Hibiscus Masonic Review by Peter J. Millheiser
Published by iUniverse
Hibiscus Lodge was founded in Miami Beach, Florida in 1948 and so this year, is celebrating its 60th anniversary. The name of the lodge was selected because the hibiscus flower in Florida, is the one that most closely resembles the forgetme- not. Created by the Brothers of the lodge, is the Hibiscus Foundation and as part of its continuing masonic education, the Foundation sponsors this publication.
As stated in the front of the book, The Hibiscus Masonic Review (this is Volume 2 / 2008) welcomes papers on masonic history or culture, and in this edition there is a variety of different articles, including The Old Charges Revisited by Andrew Prescott, Freemasonry: A Brief History of its Origins by Margaret Jacob, Elias Ashmole’s Initiation…and Some More Questions by Yasha Beresiner, Prague and Viennese Freemasonry, the Enlightenment, and the Operations of the True Harmony Lodge of Vienna by William Weisberger, (Re)Fashioning Masonry? Freemason Women in Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, 1789-1814 by James Smith Allen, The Chevalier D’Eon de Beaumont by Martin Cherry, The Chevalier de Saint-Georges: Le Mozart Noir by Peter Millheiser, and Freemasonry and the Digital Revolution by Mark Tabbert. There’s also a very interesting article on Masonic Journals in Mid- Victorian Britain by Aubrey Newman, in which is pointed out that far from being a modern phenomenon, masonic publications have a history rooted in the time of great importance for the growth of the written word.
In fact, there was a magazine for Freemasons published from 1793 to 1798, but as is pointed out, the continuous history of masonic periodicals in Britain does not really begin until the establishment of the Freemasons’ Quarterly Review in 1834. Robert Crucefix was the man behind the journal and his intention was that it would become: an archive where the events most interesting to Brethren may be recorded and regular biographies given of such worthy Masons who, by their zeal and industry “have advanced the interests of their art” Actually, his real agenda was to promote his idea for an Asylum for Aged and Decayed Freemasons, and also to use the periodical to attack those, including the Grand Master, who opposed the scheme. This book is very informative and fulfils its promise of being an international forum on masonic history.
