books
A Life in Many Colours. A Masonic Memoir
.png)
A Life in Many Colours is the memoir that Julian Rees's readers have long been waiting for. Born in 1936 into a household where intellectual life was taken for granted and books lined every wall, Julian Rees traces a journey that moves through wartime Dorset, postwar London, and a formative spell with the British Army in Berlin, before arriving at the question that would shape everything that followed: what does Freemasonry actually mean, lived from the inside rather than performed from the outside? The memoir follows decades of Masonic engagement conducted at the deepest level, from winning the Silver Matchbox at the Emulation Lodge of Improvement to co-founding the Canonbury Tower Lodge with Michael Baigent and the Marquess of Northampton, from championing the esoteric strand of Masonic thought in the pages of Freemasonry Today to finding, eventually, a more congenial home in co-masonry where the path he had always walked could be walked by women beside him. Candid, reflective, and written with the same quality of attention that has distinguished all of Julian Rees's work, this is a portrait of a life shaped by warps and wefts of different textures, by good influences and contrary ones, and by the conviction, held across nine decades, that the symbols mean something, and that it is worth the work of finding out what.
​
Coming soon.
​
Making Light: A Handbook for Freemasons
Here Comes the Light! is a collection of short Masonic essays by Julian Rees, written to inspire reflection, discussion, and deeper understanding within the Craft. Drawing on the symbolism, allegories, and spiritual teachings of Freemasonry, these concise talks explore themes such as morality, self-knowledge, wisdom, freedom, light, and the inner journey of transformation. Ideal both for personal contemplation and lodge presentations, the book offers thoughtful insights for Freemasons seeking a richer connection with the meaning behind ritual and tradition.​
What distinguishes these essays from much Masonic writing is the quality of attention Julian Rees brings to material that others might treat as settled or merely ceremonial. Each piece is short enough to be read at a single sitting yet substantial enough to reward return visits, written in a voice that is unhurried, precise, and entirely free of the institutional deference that so often flattens Masonic prose. Julian Rees addresses the practitioner who suspects there is more to the Craft than they have yet been shown, the newer Mason still finding their bearings within ritual, and the long-serving brother or sister who has begun to wonder whether familiarity has come at the cost of depth. For all of them, Here Comes the Light! offers not answers so much as better questions, and the companionship of a guide who has spent a lifetime learning how to ask them.
Freemasonry: Heart and Mind. Sketches on Esotericism in English Ritual
Franc-maçonnerie : le cœur et l’esprit. Esquisses sur l’ésotérisme dans les rituels anglais
Published in French by Cépadès and available in both French and English editions, this book finds Julian Rees asking a question that Masonic practice too rarely pauses to consider: what do the Square and Compasses, the allegories of Light, the jewels and working tools, actually mean when carried beyond the lodge room and into the texture of ordinary life? Moving through the foundational concepts of Fraternity, Wisdom, Truth, and the ordering of Chaos, Julian Rees draws the connections that ritual procedure can obscure, between the principles a Mason professes and the family, professional, and human circumstances in which those principles must either prove themselves or remain merely decorative. The book is, in the best sense, a work of applied Masonic philosophy, one that takes the esoteric seriously without losing sight of the everyday, and that guides the reader along paths of reflection they may not previously have known were open to them.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Nous autres, Francs-maçons, sommes si souvent préoccupés par nos rituels et notre gestion des affaires de Loge qu’il nous arrive de perdre de vue la relation de la Franc-maçonnerie avec les événements et les expériences de tous les jours. Avons-nous conscience de ce que l’Équerre et le Compas peuvent représenter à l’extérieur de la Loge ? Sagesse, Force et Beauté et les principes qui les accompagnent peuvent-ils nous aider lorsque nous sommes engagés dans des affaires de famille ou de travail ? Pouvons-nous établir un lien entre l’amour romantique ou l’amour à quelque niveau que ce soit et les préoccupations humanistes ?
Ces réflexions de l’auteur ont pour but de rendre tangibles les rapports avec la vie de tous les jours pour ceux qui, jusqu’à présent, n’ont pas fait ces liens. La Franc-maçonnerie est parfois trop absorbée par la procédure, et l’auteur nous propose ici de considérer certains aspects de notre vie et de nos expériences quotidiennes en relation avec la Franc-maçonnerie et d’étendre cette réflexion sur un plan plus global.
Les Rituels de la Franc-Maçonnerie Anglaise expliqués aux Français
In this compact and illuminating volume, published in French by Cépadès, Julian Rees turns his attention across the Channel to offer French readers a clear and sympathetic account of English Masonic ritual and practice. Written in a spirit of fraternal curiosity, the book explores the customs, ceremonial structure, and working methods of English Freemasonry, tracing their origins in the union of 1813 and the emergence of the Emulation Rite. Julian Rees writes as a guide rather than an apologist, acknowledging frankly the differences, on questions of gender, belief, and regularity, that continue to distinguish Masonic traditions from one country to the next, whilst holding to the conviction that understanding one another more fully is itself a Masonic obligation.
La Franc-maçonnerie se dit universelle. Et bien sûr elle l’est : il est difficile de trouver un pays du monde où la Franc-maçonnerie ne s’est pas implantée sous une forme ou sous une autre. Cependant, ses coutumes et ses pratiques varient significativement d’un pays à l’autre. Les Francs-maçons sont-ils obligés de croire en un Être Suprême ? Beaucoup diront que oui, mais des milliers d’autres le contesteront. Cela s’applique aussi à la question du genre : doit-on ou non admettre les femmes en Franc-maçonnerie ? Il n’y a pas si longtemps, aux USA, la Franc-maçonnerie des gens de couleur n’était pas reconnue par les Grandes Loges qui n’admettaient que des hommes blancs. Et les différences de toutes sortes continuent d’exister.
Making Light: A Handbook for Freemasons
At last an easy-to-read guide to the path of self-knowledge and self-improvement that is Freemasonry. This volume takes the reader through each of the three degrees of Craft Freemasonry, explaining how best to gain insight from the study and application of the allegories, symbols and teachings. For the newly-made Mason, this book provides an explanation of the ceremony and a glossary of Masonic terminology. It also provides a similar guide for future degrees of Masonic progression. For the experienced Freemason it illustrates interesting and largely unknown aspects of the symbolism of the three degrees. To discover the true Masonic secret, we have to work to bring it forth; this book is the manual for that great work.
​
​
Tracing Boards of the Three Degrees in Craft Freemasonry Explained
Although most Freemasons will be familiar with the Tracing Boards — painted or engraved illustrations developed in the early years of Freemasonry which are used in Lodges to illustrate Masonic symbols and allegories during degree ceremonies and lectures — little has been published on them. The Tracing Boards are an essential part of the three Craft Degrees, assisting the Freemason in his quest to decode and interpret those allegories. There is no publication which adequately explains the Tracing Boards, their use and meaning of their symbolism, and Tracing Boards of the Three Degrees in Craft Freemasonry Explained fills that gap. The first three chapters give a detailed method of understanding and revealing the import of the three craft boards, based on those used in the three degrees by the Emulation Lodge of Improvement, known as the Harris Boards, which contain the elements of most of the Tracing Boards used in Lodges throughout England. The fourth chapter gives a brief overview of the history and the development of Tracing Boards in England, with some fascinating illustrations of long-forgotten boards. In the fifth chapter the author draws in many Tracing Boards and Lodge Cloths from other countries, particularly from the USA, and from other Masonic jurisdictions. The sixth chapter takes the reader on a journey through a rich collection of lantern slides from the Grand Lodge of Iowa, not seen for many years.
More Light. Today's Freemasonry for Men and Women (3rd edition)
Freemasonry is often looked upon as an all-male pursuit, a social activity. But since 1893, when French Freemason Georges Martin founded the mixed masonic Order Le Droit Humain, Freemasonry for men and women has flourished and grown from strength to strength, currently boasting more than 30,000 members in over 50 countries. The International Order of Freemasonry for Men and Women Le Droit Humain forms part of a larger Masonic family, namely the liberal branch of Freemasonry alongside Orders such as the Grand Orient of France and many others worldwide. The British Federation of Le Droit Humain prides itself on being the home of spiritual and esoteric Freemasonry in the United Kingdom.
This book sets out to show how in this Masonic Order a truly liberal, spiritual, esoteric and philosophical Freemasonry is followed, detailing some of the practices and aims of its members. The authors draw on the various strands that have come together to make Freemasonry what it is today, from the Ancient Mysteries, Mithraism, Eleusinian practices and medieval stonemasons, in addition giving us some fascinating insights into the ritual and ceremonial dimension.
More Light will be a revelation to many, men and women alike, whether already members of a masonic Order or not.
Ornaments, Furniture and Jewels
In contemporary lodge practice, degree ceremonies have come to occupy so dominant a place that it can be difficult to imagine Freemasonry organised around anything else. Julian Rees invites the reader to look more carefully, drawing on the historical record to show how differently the Craft was practised in the eighteenth century and how much has quietly been lost in the intervening years. Moving through chapters devoted to the Power of Allegory, Ornaments, Furniture, Movable Jewels, Immovable Jewels, and Art, Architecture and Image, Julian Rees examines the objects that have always surrounded Masonic working, not as decoration or convention, but as a symbolic language whose full meaning rewards patient and attentive study. The result is a book that returns familiar things to their proper strangeness, and reminds the practitioner that the lodge room, looked at with fresh eyes, has rather more to say than routine allows us to hear.
So You Want To Be A Freemason?
In this book Julian Rees explains what a candidate for Masonic Initiation should know before he joins Freemasonry, but may be too afraid to ask. This essential guide explains in straightforward terms all the practicalities of becoming a Mason. Subjects covered include a short history of Freemasonry, an overview of the many Orders in the Craft, an account of some famous Freemasons, a detailed account of what you need to know before becoming a Freemason, what happens on the night of the initiation, and information on the world of Freemasonry. The book also contains a handy glossary of Masonic terms. This book is an essential read for anyone considering becoming a Freemason, anyone who has just joined Freemasonry and is unsure of all of the strict routines and procedures within the Craft, and also perhaps for established Freemasons who need a reminder about what it means to be a Freemason. Written by a leading high-profile freemason, this is a must have purchase for all prospective Freemasons throughout the country.
