The Secret Tradition in Freemasonry

About this book

A candidate passes through a Masonic initiation and encounters symbols whose meaning seems to reach beyond the ceremony itself. Arthur Edward Waite follows those emblems into a study of hidden religious traditions.

The Secret Tradition in Freemasonry considers the craft's legends, rituals and mystical interpretations, placing them within Waite's larger interest in Christian esotericism. He often seeks inward meanings where institutional histories offer more modest explanations. The work is one of his substantial attempts to understand how Masonic symbolism became a vessel for spiritual aspiration.