Well, well... Look what I found here

Neville Barker Cryer, Lewis Masonic, Hersham, 2008. Paperback, 92 pages, £9.99. ISBN 978-085318-271-9



Most readers will be familiar with the books by the Revd. Neville Cryer who has been a prolific writer, researcher and speaker in Freemasonry for many years. His series of small books which began with I Just Didn’t Know That drew attention to practices which at first sight seemed strange, even antiquated and irrelevant, but after looking at them more closely, they in fact serve to convey more understanding to masonic ritual and procedure. Many Freemasons know very little of the background out of which masonic ritual developed, particularly the ancient Guild plays; Neville Cryer seeks to remedy this lack of knowledge. This book is the fourth in this series – I hope it will not be last.
Neville Cryer is concerned with the deeper meaning of Freemasonry: he states in the introduction to this new book that he is convinced that there is a ‘thirst for Masonic knowledge that is not being, or even able to be, met.’
He criticises the common practice of placing the emphasis ‘on correct performance of the ritual rather than on its equally important significance.’ And he makes the blunt statement that ‘mere repetition of those well-known words [of masonic ritual] does not in itself increase our knowledge about them.’ As he insists, the daily advancement in masonic knowledge does not simply refer to learning the ritual but gaining insight and understanding.
He suggests that on evenings where there is not a candidate that a special ceremony might be worked by the lodge, one which is paused at certain crucial points so that a commentator – the Lodge Orator perhaps – might introduce explanations and other information about what is happening and why. These explanations are excellently devised and can very easily be worked within any lodge - or chapter.
He has produced these explanations for each of the three Craft degrees, the Installation (without the Inner Workings), the Mark and the Holy Royal Arch. In addition there is a commentary on the Charge given after an Initiation and another on the Royal Arch Officers, banners, ensigns and implements.
Neville Cryer writes clearly and simply. His discussions and explanations are easily understood and his insights are effortlessly conveyed on the background of his great knowledge of the history of Freemasonry.
Brought together, as all this is in his book, makes for a thought-provoking read and a most enjoyable daily advancement in masonic knowledge.

-Michael Baigent