Ornaments, Furniture and Jewels

One of the Emulation lectures tells us that the interior of a Freemason's Lodge is composed of Ornaments, Furniture and Jewels. Are we to take these three elements at face value, and if so, what exactly are Ornaments, or Furniture, or indeed Jewels in a masonic context? It becomes clear in this book that we are dealing with ornaments of symbolic and allegorical significance, such as the Blazing Star, the Square Pavement and the Tesselated Border. Furniture in a masonic context includes books of the holy writ, and jewels are sometimes not concrete objects at all, but the summit of allegorical significance in a speculative sense. Architect's implements may serve as speculative jewels, implements such as squares, levels, plumb rules, ashlars and tracing boards. It is clear that there is a wealth of de-coding and interpretation to be undertaken. An entire chapter in the book is devoted to the power of allegory, and we are led on a journey accompanied by many masonic jewels and their relationship in some cases to architecture and art in the profane world.

Paperback - 96 pages - 80 colour and b/w illustrations throughout

280 x 215mm

About the author:

Julian Rees was initiated in the Kirby Lodge No. 2818, under the United Grand Lodge of England, in London in 1968. He was Master in 1976/77 and again at the centenary of the Lodge in 1999/2000.

He was Master of the German-speaking Pilgrim Lodge No. 238 in 1978/79.

He was a regular contributor to the quarterly magazine Freemasonry Today since its founding in 1997 and from 2003 to 2007 he was Deputy and News Editor.

In 2003 he delivered the prestigious Wendel K Walker Memorial Lecture in New York, entitled Through Ritual to Enlightenment.

He was one of the founding members of The Cornerstone Society, serving as Secretary for a number of years, and has lectured to lodges in this country, in USA, in continental Europe and in Africa, and to the Masonic Restoration Foundation in Alexandria, Virginia. On that occasion he gave a paper entitled The Spiritual Path of Freemasonry.

He is the author of four works on Freemasonry - Making Light - a Handbook for Freemasons; The Stairway of Freemasonry - 30 Short Talks and Questions; So You Want To Be A Freemason?; and The Tracing Boards of the Three Degrees in Freemasonry Explained.