pieyns

René Pieyns is a Brusselian, born in 1937, doctor of law and a freemason since 1961. His books are written in Dutch and have been translated into French, English and German. The author is a member of the lodge Balder (O Brussels, Grand Orient of Belgium). Thus he is active in the "liberal" (adogmatic) current of freemasonry which constitutes a majority in France and Belgium, yet a minority on world level. His books demonstrate a universal interest and an attempt towards harmony between tradition and free thinking.
 
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The Builder is Smitten!
René Pieyns

Table of content

1. The legend: Solomon & Hiram
 1. Solomon
 2. King Solomon's temple
 3. The masonic temple
 4. The biblical Hiram/Khiram
 5. The masonic legend

2. Themes in the third-degree ritual
 6. Unusual mode of entry
 7. Ritual slaying
 8. Substitutions
 9. The search
 10. Raising
 11. The Lost Word
 12. Concluding themes

3. The setting, ritual furnishings and regalia
 13. The space
 14. Regalia

4. The symbols of the third degree
 15. Pinnacle of a three-tiered symbolic system?
 16. Signs and Tokens
 17. The Centre as symbol
 18. The Master's Words
 19. The Master's Number
 20. Three in the third degree
 21. Square and Compasses
 22. The Acacia is known to me
 23. Genuine secrets of a Master Mason

5. The history of the third degree
 24. Religious and esoteric prehistory?
 25. Prehistory of Freemasonry?
 26. The starting point between 1726 and 1730
 27. Further developments in the ritual

6. Rituals compared
 28. Rituals throughout the world
 29. Continental Europe
 30. Rituals in the English-speaking world

7. An assessment of the third degree
 31. The strictly masonic dimension
 32. Dream and reality
 33. Relative universality


Published in 1993, 202 pp., 117 illustrations.

Euro 21.40

Shipping for Belgium included

This is certainly the first complete screening of the Master Mason degree.
It provides a rich comparative study of the principal rituals all over the world and examines a series of alternative operating procedures.
In 33 captivating chapters we are given a survey of the issues around Solomon's Temple and the Hiram myth, the various ritual themes of the Elevation, decorum and symbolics, history and universality.
Its clear structure, a detailed index and bibliography make this a handy, easy-to-consult though profound work.