From a palace to a mysterious tomb, The Masonic Tour Guide will take readers on an adventure from the must-see Wonders of the Masonic World, to the nearly unknown and almost impossible to find. Designed to challenge the seasoned traveler, and assist the apprentice, this book offers fun and interesting ways to renew your commitment to The Craft, through visitation and Masonic intercourse. Readers of the Masonic Tour Guide will uncover details on Masonic mysteries that have been rumors and argument-starters for centuries: ""Is Albert Pike really buried inside the House of the Temple?"" ""What is the world's largest Masonic building?"" ""Was one of the biggest Masonic libraries started with just $5?"" ""What does the Titanic share with the Grand Lodge of NY?"" ""What profane museums feature exhibits on Freemasonry?""

The Masonic Tour Guide has returned! This volume features incredible Masonic events held every year that no Freemason should miss, reveals never before-seen details on records that our fraternity has set, and provides exclusive information on the programs available to our members to develop, improve and lead The Craft. No resource to date has provided this level of detail on the sights and services of Freemasonry! Readers of the Masonic Tour Guide will discover the answer to even more of the fraternity's greatest questions: - Where are the world's largest square and compasses? (Page 44) - What is a "Socrates Cafe" and how can I start one in my lodge? (Page 66) - Which beautiful Masonic temple can I explore from my couch? (Page 42) - How can I improve myself in Masonry? (Pages 55-75) - When were the most degrees ever conferred? (Page 47) - Who presents an award for entertaining widows and orphans? (Page 13)

Reprint of the original, first published in 1882.

"Adam Parfrey is one of the nation's most provocative publishers."—Seattle Weekly "Secret society historian Craig Heimbichner follows the Middle Path to wisdom. He works the graveyard shift in the secret lodge."—Joan d'Arc, Paranoia magazine Secret societies—now a staple of bestseller novels—are pictured as sinister cults that use hooded albinos to menace truth-seekers. Some conspiracy books claim that fraternal orders are the work of serpentine aliens and interbred humans who wish to supplant earth of its energy, and later, its very existence. On the other side of the aisle, books by high-ranked Freemasons—skeptical in tone but no less partisan in approach—protect their organization's public image by denying the existence of its most contentious ideas. Ritual America reveals the biggest secret of them all: that the influence of fraternal brotherhoods on this country is vast, fundamental, and hidden in plain view. In the early twentieth century, as many as one-third of America belonged to a secret society. And though fezzes and tiny car parades are almost a thing of the past, the Gnostic beliefs of Masonic orders are now so much a part of the American mind that the surrounding pomp and circumstance has become faintly unnecessary. The authors of Ritual America contextualize hundreds of rare and many never-before printed images with entertaining and far-reaching commentary, making an esoteric subject provocative, exciting, and approachable. Adam Parfrey is the author of Cult Rapture: Revelations of the Apocalyptic Mind and It's a Man's World: Men's Adventure Magazines, the Postwar Pulps. He is editor of the influential Apocalypse Culture series Love, Sex, Fear Death: The Inside Story of the Process Church of the Final Judgment. Craig Heimbichner has recently appeared on a National Geographic documentary about the Bohemian Grove, contributed to the Feral House compilation Secret and Suppressed II, and wrote about the famous occult order the O.T.O. in Blood and Altar.