Topic: Speculative Masonry

Michelle Gibson asserts that European Freemasons co-opted the architectural achievements of Moorish masons. She references the ritual of Hiram Abiff, noting that modern Masons admit to being "speculative" rather than "operational." According to Gibson, the original "Keys of Solomon" were lost when the Moors were marginalized and their legacy was claimed by unworthy successors.

Randall Carlson explains how the onset of the Little Ice Age ended the cathedral-building era, causing Freemasonry to shift from "operative" to "speculative" to preserve scientific knowledge. He points out that the building of Gothic cathedrals coincided exactly with major architectural waves in the Mayan civilization, Indochina, and North American mound builders. Carlson highlights that these disparate cultures used the same underlying geometrical and astronomical templates.