Deciphering THE LOST SYMBOL: Finished.

As I sipped the warming liquid of my coffee and the wind was throwing the rain against my window I opened the well designed covers of Chris Hodapp’s most recent book ‘Deciphering THE LOST SYMBOL’.

The cover of his book; easily as intricate as that of the recent tome that covers the Washington DC outing of the Harvard Professor made popular in the DaVinci Code, is a pleasing combination of browns and reds with ghost effects of symbolism akin to a journal from the mystical past.

Someone said you should never judge a book by its cover but so often it is impossible not to do so, and with that in mind I expected great things. I must admit up front I consider Chris a friend and have never found anything lacking in his previous works which include ‘Freemasons for Dummies’ and ‘Solomon’s Builder: Freemasons, Founding Fathers and The Secrets Of Washington DC’ if anything I found this position had me requiring a bit more than if I didn’t know him.

In his opening statement he describes Dan Browns book as a

‘509-page love letter to the fraternity of Freemasonry.’

…something that many men in the fraternity were surprised by as they had expect a book which may have painted Freemasonry in the same dark tone as Brown had previously painted the Opus Dei and the Catholic Church.

Hodapp weaves his way through the many twists and turns of THE LOST SYMBOL trying and succeeding to explain some of the inconsistencies of the book, and to explain where Brown hit the nail on the head and where he was at the risk of hitting his thumb with near misses and of course where he just hit the table with a complete error of information. But in these instances Hodapp puts forward a hypothesis which I will let you read and in which I found myself agreeing.

With his usual humour Chris presents us short easy to read chapters much akin to Browns writing style that makes this a very informative, educational yet easy read. I found his chapter on Noetics a huge help in further understanding the theories that Katherine Solomon puts forward in the book and he provided information on where; should you want, you can read more about this fascinating subject.

Chapter 3: Art, Codes, and the Cover of The Lost Symbol and Chapter 4: Symbolism had to be my two favourite pieces in the book but not once did I feel I was wasting my time in reading this book and feel confident in recommending it to everyone Mason and non-mason alike, this is the perfect a compliment to The Lost Symbol and I feel it should be on the shelf right next to it on your bookcase.

In conclusion this is a great book well worth its cover price and a great way to spend a chilly winter night, which everyone should own.

Link To Another BLOG

It's not often I will just link to another blog but in the case of Bro. Chris Hodapp it is quite difficult not to do as his words and content are always second to non and worth sharing.
So what has lead me to do so on this occassion? I will let you read yourself but I consider this a definate move in the correct direction. Thanks for once again being one of the first to bring us the most up to date news Chris......

Jack Straw Rescinds England's Anti-Masonic Judiciary Rule

Temples and Tattooed men

As promised this morning I woke, got dressed and took a stroll down to my local paper shop, (actually I drove) and picked up a copy of the Mail On Sunday......

“The initiate raised the skull to his mouth and his lips touched dry bone.”

...today the Mail On Sunday printed the Prologue and first two chapters of the much anticipated continuing adventures of Harvard Professor Robert Langdon.

The article and novel opens with the FACT.

In 1991, a document was locked in the safe of the director of the CIA. The document is still there today. Its cryptic text includes references to an ancient portal and an unknown location underground. The document also contains the phrase: ‘it’s out there somewhere.’

All organisations in this novel exist, including the Freemasons, the Invisible College, the Office of Security, the SMSC, and the Institute of Nordic Sciences.

All rituals, science, artwork, and monuments in this novel are real.

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The Prologue takes us into an opening scene of an initiation in the House of the Temple. Describing the room as looking like ‘..a holy sanctuary from the ancient world.’ Brown goes into a dramatic description of a familiar ritual, ‘around his neck hung a heavy rope noose – ‘a cable-tow’ as the brethren called it’

You can tell that Brown has researched his ‘facts’ as he goes into great detail of the architectural speciation’s of the huge room and ‘colossal edifice’ found at 1733 Sixteenth ST NW, Washington D.C.

The initiate is conducted by the ‘white robed’ ‘Supreme Worshipful Master’ who instructs him as he lays a hand on his shoulder to ‘Take the Oath……complete your journey’ who is later described as an unsuspecting grey eyed man who had foolishly admitted him [the initiate] into the brotherhood; the short prologue finishes with the single line…..

‘Soon you will lose everything you hold most dear.’

Chapter Two sees the introduction of the familiar character garbed in his tweed jacket of the protagonist of the story Robert Langdon, seated aboard a Falcon 200EX (which means nothing to me) he wakes from a nightmare as he comes into land at Dallas airport and also introduces the character of Billionaire life long friend (don’t believe he has ever been mentioned before) Peter Solomon who no doubt will play an important in Langdon’s adventure.

The final chapter shared introduces who must be the BAD GUY Mal’akh a 6’3” naked tattooed man who strolls through his home plotting in his mind against brotherhood inside brotherhood who himself had ascended to the ‘…33rd degree, the highest echelon of the world’s oldest surviving brotherhood.’

In his own mind he is a ‘masterpiece…..an artefact…an evolving icon…..an intricate tapestry of ancient symbols and sigils’ who is waiting to be completed by a final tattoo on the crown of his head the only piece of his ‘saved and smooth’, body that is not adorned.

The opening prologue and two chapters set us up for an adventure that will ‘shake the capitol building’ introducing characters which require little imagination or appreciation of depth but it does promise to be a fun read … an un-mind stretching afternoons entertainment and judging by the opening a book which will require members of our craft to have a lot of correct answers and good resources with which to point enquiring minds in the right direction.

For some possible assistance with these resources and answers see my previous post New Website check it out

http://www.freemasonlostsymbol.com/

A Pleasent Sunday read....

Tomorrow morning I will wake, get dressed and take a stroll down to my local paper shop, my family are off to the beach tomorrow (the summer is here for a whole day) which gives me a few hours to read the newspaper but tomorrow there will be something other than the appalling state of the world economy and who is breaking up with who in the world of celebrities.

The Mail On Sunday will hold within it’s pages the much anticipated opening two chapters of ‘The Lost Key ' the next instalment of the adventures of the Harvard Professor, Robert Langdon. Believed to feature the Freemasons as central characters it has been a long time coming.

I would recommend buying the book but also order its perfect companion available in December by accomplish Masonic author Chris Hodapp ‘Deciphering the Lost Symbol’

So head to the shops in the morning and pick yourself up a copy of the Mail on Sunday and see what all the fuss is about….

read the full article at The Mail Online

New Website check it out

http://www.freemasonlostsymbol.com/

The Masonic Society, the Masonic Service Association of North America, and the George Washington Masonic Memorial have combined their talents and created a new website aimed at answering the questions that will appear with the release of Dan Browns new novel 'The Lost Symbol'

One of the leading archetects of this new web site will be Chris Hodapp who already has well in the works his own book in 'answer' to the upcoming Dan Brown novel, Deciphering the Lost Symbol available in December you can order it from Amazon via MAE web site

If I had the power to make it an order I would do and demand you go along and check out the site (wether a mason or not) before your mind is in a turmoil from reading this book most of all remember 'it's just a story'