Templar Origin Theory

Questions, Questions, Questions

Decades ago the book Born In Blood by John J. Robinson made a huge splash in the Masonic world, as he re-presented the Templar origin theory of Freemasonry.

Given that yesterday I wrote about our Brother’s new creation, the Templar Tarot, and given that today I used that Tarot in my meditation, it seemed like a good time to chat about the Templar origin theory, and Brother Robinson’s book.

Templar Tarot by Richard Harris

The Templar origin theory didn’t originate with Brother Robinson, it existed for hundreds of years. He simply was the man who popularized it for my generation with his book.

Of course the origins of our Ancient Craft truly are lost to the mists of time. We can speculate, but our speculations are just that. No matter how authoritative our arguments might seem, the absolute truth of the details can not be known.

And that makes the question interesting indeed!

I’m hopeful that we can discuss it today.

If you have read the book, Born In Blood, what did you think about it? Did you enjoy it?

What are your thoughts about the Templar origin theory?

In your opinion, how was Freemasonry created? By whom? From what did it evolve?

Let’s chat about it…

---

For a long time now, Emeth has maintained paid subscriptions at a level just slightly above the number needed to be considered a bestseller here on Substack. Just barely enough, always at risk of falling below the threshold.

Why is that important?

Two reasons:

-Being a bestseller makes features available to me that might not be available to everyone else here on Substack. Just as an example, Notes, which have become a big part of this platform was made available to bestsellers for some time before they were open to everyone. It’s like that with a lot of features, and I use those things in an effort to try and deliver quality writing and discussion to everyone who subscribes to Emeth.

-Greatly improved customer service. The Substack company takes care of everything on the backend here. That means that when I have a problem, or a subscriber to Emeth has a problem, we have to go through Substack’s customer service. I read complaints from other writers here all the time about how poor that customer service is. But that has never been the case for me. I find the customer service quite superb at addressing my issues, and Emeth’s subscriber issues. I believe this disparity exists because of Emeth’s status as a best-selling publication.

In these uncertain economic times, I can’t help but notice that the number of paid subscribers to Emeth above the bestseller threshold have been slowly trending downward. We very briefly fell below the threshold a month or two ago, and it looks as if we will again fall below that threshold in the next day or two.

I understand that. A paid subscription to Emeth is expensive. And not necessary as I don’t put my writings behind a paywall. Using a paywall would certainly boost the number of paid subscriptions, but it would also limit distribution, resulting Emeth’s making less of a positive impact on our Ancient Craft.

But, I can not continue publishing here without that minimum number of paid subscriptions. Emeth is truly a labor of love, but I can’t turn it into a labor of masochistic love.

So, if you find value in Emeth. If you enjoy it, if you feel it is a force for good within Freemasonry. And if you can afford to do so, then I ask that you give serious consideration to the purchase of a paid subscription to it.

Without you, it truly can not continue.

Thank you for your consideration.