Masonica

[Mrs Migs]

It's interesting how they take the approach to secrecy. They seemed to fall on two sides. On the one they refused to say anything. The others wouldn't tell you themselves, just point you to where you could find it. Like Duncan's Monitor and Ritual Guides.
The former felt doing so violated the spirit of the promise.

This is pretty much how I feel about it. I promised not to tell any non-masons anything I learned during my time on the square, and so I won’t. That said, all I know is out there and available to those who want to go look.

 

[FrKadash]

Over in Ireland in the attic I have dozens of boxes filled with Masonic regalia and ephemera, every time I'm there I plan on going through it all but never do!

My granfer on my dad's side was constantly telling me things about the Masons when I was little, teaching me funny hand symbols, handshakes and showing my little blue Masonic books. I remember one of these books had a wonderful engraving of Noah's Ark.
Many modern Freemasons seem to have very little interest in the deeper side of their history. One of the few things I've always been interested in is the pillars, Boaz (strength) and Jachin (Jehovah establishes) and the theory that they symbolically correspond to the Pillars of Enoch. Which some people think were excavated by Solomon's Masons during the construction of his Temple. Didn't Josephus state that one of the Pillars still existed in his day?

I'm also interested in the Rite of Memphis-Misraim. Interesting stuff!

 

[FrKadash]

Either way, does that handshake thing still get used with two fingers (I think) on the other's wrist or is that all crap?

My granfer did it with the thumb pressing hard into the thenar space, but I don't know if this is correct.

*edit
There is probably more than one handshake though.

 

[skinny]

My granfer did it with the thumb pressing hard into the thenar space, but I don't know if this is correct.

*edit
There is probably more than one handshake though.

That is what an ex-Mason friend of mine showed me. He really drove the thumb in. Almost like to have the point of the thumb meet the first joint of the forefinger. I think he also said the choice of space revealed his degree to the recipient. I must ask to see his masonica when next I visit Port Fairy.

Thinking on the handshakes, I wonder now at the bit-too-firm handshakes I received from Da's colleagues as a younger man. Although they would almost certainly have known I wasn't a brother. He revealed to me a few years ago that he was called when I was a child but declined on religious principle. Those handshakes used to shit me. I was like OW! WTF?

 

[GingerTabby]

I too have a collection of Masonic regalia and books, all of which belonged to my late father.

The appearance of this thread is one in a series of Masonic-themed coincidences I've experienced recently. About two weeks ago I found myself thinking about matters Masonic. It was around the anniversary of my father's death so perhaps the subject came to mind for that reason. A few days later I received an email at my day job from someone I'd worked with last year in another unit of our organisation. She'd heard that I have a PhD in theology and she seemed to think that might make me knowledgeable about Freemasons. (Not bloody likely at a pontifical university). My academic work was unrelated to Freemasonry but I have done a certain amount of reading on the subject, mainly because I have a family tree full of Masons. I don't claim to be an expert on it but I provided her with some general information and my own observations. She knew nothing whatsoever about Freemasonry and appreciated my comments. Not long after our exchange of email, Swifty started this thread. It's quite a banal series of coincidences, I know, but I found it strange that the subject should come up several times over the course of a few days.

Stranger still was the fact that in the same email my colleague also asked about paganism, specifically Asatru. I told her what I knew about it, which isn't a great deal but she seemed satisfied with my comments. Days later I came across this article on the Beeb's website: http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20190602-how-iceland-recreated-a-viking-age-religion

I'm wondering what is going to pop up next!