Mötley Crüe's Tommy Lee to Host Show Investigating Freemasonry

Here is an item from the You-Couldn't-Make-This-Stuff-Up Department: Today the showbiz newspaper Variety reported that Tommy Lee (yes, that Tommy Lee, drummer of Mötley Crüe, shown in the photo above dressed up for Halloween) will be hosting a television series investigating secret societies—starting with Freemasonry:

Syfy will develop “Culture Shock With Tommy Lee,” in which the former Motley Crue member seeks to uncover and expose secret societies. [Syfy channel president of original programming Mark] Stern said that any show involving a celebrity was a tough sell to him, but that he was won over by Lee's sincerity. “This comes from a very deep-seated, personal desire to uncover the truth behind these secret societies,” Stern said, “starting with his father's membership in the Freemasons.”

The Hollywood Reporter adds that this will be an hourlong “investigative travel show,” in which “Lee will attempt to uncover rituals, symbols, and other mysteries of secret societies.” Lee Stubner and Carl Stubner will act as executive producers for ITV Studios America, which will produce the series.

According to his bio on Wikipedia, Tommy Lee was born in Athens, Greece, his father being David Oliver Bass, then a U.S. Army serviceman, and his mother Vassiliki Papadimitriou, a former Miss Greece. I have no information at present about the Masonic background of Tommy Lee’s father.

In our celebrity-obsessed culture, it is perhaps no surprise that someone with no background in investigation, history, or esoteric research would get a reality show where such credentials would seem to be crucial. (Of course, former professional wrestler and governor of Minnesota, Jesse “The Body” Ventura, has a similar show, “Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura,” on TruTV.) One hopes that someday some television network will produce a show with someone who has the real chops to do such an investigative show, not just name recognition and a colorful persona.

I’m not holding my breath.

(Although, my schedule does have some openings right now.)

Copyright 2011 Mark E. Koltko-Rivera. All Rights Reserved.

[The photo of Tommy Lee at his Halloween Party at Club Medusa was taken on October 30, 2005 by Joel Telling. It was obtained from Wikimedia Commons and appears here under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.]

Planner of DC Street Layout,Pierre L’Enfant,Really Was a Mason!

For a number of years, the more hysterical Masonic-related conspiracy theorists have made the claim that the layout of the streets of Washington, DC, reveals Masonic symbols, including symbols that supposedly indicate devil worship. Also for many years, Masonic historians and authors have indicated that there was no evidence that the designer of this layout, Pierre L’Enfant, was even a Freemason. (I have made this claim myself.)

We were all wrong. L’Enfant was a Freemason, albeit in a very limited sense.

The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, publishes a bimonthly magazine, the Scottish Rite Journal. The March-April 2011 issue carries an article on pp. 10-12 by Right Worshipful Brother Pierre F. de Ravel d’Esclapon, who holds the 32° in the Scottish Rite, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. (I know Sublime Prince de Ravel d’Esclapon as a Past Master of the American Lodge of Research, the oldest currently functioning American research lodge, of which I have the honor to be a full member. Plug: corresponding members are always welcome.) This article is titled “The Masonic Career of Major Pierre Charles L’Enfant,” and it details the findings of the author while the author was researching the early history of New York City’s Holland Lodge No. 8 F&AM. (Holland Lodge, which was chartered in 1787, has had such distinguished members as General von Steuben and Commodore Perry; Franklin Delano Roosevelt was raised a Master Mason in Holland Lodge in 1911.)

In Holland Lodge records, the article’s author discovered that Major Pierre L’Enfant was initiated an Entered Apprentice in Holland Lodge on April 17th, 1789, during the same month in which brother George Washington took the oath of office as the first President of the United States, in New York City. As noted in the article, L’Enfant had been in New York City since the preceding year, as he supervised renovations to Federal Hall, where the inauguration was to take place.

There is much more fascinating information in this article, which I recommend for your perusal. Regretably, as of this writing, the website of the Scottish Rite Journal has not been updated to display the March-April issue (only fair, since, after all, we are still in February). However, I would guess that in just a few days it will be possible to see this fascinating article online. (Incidentally, individual copies of this issue are available for US$3 each, and subscriptions within the US are US$15 annually, domestic checks only, sent to Scottish Rite Journal, 1733 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009-3103. And, no, I don’t make a dime off of that plug. It’s just a great magazine.) Brother de Ravel d’Esclapon is to be commended for his discovery, and his excellent report.

So where does that leave us with regard to the idea that L’Enfant embedded Masonic symbols, supposedly including satanic symbols, in the street layout of Washington, DC? This notion is entirely rubbish, every bit as much as before. Consider:

• Any unbiased observer of L’Enfant’s plan (shown in the illustration above) will see that L’Enfant planned his layout as a right-angled grid, overlaid by a pattern of plazas, from each of which avenues radiated like spokes from a wheel’s hub. With such a pattern, it is inevitable that diagonal angles will be formed. Masonic symbolism (such as the square and compasses) are composed of diagonal angles, so one can see Masonic symbolism like this in the street layout of DC if one really wants to. However, this is much like seeing menacing shapes in cloud formations or Rorschach inkblots. (And I speak as one who first administered the Rorschach in 1987. People see what they want to see in neutral stimuli, folks.)

• Again, five-pointed stars will inevitably be formed by a hubs-and-spokes pattern. Some of these stars will point downward. However, the downward-directed five-pointed star only took on a sinister connotation in the 19th century, well after L’Enfant’s time, in the writings of the French esotericist Eliphas Levi. Even if L’Enfant had deliberately been trying to create the shape of a downward-directed five-pointed star, that shape had no connection to evil during his lifetime.

• The article in the Scottish Rite Journal suggests that L’Enfant never received the second or third degrees of Freemasonry. Thus, he did not have exposure as an initiate even to the majority of the symbols of the basic Blue Lodge of Freemasonry. One would expect that symbols of satanic worship, if they existed within Blue Lodge Freemasonry at all, would be reserved for the famous “third degree.” However, apparently, L’Enfant never received that degree.

The Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon has some excellent on-line articles on these subjects. One is an article on the pentagram as a symbol throughout history. Another is this article on the symbolism supposedly to be found in the street layouts of DC (an article which can only be faulted in its claim, now obsolete, that there was no evidence that L’Enfant was a Mason).

Memo to Masonic-related conspiracy theorists: Please. Enough with the idea of Masonic symbolism in the streets of Washington, DC, already. Come up with something new and original.
Copyright 2011 Mark E. Koltko-Rivera. All Rights Reserved.

[The image of Pierre L’Enfant’s layout of Washington, DC, was obtained through Wikipedia, and is in the public domain.]

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The New Philalethes Magazine

I’ve got some bad news, and some good news. I have some unpleasant things to say about an American Masonic institution, and I have some high praise for that same institution. What I have to say here will doubtless step on some toes, and may bruise some egos. However, the current generation of Freemasons needs to know about a resource that it should embrace with all its heart.

Even before I became a Freemason, I had heard of the Philalethes magazine. The Philalethes Society was established in 1928 by leading Masonic scholars “who felt that the great mass of Freemasons in the United States should have more information on the fundamentals of Freemasonry,” in the words of its founding president. In my studies on Freemasonry—something I began in earnest in the early 1980s—I often came upon references to articles published in the Philalethes. And no wonder: the Fellows of the Philalethes society have included such giants of Masonic scholarship as Allen E. Roberts, Harold Van Buren Voorhis, Arthur Edward Waite, and J. S. M. Ward. (In our day, these Fellows include such contemporary masters of Masonic scholarship as Robert G. Davis, John Mauk Hilliard, Jay M. Kinney, S. Brent Morris, and Leon Zeldis.) The Society published the first issue of the Philalethes magazine in 1946, and, as the Society’s website truly claims, the Philalethes magazine “has long served as the de facto magazine for North American Freemasonry.”

Imagine my dismay, then, when I began to subscribe to the Philalethes some years ago, and found that it had fallen very far from the standard set in earlier days. I found many of the articles to be amateurishly written, the articles themselves to be uninspiring, the artwork largely mediocre. In particular, the greatest failing for me was that I did not feel that I was learning much about the inner meaning of Freemasonry through the magazine; there were interesting articles here and there about Masonic history, but my interest—much like the interest of many men entering the Fraternity in the last two decades—is in Freemasonry as a living initiatic tradition, and I found little in the magazine that fed this interest. In the words of a friend of mine, it became clear to me that “the Philalethes was no longer compelling reading” for someone with my interests. So, with regret, I let my subscription lapse.

The editors of recent eras have my sympathies. As another friend of mine put it in relation to a non-Masonic magazine that he edited some years ago, “we can only publish what people submit.” Earlier editors of the Philalethes magazine are to be commended for running articles on national and international issues such as the recognition of Prince Hall Masonry.

However, the fact of the matter is that the appetites of many Masonic readers has developed in certain directions over the last thirty years or so. Interest in what we might call the esoteric side of Freemasonry—the idea of Masonry as a truly initiatic experience that conveys timeless wisdom to today’s man—has become a very strong focus of interest for today’s Mason. Unless the mainstream Masonic press pays attention to this matter, unless knowledgeable Masonic writers help Masonic readers to take a more informed stance on these issues, then we abandon the field to the sensationalists, to poor historians, even to the paranoid fringe. Some years ago, I sorrowfully concluded that the magazine had indeed abandoned the field in just this way, and that, for Masonic light on the inner meanings of Masonry, I would need to search somewhere else.

That was then. This is now—and now is a truly wonderful place to be.

We have just seen the completion of the first six issues of the new Philalethes magazine under the editorship of brother and Editor Shawn Eyer, P.M., and I am extremely impressed with the results. I would now recommend the Philalethes magazine to any and every Freemason who is deeply interested in the inner meanings of our Masonic symbolism and initiatory experience.

First of all, the magazine itself is physically stunning: it has had a contemporary redesign that puts it on a par, visually, with the finest general interest magazines now being published. (And you are hearing this from a subscriber to The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, and a raft of literary magazines, including Agni, Boulevard, n+1, and Tin House.) The artwork is inspiring, and even thought-provoking, as a perusal of the most recent six covers would suggest, such as the covers reproduced above (from the Summer 2010 and Winter 2011 issues). I only wish I could show you some of the interior art. Heck, the cover paper itself is even of higher quality than the magazine used to have.

But the real joy of the magazine is its content. I don’t know what the new editor is doing, but he has found a way to have people who have thought very deeply about Masonic symbolism and philosophy submit some great articles to him, specifically for the sections on Masonic education. For example, I am thinking of Ed Halpaus’s article, “Truth: A Masonic Meditation, and Erastus Allen’s piece, “Knowing, and Still More to Know,” both from the Fall 2009 issue. Beginning with the Winter 2010 issue a year ago, each issue typically has one article each on Masonic education specifically tailored for the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, and the Master Mason. (What a godsend for Masonic education at one’s Stated Communications!) The new magazine features almost 20% more content, specifically to accommodate the need for better Masonic education.

The feature articles are a special delight. Readers over the past six issues have enjoyed such treasures as “The Function of Secrecy in the Work of Freemasonry” by Michael Pearce (Chair of the Art Department at California Lutheran University); the man references Iamblichus, Mircea Eliade, and Georg Simmel, for heaven’s sake—I’m in scholar heaven—but makes it all understandable to the general Masonic reader. Robert G. Davis’s article on William Preston finally clarified in my mind what this “architect of the American Craft ritual” was all about.

Editor Eyer himself has contributed some of the articles that I found most interesting. He treated with scholarship and clarity such subjects as the Mosaic pavement, the symbol of the Beehive, and the inner meaning of the symbols of the Fellow Craft’s wages (the latter article being available for free on the website).

Of especial interest to the budding Masonic scholar is a paper by Editor Eyer that is also made available for free on the Society’s website: “Writing a Masonic Paper.” Every lodge that requires its initiates to deliver papers in lodge should make this paper available to its initiates. Every Masonic lodge of research should make reference to it in an editorial.

I could go on. And on. I haven’t even touched upon most of the fascinating historical articles—the one on Thomas Paine, by Shai Afsai, was a favorite—nor the book reviews, alas. But my point should be clear: The new Philalethes is now as compelling a collection of Masonic reading as any I have ever seen. The magazine focuses on the deeper aspects of symbolism and history while avoiding both the Scylla of sensationalism and the Charybdis of superficiality. The articles are on-point, well-researched, well-written, accessible to the general Masonic reader, and serve as well-prepared food for the soul.

Could I pick nits? Sure I could. Someone left off the page numbers in the Spring 2010 issue, for example. And Editor Eyer might reconsider some of his own article titles. For example, “The Transvaluation of Status in the First Degree” (Summer 2010) is technically correct as a title for what is actually a very clear and accessible article—one which I highly recommend—about how the First Degree encourages a change in a new Mason’s personal values, but putting “transvaluation” in the title makes it sound like a poster from the Modern Language Association convention, Incomprehensible Division. This is unfortunate, because the article itself is a model of clarity, and very valuable for Masonic education.

But these are minor peccadillos. As far as I am concerned, the Philalethes is at the center of the target when it comes to reading intelligent, accessible literature about the real meaning and current relevance of our symbolism and tradition.

Let me put it this way: I had the privilege of being in charge of Masonic education in my mother lodge for eight months, until I relocated from Winter Park, Florida to New York City. I would have agreed to do outdoor door-to-door sales for a day in the August Florida heat, if that was the ordeal required to have had six issues of the new Philalethes to base my Masonic education on. The magazine is simply that valuable.

To the editor of this new Philalethes: ad multos annos, and long may you wield your editor’s pen.

You can learn more about the Philalethes Society and the Philalethes magazine on their (similarly revamped) website, which has what must be the easiest-to-remember URL in all of Masonry: http://freemasonry.org/ .

[Disclosure: I have published in the Philalethes in its earlier incarnation, and I hope someday to publish there again. Take a look at the magazine yourself and see whether I am biased in my estimation of its current status and value.]

Copyright 2011 Mark E. Koltko-Rivera. All Rights Reserved.

[The images are of the covers of the Summer 2010 and Winter 2011 issues of the new Philalethes magazine; they were obtained from the Philalethes Society website.]

Available Now: Freemasonry: An Introduction

Today is the official publication date of my new book, Freemasonry: An Introduction, published by Jeremy P. Tarcher, an imprint of Penguin Books. The book is available at a substantial discount through clicking on the ad to the right. (Disclosure: ordering through the ad also nets me a little cash). You can read the publisher’s description in this earlier post, but in today’s post I thought I would explain what I think is special about this book.

Over the years, I have read a lot of books introducing Freemasonry. I have often come away from such books feeling that I really have not learned why someone would become a Freemason in the first place, what it brings to his life, what it does for him. I wanted people to know what Freemasonry could mean in the life of the individual Mason. So, for this book, I wrote a 15-page chapter, “Why Men Become Freemasons,” where I go into the meaning of initiation, and ways that Masonry is a vehicle for self-development, a fellowship, a place of ritual, and a set of opportunities for service. I also describe the outer and inner experiences of being a Freemason in a 20-page chapter, “How Freemasonry Works.”

One of the most disappointing things for me about many introductions to the Fraternity is that they either downplay or wildly overplay the idea of both secrets and esoteric knowledge within Freemasonry. The fact is that Freemasonry has both, and I think that we as Masons should be very clear about that, and about how that is so, especially given that this is a major reason why many men these days are looking into the Fraternity.

The secrets of Freemasonry come in two flavors. There are the signs of recognition, whereby Masons from different regions may know one another as Masons. The signs of recognition provide an important link to centuries of Masonic tradition and our mythic history. There is also the inner transformation of a Mason as he comes to contemplate the Fraternity’s symbolism; this is a secret because it can only be known through one’s personal experience. So, in this book, I write about the meaning of Masonic secrecy, and its meaning in the modern world.

When I say that esoteric knowledge is available within Freemasonry, I am not referring to what Masons call “the esoteric work,” the precise and confidential wording of our ritual. Rather, I mean that Freemasonry does convey knowledge that is “esoteric” in the formal sense, in that it is of unusual interest but is conveyed only to a specially initiated group. So, in this book, without giving any confidential knowledge away, I write about Freemasonry in connection with a number of esoteric topics: the initiatic tradition in ancient times; the Temple built by Solomon, as a symbol; the interest of 17th and 18th century Freemasons in topics like alchemy. I do not give credence to the unsupportable assertions of some authors, but I do not ignore the interests of early Freemasons in esoteric knowledge.

Another thing that bothered me about many introductions to Freemasonry is that they give a superficial gloss on areas of controversy concerning Freemasonry. Yet, it is such controversies that often appear in the newspapers, leaving potential candidates for Masonry confused regarding what to think about the Fraternity. So, for the book, I wrote a 29-page chapter, “Masonic Controversies,” where I give an up-front consideration of Masonry’s stance toward women and African Americans; allegations accusing Albert Pike of involvement with the Knights of the Golden Circle, the Ku Klux Klan, and Satanism; and efforts in Great Britain aimed at requiring public registration of Freemasons in law enforcement, the judiciary, and the armed forces. I also wrote a 21-page chapter, “Anti-Masonry: Accusations Versus Truth.”

In short, I packed a lot of material into a pocket-sized, 196-page book, material that would be useful to the man interested in looking into Freemasonry, to family members who might continue our tradition, and to many a brother as well—all at a very affordable price. I deliberately wrote this in such a format that it would be both useful and economical for Particular and Grand Lodges to make copies available to prospective candidates and new initiates alike.

This is what I think is special about this book. Below, I give an annotated table of chapter titles. (Each chapter also comes with a brief summary.)

INTRODUCTION: Who this book is for • Why I wrote it • Acknowledgements.

1. FREEMASONRY: WHAT IT IS: Different perspectives on Freemasonry (social fellowship; place of ritual and symbolism; vehicle for spiritual growth) • What Freemasonry is not (a religion; a path to power or status; a conspiracy) • “But what about the ‘mysteries’?” • Masonic secrecy.

2. WHY MEN BECOME FREEMASONS: Freemasonry as an initiatic tradition (what initiation is; initiation throughout history; initiation in Freemasonry; symbols and teachings) • A vehicle for self-development • Fellowship • Ritual • Service.

3. HOW FREEMASONRY WORKS: An evening at Solomon’s Lodge #987 • Affiliated groups (the Rites; groups for family members; “fun” groups) • Being a Freemason: The inner experience (lifelong journey to light; walking uprightly before God and man; treating each other as brothers; conducting oneself as a gentleman in society; service to the community and society; upholding religious tolerance).

4. MASONIC SYMBOLISM: The Square • The Level • The Plumb • The Compasses • The Square and Compasses • The Altar, the Volume of Sacred Law, and the Temple built by Solomon • The Letter G • Other symbols.

5. HOW FREEMASONRY BEGAN: The initiatic tradition in ancient times • The medieval Knights Templar • The medieval stonemasons of Europe • The late Renaissance and early Enlightenment • The founding of the first Grand Lodge • Freemasonry and the founding of the United States.

6. MASONIC CONTROVERSIES: Women and Freemasonry (Freemasonry has a right to be a fraternity; Masonic-affiliated organizations that involve women; alternative forms of Freemasonry) • African Americans and Freemasonry (the reception of African Americans into the Lodge; recognition of Prince Hall lodges) • Albert Pike (rumors involving him in the Knights of the Golden Circle, the Ku Klux Klan, and Satanism) • Violating Masonic civil rights in England.

7. ANTI-MASONRY: ACCUSATIONS VERSUS TRUTHS: Freemasonry and religion in general • Freemasonry and accusations of devil worship • Freemasonry and Christianity in general • Freemasonry and the occult • Freemasonry and international conspiracy • Freemasonry and Roman Catholicism • Some thoughts on anti-Masonry.

8. FREEMASONRY IN FICTION: MYTH VERSUS REALITY: From Hell • The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen • The Da Vinci Code • National Treasure • National Treasure: Book of Secrets • The Lost Symbol.

9. HOW TO BECOME A FREEMASON: Establish eligibility • Find the local lodge • Get to know some of the local lodge brothers • File a petition • Meet with the investigation committee • Undergoing the “trial of the ballot box” • Receive the degrees of Freemasonry • After receiving the three basic degrees of Freemasonry.

10. LEARNING MORE ABOUT FREEMASONRY: Introductions to Freemasonry • Masonic symbolism • Masonic history • Responses to anti-Masonry.

GLOSSARY: 24 entries regarding terms with meanings special to Freemasonry, such as “Initiate” and “Regular Freemasonry.”

REFERENCES: Full source information for 130 works referenced in the book.

ILLUSTRATION CREDITS: Full source information for 13 public domain illustrations, many available on the Internet.

INDEX: 12 pages of index entries.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: My scholarly credentials and specific Masonic affiliations.

Copyright 2011 Mark E. Koltko-Rivera. All Rights Reserved.

The Alleged Michael Brea Sword Murder

Michael Brea (pictured) is a 31-year-old bit-part actor from New York City who has been seen on the television series Ugly Betty. Reports say that Mr. Brea early this morning murdered his mother, Ms. Yannick Brea, at her Brooklyn apartment with a sword. Mr. Brea lived with Ms. Brea, and has been apprehended and taken to Kings County Hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

Reports differ on a couple of issues. Some reports, such as that of Perez Hilton, state that Mr. Brea used a "Freemason ceremonial sword" to kill his mother, and that as he pursued her, he shouted out the names of religious figures, such as the "architect of the universe." Of course, Freemasons ceremonially refer to the Supreme Being as "the Grand Architect of the Universe."

Other reports, such as that of the New York Daily News, state that police found Mr. Brea wielding a samurai sword. The Daily News report quoted neighbors saying that Brea shouted "Repent, repent, sinner, sinner," and "You never accepted Jesus."

The New York Post reports that a samurai sword was used in the attack, and quoted a neighbor stating that Mr. Brea shouted about the "architect of the universe." The Post also reported that Mr. Brea's twin brother Marcel, a martial arts instructor, also lived with Ms. Brea.

I would point out a couple of things that might not be common knowledge among people who are not Freemasons:

• To the best of my knowledge, neither Michael Brea nor Marcel Brea has ever been a Freemason. However, there are many, many Freemasons in New York City, and I certainly do not know more than a fraction of them. If I obtain information to the contrary, I shall post it here.
• It is very common for martial arts instructors in certain disciplines to possess swords of various types. My belief is that Michael Brea appropriated a samurai-style sword belonging to his twin brother, Marcel Brea, who is reportedly a martial arts instructor. Samurai swords (lightly curved and square-ended) are easily distinguished from either the European-style swords (straight and triangular-ended) used in most Masonic ceremonies, or the scimitars (heavily curved and pointy-ended) used in some Shriner activities.
• Yes, swords are commonly used in Freemasonry. They play a minor role in regular, or Blue Lodge, Freemasonry, where every lodge has an officer, the Tyler, who guards the door of a lodge in session, with a sword. Swords are used by every participant in Knights Templar commanderies. Other branches of Freemasonry make occasional use of ceremonial swords in their ceremonial dramas, called degree work. However, these swords are used only for ceremonial purposes--processions, dramatic enactments, and the like. Swords are never used within Freemasonry as actual instruments of aggression.
• Masonic swords are easy to obtain from fraternal supply houses and dealers in martial arts regalia. Such suppliers do not require Masonic membership to obtain such a sword. Thus, even if the sword used in the attack was a "Masonic" sword, that does not mean that a Mason ever owned it.
• The phrase "Great Architect of the Universe" is easy to find in many books about Freemasonry, including many well-selling books available in large chain bookstores such as Barnes and Noble and Borders Books and Music. These books include Brother Christopher Hodapp's Freemasons for Dummies and Brother Brent Morris's The Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry, each of which sells very well. It is my belief that Michael Brea learned the phrase from some popular press book such as these.
• The psychology staff at Kings County Hospital, when I knew them as a prospective intern in the 1990s, were top notch. They shall give Mr. Brea a thorough examination, and I will not second-guess them here. Certainly a psychotic or drug-related incident is at least plausible. The age of 31 is a bit old for a first psychotic break, but not so old as to be all that unlikely. It is also certainly the case that psychotic individuals often have prominent religious delusions and fixations.

In brief, this is not some kind of "Masonic murder." My sympathy, condolences, and prayers are with Marcel Brea and the other survivors of the late Ms. Yannick Brea.

Now Available for Pre-order from Amazon: Freemasonry: An Introduction (Tarcher/Penguin Books edition)

Some readers of this blog may recall that I published a book, Freemasonry: An Introduction, three years ago through LVX Publications. Now, Tarcher, an imprint of Penguin Books, is releasing their edition, with about 75% more content, and updated. Although the book will be released on January 20, 2011, it is available now for pre-order through Amazon; just use the link in the sidebar to the right. The Amazon price is $8.60 for over 200 pages, which I think is a great deal. This is a very economical way to introduce someone to Freemasonry, authoritative yet accessible. (Update, Dec. 20, 2010: I received my author's copy today, and the book looks terrific.)

The product description from Amazon follows:

An experienced Freemason and award-winning psychologist provides a precise and engaging exploration of the core meaning and practices of Freemasonry for the new generation of people interested in joining the order, and those who are simply curious in the wake of recent media coverage.

Entertaining books and movies often depict Freemasonry as a shadowy, mysterious, and possibly sinister organization, and the TV and magazine specials on Freemasonry that inevitably follow often leave us with more questions than answers.

Mark E. Koltko-Rivera, a practicing thirty-second-degree Mason, has created a simple, authoritative, and easy-to-understand introduction to the history, rites, and meaning of Freemasonry. It may be the single most reliable short guide to Masonry, written by a widely recognized psychologist and scholar of esoteric history.

Koltko-Rivera's trustworthy handbook explores all the basic issues around Masonry, like:

*What is Freemasonry, and what is its history?
*How does one become a Freemason?
*What are some of the most important Masonic symbols?
*What do Masons get from their involvement in Freemasonry? What changes does it make in their inner and outer lives?
*What is it like to participate in the initiatory rituals of Freemasonry?
*What are some of the great historical controversies and myths surrounding Freemasonry?
*How is Masonry relevant today?

About the Author

Mark E. Koltko-Rivera, Ph.D., is a thirty-second-degree Freemason as well as a doctor of psychology. He has written extensively on Freemasonry for publications that serve as Masonic audience, and has also written, and has also written award-winning scholarly works in the fields of clinical and counseling psychology.


 
If you plan to order this through your local bookstore, or if you ask them to stock the book, please note that the ISBN for this edition is ISBN-13: 978-1585428533.
 
It is a great pleasure to see this book reach a large public through a major publisher. Enjoy.

Happy 200th Birthday to Albert Pike!

Just had to break out of my year-end rush to send out happy 200th birthday greetings for Albert Pike (1809-1891), formerly the seventh Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite in the Southern Jurisdiction.

Yes, I know he looks a bit scary. The fellow had more than a slightly rough life, upon the details of which I shall not dwell here. However, looking beyond his stern appearance, I am in awe of his sheer scholarly output, a great deal of which is worth our while today. A few cases in point:

• His revision of the Scottish Rite rituals. Sure, the rituals have been revised a bit here and there since his time, but by far most of what one sees in the Scottish Rite rituals in the Southern Jurisdiction today is Pike's work--and it is magnificent. (For a taste of it in print, take a look at Rex R. Hutchens' A Bridge to Light: The Revised Standard Pike Ritual (3rd ed., 2006, ed. by Arturo de Hoyos).
• His major commentary on that ritual, Morals and Dogma. Yes, the language is a bit outdated. However, if you take it in bite-sized chunks, you'll find that there are depths of interesting thinking here. I don't agree with everything Commander Pike had to say, but I'm grateful for him raising the issues he raised. (I look forward to the forthcoming new edition of Morals and Dogma, also edited by Arturo de Hoyos, which I hope will be out in the new year.)
• His other commentary on that ritual, which can be found in the Scottish Rite Ritual Monitor and Guide (second edition, 2009, also edited by Arturo de Hoyos). Where else does a modern man make intelligent remarks on Pythagoras, the Kabbalah, and the meaning of Freemasonry?
• His thoughts on the symbolism of the Blue Lodge, found in Albert Pike's Esoterika (2nd ed., 2008, edited by the indefatigable Arturo de Hoyos). When some leading intellectuals in the United Grand Lodge of England got a hold of a manuscript copy, they declared this the most profound work they'd seen on the Blue Lodge degrees.

Beyond all of the scholarship, I have a great deal of respect for the values that Albert Pike espoused. Among those that he made a point of emphasizing in the Scottish Rite ritual:

• Tolerance of different religions, and championing of the cause of religious freedom, and respect for religious diversity.
• Commitment to ongoing learning.
• Championing the cause of those not in power. Commitment to fight political repression.
• Commitment to seeing the truth and value that is there to be found in philosophies and religions from across the many cultures of humanity, throughout the ages.

He was not a flawless man by any means, but I have a great deal of respect for much of his thought. I was pleased to discover his condemnation of slavery (not what one expects from a former Confederate general). I also am in awe of his efforts on behalf of Freemasonry--for the Scottish Rite, to be sure, but also for many other aspects of the Fraternity. In my opinion, American Masonry might not have emerged from the Anti-Masonic Period half so well without his efforts.

So happy birthday to you, Commander Pike--with thanks for a job well done.