Dr. David Harrison

Category: Freemasonry

  • Theosophy and Twin Peaks

    Phillip Jeffries from Twin Peaks The Return

    Having been a massive Twin Peaks and David Lynch fan since when the first season aired back in 1990, the recent return of Twin Peaks has been a satisfying and excellent piece of television art, with so many themes that I’m sure many articles, books and academic papers will be written about it in years to come. For me however, the Twin Peaks story ignites an obvious recognition of occult themes, some of which I touched upon in a recent article. One particular aspect of Twin Peaks that I found interesting were the parallels with The Wizard of Oz, something Lynch has conveyed before in his film Wild at Heart, a film that also portrayed a journey and one that featured a number of Twin Peaks actresses.

    The wizard from The Wizard of Oz (1939)

    The surrealist imagery that Lynch used such as the steaming ‘kettle’ that was Phillip Jeffries, played by the late David Bowie in the film Fire Walk with Me, can be paralleled with the translucent image of the Wizard made by a machine – the cinematic images portraying an ethereal and arcane all-knowing figure who guides both the evil and good Cooper on their way. This imagery is compounded with the use of orbs in Twin Peaks to portray the evil Bob character and the goodness of Laura Palmer, especially in episode 8 of The Return, and with the orbs seen in the Wizard of Oz. The ethereal beings are free visually to move around on film in a magical way, the good and evil orb being projected by the use of colour – the gold for good and dark for evil. The use of colour film and black and white film is also used in The Return in a similar way to The Wizard of Oz, the contrast being especially used to portray different ‘dimensions’. The imagery of red shoes also appears in Twin Peaks, reminding one of the ruby slippers in the Wizard of Oz. The references to Judy and Garland Briggs in Twin Peaks also hints at an influence from the classic film, as does the use of the vortex to enter the different worlds.

    The author of the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum, was a Theosophist, Theosophy being an esoteric tradition that concerns the mysteries of life and nature, the nature of Divinity and that hidden knowledge is the secret to understanding the path of enlightenment. Theosophy has promoted a way of understanding the Divine through meditation, and can be seen as a personal journey to discover enlightenment and the discovery of the true self. Some of these themes can clearly be seen in both The Wizard of Oz and Twin Peaks, both portraying journeys between different worlds, the never ending fight between good and evil and the awakening of the hero who has been guided to a new level of awareness. The central characters of both Twin Peaks and The Wizard of Oz had a longing to return home, but on coming home, it could never be the same again, for they had changed themselves and in doing so, they had also changed the world around them.

  • Pre order the new book direct through Lewis Masonic

    Pre order the new book direct through Lewis Masonic

    The new book Lost Rites and Rituals of Freemasonry can now be pre ordered directly through the publisher Lewis Masonic: http://www.lewismasonic.co.uk/the-lost-rites-and-rituals-of-freemasonry.htm 

    The book examines the Lost Rites of Freemasonry, in particular the mysterious and influential Rites created on continental Europe during the eighteenth century by the likes of Martinez Pasqually, Count Cagliostro and Baron Von Hund.  Charismatic figures such as Jean-Baptiste Willermoz, an enigmatic French Mason of the eighteenth century that forged the Rectified Rite out of the teachings of Pasqually and the reorganised Rite of Strict Observance will also be discussed. The eighteenth century saw a number of Masonic Rites developing in France, Germany and Russia, and though some of these Rites ceased to exist by the close of the century, the Rectified Scottish Rite, though changed, still survives today. Other influential figures such as Louis-Claude de Saint Martin and Emanuel Swedenborg are examined, and the influence that these charismatic figures had on the occult revival and later Masonic organisations such as Martinism and the Swedenborgian Rite are analysed in depth. Lost English Rites and rituals are also covered in detail, along with the lost symbolism that vanished after the union of the Antients and the Moderns in 1813.

  • Pike

    The current political climate in both the US and the UK is very unsettling, there are deep divisions in the UK with Brexit and in the US we are witnessing violent clashes between left and right with tragedy never far behind. With this has come a fervent hatred of the racists and wrong doers of the past, and quite rightly so, which leads us to the current wave of pulling down statues of any historical figure that had anything to do with the Confederacy. This in turn brings me onto Albert Pike, who served as a Confederate Officer, though only for a relatively short period, Pike resigning from the Confederate States Army after a falling out with superior officers.

    Pike is the only Confederate Officer to have an outdoor statue in Washington DC, but it is not for his Confederate service that he is honoured and the statue presents Pike in civilian dress. According to recent reports, Pike’s statue is under threat from certain groups who want to remove it as a perceived monument to racism,[i] but the statue celebrates Pike as a Freemason who re-modelled the Scottish Rite and supported Masonic education. Pike was far from racist and was a well respected advocate for the rights of Native Americans. He was a complex man, he was highly intelligent, working as a lawyer and a writer, and the nineteenth century world was of course very different from ours, but there is no evidence at all to suggest he was ever a member of the Ku Klux Klan and he denounced the slave trade at a Convention in Red Rock in December 1856 (Tresner, Heredom, 8, 2000).[ii]

    I’m not keen on statues myself, I prefer monuments that represent the mind of the person who is to be celebrated, such as the tunnels of Joseph Williamson in Liverpool, which conveys his philanthropic and eccentric nature and also presents not just the skills of Williamson, but of the Liverpool craftsmen who were employed by Williamson during a time of economic uncertainty during the early nineteenth century. The drinking fountain memorials of Liverpool are another example, the Christopher Rawdon drinking fountain in Anfield being a fine example of a functioning memorial that benefitted the people who did not have access to clean drinking water.

    Statues have always been the focus of destruction, in ancient Greece, Rome, Constantinople, from the destruction of the giant Buddha’s in Afghanistan by the Taliban to the recent destruction of Palmyra by ISIS. One belief system tries to destroy the other.  I recall how during the Liverpool race riots that occurred in Toxteth, 1981, the statue of William Huskisson – an early nineteenth century MP for Liverpool – was allegedly pulled down as the rioters presumed the statue was of a slave-trader. Huskisson was not a slave-trader.[iii] Neither was Pike.

     

     

     

    [i] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/confederate-statue-washington-dc-protests_us_59934d38e4b04b193360f21f  [Last accessed 17th August 2017]

    [ii] http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/pike_speech.html#_edn10  [Last accessed 17th August 2017]

    [iii] http://www.liverpoolmonuments.co.uk/statue/huskisson05.html [Last accessed 17th August 2017]

     

  • 1717 or 1721?

    1717 or 1721?

    Page 58 of the 1723 Constitutions that mentions George Payne being Grand Master in 1720

    A recent paper by Andrew Prescott and Susan Sommers has suggested that the London based Premier Grand Lodge actually began in 1721 rather than 1717. I’ve not read the complete paper but I believe it has been quite thorough in its research, and indeed there is no contemporary account of the meeting of the Grand Lodge in 1717. The first mention of such a meeting was written in the 1738 edition of James Anderson’s Constitutions, over twenty years after the fact.

    Despite, this, as an English Freemason I have always believed in the 1717 foundation, mainly because of the strong tradition, my main reasoning being that there were always strong anti-Masons and in particular, anti-London Grand Lodge Masons even at the time that would jump at the chance to ridicule the suggested 1717 date if it weren’t true. There were many people still alive in 1738 that were around in the early days of the Grand Lodge who could have instantly said that 1717 was a lie, and that they really became a Grand Lodge in 1721. Anderson would certainly have been taking a gamble with the enemies of Grand Lodge. For example, having done research on the Grand Lodge of All England held at York, which was declared in 1726, I feel there would have been something said by the Yorkists as they were always keen in promoting York Masonry above London Masonry, and the 1717 lie would have been an easy target to expose at the time. Dr Francis Drake was of course an author and a York Mason who I’m sure would have ridiculed the London Grand Lodge for their fantasy of 1717.

    Which brings me to the point that if 1717 is a fabrication – why would the Grand Lodge choose that particular year? Surely 1714 would have been a better choice – the defeat of the Old Pretender James ‘III’ and the securing of the Hanoverian succession would be a great year to start a Grand Lodge. One of the interesting occurrences for me was that from 1717 to 1721 the London Grand Lodge had ‘commoners’ for Grand Masters; Anthony Sayer, George Payne, Dr Jean Desaguliers and George Payne again. From 1721 the Grand Masters were extracted from the aristocracy or Royalty, so why not delete the embarrassing ‘commoners’ earlier on and start from the aristocrats?

    Indeed, in the 1723 edition of Anderson’s Constitutions, on page 58, it actually states that George Payne was Grand Master in 1720, so at the very least we have to put the existence of the Grand Lodge to this year as it’s mentioned in black and white – for there to be a Grand Master there has to be a Grand Lodge. It would be hard to fabricate that in the first edition of the Constitutions published three years later, especially with so many Masons who would have known George Payne and would have read the work. Even then, as Masons, to all collectively lie about that would have not only been against a moral code, but the Yorkists – those pesky enemies of the London Grand Lodge – would have leapt at the chance to undermine the mere suggestion. And again, why mention a ‘commoner’ like George Payne as being Grand Master in 1720 when they could have had a pick of countless Lords and Earls.

    So, in light of the strong tradition, are four years worth arguing about? I’m still to be sold on the idea of 1721, so for now the traditional date will do as I’m enjoying the tercentenary.

  • Twin Peaks and its Occult Themes

    Twin Peaks and its Occult Themes

    The much anticipated third season of Twin Peaks is now being aired on Showtime and has certainly not failed to deliver. Much has been discussed on internet blogs and in books of its occult references, such as the backward speech uttered by the inhabitants of the mysterious Black Lodge and the evil doppelgängers and spirits that inhabit the lodge. The lodge itself has a ‘zig-zag’ red and white floor which disorientates and acts in a similar way to the black and white chequered flooring of the Masonic lodge room, reflecting the light and darkness of human nature. But what is the Black Lodge exactly?
    A White Lodge is mentioned in series two which aired way back in 1991, and the Black Lodge is its suggested opposite, though when the leading character Agent Dale Cooper enters the ‘lodge’ through a portal, he is told it is the ‘waiting room’. The viewers become disorientated as Agent Dale Cooper encounters a number of strange ‘spirits’ who speak backwards and in riddles, creating confusion, until Cooper’s possessed doppelgänger escapes the lodge instead of him. Twenty five years later we find season three revealing that Cooper is still trapped in the lodge and his evil doppelgänger is in the outside world killing people and doing all kinds of dirty deals. Hints of Aleister Crowley’s novel Moonchild can be seen with the opposing White and Black Lodges, Crowley’s book having similar White and Black Lodges, with White Magicians fighting Black Magicians, though the motives of the white faction may not be what it seems.

    There is also symbolism aplenty in Twin Peaks; the prominent imagery of the owl reminds us of the Minerva symbol of the Bavarian Illuminati and the owl symbolism that is linked to the gatherings of Bohemian Grove. The Arthurian references to Glastonbury Grove where the portal to the Black Lodge is found ‘under the sycamore trees’ only adds to the occult leanings. There are also visions and prophetic dreams, tarot cards being read by the Madam of the local brothel One Eyed Jacks, and the emphasis of the light and darkness of human nature; scratch the surface of a seemingly peaceful small American town and you find a dark world of gangsters, prostitution, blackmail, drug trafficking and corruption.

    Backwards speech was famously promoted by Aleister Crowley in his book Magick, but an older reference can be found in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to Alice in Wonderland, which has Alice entering a world through a mirror where she encounters a book with backwards writing that can be read by holding the pages up to the reflection. The 1960s witnessed the Beatles adding ‘backwards masking’ to their songs, most notably Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Strawberry Fields and on Revolution 9 on the White Album. This gave their music an interesting edge during the experimental psychedelic era, an era which also involved various artists, writers and musicians exploring occult themes and Eastern philosophies. David Lynch, the director and co-creator behind Twin Peaks has been involved in promoting Transcendental Meditation for some time and once organised a benefit concert that included a reunited Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr on the bill. David Bowie featured in the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me as the enigmatic FBI Agent Phillip Jeffries who disappeared, and by series three, with Bowie being ill during filming, he was replaced by a machine that resembled a giant ‘coffee pot’. Bowie had also dabbled in the occult in the 1970s and his lyrics are littered with references to occult themes, such as in the song Quicksand, where he sings that he is ‘immersed in Crowley’s uniform’ and on Station to Station, where he sings of a ‘magical movement, from kether to malkulth’.

    Lynch’s surrealistic view of the concealed darkness within small town America, with its interweaving occult themes laced with hidden meanings, combine not only to create a fine story, but add to the compelling darkness of the classic drama itself.

    The Eye of God – the fictional book by Twin Peaks character Dr Jacoby as featured in the Mark Frost book The Secret History of Twin Peaks, (Macmillan, 2017). The Eye of God – or All-Seeing Eye, is a symbol used in Freemasonry.

  • Countdown to the publication of The Lost Rites and Rituals of Freemasonry

    Countdown to the publication of The Lost Rites and Rituals of Freemasonry

    My latest work The Lost Rites and Rituals of Freemasonry will be finally published by Lewis Masonic in late August/early September. The research for the book has been fascinating and has opened up a new interest for me in the more esoteric nature of Masonic research. The book itself, which was indeed a journey of discovery, not only examines many of the more exotic lost rites of eighteenth century Europe, but looks at how they inspired the occult revival of the nineteenth century and how some of the rites were resurrected by occultists such as John Yarker and Papus, many of whom used Freemasonry as a gateway to the exotic higher degrees. I also discuss the English lost rites and there is a chapter on the development of the English Craft ritual after the union of 1813, looking at how various differing rituals evolved, some of which are under threat today as lodges close or merge. I also examine lost symbolism in the book, especially some of the symbols that were related to many of the lost rites (we can recall perhaps Minerva in relation to the Bavarian Illuminati or the lion used in a part of the Rite of Strict Observance). The book can not only be used as a guide to the lost rites, but presents how some particular rites offered a pathway to the Divine and discusses how the practice of magic became important to certain Victorian Freemasons in their never ending search for lost knowledge.

     

  • The Mystery of the Calderstones

    The Mystery of the Calderstones

    The Calderstones, currently to be found at Calderstones Park in the suburbs of Liverpool, are displayed like a stone circle; a collection of six sandstone Neolithic stones, marked with modern graffiti and much older carvings. They do indeed offer a mystery, as they were not part of a circle at all, and were most probably part of a Dolmen – a burial chamber. They have been moved a number of times which also presents problems for archaeologists and pre-historic scholars. The stones still however never fail to impress. They are housed – for now – in a glass house, and are due to be moved once again, but for now, they still offer a rare glimpse of a surviving example of stones that made-up a Neolithic burial chamber, and also present stones that can be examined close up.

    The Calderstones come to prominence in the eighteenth century when they are thought to have been first disturbed, and in 1825 it was reported that ‘…in digging about them, urns made of the coarsest clay, containing human dust and bones were found.’ It was during the nineteenth century that they were said to have been part of a Druidic circle, but as the century came to a close, Professor William Abbott Herdman (1858-1924) concluded that they were part of a ruined Dolmen:

    ‘The six surviving stones are of local sandstone and their sizes range approximately eight by three feet to three and a half by two and a half feet. The markings which had been studied the previous century by Simpson were again analysed and latex moulds were made of the stones and carvings, which both enabled a precise record to be made and also highlight other worn carvings which were not previously visible. The carvings were placed into six categories; spirals, concentric circles, arcs, cup marks, cup and ring marks and footprints. There is also evidence of post-medieval and modern graffiti. Several of the carvings are similar to examples found in Anglesey and the late-Neolithic burial site of Newgrange in the Boyne Valley.’

    For further details on this modern discussion of the stones, see Herdman’s ‘A Contribution to the History of the Calderstones, near Liverpool’ (1896).

    When industrialist Joseph Need Walker acquired the estate in 1825, the stones became a gateway feature for his new grandiose estate. They were moved from the outside the park gates in 1954. The estate itself was sold to shipping magnate Charles MacIver in 1875, his sons selling it to the Liverpool Corporation in 1902. The stones will be re-examined during their next move and perhaps the mystery of the Calderstones will be solved.

    The Calderstones on display today, presented as a stone circle.
    The ‘scratch stone’.
    The Calderstones mansion.
    The carved initials ‘J L’
    A carved bird in the stones found by a school child a few years ago.
    The mark of the cross near another possible carving.
    The stables.
    The carving of a spiral design. Similar carvings can be found on Neolithic stones in various parts of the UK.
    More modern day graffiti carved on the stones.
    The back of the Calderstones mansion, with a rather art-deco looking extension.
    A lodge house at Calderstones.
    Modern day graffiti and footprint carvings. You can see how the stones are set in a concrete base on this particular photo.
    Another view of a carved and rather weathered spiral design.
    Yet another carved spiral as described by Professor Herdman.
    Cup and ring marks.
    More concentric circles.
    More spirals.
    On the gateway there are four statues representing the four seasons, here is Autumn holding a sheaf of wheat and Winter, represented as an old woman in a shroud.
    The first of the four seasons; Spring and Summer.
    The God Atlantis in one of the gate posts, there are two and were both originally located on a building opposite the Town Hall that was demolished in 1928. They were then moved to their present location.

  • The Masonic Art of Jens Rusch

    Jens Rusch is a German based artist and Freemason whose surrealism and Masonic expressionism blend to form a unique artistic style. I wrote an article on his life and work in the US Masonic Journal last year, and when I was thinking of cover ideas for a possible compilation of my revised articles and papers in book form for publication in the next year or two, I approached Jens for ideas. Displayed here are some of those ideas, and I thought I’d include a number of other examples of Jens ‘Masonic surrealism’, artwork that conjures up a Masonic dreamscape not dissimilar to a Masonic ‘Alice in Wonderland’. As Jens said ‘The basic idea should be a child speculating on what his/her father could be doing when he goes into his lodge…’ As a father I can certainly see where he was coming from with that idea….

  • Interview on the Col Ford Show

    Interview on the Col Ford Show

    Col Ford was having a break from putting his show together for Friday night. As a DJ for Warrington Radio he now does three shows; a Tuesday afternoon chat show and Friday and Saturday nights, dance music on the Friday and Indie on the Saturday. Ford was a product of the Manchester dance scene in the late 80s/early 90s, cutting his teeth in various clubs as a DJ before getting a resident spot on various local stations. He still remembers the vitality of the era with a smile “There was new music everywhere, a new scene, vibrant and intense, a lot of people got burnt out quickly”. That vitality is still captured in Ford’s choice of music, his mixes and in his show.

    While chatting we stumble across waste ground filled with abandoned fairground rides. “This reminds me of how those classic clubs like Legends and the Hacienda have been pulled down” says Ford, “I don’t want those to be forgotten…”

    I’ve been interviewed by Ford twice on his show, and I’m due to drop in for another chat in the next few weeks, our paths having crossed in those dance clubs in the late 80s and early 90s. “I want to inject the essence of those clubs into my shows” Ford puts forward, “the Hacienda, Legends and the Rave scene, I like to think a small piece of that culture and that feeling is in there” he finishes. His mixes certainly reflect the authenticity of the era; raw, energetic and eccentric pieces from the ‘old skool’ period.

    His chat shows cover the local music scene, which is where my background in the local indie scene came into play, having released an album over ten years ago on the Liverpool Probe-Plus label. That interview can be heard here. The Col Ford Mixdown show on Friday 8-10pm and his Saturday evening Indie show at the same time can be accessed online from here.

    Col Ford contemplates life, death and rebirth while finding a tree growing out of a grave. “Think I’ll play I Am the Resurrection on my show on Saturday night” he says.

  • Masonic Support for Education in Civic Society During the 19th Century

    Peter Rylands; Freemason, Industrialist and Philanthropist

    The Masonic influences on education run deep in certain towns and cities, such as Warrington in England for example, where, during the nineteenth century, certain Freemasons were involved in founding the local Museum and Library, the School of Art, the Technical School and various learned societies. Indeed, the nineteenth century witnessed a thriving philanthropic attitude by certain Freemasons that led to civic improvements all over the town, such as the building of the Parr Hall by Joseph Charlton Parr, a local Freemason and the owner of the local bank. However it was in the pursuit of education for the working classes that a number of Freemasons contributed the most, with support for the Mechanics Institute and science classes, as well as the aforementioned educational centres.
    Joseph Charlton Parr resided at Grappenhall Heys and was a neighbour of the Greenall family, Parr serving as Mayor of Warrington in 1901-3. Parr, along with Freemasons such as Sir Gilbert Greenall and Peter Rylands, constantly supported local education in a philanthropic drive that can be mirrored with the support given to education in Liverpool by the Unitarian community which included Christopher Rawdon, the Holt and the Rathbone families. Warrington Brewer and prominent Freemason Sir Gilbert Greenall was instrumental in his involvement, donating money and taking part in the laying of the foundation stone of the Museum and Library in 1855, and Peter Rylands, a Warrington industrialist and member of the same lodge as Parr and Greenall, was also involved in the procession to the laying of the foundation stone and became actively supportive of various learned societies and local schools.

    Commemorative stone found in Queens Park, Warrington, featuring Gilbert Greenall, dated 1857.

    Today, the Warrington area known as the ‘Cultural Quarter’ is more famous for bars, restaurants and the bands that play at the Parr Hall, but it still has the Museum and Library, and the School of Art building is still used for adult learning education. Part of the Technical School building is a bar.

     

     

     

    The Warrington Library and Museum. Its foundation stone laid with Masonic honours
    The Warrington Technical School
    The Warrington School of Art