July 14, 2025 • 32 mins
If you have wondered about the Rite of Memphis-Misraim, we go there and back with Angel Millar, Editor-in-Chief of the Fraternal Review. In this episode, Angel sheds light on the latest edition of the Fraternal Review that explores the historical roots, differences from Preston-Webb ritual, the unique esoteric teachings of "Egyptian Freemasonry" and its enduring mysteries!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Commons. Opinions and views shared during this program are
of those individual Freemasons and do not reflect the official
position of a Grand Lodge, concordant Body, a Pendant Body,
a Masonic authority, or Craftsman Online dot Com.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome back to the Grasspan Online Podcast, the only Masonic
podcast endorsed by the Grand Lodge of New York. I'm
your host Wright Worship but Brother Michael Arsa, and you've
settled in for a special interview with our brother Angel
Malar as we unveil Memphis Miserum. Now, this is the
new edition of the Paternal Review magazine from the Southern
California Lodge of Research, which is out now. If you
(00:51):
want to get your copy of it, don't worry. The
links to get it, either digitally or through the mail
are right there in the links for the notes on
this episode. But Angel's going to jump in and kind
of talk about the historical roots, how Memphis Miserom came
to be, why it is so different from Preston Webretchul,
the unique esoteric teachings of Egyptian Freemasonry, and really how
(01:12):
this right has become so mysterious and so controversial with
Brothers through all of these years. All right, let's do this.
Brother Angel Malar, Welcome back to the Craftsman Online Podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Thanks very much, good speaking to you again.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
This is one conversation, one topic that the only person
I really wanted to talk about this with is you,
because as a Blue Lodge Mason, I have heard a
lot about Memphis miserom. Yeah, as you can imagine, all
kinds of just crazy out there things and some stuff
from like, oh okay, this sounds like it could be
(01:46):
somewhat true. You've got a new edition of the Fraternal
Review this out that's dedicated to this. Yes, before we
really jump into what's between the pages. As the editor
in chief of the Fraternal Review, what motivated you to
get into this and what you guys like me, No,
before we start this conversation.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Yes, So, Memphis misery, or sometimes called Memphis and misrim,
is a right or rights of fringe masonry that is
highly controversial, largely because it has so many degrees. Most
of the rights have around ninety six degrees, some a
couple more, some some of were reduced to thirty three degrees.
(02:27):
It's always been a bit of a competitor to the
Scottish rite as such as you can imagine, it's also
often considered to be much more esoteric and a cult
and kind of overlapping onto ritual magic to a certain degree,
and in some of its incarnations it does resemble the
(02:48):
Hermitic Order of the Golden Dawn to why a large degree.
So that is probably why it's controversial. Of partly why
it's controversial. It was originally two different rights, the rights
of miserym and then the Right of Memphis, and then
they fuse together to become the Right of Memphis. Misraim.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Okay, we're going to unpack a little bit more on that,
because you did a great job in the intro for
this edition talking about this and kind of giving that
high level overview for those that don't get it. My
first question here is when you talk about it being
kind of a competitor to the Scottish righte, which then
also would mean the York Rights. So a lot of
our concordinate bodies. So the basic story of the first
(03:32):
three degrees of freemasonry really revolve around the allegory of
building your symbolic temple King Solomon. There's a lot of
religion that's stewed into that does this right follow that
or is there other undertones? And you mentioned magic, so
it's less religion and more mystic.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Many of the degrees are based on the sort of
same Hebrew Jewish Old Testament mythology that you would find
in freemasonry, in crafts freemasonry. Many of the degrees are
more or less the same as the Scottish Rite as well. Yes,
it does have some different elements. We actually have one
article explaining the esoteric symbolism and in a sense even
(04:15):
what one might call the magic of the third degree
of Memphis Miseram. And there the candidate is identified with
the god Osiris, the ancient Egyptian god Osiris, and is
not merely raised or even resurrected. The point is that
you've kind of become, in a sense, a living god
(04:36):
or something is incarnated in your soul. You're resurrected and
become this essentially a divine being. So it's a lot
more mystical in that sense.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
And then I want to get back to the point
you made where they were two separate bodies. You had
Memphis and then you had Misery, and then they came together.
What was the reason for that?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Yeah, Well, originally it was Miseram and then later Memphis,
so to give a little bit of the prehistory and
history of Memphis, misterym During the eighteenth century, of course,
you get this explosion of Masonic rights and degrees. I
think there are about a thousand degrees by the end
of the eighteenth century, and multiple rights, district observance, the
(05:20):
Asiatic Brethren forerunners of the Scottish Rite, of course, and
then sort of almost fringe Masonic rights or orders such
as the Golden Rosy Brass or Golden Rosic Grustians, which
was only open to free Masons. So you have all
of these rights, and then by the end of the
eighteenth century you have also, of course the Egyptian Right
(05:43):
of free Masonry, which isn't really based on anything Egyptian.
Egypt was very much in vogue at that time, so
it acquired that name, and no one had created an
Egyptian right at least that was known at all, So
that was a good new spin on the fraternity. Others
with teaching alchemy or saying that they descended from the
(06:05):
Knights Templar and so on. And the Egyptian Right itself,
founded by Count Caliostro, was as I say, not influenced
by ancient Egypt, but influenced by contemporary then contemporary Rosicrucianism
and alchemy, Hemeticism, this kind of thing, and is very
evident in their rituals. This leads on to the creation
(06:26):
of other rights, and then around eighteen o five you
get the Right of Misram, which originally had around seventy
seven degrees, and then at that point I think had
ninety five degrees. One of the members of the Right
of Misray and Marconist and Neegra, who seemed to be
in a little bit of a rogue we might say,
(06:48):
kept having falling out with the leadership of the Right
of Misrium, and then later he founded his own Right
of Memphis, which was essentially the same right, and then
they merged back together, all very similar. Right, what should say?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
You hit on something in I love how the issue
and we're talking with Angel Malar, the editor in chief
of the Fraternal Review, a great publication from the Southern
California Lodge of Research, or the new episode. The new
issue is out now and the link to get it
is also in the notes for this episode. But you
open up with saying, quote, the right of Memphis Misriam
(07:24):
has fascinated, intrigued, and even enraged regular freemasons. And you
were saying how you had to be a master mason
before you could enter into this. So why did it
become so contentious?
Speaker 3 (07:38):
So one of the reasons is they will confer the
three degrees if you join a Memphis miss Ram right today.
So in that sense it is an irregular right. I
think the real reason has nothing to do with that.
All of these rights. Of course, the Scottish Rite has
its own three degrees, of course, but I think the
(08:00):
real problem is that it has so many degrees that
it dwarfs the Scottish Rite. Albert Pike referred to the
esoteric teachings and rituals of the of Memphis Miseraimus quote
unquote cheap wares. So he seems to have been a
little bit had his nose put out of joy, we
might say. And I think that's because if you're the
(08:22):
grand commander in a thirty third degree and someone else's
a fiftieth degree or sixtieth degree, or seventyth or eightieth
or ninety seventh degree, maybe being the thirty third degree
in grand commander is not as privileged and as special
as one might have thought. So I think I think
(08:42):
that's the real reason, to be perfectly honest.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
That is humorous to me because they're really just the
number size. You know, we get to that where for
those outside of the craft and you're hearing us talk
about degrees. So there's the first three degrees, and we've
talked a lot about this on the podcast, and they're
similar to I would say, like a call to like
a high school to college, like your undergrad experience, and
then when you get into these concordant bodies for further
(09:06):
light or more light or additional light or all the light,
whatever the term you want to use is in freemasonry.
I don't want to diminish any of the value or
the work and the research that brothers have put into this,
but degree is a good word to use. But for
the uninitiated also say, it's kind of like chapters in
a book where the story keeps going and there's more
(09:27):
information and there's just more and more and more. So yeah,
the idea of a system that has one hundred degrees
in it, I could see outsiders being like, well, jeez,
is there anybody who's ever gone through all of this
or experience, because even in the Scottish Rite, where they
do have the thirty two to thirty three degree system,
you'll run across people who are like, oh, well, they
don't do this degree anymore, so nobody really sees it.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Yes, that's right, and I think it's pretty common for
the Scottish Rite, which has thirty three to three degrees,
to do only five degrees. And that is the case.
I mean, I'm not a member of Memphis s Myths,
and there are many, many different rights of Memphis misram
today and many are in you know, have an agreement
where they recognize each other, and I suppose some don't
(10:09):
as well. But so I couldn't tell you what goes
on exactly, but I know that in some of them
they do not refer probably most of them, they don't
refer or ninety six or ninety seven degrees, or they
confer it in word only tell you that you're now
an eighteenth degree or whatever it may be.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Well, that was another point I wanted to touch because
regardless where it falls within the relevancy, the ranking, the
connection that it has with Freemasonry as we know it today, right,
the number of cultures that this right touched over the
course of time is pretty fascinating.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Yes, that's right. And actually, although I said that Marconez's
Right of Memphis was very similar to Misram, that is true,
but he did introduce other elements from Northern Europe, India
and more from Egypt as well. So originally it was
more sort of, you know, a Jewish Old Testament, but
(11:06):
then all of these other elements were introduced. And I
think we talked on a previous episode about the right
of the Night of Scandinavia degree, which is which is
in the right of Memphis, or at least in the
right of some Memphis mystery and today and in that
you are going through Northern European mythology from the poetic
(11:29):
adder and maybe the prose Edda and learning about the
god owedin and you receive a cipher with which is
the younger footh art rooms used in Scandinavia. So you know,
that's very different to other forms of free masonry and
fringe masonry that I can think of. Let's play. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
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(12:53):
reading this issue of the Fraternal Review. It's one of
the few, and not to say that none of them
have ever had this impact on me, but it's one
of the few where I'm like, I'd kind of like
to go see some of this if I ever got
the chance to see it in person, But then I'm
also very hesitant to do so because of the fact
that it's not recognized by a lot of grand lodgersts.
So then there's that other issue that we can run
(13:15):
into as a Mason.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Sure, for sure, definitely we would, that's right.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
How does one navigate through that to be able to
learn about this or explore into it? Safely so to speak. Yeah,
good question.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Well you can read the issue, of course, that would
be probably the best stuff. And although I'm definitely plugging
the issue of Praternal Review, you know, one thing I
really wanted to do is to give a really great overview.
So we have a history of the Rite, we explore
the esoteric teachings of the third degree. We actually give
a one of the rituals in tyler form, which is
(13:51):
a short form. We talk about some of the symbols
that you would learn, and then we talk esoterically about
one of the rituals as well. So it's almost like
you're going through the right on paper. But yeah, it's
you know, it's it's tricky to find out about There
are articles that you can find in Maslamic journals. They
(14:14):
tend to be rather critical because of you know, maybe
they're published in the Scottish Rite journals, so there's a
certain hostility towards it. But yeah, it's it's a little
tricky to find out and get really good information on
Memphis mis Ram though the rights to exist out there.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
It's interesting too to kind of close up that part
of the discussion. I think what makes it so appealing
to some is the fact that it's like, oh, don't
go look into that, right, other bodies and other Masons
have tried to downplay it so much that now you're like, well,
what's the mystery here?
Speaker 3 (14:49):
I want to see, you know, And you can read
very critical articles and essays by regular Masons about Memphis
mis RAYM. And yes, it does make it more intriguing
because why are they so honned at the caller about
this one particular right, But I do think it is
you know the fact that they've gone through and they've
(15:10):
got a thirty second degree or maybe thudy that, but
someone else who's been in Memphis misery m is now
fiftieth degree and they've only been in it for twelve
months or something.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
So right, it would be if I ever met another
brother who's like Lama forty seventh degree or seventy fifth degree,
I'd be like what.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Yeah, I would be like whoa.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
But now I get it. And I think most Master
Mason's listening to this podcast episode they know the story,
the allegory of the Heramic legend. We kind of talked
a little bit about that and the third degree. I
wanted to get back to the article that Alexandros are
Armos you had mentioned he expands on the focus of
the miserym and Memphis degree, and that was the one
(15:52):
that I found really fascinating, is kind of walking through
some of those deeper meanings. What part of this philosophy
when you were doing your research, in just your journey
to seek more Masonic light, what was really speaking to
you about this group?
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Yes, well, in many respects, it is very similar to
the Scottish right. I'm actually a lot more skeptical about
higher degrees than people might imagine. You know, I've studied
occultism for forty years at this point, and to me,
you know, it's completely fine that you would go through
all these degrees and there's a little bit about Cabala,
(16:32):
and then there's something about ancient Egypt and then something
about ruins. Personally, you know, I think you can get
all of this information from a book now, and it's
often a little more superficial than you would think. The
Night I find personally, you know, the Night of Scandinavia degree.
(16:52):
I find it fascinating that such a degree was creative
with odin and ruins, but historically it's absolutely fat But
personally I find it also the actual ritual trivial, and
it's basically lifted from the Poetic Editor and the Proseada,
which I medieval Icelandic text. But I do find it
(17:14):
intriguing that all of this sort of esoteric, spiritual, mystical
religious ideas are poured into these rights and that they
become ever more expensive in a way. So I find
that intriguing.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Two names that most Blue Lodge guys would recognize are
Preston and Webb because they made a big impact on
our Blue Lodge ritual. In this issue of the Fraternal Review,
we talked about Yes, you give a great outline of
their third degree, you walk us through some of the
other parts of the right, but you also feature an
interview with David Harrison, who brought up someone I was
(17:50):
unfamiliar with, John Yarker. Who was this brother? Who was
this man and what were his contributes contributions.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Yeah, he's not that well known in regular Masonry, but
he really should be because he actually started out life
in the world of Freemasonry as a regular Freemason and
a very active regular Freemason. And yeah, he was a
member not only of the Blue Large but also of
Mark Masonry. Royal arch which is almost obligatory in England,
(18:21):
and the Knights Templar orders as well, So you know,
he was very active. I believe he's also behind the
founding of a couple of regular Masonic rites as well.
But then he later on he broke away and became
the head of Memphis and miss rayem in Great Britain.
(18:41):
And he called his right the ancient and primitive rite
of Freemasonry, and he got that from, I believe, from
Harry Seymour in the United States, in New York, and
Harry Seymour had actually reduced the degrees back down to
third so it was almost like an alternative to the
(19:02):
Scottish Rite, and Yaka promoted and headed that right in
Great Britain. He's he's intriguing, not just because he was
a regular Freemason for many years, a very active one
who became an irregular fringe Mason promoting the right of
(19:25):
Memphis and Miram, but he's also important because he crosses
over with the world of Western occultism as well. So
he actually charted or gave a charter to Theodore Royce
in Germany, and Royce was one of the founders of
(19:46):
the Ordo Temporary Orientis, which was later headed by Aleister Crowley,
the notorious and publicity seeking magus of the early twentieth century.
So I recognize that name. Yeah, that's right. You know,
it's notorious and a lot a lot of things have
said about probably that aren't true. But but he probably
(20:11):
is easily the most influential occultist of the last one
hundred years. And I would think, I mean, I guess
you could, you could factor in other people, such as
Gerald Gardner, but but I would think he probably is
more influential than anyone else if one is being objective.
(20:33):
And so you know, so Yaka chartered Theodore Royce, who used,
you know, use these childs that he received to found
the Auto Temporary Orientis, which was originally founded as a
Masonic academia and then later now today it's really regarded
(20:54):
as as an occult society, especially one that will teach
you the secrets of magic and in particular the secrets
of sexual magic. So you know, he's a Yaker. Is
this strange bridge between freemasonry, fringe masonry, and the occult world.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Hmm. It's interesting because I've never really felt I'm trying
to figure out how to actually put this into words.
The statement, every time I walk into a lodge, whether
it's here in the nation's capital or you know, my
home jurisdiction in Upstate New York, you see the small
collection of ben I think, you know where I'm going
to go with this one is. You know, sometimes it's six, seven,
(21:36):
maybe ten, twelve guys, right, And we have this conversation
all the time when you think about every man you
know in your life, and the peal of freemasonry is
so limited just to this group. Yeah, and you use
terms like a cult, which kind of gets me a
little nervous. I'm like, I never really thought I was
a part of the occult to the hidden mysteries of
free Masonry, because I understand that and I subscribe to
that thought. But now to what this sounds like to me,
(21:58):
and maybe part of the reason why it was so attacked.
Just an observation that I have is that people look
at this just as they go, oh, it's just like
the Illuminati. We need to put this on another shelf
and away from Freemasonry, when really it was just brothers
in a certain time or men in a certain time
that we're all trying to seek or find certain answers
that were going down this path, and it just kept
(22:21):
getting smaller and smaller and smaller with the number of
them that this appealed to.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Yeah, that's right. Well, you do find movers and shaker
of the occult in the various rites of Memphis and Misram,
especially on the Yaka. But yes, I mean, although you know,
it might be said that it expanded to an almost
ridiculous degree in ninety six ninety seven degrees, right, you know, yes,
there is clearly a pursuit of mystical or esoteric knowledge
(22:52):
and an attempt to bring it together in one place. Now,
whether that's successful or not, it doesn't pready matter. But yes,
there is a definitely seeking after eternal truth.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
That's what we're all looking for. And I think that's
a great way to close out the issue that you
did was with the article on Rudolph Steiner.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Yes, Rudolf Steiner, that's right.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
He headed his own branch of the Memphis miserym right
in the early nineteen hundreds. Yes, Essentially, what I found
really interesting was was he used the term snoozing forces
with the four different kinds of instructions or disciplines and
as a Blue Lodge Mason, this is what kind of
(23:39):
appealed to me, like, what was the what was the
reawakening that he talked about. What did he believe was
necessary for initiates to experience to go through this?
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Yes, that's a good question. So just to give a
little background on Rudolph Steiner, he's mostly known today for
founding the Store of Amphiposophy Wisdom of Man. Essentially, he
was the head of the German branch in Berlin of
the Theosophical Society as well, and the Theosophical Society of
(24:12):
Theosophy today is a quaint, marginal, fringe spiritual society or
school of thought. But at that time and before that,
it was absolutely enormous and you know, shaped shaped the
(24:32):
thinking of a great many people, and it was extremely influenced,
extremely influential as well politically, especially in the East in
the anti anti colonial movement and with promotion of Buddhism
and the protection of Buddhism in stary Lanca as well.
Steiner joined the Theosophical Society around nineteen o two after
(24:57):
lecturing to its London unch in England and became the
head in Berlin and a little while after that. Yes,
he was chartered in nineteen o five actually to run
a lodge of Memphis Misraim, and he used that charter
to found his own essentially his own Memphis Misraim, right,
(25:20):
although he stripped it down I think to seven degrees
and really infused it with his own mythology. Steiner was
on the one hand, you could say he was a
bit of a crank, but on the other you could
say he was also a visionary. He was an artist,
he was something of an architect. He wrote many, many books.
He founded the Waldorf School of Education, which is all
(25:45):
over the world today, and he was also the founder
or one of the founders of biodynamic farming as well.
So he's left quite an imprint on the world. Although
he's virtually unknown, and his followers might say that he's
stripped out all of the Freemasonry, but if you actually
look at it, it's very largely Masonic. So you find
(26:07):
the squaring compassies in there, you find you know, it's
essentially a Masonic ritual. They have their own Hieramic legend.
But because Steiner would receive these visions about the astra
world and what really went on with God, it's a
very different Hieramic legend. So in there, the Queen of Sheba,
for example, goes to visit King Solomon with the intention
(26:31):
of marrying him, and then she meets the builder Hierum
and is completely smitten by him, realizing that he is
he must have been, you know, given this sublime knowledge
of creation by the divine beings, and falls for him,
and then Solomon becomes very jealous and essentially gets rid
(26:55):
of him with three Ruffians. So you know, it's a
different story, and it's much more it's much stranger and
much more esoteric. But yeah, that it is a fusion
of Freemasonry and his own vision and Memphis mis Rahiem
and it has all kinds of elements in alchemy, the planets.
(27:16):
It's much more occult looking, and there are different elements
on the old h So you know, it's quite curious.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
One of the things I love about this issue and
the work that you do at the Fraternal Review is
it kind of ties into our positioning statement here at
Craftsman Online, where we say we're modern men explore the
ancient mysteries, right, And whether you're a boo lodge Mason
or you're in some of these other bodies and doing this,
we're all kind of the same thing. We're trying to
(28:10):
find the answers to these time old questions or quote
unquote mysteries that are out there. And what's interesting in
reading an article like this about the right of Memphis
misroom is that these are different men at different points,
some separated by hundreds of years, right, that we're going
through this and we benefit now being able to read
(28:30):
this in a single issue of the Fraternal Review, and
it's pretty exciting, like when you talk about the differences
between the allegorias, like, wow, that's that is a different
way of looking at it.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
That's pretty interesting.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
But to those that are more learned on this, it's
like the old NBC. Well, if you haven't seen it,
it's new to you. Like, there's already guys that are
that are really into this. So my question is we're
living in this era now where as we look at
where we are in you know, the landscape of time,
(29:02):
we're in this technology driven AI, artificial intelligence society, right,
and when these men were you picked the seventeen hundreds,
the eighteen hundreds, you know, whenever they were searching for this,
they were also going through massive eras of transformation and growth.
How do you see this being relevant or how do
(29:24):
you see this being intriguing to men today?
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Well, let's say today and tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Obviously, the internet means that people do more and more
things online. They're less and less capable of personal interactions,
and AI is only going to exacerbate that, right, and
people will think in the future that AI has all
of the real answers. And if you type in something,
(29:51):
you know, you know, how how should I be governed
or something, it's going to spit out an answer and
people will think that that is correct, which is going
to be extremely dangerous. But you know, a lot of
people will completely use lose their humanity if they haven't already.
But I think for a certain number of people, they
(30:16):
will still want personal interaction, and they will still want mystery,
and they will still want to contemplate the deeper questions
of life. And you know, let me put it to
you like this. I always think and say that you know,
you can have one hundred ideas a day, and maybe
maybe we all have a hundred ideas a day, but
(30:37):
you also only have one idea every decade. And what
I mean by that is Yeah, you have fleeting trivial ideas.
I could do this, I could do that. Oh that's
a good idea. I hadn't thought of that before. But
there is something overarching that we contemplate, and that's why
we you know, we change over a period and things
don't appeal to us anymore, or we've become interested in
(30:59):
something else. AI and the Internet and the modern world
gives us those little one hundred answers, but it doesn't
give us the one big question that we need to
contemplate to make our life meaningful. And the word quest
and the word question come from the same source, by
the way, and we need to pursue the question the mystery.
(31:21):
People you meet that are miserable have an answer for everything.
But people who are content and happy and have a
purpose in life, they have a question.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
People that are happy have a quest. They have a question.
I like that, And I'm just thinking of everybody that
I run into, the negative people, the people that are
that have these unfortunate challenges in their life. And yeah,
they they tend to have a lot of excuses or
reasons for that point, but they're not trying to seek
getting out of the whole. Yeah, I was not expecting
you to say that, and you've really put me on
(31:50):
my back foot. That's I love it. You gave me
some definite food for thought. That's why I love talking
to you and I love doing this podcast.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Oh, thank you, it's good talking with you always. Son.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Thanks again to my guest this week, Brother Angel Malar,
editor of the Fraternal Review magazine, which you can get
through the Southern California Lodge of Research. If you want
to get your own copy on Memphis Misram the latest edition.
If go to the notes in this episode Boom, you'll
find a link right there. Hey, if you've enjoyed the
Craftsman Online podcast, we'd love to have you come join
us on Patreon just five dollars a month. Do you
(32:24):
support the show get access to some of our exclusive
extra time episodes for example like my brother Angel Malar
and other wonderful guests, all for five dollars on Patreon
at your support in the podcast, and we love you,
love you, love you for that. Until next Monday. It's
right worship of Brother Michael Arsa. Let peace and harmony
prevail
The Commons. Opinions and views shared during this program are
of those individual Freemasons and do not reflect the official
position of a Grand Lodge, concordant Body, a Pendant Body,
a Masonic authority, or Craftsman Online dot Com.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome back to the Grasspan Online Podcast, the only Masonic
podcast endorsed by the Grand Lodge of New York. I'm
your host Wright Worship but Brother Michael Arsa, and you've
settled in for a special interview with our brother Angel
Malar as we unveil Memphis Miserum. Now, this is the
new edition of the Paternal Review magazine from the Southern
California Lodge of Research, which is out now. If you
(00:51):
want to get your copy of it, don't worry. The
links to get it, either digitally or through the mail
are right there in the links for the notes on
this episode. But Angel's going to jump in and kind
of talk about the historical roots, how Memphis Miserom came
to be, why it is so different from Preston Webretchul,
the unique esoteric teachings of Egyptian Freemasonry, and really how
(01:12):
this right has become so mysterious and so controversial with
Brothers through all of these years. All right, let's do this.
Brother Angel Malar, Welcome back to the Craftsman Online Podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Thanks very much, good speaking to you again.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
This is one conversation, one topic that the only person
I really wanted to talk about this with is you,
because as a Blue Lodge Mason, I have heard a
lot about Memphis miserom. Yeah, as you can imagine, all
kinds of just crazy out there things and some stuff
from like, oh okay, this sounds like it could be
(01:46):
somewhat true. You've got a new edition of the Fraternal
Review this out that's dedicated to this. Yes, before we
really jump into what's between the pages. As the editor
in chief of the Fraternal Review, what motivated you to
get into this and what you guys like me, No,
before we start this conversation.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Yes, So, Memphis misery, or sometimes called Memphis and misrim,
is a right or rights of fringe masonry that is
highly controversial, largely because it has so many degrees. Most
of the rights have around ninety six degrees, some a
couple more, some some of were reduced to thirty three degrees.
(02:27):
It's always been a bit of a competitor to the
Scottish rite as such as you can imagine, it's also
often considered to be much more esoteric and a cult
and kind of overlapping onto ritual magic to a certain degree,
and in some of its incarnations it does resemble the
(02:48):
Hermitic Order of the Golden Dawn to why a large degree.
So that is probably why it's controversial. Of partly why
it's controversial. It was originally two different rights, the rights
of miserym and then the Right of Memphis, and then
they fuse together to become the Right of Memphis. Misraim.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Okay, we're going to unpack a little bit more on that,
because you did a great job in the intro for
this edition talking about this and kind of giving that
high level overview for those that don't get it. My
first question here is when you talk about it being
kind of a competitor to the Scottish righte, which then
also would mean the York Rights. So a lot of
our concordinate bodies. So the basic story of the first
(03:32):
three degrees of freemasonry really revolve around the allegory of
building your symbolic temple King Solomon. There's a lot of
religion that's stewed into that does this right follow that
or is there other undertones? And you mentioned magic, so
it's less religion and more mystic.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Many of the degrees are based on the sort of
same Hebrew Jewish Old Testament mythology that you would find
in freemasonry, in crafts freemasonry. Many of the degrees are
more or less the same as the Scottish Rite as well. Yes,
it does have some different elements. We actually have one
article explaining the esoteric symbolism and in a sense even
(04:15):
what one might call the magic of the third degree
of Memphis Miseram. And there the candidate is identified with
the god Osiris, the ancient Egyptian god Osiris, and is
not merely raised or even resurrected. The point is that
you've kind of become, in a sense, a living god
(04:36):
or something is incarnated in your soul. You're resurrected and
become this essentially a divine being. So it's a lot
more mystical in that sense.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
And then I want to get back to the point
you made where they were two separate bodies. You had
Memphis and then you had Misery, and then they came together.
What was the reason for that?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Yeah, Well, originally it was Miseram and then later Memphis,
so to give a little bit of the prehistory and
history of Memphis, misterym During the eighteenth century, of course,
you get this explosion of Masonic rights and degrees. I
think there are about a thousand degrees by the end
of the eighteenth century, and multiple rights, district observance, the
(05:20):
Asiatic Brethren forerunners of the Scottish Rite, of course, and
then sort of almost fringe Masonic rights or orders such
as the Golden Rosy Brass or Golden Rosic Grustians, which
was only open to free Masons. So you have all
of these rights, and then by the end of the
eighteenth century you have also, of course the Egyptian Right
(05:43):
of free Masonry, which isn't really based on anything Egyptian.
Egypt was very much in vogue at that time, so
it acquired that name, and no one had created an
Egyptian right at least that was known at all, So
that was a good new spin on the fraternity. Others
with teaching alchemy or saying that they descended from the
(06:05):
Knights Templar and so on. And the Egyptian Right itself,
founded by Count Caliostro, was as I say, not influenced
by ancient Egypt, but influenced by contemporary then contemporary Rosicrucianism
and alchemy, Hemeticism, this kind of thing, and is very
evident in their rituals. This leads on to the creation
(06:26):
of other rights, and then around eighteen o five you
get the Right of Misram, which originally had around seventy
seven degrees, and then at that point I think had
ninety five degrees. One of the members of the Right
of Misray and Marconist and Neegra, who seemed to be
in a little bit of a rogue we might say,
(06:48):
kept having falling out with the leadership of the Right
of Misrium, and then later he founded his own Right
of Memphis, which was essentially the same right, and then
they merged back together, all very similar. Right, what should say?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
You hit on something in I love how the issue
and we're talking with Angel Malar, the editor in chief
of the Fraternal Review, a great publication from the Southern
California Lodge of Research, or the new episode. The new
issue is out now and the link to get it
is also in the notes for this episode. But you
open up with saying, quote, the right of Memphis Misriam
(07:24):
has fascinated, intrigued, and even enraged regular freemasons. And you
were saying how you had to be a master mason
before you could enter into this. So why did it
become so contentious?
Speaker 3 (07:38):
So one of the reasons is they will confer the
three degrees if you join a Memphis miss Ram right today.
So in that sense it is an irregular right. I
think the real reason has nothing to do with that.
All of these rights. Of course, the Scottish Rite has
its own three degrees, of course, but I think the
(08:00):
real problem is that it has so many degrees that
it dwarfs the Scottish Rite. Albert Pike referred to the
esoteric teachings and rituals of the of Memphis Miseraimus quote
unquote cheap wares. So he seems to have been a
little bit had his nose put out of joy, we
might say. And I think that's because if you're the
(08:22):
grand commander in a thirty third degree and someone else's
a fiftieth degree or sixtieth degree, or seventyth or eightieth
or ninety seventh degree, maybe being the thirty third degree
in grand commander is not as privileged and as special
as one might have thought. So I think I think
(08:42):
that's the real reason, to be perfectly honest.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
That is humorous to me because they're really just the
number size. You know, we get to that where for
those outside of the craft and you're hearing us talk
about degrees. So there's the first three degrees, and we've
talked a lot about this on the podcast, and they're
similar to I would say, like a call to like
a high school to college, like your undergrad experience, and
then when you get into these concordant bodies for further
(09:06):
light or more light or additional light or all the light,
whatever the term you want to use is in freemasonry.
I don't want to diminish any of the value or
the work and the research that brothers have put into this,
but degree is a good word to use. But for
the uninitiated also say, it's kind of like chapters in
a book where the story keeps going and there's more
(09:27):
information and there's just more and more and more. So yeah,
the idea of a system that has one hundred degrees
in it, I could see outsiders being like, well, jeez,
is there anybody who's ever gone through all of this
or experience, because even in the Scottish Rite, where they
do have the thirty two to thirty three degree system,
you'll run across people who are like, oh, well, they
don't do this degree anymore, so nobody really sees it.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Yes, that's right, and I think it's pretty common for
the Scottish Rite, which has thirty three to three degrees,
to do only five degrees. And that is the case.
I mean, I'm not a member of Memphis s Myths,
and there are many, many different rights of Memphis misram
today and many are in you know, have an agreement
where they recognize each other, and I suppose some don't
(10:09):
as well. But so I couldn't tell you what goes
on exactly, but I know that in some of them
they do not refer probably most of them, they don't
refer or ninety six or ninety seven degrees, or they
confer it in word only tell you that you're now
an eighteenth degree or whatever it may be.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Well, that was another point I wanted to touch because
regardless where it falls within the relevancy, the ranking, the
connection that it has with Freemasonry as we know it today, right,
the number of cultures that this right touched over the
course of time is pretty fascinating.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Yes, that's right. And actually, although I said that Marconez's
Right of Memphis was very similar to Misram, that is true,
but he did introduce other elements from Northern Europe, India
and more from Egypt as well. So originally it was
more sort of, you know, a Jewish Old Testament, but
(11:06):
then all of these other elements were introduced. And I
think we talked on a previous episode about the right
of the Night of Scandinavia degree, which is which is
in the right of Memphis, or at least in the
right of some Memphis mystery and today and in that
you are going through Northern European mythology from the poetic
(11:29):
adder and maybe the prose Edda and learning about the
god owedin and you receive a cipher with which is
the younger footh art rooms used in Scandinavia. So you know,
that's very different to other forms of free masonry and
fringe masonry that I can think of. Let's play. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
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(12:53):
reading this issue of the Fraternal Review. It's one of
the few, and not to say that none of them
have ever had this impact on me, but it's one
of the few where I'm like, I'd kind of like
to go see some of this if I ever got
the chance to see it in person, But then I'm
also very hesitant to do so because of the fact
that it's not recognized by a lot of grand lodgersts.
So then there's that other issue that we can run
(13:15):
into as a Mason.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Sure, for sure, definitely we would, that's right.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
How does one navigate through that to be able to
learn about this or explore into it? Safely so to speak. Yeah,
good question.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Well you can read the issue, of course, that would
be probably the best stuff. And although I'm definitely plugging
the issue of Praternal Review, you know, one thing I
really wanted to do is to give a really great overview.
So we have a history of the Rite, we explore
the esoteric teachings of the third degree. We actually give
a one of the rituals in tyler form, which is
(13:51):
a short form. We talk about some of the symbols
that you would learn, and then we talk esoterically about
one of the rituals as well. So it's almost like
you're going through the right on paper. But yeah, it's
you know, it's it's tricky to find out about There
are articles that you can find in Maslamic journals. They
(14:14):
tend to be rather critical because of you know, maybe
they're published in the Scottish Rite journals, so there's a
certain hostility towards it. But yeah, it's it's a little
tricky to find out and get really good information on
Memphis mis Ram though the rights to exist out there.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
It's interesting too to kind of close up that part
of the discussion. I think what makes it so appealing
to some is the fact that it's like, oh, don't
go look into that, right, other bodies and other Masons
have tried to downplay it so much that now you're like, well,
what's the mystery here?
Speaker 3 (14:49):
I want to see, you know, And you can read
very critical articles and essays by regular Masons about Memphis
mis RAYM. And yes, it does make it more intriguing
because why are they so honned at the caller about
this one particular right, But I do think it is
you know the fact that they've gone through and they've
(15:10):
got a thirty second degree or maybe thudy that, but
someone else who's been in Memphis misery m is now
fiftieth degree and they've only been in it for twelve
months or something.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
So right, it would be if I ever met another
brother who's like Lama forty seventh degree or seventy fifth degree,
I'd be like what.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Yeah, I would be like whoa.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
But now I get it. And I think most Master
Mason's listening to this podcast episode they know the story,
the allegory of the Heramic legend. We kind of talked
a little bit about that and the third degree. I
wanted to get back to the article that Alexandros are
Armos you had mentioned he expands on the focus of
the miserym and Memphis degree, and that was the one
(15:52):
that I found really fascinating, is kind of walking through
some of those deeper meanings. What part of this philosophy
when you were doing your research, in just your journey
to seek more Masonic light, what was really speaking to
you about this group?
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Yes, well, in many respects, it is very similar to
the Scottish right. I'm actually a lot more skeptical about
higher degrees than people might imagine. You know, I've studied
occultism for forty years at this point, and to me,
you know, it's completely fine that you would go through
all these degrees and there's a little bit about Cabala,
(16:32):
and then there's something about ancient Egypt and then something
about ruins. Personally, you know, I think you can get
all of this information from a book now, and it's
often a little more superficial than you would think. The
Night I find personally, you know, the Night of Scandinavia degree.
(16:52):
I find it fascinating that such a degree was creative
with odin and ruins, but historically it's absolutely fat But
personally I find it also the actual ritual trivial, and
it's basically lifted from the Poetic Editor and the Proseada,
which I medieval Icelandic text. But I do find it
(17:14):
intriguing that all of this sort of esoteric, spiritual, mystical
religious ideas are poured into these rights and that they
become ever more expensive in a way. So I find
that intriguing.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Two names that most Blue Lodge guys would recognize are
Preston and Webb because they made a big impact on
our Blue Lodge ritual. In this issue of the Fraternal Review,
we talked about Yes, you give a great outline of
their third degree, you walk us through some of the
other parts of the right, but you also feature an
interview with David Harrison, who brought up someone I was
(17:50):
unfamiliar with, John Yarker. Who was this brother? Who was
this man and what were his contributes contributions.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Yeah, he's not that well known in regular Masonry, but
he really should be because he actually started out life
in the world of Freemasonry as a regular Freemason and
a very active regular Freemason. And yeah, he was a
member not only of the Blue Large but also of
Mark Masonry. Royal arch which is almost obligatory in England,
(18:21):
and the Knights Templar orders as well, So you know,
he was very active. I believe he's also behind the
founding of a couple of regular Masonic rites as well.
But then he later on he broke away and became
the head of Memphis and miss rayem in Great Britain.
(18:41):
And he called his right the ancient and primitive rite
of Freemasonry, and he got that from, I believe, from
Harry Seymour in the United States, in New York, and
Harry Seymour had actually reduced the degrees back down to
third so it was almost like an alternative to the
(19:02):
Scottish Rite, and Yaka promoted and headed that right in
Great Britain. He's he's intriguing, not just because he was
a regular Freemason for many years, a very active one
who became an irregular fringe Mason promoting the right of
(19:25):
Memphis and Miram, but he's also important because he crosses
over with the world of Western occultism as well. So
he actually charted or gave a charter to Theodore Royce
in Germany, and Royce was one of the founders of
(19:46):
the Ordo Temporary Orientis, which was later headed by Aleister Crowley,
the notorious and publicity seeking magus of the early twentieth century.
So I recognize that name. Yeah, that's right. You know,
it's notorious and a lot a lot of things have
said about probably that aren't true. But but he probably
(20:11):
is easily the most influential occultist of the last one
hundred years. And I would think, I mean, I guess
you could, you could factor in other people, such as
Gerald Gardner, but but I would think he probably is
more influential than anyone else if one is being objective.
(20:33):
And so you know, so Yaka chartered Theodore Royce, who used,
you know, use these childs that he received to found
the Auto Temporary Orientis, which was originally founded as a
Masonic academia and then later now today it's really regarded
(20:54):
as as an occult society, especially one that will teach
you the secrets of magic and in particular the secrets
of sexual magic. So you know, he's a Yaker. Is
this strange bridge between freemasonry, fringe masonry, and the occult world.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Hmm. It's interesting because I've never really felt I'm trying
to figure out how to actually put this into words.
The statement, every time I walk into a lodge, whether
it's here in the nation's capital or you know, my
home jurisdiction in Upstate New York, you see the small
collection of ben I think, you know where I'm going
to go with this one is. You know, sometimes it's six, seven,
(21:36):
maybe ten, twelve guys, right, And we have this conversation
all the time when you think about every man you
know in your life, and the peal of freemasonry is
so limited just to this group. Yeah, and you use
terms like a cult, which kind of gets me a
little nervous. I'm like, I never really thought I was
a part of the occult to the hidden mysteries of
free Masonry, because I understand that and I subscribe to
that thought. But now to what this sounds like to me,
(21:58):
and maybe part of the reason why it was so attacked.
Just an observation that I have is that people look
at this just as they go, oh, it's just like
the Illuminati. We need to put this on another shelf
and away from Freemasonry, when really it was just brothers
in a certain time or men in a certain time
that we're all trying to seek or find certain answers
that were going down this path, and it just kept
(22:21):
getting smaller and smaller and smaller with the number of
them that this appealed to.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Yeah, that's right. Well, you do find movers and shaker
of the occult in the various rites of Memphis and Misram,
especially on the Yaka. But yes, I mean, although you know,
it might be said that it expanded to an almost
ridiculous degree in ninety six ninety seven degrees, right, you know, yes,
there is clearly a pursuit of mystical or esoteric knowledge
(22:52):
and an attempt to bring it together in one place. Now,
whether that's successful or not, it doesn't pready matter. But yes,
there is a definitely seeking after eternal truth.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
That's what we're all looking for. And I think that's
a great way to close out the issue that you
did was with the article on Rudolph Steiner.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Yes, Rudolf Steiner, that's right.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
He headed his own branch of the Memphis miserym right
in the early nineteen hundreds. Yes, Essentially, what I found
really interesting was was he used the term snoozing forces
with the four different kinds of instructions or disciplines and
as a Blue Lodge Mason, this is what kind of
(23:39):
appealed to me, like, what was the what was the
reawakening that he talked about. What did he believe was
necessary for initiates to experience to go through this?
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Yes, that's a good question. So just to give a
little background on Rudolph Steiner, he's mostly known today for
founding the Store of Amphiposophy Wisdom of Man. Essentially, he
was the head of the German branch in Berlin of
the Theosophical Society as well, and the Theosophical Society of
(24:12):
Theosophy today is a quaint, marginal, fringe spiritual society or
school of thought. But at that time and before that,
it was absolutely enormous and you know, shaped shaped the
(24:32):
thinking of a great many people, and it was extremely influenced,
extremely influential as well politically, especially in the East in
the anti anti colonial movement and with promotion of Buddhism
and the protection of Buddhism in stary Lanca as well.
Steiner joined the Theosophical Society around nineteen o two after
(24:57):
lecturing to its London unch in England and became the
head in Berlin and a little while after that. Yes,
he was chartered in nineteen o five actually to run
a lodge of Memphis Misraim, and he used that charter
to found his own essentially his own Memphis Misraim, right,
(25:20):
although he stripped it down I think to seven degrees
and really infused it with his own mythology. Steiner was
on the one hand, you could say he was a
bit of a crank, but on the other you could
say he was also a visionary. He was an artist,
he was something of an architect. He wrote many, many books.
He founded the Waldorf School of Education, which is all
(25:45):
over the world today, and he was also the founder
or one of the founders of biodynamic farming as well.
So he's left quite an imprint on the world. Although
he's virtually unknown, and his followers might say that he's
stripped out all of the Freemasonry, but if you actually
look at it, it's very largely Masonic. So you find
(26:07):
the squaring compassies in there, you find you know, it's
essentially a Masonic ritual. They have their own Hieramic legend.
But because Steiner would receive these visions about the astra
world and what really went on with God, it's a
very different Hieramic legend. So in there, the Queen of Sheba,
for example, goes to visit King Solomon with the intention
(26:31):
of marrying him, and then she meets the builder Hierum
and is completely smitten by him, realizing that he is
he must have been, you know, given this sublime knowledge
of creation by the divine beings, and falls for him,
and then Solomon becomes very jealous and essentially gets rid
(26:55):
of him with three Ruffians. So you know, it's a
different story, and it's much more it's much stranger and
much more esoteric. But yeah, that it is a fusion
of Freemasonry and his own vision and Memphis mis Rahiem
and it has all kinds of elements in alchemy, the planets.
(27:16):
It's much more occult looking, and there are different elements
on the old h So you know, it's quite curious.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
One of the things I love about this issue and
the work that you do at the Fraternal Review is
it kind of ties into our positioning statement here at
Craftsman Online, where we say we're modern men explore the
ancient mysteries, right, And whether you're a boo lodge Mason
or you're in some of these other bodies and doing this,
we're all kind of the same thing. We're trying to
(28:10):
find the answers to these time old questions or quote
unquote mysteries that are out there. And what's interesting in
reading an article like this about the right of Memphis
misroom is that these are different men at different points,
some separated by hundreds of years, right, that we're going
through this and we benefit now being able to read
(28:30):
this in a single issue of the Fraternal Review, and
it's pretty exciting, like when you talk about the differences
between the allegorias, like, wow, that's that is a different
way of looking at it.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
That's pretty interesting.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
But to those that are more learned on this, it's
like the old NBC. Well, if you haven't seen it,
it's new to you. Like, there's already guys that are
that are really into this. So my question is we're
living in this era now where as we look at
where we are in you know, the landscape of time,
(29:02):
we're in this technology driven AI, artificial intelligence society, right,
and when these men were you picked the seventeen hundreds,
the eighteen hundreds, you know, whenever they were searching for this,
they were also going through massive eras of transformation and growth.
How do you see this being relevant or how do
(29:24):
you see this being intriguing to men today?
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Well, let's say today and tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Obviously, the internet means that people do more and more
things online. They're less and less capable of personal interactions,
and AI is only going to exacerbate that, right, and
people will think in the future that AI has all
of the real answers. And if you type in something,
(29:51):
you know, you know, how how should I be governed
or something, it's going to spit out an answer and
people will think that that is correct, which is going
to be extremely dangerous. But you know, a lot of
people will completely use lose their humanity if they haven't already.
But I think for a certain number of people, they
(30:16):
will still want personal interaction, and they will still want mystery,
and they will still want to contemplate the deeper questions
of life. And you know, let me put it to
you like this. I always think and say that you know,
you can have one hundred ideas a day, and maybe
maybe we all have a hundred ideas a day, but
(30:37):
you also only have one idea every decade. And what
I mean by that is Yeah, you have fleeting trivial ideas.
I could do this, I could do that. Oh that's
a good idea. I hadn't thought of that before. But
there is something overarching that we contemplate, and that's why
we you know, we change over a period and things
don't appeal to us anymore, or we've become interested in
(30:59):
something else. AI and the Internet and the modern world
gives us those little one hundred answers, but it doesn't
give us the one big question that we need to
contemplate to make our life meaningful. And the word quest
and the word question come from the same source, by
the way, and we need to pursue the question the mystery.
(31:21):
People you meet that are miserable have an answer for everything.
But people who are content and happy and have a
purpose in life, they have a question.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
People that are happy have a quest. They have a question.
I like that, And I'm just thinking of everybody that
I run into, the negative people, the people that are
that have these unfortunate challenges in their life. And yeah,
they they tend to have a lot of excuses or
reasons for that point, but they're not trying to seek
getting out of the whole. Yeah, I was not expecting
you to say that, and you've really put me on
(31:50):
my back foot. That's I love it. You gave me
some definite food for thought. That's why I love talking
to you and I love doing this podcast.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Oh, thank you, it's good talking with you always. Son.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Thanks again to my guest this week, Brother Angel Malar,
editor of the Fraternal Review magazine, which you can get
through the Southern California Lodge of Research. If you want
to get your own copy on Memphis Misram the latest edition.
If go to the notes in this episode Boom, you'll
find a link right there. Hey, if you've enjoyed the
Craftsman Online podcast, we'd love to have you come join
us on Patreon just five dollars a month. Do you
(32:24):
support the show get access to some of our exclusive
extra time episodes for example like my brother Angel Malar
and other wonderful guests, all for five dollars on Patreon
at your support in the podcast, and we love you,
love you, love you for that. Until next Monday. It's
right worship of Brother Michael Arsa. Let peace and harmony
prevail
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