Everything to be found in ‘Observing the Craft’ has been practised in Masonic lodges throughout the world at one time or another. But the reason this book has been written is because so many of these things have fallen out of practice in so many of our lodges, if indeed they have ever been practised in some of them. It is the fervent desire of Andrew Hammer that they may be reconsidered, revisited and restored by those brothers who are inspired and inclined to do so, and thus the intention of this book is to describe these ideas and the reason why it is believed that their practice is indispensable to the Craft.
The first question that many readers may have when encountering this book is What does it mean to “Observe the Craft?” One can argue that from the very beginning of the recognised and verifiable origin of Freemasonry in 1717, there is no one way to do so; there has always been a great degree of variety in how the members of our Craft have understood, manifested and conducted what it is that we are meant to be doing. Continue reading
