Now open to the public, the Chamber of Reflection at the Grand Lodge of Masons of Massachusetts, in Boston.Posted on 08/26/2009 9:58:37 AM PDT by BGHater
A replica of a mildewed 14th- century scroll has been unfurled and displayed at a library in New York. An eagle clutching arrows and ribbons, on a tattered flag made around 1803, has just been restored and framed for viewing at a Philadelphia museum. Near Boston a museum exhibition decodes cryptic symbols like compasses and columns embossed on metal badges and embroidered onto aprons.
That the public is now being enthusiastically shown these previously hidden-away items indicates that Freemasons in America are trying to shed their reclusive, somewhat fusty image. Tour guides at the groups’ lavishly ornamented lodges, mostly built around 1900, are explaining ceremonial rituals in newly restored rooms with murals of ancient builders polishing stones and vitrines full of gold pendants and domed velvet hats.
“We’re trying to help more people hear our story accurately,” said H. Robert Huke, the communications and development director at the Grand Lodge of Masons of Massachusetts, an 1899 state headquarters in downtown Boston covered in sunburst mosaics. When curiosity seekers get to visit Masonic rooms, he added, “they’re less inclined to think we’re trying to control the world and run the banks.”
Freemasons have been portrayed as conspirators in books like Dan Brown’s “Da Vinci Code” and “The Lost Symbol” (due on Sept. 15) and the “National Treasure” movies starring Nicolas Cage. The truth is less entertaining. Founded around 1600 by British stonemasons, the men-only clubs hold closed sessions mainly to teach ecumenical ethics codes and raise money for charity, especially medical care. On their lodge walls and ceremonial clothing, motifs like eyes, beehives and drafting tools refer to virtues like steadfastness, tolerance and industriousness.
Now open to the public, the Chamber of Reflection at the Grand Lodge of Masons of Massachusetts, in Boston.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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Albert Pike’s masonic encyclopedia is an open text of Luciferianism.
I’ve read it.
“O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee, and for all who do not have recourse to thee, especially the Masons and those who are recommended to thee.” - St. Maximilian Kolbe
Thanks for the appropriate ping!
Be Ever Vigilant!
This is in the York Rite, not the Scottish Rite.
“A a matter of fact, the Scottish Rite of the Masons actually has an order CALLED the Templars and this is the ONLY group within the Masonic umbrella which is restricted to Christians only.”
That’s actually the York Rite, not the Scottish Rite.
The York Rite is actually from Scotland, predates the modern Freemasons, and is more-or-less directly tied to the Templar Navy that landed in Scotland, whilst the King of Scotland was having also having a disagreement with the French King who effectively controled the Papacy at the time, since the muslim hoards had greatly weakened a unified Christiandom.
I was naively in a college fraternity (DTD), and their ritual was copied almost directly from the masons.
The fraternity members would take on the roles of Greek deities in the ritual.
Two years later when I got saved, I renounced the membership.
Albert Pike was a piker who spole for himself, and himself only.
He purported to speak for masons, and was pretty effective at pretending to have authority he did not have, but that’s it.
Yeah, I’ve heard that many fraternities are like that. I never had any interest in joining, but my sister joined a sorority at a Catholic university. I wonder if hers did anything like that.
“The fraternity members would take on the roles of Greek deities in the ritual.”
Whatever that was, it wasn’t the freemasons.
I’ve never seen a initition ceremony that was an allegory based on the Holy Bible.
does that include the college fraternity?
Fishtank may have gone through some pagan ceremony (it would not suprise me), but the masonic fraternity wouldn’t touch pagan trash with a ten foot pole.
If that’s so, then why are his remains in one of the huge Masonic temples in DC?
Because he gave a lot of money to the Scottish Rite.
Kinda like why Ted Kennedy is to be buried in Arlington National Cemetary and was able to buy an annulment from the Roman Catholic Church.
He was an “important” guy.
Doesn’t mean he wasn’t a loser.
Actually, there has been no confirmation of an annulment of Ted Kennedy’s marriage. You may be confusing it with the “annulment” of his nephew Joseph’s marriage granted by the Archdiocese of Boston, which the Vatican overturned in 2007.
Sorry.
Not a Mason.
Well, more ammunition for the Mason-Templar connection.
for those who know, what was the dispute with police in England having to disclose their membership as a condition of empoloyment?
Same concept, different loser.
Could just as easily reference some medal the Queen of England gave the old windbag.
Money and power buys favors and “cheap” honors, be it from the masons, the Queen of England, or the Roman Catholic Church.
Such is man.
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