The Enigma of the Freemasons: Their History And Mystical Connections

by Tim Wallace-Murphy (Illustrator)

Addressing the brotherhood's complicated relationship with the Catholic Church, its influence in politics, and the many famous Masons throughout history, The Enigma of the Freemasons is a comprehensive guide to Freemasonry past and present. Tim Wallace-Murphy explores the controversies and conspiracy theories, but stays firmly grounded in historical fact, while reaching conclusions that challenge the conventional view of Masonic history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

144 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2006

About the author

The Irish born internationally known author and lecturer, Tim Wallace-Murphy, is the author of thirteen published books, has appeared in some eight or nine TV documentaries and has given lectures from Seattle and Long Beach on the West Coast of the USA, in Canada, Great Britain, France, Italy and in Prague.

Eleven of his works cover historical aspects of spirituality, including the Knights Templar, the Cathars, Rosslyn Chapel and the Western Esoteric Tradition as well as the Grail genre. The other two, including the most recent are more mainstream, namely 'What Islam did for Us' a study of how Islamic scholarship laid the foundations of so many fundamental and valued aspects of European culture and his latest work 'The Genesis of a Tragedy - A Brief History of the Palestinian People.' Tim was provoked to write this work as the Palestinian side of this conflict is rarely heard in either Western Europe or the United States and if this ongoing running sore in East West relations is ever to be solved, the pain on both sides needs to be understood.

He also acts as a tour guide in some of the most beautiful and inspiring sacred sites in Europe.

Reviews

[Nathan Albright · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of you have had an experience in your lives like I had with this book.  You're getting to know someone and at first they seem a little bit off their meds, but it doesn't seem too serious, until you reach a point where you know for sure that they are completely bonkers but you don't want to be rude and so you stay around much longer than you feel comfortable with simply so as to not commit a social faux pas.  There are definitely elements where I think this book has sensible understandings of the Masons and why they are so mysterious and the nature of their connection to the esoteric and mystery religions of the past.  That said, this book goes into considerably more detail when it comes to elite Jewish bloodlines that tends to make this book the positive side of the myths about illuminati control through Jewish ancestry like the Rothchilds.  The fact that the author complains about the negative side of this myth is strangely hypocritical since it goes without saying that the natural response of a great many people to ideas that there are secretive lines of people who desire to maintain and pass down esoteric knowledge and search for power in institutions is to view these people as an evil to be eradicated.

This book is a short one at less than 150 pages and it is divided into various short unnumbered chapters that deal with the author's very quirky view of Masonic history.  The author begins with an introduction, a discussion of the cradle of culture and the birth of Christianity, a pro-gonistic discussion of various hidden strains of spirituality, a discussion of the medieval craftmasons as well as the grail myth and the beginnings of the Templars.  There is a discussion of the Scottish beginnings of the masons, the human catalyst and the influence of freemasons on society as well as the 18th century developments in Europe that increased the revolutionary tenor of the times.  There is a discussion of glimpses from within about various masons, the focus on brotherhood and charity, and questions about the degree of truth of various views of history.  The author gives suggestions for further reading as well as a glossary of terms (of which there are many), an index, and acknowledgements.  Throughout the book the author also makes reference to other books about esoteric matters that I will be quick to avoid.

In reading a book like this, one has to separate the occasional nuggets of insight that the authors have from the larger conspiratorial history that makes this a possible source for a Dan Brown noel.  There are certainly people who would believe this book wholesale, but as I am not one of those people and I suppose that you, dear reader, are not either, then it remains to be seen whether or not there is enough insight in this book to be read profitably by someone who does not believe the story of the 24 elite Jewish families having become elite European noble families during the Middle Ages and the founders of the Templars as well as the Masons.  To be sure, the author has a strong interest in esoteric matters and mystery religions and a strong hostility to Christianity, especially of the kind viewed as authoritarian gnosticism, considering the author is definitely on the side of anarchical gnosticism.  The reader, of course, may very well be on the side of neither, and may find the author's perspective a bit too strident a tone for someone with such a slim grasp on sanity.

[Not Mihai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Am început să citesc cartea din curiozitate, dar la scurt timp după începerea lecturii am ajuns să mă întreb de ce citesc absurdități, de ce refuz să cred ce citesc. Trecând de jumătatea cărții, tonul este mai accesibil și poveștile conspiraționiste se diminuează și dispar, rămânând doar esența și adevărata semnificație a masoneriei. La finalul cărții autorul, anticipeaza nedumeririle cititorului și răspunde direct la întrebările noastre arzătoare.

[Pierre Normand · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is an exploitative work, designed more to separate the gullible and credulous from their money than it is to inform. Among its fifteen chapters the author mixes in The Holy Grail (for heaven's sake), the Knights Templar (of course), and the "Birth of Christianity," as if the latter had anything to do with the history of Freemasonry, which, of course, it does not. Lots of pretty pictures grace the pages of this book, in order to attract the average, uninformed reader and make up for the lack of informative text. The one bright spot in the book is the chapter titled "Scottish Beginnings" which acknowledges Scotland as the birthplace of speculative Freemasonry. This book is not for the informed Freemason. Rather, it is for the curious and uninformed civilian who likes pretty books.

[jude]

I read snipets of this and peruse it often. After I become more familiar with the terms, etc. I will read it cover to cover. This is how I read many books when i know little about the subject matter but hope to learn more, not just be entertained while on a journey. In my father's family there were generations of masonic followers.