Contents

 

Introduction

PART ONE: WHO ARE THE FREEMASONS?

1. A Veil of Secrecy

2. A Controversial Fraternity

3. The Three Virtues

4. Landmarks of Freemasonry

5. Degrees

6. Origins of Freemasonry

7. The Legend of Hiram Abiff

8. The Knights Templar

9. The Crusades

10. Jacques de Molay

11. The Scottish Rite

12. The Halliwell Manuscript and the York Rite

13. Breaking New Ground

14. The Protestant Reformation

15. King Henry VIII and Freemasonry Pre-1717

16. The Cooke Manuscript and the Schaw Statutes

17. Rebuilding London

18. Operative and Speculative Freemasonry

19. The Grand Lodge of England

20. Ancient Free and Accepted Masonry

21. Rifts in the Brotherhood

22. Colonial Effects on Freemasonry

23. Rival Unity

24. Vive la Freemasonry!

PART TWO: MEMBERS ONLY, OR, HOW TO BECOME A FREEMASON

25. What Qualifies a Mason?

26. Degrees of Freemasonry

27. Masonic Rituals

28. Initiation of the First Degree: Entered Apprentice

29. Obligations to the Brotherhood

30. Initiation of the Second Degree: Fellowcraft

31. The Seven Educational Steps

32. Initiation of the Third Degree: Master Mason

33. Lodges Defined

34. Lodges So Grand!

35. Proceedings Behind Closed Doors

36. The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite

37. Chapter of the Rose Croix

38. Council of Kadosh

39. Consistory Degrees and the York Rite

40. The Royal Arch Chapter

41. Council of Cryptic Masonry

42. Commanderies of the Knights Templar

PART THREE: FREEMASONRY FRIENDS, FOES, AND FOUNDING FATHERS

43. American Freemasonry

44. The Boston Tea Party

45. Founding Fathers

46. The William Morgan Mystery

47. Birth of the Anti-Masonic Party

48. From Franklin to Fitch

49. Political and Military Masons

50. Scientists and Aviators

51. Kramer Is a Mason?: Arts and Athletics

52. Free Thinkers

53. Historical Masons

54. Freemasonry as Religion?

55. The Catholic Church

56. Modern-Day Misunderstandings

57. Links to Ancient Mysteries

58. Anti-Masonic Sentiments Worldwide

59. Il Duce vs. Freemasonry

60. Freemasonry in Nazi Germany

61. A Continental Persecution

62. A Reverent Forger

PART FOUR: DEMYSTIFYING FREEMASONRY

63. Secret Society . . . or Society of Secrets?

64. Freemason Phraseology

65. Secret Handshakes and Passwords

66. By the Numbers

67. ‘Til Death Do They Part

68. Influences from Everywhere

69. Tools of the Trade

70. Dressing the Part

71. The Letter “G”

72. Other Significant Symbols

73. Masonry as a Cult

74. Satanic Suspicions

75. The Ku Klux Klan

76. The All-Seeing Eye

77. Fallen Idols

78. Conspiracy and the Holy Grail

79. The Rosslyn Chapel

80. A Masonic Legacy

81. A Legal Eagle

82. Albert Pike and Freemasonry

83. The Ghost of Lucifer

84. A Brief Biblical History

85. The Hoax of Leo Taxil

PART FIVE: IT’S A CONSPIRACY! (OR IS IT?)

86. The Crime of the Century: Jack the Ripper

87. A Man Called Sickert

88. A Knight in Whitechapel

89. Murder as Art

90. Sworn to Secrecy

91. Birth of the Enlightened Ones

92. Freemasons and World Domination?

93. The French Revolution

94. Mozart’s Magic F lute

95. The Priory of Sion

96. Prince Hall Masonry

97. Charting a Course

98. Masons in Literature

99. Small-Screen Brotherhoods

100. Freemasons in Cinema

101. The Legacy of the Freemasons

APPENDIX A: RECOMMENDED READING

APPENDIX B: GLOSSARY