En: What Young Freemasons Really Want From Freemasonry

What Young Freemasons Really Want From Freemasonry

By Bro Jeff Peace

Over the past 20 years Grand Lodges have struggled to understand what young Freemasons really want from Freemasonry. From their perspective the fraternity offered a wonderful social club that was engaged in supporting local communities through various charities. They used clever marketing slogans such as the ubiquitous “We make good men better”; believing this would boost the appeal of the organization. Unfortunately, these slogans, when combined with the oaths, obligations, and archaic rituals, created a desperate longing for understanding and fulfillment.

The Grand Lodges viewed charity and community service as the means through which Freemasonry made good men better, but the rituals imply something much deeper and more profound. The Internet and social networking provided young Masons with access to thousands of competing ideas regarding the meaning and purpose of Freemasonry. Most of these were based on pseudo-historical books and fringe element thinking. The Grand Lodges had created an empty glass waiting to be filled, and there were those on the outside eagerly waiting to fill it with occult ideology. Modern occultists and pseudo-historians lined their pockets with the money spent by young Masons on books, while Freemasonry continued to decline.

Tradition and Obedience

Freemasonry was systematically being redefined through subtle changes in language. What had been a fraternity or organization became an ‘obedience’. Occult teachings were relabeled ‘esoteric’. The Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley’s Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) were slowly moved from the fringe into the mainstream with the help of outside organizations such as the Martinists. The term ‘tradition’ was perverted to cover-up these activities so that the Grand Lodges would be duped into believing the people involved were loyal traditional Freemasons, when the ‘tradition’ being referred to was those of late 19th century occultists.

Freemasonry has never ever been an obedience. An obedience is a monastic rule or Order. Freemasonry is not a religion, and has never claimed to be one. The only groups claiming Freemasonry to be an obedience were those conceived in the late 19th century by occultists such as John Yarker, Aleister Crowley, and Helena Blavatsky.

True Masonic traditions date back to the period from 1599 to 1730. The occult traditions being put forth today date back only to the mid 1800s. The real traditions of Freemasonry are being eclipsed by those of the occultists, and those who profit from their work.

Chambers of Reflection

The Chamber of Reflection was brought into Freemasonry during the French Revolution as a symbol of the new Republic’s resolve to end the religious tyranny of the Roman Catholic Church over the people of France. It first appeared in the anti-clerical neo-Knights Templar groups in France during the 18th century. Then was introduced into Freemasonry by the Modern Rite under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of France. Albert Pike based the first three degrees of his version of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite loosely around those of the French Modern Rite. He did this in addition to writing his infamous open letter to the Pope which resulted in a short period of scorn for the fraternity.

The Chamber of Reflection was intended as a mockery of the confessional chambers found in Catholic churches. Instead of being a divided chamber like those in churches, it was a single chamber (implying the priest was unnecessary). Taken in its proper context as a part of the French Revolution, the Chamber of Reflection is uniquely a part of the Freemasonry of the Grand Orient of France, but it has no place in English or American Freemasonry. No English, Scottish, or American Masonic lodge ever had a Chamber of Reflection.

The use of a Chamber of Reflection in modern American Freemasonry is both bizarre and dangerous. It’s bizarre because one of the primary symbols found in the chamber is a cock; the national symbol of France. It’s dangerous because it’s extremely anti-clerical, and will be viewed as a hostile act towards Christianity. At no point in English or American Masonic history has the fraternity ever openly mocked the Christian religion, or had a reason to do so.

Alchemy and Freemasonry

Speculative Freemasonry was created by order of King James VI of Scotland (later James I of the UK). James was adamantly opposed to alchemy and the occult. James not only created Freemasonry, but joined his newly created Order. Does it seem reasonable, or even likely, that a king, famous for his condemnation of the occult and alchemy, would create an occult Order based on alchemy? Consider too that James had alchemists and occultists burned at the stake, and that his translation of the Holy Bible remains a symbol of Freemasonry that is found in virtually all English and American Masonic lodges. When the real historical facts are brought to light, the arguments found in pseudo-historical books are revealed to be nothing more than imaginative fiction.

James was a proponent of a merger of the Christian religion and neo-Stoic philosophy. He writes at length about this. He also favored the advancement of science, especially mathematics. The only reason John Dee was not burned at the stake was his value as a mathematician. James allowed him to live, but refused to drop the charges against him for necromancy.

What Young Freemasons Really Want

Young Freemasons want the original meaning and purpose of Freemasonry restored within the Craft. The occultists have been allowed to provide a meaning and purpose based around the ideas promulgated by fringe groups during the 19th century. The original meaning and purpose of Freemasonry has been altogether forgotten, and no attempt to revive it has been undertaken by the Grand Lodges.

Dr. David Harrison and I have been working diligently to provide the information young Masons need to understand the original meaning and purpose of Freemasonry, and the true history of the fraternity. It will take time, but the truth will eventually be made available to all. It will no longer be locked away in manuscripts and the halls of academia.