The Temple and The Lodge

Mind Body & Soul Ezine Book Review: The Temple and The Lodge by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh. 

The hard back copy has some excellent b/w images. Written 7 years after their highly successful and controversial The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail of 1982, the two authors, without Henry Lincoln, have tied the knot between the Order of the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon and the Freemasons. Here, once again these stalwarts of storytelling take us on a journey through history, geography, genealogy, philosophy, mystery and wild possibilities, all mixed together. In the first chapters, a very interesting perspective emerges - how history includes myth, and fact is glossed with fiction, ideology and manipulation wins out, so we read with discernment! These guys really know this! I loved the pages about Scotland, written movingly with great love of the subject, and with great research on the last years of the Templar Order and their demise under the French King, Philip the Fair. 

The book sets out to plot the history of Freemasonry from its earliest times in Judaism, and with hints of Islam, through the time of the Knights Templar. Freemasonry secrets and rituals are revealed; this is one of the earliest books with such revelations, being published in 1989. Rites of Freemasonry are detailed, included the secret title and name, and the nine muses and angels, liberal arts and number recognition, right down to the doggerel verse. The book supports Freemasonry, its history, traditions, myths and legends, but avoids any wrongdoing which seems to never take place, and if it does, they excuse  it as par for the course of today’s underhand world. There are some very enjoyable parts, including kicking off on page 2 with a wonderfully described journey to the ruins of Kilneuair Church, Loch Awe, and Kilmartin to view tombs of Templars which are still to be seen. Templars are described as warrior monks who renounced the trappings of the material world, relinquished their identity and individuality, becoming an ascetic, with self abnegating piety, and Freemasons as being an aristocratic club, Jacobite in the past!

Four times this quote is included in the text: “The King’s directions to his officers were to seize the persons and the goods of the Templars; to interrogate, torture and obtain confessions from them, to promise pardon to those who confessed, and to menace those who oppose them.” After four years of incarceration, De Molay stated: : “If I, myself, or other Knights, have made confessions before the Bishop of Paris, or elsewhere, we have betrayed the truth. We have yielded to fear, to danger, to violence. We were tortured by our enemies.”

Did the Templars escape with their hordes of wealth? How did they carry the bullion and Where did they go? Did Robert Bruce indulge in human sacrifice? Such questions are asked! Who was Bruce and what was his ancestry and life and death like? He was excommunicated for murdering his friend and rival, Comyn in the Greyfriars church in Dumfries; this enabled him to be crowned at Scone on the Feast of the Annunciation 1306. What was the stone that the builders refuseth, that became the headstone of the corner? What is strongest, wine, women or the king? Truth is strongest! 

The Ark of the Covenant and Noah’s Ark are explained, along with many unprovable stories from the Jewish Testament. Many stories are mere myth but are included without question, including the Creation, the flood (as though Noah took two of every species into a boat he built), and Redemption of Man! They really need to read the story of Noah’s life after the flood before they eulogise him! 

I’ve always felt that those responsible for the care of pilgrims in walking the places that Jesus walked, where he healed, where he died and was buried, would know their beloved deity and know their Bible. I’ve not found a connection to Christianity within the rituals of Freemasonry. The story of the Apprentice Pillar is included; the master murdering the apprentice out of jealousy - great role model that one! The real intention of Freemasonry is embedded in its rituals. Does Freemasonry make someone a better person, a more empathic husband, a more considerate son, a more ethical employee/employer, a more responsible citizen or does it offer opportunity to be corrupt, exploitative, unlawful, self serving, entitled, and abusive? 

Review: Wendy Stokes https://wendystokes.co.uk