It will be obvious what this little book (55 pages) is about. It is a bit odd that the back cover speaks of: “The historian, Freemason and Eleusinian initiate Nicola Bizzi” while in the book he only seems to say that his is an Eleusinian initiate (even though he does one time refer to “our Temples” in a Masonic context).
It is exactly because of that “Eleusinian” initiation that Bizzi claims that he knows the true origin of Freemasonry, while Masons and even Masonic scholars do not.
I agree with Bizzi that Freemasonry did not start in 1717, but in my view Bizzi is a bit too easy in concluding that the lodges formed the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster were part of a continuing esoteric tradition from times past and that later reforms continue to build thereon.
Apparently mostly based on the (in)famous The Temple and the Lodge (1989) of Baigent and Leigh, Bizzi sees the origin of Freemasonry in the Knight Templars. Following Thomas Paine (1737-1809) in a 1805 text (Origin of Freemasonry) the other origin is “Celtic-Druidic”. Does Bizzi really think that people interested in the history of Freemasonry do not know these works? Baigent / Leigh has been available for three decades by the time that Bizzi published his reflections; Paine’s text can be found online and much has been written since, but more debunking both claims that supporting them. It would have been nice had Bizzi presented something new to rekindle the theory that he puts forward.
All in all this publication only claims to know more than other publications, but there is nothing in it that helps people who are interested in the subject. It is somewhat refreshing to run into thinkers such as Guénon and Reghini, but claims such as: “But even with regard to the templar component of Freemasonry, as far as it is fully traceable and documentable” without adding anything to what is already publicly available is not really helpful.
Not a boring read, but also not something that ads anything to available literature.
In recent years a stunning amount of ancient Masonic archives have been made available to the public. Projects such as Latomia and libraries such as the Bibliotheque Nationale de France have been digitising archives. These archives usually contain hand-written, 18th century documents that are wildly interesting but hard to read. Fortunately, people took it upon themselves to transcribe and publish and sometimes even translate such old rituals.
So we have the three volume Les 81 grades qui fondèrent au siècle des lumières le Rite Français (2021) of Colette Leger containing 81 degrees that were compressed to the French Rite of seven degrees. With Quest for a Lost Rite I thought to have found something similar, but then for Memphis-Misraim.
This turned out to be only half true. What Ravignat did in his Quest for a Lost Rite: The Origins, High Degrees and Spiritual Practices of Traditional Egyptian Freemasonry was recreate what he calls “Traditional Egyptian Freemasonry” (TER). The documents for this project, he found in the “Fonds Gaborria” of the Bibliothèque Numérique Patrimoniale, also a digital, public archive. Ravignat aimed his arrows at ‘original Egyptian Freemasonry’, documents older than the rites of Memphis, Misraim and their combination. These are texts of (of course) Cagliostro (1743-1795), but also of Jean-Baptiste-Louis-Théodore de Tschudi (1734-1784) (Tschoudy in the book), Marc Bédarride (1776-1846) and … Jean-Baptiste Willermoz (1730-1824) and his brother Pierre-Jacques Willermoz (1735-1799).
The book opens with a fascinating history of “Egyptian Freemasonry” and its development towards several contemporary currents of Memphis-Misraim. The introduction alone makes the book worth buying. What follows after are the texts of 18 degrees. They are translated from the Gaborria archive, but Ravignat frequently felt he had to fill gaps using other texts. In the appendices there are five more degrees.
“Egyptian Freemasonry” is obviously much more esoteric than ‘Freemasonry proper’. The first degrees are recognisable, yet more elaborate, but as you go on, lessons about Alchemy (both physical and spiritual) start to appear, Theurgy (invocations of angels and spirits), John Dee-type ceremonies, etc. Some degrees have similarities to other old or still in use (for example in the Scottish Rite), other are nothing like anything I ran into so far. Some of the degrees are lengthy and elaborate, others are not much more than: ‘candidate enters, takes an oath, gets a catechism’. These catechisms are Q&A’s which can be between a few pages to 20+ pages in Ravignat’s book. These Q&A’s sometimes explain elements of the degree, symbols on the tracing board, but also complete lessons in Alchemy or Theurgy.
Towards the end of the book, the author reconstructs the “Traditional Egyptian Rite’s Spiritual Methods” with detailed lessons in both kinds of Alchemy, invocations, prayers and what not. His aim with the book is to present a manual that can be actually used by lodges and their members, hence the reconstructions, explanations, details, cross-references and use of images.
What is a bit odd is that Ravignat numbers his degrees differently from the texts in the Gaborria archives. Also he does not present a 90 or 99 degree system (which are not all worked in MM Freemasonry anyway), but he does seem to have used that numbering. Perhaps he could have just created an 18 degree “TER” rite, but I am sure he had his reasons. These non-matching numberings sometimes makes it hard to find the correct file in the Gaborria archive.
All in all Ravignat’s book is fascinating. Finally a descent history of Egytian-style Freemasonry and translations of old ritual texts are always welcome. I am not familiar enough with nowadays Memphis-Misraim to know how much Ravignat’s system differs from the various MM rites, so that I have to leave for people more familiar with MM.
As with several similar publications nowadays, the book is an Amazon printing-on-demand, friendly priced, available to anyone interested and a 500+ pages on A4 in a paperback (a bit difficult to handle). Recommended if you are interested in a much more esoteric approach to Freemasonry and/or the history of Egyptian themed Freemasonry in general.
I find the title of this book not too well chosen. The book is not about myths or legends, but a collection of essays investigating Masonic history. Pierre Mollier (1961-) is member of the Grand Orient de France, director of their museum in Paris and one of the most productive and interesting Masonic investigators of our time. Most of his work is written in French, so it is good that a compilation of his texts are made available in English. Only a few, the book is only 150 pages.
Some of the subjects in this book are much ‘in flux’ nowadays (early history of the ‘high degrees’), so it would have been nice to know when the different texts were written. Since the beginning of this millennium the investigation of the history of ‘high degrees’ has taken a high flight. This is mostly because the archives that the Nazis robbed and landed in Russia after WWII were returned. French archives proved to contain invaluable texts that had been gone for over half a century. Many old ritual texts, early versions of rituals that we still know, but also rituals that did not make it.
This is but one of the subjects in Mollier’s book though. He also writes about a Masonic book plate from 1657, connections between Freemasonry and Knightly orders, general early Masonic history, “the Jewish and Christian sources of the legend of the vault” and also French Masonic developments in the context of development of French society, etc.
All in all a nice little book. Hopefully also some of Mollier’s in depth investigations will become available in English as well.
Even though the publisher Westphalia Press is located in the conservative South of the USA, they publish many books about the French/continental approach to Freemasonry. Also they publish serious Masonic investigations. What is even better, they are neither an academic, nor an internal publishing house, so many of their books can be purchased for normal prices and by anyone, not just members of certain lodges for research for example.
This is one such deep diving scholarly Masonic publications that can be bought in paperback or hardcover. The book is subtitled: “Masonic Higher Degrees 1730-1800”. The authors (an Englishman and a Frenchman) complain about the facts that many scholars keep repeating that nothing much happened in Freemasonry between 1730 (the publication of “Masonry Dissected”) and 1760 (“Three Distinct Knocks”). Also that their predecessors keep repeating the same quotes without context; that they focus only on the “craft” degrees or a specific degree and a particular country. This the authors decided to turn over and show that actually a lot happened and that links can be found when you do not focus on one country and a specific (set of) degree(s).
In the book the authors go from the earliest mentions of ‘high degrees’ in England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany and a few other countries. They went to check on the proof that previous authors have used and sometimes have to conclude that the unsubstantiated claims are made even by academic investigators. Belton and Dachez reviewed evidence, looked for new information and paint a picture in which things are not so neatly divided as some want. There are much stronger links between Freemasonry in the mentioned countries than some think. Influences back and forth, new degrees that rapidly pop up in another part of Europe or even South or North America.
400+ Pages with detailed information about a broad spectrum of ‘high degrees’ and because the authors also investigate where they came from, you will also learn about the appearance of the third degree. Enormous amounts of information have been checked, authors they cite are consulted and new information was found. Highly interesting!
A minor point of criticism is that the book can use an extra redaction. There are quite a few typos (also in years), strange use of words as if Dachez wrote his texts in France and they were translated automatically, while notes are left untranslated), sentences and quotes that are printed twice. These sorts of things.
There is also a French version of the book: “Les Premiers Hauts Grades écossais – L’énigme des origines (1730-1800)”.
It is a bit ironic. I am always looking for a contemporary esoteric approach to Freemasonry, but the few books that appear, are not too interesting to me. All Tria Prima books so far are alright, but not great. Unfortunately also the second book by Lamb is no exception.
The Archetypal Temple: and Other Writings On Masonic Esotericism contains mostly short essays that have mostly been published before. The book covers a variety of esoteric and occult topics combined with Freemasonry. Lamb obviously has a preference for astrology and Tarot. You will also get a bit of Hermeticism, ceremonial magic and more typical Masonic subjects such as the lost word and virtues.
Lamb speaks not only of “craft” degrees (Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason) by the way and even an organisation such as Societas Rosicruciana is written about.
The texts are alright to read, there are some interesting thoughts here and there, but I was not exactly ‘blown away’.
Best order your book from Lulu.com. Amazon said they do not ship to my country, Lulu had no problems with that.
In 2020 a group of American Freemasons with ‘esoteric leanings’ started a website with postcast and after a while “Tria Prima Press”. After two books in 2021, this is the third title that has been made available.
“What does stodgy Freemasonry have to do with alchemy, Hermeticism, brewing beer, or the quest for the Philosopher’s Stone?” Interesting questions. I must say that the book is only mildly interesting though.
Schick comes mostly with a fairly general history of Western esotericism. Here and there is a bit more focus on the subjects of alcohol and Freemasonry enters the book only towards the end. Schick sees another than just a practical reason for the use of taverns for lodge meetings in the early days of modern Freemasonry which is perhaps the original twist to the book.
That Hiram is a replacement for Hermes is not an entirely new suggestion and unfortunately Schick does not really have more information about how exactly that happened (just that ‘it was Desagulier’). More in detail (though not new ones) is the story of the introduction of the third degree.
There are some accents laid differently from other books, but The Grand Communication did not teach me anything that I did not already know. If you are not too familiar with Western esotericism, how it relates to Freemasonry, the early days with “Modern” , “Antient” and York Grand lodges, Schick’s book makes an easy to read introduction.
This dissertation is frequently cited both by Masons and non-Masons alike, so I decided to track it down and read it. I was surprisingly unimpressed…
It is not that the book is without merit. As a linguist, Voss investigates the language of Freemasonry. Words, their contexts, the different meanings, etc. Plus, the author explains a lot of symbols and -without images- is partly a bit of a Masonic encyclopaedia.
For an author who is specifically after the meaning of words, Voss is strangely inaccurate with some words and phrases. She speaks of “androgynous orders” such as that of the Amaranth (“a Masonic-affiliated organization for Master Masons and their Ladies founded in 1873” (Wikipedia)). Strictly speaking the description is not incorrect, but Voss makes no distinction between mixed gender Masonically affiliated orders such as the Amaranth or the Order of the Eastern Star or Freemasonry that includes all genders. She even manages to use the term “Co-Masonry” for the Order of the Eastern Star, while this term was specifically coined to describe Freemasonry (not a side order with different rituals and symbols) that includes women. Also she appears to wrote from a “regular” perspective, even managing to compare Cagliostro to Taxil. Just as in the previous example, Voss might have been more nuanced.
On to the positive points of the book then. The author describes a fair range of ‘Freemasonries’ and “androgynous” and youth orders. The focus lays on Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry, but the book is certainly not exclusive to it. Voss goes into symbols and words, but also into the rituals of many of the organisations mentioned. Towards the end there is information about anti-Masonry, Freemasonry in the theatre, even Masonic comics.
Parts of the work (of about 900 pages!) are good to read. Some revisions would help. There are also chapters that are less of my interest. All in all a book to have a look at some time, but not one that needs to be very high up on your list.
I ran into this title in the catalogue of the Austrian publisher Geheimes Wissen. The full title of the book is (translated): “History of Freemasonic Systems in England, France and Germany”. It was first published in 1879. When I ordered the book I thought it was older. “Br. Freiherr C.D.F.W. von Nettelbladt” (1779-1843) wrote a history of Freemasonry in this version worth 800+ pages in two volumes.
The reason the book caught my interest was that I do not know all that much about the history of the varried Masonic landscape in Germany. Moreover, the book deals with both “regular” and “irregular” Freemasonry.
The book is extremely dry. It is almost as if you are reading 800 pages of minutes. The author does indeed provide a general history of Freemasonry, more specifically deals with France and Germany and writes about interesting developments such as the Strikte Observanz, Der Eklektische Bund, Die Afrikanischen Bauherren, the Gold- und Rosenkreuzer, Friedrich Schöder (1744-1816) and his system and about the Großloge Royal York and he did so not too longer after several of such organisations rose or perished, but his book is a tough read. Quoting correspondence and other histories, referring to frictions, he rarely says anything about interesting subjects such as what rituals and degrees were worked, why, where they came from, etc.
The book is mostly interesting for people who are interested in the organisational histories of the organisations mentioned above and less so for people like myself, who want to learn more about the way these organisations worked. There are almost no images. The author obviously did have access to a lot of material, also rituals and here and there refers to imaginary on tracing boards or elements from the rituals, but too little in my opinion.
The book presents massive walls of texts with hardly any alineas or sub-chapters, neither is there an index which allows you to look for something specific. There are gigantic chapters about the Strikte Observanz that are split into different periods, but that is as structured as you get it. Things get a bit better in the second volume and only the relatively short chapter about the Grand Lodge Royal York comes somewhat in the direction of what I was hoping for.
Generally speaking you see an everlasting struggle with ‘high degrees’ (of which Von Nettelbladt did not think highly), skip or keep. Also the influence of the Strikte Observanz has been massive also on the various other Grand Lodges that there were in these days. The Strikte Observanz tried to create a ‘super Grand Lodge’ but this was not realised before the system was dismantled after the Convent of Willhelmsbad of 1782. Many years later there actually would be such a ‘super Grand Lodge’.
Dry Masonic history. A classic one and easily available.
I was curious if I could find any material of the German ‘extra-Masonic’ order of the Gold- und Rosenkreuzer (1757-1787). Just like when I was doing the same for Fraternitas Saturni I found my way to the Austrian publisher Geheimes Wissen (‘secret knowledge’). I thought that Pansophia was perhaps a publication of the Gold- und Rosenkreuzer and that the publisher republished it. That is not the case though.
It appears that in the 1920’ies in Germany there was a “neo Rosicrucian” movement (according to the German Wikipedia) called “Pansophische Gesellschaft”. Between 1923 and 1925 they published six volumes of a periodical called Pansophia, Urquellen Inneren Lebens (‘Pansophia, primal sources of inner life’). The third volume of which contains material of the Gold- und Rosenkreuzer.
The author / compiler of this work went to different Masonic archives to gather material of the Gold- und Rosenkreuzer. This material is ordered by the nine degrees that the order had. Beyer did not manage to gather a complete archive. Of some degrees he found ritual texts, of other degrees only secondary material. He was not able to consult the famous Kloss archive in Den Haag which also contains Gold- und Rosenkreuzer material.
Beyer starts with giving some background to the material. Even though the order was not founded by Freemasons, it was initially intended to be a system for ‘higher degrees’, so only Master Masons could apply. Later the “Juniores” degree was added which is basically a summery of the three “craft” degrees of Freemasonry. Of the first degrees you get (snippets of) the rituals with educational texts and Beyer’s elucidations. It is not always clear what text is of Beyer and what of the material that he gathered.
The Gold- und Rosenkreuzer different substantially from ‘Freemasonry proper’. The first degree has three tracing boards for example. Several of the rituals need more rooms than what is common in Freemasonry. Almost needless to say, but the texts are much more esoteric than your ‘average’ Masonic ritual. There are interesting alchemical texts, also what appear to be instructions for practical Alchemy. There is a bit of Kabbalah. But mostly, many texts are mostly procedural and rather dull. Detailed descriptions of what and how a table should be set, requirements, etc.
The book contains several images, some in colour and all the way at the back, there is a fold-out page. Oddly enough none of the images are anything as elaborate as the famous Geheime Figuren which are also supposed to be from the same group and published around the same time. Perhaps the present title was internal material and for the Geheime Figuren they set out to make a better looking publication for a larger audience.
All in all the publication gives a fair insight into the working of the Gold- und Rosenkreuzer. In the German language by the way.
In 2016 Frimurerne i Vikingtiden was published. It took me some effort to get the book and even more to read it in Norwegian! Since that time the author had been trying to have it published in English. Finally he succeeded. Where the first book was published nicely as a hardcover by a Norwegian publishing house, the English edition is self published through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing and it comes as a paperback (so far at least). The book has not only been translated, it has also been updated.
About Ystad’s theories, I have written elsewhere (here and here). In short, Ystad is one of the few authors who looks for the origins of Masonic symbolism in the pre Christian past of Northern Europe. In Ystad’s case, he thinks that the Viking rituals of initiations to Freyja, Odin and Thor are the basis for the three degrees of Freemasonry. During the Viking settlement on the British isles, these rituals were introduced the cradle of Freemasonry.
In English, the information that Ystad presents is of course much easier to follow than in Norwegian. The updates in the new edition can be found in more cosmological interpretations of Norse myths.
What makes the book interesting to people who have not necessarily have an interest in the Masonic side of the story, but more in heathenry in general, is that Ystad refers to many Scandinavian publications and that he uses recent archaeological findings. These have been updated for the new edition too. The reader will also be introduced to investigations and findings that are probably unknown outside Scandinavian specialists.
Even though the author refers to Georges Dumézil he came to other conclusions regarding the “functions”. As we saw, the rites of Odin supposedly became the second degree of Freemasonry. Those of Thor the third degree. Also Ystad sees Thor as one half of the “divine twins”, while in Dumézil’s scheme the first and second “function” are ‘doubly occupied’ while the second (where he places Thor) not. The other half of the twin, according to Ystad, may originally have been Loki.
Since 2016 Ystad has been telling that his next book will be about these twins. Now this book has a name: The Myth That Shaped Our Culture.
According to Ystad Vikings founded the city of Jorvik which later became York. For his Masonic information he mostly leans on the famous (and easy to obtain) Duncan’s Masonic Ritual and Monitor (1866) which is the “York rite”. It is but one of many Masonic rituals. As Duncan’s book has been publicly available for many years, Ystad does not shy to quote it in detail. Hence: the book is full of ‘Masonic spoilers’. There are also references to the “Swedish Rite” in which the author worked for three decades. In both cases you can see conclusions based on the peculiarities of these rituals.
This is one of the problems of the book. Fairly disparate elements are compared to also disparate elements of Norse culture (different cultures, different times). This is interesting in a way, but with such an approach you have to present a lot of similarities to make the underlying hypothesis likely. Also there are a lot of “could it be?” type questions and some conclusions of the author would not have been my own.
Indeed, an investigation on shaky ground with many holes and ‘convenient conclusions’. Then again, it is never going to be so easy that we find ritual texts, new versions of which we can trace through time until the dawn of Freemasonry. Speculation will always be involved. Ystad made a brave attempt to present a little-known theory. His attempt even costs him his membership of his mother lodge!
The reason that I heard of the first book, was that it had been picked up by the major German journal Der Spiegel and their publication caused a little stir online. Let us hope that this revised and enlarged edition will also cause a little stir so that this too-little-heard-of theory will reach a larger audience. Ystad’s book is not the ultimate explanation of the origins of Freemasonry, but in 400+ page he certainly shoots enough similarities and theories at you, to make you wonder if Northern Europe [was] one of the sources of Masonic symbolism as Franz Farwerck named one of his books.
