In the News

Freemasons Say They’re Needed Now More Than Ever. So Why Are Their Ranks Dwindling? November 28, 20208:00 AM ET CHRISTIANNA SILVA This article appeared on the homepage of the US National Public Radio website this morning. In 1959, about 4.5% of all American men were Freemasons, but in recent years membership has fallen off roughly…

Cryptic Masonry – A new video

The content of this video has been taken from an 1880 essay by Hugh M’Curdy. It was published in “The Voice of Masonry” in that year. Its tone, language and content are very representative of Masonic lectures of that period, with an emphasis on moral uplift, rather than the more modern approach foregrounding historical and…

How to Memorise

Now that the threat of COVID is receding (in Australia at least) and we’re all contemplating a return to lodge and chapter work, here’s four minutes of good advice to crank back up our rusty ritual! This short talk by Frances Millburg was originally published on the Ninth Arch BBS. Now it’s a 4 minute…

One for the Conspiracy Theorists

This little gem was in the news a few months ago. Freemasonry on the runway, courtesy of 9 News (https://www.9news.com.au). Qantas weighs in after symbols on engine covers stir up conspiracy theorists Eagle-eyed conspiracy theorists have spotted a series of symbols on Qantas engine covers, which are linked to centuries-old secret societies. The engine covers are black…

Mythologised and Mistrusted: Freemason Mark Pennies

The specialist numismatic publication Coin Week published an interesting article about Mark Pennies last Friday. While it is written from a non-Masonic perspective and contains some egregious (and all too familiar) falsehoods, it does have some interesting information about the history and provenance of the pennies and value to the world of coin collectors in…

What the Freemasons Taught the World About the Power of Secrecy

This article appeared in Time Magazine on 13 August this year. I’d highly recommend John Dickie’s Book, How the Freemasons made the Modern World, from which it is drawn. Details of how to get a copy appear at the bottom of the article. Freemasons, with signs for the various lodges, c1733. Getty Images/Historica Graphica Collection BY JOHN…

News, and more news …

I found out a couple of days ago that the site had outgrown its hosting capacity and that updates weren’t publishing. It turned out that I had maxed out the page limit. As a result I’m pleased to announce the launch of the ‘all new’ From the Quarries, which has been completely re-written from the…

Masonry in the News

I ran across this article online today and thought it worth sharing. A tribute to an operative brother! A selfie set in stone: hidden portrait by cheeky mason found in Spain 900 years on A British art historian’s painstaking study of the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela uncovered a medieval prank He is a medieval…