Craft Masonry
-
In this video I try something a little different from the usual From the Quarries format: a tier list of Masonic authors. A tier list is simply a ranked set of categories, from S (exceptional) down through A, B, C, and D. I’m judging these writers by a mix of usefulness to serious Masonic study,…
-
This omnibus explores one of the longest and most misunderstood tensions in modern religious and Masonic history: the relationship between the Church and the Craft. Drawing together three earlier talks, it examines the Catholic Church’s condemnations of Freemasonry, the question of whether Freemasonry is a religion, and the issue of its compatibility with Christianity. Grounded…
-
This compilation offers concise, historically grounded introductions to major Masonic traditions—Russia, Japan, Ireland, Sweden, and Prince Hall (USA)—tracing their origins, key turning points, and the distinctive features of their rites and lodge culture, so you can see how the Craft expresses itself differently across jurisdictions while remaining recognisably Masonic.
-
This lecture was originally presented by Bro. Harvey Lovewell at the ANZMRC conference in Dunedin in 2022. Download the original lecture and supporting PowerPoint of this presentation here: The Belief in a Supreme Being?
-
Good afternoon Quarrymen This weekend I’ll be running an instant Premiere on YouTube of a new video titled The Belief in a Supreme Being? — a presentation based on a 2022 lecture by Bro. Harvey Lovewell. The exact start time is still to be confirmed, but the Premiere page will go live 24 hours in…
-
In this carefully argued presentation, The Origins of Freemasonry by Alphonse Cerza, P.M., dismantles the many romantic and speculative myths that have accumulated around the Craft’s beginnings, from the Temple of Solomon to the Garden of Eden, the Ancient Mysteries, Roman Collegia, and medieval cathedral legends. Drawing on respected Masonic historians such as Henry W.…
-
Good evening Quarrymen Something new is landing on 24 January, and it asks a slightly uncomfortable question: what if much of what we think we know about the origins of Freemasonry isn’t quite as solid as we assume? This upcoming video takes a calm but mischievous look at where the Craft is really said to…
-
In this presentation we explore Ancient Symbolic Penalties, a thoughtful and challenging Short Talk Bulletin by K. W. Aldridge, which invites viewers to reconsider one of the most frequently misunderstood elements of Masonic ritual. Rather than treating the penalties found in our obligations as literal or archaic survivals, Aldridge frames them as part of a…
-
Good evening Quarrymen This weekend, as voted by our wonderful channel members will be asking the question ‘What do we really mean when we speak of the “ancient penalties” in Freemasonry—and have we perhaps misunderstood them all along’? In this short presentation, K. W. Aldridge invites us to pause and reflect on a subject that…
-
This presentation examines “A Master’s Wages,” a 1933 Short Talk Bulletin reflecting on the meaning of wages in Freemasonry beyond material reward. Drawing on the original text, it explores how the true wages of a Master Mason are found in rights and privileges, service to others, relief in times of need, fellowship within the Lodge,…
-
ANTIPODEAN SUMMER SERIES A selection of videos from the Quarries Archive.
-
ANTIPODEAN SUMMER SEASON This week we’ve published a suite of Videos originally published in 2023 and 24. I hope you enjoy this selection of four lectures from the archive exploring the Philosophical World of Freemasonry.
-
This presentation explores the strange and often contradictory world of anti-Masonic conspiracy literature, drawing on historical sources and modern examples to reveal how Freemasonry has been alternately vilified, romanticised, and misunderstood. Inspired by an essay by Australian journalist David Greason, this lecture traces the evolution of anti-Masonic thinking across Britain, America, Russia, and beyond, highlighting…
-
In this extended lecture, we explore one of the most extraordinary texts of early twentieth-century esotericism: The Hidden Life in Freemasonry (1926) by Charles Webster Leadbeater. A towering figure within the Theosophical Society and Co-Masonic circles, Leadbeater claimed that modern Masonic ritual is not merely symbolic but the vestigial survival of an ancient Egyptian initiatory…
-
Few symbols in the Third Degree speak with such austere eloquence as the Hour-Glass and the Scythe. Though familiar to generations of American Freemasons, these emblems are—perhaps unexpectedly—comparatively modern additions, shaped by the ritual innovations of Thomas Smith Webb and visually disseminated through the Doolittle engravings in Jeremy Cross’s True Masonic Chart. Yet their deeper…
-
Good evening Quarrymen This weekend learn why two of the most familiar symbols in the American Third Degree aren’t as ancient as you think—and their true story is far stranger, darker, and far more revealing. From Webb’s ritual innovations to Egyptian reaping knives, from the Fates’ shears to the apocalyptic sickle in Revelation, these emblems…
-
Long before Solomon’s Temple, before the tools of the builder became moral symbols, there was another origin story—one almost forgotten. In 1723, the Reverend James Anderson claimed that Noah and his sons were the first Freemasons, keepers of geometry and divine order who rebuilt civilisation after the Flood. This episode explores Anderson’s extraordinary idea that…
From the Quarries 