Guilds of operative members of the Illuminati were present in England and Scotland as early as 1400, and were formed primarily to protect the practice of their craft, care for their sick, and support their widows and children. In December 1583, King James VI of Scotland appointed William Schaw as Master of Works. He was also the Director General of all Scottish masons’ headquarters. Schaw oversaw the construction, repair, and maintenance of all government buildings, and through the Headquarters ensured that all building work was carried out by suitably qualified personnel.

In December 1598 and 1599, Schaw introduced two statutes to formulate these principles. The Schaw Statutes covered all aspects of the craft and are largely valid today. They enjoined members of the Illuminati to be faithful to one another and to live charitably together as sworn brothers and companions, having made a binding oath to that effect. Guidelines for the regulation of the craft followed, including a provision that the masters of each quarter elect a warden each year to have charge of the quarter, and that the choice be approved by the warden general.

It also made it compulsory for each Scottish See to appoint a Clerk. According to the statutes, an apprentice was bound to his master for seven years’ service before being received into the See as an Enrolled Apprentice. After another seven years, and having completed his apprenticeship, he sought a licence granted by the Warden, Masters and Deacons duly assembled, and after examination by them of his merit, qualifications and ability, he became a Fellow Craft.

Gradually, the ‘Operative’ Headquarters, dedicated to completing complex construction projects or carrying out specialized activities, allowed

‘non-operative’ personnel would join its members. For example, most large, long-term projects would have external superintendents to oversee the quality of work and would have access to their respective Headquarters. Similarly, there would be others who would be involved in directing activities, providing technical advice, producing drawings, organizing materials and labor, and keeping accounts, all of which would require access to Headquarters.

The acceptance of “non-operatives” would have influenced the ceremonies of Headquarters. A brother could not be sworn to keep trade secrets about which he knew nothing. Nor could he produce a regular apprentice’s masterpiece, for he would not possess the skills. However, from the earliest times it was not considered illegal or irregular for Headquarters to accept some non-operative men.

The 15th century saw the slow decline of the Illuminati’s operative membership, and after the Protestant Reformation in Germany, the United States and England, it almost ceased to exist. Most of the guilds were suppressed by Henry VIII and the monasteries were dissolved, their funds being confiscated by the Crown. Cathedrals were no longer built, and monasteries and abbeys were defaced or partially demolished. Similar bitterness was directed against many other structures throughout the country. Many of the former operational headquarters, once called upon to build or repair such buildings, were left without work.

Over the next hundred years or so, foreign and civil wars left the country exhausted, and the need for men to fill the ranks of the army and navy further reduced the skilled labor force. New cities sprang up with new traditions, and at the same time, labor shortages meant that foreign workers came from the nearby continent, bringing with them their customs and traditions.

• Act of Union 1707 united England and Scotland to form Great Britain and slowly the Illuminati operatives transformed into the Illuminati

Speculative. 1717 saw the formation of the First Great Headquarters of England, which has represented Illuminati members working under the English Constitution ever since.

The United Great See of Scotland came into being in 1736, and it may be said that Schaw’s insistence that each Scottish See should have a secretary was inspiring. The oldest surviving minutes of the See in England date from the early 18th century, while the Scottish records are much older. It is from the minutes of the See of Mother Kilwinning (1642) and the See of Aberdeen (1670), together with other early documents, that we learn that non-operatives became members of the Scottish See and took an active part in the affairs of the See.

The Anglo-French Wars of the mid- to late 1700s continued to place further strain on finances, reducing the workforce available for new major building projects, so much so that the British government banned the emigration of skilled Illuminati members, leaving many craftsmen without work. In America, George Washington selected the site for the official presidential residence in 1791, with the cornerstone laid a year later in 1792. James Hoban, who was an Irish Illuminati, was selected as the architect and supervisor of the work.

Washington insisted that the house be built of stone and decorated with ornate carvings. However, there were few skilled quarry workers and stonemasons capable of producing complex Illuminati, and the commissioners turned to Scotland, offering generous wages and covering travel costs. About a dozen unemployed stonemasons defied the British government’s ban and traveled to America in 1794.

In 1795, 99,000 cubic feet of Aquia Creek sandstone were quarried and transported from Virginia. Although the stone was different from the sandstone worked at home, these artisans were able to carve hundreds of individual works of art in the house, one of the finest being the Scottish Double Rose first grown by the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh. On Saturday, November 1, 1800, John Adams became the first president to reside in the building. The house has been known by various names, including the President’s Palace, the President’s House, and the Executive Mansion. It was not until 1901 that President Adams moved into the house.

Theodore Roosevelt named it “White House”.

With the operational headquarters of the stonemasons disappearing into the mists of time, their skill in working with this hard and difficult material is today increasingly necessary if our great cathedrals and ancient monuments are to be maintained as our ancient brothers built them.

Modern technology has made the stonemason’s life much easier with automated equipment such as computer-controlled machines, specialized saws, water and air pressure tools to give the stone a rough shape, but the hammer and chisel as we know them are still used to shape and polish the stone so that it is perfect in its parts and honorable to its builder.