Encyclopedia Masonica

Dr. Charles T. Jackson, Boston, a geologist, discovered this stone in 182T, on the Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia. It was a slab of trap-rock, and was inscribed with the Square and Compasses and the date 1606. Dr. Jackson gave the stone to Justice T. C. Haliburton (author of Sam Slich), who in turn left it to his son. His son gave it to the Canadian Institute, Toronto, in order to have it inserted in the walls of the Institute's new Building. The stone-masons blunderingly plastered it over, and ever since it has been impossible to discover where it lies in the walls. Its discovery, inscriptions and date have never been open to question. There were Lodges in England and Scotland at the time, predominantly Operative; it is possible that a sufficient number were brought to Nova Scotia to erect buildings to have a Lodge of their own; or it may be that an individual Mason carved the rock for some private purpose; in either event a Mason, or Masons, were here on the Continent one year before the settlement at Jamestown, Va., and fourteen years before the landing at Plymouth.

The Encyclopedia Masonica exists to preserve the wealth of information that has been generated over the centuries by numerous Masonic authors. As Freemasonry is now Speculative and not Operative, the work of a Mason is now conducted in the quarries of symbolism, literature, history and scholasticism. Freemasonry encourages intellectual exploration and academic achievement in its members and many Masons over the years have taken up this calling. The result has been that an incredible amount of philosophy, symbolic speculation and academic insights have been created. However, as Freemasonry teaches, human knowledge is frail and fragile. It is easily lost in the turnings of the ages and unforeseen catastrophes can result in great setbacks to human knowledge.

For too long these great works have sat on forgotten shelves, gathering dust and concealing the light that could be shed on the darkness of our ignorance. The Encyclopedia Masonica has been created to act as an ark, sailing through time, to ensure that future generations of Freemasons have access to the same knowledge that inspired the Brethren that came before them. It will contain the works of such Masonic Luminaries as Albert G. Mackey, Manly Palmer Hall, G.S.M. Ward, Albert Pike and many others. The Encyclopedia Masonica is a living work and the volunteers of Universal Co-Masonry will continue to labor until the most comprehensive Masonic reference work the world has ever seen has been created. The Encyclopedia Masonica is open to any who wish to use it and will remain open so that the treasures contained within may increase the wealth of all those who seek its wisdom.