Chevalier d’Éon is perhaps one of the most intriguing Masonic characters of the eighteenth century. Born in Tonnerre, Burgundy, France in 1728 to a noble family, d’Éon entered into the secret network of spies called the Secret du Roi … Continue reading →
Recently I have been working with QuisQuose media to produce a new mini-series on landmark Freemasons. Three have been filmed so far, the pilot episode examining Elias Ashmole, while the other two episodes look at Christopher Wren and Rudyard Kipling … Continue reading →
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, writer and Freemason, became mesmerised by the occult, and this filtered through into his writing, most notably in his Sherlock Holmes stories, such as the hints of vampirism displayed in the Adventure of the Sussex Vampire, … Continue reading →
It sometimes takes a while for the reviews to be published for a book. Here is a great review for my latest book The Lost Rites and Rituals of Freemasonry that was recently published in the excellent Square magazine, the … Continue reading →
I’ve been invited to some excellent lodges this year to give talks, and the Shakespeare & Equity Lodge No. 1018 was no exception. I presented my paper on the Lost Rites and Rituals of Freemasonry in the famed Egyptian Temple … Continue reading →
Alchemically Stoned (published by Laudable Pursuit, 2017) is a new book written by PD Newman, a 32nd degree Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction, and an expert in the study of the use of mind altering substances in rituals. The book broke … Continue reading →
Vale Chapter No. 5256 meets only twice a year in differing locations in the West Lancashire Province, sometimes in Carnforth, sometimes in Barrow-in-Furness, and I was honoured to have given a talk on their May meeting again, this time in … Continue reading →
John Lane was a Masonic historian who first published his magnum opus Masonic Records in 1886, the work being a listing of all the lodges formed under the English Grand Lodges (both Antient and Modern), including the numbers and various … Continue reading →
I recently gave an interview to a journalist for the Economist in regards to some background information he needed for an article he was writing on a recent backlash to Freemasonry in West Africa. The article, which can be seen … Continue reading →
I’ll be avoiding most of the speculative ideas that have been attached to the chapel by recent writers, but after a friend visited the site and took these great photos, I thought I’d write a brief history of the chapel, … Continue reading →
