Archive for the 'Freemasonry' Category
Within two decades of the victory of the First Crusade (1095-1099) a group of knights led by Hugues (Hugh) de Payens offered themselves to the Patriarch of Jerusalem to serve as a military force.This group – often said to be nine in number – had the mandate of protecting Christian pilgrims who were en route to the Holy Land to visit the shrines sacred to their faith.
Somewhere between the years of AD 1118 – 1120, King Baldwin II granted the group quarters in a wing of the Royal Palace on the Temple Mount (the Al Aqsa Mosque).
It has been generally accepted that, for the first nine years of their existence, the Templars – as they came to be known – consisted of nine members.
Although it has been widely speculated that the Templars wished to keep it this way to cover their secret mission of digging for buried treasure on the Temple Mount, the simple fact remains that the lifestyle adopted by the Order was not to everyone’s taste. As such, the Templars had difficulty in recruiting members to their cause in the early years.
In the year 1127 the Cistercian abbot, Bernard of Clairvaux, wrote a rule of order for the Templars that was based on his own Cistercian Order’s rule of conduct. Additionally, Bernard did a great deal to promote the Templars.
Perhaps Bernard’s greatest contribution to the Order was a letter that he wrote to Hugues de Payens, entitled De laude novae militae (In praise of the new knighthood.)
This letter swept throughout Christendom drawing many men, of noble birth, who joined the ranks of the Templar Order. Those who were unable to join often gifted the Templars with land and other valuables.
While it is true that the Templars were not permitted, by their rule, to own much of anything personally, there was no such restriction on the Order as a whole. As such, the gifts of land were accepted and put to immediate use by the Templars, who farmed the land generating additional wealth.
Over the years the Templars rose from their humble beginnings to become the wealthiest of the Crusading Orders – eventually garnering the favour of the Church and the collective European monarchs.
This wealth, generated in the West was put to immediate use in the East to buy arms and raise armies. Although the Templars are regarded as the greatest of the medieval military Orders, the record shows that they lost more battles than they won. Despite a brutal win/loss record, the Order did play an important role in the Holy Land.
The Knights Templar Ring shown on Fox Jewelry™ website is indicative of the Masonic Rings worn by Masons that have earned the Knights Templar Degree.
While there probably are some actual stone-workers who are Masons, Masonry does not teach is membership the literal techniques of stonework. Rather, it takes the actual ‘operative’ work of Medieval Masons and uses it as an allegory for moral development. Thus, the symbols of Masonry are the common tools that were used by medieval stonemasons: the gavel, the rule, the compass, the square, the level, etc. Each of these has a symbolic meaning in Masonry. For example, Masons are said to meet ‘on the level’, meaning that all Masons are brothers, regardless of social status, personal wealth, or office within the Lodge or in the world at large. Similar symbolism exists for other tools.
Although it is not yet possible to say when, why or where Freemasonry originated it is known where and when “organized” Freemasonry began. On 24 June 1717 four London lodges came together at the Goose and Gridiron Ale House in St Paul’s Churchyard, formed themselves into a Grand Lodge and elected a Grand Master by the name of Anthony Slayer. The first few years the Grand Lodge was simply an annual feast at which the Grand Master and Wardens were elected. In 1721 other meetings began to be held and the Grand Lodge began to be a regulatory body. By 1730 it had more than one hundred lodges under its control (including one in Spain and one in India), had published a Book of Constitutions, began to operate a central charity fund, and had attracted a wide spectrum of society into its lodges.
In 1751 a rival Grand Lodge appeared, made up of Freemasons of mainly Irish extraction who had been unable to join lodges in London. Its founders claimed that the original Grand Lodge had departed from the established customs of the Craft and that they intended practicing Freemasonry ‘according to the Old Institutions’. Confusingly they called themselves the Grand Lodge of Ancients and dubbed their senior rival ‘Moderns’. The two rivals existed side by side, both at home and abroad, for 63 years, neither regarding the other as regular or each other’s members as regularly made Freemasons. Attempts at a union of the two rivals began in the late 1790s but it was not until 1809 that negotiating committees were set up. They moved slowly and it was not until His Royal Highness Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex became Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge and his brother, His Royal Highness Edward, Duke of Kent, became Grand Master of the Ancients Grand Lodge, both in 1813, that serious steps were taken.
In little more than six weeks the two brothers had formulated and gained agreement to the Articles of Union between the two Grand Lodges and arranged the great ceremony by which the United Grand Lodge of England came into being on 27 December 1813.
The formation of the premier Grand Lodge in 1717 had been followed, around 1725, by the Grand Lodge of Ireland and, in 1736, the Grand Lodge of Scotland. These three Grand Lodges, together with Antients Grand Lodge, did much to spread Freemasonry throughout the world, to the extent that all regular Grand Lodges throughout the world, whatever the immediate means of their formation, ultimately trace their origins back to one, or a combination, of the Grand Lodges within the British Isles. Examples of Masonic Rings can be found at Fox Jewelry.
Most of the Masonic Rings and other Fraternal Rings found on this website can still be ordered for pre-Christmas delivery. When placing your order, please indicate whether this is a gift that needs to be delivered before Christmas. If it is not needed before Christmas, please indicate on the special instructions to me that it is not needed prior to Christmas. Doing so will leave us time to complete rings for other customers that are wanting their items delivered before Christmas.Thank you very much and haave a Happy Holiday Season to you and your families.
Mike Fox
The Mysteries referred to below had rites of initiationwith trials to be passed before receiving knowledge, and secrets to be concealed. The secrets of these Mysteries were kept well enough that later ages can only guess at what some of them were. It is possible that knowledge of the nature of the Mysteries was in the hands of the founders of the Masonic order and gave form to some of the present-day structure of Masonry.
The picture shown above is actually a picture of a 33rd degree Masonic Ring.
As I become more involved in the study of Freemasonry, I think that it is fascinating to delve into the history of this grand fraternity. Although some Masonic brothers may take the ritual to be historical truth, there are no true Masonic authorities who give any credence to an actual organization of Masons in ancient times.
Legends contained in the rituals of Freemasonry indicate that the origins of the Masonic fraternity date back to the construction of the
The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite
The Scottish Rite is one of two largest concordant bodies of Freemasonry in which a Master Mason may proceed after he has completed the three degrees of Craft lodge masonry. The Scottish Rite work expands and elaborates on the lessons of the three Craft lodge degrees. As with Freemasonry, the Scottish Rite is not a religion, and it is nondenominational, although it does require a belief in a Supreme Being. The Scottish Rite, sometimes called the “College of Freemasonry”, uses extensive dramatic plays and allegory to emphasize the messages of its degrees. A freemason, after viewing these dramas, will eventually attain the 32nd degree in Scottish Rite masonry. To a non-mason this may sound like the member is a high ranking mason, however, this would be a misconception. The highest degree in Freemasonry is the 3rd or Master Mason degree. Degrees as they relate to the Scottish Rite indicate the level of knowledge that a Master Mason has attained. It would be rather awkward to allude to a member as an Act 32 freemason. In the Scottish Rite, the 33rd degree, an honourary degree, is bestowed on members of the Scottish Rite who have given outstanding service to Freemasonry or to their communities. In the Scottish Rite a Master Mason may become a member of three bodies — Lodge of Perfection, Rose Croix, and Consistory.Examples of Masonic Rings and Scottish Rite Rings can be found at www.foxjewelry.net
First of all; the person wanting to become a Mason must be a man (it’s a fraternity), sound in body and mind, who believes in God, is at least the minimum age required by Masonry in his state, and has a good reputation.Those are the only “formal” requirements. But there are others, not so formal. He should believe in helping others. He should believe there is more to life than pleasure and money. He should be willing to respect the opinions of others. And he should want to grow and develop as a human being.One way to identify a Master Mason is by the Masonic Ring normally worn on the right hand. The Masonic Ring is most oftern recognized because of the Compass and Square on the top of the ring.
Often times we think of religion when we think of ritual, but ritual is used in every day life. It’s so much a part of us that we just don’t notice it. Ritual simply means doing things routinely the same way each time.
Many times school assemblies start with the principal or some other official calling for the attention of the group. Then the group is led in the Pledge of Allegiance.That’s a ritual.
Most groups use Robert’s Rules of Order to conduct a meeting. That’s probably the best-known book of ritual in the world.
There are social rituals which tell us how to meet people (we shake hands), how to join a conversation (we wait for a pause, and then speak. These are just examples of rituals that we use in every day life.
Masonry uses a ritual because it’s an effective way to teach important ideas. Masonry’s ritual is very rich because it is so old. It has developed over centuries to contain some beautiful language and ideas expressed in symbols. But there’s nothing unusual in using ritual. All of us do it every day.
There is a ritual performed when becoming a Master Mason. Sometimes part of that ritual may be presenting the new Master Mason with a Master Masonic Ring.