Tuesday, April 28, 2020

10-Years of the Traveling Templar

Well, today marks 10-years since I started the Traveling Templar. I started this site to follow my travels around the world, to share my research of the Masonic fraternity and its concordant bodies, and my research into the medieval Knights Templar. I'm happy to say that I have kept true to the original intent that I had when I started this website.

With this article, I have published 660 articles on this site. I'd like to thank all of the readers and those who have encouraged and/or inspired me.

I reached the 1,000,000 pageviews this year:
2010: 349 total views
2011: 3,854 total views
2012: 37,024 total views
2013: 84,513 total views
2014: 95,123 total views
2015: 105,794 total views
2016: 138,887 total views
2017: 163,453 total views
2018: 154,010 total views
2019: 175,011 total views
2020: 86,149 total views so far
I started out very slowly, as you can see, but then around the Fall of 2011, an exponential increase started to occur.

My top 10 posts are:

In 2012, I was in a writing frenzy and interest in this site had exponentially increased since returning from my second deployment to Iraq. The degrees of the York Rite was of utmost interest. This particular article originated as a presentation I gave within the Lodge to show the intimate nature of the York Rite with the Blue Lodge.
The Crown and the Cross (20,619 page views):
Influenced by my research into the Symbols of Royal Arch Masonry, I decided to look into one of the most common symbols used in Templar Masonry and the finished product was this article which would, itself, spawn more articles.
The Death of Jacques DeMolay (14,375 page views):
While I was deployed I had watched a number of historical documentaries concerning the Middle Ages to include one on common torture techniques. As the anniversary of the death of Jacques DeMolay approached I decided to look into his death and the events leading up to it.
This article was written by a Past Master from another Idaho Lodge wrote it. He gave a summary of it during a Temple Board meeting and I asked him to send me the full paper so I could publish it on my site. Of all the articles, this one got more views in the first 24-hours than any other (somewhere around 4,000 views).
The Templar Uniforms (12,907 page views):
Like most newer and younger Knights Templar, I was curious and somewhat turned off by the full dress uniform used currently by the Grand Encampment. I decided to look into the history of the uniforms 
The Pelican (10,574 page views):
This article is one of the few that I have done concerning the Scottish Rite. I was really interested in this symbol from a trip to New Orleans and then joining the Scottish Rite. At one time, this article had the most views.
Templar Symbols (9,358 page views):
2013 was an exciting year for me as I had joined the Knight Masons, St. Thomas of Acon, Knights Preceptor, and Royal Order of Scotland all of which concerns the Knights Templar. I also had the pleasure of serving as Eminent Commander and this was an educational piece that I had prepared for presenting to my Commandery.
I was surprised to see that this one had been read so much as it is has been just over one year since I first published it. I've always been interested in the Knights Templar and when I joined Freemasonry, I knew that I wanted to join the York Rite. I have fallen behind on writing the sequel to this, but it is on the way.
I had enjoyed writing Part 1 of this series that I decided to further dissect the symbolism of the Royal Arch. The banners and their sigils particularly interested me and which eventually led to my research into the Hayyoth and Enochian lore.
This article started out as a simple PowerPoint presentation that I gave to a high school AP history class. I am a big history nerd myself and kept expanding my research and finally published it here. This is probably one of my absolute favorite topics of research.
So much has changed in the last 10-years of my life: a second deployment to Iraq, a vacation through Italy, the birth of a nephew and two nieces, earning my Bachelors and Masters from Boise State University, interning in DC, the various initiations throughout Freemasonry, serving as Grand High Priest of Royal Arch Masons of Idaho, being recently installed as Most Illustrious Grand Master of Cryptic Masons of Idaho, and the death of my father. I look forward to the next decade and the adventures I will experience.

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