Revisiting The Past Once AgainBy Bradley Fehr
Stephen Dafoe may have turned in his Hinton Parklander press pass, but his fingers will still be hitting a keyboard as he works on writing another book. Dafoe has been writing historical books for the last several years, and his interest in medieval history bloomed after he became a Freemason in 1992. However, before he became a member of the fraternal organization, he wanted to discover as much as he could about Freemasons. "I dug into the books to find out what it is all about," he said, adding his research carried on after he was accepted into the order. Dafoe had always had an interest in medieval history and Masonic tradition seemed to fit with his interests. His digging led to the creation of a web site and the web site led to writing or contributing to several books. Dafoe describes Freemasonry as a fraternal organization for men based on philosophical principles of applying the Golden Rule to one's own life. He said Freemasonry uses the lost art of symbolism and allegory to promote philosophy and that the sense of camaraderie within the organization is unparalleled. "Within two weeks of moving to Alberta I was travelling to Edson and Jasper with masons," he said. Dafoe moved to Hinton with his wife almost four years ago to be closer to her family. "I was self employed. It didn't matter where I lived," he said. At the time, Dafoe was involved with running several web sites and publishing his own magazines, in addition to his other writing. The couple selected Hinton because of the mountains and it's those same jagged peaks that Dafoe said he is going to miss most about the town in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. He wrote his first book, Unholy Worship, because of a perception that the masons and the Knights Templar worship the devil, which is something he finds ridiculous. The Knights Templar were a medieval order of religious knights around whom legend and myths swirl. "It was presenting the other side of the coin," he said. "I just showed the links and how people drew the wrong conclusions." He followed that up with another book in 1998 called The Warriors and the Bankers, which he wrote with co-author Alan Butler about the Knights Templar. The writing duo then wrote with another book about the fabled knights entitled The Templar Continuum, which came out in 1999. With the recent success of The Da Vinci Code book and movie, two separate publishing companies purchased the rights to his last two books and republished them. However, the title of The Templar Continuum was changed to The Knights Templar Revealed and The Warriors and the Bankers is only available through online bookstores in the U.K. While not sold on the historical accuracy of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, Dafoe does acknowledge it's impact. "Before Dan Brown, the Templars were a niche," he said. "He opened up the topic to everybody." However, the movie also had some unexpected consequences for the author and webmaster. "It think it attracted a lot of nut jobs to the (web) site," he said. Dafoe was getting about one or two e-mails a week from reincarnated Knights Templar in addition to correspondence from conspiracy theorists who knew where the Holy Grail was located. However, he was quick to point out that the work of fiction did attract some legitimate interest in his work as well. "It doubled traffic for a six month period," he said. His web site, www.templarhistory.com gets about 100,000 hits a month and deals with historical facts, the mystery surrounding the order as well as the myths about the knights and their legacy, which includes modern day orders that emulate the Templars. "It's a topic that appeals to a wide range of people," he said. He wrote another book about Freemasonry entitled, Everything I needed to know about Freemasonry I learned as an Apprentice, about some of his experiences in the organization. Dafoe has become a part of contemporary Knights Templar organizations, which are masonic in nature. He was the past Grand Historian for the Sovereign Great Priory of Canada for Masonic Templars from 2000-2002. In addition, he is also a member of a number of masonic bodies throughout Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. In 2001 he published his first magazine about the Knights Templar and followed that up a couple of years ago with a quarterly Masonic Magazine. As an aside, he republishes books from the 1800s and 1900s, which are difficult to find. It looks like he'll be busy as he just received word that two books he's been proposing have been picked up by a major publisher. His new books will be about Freemasonry and the Knights Templar, but no firm publication date has yet been set. Dafoe applied for the reporter position at the Parklander because community journalism is something he's wanted to do since attending high school back in Ontario. Dafoe said he really enjoyed the community involvement aspect of the job. Dafoe and his wife have moved away because she found a new job in St. Albert, but that doesn't mean they are gone for good. "We have family back in Hinton, so we'll be back lots," Dafoe said. |
Stephen's Official Book Sites
|
