11.01.2013 Views

The global power of freemasonry - Gnostic Liberation Front

The global power of freemasonry - Gnostic Liberation Front

The global power of freemasonry - Gnostic Liberation Front

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

Membership in Scandinavia is dwindling. In 1971 Sweden had<br />

nearly 26 000 freemasons. By the year 2000 there were 14 000 left, <strong>of</strong><br />

which only 8000 were active members. <strong>The</strong> loss <strong>of</strong> membership was<br />

45 per cent in 30 years.<br />

In 1993, there were 2500 business leaders, more than 200 police-<br />

men, almost 500 lawyers and 900 military <strong>of</strong>ficers that belonged to<br />

<strong>freemasonry</strong>.<br />

On 7 March 1998, Swedish Grand Master Gustaf Piehl denied that<br />

<strong>freemasonry</strong> was involved in occultism <strong>of</strong> any kind. What <strong>of</strong> the<br />

magic ceremonies with c<strong>of</strong>fins and skulls and even the deity Bapho-<br />

met, then? In the mid-1980s, pictures <strong>of</strong> skulls and bones in the<br />

basement <strong>of</strong> the Stockholm Masonic Palace were actually published in<br />

the newspapers.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Swedish Order <strong>of</strong> Freemasons has been classified as a harmless<br />

sect in an <strong>of</strong>ficial government report (1998). Maybe that is not so<br />

strange considering that the chairman <strong>of</strong> the survey was the high-<br />

ranking freemason Sten Svensson.<br />

Some freemasons are also members <strong>of</strong> the Knights Templar as was<br />

the former editor <strong>of</strong> <strong>The</strong> Freemason, Roland Swerin. <strong>The</strong> new Grand<br />

Master as <strong>of</strong> September 2001 is Physics Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Anders Fahlman.<br />

Since 2001 the general laws <strong>of</strong> the Order are available to the public.<br />

Odd Fellows is, however, the largest Order in Sweden, founded on<br />

29 October 1884 and closely connected to the <strong>freemasonry</strong>. <strong>The</strong>re are<br />

39 600 members in 168 lodges, mostly men but the 80 Rebecca lodges<br />

enrol 12 100 women. <strong>The</strong> Order is led by the grand sire. Membership<br />

is also here steadily declining.<br />

Odd Fellows originated in the guilds and crafts <strong>of</strong> Medieval Eng-<br />

land. <strong>The</strong> earliest printed record <strong>of</strong> an Odd Fellows Lodge appears in a<br />

reference to a lodge meeting at <strong>The</strong> Globe Tavern in London in 1748.<br />

This lodge was number nine, so apparently there were at least nine<br />

associated Odd Fellows lodges at that time. In 1803, the Odd Fellows<br />

were revived by an organization called London Union Odd Fellows,<br />

which later became known as the Grand Lodge <strong>of</strong> England and<br />

assumed authority over all Odd Fellow lodges.<br />

247

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!