The Apprentice: The World and the Universe as One: A Treatise on the First Degree of Freemasonry

There is a lot of thought packed into this slim little book -- so much so that I intend to let it rest in my mind for a while and then re-read it much more slowly and meditatively to get the full benefit.Stewart's key idea, one which was new to me, is to express initiation as "Ein Sof into Malkuth" -- or the step from primal chaos into order -- and he makes a good case for it. (I won't go into the details. You can read the book for that.)What I found challenging about this metaphor is that it essentially collapses the traditional expression of Tree of Life, in which Malkuth is at the bottom and the Ein Sof is invisible above Kether at the top. Despite Stewart's repeated (although not excessively) invocation of "As above, so below, I had to simply release my existing sense of the Tree before I could really grasp what he was getting at. In the end, I found myself seeing the Tree as a sort of ouroboros in which the Ein Sof and Malkuth are not at opposite ends of a spectrum from each other, but part of an infinitely looping path. This is, again, different from any previous models I've seen, which include the idea that each sephiroth contains within it an entire Tree: again an illustration of eternal unity, but with a different focus. Just to be clear, I like Stewart's model, and I'm very interested in how he extends it in his books on the Second and Third Degrees.Although the book is explicitly about the meaning of the First Degree of Freemasonry in the Scottish Rite, and so draws heavily on Albert Pike's "Morals and Dogma," I think it would be of interest to anyone with an interest in Kabbalah, hermetics, or the concept of initiation. That said, I write this as an Entered Apprentice Freemason, and I'm not going to read Stewart's books on the Second and Third Degrees until I experience those rites myself, even though I will do so in a different tradition.

I got all three books covering the "three degrees" yesterday.... the information in them are seriously awesome. (that is why I am giving these books a 4 star) However, this awesome little book "The Apprentice" came with the wrong book inside the sleeve... They sent the "Master Mason" book inside this cover sleeve. - So I re-ordered it again and I sure hope they send the right book inside the sleeve this time. Apparently I am not the only one this happened to... The publishers should be notified. I need this book before I read the others, because I am being initiated next month, and want to know as much as I can about this degree, before the date arrives.

An excellent and introspective read. As one who works with Entered Apprentice Masons on their degree work, and on understanding the philosophies of our fraternity, this was work my time, and has been worth sharing with others.

I echo most of the thoughts and comments. Book was very short but a lot was packed into it. And left a lot of thoughts for me to ponder.

The Apprentice was a well written and informative book on the more esoteric foundations of the Entered Apprentice degree of Freemasonry. Meant for those with some background already in hermetic science

Excellent book on the EA degree! I bought one for each of the EAs in our Lodge! Looking forward to Bro. Greg's books on the FC and MM.

Got the book but the cover was not present as shown in the add the book sleeve was wanted to protect it

A great supplement to the classroom training