There has been a great deal of content posted on social media which continues to exacerbate the already problematic representation of Masonic culture.

In the fervid and confusing seas of popular music and fashion, Occulture has turned from a socio-anthropological descriptor, to a trending buzzword, to a scant justification for the wholesale appropriation of Masonic and Esoteric symbolism by various designers, artists and pop moghuls who are simply using the novelty of our traditional imagery to sell albums, promote brands, and fascinate yet another generation of young people, who can be forgiven for knowing little about the historical context of the symbols utilised. This use is not made respectfully, accurately, or with the authority of experience.

Some popular artists are indulging their own fantasies of Satanism, diabolism, cultural profanisation, and Illuminati paranoia, inciting further public mistrust of the venerable institutions of the Perennial Tradition, many of which have made (and continue to make) valuable contributions to art, economy, education, culture, society and charitable endeavours. Masons are constantly framed on television and in the cinema as the "super-villains", spies for the Establishment, tools of the Elites; yet Masonry itself has always borne the brunt of suspicion and persecution during certain predictable periods of political unrest and extremism; this is a well-known historical fact. Masons invariably come from the professional and working classes; the origin of Masonry is to be found in the workers' and stonemasons' guilds of the Medieval period as much as (if not more than) in the Knights Templar, Neo-Platonists and Alchemists.

We are the frequent victims of others' false flags and red herrings. Fear, or scorn, has been our portion.

Information is readily available online to all, which is a wonderful innovation - but just as knowledge is no replacement for Wisdom, neither is information a replacement for comprehension, nor assumption for experience, nor opinion for fact. Worse still, much of the popular online information - especially concerning Freemasonry - is only partially revealed and explained, or is wholly inaccurate. The fact that some still confuse the Illuminati and the Freemasons is another example, as is the fact that there are different groups which use the title "Illuminati".

Freemasonry provides a stable and secure point of access to the great philosophical mysteries and meanings of the Western Mystery Tradition. It isn't only for the traditional conservative or socially mobile; it has progressive, specialised and esoteric branches as well. It isn't just for men; there are Masons of every gender. It isn't just of European origin; it has vigorous branches and Orders all over the world, and it draws its symbolism from every culture. It isn't just living history; it is a Perennial Philosophy and a Science of the Soul, which can only be understood, comprehended and appreciated by those who take the time, and make the effort, to join.

Masonry is for the people; the people who are ready to work and build.