Books, reviewed by you

THE SCOTTISH WORKINGS OF CRAFT MASONRY

North of the border

Spot the diff erences – and similarities

This book is a re-issue of the 1967 edition by Lewis Masonic, which was already a wellestablished work, with some archaic layout and language. That is not by any means a complaint – rather it is a pleasing historical experience for all those who enjoy Masonic research.

I have not yet had the pleasure of experiencing a Scottish Lodge in action. However, it is something readers will keenly anticipate once they have fi nished reading this interesting book.

Members of the English Constitution will doubtless look here for the diff erences in Freemasonry north of the border. They are easy to spot, but so are the deep similarities. The general scheme is the same, so too the progress through the degrees.

However, the Scots have interesting abbreviated workings to be used alternatively. This is greatly attractive – they are pithy and dramatic, redolent of the Georgian origins of Freemasonry as we know it. Here also you will fi nd the fi rst tracing board prominent and obviously to be given at most initiations. This has eff ectively disappeared from English ceremonies: in 36 years, I have only heard it given once.

Likewise, there are charges to the candidate after each degree, not merely the fi rst. I won’t spoil your enjoyment by setting it all out here. For not much more than the price of a coff ee and newspaper, you can happily discover them all yourself.

Aside from the ceremonies, there is an introduction that provides an interesting summary of the origins of Freemasonry. At the back of the book, you will fi nd pages of quaint Masonic songs, toasts and sentiments, such as: ‘May our evening’s diversion bear the morning’s refl ection’ and ‘Golden eggs to every brother, and goldfi nches to our Lodges’. So mote it be!

Review by Stanhope

The Scottish Workings of Craft Masonry, Lewis Masonic, 174pp, £12

PRACTICAL FREEMASONRY: ACCESSIBLE PHILOSOPHY

FOR WORKING-CLASS SCHLUBS BY MATT GALLAGHER

Straightforward solutions

Help is at hand for younger Freemasons

Just what should the tone of Freemasonry be like now? Should it lean towards the stuff y and pompous (as I still occasionally see in some Lodges)? Or be more relaxed and in step with what people under 30 are like today?

Perhaps there is room for both and all shades in between, which is saying something for an elderly fellow like me who can remember what some meetings were like many, many decades ago where old fogeys often predominated.

This book, written by Matt Gallagher, a young Freemason based in Minnesota, US, is in the relaxed, up-to-date style and clearly geared towards younger Freemasons in the United States. It also uses a fair few Masonic terms that may be unfamiliar to many Freemasons in the UK, but which a few moment’s thought will make clear.

Nonetheless, Practical Freemasonry is not in any way less interesting for that. A straightforward read, it squarely tackles some of the issues that younger people these days can run into, whether they already belong to a Lodge or are thinking of joining one. Gallagher is, moreover, good at explaining the more esoteric elements of Freemasonry in a modern, but not inaccurate way.

If you are stuff y and pompous, or wish that the clock could be turned back 80 years to well before World War II, then this book is not for you. But then nor is this magazine.

If you are not, then it is, in its way, very readable and unquestionably contains much of depth and interest. Gallagher aims to show how Masonic ideas can be applied to life in a practical way – that anyone can understand – but on a deep level. I think he succeeds. Worth buying.

Review by Aubrey Buchanan

Practical Freemasonry: Accessible Philosophy for Working-Class Schlubs, Matt Gallagher, 212pp, £17.95

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THE KIRKWALL SCROLL

When an operative mason became a master of his art, we have a fairly good idea of what that might have meant. But what of speculative masons? When we become Masters, what is it that we are masters of? What skills do we acquire on our path to becoming? This book imagines a Master Mason, crafted by the ritual he follows and visualizes him perfected and complete, a shining example to others: an embodiment of the ‘true godliness’ of which our ritual speaks.

www.lewismasonic.co.uk

Printed in England Hiram’s Way

Jonti Marks Hiram’s Way

Meditations on the Masonic Path to Enlightenment

Jonti Marks

HIRAM’S WAY: MEDITATIONS ON THE MASONIC

PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT BY JONTI MARKS

A fascinating object Deep refl ections

An ancient piece of Scottish Masonic history The deeper meanings of what we do

The Kirkwall Scroll is an extraordinary Masonic artefact. The linen roll measures more than 18 feet long and nearly six feet wide, and is decorated with a wide variety of Masonic symbols.

How old it may be is still debated. Some people believe it dates right back to the Middle Ages – perhaps even as far back as 1307, when the Knights Templar were forced underground by Pope Clement V.

Others more modestly believe it only dates from the 18th century (it is minuted that the original was given to the Scottish Lodge of Kirkwall Killwinning, No. 382 in the late 1700s).

Diff erent parts of the scroll have been carbon dated on separate occasions, giving rise to widely diff erent dates. Both results are backed by scientifi c data and both have staunch followers.

Nor does there appear to be any right or wrong answer as to its intended narrative. A possible purpose – rather like today’s tracing boards – was as a lecture aid, although the detailed interpretation of the imagery and symbolism seems to vary according to how old it is thought to be.

The scroll itself contains seven central panels mixing (among other things) creation, Masonic symbolism, the heavens, symbols relating to the Holy Royal Arch and working tools. Side panels then depict what appears to be the journey of the Israelites from Egypt to the Holy Land.

Due to its sheer size, one suggestion is that it could have been laid on the fl oor and the appropriate parts revealed depending on the subject of the lecture.

The scroll is now available as a scaled-down, high-quality print, allowing it to be much more easily studied. You can come up with your own interpretation of the naïve artwork, or simply enjoy what is undoubtedly an incredibly important piece of Scottish Masonic history.

Review by Andrew Pippen

The Kirkwall Scroll, available as a print from Lewis Masonic, £18 One of the many extraordinary things about Freemasonry is that despite being an often life-changing means of thinking about how we behave as individuals, it is defi nitely not a solitary activity, fraternising, of course, being at the heart of what we do.

The result is that one of Freemasonry’s aims is that we should all steadily try to improve the way we behave towards our fellow creatures and quietly do our bit to make the world a better place.

In this, the latest book in his Masonic Meditations series, Jonti Marks once again off ers his careful and deep refl ections. This time, he uses 100 short phrases or single words from the ceremonies and explores what they would mean to an ideal Master Mason.

Two examples chosen more or less at random are: ‘to be happy ourselves and to communicate happiness’ and ‘the practice of every moral and social virtue’. These phrases or words are then followed by short, one-page meditations, each packed with food for thought.

Two brief extracts, again chosen at random, will give an idea of these. Marks’s ideal Master Mason ‘understands that he does not need to trumpet his virtue to the world, and he realises that, often, more can be accomplished by working in the background, quietly and steadily’.

Another is ‘he knows in his heart that a life lived without love, compassion and empathy is a life that has missed its purpose and is, ultimately, a life without joy or direction’. There are hundreds more.

In his introduction, Marks points out that our rituals are full of hints and suggestions as to what it might mean to be truly a Master Mason. I found it thought-provoking and a most interesting read.

Review by Lionel Brough

Hiram’s Way, Meditations on the Masonic Path to Enlightenment, Jonti Marks, Lewis Masonic, 108pp, £10

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