Encyclopedia Masonica

The most epoch making of archeologic finds since the discovery of the site of Troy was the wholly unexpected uncovering of the ruins of a great and very advanced civilization which had its center in the Island of Crete, and which was at its height at about 1400 B.C. It was superior to the Egyptian civilization contemporaneous with it, and it was in a number of its achievements the equal of the Greek civilization which followed it; it is even believed that Homer, (or if there never was a man by that name, then the Homeridae) was a descendant of the Minoans, and that the Homeric gods and goddesses were mythic recollections of old kings and heroes of Crete. This means that a wide-spread culture including mathematics, art, music, architecture, skilled crafts, medicine, merchants, and argosies of ships had its center only a short (geographic) distance from Palestine a half millennium before David established the Jews as a nation with a capital, and Solomon built his Temple.

The Minoan discoveries have not contained any data of direct interest to Freemasons, but the discovery as a whole has a very large indirect importance. A number of Masonic writers have endeavored to persuade their readers that Freemasonry originated among the Hermetists of the Middle Ages;

the Hermetists, as the name implies, originated in turn in Egypt; Egypt thus became the ultimate cradle of Freemasonry?one writer (Palmer) professed to see in the Book of the Dead the first faint outlines of the Masonic Ritual. The strongest argument they had, the only one to which non-Masonic historians could give their assent at the time, was that the fraternities and arts of builders must have originated in Egypt because in it alone, in ancient times, were those arts known. Now that the Minoan civilization has been discovered, and a detailed knowledge of it is being increased almost day by day, that can no longer be said. Any argument sound for the Egyptian is equally sound for the Minoan; and if any argument were required the scales would tilt toward the Minoan because it, unlike Egypt, was in the line of those civilizations which led to Europe. The most eminent authority on the Minoans was the man who made the first and the largest of the discoveries about them, the late Sir Arthur Evans. Those discoveries with a factual description of them in detail as written by him are found in the volumes of The Palace of Minos in Knossos; Macmillan; New York; 1921.

The Encyclopedia Masonica exists to preserve the wealth of information that has been generated over the centuries by numerous Masonic authors. As Freemasonry is now Speculative and not Operative, the work of a Mason is now conducted in the quarries of symbolism, literature, history and scholasticism. Freemasonry encourages intellectual exploration and academic achievement in its members and many Masons over the years have taken up this calling. The result has been that an incredible amount of philosophy, symbolic speculation and academic insights have been created. However, as Freemasonry teaches, human knowledge is frail and fragile. It is easily lost in the turnings of the ages and unforeseen catastrophes can result in great setbacks to human knowledge.

For too long these great works have sat on forgotten shelves, gathering dust and concealing the light that could be shed on the darkness of our ignorance. The Encyclopedia Masonica has been created to act as an ark, sailing through time, to ensure that future generations of Freemasons have access to the same knowledge that inspired the Brethren that came before them. It will contain the works of such Masonic Luminaries as Albert G. Mackey, Manly Palmer Hall, G.S.M. Ward, Albert Pike and many others. The Encyclopedia Masonica is a living work and the volunteers of Universal Co-Masonry will continue to labor until the most comprehensive Masonic reference work the world has ever seen has been created. The Encyclopedia Masonica is open to any who wish to use it and will remain open so that the treasures contained within may increase the wealth of all those who seek its wisdom.