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BACK NEXT Summer 2008 Issue 45 Letter from the Editor Grand Lodge News News and Views On The Level International News Beyond the Craft Perambulating the Lodge Masonic Dining and Celebration Interview: The Grand Chancellor The Orator Walking the Way of Saint James Abd el-Kader: Algerian Nationalist and Freemason Province of Cambridgeshire Library & Museum Brother Lightfoote's Journal Review: Committed to the Flames Review: The Mythology of Secret Societies Review: The Dawn of Astrology Letters to the Editor Internet Library & Museum of Freemasonry Grand Lodge Quarterly Communication Convocation of Supreme Grand Chapter RMBI Masonic Samaritan Fund Grand Charity RMTGB Canon Richard Tydeman: Looking unto the Rock Copyright 1997-2010 Grand Lodge Publications Ltd Designed and Maintained by: Cyberpoint Limited

FREEMASONRY TODAY Summer 2008 - Issue 45 - Index Letter from the Editor I should like to hope that all Freemasons are registered organ donors. Charity is one of the three great principles upon which Freemasonry is founded but charity is not solely giving our time or money to help others; what charitable donation to our fellows could be greater than the gift, literally, of life? Anyone who has heard the harrowing stories of those whose kidneys have failed and whose lives are thereafter dominated by hours of dialysis every few days cannot fail to be moved. Many patients wait for years, their lives virtually on hold, until a donor kidney becomes available. A failed liver will mean a painful death unless a donor liver can become available. Even so ... Grand Lodge Grand Secretary's Column Grand Master: Consolidation Lies Ahead Pro Grand Master's speech to Grand Lodge Pro Grand Master: Royal Arch Understanding News and Views: Cambridge Shows the Way — Geology Student Welcomed — Celebrating a Royal Anniversary — Emulation Lodge of Improvement Annual Festival — Order of Women Freemasons Celebrate their Centenary — New Lifeboat Launched in Wales — Survey of Lodge and Chapter Records — West Kent's £173,000 for Children's Hospice — Sheffield Director's Inaugural Address — Internet Lodge Competition Awards — Guide to Dutch Masonic Archives — Robert Burns Arouses Interest On The Level: Elgar Lodge Consecrated — George Waits 70 Years — Top Soccer Referee Dies — Hereford Cathedral Fund Supported — John's Home-Made Chapter Tapestry — MQ Volvo Competition Winner — Cornwall Research — Scottish Appeal for Organ Funds — Cornerstone Society — Quatuor Coronati — Canonbury Masonic Research Centre — Spanish Symposium International News: Freemasonry and the Enlightenment — Crewe Professor for Dutch Chair — London Mason Heads Italian Masonic Library — Monmouth PGM Visits South Africa Beyond the Craft: Friday the 13th - A Lucky Day for Herts KT — Mark Celebrations in Kent — Surrey Royal and Select Consecration Perambulating the Lodge For the candidate, the perambulations may seem like a baffling obstacle course, and for some of the older brethren, they may no longer hold much interest; but for me, they are among the most moving parts of our whole body of ritual, and a very real reminder of what life is all about. If, in my present role as senior warden, I may seem to be in a daze when a deacon presents me with the candidate, it is not because I have forgotten the words - honest! - but because I am so lost in meditation about what I have just been watching. To my mind, the perambulations represent the ways we experience time, and each degree illustrates a different kind, which we might label specific, general, and ... Masonic Dining and Celebration After several years of serious subjects and fine art the summer show for the Library and Museum at Freemasons’ Hall this year turns to the more social side of masonry by featuring three hundred years of Masonic dining and celebration. One of the earliest entries in the first minute book of the Ancients Grand Lodge alleges that masons are being made for the fee of a ‘leg of mutton’ and, as one of the reasons for forming Grand Lodge was to ... The Grand Chancellor: Alan John Englefield Those of us who study the Communications of the Grand Lodge may have noticed that, from last September, we have had a new Grand Chancellor – new in every sense, for Alan Englefield is the first man to hold that office. We may wonder why another Senior Grand Officer is required, the Craft has managed to get by without a Grand Chancellor for over two hundred and fifty years, so why do we need one now? Given that the title of Chancellor is ... The Orator The future wellbeing of the Craft critically depends on its ability to recruit new members and, even more importantly, to retain them. Freemasonry should both challenge and inspire the Candidate from the moment of his initiation. Experience shows, however, that he often remains in the darkness of ignorance simply because nobody has taken the trouble to explain what it all means as he passes through the degrees. This lack of encouragement in the early days may result in our newly made brother leaving the Order following a short period of bewilderment ... A Freemason Walks the Way of Saint James For any one who enjoys walking, the way of Saint James is a fairly compelling challenge. It ranks among the greatest of pilgrimages. And it goes back a long time. Indeed, the faithful have been walking from Le Puy-en-Velay in central France to Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain for well over a thousand years : since somewhere around AD 835 when a peasant found the mortal remains of Saint James - Iago - in a field - a ‘campo’ - with the aid ... Abd El-Kader: Algerian Nationalist and Freemason Freemasonry can count many extraordinary members in its history, but surely one of the greatest must be Abd El-Kader – an Algerian nationalist, a Sufi Saint, and a towering figure of nineteenth-century Islam. Abd El-Kader was born at Guetna near Mascara in Algeria on 6 September 1808. He was a descendent of the Prophet Mohammed and by the age of fourteen he was a recognised Hafiz – someone who had memorised the entire Koran ... The Province of Cambridgeshire Masonic Library and Museum Our visit to The Province of Cambridgeshire Masonic Library and Museum was opportune and historic. Rodney J Wolverson the Provincial Grand Master formally launched the new Museum with a personal presentation handed to the Chairman of the Library and Museum, Jack D Cole. In 1980 the Council Management decided to form a Library and Museum. A considerable collection ... Brother Lightfoote's Journal Saint Laurence is the patron saint of cooks. This honour appears to have been bestowed on him because he was, according to tradition, martyred by being roasted on a gridiron. That claim is, however, highly suspect. Laurence was a Roman, and Romans were invariably put to death by the sword, indeed they often put themselves to death by the sword! Laurence’s gridiron appears to have been borrowed from Saint Vincent of Saragossa; the Spanish, as we know, being depressingly inventive when it comes to torture. By coincidence, Saint Vincent ... Review: Committed to the Flames Review: The Mythology of Secret Societies Review: The Dawn of Astrology Letters to the Editor Freemasonry in Cuba — Why Three Gates? — The Unlawful Societies Act — What is the Central Purpose — 17th Century Ritual — Barque or Bark of Life — Ancient Stones Misplaced — Special Operations Executive Internet There are over one billion active domain names worldwide. The website domain name is important, so that when people think of your website, they'll think of it by name. For example, when people think of freemasonrytoday or thefreemason, they don't have to wonder what URL (Universal Resource Locator) to type into their browser. With lodge domain names, it can be as simple as the lodge name and number; e.g.: hopeandcharity377.org.uk A solid high quality logo is important. This is generally the first image people see when visiting your site. Remember that old adage “first impressions count”. Images should be high quality, not too large and not too many. Search engines require ... Library & Museum of Freemasonry One of the two new exhibitions being organised by the Library and Museum this summer is called Women and Freemasonry: The Centenary, which runs from 4 June to 19 December. It is the first wideranging exhibition on this subject at Freemasons’ Hall. In June 2008 the Order of Women Freemasons celebrated its centenary. It is one of two Grand Lodges in England whose membership is restricted to women. The occasion was too good an opportunity to miss to explore the issue of women and Freemasonry. Library and Museum staff are frequently asked by the public why women are not allowed to be members and I, personally, have often faced the remark that “I didn’t know ... Grand Lodge Quarterly Communication Annual dues - Fees - Grand Charity contribution - Prestonian Lectures - Amalgamations - Erasure of lodges - Grand Lodge accounts 2007 - Grand Lodge auditors - Royal College of Surgeons - New lodges - Grand Lodge meetings - Grand Chapter meetings Convocation of Supreme Grand Chapter Grand Chapter Register - Petitions for New Chapters - Centenary Charters - Transfer - Amalgamations - Erasures - Accounts - Fees - Charges - Contributions to Grand Chapter - Metropolitan, Provincial, District and Overseas Grand Ranks - Future Convocations Masonic Charities: RMBI Masonic Charities: Masonic Samaritan Fund Masonic Charities: Grand Charity Masonic Charities: RMTGB Looking unto the Rock The prophet Isaiah, in one of his more lucid moments, exhorts his readers to ’Look unto the Rock whence ye are hew’ (Isaiah 51. 1) He apparently meant them to remember Abraham and Sarah and all the ancestry of Israel, but it is good advice for masons too, for it reminds us that a stone can only be as good - or as bad - as the quarry from which it came; and many of us spend so much time looking only at the routine work of our own individual Lodges that we tend to forget the immensity of Masonry in general. But as a builder, selecting stone for a new structure, seeks to know something of the quarry from which his stone is cut, so we should occasionally take the opportunity to ...   Issue 45, Summer 2008 © Grand Lodge Publications Ltd 1997-2010