So to understand the present, we must look back in time, and try to follow the path to where we currently are. Of course, this begs the questions of how far back? Where did Freemasonry in Alberta come from? Or for that matter, where did Freemasonry come from in the first place. MANY Masonic scholars have worked on, and continue to work on, this last question. We generally know about the notion of operative stone masons reflecting on moral applications of their tools in the evening hours in their Lodgings, of the shift to accepting speculative masons who were taught the “secrets”. There have also been various strands or traditions drawn upon and end up in our rituals – from the trade secrets of stone masons, to the Pythagorean school of thought, to the Comacine Masons of ancient Rome, to philosophical societies like the Lunar Society of England, to the Cathar movement in southern France, to influences of the Knights Templar, Protestant movement, Renascence, and Galileo Galilee. With such a witches’ brew of sources, no wonder our official start was set at 1717 and the details before that left to the historians and scholars to sort out!
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