Freemasonry: SONS OF THE WIDOW

Freemasonry:

SONS OF THE WIDOW

by Iain Gray

TempleofMysteries.com

Copyright 2011 TempleofMysteries.com

Smashwords Edition

Legends

Genesis

Holy Warriors

Heretics

Shape & Number

Transmission

Protectors of Masons

The Apron & the Sword

The Man Who Would be King

Of High Degree

Ritual

Royal Arch

Perfect Masters, Knights & Eagles

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBooks may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this eBook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

FOREWARD

FIRST written more than 10 years ago, Sons of the Widow has been updated to take account of new developments in Freemasonic research – but its general theme remains unaltered. Modern day Freemasons persistently maintain that Freemasonry is not a secret organisation, but an organisation with secrets. In recent years the organisation has ‘opened up’ to the inquisitive outside world in a manner which would have been unheard of previously – to the extent of even hosting its own websites – while books detailing Freemasonic rituals can be acquired with ease by the uninitiated. Yet secrets remain – secrets unknown to even the vast majority of Freemasons themselves. None of the readily available manuals on Freemasonic ritual actually explain the esoteric background. Sons of the Widow casts a new light on the dark mysteries of Freemasonry and reveals, for the first time, how the central motif of Freemasonic ritual is one of death and resurrection – a motif with roots in our ancient past. It explains how the Freemason has to symbolically die to achieve illumination - how all Freemasons become, through ritual, ‘sons of the widow’.

Central to any study of Freemasonry is an examination of the mysterious band of warrior monks known as the Knights Templar. Since the publication in 1982 of Baigent, Lincoln and Leigh’s ground-breaking The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, a veritable industry has been spawned in Templar-related topics. What many researchers have missed, however, is the fact that the Knights Templar have existed, in one guise or another, up until the present day. 

In July 2002 the international order of the Knights Templar – Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani (OSMTH) – was granted special consultative status by the United Nations. Earlier in 2002 the Order had initiated a special three-day ‘reconciliation’ meeting in Khartoum between Muslim and Christian leaders.

While researching Sons of the Widow, the author was granted rare access to material in the care of the present-day Scottish Knights Templar of the Chivalric Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem. He was also accorded the privilege of being allowed to attend the Order’s ceremony for the Investiture and Receipt for the Accolade of Knighthood – based on a ceremony first practiced more than eight centuries ago. Sons of the Widow describes this ceremony for the first time.

Legends

THE forms of present day Freemasonic rituals were in the main the invention of 18th century Speculative Freemasons. These are based on primitive rituals practised by the early craft stonemasons and refined with the addition of esoteric knowledge of ancient mystery religions   esoteric knowledge that was transmitted through a number of sources.

The early craft mason had neither the time nor inclination for an abstract system of morality. There is no doubt that, in common with other craft workers, he would have his own secret signs and words of recognition   to distinguish a qualified craftsmen from outsiders. His main concern was his conditions of employment.

For the medieval mason these conditions were harsh. Without benefit of modern day safety standards or tools or equipment to make the complex task of building in stone easier, their main employers were the ruling monarch of the day and the Church. Unlike the rest of Europe, building in stone came late to Britain, with the Church introducing skilled craftsmen to work on the great cathedrals and abbeys and training the native workforce.

The employer, be it Crown or Church, would employ a master mason to be in charge of the technical side of a particular building operation, while a Clerk of Works would be employed to administer the financial side. Records show that the master masons not only acted as building 'foremen', but also as architects, responsible for drawing up the detailed building plans. If employed by the King, they were members of the royal household.

'Lodge' organisations of masons existed in Scotland before such organisations existed in England, with Scotland able to boast the earliest official minute books for such lodges. Twenty-five Masonic lodges, predating 1710, have been identified as existing in Scotland. Although the earliest reference to one of these lodges is 1599, the nature of the reference makes it clear that the lodge had been in operation for some time previous to this date. These lodges, with the date of their earliest reference, include Aitchison’s Haven (1599), Kilwinning (1599), Glasgow (1613), Scone (1658), and Kilmolymock (Elgin), in 1704.

The main secrets with which the medieval stonemason would have been concerned would have related to the skills of his craft   in particular secrets of geometry. But these secrets had an esoteric aspect.

In common with other crafts, the medieval stonemason would have been at pains to boast of his craft's uniqueness   of legendary origins that, he could claim, had Biblical roots.

The legendary material relating to the origins of Freemasonry are contained in what are known as the Old Charges. The oldest of these one hundred or so manuscripts detailing the legendary history of the Craft is the Regius Poem, of circa 1390, and the Cook Manuscript of circa 1425. Although in the main apocryphal, versions of the Old Charges contain some material, which finds an echo in the traditional history of the Craft imparted to candidates for the three Craft degrees.

Although there are variations in the content of the various surviving copies of the Old Charges   which contain not only a legendary history of the Craft but rules of conduct laid down for a mason's observance, the basic legend is as follows:

Masonry, the narrative section of the Old Charges states, is one of the seven liberal sciences   of grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. Geometry is equated with masonry.

According to the narrative, Lamach, mentioned in the fourth chapter of Genesis, had three sons and a daughter. One of the sons, Jabell, founded geometry. Fearing the wrath of God for mankind's sins and anxious to preserve the scientific knowledge, they carved this knowledge on two pillars   one of which survived the Flood, and was discovered by Hermes Trismegitus.

Hermes then taught this knowledge to the world, and it was utilised by masons in the construction of the Tower of Babel, by Nimrod, King of Babylon, who gave masons the firs charges', or rules, to govern their craft. Abraham then taught the seven liberal sciences in Egypt while his pupil, Euclid, taught the science of geometry to the sons of Egyptian lords and issued new charges for the conduct of the mason craft.

At the building of Solomon's Temple, the Old Charges state, further charges were given to the masons by Solomon. One of these masons brought knowledge of the Craft to France and to the attention of the future king of that country, Charles Martell. Martell, a patron of the Craft, gave it new charges.

From France, the Craft spread to England through the agency of St Alban. Wars, however, and the resultant internal disruption they caused, led to the destruction of the good rule of masonry, until it was restored by King Athelstan and its status further enhanced later by Athelstan's son, Edwin.

The Kilwinning version of the Old Charges states that Edwin ...loved massons much more than his father did, and he was a great practiser of Geometrie; and he drew him much to commune and talk with massons to learn of them the craft, and afterwards for love that he had to massons and to the craft he was made a Masson. And he got of the king his father a Charter of Commission to hold ane Assembly where they would within the realm once a year, and to correct within themselves faults and trespasses that within the Craft were done.

The narrative section of the Old Charges concludes that at this assembly of masons Edwin made a plea for all masons, both at home and abroad, to give their knowledge of masonry and its origins to him. From this, he compiled a book on how the craft was founded, and he himselfe bade and commanded that it should be read and told when any Masson should be made, and for to give him his Charges.

With reference to the Hiramic legend that forms the basis of the three Craft degrees of Freemasonry, it is interesting to note an Old Charges reference to the building of Solomon's Temple:

And furthermore, there was a king of another region that men called Iram, and he loved weel King Solomon, and he gave him timber to his worke. And he had a son what heght Aynon, and he was a Master of Geometrie; and he was Chief Master of all his Massons, and was master of his Gravery and Carving, and all other manner of Masonrie that belonged to the Temple. And this is witnessed in the Bible in the fourth of Kings and third chapter after this same Solomon confirmed both Charges and Manners that his father had given to Massons; and thus was that Craft of Massonrie confirmed in the County of Jerusalem and many other kingdoms. This son of King Iram   identified as Hiram   is referred to in some versions of the Old Charges as Amon, Aynone, or Anon. It is the same Hiram who is central to the legend of the three Craft degrees of Freemasonry.

Also tracing an origin back to the Temple of Solomon was the French institution of journeymen known as La Compagnonnage. These associations, formed for mutual support and aid during the journeyman's travels throughout France, were comprised of three divisions   the Sons of Solomon, the Sons of Maitre Jacques, and the Sons of Maitre Soubise.

The Sons of Solomon, whose ranks included stonemasons, joiners, and locksmiths, claimed their predecessors had built the Temple of Solomon, while the Sons of Maitre Soubise, whose ranks comprised carpenters, and the sons of Maitre Jacques also claimed a descent from the Temple. The Sons of Maitre Jacques asserted their founder had been one of King Solomon's overseers.

From Germany comes another legend for the origins of Freemasonry   that it was derived from the Steinmetzen (stone cutters) of that country. The claim was first advanced as late as 1848, but no convincing parallels between the organisation and customs of the Steinmetzen and the lodges of Freemasonry have yet been demonstrated.

The work of the early craft masons, particularly their work on the Temple of Solomon, forms the basis of what is known as Mark Masonry. Minutes from a Banff lodge in 1778 refer to the degree of Mark Man being conferred on Fellow Crafts, and Mark Master on Master Masons. Craft masons would utilise a 'mark' in two ways   to identify their own tools, and to identify a particular piece of work as their own. It was these early masons, Freemasons claim, who devised the secret Masonic alphabet, based on the square.

Mark Man

One early form of the lecture for the degree of Mark Man is as follows. S.W. denotes the Lodge official known as Senior Warden, while, W.M. denotes the Worshipful Master:

W.M: Brother Senior Warden, in what manner do we prepare our candidates in this degree?

S.W: As a fellow Craft, with the additional characteristic of this degree on his apron.

W.M: What is that characteristic?

S.W: The ten mathematical characters, to correspond with the nine figures and the cypher in arithmetic; the signature of Hiram Abiff and the mark of this degree.

W.M: Why is he thus prepared?

S.W: To denote the official duties of this class of Masons at the building of King Solomon's temple, and the discovery made by the brethren, when they were repairing the temple.

W.M: Being thus prepared, in what manner did you enter?

S.W: By three reports, varying in the sound from those of a Fellow Craft.

W.M: Having gained your admission, how were you dealt with?

S.W: I was conducted round to repair the temple in a manner peculiar to this degree, and having made a valuable discovery. I afterwards received a solemn obligation to keep sacred the secrets of this Order. After I had taken the obligation, and sealed it in the usual manner, I was raised in the ancient form of a Master Mason.

W.M: Having thus bound yourself to keep the secrets of this order, what were the mysteries with which you were then entrusted?

S.W: The sign, token, and word of a Mark Man.

W.M: What does the sign denote?

S.W: The penalty of the obligation.

W.M: Why was it introduced into this Order of Masonry?

S.W: To commemorate the signal used by our ancient brethren of this degree, when the first temple was erected in the city of Jerusalem.

W.M: What was that signal?

S.W: The trumpet.

W.M: Why was it used?

S.W: To denote the approach of danger.

W.M: What does the grip or token denote?

S.W: One of the penal laws of ancient Tyre united with the famous link of a Mark Man.

W.M: What does the word denote?

S.W: Everything past, present, to come.

W.M: Why was this grand, majestic, word introduced?

S.W: To hold in commemoration a very remarkable circumstance that occurred on the morning that the foundation stone of the temple was laid. Whilst King Solomon was in the act of congratulating our Grand Superintendent Hiram Abiff, on the occasion of his having discovered the celebrated problem in masonry and geometry, one of the precious stones fell from the royal crown to the ground, which, being perceived by the senior master of the Order of Mark Men, who, with the chief officers, were in attendance on this grand and solemn assembly, he picked it up and returned it to the king. This stone was of the carbuncle kind, and represented the tribe of Judah and our Saviour. It was formed into that great and glorious name, which King Solomon permitted to be used in the test word of this degree, in commemoration of its having been found by one of the chief brethren of this Order.

W.M: What was the original number of Mark Men at the building of King Solomon's temple?

S.W: Two thousand.

W.M: Who were they?

S.W: The Senior and Junior Wardens of the Fellow Craft's Lodges.

W.M: How many lodges of Mark Men were there in the city of Jerusalem?

S.W: Twenty.

W.M: Why limited to twenty?

S.W: In allusion to the height, length, and breadth of the sanctum sanctorum, or holy of holies.

W.M: How many Masons in each lodge?

S.W: One hundred.

W.M: What was the employ of these Mark Men?

S.W: To mark the materials, as they came out of the hands .of the workmen, to enable them to put them together with greater facility and precision, when brought from the quarries of Tyre, the Forests of Lebanon, and the clay ground of the Jordan, between the Succoth and Zarthan, to the holy city of Jerusalem.

W.M: What were the peculiar marks on that occasion?

S.W: Certain mathematical figures, consisting of squares, levels, and perpendiculars, that King Solomon commanded to be used on that occasion, which have ever since been denominated the Freemasons' Secret Alphabet or Mystic Characters .... Other legends of Freemasonic origin have claimed an unbroken line of descent from groups such as the Culdees, the Druids, the Roman associations of workmen known as the