Chapter 3 – The Church of Ghosts

Today’s story will take us back to 2018, when we had our international meeting which is taking place every five years. By now I was used with the all the weird stuff going on inside our Temple and of course outside of it, where the secrets of the world lay dormant for the normal people, but not for us Freemasons.

Our meeting two years ago took place in a very beautiful hotel in Prague, the Czech Republic. This was one of those that are filled with history, where the walls and chandeliers have seen extravagant parties taking place and people in really expensive clothing attending and drinking the finest and rarest of drinks.

I have met a lot of powerful Freemasons at that banquet, people very well known in the world, some of them running multi-million dollar companies. I have learned a lot of things that they do research on, things I could not even imagine existed and of course I was left in awe with the topics of certain discussions at that party.

I was accompanied by my mentor, The Professor, who decided in 2014, as you well know, to “show me the wonders of the world”. Too bad that we have different views on what that means.

Usually, at banquets like these, nothing out of the ordinary really happens, it’s mainly just a bunch of people in black suits talking about various scientific topics, improvements in certain industries or the evolution of technology in the coming years.

But at the end of the party, my mentor took me outside the hotel to have a talk:

“Son, let’s go out for a bit, there is something I need to tell you.”

“Of course, Professor.”

“Son, tomorrow at midnight there is a place where we will go and from our Lodge it is just the two of us and the Master. There will be some very powerful and influential people at this meeting.”

“What is it this time, Professor? Vampires, Czech monsters, the Dark God of Czech beer, what?”

“Haha, you’re very funny.” said he, ironically. “No, we will have this meeting in a church 200 km from Prague in the village of Lukova. And as I understood from one of our brothers that flew in from the United Kingdom, this church is a bit different from the rest of the churches in this country. Why, I do not know, I guess we will see tomorrow night what is going to happen.”

“OK, Professor. I understand and I won’t ask any more questions. Sometimes I like to inquire a lot about things because I am a very curious person, as you know.”

“Be careful son, curiosity killed the cat.”

“But satisfaction brought it back, Professor.”

The party ended and we went to sleep. We woke up the next day and went for a walk in the beautiful city of Prague. By the way, reader, I have to tell you that the Czechs have, without a single shade of doubt, the best beer in Europe. We went to see the St. Vitus Cathedral, the Charles Bridge, the Astronomical Clock, the Kinsky Palace, the Prague Castle and the Old Town Square. These were the wonders of the world for me. We, of course, got to see the hidden parts of each and every location, parts that the public was not allowed to see, because of course, that’s how things are supposed to be, in the opinion of the Freemasons.

Then we went back to the hotel, changed in our usual black suit, black tie attire, took our aprons and gloves and we went outside the hotel at about 9:00 PM to meet the driver who would take us to the church.

We got there at around 11:30 PM, that left us with 30 minutes of free time in which a Brother from the Czech Republic told us the story of the church.

The Saint George’s Church was built in 1352, but in 1968 the roof collapsed during a funeral, so it was very much abandoned up until an artist decided to make things more interesting in 2014 by adding moldings of people on top of which he placed some sheets to make them look like ghosts praying.

Brother Hynek went on: “Dear brothers, let’s go inside. But before that, there is a table here at the entrance. Please, each and every one of you take one of these metal blocks and keep it with you until the meeting is finished. Welcome to the Church of Ghosts.”

The Master, the Professor and I looked at each other wondering what these were for. We proceeded on taking the metals, which were weighing roughly 500 grams each and they where, of course, triangle shaped.

We went inside and we were a little startled by the silhouettes standing still in the darkness. Then our Czech Brothers rapidly lighted some candles and we got to sit down next to the figures. I was a bit uneasy because I don’t really like being alone in a church at night, even more when the church is old and creepy and filled with moldings that resemble people.

The master of the Prague Lodge started. “Dear brothers, welcome to one of the most exquisite meeting places for people like us. I hope you all had a great time at the party yesterday and got to see our beautiful capital city. Please place each of your metals in the lap of the molding next to you and leave it there until we finish this meeting.”

Then, of course, we started having speeches. After half an hour or so after midnight, all the candles went out and a cold wind started to blow inside the church, the floor was creaking and a very thick fog started raising from under it.

Then I felt something moving besides me. I turned and at my right side the head of the ghost was turned towards me, staring at me with its non-existent eyes. I screamed “Aaah!” and then a voice from out of time began:

“Brothers, dear brothers, do not be afraid. We come in peace, we are the Freemasons of the Grand Lodge from Beyond Time. We have been here for many many aeons, silently watching you to see if you are doing your jobs properly and we could not be prouder than we are right now. Greetings to everyone who came from different parts of the world, we are very happy that you are with us tonight.”

Then another one started: “Brothers, you will experience something tonight that you never experienced before. Please place your hands on our foreheads and let us take you to a journey of magick throughout time.”

Thing is that the voices were speaking in the Czech language, a language I know nothing about but, curiously enough, I was understanding it perfectly at that certain place and time.

I placed my hand on the ghost’s forehead and at that point I felt like I was enlightened and filled with secret knowledge. With my eyes closed I could see through different historical periods, I was in a forest where strange animals were living, then I was transported under sea to see populations of humanoids living free, their technological advancements not like anything I have ever seen before, I have seen kings and queens, empires falling, kingdoms of long forgotten dead gods, ruins of cities in the sky, strange civilizations visiting our planet… But then everything stopped and a man with a white hood on his head, a large staff in his hand and a grey beard stood in front of me in a tent in the desert.

“Hello, traveler. Give me your hand.”

I did so, without even questioning him. Then he took out a very strange object, it was like a red hot stone, almost like a coal but not quite, and placed it my hand. I squeezed it and when I opened my hand all that was left was a red light floating around in my palm. I looked at him with big inquiring eyes and then he took out from a bag in his pocket a very odd powder.

The he placed the powder inside the red floating light and with his scepter smashed it yelling: “TRIA PRIMA!” and a large explosion took place, it knocked me over but it did not hurt me.

I awakened some minutes (well at least for me) later in the church with my hand extended. In my hand there was the metal block, but its color has changed, it was… golden.

Of course I could not believe my eyes, my mind was already buzzing with all that I have seen in my short journey.

“Brothers, VIVAT ALCHIMIA. This is our gift to you. Please be careful on your future journeys and take this gold home with you as a way to always remember your experience here tonight. So long, dear Brothers.”

I checked my watch, it said 6:30 AM (???). I looked at the gold triangle, on it was the representation of the exact same ball of light I held in the palm of my hand.

Sun came up in the sky, everything was back to normal.

We went back to Prague, none of us saying anything for the next few hours, we just sat frozen and bewildered with magical gold in our hands.

Not only the wonders of the world, but the riches of the world.