic people. Once upon a time In the Catholic Church, even the Pope and high prelates wore white gloves to indicate their chastity, which albeit only a few observed.

In the middle ages, the so-called “sweet gloves”, were gloves saturated with the perfumes of herbs and spices and they served to hide the nasty odour of the skin browned with…dung. They were in use across the Continent by both men and women.

Catherine de ‘Medici, an Italian-born monarch of France, made these fragrant gloves renowned at the Court in the 16th century. She was even accused of poisoning one of her greatest enemies, a Huguenot named Jeanne d’Albret, with a pair of gloves she had gifted him. Centuries later, the French author Alexandre Dumas, spun the story of this poisoning Queen into a historical novel called “La Reine Margot.”

Today the gloves are employed for the more refined purpose of maintaining hygiene and preserving aseptic conditions and to be worn in the most accurate tasks, such as those performed by a surgeon on the human body.

THE INITIATION OF A FRENCH LADY

During the reign of terror, in the early stage of the French revolution, many women’s passion reached the height of fanaticism; and fanaticism prevailed, either real or simulated, among all who were not impatient to flee the scene of such dreadful passion.

It did not shock, therefore, that the mischief had spread even to female Masonic Lodges, known as Lodges of Adoption.

On one occasion, a female candidate for initiation, while undergoing examination, was instructed to stare down at what awaited her if she hesitated in her task: a void imitating a terrifying abyss emerged underneath her, with a double row of iron spikes exposed.

The lady, instead of retreating in horror at the sight, in a visible state of extremism and disorder of mind, exclaimed: “I can confront all !” and lunged forward. But “Providence” instantly touched the secret spring, and the candidate fell, not on the spikes, but on a green soft bed simulating a patch of grass. She lost consciousness, but her friends quickly revived her. When the scene changed, the lovely notes of choral music reanimated the lady, and the ceremony’s (…)

MASONIC VALUES BREAKDOWN AND THE PANDEMIC CRISIS

The international Masonic Institutions have been harmed as never before during the last two years of Sars2 restrictions. The Brotherhood gets its nourishment from face-to-face debate both in and outside its lodges. But for far too long, the rules put in place have limited our freedoms and have prevented this intellectual confrontation taking place.

But that is only the tip of the iceberg.

During these times of semi-incarceration, Masonic authorities of all Obedience have encouraged their members to roll up their sleeves and volunteer to help inject these supposed “miracle serums” that have failed to safeguard us time and time again.

They’ve also imposed on us to wear a mask, which master masons, knowledgeable in symbolism, should recognise means surrender, subordination, resignation, and destroys our identity.

“Freemasons want to assist the National Health System and uphold the Masonic essential values of friendship, integrity, charity, and respect at all times.” These were the words of the Chief Executive Officer of the United Grand Lodge of England, an odd title that suggests there may be little of spiritual in what the institution represents.

In history, dictators always fought their conflicts by exposing themselves in person, and that when they lost, they paid the price with their own life.

Today, the world’s aspiring tyrants fight instead in a covert and cowardly manner. They use lies to sway people’s opinions. and sow the seeds of evil by repeating those lies until they bear fruit.

Who are the modern days tyrants?

THE FABIAN SOCIETY

The Fabian is a private elitist Society that has been working in the shadow in England since it was formed in 1844. Its members aspire to form a Socialist World Government that would wipe out human rights, lead to the appropriation by the State of all private property, give parity of rights to individuals who practise aberrations like homosexuality, one sex marriages, one sex parenting, trans-genderism and so forth. Such Global Government, would be formed with leaders chosen because of their superior intelligence.

The Fabian Society had a renaissance during Tony Blair’s term as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007, but even his successor Gordon Brown, the present Labour leader, Keith Starmer, and his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, are members.

In 2020, London re-elected Sadiq Khan as Ciy Mayor. The son of immigrants, Khan succeeded the Tory liberal Boris Johnson in 2016 and is considered a “moderate Muslim” . He was from 2008 to 2010 the President of the elitist Fabian Society.

Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, England

The coat of arms of the Fabian Society depicts a wolf in sheep’s clothes, pointing to the Society’s policy of deception! The Society wishes to run the world and is as sinister as the Illuminati and as treacherous as The Rotary Club, a Society that hides behind Charity donations but whose members’ true intention is to find business opportunities and maximize their profits.

In the photo below, Tony Blair is shown in 2006 unveiling a restored window at the London School of Economics in London, which was commissioned by George Bernard Shaw . Shaw was a famous playwright and co-founded, with Stanley James Webb, the Fabian Society. He was also a socialist and a keen supporter of the Eugenics, a science described as” the study of how to arrange reproduction within a human population to increase the occurrence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable“. Shaw described his frightening vision of a future society with these words:

“(…) Under Socialism, people would not be allowed to be poor. They would be force-fed , be clothed and provided with accommodation, would be educated and provided with a job, whether they like it or not. If it turns out that they do not have enough an industriousness to deserve all of this, they will probably be gently eliminated; but if they were allowed to live they should live well (…)”

JULIA APRAXIN – THE FIRST WOMAN FREEMASON IN SPAIN

Julia Apraxin was initiated into a Masonic lodge called “Fraternidad Iberica” (Brotherhood of Iberia) in Madrid in 1880. Although born in Vienna, she felt also Hungarian, owing to her upbringing in that country and the possibility that his Hungarian foster father was, in fact, her biological parent. “Doña Julia de Rubio y Guillén, Condesa de Apratxin” was admitted into the lodge Fraternidad Ibérica (Brotherhood of Iberia) of the Grande Oriente Nacional de España (National Grand Orient of Spain) in Madrid on June 14, 1880, in accordance with contemporary Spanish Masonic protocol. The letter “t” in the countess’ surname appears to have been a slip of the pen.

Seoane, the Grand Master of the National Grand Orient of Spain, gave his authorization to initiate her by citing the lady’s gallant services for the French army as official chronicles evince. The lodge minutes show a considerable participation of Freemasons to the function and that Countess “Apratxin” adopted for herself the name “Buda.”[1] Julia Buda was merely one of the many aliases that the Countess used in her life; she had been inspired to it by the name of the former Capital city of Hungary, Buda[2], one of her places of residence and activities.

Julia’s mother had met Count József Esterházy in 1828, and after her first husband had divorced her, the two wed in 1841. Count Esterházy – we know from his diary – regarded Julia to be his own daughter.

Julia Apraxin was born on October 16, 1830, in Vienna, the registered offspring of Count Alexandre Petrovich Apraxin, a Russian noble and diplomat, and Countess Hélène (Ielena) Bezobrazova, a Polish-Russian aristocratic. Julia spent her childhood and adolescence in Vienna and at the Esterhazy Castle in Cseklész, near Pozsony (today Pressburg, Bratislava), with her parents and brother Demeter .

On October 15, 1849, she married Count Arthur (Artúr) Batthyány. The couple had five children and for about ten years settled in Vienna, where they lived the glamorous life of high society, attending balls, dances, masquerades, and enjoying drives in their private carriage.

IN DEFENSE OF THE BROTHERHOOD

I am a Freemason. I am also a Baby Boomer. In my generation that would make me a bit of an anomaly because most men in America born after WWII have not been joiners until very recently.

But my father was a Freemason; as was his brother. They owned and operated adjoining farms on the great wheat and cattle producing plains of Oklahoma. For as long as I can remember, my dad would come in from his work every Wednesday afternoon, take a shower, and put on his Sunday suit My uncle would come by and pick him up and they would go to the Mason’s Hall together. They did this for 50 years. I can’t remember a time when I was not going to be a Freemason.

I also knew the men in my community. It was a small place of only about 2,500 people. It was where we celebrated the festivals of our lives, went to church, and participated in social conversations outside our home. I knew the most respected men in my town. I can’t remember when I did not know them.

I entered the fraternity of Freemasonry during the summer of my 21st year. When I arrived at the lodge for my first degree, or stage of joining, all these men I had known and respected in my childhood were there. They were my father’s friends. I can remember to this day standing in the ante-room of the lodge, duly prepared in a garment provided me for the occasion, waiting for someone to return my knocks on the door, and thinking to myself: Tonight, I am going to be initiated into Manhood.

Although at the time I didn’t realize it, through my initiation into the world’s oldest secret society for men, I was participating in one of the most ancient traditions of manhood. In every culture the world has ever known, men have yearned to be initiated into manhood. It is fundamental to man’s understanding of his own process of growth. And we have always known it even if we have not defined it for ourselves.

THE DREAM OF A MASONIC EUROPE

The Euro Lodge 2021 is a project that Tetraktys is pleased to support. The aim is to set up a Craft Lodge with Brethren from the European Union and with a EU nationality who live and work in the United Kingdom. Without doubt, the conflicts and divisions that Brexit has created in our society are the reasons behind this idea. Citizens from EU-member States who had been allowed to settle in the UK ,without constraints, for the previous fifty years, have been turned into aliens in the name of a dubious 52/48% vote on a poor turnout. A vote often described by right-wing Tory politicians as an “overwhelming” verdict to leave the Community and as a justification to cast away from this island millions of of Europeans. A tragedy for those who had to leave and those who have remained.

This EU Lodge Project reminds me of the contents of an article, titled “Masonic Europeanism”, that the online magazine Corrispondenza Romana published not long ago. I’ve extrapolated and translated some of its passages to show you that the idea of a united Europe is Masonic goes back a long time.

According to the French academic Yves Hivert-Messeca, the Freemasons were dreaming of a trans-national society or fraternity and conspiring for a new Europe as early as the eighteenth century.

Prof Gianmario Cazzaniga, a scholar that the Grand Orient of Italy highly esteems, shares this opinion. He also believes that the concept of a Universal Republic first arose in the circles of literati, aristocrats, antique merchants, and scientists and later received the support of Huguenots , bankers and Freemasons.

The realization of a European Republic that would reflect Masonic principles, implies the project of a socio-cultural metamorphosis achievable only through a revolution–the French one of 1789 and the New World Order more recently –that would crush the power of the Papal State, the political and military Catholic monarchies (such as the Habsburg in the past), or the Republics now.

A MASONIC SEASON OF DISCONTENT

A new masonic year is about to begin and with the resumption of the activities the same old question will resurface : how many dreadful functions or Masonic degree ceremonies must we attend ,month after month, to feel that our Fraternity is still relevant and vital in our lives? How can we claim to be taking good men and making them better in an environment where members don’t feel any different on the inside than they do on the outside?

There is also the question of mediocrity. Accepting it in our Lodge activities is like accepting mediocrity in our personal lives. When nothing instructional, clever, intellectual, or spiritual transpires in our private and holy settings,we become just another average, run-of-the-mill organization, no matter how glowingly a Secretary may describe his lodge‘s previous evening event. This is known as self-appreciation, it is a vain and egotistical behavior that has nothing to do with love and brotherhood.

It is tough to see how this style of Masonry might improve. Are we going to be role models for young men, or are we just another group of ordinary guys? We must be conscious of our mission, of what we know, and how we practice it in order to be exemplary men in an exemplary institution.

Year after year, however, we fail to teach our Brethren about “Freemasonry and we continue to accept applicants who have objectives other than a desire to improve themselves and to grow spiritually. We encourage them to apply even if they are unsuitable so that we may get to perform a ceremony or two thanks to their stupidity.

Our ritual is learnt by mechanical or habitual repetition, but it is often misunderstood and badly performed. Candidates should be taught for several months and prove their worthiness before they receive the next degree, instead we only send them on their way to memorize the answers for their next ceremony.