Masonic Esotericism and Politics

Mainly focused on the study of esoteric traditions within the three monotheist Revelations, La Règle d'Abraham is a periodical founded and directed by Patrick Geay since April 1996. This special edition in English, with 20 rare Masonic illustrations in color, is dedicated to an important article by Marsha Keith Schuchard on Masonic esotericism and politics: the “ancient” Stuart roots of Bonnie Prince Charlie's role as hidden Grand Master

Research into Charles Edward Stuart's alleged affiliation with Jacobite or Ecossais Freemasonry has long been hampered by the misleading assumption, which became academic "conventional wisdom," that Freemasonry virtually began in England when the Grand Lodge of London was formed in 1717. Moreover, it was generally characterized as non-political and rationalistic, devoted to the Protestant succession, the Hanoverian government, Newtonian science, and latitudinarian religion. However, the recent international expansion of Masonic and Jacobite studies makes possible a more credible and documented study of the Stuart prince's political and Masonic activities, within a context of anti-Hanoverian, politically-active, diplomatically-diverse, and spiritually-oriented Masonry that draws upon the early Scots-Irish traditions maintained by the Stuart kings in Greater Britain and by the exiles in the Jacobite diaspora. Ranging from the 1590s in Scotland to the 1780s in Italy, the Stuart-Masonic themes of Jewish mysticism, Lullist illuminated knighthood, Solomonic architecture, and religious toleration sustained the military and political campaigns of James II, James III, and "Bonnie Prince Charlie" in their struggle to reclaim the thrones of their ancestors.