Tony Baker

Anthony Richard Baker - 

Winner Masonic Philosophy and Symbolism Book Category - 2024

M.A., M.D., F.R.C.S. was born in Welshpool, Powys in 1953, and educated at Shrewsbury School, the University of Cambridge, and St Thomas’ Hospital. He practised as a consultant vascular and general surgeon in Bristol for twenty-six years, before retiring in November 2015.

He was initiated in his father’s Lodge – Powis (No. 7355), in Welshpool in 1984 – two years after his father had died. In 2011-12, he was at the same time in the Chair of both Quatuor Coronati Lodge (No. 2076) and the Lodge of Living Stones (No. 4957), a leading esoteric Lodge founded by W.L. Wilmshurst.

He holds Grand Rank in the Craft, Royal Arch, Mark, Royal and Select Masters, Knights Templar Priests and the Order of the Secret Monitor. In addition, he has occupied the Chair in: Knights Templar, Rose Croix, Red Cross of Constantine, Royal Ark Mariners, and the Allied Masonic Degrees. He is a Deputy Provincial Grand Master in the Royal Order of Scotland and a member of the S.R.I.A.

His main interest is in the interpretation of what the Masonic ceremonies might mean, what they might be intended to teach us, rather than the history of the origins and administration of Freemasonry

Freemasonry: Material, Moral, and Mystical

This book is for those Freemasons who hear the ritual whispering to them. They sense that it has something of value to teach them but they cannot quite hear its messages. The aim of the book is to stimulate thought about the Basic Allegorical Masonic Journey of the Craft and Royal Arch, to call attention to the spiritual path concealed within the system – its mystical message.

The book is divided into two parts. Part I deals with issues of a general nature upon which any deep interpretation of Freemasonry must be founded. Part II goes on to consider three main layers, or levels, of meaning and examines the Degree ceremonies of the Craft and Royal Arch from this point of view. It is very much in the tradition of W.L. Wilmshurst, who published The Meaning of Masonry in 1922 and The Masonic Initiation in 1924. Both these books have had an enduring appeal and have never been out of print for long. Wilmshurst, however, was reluctant to interpret the Third Degree or the Royal Arch in much detail.

Young men are now joining Freemasonry because they have heard, usually on the internet or in the books of Dan Brown, that Masonry might be able to help them wrestle with the great questions of life. When they have taken their three Craft Degrees, however, they find it difficult to make any sense of the system, or to see anything in our Order which might help them. They may seek advice from senior members of their Lodges but often they get no useful answers. Consequently, they become disillusioned and leave.

This book is aimed at these young Freemasons in the hope that it will provide some guidance in the direction which they wish to follow in the Craft and Royal Arch.