"Pop Culture" has recently accused Freemasonry (including America's founding fathers)
of some rather astounding and outlandish deeds.
How about - faking the Apollo landing on the moon -
or actually going to the moon and claiming it for the Lodge in Texas?
Or "humanoid reptiles" being behind the Freemasons??
And, the Google text and symbols having "secret Masonic reference"! Right...! And-so-on.....
So before we address "the sun", here is just a little about the Masons -
or Freemasons, as they became known in 18th century England and America.
Freemasons are an ancient order whose origins lie deep in history -
literature placing their beginnings in Biblical times with the building of Solomon's temple.
During the Middle Ages, these builders formed guilds.
These guilds were comprised of the very gifted architects and stone masons who constructed the
Medieval and Gothic cathedrals and castles still so admired - and standing - today.
The guilds met in temporary shelters called "lodges" - akin to the literary salons of the 19th century -
for fraternity, and the exchange and preservation of knowledge, goals and ideas.
To preserve this accumulation of knowledge, they developed a picture language of cryptic symbols.
This picture language - actually a short-hand - has evolved into Freemasonry's "secret" symbols
for rituals of enlightenment, and fraternity, whose purpose is to make good men into even better men.
In England, Masonry can be traced to York, in 946 A.D.
The 18th century became a time of great growth for the Freemasons worldwide.
It spread from the lodges of Great Britain to America and to the Continent.
In 1717, a number of British Masonic lodges united to form Grand Lodge England in London.
With the Lodge gatherings and rituals came dining - and "toasting" -
particularly with firing glasses - so named after the 17th century shotgun salutes.
In 1721, when John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu, was elected "Mason's Grand Master" in London, he
"...was forthwith saluted Grand Mastery Elect, and his health drunk in due form...".
And about 1750,
Freemasons began to engrave their elegant mysterious symbols on toasting glassware.
These included, of course, the sun.
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