Some of you might remember me lamenting in my post dated 8 Aug 2009 that Dan Brown isn't really interested in writing about ceremonial magicians. Well, when I saw "The Lost Symbol" beside "The Keys of Solomon" at Kinokuniya (the people at kino have this way to trying to move their much much less popular esoteric works... which explains the presence of "The Keys of Solomon" beside Brown's more popular novel), I thought, "Holy crap! He's actually written a book about us!" Despite being told by a friend before that the book is actually about freemasons.
Well, after going through a couple of reviews... sadly the book IS about freemasons. :( In fact, the story sounds a lot like "National Treasure" (2004) (yeah the movie starring Nicholas Cage)... except that there's all that puzzle solving by the now very famous Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) and according to the reviewers, a very cliche villian and plot.
I was about to pick up the book, but was very disappointed after flipping through a few pages. It's the usual thing about the American founding fathers' ties to freemasonry. I guess ceremonial magicians are too obscure to achieve either fame or infamy in current popular culture. Haiz.
Honestly, I cannot imagine a freemason actually engaging in anything that might be scandalous to the occult world. While I was reading the book "Inside a Magical Lodge: Group Ritual in the Western Tradition" the author John Greer recounts of how he moved to another city in the US and decided to visit the local lodge... possibly something connected with freemasonry. Despite the occult origins of the rituals he observed, he noted that none of the members... (most of them elderly gentlemen) would actually think that their cherished practices had anything to do with occultism, paganism or magic. Well, 'cos most of them were pretty normal, mainstream Christians!
Apparently, most of the guys got into the lodge because their fathers were members and their fathers before them. It functions more like a social club with some interesting practices! :D
Anyways... I might still pick up the book for a read.... a very fast one... However, I have to say it really looks more boring than the new "fluff" that Games Workshop regularly churns out and is on sale now at Da Bear's. I mean, regardless of the skill of the authors which do you think is more interesting title-wise at-a-glance.... "Dark Adeptus" or "The Lost Symbol"?
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