Kjole & Sort er flyttet

This website is moving. The whole site is in dire need of an overhaul, and one of the things I intend to do is split off the English and Danish sections into separate sites. The new Grail Quest home will be http://grailquest.wordpress.com/ This is something that I will be messing with over Christmas, and it should be ready for the new year. The feed to King Solomon's Lodge will be updated in due time.

Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year – see you on the other side! 

Grail Quest is now featured on King Solomon's Blog, which aggregates dozens of Masonic blogs.

Used to be, just little over a year ago, there were only a handful of Masonic blogs around, mainly American, and although I am not questioning whether they had a just cause, they did seem generally to run on the belligerent side. The tapestry is a lot more colourful now, with subjects running the gamut – esoteric, practical, journal, topical etc. KSL is an excellent resource in making these blogs readily available, and one of my favourite bookmarks.

Go have a look ...

Tomorrow my motherlodge, St John's lodge Hafnia (the Latin name for Copenhagen) opens the Masonic year by installing its new Worshipful Master (not a very good translation of his actual title), or rather: He installs himself into the Chair. This piece of Swedish Rite ritual is once again quite different from most other systems. The Rite is very hierarchical, and a WM can hold the Chair for many years – up to eight. So, as can be surmised, it is a pretty big deal and not something that happens every year. The Grand Master of the Order will be present, and I am certain I am missing out on a wonderful evening. But that's the way it is – the price for my little adventure.

I wish the new Master of the Chair all the best for his term of office, and a bright future for Hafnia.

Freemasons hall, CopenhagenFor all the wonderful experiences we're having being abroad, I miss the Danish Order of Freemasons. I haven't even been away yet, not really, because they have been dark for the summer. But perhaps it's just because I know it will be a whole year before I get to work in the beautiful halls at home, and that I'll be missing a bunch of friends taking their Third, and the instillation of Hafnia's new Master and so on. But since this blog was supposed to focus on the travels, I'm just using this as a pretext to link to a site on national Danish television, DR2, who did a thorough theme on freemasonry in Denmark. One of the accompagnying site's main features is a tour of Freemasons Hall in Copenhagen.

Go to the site, and click on the arrow in the picture to enter the hall through the pillars. On the right hand side is a 3D map of the hall, and each of the dots can be clicked. You can also pan around and see some more photos (and clips, but only in Danish). Here is a brief overview, Danish words in italics.

Stuen/Ground floor

• Entrance

1. sal/First floor

• left: First degree, built to resemble a temple, alluding to King Solomon
• center: wardrobe, 3,500 lockers
• right: Second degree, notice the ceiling

2. sal/Second floor (starting bottom right, moving clockwise)

• Boardroom, home of the Supreme Council
• Oval room, with painting of past GMs, a few Kings amongst them
• Grand Master's office, cubic shape
• Grand hall, with GM's chair
• Grand hall, seating; the hall is sometimes used for public events
• “Armiger" hall, with shields of Brethren of VIII° or higher
• Top of staircase

A bit of trivia from the site

• The construction was begun in 1923 and the building consecrated in 1927
• The foundation stone was laid by the GM, HRH King Christian X in 1924
  
• There are approximately 335 rooms
• Six floors, two mezzanines and two basements
• The building is 20 meter tall, and 7 meter deep
• The two pillars on the facade are 16 meters tall and each weigh 72 tons
  

Another Masonic reference at the movies: Shoot'em Up, apparently a spoof on Hong Kong actioners, made famous in the West by John Woo. Paul Giamatti, an excellent actor more versed in the indie genre, hams it up as a hitman who for some reason carries a Square & Compasses lapelpin. You can just catch a glimpse in the above linked trailer. Clive Owen plays the "British nanny".