Operative and Speculative Knights Templar
By S.K. Ray Hayward REPGC, KCT Sir Knights, in our Craft, we learn that there are two kinds of Masons, operative, those who can build with stone, and speculative, those who take the stone builders art and use it as a base for their spiritual growth and self-knowledge. In the commandery we have two kinds of Knights Templar, the historical and the speculative. Historical Knights Templar were the crusader knights who fought in the holy land and established castles and commanderies around Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. Speculative Knights Templar are those people who take the moral and spiritual aspect of the historical Templars and apply them to lead a fuller, more meaningful life. The seal of the 6 th Grandmaster of the historical Knights Templar, Bertrand de Blanchefort, shows two knights riding on one horse. Some people say that was to point out the extreme poverty of the early members of the Order. History tells us that they were anything but poor, coming from some of the most weal...