The Masonic publishing business is a fickle proposition. Brother Stephen Dafoe's Masonic Magazine ended after just 8 issues, in spite of providing truly cutting edge Masonic scholarship. Stephen did what no one else in the Masonic periodical business did – he actually paid his authors for their work.Now the Pro Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England has just announced that the UGLE's internal MQ Magazine has merged with the independent Freemasonry Today. It's unclear from the statement as to who will be running the magazine now – the first issue under the new editorial staff will be in January. Freemasonry Today has been a truly independent Masonic publication, often featuring articles on decidedly un-mainstream topics and about obediences not recognized by the UGLE. The Pro GM's message clearly says the new magazine will be the official house organ of the UGLE, so I fear the independent streak of FT will vanish. I hope not.
If you aren't familiar with Freemasonry Today, two of its notable editors over the years have been Tobias Churton and Michael Baigent. Just in time for this announcement, a collection from the first ten years' articles from FT has just been published, and is available from my friends at Lewis Masonic, which only makes me remember how terrible the exchange rate is these days.
The good news for Masons looking for a truly independent source of information also comes from Lewis Masonic. The Square Magazine is always interesting, entertaining and well worth its subscription. Perhaps with the merger of FM and MQ, the Square will shake things up in Masonic publishing.
I have been a longtime fan of Freemasonry Today and was disappointed to hear about the merger only for fear that it will not be independant...but if these talks have been ongoing, I am forced to wonder how independant is was in the first place. I think I will continue my subscription for a year and see how it goes.
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