Rocky Mountain Mason

In this episode, Ben discusses evidence of a prototypical Royal Arch in early Craft Masonry preceding the Third Degree. Drawing from the Graham Manuscript (c. 1726), Ben details material clearly associable to the Royal Arch that was concurrent with the raising of Noah by Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and therefore precatory to the Hiramic legend of the Third Degree. Also: Chapter III, De Occulta Philoso...

In this episode Ben outlines some of the more major heresies of the early Christian church, provides a brief treatise on the four classical elements, provides a short biography of Agrippa, and reads the second Chapter of Book I, De Occulta Philosophia Libri Tres. Support the show www.rockymountainmason.com www.esotericmason.com Support the show: https://patreon.com/rockymountainmason?utm_medium=cl...

In this episode Ben discusses the rather surprising history of this most everyday beverage. What you learn might surprise you. Also, this episode includes the first chapter of the Three Books of Occult Philosophy, by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa. Support the show www.rockymountainmason.com www.esotericmason.com Support the show: https://patreon.com/rockymountainmason?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&ut...

In this episode Ben interviews the host of "Whence Came You," the world's largest Masonic Podcast, none other than R. J. Johnson. Support the show www.rockymountainmason.com www.esotericmason.com Support the show: https://patreon.com/rockymountainmason?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

A special account of a pilgrimage to the place of Jaques Demolay's martyrdom on the 700th anniversary of his death.  Support the show www.rockymountainmason.com www.esotericmason.com Support the show: https://patreon.com/rockymountainmason?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Ben shares the Grand Oration he was honored to deliver at the Grand Sessions of the Grand Lodge of Colorado in January of 2019 on the History and Significance of the Cornerstone Ceremony. Drawing on historical source material, Ben shows the remnants of an ancient, magical tradition exist in the modern ceremony performed today.  Support the show www.rockymountainmason.com www.esotericmason.com Supp...

Ben relays an account of the last time the Jehovah's Witnesses attempted to proselytize him while living in Norwood, Colorado (a small rural town on Colorado's Western Slope), an interesting theological discussion concerning the "hypostatic union." Continuing the religious theme, Ben discusses the importance of the Masonic obligation and relays a Kabbalistic parable.  Support t...

Drawing from historical  newspapers of the day and direct witness testimony surrounding the shootout at the OK Corral (not least testimony given by Wyatt Earp himself), Ben discusses the life and times of this most famous gunfighter, John "Doc" Holliday. Doc Holliday is rumored to have attended Lodge in Trinidad, CO, Leadville, CO, and Glenwood Springs, CO.  Wyatt and Virgil Earp are sai...

Bro. Mark Stavish is a respected authority on Western spiritual traditions. The author of 26 books, published in 7 languages, including The Path of Alchemy and Kabbalah for Health and Wellness , he is the founder and director of the Institute for Hermetic Studies and the Louis Claude de St. Martin Fund. He has appeared on radio shows, television, and in major print media, including Coast to Coast...

In this episode, Ben reviews the history of the discovery of the longitude - a problem that  vexed humanity for a millennium. Eventually solved by John Harrison, who spent the majority of his life on the problem, the solution of the longitude marks an important moment in social history when mankind ceased to look to the majesty of nature for external inspiration, and instead turned his attention t...

Drawing on detailed sources arising from the investigation into the disappearance of William Morgan, Ben presents the facts surrounding this remarkable and disturbing event in the history of the Fraternity.  Support the show www.rockymountainmason.com www.esotericmason.com Support the show: https://patreon.com/rockymountainmason?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=cr...

In this episode Ben interviews R.W. Bro. Kevin Townley , Grand Lecturer of the Grand Lodge of Colorado. R.W. Bro. Kevin has a varied and interesting past - in his teens he joined a monastery and became a Carmelite monk. Later he would be a founding member of the Philosophers of Nature in the United States. He is the author of The Cube of Space and Meditations on the cube of Space . He also reprint...

In this episode Ben reviews a complaint stuck to the door of Norwood Lodge No. 111, posted by an anonymous anti-mason, and shows, among other important misreadings of a quintessential Masonic tome, the importance of commas. Support the show www.rockymountainmason.com www.esotericmason.com Support the show: https://patreon.com/rockymountainmason?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&amp...

Ben presents on the several reasons why the Larmenius Charter , purporting to relay an unbroken, secret transmission of Templar Grand Masters from Jaques Demolay to Cossé Brissac, Duke of Orleans, is believed by most credible experts to be a fake probably forged by the dubious Bernard-Raymond Fabré-Palaprat, or his associates, in the early 19th Century. Support the show www.rockymountainmason.com...

In this episode, Ben Williams relays the story of one of history's most legendary and ingenious deceptions - Bro. Wolfgang von Kempelen's chess playing automaton. For more than a century, this ingenious illusion - perhaps the fist "cabinet illusion" ever devised - was the talk of Enlightenment court.  Support the show www.rockymountainmason.com www.esotericmason.com Support the...

In this episode, Ben Williams presents on the emergence of religious syncretism during the high middle ages, a worldview that indubitably influenced the operative craft and, in turn, the framers of the degrees of Freemasonry. Support the show www.rockymountainmason.com www.esotericmason.com Support the show: https://patreon.com/rockymountainmason?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&a...

In this episode, Ben Williams presents on the enigmatic Order of Asiatic Brethren whose influence on "high grade masonry" includes the the emergence of the Order of Anointed High Priests, extant modernly for Past Presiding Officers of the Chapter only.   Support the show www.rockymountainmason.com www.esotericmason.com Support the show: https://patreon.com/rockymountainmason?utm_medium=c...

In this episode, Ben Williams interviews William Kiesel, the wizard behind Ouroboros Press and Mortlake & Co. in Seattle, WA. Ouroboros Press produces some of the most collectable reproductions of rare, quintessential esoteric books. Among several titles brought to an English readership for the first time, William was the principal force behind the translation of the infamous medieval grimoire...

In this episode, drawing on chronicles from the Crusades, Ben Williams provides an historical account of the events surrounding the Battle of Hattin that led to the fall of Jerusalem in 1187. Support the show www.rockymountainmason.com www.esotericmason.com Support the show: https://patreon.com/rockymountainmason?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creat...

Ben Williams presents an introductory overview of the creation of the worlds from a kabbalistic perspective, citing Albert Pike extensively. The 4º of the AASR-SJ reminds us that, "a complete understanding of Freemasonry is impossible without some familiarity with the Kabbalah."  Support the show www.rockymountainmason.com www.esotericmason.com Support the show: https://patreon.com/rocky...

In our first podcast, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ben Williams relays a speech given as Northwest Department Commander to the Colorado North Encampment regarding potential origins of the Masonic Knights Templar.  Support the show www.rockymountainmason.com www.esotericmason.com Support the show: https://patreon.com/rockymountainmason?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_camp...