3 Books......

What 3 books would you recommend reading on freemasonry if you had to narrow it down. Serious books though, not some 13 family all controlling reptilian bohemian club take over the world garbage.

[edit on 14-6-2004 by ANTONIO]

What exactly is a free mason?

Christopher Knight's book "hiram key" or Will Garver's book "brother of the Third Degree" having lots of insight

Rule by Secrecy - Jim Marrs

Originally posted by Surreal_Rain
What exactly is a free mason?

Oh, flashy one, I woudl suggest doing a search for Freemasonry or Masonry on ATS. You will get lots of links.
Enjoy your reading. You could learn a lot!

A, since you have petitioned a Lodge for the Degrees of Freemasonry, I think it would be best to avoid Masonic literature until you have been raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason. The reason for this is to allow you to have an unfettered experience, without expectation, or knowledge of what is to come. This will provide a more meaningful experience through the Degrees. It may seem like I'm trying to hide something, but as Degree team member and Lecturer, I have seen the disappointment, and confusion in a Candidates eyes because "he already knew". That being said, "Rule of Secrecy" is loo material, if you run out of TP. "Born in Blood" by John Robinson is required reading for newly raised Master Masons in my Lodge. "Morals and Dogma" by Albert Pike (oft quoted and misquoted here on ATS) is a must have for any Masonic library. After that anything by Dr. Albert Mackey is a good choice.

Originally posted by frozen_snowman
Christopher Knight's book "hiram key" or Will Garver's book "brother of the Third Degree" having lots of insight

The Hiram Key was a load of BS. It totally lacks any kind of scientific proof, and he makes way too many assumptions.

Will garver was Ok though, he at least made valid points.

I agree with Opus: avoid �The Hiram Key� like the plague, unless you read it with the understanding that it is pure fiction and fantasy.
Three very good, and historically accurate, books on Freemasonry are:

�The Builders� by Dr. Joseph Fort Newton
�The Men�s House� by Dr. Joseph Fort Newton
�A Comprehensive View of Freemasonry� by Henry Wilson Coil

Some Lodges give �The Builders� as a gift to new members. All 3 can be ordered from www.macoy.com...

Fiat Lvx.

thanks a lot for the info fellas i appreciate it

Rule of Secrecy by J. Marrs is an excellent, excellent book. No joke. It delves into the various underlyings of different secret societies, and has some good information in it regarding.

Great place to start out.

Not to turn this into a book-trashing thread, but "Conspiracies and Cover-Ups" by D. Alexander sucked the big one. Don't waste your time.

The only thing i did not like about Rule by Secrecy is that in a number of areas in the book Jim relied on Trevor Ravenscroft's book The Spear of Destiny. The book by Ravenscroft has been pretty much debunked. Other than that Rule by Secrecy is a good read

i find "History of Freemasony and Concordant Orders" by Charles CLick to be a valuable resource

www.gwgantiques.com...

i enjoyed the Hiram Key, i'm reading the follow up called Second Messiah now. I reccomend these books to now masons because you will get more from them and will be able to seperate the facts from more questionable things in the books

[edit on 15-6-2004 by Strigoi]

Originally posted by Mirthful Me
A, since you have petitioned a Lodge for the Degrees of Freemasonry, I think it would be best to avoid Masonic literature until you have been raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason. The reason for this is to allow you to have an unfettered experience, without expectation, or knowledge of what is to come. This will provide a more meaningful experience through the Degrees. It may seem like I'm trying to hide something, but as Degree team member and Lecturer, I have seen the disappointment, and confusion in a Candidates eyes because "he already knew". That being said, "Rule of Secrecy" is loo material, if you run out of TP. "Born in Blood" by John Robinson is required reading for newly raised Master Masons in my Lodge. "Morals and Dogma" by Albert Pike (oft quoted and misquoted here on ATS) is a must have for any Masonic library. After that anything by Dr. Albert Mackey is a good choice.

I went to the library the other day and I could only find ONE book about Freemasonry in the entire Library - Lodge Of The Double Headed Eagle: Two centuries of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in the Southern Jurisdiction of America - by a guy named Fox... It was published by the University Of Arkansas Press, but MM are you saying I should not read it? I have not had an interview or anything yet, I haven't even conacted a Mason to petition yet, but I am considering it. I just wanted to know as much as I could about what I am thinking of getting myself into... I want to be able to put my girlfriend worries at ease and clear up some things myself... I did find "scripts" (for lack of a better word) for the 1st 2nd and 3rd degrees - however, before I even started to really read, I felt like I shouldn't, just for the reason MM said, I didn't want to know in advance if I wasn't supposed to, but it was wierd, I just felt compelled to stop reading... So guys, are there any other books (besides the ones already listed in this thread, of course) that I can read and share with her to help relieve the anxiety she is feeling about Masonry in general? She says she wouldn't hold me back from joining if I wanted to, but I want her to feel good about it before going in, you know?

Respectfully,
Axeman

P.S. The librarian told me there is only ONE library in the entire state of Arkansas that has a copy of Albert Pike's Morals and Dogma... Do you guys find that strange?

It's weird that only one library has M & D, although it's not a very popular book outside Masonic Circles. You can see it here
at Amazon.com, and they'll sell it to you for a tetch of a markup.

M & D is good, but you're probably best off not reading anything specific until you get your first degree. Your mind won't be clouded by preconceptions that way.

Nonetheless, if you feel like you have to study something (I know I did, when I went through ), a good place to look might be Pietre-Stones Review of Freemasonry, which is not only very academic and trustworthy, but is also generally considered the sine qua non of online masonic writing.

[edit on 15-6-2004 by AlexKennedy]

Ok:

Born in Blood by John Robinson
Pilgrim's Journey by John Robinson
Temple and the Lodge by Baigent and Leigh

Please do not order a copy of Morals and Dogma on Amazon for $125. You can usually find one on E-bay for less than 20 bucks, lol.

[edit on 15-6-2004 by Masonic Light]

The librarian told me there is only ONE library in the entire state of Arkansas that has a copy of Albert Pike's Morals and Dogma... Do you guys find that strange?

i dont' see anything strange about it really. the workings during a meeting are suppose to be secret and i think alot of people would have a problem with accounts of what goes on being available at a public library. the closest thing my local library has to freemasonry is Holy Blood, Holy Grail which doesn't have much to do with masonry at all.

Originally posted by Strigoi
i dont' see anything strange about it really. the workings during a meeting are suppose to be secret and i think alot of people would have a problem with accounts of what goes on being available at a public library. the closest thing my local library has to freemasonry is Holy Blood, Holy Grail which doesn't have much to do with masonry at all.

�Morals and Dogma� is not a secret book, and my local library has three or four copies. It doesn�t really present anything that is considered �secret� in Masonry. Instead, Pike traces the history of religious thought from the dawn of time in order to understand two things: the evolution of moral ideals and religious dogma (which is why he named the book Morals and Dogma).
A lot of the book really has nothing to do with Freemasonry, but concerns itself with a study of the morals and dogma of Hinduism, Greek philosophy, the ancient mysteries, Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam. After explaining all this in about 700 pages, he then concludes that Masonry owes its existence to all of them, who have contributed to Masonic symbolism through the ages.

Fiat Lvx.

Originally posted by Strigoi
i find "History of Freemasony and Concordant Orders" by Charles CLick to be a valuable resource

www.gwgantiques.com...

i enjoyed the Hiram Key, i'm reading the follow up called Second Messiah now. I reccomend these books to now masons because you will get more from them and will be able to seperate the facts from more questionable things in the books

[edit on 15-6-2004 by Strigoi]

well this is getting allmost into a book review

but I hounor when someone like you is gettin' lofty and is seeing throgh the block of our own hard wired neuronet and looking into differnet areas of understanding.
And this book is still a recomondation for you ANTONIO-=
remember life is your own journey - you did ask the Question and some of us replied - ....where ever you go there you are ....and maybe the answer is in you

Hmmm. A book.
Strangely, I wouldn't recommend you read anything that directly relates to masonry. I would point you instead to "Europe in the High Middle Ages" by William Chester Jordan.
Why? Well, although it doesn't directly refer to masonry, it most definitely sets the scene and gives you an understanding as to how and why freemasonry evolved into the Order it is today. It describes in detail, the literature of the time, the architecture, religion and politics.

articles.findarticles.com...