Back to Current Issue Contents
Book Reviews
A Matter of Image
Jim Tresner, 33°, Grand Cross
These books cover the scenery of the Scottish Rite,the beautiful and complex iconography ofalchemy, and the symbols used by human beings around the world and through the ages.
It’s not just a concern of rock-stars and politicians. Masonry makes use of a vast range of images, from stage sets to symbols. In this column we’re going to focus on the visual (no pun intended). Some of these books we have mentioned before, but they are certainly valuable enough to merit a second look.
C. Lance Brockman, ed., Theatre of the Fraternity: Staging the Ritual Space of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, 1896–1929, large format, paperbound, heavily illustrated in color. Available for a special price of $30, plus shipping. See inside front cover for ordering information. Limited quantities!
Simply put, this is a wonderful book. From the Middle Ages through the early 1900s, theatres used painted scenery, both backdrops and legs, to set the location of action of plays. Great artistry and brilliant colors developed, as well as specialized techniques of painting which gave the illusion of great depth and perspective. Mixtures of pigments were developed which allowed the director to change the entire mood and intensity of the scene by minor changes in the color of the lighting. Scene drops were real works of art. But they were ephemeral. They were just tossed out or painted over after the run of the play had ended.
In the 1900s theatres started using box sets made of large framed canvas panels called “flats,” and the art of scene painting almost disappeared. In the 1980s, a renewed interest in scenic painting arose in academic theatre, but there were almost no examples left which could be studied to learn the techniques—except in Scottish Rite temples. There, many drops more than 100 years old are carefully preserved and are still in use! When he realized this, Prof. Brockman began a massive study of fraternal scenery, which resulted in a major touring museum exhibition, an important collection of scenery sketches, and this book.
I very highly recommend it. In the first place, it is interesting to see different designs created by different scenery companies for the degrees. And it frankly gives me a sense of pride to look at the photographs of the drops. Our Masonic ancestors knew how to do things with quality!
In addition to your own library, I’d suggest you buy a copy to give to the library at your Temple or Lodge. But, especially, if there is a college or university in your town, I’d suggest you buy a copy to give to the theatre department or library of that university of college. It might well spark an interest in the theatre of Masonry which could lead to an enjoyable and mutually advantageous relationship between the Temple or Lodge and the theatre Department. This is Masonic imagery at its finest. And if the price seems a little high, I assure you that when you see the quality of the printing and the color renditions, you’ll realize it is quite a bargain!
Adam McLean, Foundation Study Course on Alchemical Symbolism, CD-ROM (not a book), $46.00, available only from http://www.levity.com/alchemy/, or write Adam McLean, 15 Keir Street, Glasgow, G41 2NP, U.K.
This is a fascinating and challenging course of study. Many of Masonry’s symbols derive from alchemy, and the alchemical texts used some of the most complex symbolism to be found anywhere. Confronted with a typical page of alchemical symbols—with androgynies, kings, queens, dragons, winged flasks, suns, and moons, to name only a few—we can feel a little like a medieval monk suddenly confronted with a modern text in astrophysics. Yet all these symbols can be read. It’s just a matter of learning the language.
This CD-ROM takes you through the fundamental learning process. The author warns it is not for browsing, and he’s right. This takes study. But it opens a wonderful world of new symbols and insights and, for me at least, gives an additional depth and richness to many of the symbols we encounter in Lodge.
Ernst Lehner, Symbols, Signs, and Signets, reprint of an earlier work, Dover Publications, large format, 221 pages, paperbound, $14.95 + $5.00 S&H. Dover Publications, 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, NY 11501-3582. [NOTE: the easier way to order this and other Dover publications is to go to their web site at www.doverpublications.com If you order more than one item, the shipping will be less costly than if you use the shipping charges given here.]
This is a classic book on symbolism. Lehner collected iconography from many different cultures and many different eras. It is instructive just to see how different peoples have represented similar ideas. I go to it frequently when I need to remember the details of a symbol or icon. And by the way, while almost all Dover books are paperbound, they are tough and well made. I have Dover books I’ve used for four decades and they are still sound.
Rudolf Koch, The Book of Signs, Dover reprint, 104 pages, paperbound, $8.95 + $5.00 S&H (See address and note above.)
The catalog entry says, “Pioneer of typographic style renders 493 symbols from the ancient world through the Middle Ages: religious, alchemical, imperial, runes, property marks, more.” There is more indeed. This is another great classic which anyone who is interested in symbolism simply must have. There is a wealth of material herein. When giving guest lectures to college classes on symbolism, I frequently use a series of signs taken from a medieval cathedral and telling the story of the entire life of a family as an illustration of symbol manipulation. It is an interesting book as well as a very useful one.
Sir James Frazer, The Golden Bough (abridged edition, 768 pages), Dover reprint, $11.95 + $5.00 S&H. (See address and note above.)
One of the most significant factors in my life was the possession, by the Enid, Oklahoma, Public Library, of the entire 12 volume edition of The Golden Bough. By the time I was 10 or 11, I had read the entire set a couple of times, and I’ve been deeply in love with myth and symbolism ever since. When anyone asks me how to start a study of symbolism, I tell them to get a copy of Frazer (the abridged edition works perfectly well) and dive in. The original was published in the 1890s, and it has had a profound effect on psychology, sociology, anthropology, art, and theatre which continues to this day. This is a good, clear republication of the work and will hold up well.
And so we consider images—the scenery of the Scottish Rite, the beautiful and complex iconography of alchemy, the symbols and designs used by human beings around the world and through the ages, and the essential use of image and symbol, some pictorial and some as actions, which have defined societies and cultures. There is much to be said for images … if you see what I mean.
Jim Tresner, Valley of Guthrie, Oklahoma, is the Director of the Masonic Leadership Institute; Editor of The Oklahoma Mason, Member of the Steering Committee, Masonic Information Center; Director of Work in Guthrie; and author, among other books, of Albert Pike: The Man Beyond the Monument and Vested in Glory: The Regalia of the Scottish Rite. Contacts: Grand Lodge of Oklahoma, P.O. Box 1019, Guthrie OK 73044; Tel. 405-282-3212; Fax 405-282-3244; okmasonmag@hotmail.com
