During a chat with Nicholas Broadway, The Square’s publisher, we were musing on how Freemasonry can move with the times, and we feel that the magazine is helping to do just this – as a digital-only platform we can reach Freemasons all over the world in a way that the print version couldn’t.

Offering our readers the chance to delve into subjects they may not be familiar with, in bite-size chunks that can be accessed anywhere – on a phone, tablet, laptop or PC – at any time.

Our aim is to encourage Masonic learning and self-knowledge – our content not only provides the subject matter to whet your appetite and feed curiosity, but we also add signposts to external ‘rabbit holes’ with links, videos, and recommended reading.

It is this expansion of ideas and interaction with varied trains of thought that will encourage more people to understand and embrace the complex beauty of Freemasonry in all its multi-faceted aspects.

Just like Alice in the fabled ‘Wonderland’, we hope you are curious enough to follow the rabbit and take a leap down a few deliciously engrossing rabbit holes along the way!

One of the big questions people are asking now that lockdowns are easing across many parts of the globe, is what Freemasonry will be like after Covid-19?

Of course, we still have the virus in circulation and precautions must be continued, but so much has happened to allow us to return to some semblance of normality.

With this in mind, I interviewed eminent Freemason and author Robert Lomas for this month’s ‘Meet the Author‘.

His new book, ‘Freemasonry after Covid-19’, answers that question and so much more.

He describes Freemasonry during the pandemic as having ‘taken part in a dangerous and compulsory experiment’ and placed ‘in an artificially induced coma’ and that ‘now with the advent of vaccines, we must face the risky business of arousing this slumbering giant’.

I then wondered, will the giant survive being taken off the ventilator and regain its strength, or will ‘Long Covid’ set in, causing intractable chronic fatigue?

Or has the pandemic just accelerated a problem that has been eroding the Craft for a long time?

Robert has over the years analysed the ebbs and flows of Freemasonry and has come up with a blueprint for how the Craft can not only survive this period of darkness, but thrive.

The interview is fantastic, so do read the whole thing, and there is also a review of the book here.

A few rabbit holes to entice you to fall down come from our contributors:

Stephen Dafoe, the author of MORGAN: The Scandal That Shook Freemasonry exposes ‘The Lie Rob Morris Told‘ in relation to the alleged murder in 1826 of William Morgan by Freemasons.

Paul Gardner shares the lovely story about ‘The Mary Tin’ – an initiative to give all servicemen in WWI a ‘Christmas Box’ – and the Masonic connection.

We learn from Kenneth Jack about another fascinating figure in Scottish Freemasonry – ‘Bro Andrew Petrie Cattanach -Theosophist, Occultist, and Freemason’.

Gerald Reilly takes us on another journey to ‘The Holy Land and the Holy Sites’, in which he describes his own experience as a ‘Masonic Tourist’.

Craig Weightman explores the depth of meaning of the Charge to the Initiate in ‘Those Talents Wherewith God Has Blessed You‘.

Carlos Ortiz reminds us all that we are ‘stardust’ in another superb analysis of the mysteries of Freemasonry in ‘A Mason’s Thought about Death’.

More intriguing ‘Ashlar Chippings’ come from the desk of Hugh O’Neill.

Brother Hogarth laments the death of the harlot in ‘Hogarth’s Harlot Reveals All’.

Have you heard of the ‘Widow’s Sons‘? Well, if not, you need to read this article by Wayne Owens.

Other features give you the opportunity to ‘Learn how to Learn’, explore ‘The Lodge of Sorrows’, find out what it means to be ‘On the Level’, and you can check out new books in our Book Reviews, or get an ‘Intro – to an old book’.

I hope you enjoy the issue – if you do (or if you don’t) you know where to email me – editor@thesquaremagazine.com

Until next time, stay well –

Philippa Lee

EDITOR

editor@thesquaremagazine.com

Books by Philippa