labehotierre@wanadoo.fr queries:
> Were these Guild charters as opposed to Freemason documents?
GAC: If you are referring to the Schaw Statutes, clearly it was at least a
Guild document. Schaw is referenced as Master of the Kings Works. I do not
believe that it referred to Freemasonry as practised today. Others disagree.
labehotierre: When you refer > to "governance of the Craft. " this does not
> refer, I presume to the Freemason craft but to "craft of stone masonry and
> these other crafts and trades was that stones masons had another level of
> organisation "
>
It refers to the craft of stone masonry. Some argue that esoteric
Freemasonry was a part of the craft of stone masonry. This view is set out
in Mr. Wallace-Murphy's Books and the Hiram Key.
Was > William Master of a Guild craft as opposed to a Freemason order?
Ah, that's the question. Some argue without credible proof of a Masonic
order dating to the Essenes; because the Essenes were an initiate society and
Freemasonry is an initiate society, Freemasonry must be derived from the
Essenes. You may suspect that I do not accept that argument. If William was
Master, the only evidence of leadership that I've seen is of a guild craft of
masons, and not a Masonic order with the esoteric teachings as later found.
Is it > possible for you to disclose the Freemason charter?
GAC: I'm not sure of which charter you speak. If you are speaking of a
modern document, each Grand Lodge has its own constitution which may be
disclosed.
or are the Schaw > Statutes.
I do not have a copy of the Schaw Statutes at least immediately at hand
>
> When does the "Scottish Rite" first appear?
>
GAC: 1801 in Charleston, South Carolina.
Does the Mother Lodge of > Scotland, Lodge Mother Kilwinning, No.0, have any
> authority over other Lodges in Scotland or abroad?
GAC: No.
> labehotierre: Normally hereditary positions are an English inventions,
> Scots elected their chiefs.
>
GAC: Assuming this is a correct assertion (without beginning the tanistry
discussion), this is not a chief. I view it more as a patron.
Glen Cook