Yesterday I received my copy of The Lost Symbol.
I think the Times Online has perhaps got the right angle on this. Dan Brown is about to do to Freemasonry what he did for the Catholic Church. I read a couple of chapters last night, and as with all craftaphobic literature it dishes out the same level of misrepresentation.
For example:
p.3 How can you be dressed as a master if you're an initiate?
p.4 altar - we do not have an altar of any description. We have pedestals for the WM, SW & JWs.
p.4 The Supreme Worshipful Master - no such title. In fact it sounds like something out of Dr. Who.
p.5 drinking wine from a skull - I think the use of human remains is illegal in the UK. Certainly it is not part of the ceremony of initiation. At least I can't find it in my ritual book anyway. I should know, I'm taking the chair for Past Master's night in October.
p.11 thirty-third degree - although numerically superior this is a side degree called Rose Croix (a.k.a Scottish Rite in the States). All side degrees (Chapter, Mark, Marriners, Knights Templar) are subservient to Craft Masonry. Hierarchy is through via the WM, Provincial Officer and Grand Lodge Officer. In the UK the highest mason is the Grand Master, HRH Duke of Kent, not the head Rose Croix.
Thus far it seems to mix up two different degrees and a side degree. Not bad for p.12 but I think Martin Short did better for inaccuracies.
Spotting the errors in this book is going to be fun!
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1 comment:
I am about 30 pages past you and it doesn't get better from here. Repeats of the "pentagram on Washington's streets" and a quick skim shows graphics (if you have to use pictures in your novel you're doing something wrong, Dan) of the "M.A.S.O.N. on the great seal." Nice one Dan, like we haven't seen those old conspiracies enough.
Best fraternal wishes on the rest of the book, brother. I find a stout lager makes it much more enjoyable (just my unsolicited advise).
Take care in your travels,
Gilbert Cleveland, M.M.
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