Esoteric Freemasonry

Welcome to a collection of articles on Esoteric Freemasonry.

The articles I have selected below are either written about the more speculative, philosophic or ‘occult’ elements of Freemasonry, or are articles written by or about Freemasons who were also involved in other, more overtly, occult societies such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

Is Freemasonry itself an occult society?  As a practising occultist and Freemason it is my considered opinion that Freemasonry is not.  Freemasonry, while it is "veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols", does not teach the skills necessary for operative magic and its genuinely occult symbolic framework is too sparse and disjointed to provide for any sound structure for learning or disseminating occult principles.  At best Freemasonry provides a place where people who have an interest in symbolism and associated speculation can meet, at worst (esoterically speaking) it is little more than a gentleman’s club   I shortly intend to write an essay on this subject. 

Anyway here are some articles on Esoteric Freemasonry, which I hope you will find enlightening (or at least interesting).

Important Note: For readers unfamiliar with the structure of Freemasonry I must emphise that all articles on this page (and in fact all articles that are not published by a Grand Lodge as a Grand Lodge declaration) are the opinions of the author.  Freemasonry is governed by fully independent Grand Lodges at state or national level and there is no universally accepted dogma. 

Vale.

WRvL

UPDATE Due to a variety of reason, I have not been able to update this page for the best part of a year, however over the next couple of weeks I intend to do some significant working, and reworking, on the page. Please bear with me. (15 Feb, 2001)

UPDATE Well, more time has passed and nothing has been added.  This is in part due to work and study committments, and in part due to a hard drive failure, which resulted in the losing of much material.  Soon new articles will be appearing

A word regarding copyright.  I am operating under New Zealand law as regards to copyright.  In short NZ 'fair use' law allows the publication of the follow material under the following conditions:

• I am not making a profit from the distribution.

• That I acknowledge the author and source of the material.

• That the material is not in 'public domain'.

• That it is not confidential material

I add this disclaimer because of copyright issues being raised with me.   (12 April 2001)

What is 'Esoteric Freemasonry'?

WRvL

Links

 

Historical Articles

	The Masonic Career of A.E. Waite	R.A.Gilbert
	Aleister Crowley: Freemason	Martin P Starr
	Chaos out of Order: The Rise and Fall of the Swedenborgian Rite	R.A. Gilbert
	William Wynn Westcott and the Masonic School of Esoteric Research	R.A. Gilbert
	Theodore Reuss: Irregular Freemasonry in Germany, 1900-1921	Ellic Howe and Prof. Helmut Moller
	Some Short Notes on the Golden Dawn and Freemasonry (re the Cypher Ms)	WRvL	4/5/0
	Mithras	H.L. Haywood	4/5/0

 

 

Philosophic Articles

Enlightenment from Ritual

Giuliano Di Bernardo

Silence, Symbols and Secrets of Freemasonry

Jacques Huyghebaert

The Higher Degrees

J.S.M. Ward

	Verbo Mirifico: Johannes Reuchlin and the Royal Arch	P.G. Maxwell Stuart
	Freemasonry and the Hermetic Tradition	R.A. Gilbert
	Symbolism of the Lodge	Norman Senn
	The Higher Degrees (II)	Jacques Huyghebaert	4/5/0
	Occultism of the Bible and the Kabbalah	Rabbi H. Geffen	4/5/0
	Emblematic Freemasonry	A.E. Waite	16/6/0

 

This page was last updated on 11/06/12.

Commenced labour April 10 2000

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