The Tao of Masonry

Few modern Masonic authors can generate the kind interest that follows Dr. Robert Lomas. Beginning with “The Hiram Key” and followed up by another half dozen books on the history and symbolism of the Craft, Dr. Lomas has offered up some interesting – and controversial – theories and ideas about the evolution of symbology and the meaning of the symbolic language underlying Masonic rituals and ceremonies.

On Sunday, March 9th, he called us from his home in England and joined Bro. Heath Armbruster of Saskatchewan, Canada for the second The Working Tools podcast. Masonic Media Mogul Cory Sigler (of The Working Tools magazine and social networking site), Justin Budreau (Masonic web designer) and I had a fascinating two hour conversation with Dr. Lomas on topics ranging from the Kirkwall Scroll, to Masonic symbols, to the evolution of symbolism, to Sir Robert Moray, to the inconveniences of tele-presentations. Chris Hodapp joined us partway into the program, asking his usual insightful questions.

Bros. Lomas and Armbruster worked together to create an interesting DVD on the history of Masonic symbolism which they are selling in order to raise money for several Masonic charities. Dr. Lomas gave several lectures which were compiled into a presentation for The DVD, which is selling for $15 Canadian. Anyone interested can contact Bro. Heath at lomasdvd@kinghiram104.com for more details. If the 2 hours Dr. Lomas spent with us is any indication, it will be an excellent addition to any Masonic library.

We should point out that Dr. Lomas, himself, has just published a new book called “Turning the Templar Key” in which he discusses the meaning of the rituals and ceremonies of the Knights Templar and relates them to modern Freemasonry.

The Talkshoe format worked flawlessly, allowing five or six of us to talk to each other by telephone from various countries and time zones. We were joined by about a hundred real-time listeners, a dozen or so of whom registered in order to use the IM feature. Many of them had excellent comments and questions, some of which were addressed by Dr. Lomas himself.

You can listen to the show (Episode 2), or download the MP3 file for your iPod or other player at The Working Tools channel.

Tao of Masonry | Freemasonry | Masonry

Dr. Robert Lomas on The Working Tools Podcast

Just a reminder that at 3pm EDT, Dr. Robert Lomas will be on The Working Tools Podcast at the Talkshoe website:

http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/11669

Episode 2

Tao of Masonry | Freemasonry | Masonry

I never got around to mentioning that back in January, I did a podcast with Cory Sigler of The Working Tools magazine and Masonic social networking site. It was one of those ideas that just sort of took root and spiraled out of control grew into something unforseen.

Cory had wondered if I would like to be a guest, and then we’d spend a half hour or so dishing discussing topics that were appearing on other blogs. As the agreed-upon date crept nearer, I was concerned that I hadn’t heard from him. After a series of calls and emails, it turned out that instead of discussing other blogs, that we were going to interview the guys that wrote “Morals and Dogma for the 21st Century,” a revised version of Albert Pike’s classic that had been written in more modern English in order to make it more accessible to newer Masons. In the end, we were joined by Chris Hodapp, which was a good thing because he was the only one of us who had actually *ahem* read that book. We had a 7-way conversation that lasted 90 minutes.

You can still listen to it online, or download the mp3 on the Talkshoe site:
http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/11669

For those of you who are gluttons for punishment, we have managed to put together yet another episode for your listening pleasure. This time we are going to be speaking with author Dr. Robert Lomas – yes, that Lomas, of the Hiram Key series, Uriel’s Machine, The Second Messiah, etc.

We will also be joined by Bro. Heath Armbruster, who is involved with an amazing study on the Kirkwall Scroll, one of the oldest known Masonic artifacts; it is a scroll which appears to have been made in the 1400′s and is possibly a tracing board for several degree ceremonies.

The Talkshoe format is similar to a live radio broadcast. Listeners can hear this in “real time” as we record. Additionally, you can also register (it’s free, natch) and log in to the recording area, where you can IM questions and comments for us, and if we’re in a tight spot, we will probably even respond to them. The show format even allows us to talk calls from listeners.

The date for this next podcast is Sunday, March 9th at 3:00 pm Eastern time. Hope to see you have you join us!

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Actually, it was more like 8:00 PM, but that doesn’t rhyme.

What could be better than listening to me for 90 minutes? Most people who know me would say listening to other people for 90 minutes.

Cory Sigler, the Grand Master of Masonic Media has added podcasting to his ever-expanding resume of online accomplishments. Some of you may know him as “corsig,” a moderator and frequent visitor of several excellent Masonic web forums. Bro. Sigler also publishes “The Working Tools Magazine,” an online compendium of Masonic news and items of interest. A couple of months ago, I mentioned Cory’s incorporation to the magazine a social networking site (like MySpace or Facebook) for Freemasons.

Apparently still having too much time on his hands, Bro. Sigler decided to explore the idea of having a regular podcast. Podcasting is simply using various tools to create a radio show format that can be downloaded and listened to on portable MP3 players, such as an Apple iPod. He asked if I would be interested in being a test subject, and somehow I wound up being a co-host on his first episode.

Cory moves very quickly. By the time I managed to contact him to see what he wanted to do, he had already contacted the authors of “Morals and Dogma for the 21st Century,” a revised version of Albert Pike’s classic, written in more accessible language for modern readers, and he managed to set up a time for all of us to be on the phone. Yes, all of us: There are four authors, all members of the Scottish Rite in Texas.

And as if that weren’t enough, we were joined by everyone’s favorite Dummy, Bro. Chris Hodapp. Chris was an invaluable addition, mainly because he was (* ahem *) the only one of us who had actually read the book beforehand. I did, however, manage to play Ed McMahon to Cory’s Johnny Carson, and before the show we managed to come up with a dozen or so talking points, including asking how they handled the sections of M&D that are too-often quoted by the religious Anti-Masons.

We were worried that we might not have enough material to cover an hour’s worth of time, but we ended up having a great 7-way conversation for 90 minutes. Along the way, we took IM questions from listeners. The platform that we used, Talkshoe, allows people to log on to listen to the show in real-time; people logged on are able to IM the hosts to ask questions and offer up comments. The best thing was that no studio equipment was needed – just a telephone and a computer.

We had such a great time – and so far, such positive feedback – that we’re planning several more programs. Anyone interested can listen or download the program at http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/11669 . We’d love to hear comments, feedback, suggestions for improvements, and ideas for new programs.

Tao of Masonry | Freemasonry | Masonry