Smash hit

As the blindfold was ripped from my eyes, a muffled clap sounded from the watchers. The light in the room was so bright that I found it hard to focus. The single clap, performed by about 40 white-gloved men, sounded surreal.

I blinked and tried to focus. Before me was the Master of the Lodge, surrounded by a bright halo of light. He was wearing an elaborate V-shaped collar of blue and white. Behind him was some sort of ornate carved wooden chair with a triangular headrest. I was struggling to see any detail in the light.

From that day forward, I took great pleasure in attending meetings, but the Order remained largely unknown to me. I had learned how to memorise and recite large chunks of ritual. I exposed various parts of my body to the curious gaze of the Brethren. At each step of this journey, I had been told: “Just do this next bit and all will become clear to you.” But until I decided to research it for myself, it never did.

In my book I set out to achieve three things: first, to explain what had happened, how I felt and how I changed as I was initiated; second, to analyse how ritual, symbols and myth combined to create the uplifting spiritual experiences; and third, to consult the oldest document in Scottish Masonic history and see if its symbols told the same story.

And they did. The Kirkwall Scroll in Orkney is a great cloth, 18ft 6in long and 5ft 6in wide. It was once put on the floor of the Lodge, so that a Masonic candidate could walk through the symbols as he carried out the rituals. The centre section has been radiocarbon-dated to about AD1490. This is a significant period of history, soon after the time when Freemasonry was first established in Scotland by the St Clairs of Roslin.

At the heart of Freemasonry’s influence is the power of symbolism, and its role in feeding our emotional appetites. The enormous success of Dan Brown’s thriller, The Da Vinci Code, shows how he has latched onto a deep spiritual hunger and so managed to attract millions of readers worldwide.

Brown sets the climax of his story in Rosslyn Chapel in Mid-Lothian, celebrating two symbols that are part of that building. He calls them the blade and the chalice. But the same symbols are known to Freemasons as the square and the compasses. And they combine to form the oldest sacred symbol in the world, a diamon shape that archaeologists call a lozenge. It is a symbol found in Africa, in the most ancient art drawn by human hand and in the stones of Skara Brae in Orkney.

When I was commissioned to write Turning the Hiram Key, my publishers pointed out that many clues regarding the identity of the man who inspired Brown’s character, Robert Langdon, lead to me — not least the fact that Langdon is, like me, an internationally known expert on spiritual symbolism and myth based in a university with a world-ranking business school. Langdon, however, seems to lead a more exciting life than I do. If I had to solve murders as well as teach, research and write, I’d never have any spare time.

Brown, who is rumoured to be a Freemason, is certainly aware of the power of myth and symbol. Having noted its current appeal, is that why he is using Freemasonry as the inspiration for his next book, The Solomon Key? He knows that some myths and symbols are popular because they appeal instinctively.

My own research suggests that humans are programmed by evolution to be attracted and soothed by particular symbols and stories. Freemasonry uses this secret knowledge to work its spiritual magic.

So why have I decided to break with 400 years of Masonic obtuseness? I have been fortunate in my publishers, Lewis Masonic, who have been enthusiastic supporters, lending my book a kind of semi-official status, despite the opposition of some within the Grand Lodge of England. It is my belief that Freemasonry is an ancient science that can drive human ambition and achievement. It can offer great insights into the mystery of the inner self — whether you call it soul, spirit or state of consciousness — that do not conflict with modern science. It is a heritage of ancient spiritual teaching held in trust by us to pass on to our sons and daughters. I want others to feel as I did when I experienced the high point of Masonic ritual.

I could see a bright, five-pointed star shining on the eastern wall of the blacked-out Lodge. I gazed, fascinated, at the star, which seemed to hover above the Master’s chair and which, in the surrounding darkness, cast a bright narrow beam of light towards the west. As I looked back at the white shroud covering the Lodge floor, the ray from the rising star illuminated a skull placed above a pair of crossed thigh bones. In the faint light of the star, they looked real. The Master let me gaze for a long moment before speaking.

“Let those symbols of morbidity, which the rising of the Morning Star has illuminated for you, help you to reflect on your ineluctable fate and direct your thoughts towards the most valuable of all studies, the knowledge of yourself.”

Dr Robert Lomas is a lecturer in technological management at Bradford University. Turning the Hiram Key is published by Lewis Masonic

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