The Englishman soon learns that what he knew or thought he knew about God, religion, spirituality, science, alchemy and Freemasonry was minor compared to the knowledge and learning he received at the hands of his mysterious Masonic friends.

Their story is told through the course of several letters written to an English nobleman by a man who signed his epistles T.M.

Now whether the story is true or – more likely – a work of brilliant fiction, Esoteric Odyssey, first published in 1790 gives the reader a glimpse inside the mind of Thomas Marryat, a man whose concepts were nearly heretical in his day and controversial – even by today’s standards.

Filled with offbeat humor and rich with unique insights, Marryat’s book transports the reader back to a pivotal period for Freemasonry and for Western Civilization.

The Esoteric Odyssey is about to begin. Be sure to tell your friends.

Details About This Book

ESOTERIC ODYSSEY was originally published in 1790 by Thomas Marryat – an eccentric physician and former Presbyterian minister – as The Philosophy of Masons. This unique book combines non-mainstream 18th-century philosophy and science with unorthodox ideas about esoteric knowledge, history, religion and Freemasonry. The 2010 edition has been thoroughly researched and edited for modern readers by Stephen Dafoe and Randy Williams. It features many period illustrations, as well as extensive annotation and a new introductory essay written by Dafoe and Williams.

Stephen Dafoe is an acclaimed author, journalist and historian whose books include Nobly Born, The Compasses and the Cross, and Morgan: The Scandal That Shook Freemasonry. His forthcoming works include How Freemasonry Saved the World and How It Can Do So Again and an illustrated history of the Knights Hospitaller.

Randy Williams is a writer/editor who has worked with Dafoe on several projects in an editorial capacity, including the 2009 release of Templar Tarot: The Journey and several top-secret works-in-progress. He currently serves as Assistant Editor of The Journal of the Masonic Society, to which he is also a frequent contributor.

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O Compasso e a Cruz is, like Nascidos em Berço Nobre, published by Madras Editorio of Brazil. Again they have done a beautiful job of the cover art.

For some reason I don’t recall that this one was on the line to be translated, but happy that it is available.

Nascidos em Berço Nobre is published by Madras of Brazil and takes my 8 X 10 coffee table-style book published by Lewis Masonic in 2007 and reworks it into a 320-page, handsome 6X9 trade paperback.

Can’t read it, but I couldn’t be more pleased with the job they did on the book.

This year’s theme is Enlightenment: The Soul of Freemasonry and I’m honoured to be on the same bill with keynote speaker, the distinguished Professor of History, UCLA, Dr. Margaret C Jacob.

My main presentation will be on the Saturday morning when I’ll be presenting my presentation, Living the Deception: Masonic Myths in the 21st Century.

After lunch, I’ll be participating in a panel discussion on the future of Freemasonry called Nurturing the Soul of the Craft.

If you’ve never been to the Alberta Spring Workshop, it is an incredible three-day event in one of the most beautiful settings the Canadian Rockies have to offer.

A complete agenda of the workshop can be found at:

www.masonicspringworkshop.ab.ca/

About The Deck

This expanded edition, Templar Tarot: the Journey, includes 101 cards that takes us further along the historical endeavors of the infamous Knights Templar. Unlike any other tarot deck, the Templar Tarot deck features two sets of Major Arcana cards taken from the original art of American artist Allen Chester. The significance of the art is interpreted by Stephen Dafoe, renowned Templar historian and Canadian author. Dafoe draws on his vast knowledge of the Templars and related traditions to see the mystical messages that Chester has captured in the art. As with the first edition of the Templar Tarot, this tarot deck will also be a limited edition. This is a perfect deck for those that use tarot as a meditation tool.

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Advance Praise For The Templar Tarot

From Joan Bunning:

The cards of the Templar Tarot are especially rich in symbolic meaning. They are inspired by the compelling history of the Knights Templar – a story filled with archetypal characters and events. Allen Chester’s dramatic paintings capture these timeless elements. Their images and patterns create a symbolic picture. By meditating on this picture, you discover hidden truths about yourself and your world.

Joan Bunning is the author of Learning the Tarot: A Tarot Book for Beginners, Learning Tarot Reversals and Learning Tarot Spreads. Visit www.learntarot.com to see her free online course.

From Tim Wallace-Murphy:

It is a rare treat to read a book on the Templar Tarot written by an acknowledged Templar expert who is as insightful in matters of symbolism as Stephen Dafoe. A fascinating treatise that will be a useful addition to my personal research library.

Tim Wallace-Murphy is the author of Cracking the Symbol Code – Revealing the Secret Heretical Messages encoded within Church and Renaissance Art, The Knights of the Holy Grail – the Secret History of the Knights Templar and Hidden Wisdom – to be published in April 2010.

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Was William Morgan Murdered By Masons?

On September 11, 1826 William Morgan was arrested for petit larceny and taken from his home in Batavia, New York to answer the charge. He never saw his home or family again. What became of Morgan after he was freed from a Canandaigua jail cell in the middle of the night forms the basis of one of the great unsolved mysteries of American history, made all the more mysterious by the circumstances that preceded it. Several months before his arrest, Morgan had begun work on a book on the Freemasons, a group with which he had recently had a falling. The problem for Morgan and his book was that it sought to expose Masonic secrets, something the local members of the fraternity wished to prevent at all costs.

 

This book is the story of William Morgan, his associates and the book they proposed to publish. It is the story of how a handful of young, impetuous members of the Masonic fraternity took matters into their own hands to prevent its publication and how their plans took a deadly fork in the road, nearly exterminating the very organization they sought to protect. It is also a book written by a member of the Masonic fraternity.

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Praise For Morgan

Stephen Dafoe’s account is unique. It is not dry history. Written in a narrative form, it conveys the elusive balance which historians demand while remaining a ‘damn good read.’

- Arturo De Hoyos – Grand Archivist and Grand Historian -The Supreme Council, 33º, Southern Jurisdiction

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For those wishing to order a signed copy of Morgan: The Scandal That Shook Freemasonry, please use the appropriate links below.

Canadian orders will be fulfilled directly from me. American and overseas orders will be fulfilled by the publisher and a signed book plate will be sent by me to place inside the book on its arrival.

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About The Book

The Knights Templar were victimized at the beginning of the fourteenth century by the manipulations and false information of the King of France; an act that ultimately led to their dissolution in 1312. However, the Order has also been victimised since that time by being the central characters in a wide range of speculative theories about the Order and just what happened to them in the years that followed.

Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the notion that the Templars were the founding fathers of Freemasonry. Over the years, the Templars have been involved in a Masonic chicken and egg scenario; did the rise and development of Freemasonry give birth to the Masonic Knights Templar or did the demise of the original Knights Templar give birth to Freemasonry itself?

In the Compasses and the Cross, Stephen Dafoe, the author of Nobly Born: An Illustrated History of the Knights Templar, traces the origins and evolution of the Masonic Knights Templar from its beginnings in the middle of the eighteenth century to its present form.

Through the course of the book, Dafoe draws on his knowledge of the history of the original Order as well as that of the modern Masonic variant. Individual chapters will examine the various myths connecting the Templars and Freemasonry put forth by eighteenth and nineteenth century Freemasons including James Anderson, Andrew Michael Ramsay and Baron von Hund, as well as Scottish Freemasons such as William Alexander Lawrie and the Chevalier James Burnes.

In addition to separating historical fact from masonic tradition, Dafoe also chronicles the differences in Masonic Templarism as it exists in Britain and the Dominion with that of the United States.

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About the Book

The Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, popularly known as the Knights Templar, was the most famous and infamous of the crusading military orders. Formed between 1118 and 1120 AD, the Templars had the mandate of protecting the many Christian pilgrims who ventured to the Holy Land to see the sites sacred to their faith.

The Templars were an unusual Order, in that they lived both an active and contemplative life, making them effectively the first warrior-monks in the western world. As such, the Templars quickly expanded beyond their role as protectors of pilgrims and played a vital role in many battles of the Crusades. Although they suffered more defeats than they celebrated victories, the Templars are nonetheless remembered as Christendom’s most fearless military force.

Through innovative financial techniques that could be considered the foundation of modern banking and the use of a well-established network of land holdings, the Templars, in many ways, resembled today’s multi-national corporations. The Order’s highly organized infrastructure, coupled with influential patrons, allowed the Order to gain great wealth and power in a relatively brief period of time.

This rise in power and prosperity continued until the Templars ran foul of King Philip IV of France, who arrested the Templars on October 13, 1307 on a variety of heretical charges. Philip had the Templars tortured in order to extract confessions of guilt and many of their number were ultimately burned at the stake. Under the influence of King Philip, Pope Clement V disbanded the Order on March 22, 1312.

In Nobly Born: An Illustrated History of the Knights Templar, noted expert Stephen Dafoe explores the Order from its origins through to its dissolution, set against the complex political and sociological backdrop that was the middle ages; a period of history where enemies could become allies at the drop of a hat.

Individual chapters examine:

• The factors that led to the First Crusade as well as a detailed account of the capture of Jerusalem.
• The origin of the Templars between the years of 1118 – 1120 AD.
• The Order’s rise to papal favour and power and their commercial activities.
• The day to day life of the Templar in the convent.
• The military structure and discipline of the Order in the field.
• The major battles fought by the Templars during the Crusades.
• The downfall of the Order following the loss of the Holy Land in 1291.
• The legacy and mythos of the Templars that has developed since their demise.

Alongside the author’s well-researched and comprehensive text is a superb illustrative content, vividly portraying the life of the Templars during this remarkable period of history.

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Praise For Nobly Born

For a true understanding of the Templars-warts, haloes, and all, this is the best book I know.

-The Scottish Rite Journal

Stephen has managed to do something fresh in the Templar book universe…

- Christopher Hodapp, Author Freemasons For Dummies

If you wanted an accurate and comprehensive account of the Templars this is the one to buy.

- Simon Brighton, Author In Search of the Knights Templar

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About The Book

Co-written with Alan Butler

Where did the mysterious white-mantled order of the Knights Templar come from?

Was it simply a reflection of early twelfth-century Christian thinking?

Authors Alan Butler and Stephen Dafoe believe that the true genesis of the Knights Templar belongs far back in time, long before Christianity even developed.

The Templars were an offshoot of a little understood monastic brotherhood, the Cistercians, who themselves danced to the tune of an extremely powerful group of individuals living in Burgundy and Flanders from the time of the Romans onwards.

Butler and Dafoe give a detailed account of the rise of a specific group, identified as the “Troyes Fraternity,” that did not simply respond to the caprices of history�they made it.

Behind the Knights Templar lay a belief pattern almost as old as humanity and a heritage that was already ancient before recorded history began.

The story is both fascinating and compelling. It will leave the reader in no doubt as to the true intentions of the Knights Templar and of the shadowy, immensely influential organization that brought them into being.

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About The Book

In The Warriors and the Bankers, the research and writing team of Alan Butler and Stephen Dafoe bring their combined experiences to bear on the question asked for hundreds of years, What became of the Knights Templar?

Arrested in 1307, dissolved in 1312 and executed by 1314, the Templars have been the subject of many theories concerning their possible survival.

This book examines these theories against new evidence and information.

Additionally the authors put forth, for the first time, a completely NEW theory that has caught the ears, eyes and attention of many readers.

The ultimate conclusion is that the Templars did survive, virtually intact and that in a very direct sense, they may still be one of the most potent forces at work in the world at the start of the new Millennium.

The Warriors and the Bankers is eminently readable and is intended for both the serious student of Templarism or simply the interested observer.

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