The EA, FC Handbooks and the MM’s Book, by JSM Ward. ISBN No. various,
EA published 1988 76 pages, £4.95.
FC published 1988 55 pages, £4.95.
MM published 1991 83 pages, £4.95.
Bro. Ward was a well known Masonic writer mainly concentrating on the occult (meaning hidden not witchy?!) and esoteric elements of Freemasonry. This is in part due to the fact that he was an Occultist and involved in many esoteric fields not masonic, I am aware of 7 other specifically masonic ones. These handbooks are meant to be read by the newly initiated, passed or raised brother after partaking of each ceremony and take a different look at just a few of the things that went on and investigates their esoteric interpretation. Although these books were published in the late 1980s, it is obvious that they were written some at the beginning of the 20th century possibly the 1920s.
I first bought these books in the mid 90s then lost them and have just bought them again to do the review and having read them again I was amazed at the gems contained within them . It is important to state that these books are about an esoteric interpretation of masonic Ritual and (not unusually)in the introduction Sir John Cockburn states that he doesn’t agree with all of the content. Once again a book that, while I don’t personally agree with it in its entirety, definitely does strike a chord with me when dealing with esotercism in Freemasonry.
Despite the nature of the books, the Author chooses not to become too fanciful when touching on masonic history and origins. As was usual before the present modern-day, conspiracy theory driven speculation, he alludes to the generally accepted origin within the Mason’s Guild with the flavour of the Comacine Masons. As usual with masonic esoterica written by real freemasons you’ll find no Martians, lizards or devil worship in these books. He follows the less glamorous but more believable passage of secrets, knowledge and understanding from the Roman Collegia of Architects to the Comacine Masons though to the Medieval masons.
I thought I should include a couple of quotes to illustrate the flavour of the books:
EA:
“The C. is then told to step off with the l.f.f.. Why? Because the Preserver in ancient mythology is always depicted as trampling with his l.f. on the Serpent of Evil. This is so, alike in ancient Egypt, in India and elsewhere.”
“The J.D. represents the physical means by which the Soul, represented by the S.W., passes on the inspirations received from the Spirit, the W.M., to the material world. Therefore in this sense therefore he represents intelligence, and the five senses of man, whereas the S.D. stands for intuition, whereby the Soul obtains its inspiration from the Divine.”
FC:
“The F.C. degree indicates that the soul and body are now working in union, as is shown by the knocks, although, as yet, the purely spiritual facilities have little influence.”
“As before, the Cand. is taught to by making the tau cross to trample under foot his animal passions, thereby reminding him that spiritual progress always entails increased moral rectitude.”
MM:
“One point of the Compass rests at the centre, and no matter how far the legs of the Compass be extended, or how large the Circle, the fact remains that one leg is always at the centre. Thus the Compasses, while they travel through infinity, are at the same time never separated from the centre, and from that point cannot err.”
“Again and again when one comes to study carefully the details of our ritual, one finds little points such as these, which certainly would not have survived the drastic revision of 1816 if there had not been present some men who really did understand the inner meaning of our ceremonies, and refused to allow important lessons to be lost by the removal of what, at first sight, appears to be unnecessary details.”
Rating 8/10
These books are short, excellent and very easy to read, I cannot recommend them enough to newly made brothers during their advancement if they wish to explore an esoteric side to the Rituals they have just taken part in.
Mike.
Now for those of you who have read to the end here is a little treat, courtesy of the Pietre Stone's Review of Freemasonry website. Here are the three books (plus two more) in their entirety available to read on-line.
Available to read on-line here:
http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/ward_EA_handbookfr.html