60 Pages of Masonic Content.
May 2012 Issue #52
Featuring An Exclusive Article By Best Selling Author Robert Lomas, Plus Ten More Articles Written By Freemasons for Freemasons.
The Chamber of Reflection www.twtmag.com
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WELCOME
Hello Brethren, Welcome to the May 2012 issue of The Working Tools Magazine. Last month I told you that I had an exciting announcement that would come out after the NJ Grand Lodge Annual Communication. Well now I am happy to let you know that I was asked to be the new Editor in Chief of the “New Jersey Freemason” publication. I’ve been working behind the scenes since last August and my first issue behind the wheel comes out early May. It’s a great honor to know that the success of TWT had a lot to do with honing my craft and developing the skills that allowed me to move up to this great honor. Congratulations to my good friend and regular TWT contributor Matt Johnson recently joined the York Rite. This month Matt wrote about his journey into the Royal Arch degrees, you’ll find his article in the dedicated YR section.
Keep helping me spread the light by telling your Lodge Brothers about TWT Until next time...
Cory Sigler
Cory Sigler, PM
Hawthorne Fortitude #200
Find me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/corysigler & facebook.com/twtmag NEW EMAIL - TWTMAG@YAHOO.COM www.twtmag.com
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Contents
Featured Writers
This Month in Masonry………8
Robert Lomas...……….24
One Minute Mason….…..……9
John Nagy…….….…….26
Mark Twain Award………..…10
Scott Schwartzberg & Mike Gambarrotti….……..…30
Masonic Ipad Apps…..……..12 Clark Thyng…………...33 Masonic Vibes………….……13 Paul C. Smith…………34 Old Tyler Talks…...…..…..….14 Kyle Ferguson………..36 Word of the Month……..…...15 David Browning………38 Phoenixmasonry….…..…….16 P.D. Newman….………41 Masons in the News..………18 Randall A. Sidwall……43 Matt Johnson…………47 Jacob Lucas…….48 & 57
Appendant Bodies York Rite……………………………. 46 Scottish Rite……………………….. 55
Barry Newell…………..50 Click on the page numbers to quickly jump to that page
The Working Tools is published monthly by Corsig Publishing & Cory Sigler, It is not affiliated with any Grand Lodge. Letters or inquiries should be directed to Cory Sigler, Editor, at E-mail: TWTMAG@yahoo.com All letters become the property of the Working Tools. Photographs and articles should be sent to the attention of the Editor. Every effort will be made to return photographs but this cannot be guaranteed. Please include a selfaddressed stamped envelope. The Editor reserves the right to edit all materials received.
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This Months Contributors Scott Schwartzberg Raised in 2007 at USS New Jersey No. 62 in Cherry Hill, NJ, Scott is currently Marshall of Boynton Lodge No. 236, Boynton Beach, FL. He is one of the founding members of Boynton Lodge Esoteric Research Group (B.L.E.R.G.), a member of the SR Bodies at the Valley of Lake Worth, and YR Bodies of Ft. Lauderdale.
Dr. John S. Nagy is a Master Mason and author of the “Building Series” of Masonic Education books. His books and his workshops cover aspects of Masonry designed to Build Better Builders. You can find out more about him, his books and his workshops through his website at: http://www.coach.net
Matt Johnson
Jacob Lucas
Michael Gambarrotti
Randall A. Sidwell.
"Matt Johnson is a member of Pioneer Lodge #82 in Arizona.. Matt is also a new member of Arizona Chapter #1 and the Scottish Rite.
is interested in the history of the Craft and its ritual. He is an officer in his Symbolic Lodge, as well as his Scottish Rite Valley and York Rite Bodies. He provides Masonic Education at meetings.
Raised in August 2009 at Boynton Lodge No. 236, Boynton Beach, FL, Mike is currently JW of Boynton Lodge No. 236 and the District 32 Chairman for the Florida Masonic Child ID Program.
A member of Greensboro Lodge #175, The Scottish Rite Indianapolis Valley, The York Rite, The Indiana Lodge of Research, The Masonic Society, and The Grand College of Rites.
Kyle James Ferguson JW of Kingsbury Lodge No. 466, Olyphant, PA. He is a plural member of Union Lodge No. 291, F. & A.M. and a regular member of Lackawanna Chapter No. 185 RAM, and the Valley of Scranton AASR NMJ, all of Scranton, PA. He is also a member of The Masonic Society and a Level 1 Masonic Scholar in the PA Academy of Masonic Knowledge. He is an avid writer and authors the blog The Philosophical Freemason (http://philosophicalfreemason.blogspot.com/).
Paul C. Smith P.M. of Rockingham Lodge No. 76 in Candia, NH the Founding Master of General Court Lodge No. 1784 (America’s only special, legislative lodge) and is the Founding and Current Master of Phoenix Lodge, U.D.; New Hampshire’s first TO lodge. He is a trustee of NH MasoniCare and is currently serving as a Grand Steward. He is a member of The Masonic Society, the Scottish Rite, York Rite, AMD, SRICF, Royal Order of Scotland, SYRCNA and Order of Knight Masons.
Barry Newell Raised to Master Mason in 2006 in Oriental Lodge #60, Boise ID. WM in 2009. Served as Excellent High Priest for Boise Chapter #3, RAM, and currently sit as Illustrious Master for Idaho Council #1, Cryptic Masons. I also sit as Generalissimo for Idaho Commandery #1. I am also a member of the Order of the High Priesthood and the york Rite College. Member Scottish Rite since 2011.
David Browning David Browning is a Master Mason and is installed as the Senior Deacon of Selma Lodge 320 in Selma, North Carolina. He is a Certified Lecturer and is currently serving as the District Deputy Grand Lecturer for the 16th Masonic District. He resides with his wife and three children in NC.
Clark Thyng Is a member of Rockingham Lodge #76, General Court Lodge #1784 and a charter member and Grand Lodge Representative of an observant lodge, Phoenix Lodge (UD) #105. Just as importantly has been married to his lovely (and understanding) wife Rhonda since 1990. They have four active children and live outside of Manchester, NH.
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Templar Nation Thank you so much for the cover story (TWT April 2012). I have talked with dozens of key people in my circle like investors, movie insiders and media and they are very impressed with your publication. The Working Tools has taught me a lot and I am impressed with how far it has come. I have been reading it for many years and it continues to spread. Thank you brother. Bro. Joseph James. Actor, producer and Director “Templar Nation” and “The Masonic Map”
Mail Bag “Thank You” Hi, I have just had the opportunity to go through your recent edition of TWT. It was absolutely magnificent, to say the least. It was enlightening, well written, beautifully presented and overall exciting. Thank you for your effort in assembling this wonderful publication. The way it is illustrated on the screen makes it very easy to read. God bless. Harry Colt
Contributing Cory, I enjoy reading TWT each month. I would like to send you an article to see if it is acceptable to include in a future issue. What format do you prefer I send it in? Also, how will I know if you will decide to publish it? Fraternally, Louis Garou
Bro. Louis, Thank you for writing to me. I prefer a Word Doc but can work with most any type or format (PC please). If the article is a good fit for TWT I will let you know quickly, I will also ask if I can edit it for length or to fix it up if need be. If there is enough room it can make it in within the next issue or two. If your article is selected I will also ask for a Masonic bio and a picture to use in the Contributors page.
Bro. Sigler, The Working Tools has been a wonderful resource for me since i was raised in August of last year. Thank you for your gift, because that's what it is! I am developing a podcast for Master Masons and one of my first guests will be Bro Nagy. Naturally we will be plugging TWT often. How would you like us to plug the Mag on our show. Thanks again Brother, I look forward to the next issue of The Working Tools! Sincerely yours, Alec
Cory
Last Months Poll Question
Do you share TWT either by email or word of mouth with your Brothers Yes- 94% No- 6%
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Observing The Craft “The Pursuit of Excellence in Masonic Labor and Observation”
“One of the most important books that all Freemason’s have to read immediately” - Cory Sigler
Available now on Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Observing-Craft-Pursuit-ExcellenceObservance/
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This Month in Masonry
May On MAY 12th in 1931, Senator Barry Goldwater (candidate for U.S. President in 1964) received his 1st degree in Arizona Lodge #2, Phoenix AZ. Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909[1] – May 29, 1998) was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr. Conservative". Goldwater is the politician most often credited for sparking the resurgence of the American conservative political movement in the 1960s. He also had a substantial impact on the libertarian movement. He rejected the legacy of the New Deal and fought through the conservative coalition to defeat the New Deal coalition. He mobilized a large conservative constituency to win the hard-fought Republican primaries. Goldwater's right-wing campaign platform ultimately failed to gain the support of the electorate and he lost the 1964 presidential election to incumbent Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson by one of the largest landslides in history, bringing down many Republican candidates as well. The Johnson campaign and other critics painted him as a reactionary, while supporters praised his crusades against the Soviet Union, labor unions, and the welfare state. His defeat allowed Johnson and the Democrats in Congress to pass the Great Society programs, but the defeat of so many older Republicans in 1964 also cleared the way for a younger generation of American conservatives to mobilize. Goldwater was much less active as a national leader of conservatives after 1964; his supporters mostly rallied behind Ronald Reagan, who became governor of California in 1967 and the 40th President of the United States in 1981. Goldwater returned to the Senate in 1969, and specialized in defense policy, bringing to the table his experience as a senior officer in the Air Force Reserve. His greatest accomplishment was arguably the passage of the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986, which restructured the higher levels of the Pentagon by increasing the power of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to direct military action. In 1974, as an elder statesman of the party, Goldwater successfully urged President Richard Nixon to resign when evidence of a cover-up in the Watergate scandal became overwhelming and impeachment was imminent. By the 1980s, the increasing influence of the Christian right on the Republican Party so conflicted with Goldwater's libertarian views that he became a vocal opponent of the religious right on issues such as abortion, gay rights and the role of religion in public life. Source:Wikipedia
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One Minute Mason Blog http://oneminutemason.blogspot.com/ By Bro Steve Harrison President For A Day Because inauguration day fell on Sunday, President-elect Zachary Taylor and VicePresident-elect Millard Fillmore both refused to take their oaths of office, leaving the presidency vacant. Constitutionally, succession fell to the President of the Senate, Brother David Rice Atchison, a member of Missouri's Platte Lodge 56. Judge Willie Magnum administered the oath of office and for a single day, Sunday, March 4, 1849, Brother David Rice Atchison was the President of the United States. Historians generally do not recognize the claim that Atchison actually became president. While it makes a unique and interesting story, it is perhaps best to take the lead of Masonic author William R. Denslow, who, in his book 10,000 Famous Freemasons, categorizes Atchison as the "Ex-officio President of the United States for one day."
King Gustaf V King Gustaf V (1858-1950) was the longest reigining monarch of Sweeden in spite of taking the throne at the relatively advanced age of 49. He ruled the country for 42 years, living to the age of 92, even though he was a heavy smoker. He served as Sweden's Grand Master and had the unique hobby of embroidery, using his skill to make altar cloths for churches.
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Alabama - Rising Sun Lodge #29 Decatur
The Mark Twain Award Winners 2012
Alaska - Matanuska Lodge #7 Palmer Arkansas - Key Lodge #7 Siloam Springs Arizona - Oasis Lodge #52 Tucson Illinois - St. Joseph Lodge #970 St. Joseph Michigan - Byron Lodge #80 Byron Minnesota - Red Wing Lodge #8 Red Wing Nevada - St. John Lodge #18 Pioche New Hampshire - Benevolent Lodge #7 Milford New Mexico - Chapman Lodge #2 Las Vegas Ohio - North Bend Lodge #346 Cleves Ohio - Oxford Lodge #67 Oxford
Brother by Brother, Lodge by Lodge
Pennsylvania - Manoquesy Lodge #413 Bath South Carolina - Mariner Lodge #2 Charleston Utah - Damascus Lodge #10 Provo
WHO: Regular lodges throughout North America are invited to participate in a competition that evaluates initiatives and activities that create a positive Masonic identity in the community.
Virginia - Herndon Lodge #264 Herndon Virginia - Fredericksburg Lodge #4 Fredericksburg Washington - Daylight Lodge #232 Seattle
WHAT: The Mark Twain Masonic Awareness Awards are presented annually to the lodges that demonstrate exceptional commitment to Freemasonry's philosophy of self-improvement and enlightenment. (Continued on page 11)
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(Continued from page 10) WHY: Awards are made to the participating lodges that, in the evaluation of the MIC Task Force, have successfully addressed the challenges of improving Masonic Awareness within both the lodge and the community and that the brothers have done so with exemplary skill, creativity, and resourcefulness. WHEN: The MIC announces the winners of the Mark Twain Award once a year at the Grand Master’s Conference.
Letter from the Executive Secretary Dear Mark Twain Award Participants,
This year -- 2012 -- is the seventh year of competition for the Mark Twain Award program. Over those years, a total of 107 Lodges have earned the designation as a Mark Twain Award recipient, in recognition that their entries have been selected by an panel of outstanding communicators from the Masonic Information Center (MIC). The goal of the award program is to encourage and recognize Lodges for their excellence in Masonic Awareness both among their own members and in their communities . Our award doesn't necessarily mean these are the best Lodges on our continent, but based on the submission of materials, they have been judged to be the most worthy of the award during each particular year. We know there are many outstanding Lodges that never enter the competition. We also are aware that some outstanding Lodges with great programs, who do enter the award program, do not win because the judging panel is unable to observe their excellence through their submitted material. In an effort to help improve the entries of Lodges, the MIC will add material to this web page in the months ahead, showing examples of the types of information that winners have submitted. Keep coming back to our web page, to check on that new material. Best wishes to all who enter the Mark Twain Award competition in 2012. Fraternally, George O. Braatz, PGM Executive Secretary
http://www.msana.com/twainaward/index.html
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“Freemasonry Complete Guide” for Ipad Price- $5.99 http://itunes.apple.com/gr/app/freemasonry-completeguide/id512291541?mt=8 Description and Features as found on the Itunes Store Description “Explore the most complete iPad application about Freemasonry The contents of the application are based on authoritative international bibliography from prestigious authors.” Features •LEARN EVERYTHING ABOUT FREEMASONRY WITH AN AMAZING BOOK LAYOUT
Cory’s Review Design- Beautiful graphics through out. Rich colors and detail make it a delight to look at. Price- At $5.99 it is a bit steep for a reference App. You can find an Ebook for the same cost, I would have preferred to see it around $2.99. Subject Matter- (Complete layout below). This is where the App shines. The creator has put thought and consideration into what material to include. The information is enough to give you what you are looking for, if you are using it for reference. If your nee something robust for a research paper I’m afraid this won’t cut it. Very cool- The Tour of the Lodge is a 3D layout showing you views from many angles with descriptions of what you see in the Lodge room. The Map guide is a Google Map with built in markers for Grand Lodges, Museums and Libraries. A great travel companion. Not cool- The Map guide should have also included all Lodges not just Grand Lodges. That would have justified the price being a little high. Overall- A very good start for version 1 with some areas that can be approved on. For a very new Mason or a non Mason family member this can be helpful. For an experienced Mason this would prove to basic. Grade: B- Would recommend purchase based on amount of material provided with hopes of updates.
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“10 GUIDES FOR FREEMASONS” By Masonic Vibes 1. I am the representative of my Lodge and of all Free and Accepted Masons. Whatever I do or say reflects directly upon myself and my fellow Freemasons everywhere and our good works.
2. I am responsible for what my Lodge and Freemasonry represent. They can be no more than what my fellow Freemasons and I make them.
3. I should not criticize what my fellow Freemasons do for Freemasonry unless I have a better suggestion and I am prepared to do it myself.
4. I must remember that the fact that I bear the name, Master Mason or Freemason, is not enough. I must continue to be worthy.
5. My fellow members and I are our Lodges and Freemasonry. Without our active support they cease to exist. 6. My Lodge does me a favor by calling upon me. I am not doing the Lodge a favor by serving. It is both an obligation and a privilege to help the Lodge and Freemasonry.
7. I should treat my fellow Freemasons with the same respect, honor, and understanding that I would like to receive from them.
8. It is not a right to be a Freemason, it is an honor. I should respect that honor by abiding by all of the precepts of my Lodge, my Grand Lodge, and Freemasonry as a whole.
9. Whatever differences my fellow Freemasons and I may have, we are all bound together by the bonds of our loyalty to The GAOTU, our families, the Lodge, and Freemasonry.
10. The willing Master Mason and his understanding family are the lifeblood of the Lodge and Freemasonry.
About Masonic Vibes. “To be a mason is be on the level and act by the square. Here at Masonic Vibes we are trying to bring all the
Freemasons around the world, on the level-online as well. Our continuous Endeavor is to spread the vibe of freemasonry and morality it teaches”.
Find them on Facebook. With over 11,000 “Likes” and deservingly so. These brothers from New Delhi, India offer
the most awe inspiring pictures and notes with nothing but positive uplifting messages. I go there daily to see what they post and leave a better man for it.
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Old Tyler Talks By Carl Claudy “LAUGHTER� "If I had it my way," began the New Brother, sitting beside the Old Tiler, "I'd make it a Masonic offense to laugh in the lodge room. We are not as serious about our Masonry as we should be." "Someone laughed at you, or you are talking to yourself very seriously!" answered the Old Tiler. "I am not!" cried the New Brother. "I take Masonry seriously! What we do in the lodge room has the sacredness of a religious ceremony. I can see no difference between the sacredness of the Altar of Masonry and the altar of a church, and when I go and see the beautiful windows, and hear the music and watch the choir boys come up the aisle, and hear the minister give out the solemn text- well, you know how inspiring it is. I feel the same way in lodge sometimes, during the more solemn parts of the degrees. But we have a business meeting first and sometimes someone cracks a joke and everyone laughs, and some brethren misinterpret and giggle sometimes in the degrees, and there is some ritual which isn't awe-inspiring and- and I think it should be changed!" "Well, go ahead and change it!" cried the Old Tiler. "I don't believe that absence of solemnity is a Masonic landmark which can't be changed." "Of course it isn't, but how can I change it?" "That's your problem!" smiled the Old Tiler. "You are the reformer, not I. But before I wasted much grey matter, I'd ask myself a few questions. You seem to like things serious, so this should come easy to you. Then I'd talk to the Chaplain. David is young, but he has common sense. "It would do you good to go his church. You would find it as solemn and beautiful as any other during the service. But if you went to a vestry meeting you'd see David grin, and maybe someone would tell a ministerial joke. I can't imagine God being displeased about it. Seems to me if he hadn't wanted people to laugh he wouldn't have made so many brethren to laugh at! "Brother David would tell you that there was a time to be reverent and a time to be happy, and that a church in which people couldn't be happy wasn't much of a church. Ever go to a wedding? Ever see people grin and kiss the bride when it was over? Ever go to a
church social? Ever go to the boys' club in a red-blooded church?" It didn't hurt the church in their eyes, did it? Then why should it disconcert you to have a lodge room treated the same way? Get it out of your head that Masonry or religion is bound up in a room, or a building. It doesn't hurt so long as we don't laugh at the wrong time! It doesn't hurt the solemnity of the Masonic degree that our lodge room is first but a business meeting hall and afterwards maybe a dining room. It is the spirit in which we do our work that counts, not the letter; it is the temple in our hearts which must be kept sacred, not the mere physical confines of brick and stone in which we meet. That there should be no cause for laughter during the degrees. But to say we can't laugh in a lodge room is to get the dog by the wrong tail! "Masonry, my son, is joyful, not mournful. It should be filled with laughter of little children, the happy smiles of contented women, the loveliness of faithful friendship, the joy of flowers and music and song. To make it too serious for smiles, too solemn for happiness, perverts it. If God made sunshine and children and flowers, don't you suppose He wanted the one to dance with the other in the third? If He made happiness and human hearts, don't you suppose He wanted the one to live in the other? "Masonry is an attempt to live the brotherhood of man under the Fatherhood of God. The best of all human fathers can but touch the skirts of the Being who is the All Father. But did you ever see a human father worth his salt who didn't want his children laughing and happy? "There is a time for work and a time for play. There is a time for degrees and a time for refreshment. There is a time for business meetings and a time for ritual. There is a time for laughter and for joy as well as a time of solemnity and reverence. The one is just as important as the other." "I wish just once," said the New Brother, "I could start something with you which I could finish!" "Try offering me a cigar!" suggested the Old Tiler.
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Masonic Symbolism & Words Brought to you by Www.masonicdictionary.com This Month’s Entry is:
The Earliest Masonic Magazine The earliest Masonic magazine was published at Leipzig in 1738 and named Der Freimaurer. The second, in 1742, was Der bedachtiae Freimaurer, at Hamburg, and then the Aufmerksamn Freimaurer, 1743, at Gorlitz, according to Brother Woodford (Renning's Cyclopedia). In 1783 the Freimaurerzeitung appeared at Berlin, having only a short existence of six numbers. The Journal fur Freimaurer, which appeared in 1784 at Vienna, had a longer life of some three years. In England, the first work of this kind was The Freemasons Magazine or General and Complete Library, begun in 1793, and continued until 1798. In Ireland, in 1792, the Sentimental and Masonic Magazine appeared and ran to seven volumes (1792-5). In France the Miroir de laverite seems to have been issued 1800-2, followed by Nermes in 1808.
In England the Freemason's Quarterly Review commenced in 1834 and was continued until 1849, followed by the Freemasons Quarterly Magazine in 1853, which lived until 1858. In 1873 a new Masonic Magazine was issued, but it had not a very long existence. Of American Masonic magazines the earliest is the Freemasons Magazine and General Miscellany, published at Philadelphia in 1811. An old and constant periodical devoted to Freemasonry was the Freemasonry's Monthly Magazine, published by Charles W. Moore, at Boston. It was established in the year 1842.
- Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
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Order of Demolay Here is an early Demolay Patent (Membership Certificate) dated October 22, 1928 and signed by Demolay Founder Frank Land (signed above issued to) that belonged to a young Demolay by the name of Marion H. Black (who signed his name in the upper left hand margin) and was a member of Hutchinson Chapter in Hutchinson Kansas. Their Demolay Chapter was sponsored by the Wichita Consistory No. 2 Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite.
This beautiful glass plate has the DEMOLAY emblem in the center. It is trimmed with a gold line 3/16" from the outside edge. The glass has a texture to it and appears to be a nice smoke color. It is nicely detailed and it reads DEMOLAY in the banner below the emblem. It measures 7 1/2 inches in diameter.
Continued on next page
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In the early 1930's DeMolay founder Frank S. Land had been thinking of an honor he could bestow on DeMolays and Senior DeMolays for outstanding service to the Order. He wanted to honor them now, instead of waiting for them to be nominated for the Legion of Honor in years to come. He also wanted to honor Senior DeMolays who had been working with chapters even though they were not Masons, but had performed outstanding service to the Order. In those days, DeMolay was recognized by only about 50% of the Grand Lodges, consequently many Senior DeMolays were active in chapters due to the lack of Masonic support. In November of 1936, "DAD" Land, assisted by Harold Bergstresser and John McKibben, proceeded to write a Ritual for the conferral of the Chevalier Degree. This became a reality in March, 1937 and "DAD" Land began to nominate DeMolays and Senior DeMolays for this distinguished honor. Mother Chapter, of course, had the first investiture and it was held June 2, 1937 at the Little Theater in the Municipal Auditorium. Forty-one active DeMolays or Senior DeMolays of Mother Chapter were invested with the Degree on that date. John S. McKibben, Jr. was recognized as the first Chevalier, and the rest of the nominees were numbered accordingly. Today, the rolls of the Chevalier Degree number approximately 27,000, many of whom are organized into Chevalier Courts. These Courts are encouraged to be active in their support of DeMolay and its ideals.
This lovely Demolay Cross of Honor is presented to those who give a lifetime of support to the Order of Demolay. It is gold filled and enameled in red, white and blue. It is beautifully studded with seed pearls and rubies around the emblem. It measures 1 3/4 by 1 3/4 inches square and is worn around the neck.
Please visit my friends at Phoenixmasonry.org. They are great Brothers with an amazing website.
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MASONS IN THE NEWS “A grave ceremony for constable slain 100 years ago � It was the type of story one might expect in the movies only in this case it involved the very real slaying of a Penticton police officer.
Front Street. Police were contacted and Aston arrested the pair on the night of March 18.
The next morning, the police officer took the two Now 100 years later, members of the Masonic Lodge men in handcuffs and leg gathered at Penticton's historic Fairview Cemetery on shackles aboard the SS Sunday to remember one of their own, Const. Geoffrey Okanagan sternwheeler to Aston of the B.C. Provincial Police. escort them to Kelowna. He Led by a piper and honour guard of present and former removed their handcuffs, RCMP officers, firefighters and other emergency personnel, but kept the leg shackles the Freemasons paid their formal respects to Aston. He had attached to a berth inside been an active member of the Masonic Lodge in Greenwood one of the ship's cabins. before he moved to Penticton nine months prior to his death. "He failed to find a singleThe service attracted about 75 people, as Masonic Lodge shot .22 pistol that was members from Penticton and Greenwood dropped small hidden in the high boot of evergreen twigs on the grave to symbolize the immortality Boyd," Manuel said. of one's soul. "Somewhere between Among the dignitaries was the Freemasons' provincial Summerland and Peachland Grand Master Bill Cave of Quesnel. Cave said, even though they made good their a century has past since Aston's death, it's never too late to escape by getting the gun, shooting Aston, then got the keys honor him. to the shackles and got off at Peachland." "I think it's important that we take every opportunity to However, the ship's purser spotted them running along the remember, not just a fallen brother, but a brother who was in dock. Knowing that no passengers were expected to the service of our police force," he said. disembark at Peachland, he went up to Aston's cabin and found the police officer shot in the head. "There are many people - the RCMP who were here today, the armed forces - who make sacrifices for us all the time Although the Okanagan steamed as fast as it could to that we take for granted. This is an opportunity to recognize Kelowna, Aston died of his wounds nine days later on them." March 28. Randy Manuel, former Penticton Museum curator and a Freemason, recalled afterwards the unique circumstances surrounding Aston's death. The story has been well documented by the Okanagan Historical Society.
Meanwhile, Boyd and Wilson had fled to Wilson's Landing, located on the west side of Okanagan Lake north of Kelowna.
"There, the fellows were caught by two ranchers and taken Two men, who robbed a store in Kelowna's Okanagan back to Kelowna where they were put in jail and eventually Mission area on March 16, 1912, over the next two days had taken to Kamloops where they were tried and hung by the made their way down to Penticton. The suspects, Walter neck until dead." Boyd and Frank Wilson, were spotted at the B.C. Hotel on TWT
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Freemason, Poet had part in Civil War Every place has stories and events that shaped the culture and fabric of a community’s history. The Oldham County History Center collects artifacts and oral histories to identify the special places and events that make our community unique. In celebrating the Sesquicentennial Events of the Civil War, this two-part column includes a special article on 19th Century freemason and poet laureate Rob Morris about his involvement in the Civil War. This article, written by Morris’ great-grandson Dr. R.S. Fitch, was recently submitted to the history center archives and collection on Rob Morris. Rob Morris and the Civil War Part One It was Memorial Day 2010 and miniature American flags fluttered at the headstones of those who had served their country and subsequently were buried at the Valley of Rest in La Grange. One such flag had been inserted into the ground at the base of the 37-foot obelisk, which identified it as the resting place of Dr. Rob Morris, Grand Master of Masons and Founder of the Order of the Eastern Star. The fact of Morris having served in uniform was virtually unknown, but then there was this consistent appearance of a five- or six-year hiatus in biographical sketches of him from 1860-1866. This break in continuity and the presence of the flag led to the assumption that he had served during the Civil War. It was no secret that Rob Morris’ love for his country and for his fellow man and his opposition to slavery precluded any affinity for the cause of the Confederacy. In October 1860, Morris attended the Grand Lodge of Illinois in Springfield. This being just prior to the presidential elections, he and several other Masons invited Abraham Lincoln to meet with them informally.
Lincoln complimented the group regarding a recently published article that addressed their position vis-a-vis Southern political trends at the time. Although not a Mason himself, Lincoln expressed his great respect for the fraternity. On Sept. 18, 1861, Kentucky’s neutrality was violated by Southern troops from Tennessee. Soon thereafter, Morris, having been appointed a Masonic Lecturer to Indiana, was on fraternal business in Crown Point in November. On Nov. 7 during his absence from La Grange, his home “The Three Cedars” was torched by Confederate guerillas. These semi-autonomous military units were bent upon harassment of pro-Union households in the region. Fortunately, a detachment of Union soldiers was bivouacked nearby, and they were able to salvage some of Morris’ Masonic literature. In consequence of recent territorial conquests in Kentucky by the Confederate forces, Morris concurred with the majority of residents in Northern Kentucky in fearing that Kentucky in its entirety would soon fall to the South. Therefore, he withdrew his membership from Fortitude Lodge in La Grange, at which he was then Worshipful Master, and prepared to relocate his family to New York. In the spring of 1862, Generals Edmond Kirby-Smith and Leonidas Polk (a former Episcopal bishop) attacked farther north and occupied additional territory. In July 1862, Morris was called into military service by Gov. Beriah Magoffin to perform the duties of Provost marshal for Oldham and adjacent counties, his orders being the neutralization of guerilla activities in the region. Reluctant as he was to engage in armed conflict, he
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Masons in the News (Continued from page 19) accepted the appointment in defense of the Union’s best interests and to ensure the tranquility of his own neighborhood. He was at a decided disadvantage in that he had neither military training nor combat experience. Yet he did not “run off to Canada” or pursue a pacifist’s role. His country asked him for his services, and he gave his best. The month following, he was commissioned a colonel in the Union Army with orders to organize a regiment of Home Guards in order to defend New Castle (12 miles east of La Grange), the duration of service being 90 days. It is uncertain whether Morris recruited a full regiment within Oldham County, but in his endeavors, he was more successful in La Grange, Westport, and Eminence than in the communities in the western area of Oldham County where Southern sympathy prevailed. The details concerning the battle of New Castle are not lacking in verification, but a problem exists because of two equally valid accounts. Although Kirby-Smith’s forces, for the most part, remained south of the Kentucky River, it appears that on Sept. 21, 1862, Morris confronted not KirbySmith, but an advance detachment seeking new recruits for the South commanded by Capt. George M. Jessee: Company A of the Kentucky Confederate Volunteers, half of whom had enlisted from Henry and Owen counties. Jessee himself was a native of Henry County. In the first account, Morris invaded new Castle and set up a cannon on the courthouse square, awaiting the arrival of Jessee’s forces. When the Confederates appeared, Morris and some of his Home Guard troops recognized a number of Jessee’s men as fellow Masons. Initially a few shots were fired, whereupon Morris, placing himself between the cannoneers and the Southerners, shouted “Don’t fire, men! They are our brothers,” and the Home Guard withdrew.
The other version has it that Morris’ and essee’s troops met a mile north of New Castle upon the latter’s return from Bedford in Trimble County after a recruiting drive. Morris might have united his troops with a detachment from Henry County under the leadership of one Provost Marshal George Dickens. In the ensuing battle, the Dickens troops were captured. Again, Morris negotiated a withdrawal. Personal recollections have been documented that there was possibly another skirmish in and around the courthouse, but the accounts indicate there was great carnage sustained by both Northern and Southern forces. However, neither the identity of the combatants nor their commanders was revealed in these personal interviews.
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“France:Where Freemasons Are Still Feared” Magazines and newspapers all have stories they run in one form or another, year in, year out. The details may differ, but the stories are largely the same everywhere, striking universal chords of sex, health, and money. A few of these perennials, however, don’t travel. They drill deep into one country’s psyche while everyone else scratches their head and says, “Huh?” In France, the story that keeps coming back is about Freemasons. It’s everywhere. Most big French magazines run at least one big Freemason cover a year. Books dissect the “state within a state,” to borrow from a recent title. Blogs abound. “France has several of these marronniers— chestnuts,” says Alain Bauer, former grand master www.twtmag.com
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even Francois Koch, its author, admits that the headline is “completely exaggerated.” Le Point, the second big newsweekly, followed in its Jan. 26 issue with “Freemasons—the infiltrators.” The third weekly news magazine, Le Nouvel Observateur, got ahead of the game this election cycle: They ran their Masons-and-politics cover last August.
of France’s Grand Orient lodge and president Nicolas Sarkozy’s Masonic liaison. “There’s real estate prices and there’s how to cure headaches, and then there’s Freemasons. The ultimate French magazine story is a Freemason with a headache who’s moving. We don’t like these stories, but at the same time, we love them, because they make us feel like we’re still important.” Huh? Yes, Freemasons: the old fraternal order known in the U.S. for the Masonic lodges that dot American cities, musty reminders of an era when Masonry stirred the American melting pot. Or for the arcane Masonic symbols engraved on every dollar bill. Or on a sillier note, for the Shriners in their red fezzes. (The Shriners were founded in the 1870s to add a little levity to regular Freemasonry. Mission accomplished.) In France, though, there’s nothing funny about Freemasons. The way the French see it, Masons are a fifth column at the heart of French society, a cabal of powerful politicians, businessmen, and intellectuals with a hidden agenda that is difficult to pin down because it’s, well, hidden. Nobody knows quite what the Masons are up to, but everybody suspects they’re up to something. “Freemasons—How they manipulate the candidates,” ran the cover line on the Jan. 10, 2012 issue of L’Express, one of France’s three big newsweeklies. After several readings, the “how” and the “manipulate” parts remain unclear, and
“The subject never fails to generate interest,” says Koch. “It’s the mystery of it that attracts attention.” Koch’s cover story sold 80,000 copies on the newsstand, almost 10 percent more than L’Express’s average of 73,000 copies. “We always get at least average sales, and sometimes sales that are really big. It’s always a gamble worth taking.” Two years ago, Koch, who normally covers criminal justice, launched a blog devoted to Masonic matters. To understand how French Masons ended up under the national magnifying glass requires a brief side trip through history. Nobody knows precisely where the Freemasons came from, but experts mostly agree their origins lie in the medieval English guilds that laid the stones of the great cathedrals. Modern Masonry dates to the founding of the first Grand Lodge in London in 1717, and today’s United Grand Lodge of England is still a kind of Masonic mothership. Those first English Masons laid down the loose precepts that govern most Masonic practice. Masons meet regularly to improve themselves morally and spiritually, and to practice brotherly love and mutual assistance. They’re enjoined to believe in a supreme being and to stay out of politics. And no women are allowed. Solidarity is reinforced by an elaborate web of shared mumbo jumbo—signs, symbols, secret handshakes, and code words that are either sexy, absurd, or sinister, depending on who’s looking at them. Masonry fanned out from England just when the Enlightenment was making the world safe for such Mason-friendly values as anti-clericalism and www.twtmag.com
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scientific enquiry. The world’s best and brightest joined in a stampede. Voltaire, John Locke, and Goethe all signed up. In the New World, Benjamin Franklin became America’s favorite Mason. The early Masons made enemies on all sides. The church branded them anti-Christians, the established political order branded them revolutionaries, and a lot of other people just found them elitist and creepy. This might have been expected. Any international brotherhood with secret handshakes and symbolic jewelry is begging to put its name on a conspiracy theory. The Masons have provoked many, right up to the Nazis, to decimate Masonry on the European continent. In the U.S., those prejudices coalesced in 1825. A turncoat Mason from New York named Morgan disappeared after threatening to expose his brethren and their rituals. The Masons said they paid him $500 and escorted him to the Canadian border, but he was never heard from again. The “Morgan Affair” sparked an anti-Mason furor that lasted 25 years, during which 100 anti-Mason newspapers were published and some lodges were looted. The Anti-Masonic Party even ran a candidate for president in 1831—the first thirdparty movement in U.S. history. Masonic membership dropped from 100,000 to fewer than 40,000. Over time, American Masonry managed to rebuild itself, but it came back as a less secret, less scrappy institution. Today, America’s 1 million Masons are as likely to meet one another at a Masonic barbecue as a Masonic temple. Masons in other countries followed a similar path. Not the French. In many ways, French Masonry has struck out on its own, ignoring the basic precepts of its Anglo-Saxon brethren and positioning itself as a counterweight to the deeply conservative Catholic and monarchist strains of French society. “Freemasonry has always had a political role in France,” says Pierre Mollier, director of archives at the Grand Orient de France, the country’s largest and most important lodge. “We would never tell people who to vote for, but we’re a moral authority.”
From 1880 to 1905, the Grand Orient battled the Catholic Church for the soul of France, and still considers the Third Republic its stepchild. “The Republican party took its support from the Freemasons—a third of the deputies were Masons,” says Mollier. “All of the Third Republic’s progressive legislation comes from here,” he says, pointing around him at the Grand Orient’s headquarters on the Rue Cadet. “The current presidential candidates all knocked on our door this year. For an English or an American Freemason, that’s just horrible!” Adding insult to injury, in 1880 the Grand Orient removed all references to the divinity. Freemasons everywhere steer clear of organized religion, and they never talk about God. But they insist on a belief in what Masonic jargon calls the Grand Architect of the Universe, however each member may define it. Phooey, said the French. That’s just religion through the back door. All this has helped make France’s 160,000 Masons pariahs in the modern Masonic world. The United Grand Lodge of England doesn’t recognize two of the three big French lodges, the Grand Orient and the Grande Loge de France. It recently suspended recognition of the third big lodge, the Grande Loge Nationale Française, but mostly because internal bickering is tearing it apart from within. “The French take a rather fluid attitude towards what we do,” says John Hamill, director of special projects for the United Grand Lodge of England. Responds Pierre Millier of the Grand Orient: “Do Protestants care if they’re recognized by the Pope? We just turn the other cheek.” Jean-Claude Zambelli is a French government employee who has lived in the U.S. for 30 years. He first joined an American Masonic lodge in San Francisco. In 1996 he helped re-found the George Washington Union, a lodge patterned after and recognized by the Grand Orient. It is very French. God: no. Women members: yes. “When we explain this to American Masons, they sometimes recoil physically,” says Zambelli. “It’s just not the same Masonry. They do more charitable work, like the big Shriner hospital in San Francisco.
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We do a lot more work on ourselves. We’re not a social club. We’re here to progress spiritually. Otherwise, what good is all this? The Americans are proud to be Masons and show you their Mason rings. We find that shocking.” The French do indeed play their membership cards closer to the vest than other Masons. The heightened intrigue does much to keep them on magazine covers. It also convinces people that the Masons must have something to hide. Occasionally, they do. Their shadowy networks, no-questions-asked eagerness to help brother Masons, and code of silence has made the lodges a breeding ground for shady business dealing—what the French call affairisme. Membership in French lodges has quadrupled in the past 40 years—an astonishing increase. Recent growth has been fueled by unseemly recruitment drives, principally by the discredited Grande Loge Nationale Française as it battled the Grand Orient for influence. French Masonry was a chicken coop with a sign reading: “Welcome, foxes.” “We have a hard time defending ourselves against the affairistes, says Jean-Claude Zambelli. “It’s very difficult to show bad faith toward a brother Mason. That has helped various mafia outfits hide behind Masonic networks.” Sophie Coignard covers the Mason beat at Le Point magazine and wrote the book A State Within A State. “Most of the Masons I know are hyperhonest,” says Coignard. “But it’s also fair to say that in most of the big financial-political scandals of the past 20 years, you’ll find Freemasons.”
would take the fun out of trying to peek through the closet keyhole. Giacometti isn’t a Mason, but his fictional creation, detective Christian Marcas, is, and he’s proud to say so. Marcas has appeared in seven detective novels with combined sales of a million copies since 2005. That makes Giacometti and coauthor Jacques Ravenne the third-best-selling mystery writers in France. “We decided to go straight against everything you read in the media when we chose to make Marcas a Freemason,” says Giacometti. “That’s the success of the series. Francois Koch of L’Express says we’re just giving the Freemasons free advertising, but we don’t care. I would tell the Freemasons, ‘Be proud of who you are—there were some extraordinary Freemasons.’ Nobody knows that story!” Meanwhile, the French presses continue to churn. Sophie Coignard says she’s sniffing around another financial scandal with Masons at its heart. “When it comes to the Masons,” says Coignard, “I’m never at a loss for inspiration.” http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-0419/france-where-freemasons-are-still-feared
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Coignard ticks off the Elf-Aquitaine African bribery scandal, the Paris housing projects scandal in the 1990s, and now the Carlton affair—an ongoing investigation of a prostitution ring in Lille. “They’re mostly all Masons,” says Coignard of the Carlton’s ringleaders (Dominique Strauss-Kahn, also embroiled in the Carlton affair, is not a Mason.) The solution, says journalist and author Eric Giacometti, is for French Masons to come out of the closet. It would help them clean house, and it
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“The Importance of a Questioning Attitude in Freemasonry” by Rober� Lomas Written exclusively for TWT When you first knocked on the door of the lodge and asked to be admitted you were asked a question. "Who comes there?" That is the first of many and varied ritual questions which you meet as you progress through the system of The Craft. You were not expected to answer that first question for yourself. The Tyler spoke on your behalf, but once inside the lodge you were encouraged to answer for yourself. The first question "Are you free by birth and of the full age of 21?", should have been easy to answer in the affirmative as our modern society does not sanction the keeping of slaves and Freemasonry affirms that all its members are equal. But then the probing went deeper. You were asked. "In all times of danger and difficulties, in whom do you put your trust?" You were prompted to answer "In God." In this way you were questioned to see if you believed that some form of organising principle ruled the universe. And it is perfectly acceptable, for the physicists among us, to trust in a God who has a gambling problem in sub-atomic dealings, provided you can accept that on a cosmic scale there is purpose to be studied. As Newton said when describing the role of Great Architect in Principia Mathematica. The most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being. And if the fixed stars are the centers of like systems, these, being formed by the like wise counsel, must be all subjects to the dominion of one; especially since the light of the fixed stars is of the same nature with the light of the sun, and from every system light passes into all the other systems; and lest the systems of fixed stars should, by their gravity, fall on each other, he hath placed those systems at immense distances from one another. This being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all; and on account of his
dominion he is wont to be called the Lord God or Universal Ruler, for God is a relative word, and has a respect to servants; and Deity is the dominion of God not over his own body, as those imagine who fancy God to be the soul of the world, but over servants. The Supreme Being is eternal, infinite, absolutely perfect, omnipotent and omniscient. ... We know him only by his most wise and excellent contrivances of things and final causes. Newton had been inspired as young man by the questioning attitude of John Wallis, a Freemason who helped found the Royal Society, along with Bro Robert Moray. But Bro Wallis also developed an advanced method of using symbols to pose and answer questions that we now call algebra. Since the time of Plato, over two thousand years ago, Masons and builders have believed that there is a source of pure symbols existing in a spiritual realm of perfection. Plato taught that with careful training an individual could be shown how to communicate with this realm and discover the true nature of these symbols. He developed this thought into a theory of ideas and it is a way of thinking which is deeply embedded in the Masonic system of selfimprovement. Freemasonry practices a basic method of teaching which poses questions, both spoken and implied, that are intended to help Masons to know themselves and so gain access to the realm of perfect forms. As an undergraduate at Cambridge University, Newton kept a diary. It reveals that Bro. John Wallis, through his book Algebra, shared this Masonic way of thinking by questioning, with the young Isaac Newton. The book inspired Newton to raise the sort of queries that we Freemasons need to ask ourselves - if we are to progress up the winding stairway of Masonic knowledge. Let me take, for example, one of the liberal arts we are encouraged to study in our second degree and ask questions about astronomy. Let us reflect on the movements of the Sun and the Moon which Newton was inspired to question. As Masons we are told these heavenly bodies form part of the lesser lights of Freemasonry. They are (Continued on page 25)
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(Continued from page 24) symbolized by lights burning in the South, the West, and the East, figuratively to represent the Sun, the Moon, and the Master of the Lodge; the Sun to rule the day, the Moon to govern the night and the Master to rule and direct his Lodge. When we think about the movement of the Moon, our natural inclination is to ask "What keeps it moving across the sky?" But this question is born of the limited nature of the life we lead on the surface of the Earth. A rolling stone will eventually stop rolling and come to rest. By observing this we develop a natural, but mistaken, acceptance that inanimate matter left to itself will come to rest. So what keeps the Moon moving through the night sky? Kepler suggested it was pushed along by angels, but Newton asked a different question. He realized that it was friction which caused objects to slow down and come to rest. He also suggested that in the perfect realms of heaven there is no friction, and so the Moon continues to move, just as the International Space Station does, without the need for angels to push it along its orbit.
invisible angels. But once we realize that the Moon is moving in a circle and remember the direction taken up by the string when the boy swings the conker round his head, then we realize that the force which holds the Moon in place is always directed towards the Earth. If we extend this idea to ask "What makes the Earth rotate about the Sun on its own axis?" As long as we think something is needed to keep the Earth in motion we look in the direction of the Earth's travel to find the cause, and find a different stellar direction for each season. But if we rotate our view through an angle of ninety degrees (or the fourth part of circle) to the direction of movement we see that the line of gravitational force always points towards the glory of the Sun at the center. By changing our question from "What causes the velocity of the Earth? to "What causes the acceleration of the Earth?" we move our focus from the apparently random movements of the sky to see the importance of the Truth at the center.
So it is with our Masonic progress. Whilst we move around the offices of the lodge we keep our attention fixed only on the direction of preferment. As an But there is more to the matter of movement. Newton also noticed that if he allowed a bucket of water to spin Entered Apprentice we look to becoming a Fellow Craft. As Inner Guard we look towards becoming on the end of a rope the water rose up the sides of the Junior Deacon, as Junior Warden we look to becoming bucket. He extended this idea to notice what happens Senior Warden, as Senior Warden we look towards when a boy swings a conker on the end of a string. It flies outward and traces out a circle. The led him to ask becoming Master. This can become a habit, even when "What makes the water rise up the sides of the rotating the purposes of progression through the offices had been completed. It can distract us from the real purpose bucket?" and "What makes the conker pull away from of Freemasonry. By focusing on continual movement the boy's hand as he spins it round?" His answer was through higher and higher offices, we forget that we are that whenever an object moves in a circle its velocity only moving around the perimeter of the lodge. changes and any change in velocity, known as an acceleration, produces a force. The Truth lies at the center. Just as the Sun, at the center of the Solar System, tugs at the Earth as it moves Think about pouring a cup of tea in your dining room. It is a fairly simple operation as your dining room is not through the cold of empty space, holding it in such a normally moving. Now think about pouring a cup of tea position that it can sustain human life, so the Center tugs at our souls as we move around the perimeter of in a aircraft flying in straight and level flight at a few the lodge, following the empty rewards of higher office, hundred miles per hour. The task of pouring the tea is until we realize that the light of Truth can only to be just as simple. But now consider what happens if you found by allowing the influence of the Center to bring are in the restaurant car of a train and whilst you are pouring your tea the train brakes hard. You will find the our whole being into balance and harmony. task of hitting the cup with the stream of hot liquid far So ask not what Freemasonry can do for you? Instead more difficult. From this we realize that it is changes of ask what you can do to help your brethren recognize velocity which produce forces of movement. the true purpose of our Craft, and bring intellect and love into perfect balance by turning towards the If we return to the question of the movement of the Moon the cause of its movement is a puzzle. If we look Center? in its direction of travel there is nothing to make it Find more about Robert and his books at move, hence Kepler's suggestion it is being pushed by http://www.robertlomas.com/
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Part 1-6 of this series was first published in the Living Stones Magazine. (Part 5 – Raising Ashlars)
What actually Raises Ashlars? The commonly held view of most Freemasons is that Brothers Raise Brothers. Tucked tenaciously within this view are elaborately supportive Rituals where these “Raisings” occur. Brothers experiencing these Rituals believe that, once so experienced, they have been Raised and by this Rite, have earned the Title, Rights, Lights and Benefits of a “Master.” There’s another view of Raising though that few Brothers know. This view is steeped in a deep understanding of what Masonry is intended to do for Brothers who practice it. They know that Ritual points toward this intention at least twice within the first two Degrees. They know too that Ritual expresses the importance of Raising, but not in the manner that other Brothers have come to know. Those uncommon Brothers, who understand this intent, practice this wholly different type of Raising and reap its eternal benefits. What is behind this other Raising? You probably know the answer to this already. If you have invested any time whatsoever in listening to the first and second Degree Rituals, you may see that it has already been clearly spelled out for you. You are not alone in this. Many other Brothers have heard what you have heard and have seen what you have seen. If pressured, all of you would reveal exactly what truly Raises men, according to what Ritual espouses.
Nevertheless, knowing this will not change the reality of how most Brothers are Raised or what they would share about Raising when asked. The problem is not that Brothers don’t know how this Raising occurs. The
problem is that most Brothers who hear what it takes have not been held to account for following through on what they have been told they need to do. This lack of accountability has been a major stumbling stone for those professing a desire to be truly Raised. This is also one of the reasons why some Brothers are covered in the Rubbish of mediocrity. This lack of accountability is not the fault of those who shared this information with every Brother who proceeds through the Degrees. Masonry requires a higher Degree of pro-activity from Brothers than does Freemasonry in such matters. Pro-activity by its very nature requires an internal motivation likened to a man with unquenchable thirst for a waterfall or with a hunger satisfied only by acres of wheat sheaves. Sadly, such motivation is not commonly found within the ranks of Brothers. Few men desire to do the Work required to Raise themselves above the din of every day dealings. Why must Raising involve such Work? Those who originally shaped and revealed Freemasonry knew something about mankind. They realized early on that being provided Light by others isn’t the same as seeking and finding Light through one’s own efforts. They knew provisions unearned don’t exercise “mental muscles” necessary for self-sufficiency. They also knew that provisions earned develop specific skills and thinking vital to future earnings and well-being. Developing any type of dependency equates to future bondage. It also creates liabilities for those fostering such dependencies. Foster enough dependency upon those providing Light and those who depend upon the sources of this Light will rarely seek it elsewhere. These dependant hoards will also devastate temples rather than contribute in nurturing ways for they have not developed a nurturing spirit to do otherwise.
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(Continued from page 26) This is the danger of work that fosters dependence. It is why so much of Masonry is self-directed – it must be! It is also the reason why only the bear minimum is expected for progression within Freemasonry. Men not inclined to do what truly needs to be done will do only what is necessary, and that with only tremendous coaxing. They are slaves to those who do their thinking for them, though they may indignantly argue against this label. This is why Masonry insists through its manner that it is the responsibility of each Brother to find for himself the motivation to progress and in his own way. Such internal motivation is the only driver that brings this other type of Raising into fruition. What is this other Raising? It is an Internal not external Transformation. More specifically, unlike “entitlement” oriented external Raisings where a title, rights and privileges are bestowed upon someone, “true” internally oriented Raisings Transform the very being of the men who actively pursue it. How does it do this? Well, in truth, “it” really doesn’t “do” anything. It is men who must “do” it to and for themselves. That’s the distinction between external Raising and Internal Raising. While External Raising is something that is done to men by other men, Internal Raising is an activity that each man does to and for himself. He does this by remapping the gray matter between his ears. The initial Preparation for this remapping is done through the Work specified in the first Degree. This Work unburdens those who complete this activity. It Prepares the way for the activity that truly Raises those who engage in it. How does Work unburden a man? Some Work burdens men. Other Work unburdens them. Clearing away Trumpery allows easier access and Travel from one area to another. Reducing excessive weight and excessive activities further reduces unnecessary maintenance and resource use. Building one’s muscles eases future efforts. In the case of first Degree Work, divesting specific things and investing specific others brings about the resources necessary for future improvements while clearing the way for those very same improvements. It “prepares” those so inclined for what is to follow. What is that Work?
Once the initial Work of the first Degree is completed, the Work of the second Degree, the Internal Raising, comes into play. By actively engaging in specific Internal Raising activities, men Transform themselves. That activity is best described as “Learning how to Learn.” Many men think that they have already done this in their lives. Chances are they have only learned what they were told to learn. The Learning activity that the second Degree invites men to engage in is different from the learning that they might have had in their past. It may even appear to some to be the same learning, but it is something far grander. In some respects, Learning how to Learn is indeed learning but it is a type of learning that teaches a man “how” to truly Learn. How is learning different from “Learning how to Learn?” Learning that focuses upon “Learning how to Learn” prepares men to Learn differently. More specifically, it trains them to Learn on their own and in a way that best Prepares them for future
Learning, independent of others. Men who Learn independently foster future Learners not dependent upon others for their Learning. Conversely, men who continually return to others for their learning foster dependence upon teachers who provide such Light. In case you have not surmised from your personal experience of Freemasonry, creating an environment where pro-active men foster their own Learning is toward what the second Degree Ritual points. Ritual tells men what must be Learned. Once this is communicated, it is then up to them to go forth and Learn. No further instruction on this will or should be provided. This is as it should be for providing further instruction does no justice to what truly must be Learned and cultivated by those desiring more. Yes, you might be saying to yourself that “all this all reads like convoluted Trumpery. Learning is Learning! It can’t be said any simpler.” And, you are right, if viewed from the prospective of someone who has yet “Learned how to Learn.” From this view, it is not clear what is being subtly communicated. Here’s the understated distinction. Some learning occurs when it is externally driven. Some learning occurs when it is internally driven.
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(Continued from page 27) Learning how to Learn is based upon Internal drivers that continually Ask, Seek and Knock for more. The Learner drives it independently. Externally driven learning is what others provide to learners and it has a high probability of fostering dependence, rather than independence. And, “yes,” within reason, there is room for both. The points that should be gleaned are that you are responsible for your Learning and Learning how to Learn is what Ritual directs you toward. You will also be the one who is held to account for this type of Learning, by your future dealings. In this respect, Ritual also provides an excellent Threshing-floor to Separates those Brothers who do the Work that is required to Raise Masons from those Brothers who do the work that Raises Freemasons. The former reap eternal benefits that the latter never reap.
What are those eternal benefits? The eternal benefits reaped by those who Raise themselves are many. This article though will only overtly put forth one. Brothers who Raise themselves obtain a much clearer and deeper understanding of their chosen Faith. This occurs because their Work creates Internal Transformation that rewires their brains to be more receptive to the writings and related symbols in which most Faiths are rendered. The Work improves pattern recognition, increases awareness of subtleties and heightens the ability to make vital connections. Where some see no discernable pattern, those so trained recognize them immediately. Where some see no doors, those trained to detect and open them already have their keys. Where some are stop by gaps and chasms, those so trained to cross them find easy passage and in ways that might appear to be magical. An untrained person might think that the metaphors just shared reflect physical realities. Trained souls know that these are the challenges that are met by those who Travel within their Faith’s literature and rendered symbols. Faiths present subtle patterns undetectable to those who see nothing but shadows. They have many doors requiring keys that can only be turned by transforming one’s view. They contain multitudes of solid connections that appear as disconnected Rubbish to those unable to bridge the gaps intended to block the untrained. To the untrained, their
Faith’s maps appear as illegible scratches upon a dimly lit cave wall. They give no clear understanding of Faith’s terrain to the illiterate who attempt to use them. If you don’t believe such Work is necessary, you might want to Perpend the reasons behind such training. You may look to history for grist for your mental mill. During the middle ages, scholastic training was required by anyone who desired to participate in higher learning. That higher learning was mostly focused upon Philosophical and Theological based issues. Scholars knew what was required to support such focus. Do you think they knew something about Learning how to Learn that you too need to know for you to obtain what you desire most? What does anything here have to do with the flanking on the Circumpunct?
It’s interesting to see how many Masons understand that the flanking on the Circumpunct reflect a man’s Internal Work efforts and successes. All of these efforts are educationally based. As these writings have continuously conveyed, this flanking is the separated legs of the Compasses. If you have done the Work too, you also recognize that they represent the supports, called “stingers” or “stiles”, that you find holding both the Rungs of Jacob’s Ladder and the last Seven Steps required to Raise a man. For those who have Learned how to Learn, it might be noticed there was nothing shared herein that required learning. Much like Ritual, this writing merely reveals there’s Work for you to do, if you are so inclined.
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Th e B B u ild in g THE BUILDERS B e t t SERIES e r B u i ld e r s B o o k S e r i es s This Masonic Education Series shares Light that helps ‘Build Masonic Mastery!’ – Dr. John S. Nagy You cannot find a better overview of the Veiled Work of Masons. This Uncommon Masonic Education book series shows the Work that brings ou t Mast ery in Masons. It assists Masons toward better understanding the Masonic Work that Freemasonry alludes to through its collective writings, Rituals, Lectures and Catechisms. Each book reveals: Important Connections Between and Within each of the Blue Lodge Degrees Specific Masonic Work, Its Basis and Supporting Background Key Themes that Explain Blue Lodge Symbolism, Gestures and Words Transformations and Results That Masons Can Expect (Who Do the Work!) These books assist Ment ors, Coaches, St udy Gr oups, Lect ur ers, I nst ru ct ors, Lodge Educat ion Of f icers and Gener al Lodge Mem bers with instruction that makes sense. In addition, these books are excellent for instructing higher Degree Candidates with the basics missed by typical Masonic Education offerings. These books cont ain: Concise Uncommon Masonic Educational Chapters Multitudes of Masonic Questions/Answers/Aphorisms Further Light not found in Lodges or Schools of Instruction Challenging and interesting side codes and ciphers
Imagine understanding, explaining and using Ritual better than you ever thought possible!
The Building Series Masonic Education materials help create a clearer and cleaner understanding of what is required to Build Bet t er Builders. These m at erials are f or Masons w ho w ant m ore! Volume 1 (MM Level) – Three Degree I nterconnections Volume 2 (EA Level), Volume 3 (FC Level) & Volume 4 (MM Level) – The respective Degree Work, its basis, its background and the interconnections within the Degree Video – A Jam-packed 77 minute Masonic Education Overview with additional activities and suggested readings For more information and purchase, go to http:/ / www.coach.net/ BuildingBuilders.htm www.twtmag.com
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Featured Writer- Scott Schwartzberg As Masons, one of the things that we are called upon to do is to investigate those who wish to join our Fraternity. In many Jurisdictions, including my own, we are prohibited from soliciting potential members to join our ranks. They must apply of their own free will and accord. According to the Grand Lodge of Florida’s “Guidelines for Investigating Committees,” there is no more important committee than this one, “whose duty it is to determine the fitness of a candidate prior to balloting on his petition.”
Guarding The West Gate
background investigation, to try to uncover any criminal past.
This meeting serves several purposes. First, the investigating Brothers explain what Freemasonry is, and perhaps most importantly, what it is NOT. There have been many misconceptions about our Order in popular culture, although this is far from a new idea. In the early 1700s, fliers proclaiming the “evils of Freemasonry” would be posted in the streets of London. If we accept as a Candidate, and then a Brother, someone who is seeking to access hidden powers, which will enable him to become part of the global cabal, then we are doing both him and ourselves a disservice. We invest a lot of time and effort to bring someone from a Profane to the level of Master Mason. This time and effort is wasted if that man should never have become a Mason in the first place. If we bring in someone who is searching for a religion to believe in, he will not find it within the Lodge.
Part One:
Investigations
After a petition has been submitted, the petitioner meets with a Petitions Committee to ensure that he has submitted all the required information and to see if he qualifies. The Petition Committee will recommend his petition to the Worshipful Master of the Lodge. He will, in turn, ask the Secretary to read the petition, and ask for acceptance from the Brethren, and to allow the petition to take its usual course. The Lodge does have the right not to accept the petition. The Worshipful Master will appoint an Investigations Committee of three or more Brethren. The Lodge will ballot on the petition after one month has passed, and after the Investigation Committee has submitted their findings. Every member of the Lodge is considered to be a part of the Investigating Committee, especially the voucher of the petitioner. If a Brother signs a petition for the three Symbolic Degrees, he should be certain of the fitness of the petitioner. If any Master Mason is aware of something that would render the petitioner unfit to join our Society, it is his duty to inform a Brother of that Lodge, or the Investigating Committee assigned to that petitioner. This committee, composed of three Brothers, will schedule an appointment to meet with the petitioner, at his residence, and with his wife or significant other present. The Brothers have access to the petition filled out by the petitioner, as well as the results of a
The Investigations Committee must make a thorough search of the petitioner’s background, using the background check provided, and contacting all references listed on the petition. We are not trying to sell our Lodge to the man at this time. He has already indicated that he is interested in joining, by submitting a petition. As a committee member, we are there to investigate him. We need to get to know this man whom we are inviting into our Lodge and into our lives. During this meeting, we want to find out why the man was interested in becoming a Mason. This is the most important part of this committee’s duty. Perhaps his father (or grandfather) was a member, and he wants to follow in those footsteps. Perhaps it is due to what he’s been reading, or seeing in films. This is why we want to ensure that we do not give the man false information about the Fraternity. If he is only seeking the
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(Continued from page 30) social aspects, perhaps ours is not the organization for him. We also inform both the petitioner and his wife about the time commitment that he’ll be taking on. It is reasonable to expect the newly obligated Brother to spend several hours a week at the Lodge practicing his proficiency, and learning more about the Craft, as well as additional hours spent in practice alone. To transform the rough ashlar of the Neophyte into the perfect ashlar of the Master Mason require a lot of time and conscious effort. If it is likely that membership in the Lodge would cause internal family problems, the petition should be returned or rejected.
three Degrees. As a member of the Investigations Committee, think to yourself – Is this a man I would feel comfortable being the Master of my Lodge? Becoming the Treasurer of the Lodge? Would I invite this man into my house? If the answers to these questions are in the negative, why would you consider approving him for membership? As Masons, we believe that we take a good man and make him better. This implies that in order to become a Mason, one must first be a good man. The corollary to this is not true – not every good man must become a Mason. We are interesting in quality, not quantity. The conduct of the Investigating Committee must be such that, even if rejected, the applicant has a higher respect for the Fraternity than he held before.
Through questioning, it should be ascertained whether the man is charitable, both in thought and in deed. Is he prejudiced or bigoted? The Investigating Committee is seeking the true character of the man.
Guarding
The committee should ensure that joining the Lodge will not cause financial hardship on the family. We do not wish to cause hardship for others, nor to become handicapped ourselves, by taking on our rolls a member who is likely to become a financial liability.
West
What is the occupation of the petitioner? If it is such that he is unable to attend meetings on a regular basis, now may not be the proper time for him to join us. We need to ascertain whether the petitioner believes in a Supreme Being. Does he attend church regularly? We do not ask questions about the specifics of the petitioner’s beliefs, but he must believe in Deity, and the immortality of the soul. At this time, it is also appropriate to inform the man and his lady about the family-oriented side of Masonry. What programs does the Lodge offer where wives and children are welcomed? Does the Lodge offer a youth program, whether it is DeMolay, Rainbow Girls, Boy Scouts, or another organization? Let the man know what benefits he can truly expect to receive as a result of becoming a Master Mason. Through the process of self-examination, he can transform his life, becoming a better man, husband, father, etc. A wise Mason once told me that it was important to consider the character of a man applying for the
The
Gate Part Two: Petitions
Featured Writer Michael Gambarrotti The following information relates to the petition process in regards to every Lodge blanketed under the Grand Lodge of Florida. All Masons, from the youngest Entered Apprentice, to the Grand Master of Masons of Florida, have experienced a similar journey on the road to (Continued on page 32)
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(Continued from page 31) Freemasonry. Some have started their journey because of a story they have heard from a friend or acquaintance. Others seek out the Fraternity because of a family history of Masonry. Whether it is want or tradition, the journey begins when one simple question is asked, “How do I become a Mason?” Having asked the question, a difficult decision has to be made. Which Lodge will you call home? Traditionally, members would attend the Lodge closest to their home rather than travel. However, today, due to increased availability and modes of transportation, it is not uncommon to see members travel 20+ miles to attend their Lodge or to visit a Lodge. It is not the location of a Lodge, but the members who make you feel that you belong. After deciding on a particular Lodge and meeting with the Lodge Secretary, the challenging road ahead is explained, as well as the level of commitment needed to attain your goal. It is in this first meeting that a potential candidate for the three Degrees gets a glimpse of what is required from those who seek a place in our Fraternity. This is also the first step for the Lodge in helping “weed out” those who only pursue Freemasonry in the hopes of personal or professional advancement. If the potential candidates’ motives and desires are found to be just and upright, he will be provided a petition and told to return on the next stated communication to meet with the Petition Committee. During the interview process with the petitioner, a number of basic informational questions are asked and answered. A cursory review of the petition is discussed and if all Brothers on the committee are satisfied, the petition is presented to the Lodge where it will be voted on. While this is a traditional process, the Petition Committee must protect our West gate, for it is our duty to protect the Fraternity. Once the petition has been accepted and presented to the Lodge, it “cannot be withdrawn, but must be acted upon, and if rejected, cannot again be presented within six months.” The process of determining the petitioner’s true intentions has been the accepted procedure for some time, with more negative outcomes than positive. Unfortunately, sometimes this limited process does not give the Petition Committee the proper time needed to really become familiar with the individual who wishes to join our time honored Fraternity. Given this information, it is essential to the Fraternity’s future that additional
time is allotted to this important process in order for the committee to be able to properly make the determination as to why a person wishes to become a Mason, or what they may be capable of contributing to the Lodge and to the Craft. The practice of being a “Mason Mill” by accepting those who come knocking just to keep our membership alive, is in reality, driving membership down. However, if we carefully choose those we accept into our halls, not only will the Lodge live on, but the Fraternity will be that much stronger. Taking this information to the next level, some Lodges have already altered their petition process. Several Lodges require a petitioner to attend their fellowship dinners prior to Lodge meetings for a minimum of six months before they are given a petition. Others require them to attend for a year. Even though the time duration is different they have one similarity. The Brothers that attend these fellowship dinners, more especially the officers of the Lodge, are not to sit with the same petitioner in consecutive dinners. This furthermore forces the Brethren to really get to know the petitioner and also aids in helping the petitioner grow comfortable with the Lodge that he is interested in petitioning. More importantly it serves as a test towards his true aspirations of becoming a Mason, as well as his character. All too often we see candidates go through the three Degrees and vanish. It has been said that there are two types of men that become Masons, those who want to be part of the Fraternity and those who want the “privileges” of the Fraternity. If a Lodge makes these necessary requirements official and the petitioner adheres to these requirements, then you will know his true level of commitment, his true character and his true desire. The way in which the petitioner conducts himself during the trial period, also gives the brethren the opportunity to be a fundamental part of the Petition Committee, not officially of course, but as the additional eyes and ears to the committee members themselves. The petition process, while necessary, has the ability to be revised per the by-laws of each Lodge and will make the job of the Investigation Committee that much easier. The petition process is so vital to our Fraternity, that it is all our responsibilities to leave it better than when we found it.
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FEATURED WRITER
“Masonic Meditation” Seeing parallels to Masonic conduct in other areas The Martial Arts and the Masonic Arts My Bro thers, If you are looking for a highly researched, well documented and historically significant paper you are in the wrong place. I see my work here, at this time, as observing how Freemasonry and its ideals are reflected in the world around me. As a newly raised Master Mason, (I just celebrated my 4th birthday), I cannot begin to discuss the tenants of our order in detail nearly as well many of my Brethren. I often sit in rapt attention as they speak, wondering how many years it will take me and how many books I’ll have to read to be able to have an intelligent conversation regarding the Craft with these seasoned, Past Master, bejeweled men who labored in the quarry as I was living a profane life. However, perhaps my lack of Masonic education allows me to see things more simply and plainly. There can be beauty in simplicity. You only need to look at the craftsmanship of a Shaker chair or box to illustrate my point. This extensive disclaimer brings me to my current observation. Whenever possible I take my 11 year old son to his Tae Kwon Do class. He enjoys it a great deal and I enjoy seeing him do things that he enjoys. The lessons are three or four times a week and last about 45 minutes. He has recently advanced in rank, earning his camouflage belt. He takes great pride in his belt and it is one of the few pieces of clothing he owns that he hangs up and puts away without me asking.
by H. Clark Thyng
students to say?), they then recite a brief saying, from memory, indicating that they will respect their leaders, their parents and each other. They promise to do their best every day, inside and out of the practice room. Regardless of age, experience and rank, each must participate, all on the level of their common practice mat. It is not a far stretch to see that the recitation is ritual for these students. Not unlike our own, pledging respect to leadership and discipline. Next comes the most amazing part; the section of practice that first caught my eye as being reminiscent of the Craft. Each student works on what is referred to as “forms”. Forms are defined as a series of highly disciplined and exact movements that are a response to an attack. The student will practice these forms over and over again until they are perfected. Senior students help educate the younger students all under the watchful eye of the leader. Each person in the room working toward the common goal of executing the forms fluidly and flawlessly. The forms are developed from ancient techniques and patterns of movement handed down for centuries. There is no mistaking that these forms are their floor work and a continuation of their ritual. When done correctly, you can observe the serenity of the student as they complete their forms, each striving to do their best. On this particular evening I had the opportunity to observe an 8th degree black belt practice his forms. His mental state was meditative, calm, relaxed, (as I hope that my ritual will be someday). And just like watching a flawless Middle Chamber Lecture, it is a joy and thrill to watch a student complete a flawless set of forms.
As practice ends, the same opening ritual is recited as a closing ritual, yet another similarity, with additional courtesy be extended to the senior student, not unlike we do to Grand At the last class, I choose to try to understand the proceedings Lodge Officers as we close lodge. All show final respect to instead of merely watching my son. Within moments of using the leader and class is closed. my new perspective the parallels between the Martial Arts and the Masonic Arts were glaringly obvious. As they Brothers, Freemasonry has a claim to being the oldest students enter, each passes by a mirror. They stop, carefully fraternity in the history of the world, however whether you checking their gi, (the correct uniform for their meeting) to be trace the Fraternity to 906 AD or the building of King sure that it is straight and proper; much the same way that we Solomon’s temple, it would appear that our friends who check our suits and ties as we prepare to enter the lodge. Each practice the Martial Arts can claim long history of selfstudent then checks their belt, the badge of their rank, discipline, exacting execution and other Masonic like approaches the practice area, carefully bowing from the waist practices. as they step upon the practice mat. Brothers, this is clearly similar to us as we put on our aprons. The positioning of the As I move through my life outside of the lodge I will try to do apron’s cloth indicating our degree in the lodge and our so with my eyes more open to Masonic teachings that may officers putting on their jewels to indicate their rank and not originate from the Fraternity, but seem to practice and position in the lodge. follow the Masonic Arts.. Next all students stand to attention, addressing the leader as “Sir”, (perhaps Worshipful Master is too hard for the younger
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“ The Fellowcraft & Human Heart The human heart is an organ that we without; it circulates blood throughout of the puzzle we call life.
as human beings cannot function our body which is essential to every piece
The heart is made up of four chambers; the two upper chambers are called atria and the two lower called ventricles. Medical professionals often refer to the heart as ‘right heart’ and ‘left heart,’ probably due to the fact that there is a muscle, called the septum, separating the two halves and the two sides of the heart each have a distinct purpose (the two chambers making the lower and upper halves respectively). The right side of the heart collects the blood that has been used by the body (it is called deoxygenated blood) and pumps it to the lungs. Once that blood has been oxygenated by the lungs, it is collected by the left side of the heart and pumped to the rest of the body. The human heart then, for purposes of this discussion, will be categorized as making up two sides, or two chambers. Further, both sides of the heart provide essential functions to keep the human body going, and this is important for our discussion. In our Fellow Craft degree, we arrive at the outer chamber of King Solomon’s temple and must gain admission; we pass through the inner chamber and gain admission where we finally arrive at the middle chamber or Holy of Holies to offer up our adoration to God. This chamber, according to scripture, houses those laws which have withstood thousands of years of trials and tribulations. The Ark of the Covenant may be a real, substantive vessel that contained the Word of God as given to Moses, or it may just have been a vessel that symbolized the faith of our ancient Jewish brethren at the time- I do not doubt its existence, or its importance to Masonic ritual. Further, I do not doubt the existence of King Solomon’s (Continued on page 35) www.twtmag.com
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(Continued from page 34) temple; I believe that it existed and that its original design was to honor He who is the Lord.
But I believe that the ritual of the temple chambers in the Fellow Craft degree have more to do with our own bodies than they are meant to in history. Our Grand Master (in New Hampshire, Paul M. Leary) has noted that Freemasonry is about introspection, that is to say, Freemasonry has often been described as making good men better, but this is not to be achieved by we (as in THE fraternity) making individual brothers better, but brothers using the teachings of Freemasonry to inspect how they can be better citizens, husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, employees and the like. This introspection is the correlation to the middle chamber and the human heart as well, even at the physical level. When humans began to understand the workings of the heart during the birth of modern science, the time of renaissance to enlightenment, our society was beginning to take shape. We then began to think about the structures in Masonry in a free way, rather than the operative way, and this led to our current philosophical bent on society. I believe it was then that our ritualists, who by now understood things such as the way the human heart works, used their interpretation of physiology and blended it with their form of philosophy to arrive at our degrees.
Fellow Craft. The middle chamber is where we fellows of the craft come to worship, it is a sacred place where we come to learn; does this not refer to our hearts as well? Do we not look to our hearts to find truth, which is to say, when we seek God, do we not seek Him from within? We are travelling upon that level of time, to that place not made by human hands; isn’t it that we seek Him in those travels and that when we come to Him at the end of our lives, we are taught to lay whatever is in our hearts to Him for judgment? I am imperfect; Solomon, who built the massive temple to our God was imperfect, indeed his kingdom was torn apart because he diverged from God, but the Ark containing our Laws was not destroyed despite the destruction of Solomon’s temple, and mankind has known God for lo these thousands of years, so our hearts have been uplifted to Him by we mortal men since. The human heart is a real thing; perhaps the temple of Solomon was not, perhaps the middle chamber is a fallacy and there was no Ark-but perhaps when we arrive at the outer chamber of our hearts and seek admittance we are there seeking to know God better, and when at last we are admitted to the Holy of Holies we have found Him, finding our spiritual temples completed, secure in the knowledge we found Him as just and upright Masons. This is what I believe the chambers in the Fellow Craft Degree represent; the human heart, and arriving at perfection before the Lord.
Thus it appears to me that the outer chamber is the right heart, where the blood comes from the body to be cleansed through the lung, and only after gaining admission is it welcomed to the left heart, the middle chamber or Holy of Holies, where it is passed on to the body to keep it alive. The heart performs the functions necessary for life; it is the gift of God to mankind to sustain him through regular use. This I believe is the importance of man’s physiology to the ritual of the
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Featured Writer- Bro. Kyle Ferguson
Albert Pike’s Lucifer Check out Kyle’s blog at http://philosophicalfreemason.blogspot.com/
Anti -Masons love to hate Masons. I think this goes without saying. They love to hate us so much that they will look in every nook and cranny of every Masonic book for some quote they can take out of context, manipulate, speculate, and do whatever or say whatever they can about it then claim it as "proof" that we taking over the world, that we are really lizard people from another planet, or that we have computer chips implanted in every midget so at the flick of a switch we can have a short person riot the likes of which the world have never seen! (Just for clarification, the first two examples are actual accusations against us. The last one I made up for comedic relief.) One of the most popular theories leveled against us is that we worship Satan. This entire theory revolves around one quote that was taken out of context and sorely manipulated from Albert Pike's Morals and Dogma of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. Here is the quote out of context, as used by the Anti-Masons: "LUCIFER, the light-bearer! Strange and mysterious name to give to the Spirit of Darkness! Lucifer, the Son of the Morning! Is it he who bears the Light, and with it's splendors intolerable blinds feeble, for traditions are full of sensual and selfish Souls? Doubt it not!"
So totally Satanic! Run for the hills! We're worshipping Satan and don't even know it! WAIT! Maybe the refs better look at the replay screen here. Let's go under the vinyl hood and look at the surrounding text: The Apocalypse is, to those who receive the nineteenth Degree, the Apothesis of that sublime faith which aspires to God alone, and despises all the pomps and works of Lucifer. LUCIFER, the light-bearer! “Strange and mysterious name to give to the Spirit of Darkness! Lucifer, the Son of the Morning! Is it he who bears the Light, and with it's splendors intolerable blinds feeble, for traditions are full of sensual and selfish Souls? Doubt it not!" Phew! Apparently we're not worshipping Satan. Thankfully we tossed the challenge flag on that play before we punted the ball away. What a difference those other words make! Right off the bat Pike says that, as Masons (more specifically nineteenth degree Masons, but since the Anti-Masons use this quote to describe all of Freemasonry, I will respond in the same fashion) we despise all pomps and works of Lucifer. It's funny the (Continued on page 37) www.twtmag.com
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(Continued from page 36) Anti's don't include that part of the quote when they cite it as proof of Satan worship. Pike is trying to make a few points here: Number 1: Don't judge a book by it's cover. There is always more than meets the eye. Never be content with the surface explanations of things. There is always a deeper, underlying meaning. Number 2: Light cannot exist without the presence of darkness so, in a weird way, Satan may actually be a bearer of light for he provides the darkness, without which, illumination would be impossible. Number 3: The only souls in which Lucifer can become a ruling force are ones that are feeble and selfish. He is telling us to doubt not that Lucifer exists in the hearts of the feeble and selfish, who are too ignorant to know any better. In my opinion, number 3 is of the most importance because it actually encompasses numbers 1 & 2. Lucifer is actually the people of the world who allow themselves to be controlled by their egos. They are selfish, arrogant, and ignorant of the presence of the Divine within themselves. They do exist and are a serious detriment to betterment of humanity. Doubt it not! But if not for the existence of these people, it would be impossible for us to see the light. They are the black squares on the checkered pavement of humankind and it behooves us to despise their ways.
Pike was following his own advice when he restricted the dissemination of these texts by hiding them from the eyes of the Lucifers of the world. These people were not prepared for what they contained and would never be able to make any valuable use of their information. Selfishness was the ruling force of these people and because of their inability to see the error of their ways, a book on using symbolism as a roadmap to the special center would be useless. Pike includes Masons in this group for he considers any Mason who is merely a dues card carrying member to be in the same boat as someone who has not even been initiated at all. Pike's quote in Morals and Dogma admonishes us to not waste our time attempting to provide light for those who do not wish to receive it. And, even though they choose to remain in darkness, it is because of them that our light shines so obviously and so brightly. Because of this, Lucifer, applying it's Latin root of light bearer, is quite true. Regardless of how these people attempt to put out our light, by doing so, they only make it stronger. In this sense, I find it quite funny that the Anti-Masons use this quote to defile Freemasonry because the quote is actually telling us that, by them doing so, they only assist us in bearing light. Thanks, AntiMasons, for helping us shine our light brighter in this world of selfishness and darkness! We couldn't do it without you!
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Pike wrote many works (Esoterika, for example) that were not intended for the eyes of the uninitiated. These were for true travelers on the road to the Divine, not Masons in name only.
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Featured Writer- Bro. David Browning “The Importance of Good Masonic Ritual” By Bro. David Browning, DDGL NC 16th Masonic District “Freemasonry, a beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory, and illustrated by symbols…” is one of the most well-known and used quotes of our Fraternity. It is through our ritual that this beautiful system of morality is imparted to our candidates and allegories and symbols play an important role in how these moral lessons are conveyed. Ensuring that these fundamental moral lessons are conveyed consistently and that each candidate has the opportunity to learn these moral lessons is the goal of our ritual. It should also be the lofty goal of every brother to ensure that we only practice good Masonic ritual. There has been a lot written about Masonic ritual during the history of our Fraternity and yet it is still one of most intriguing subjects to the uninitiated. Our ritual is meant to be symbolic in every aspect with the overall goal “to imprint upon the mind wise and serious truths”. It is during the conferring of the three symbolic degrees that we learn moral lessons about how we should endeavor to live our lives. In many cases these lessons are nothing new, as an immoral man would find it difficult, if not impossible, to make it into our Fraternity. In my humble opinion, it is not the content of these lessons, but rather the manner that they are conveyed to the candidate in such a short period of time, that makes them so powerful and potentially life changing to all who enter our Fraternity. This is one of the reasons why it is so imperative that our rituals be carried out with dignity and respect and performed as correctly as humanly possible. We have all seen good degree work, and unfortunately, in many cases, we have also seen degree work which is not so good. There is no such thing as a perfect degree. With that said, I feel that every lodge and brother of our Fraternity has a personal responsibility to ensure that every degree that they participate in is the best that it can be. When observing a degree you can always tell those lodges and brethren who have studied and rehearsed their part(s) as opposed
to those who go through the motions and put on, at best, a mediocre degree. We should all do our diligence to ensure that we are never part of a degree that is not the best that we are capable of putting on. In addition to the actual degree, there is a lecture which accompanies each degree. This lecture, when given as it has been passed down through the ages, serves to reinforce and teach new lessons that are essential for the candidate to learn as he advances his knowledge in Masonry. The catechism is also a reinforcement of the candidates understanding of what he has been through and his opportunity to show that he is willing to labor in quarry to advance in his Masonic career. The coach and the brother being coached each have a responsibility to ensure that this is learned as correctly as possible before returning it in open lodge. The Entered Apprentice degree is a candidate’s first impression of our Fraternity and we should strive to make that impression the best that it can be. We only get one chance to make a good first impression. That impression, if positive, should serve to encourage the new brother to learn his catechism and seek more light in Masonry. That impression, if negative, may cost us a candidate who otherwise may have made us a good Mason. With the ever increasing challenges that we face in attracting new members and maintaining our membership levels we cannot afford is for a new candidate to be so unimpressed with the experience of being initiated that he goes home after Initiation and never darkens the door of the lodge again. I know that this is the worst case scenario; however, it is something that we can all play a part in preventing by ensuring that the degree work that we put on is done to the best of our ability.
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Featured Writer- Bro. David Browning (Continued from page 38) Passing a brother to the degree of Fellow Craft presents another opportunity for us to show the new brother that he is important to us by working hard and ensuring that this degree is also a good one. During this degree the brother is more likely to absorb more of what is occurring during the ritual than he did during his Initiation as he will hopefully be less nervous than he was during the preceding degree and has now realized that these rituals are not meant to embarrass or offend, but rather, to teach and impart the moral lessons and knowledge that will allow him to serve our Fraternity with honor throughout the rest of his life. Once again, we hope that the brother will go home following his Advancement with the same eagerness that he had on the night of Initiation and will learn and return his catechism to seek further light in Masonry.
perform this ceremony with the dignity and respect that is earned through a life of devoted service to the Fraternity. In addition, this ceremony is often the catalyst that causes an uninitiated to seek the light of our Fraternity. I hope that you have found this information valuable and that it helps to underscore the importance of ensuring that we only perform good Masonic ritual. I would hate for any of us to ever become aware that a candidate has decided not to return because we did not take our ritual seriously. The rituals of our Fraternity have so much to offer and I sincerely hope that you will join me in ensuring that we give our Masonic ritual the proper level of importance so that we give our candidates and our brethren the best possible experience and impression of our beloved Fraternity.
Raising a brother to the Sublime degree of Master Mason is our final opportunity to ensure that we are putting on a good degree and ensure that the brother learns those final lessons of morality that our symbolic degrees are designed to impart. Unfortunately, there are often many parts of this degree which go unrehearsed until the night of the degree. We can only hope that this does not present major problems during the degree. Our hope should be that the newly raised Master Mason continues his Masonic learning and will also have a strong desire to assist with future degree work hopefully become a line officer and one day rule and govern over the lodge for a period of time. All of our degrees, more especially the Master Mason degree, are meant to be solemn occasions and thus should be performed with the dignity and respect that are due to both the candidate and the honor of our Fraternity. We all should do our part to ensure that our degree work can never be compared to a hazing which is often the case of some fraternal organizations. One last ritual which is often overlooked in discussions of our ritual is the conferring of Masonic Rites. The funeral service and the conferring of Masonic Rites is our last opportunity to pay respect to a fallen brother. In many cases it is also one of the first impressions that many who are unfamiliar with our Fraternity will have. We owe it to the fallen brother, his family, friends, and loved ones to ensure that we
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“THE BEEHIVE REVISITED” Bro. P.D. Newman, 32° Valley of Corinth, Orient of MS (Part One published in TWT Feb 2012) The [larva] of a bee is scarcely worthy to be called a life, but after it is transmuted by death, it appears in a more excellent and glorious condition…
charisma that could charm even the Lord of tHades. Indeed, for this is precisely what he did when, armed only with his voice and his lyre, he descended into the Underworld for the purpose of persuading the god Pluto, Lord of Hades, to consent to the return of Orpheus’ deceased wife Eurydice to the realm of the living. And it is here that we come back to our unfortunate beekeeper Aristaeus, whose romantic advances Eurydice was fleeing when she ran upon the fatal serpent, the sting of which was to prematurely end her life and land her in the subterranean Hades. It was in retribution for this fact that Orpheus destroyed Aristaeus’ beloved hives.
Ill. Bro. Albert G. Mackey once said that “the intention of the ceremonies of initiation into [the The beehive, like the honey which it houses, is a Mysteries] was, by a scenic representation of death, fecund symbol, both rich and enduring. In my and subsequent restoration to life, to impress the great previous treatment of this subject, I provided a truths of the resurrection of the dead and the decidedly limited overview of the symbol of the immortality of the soul.” It was with the above beehive and its cognates, bees and honey, as they narrative of Eurydice’s death and subsequent were understood in the mythologies and folklores resurrection that the Orphic priests indoctrinated the of various cultures. In the present treatment, I will participants in their Mysteries regarding the truth of be exploring the possible significance of the the soul’s immortality, and the possibility of its symbol as it most readily relates to the actual resurrection into the realm of the living. Both arcana of Freemasonry, i.e., as an emblem of Aristaeus and Orpheus, the latter for only a short resurrection and of the immortality of the soul. For time, were in the end reunited with that of which they this we need but make a return to the remnants of had previously mourned the loss. In Orpheus’ case, it ancient Greece and the neighboring shores of the was his beloved wife Eurydice who was restored to Mediterranean where, according to scholars, the life, and in that of Aristaeus, his cherished beehives. symbol of the bee and its correlating hive were popular objects of worship and veneration, serving According to Apollodorus, Orpheus was also said as the symbolic bridge between this world and that to have been responsible for creating the Dionysian of the hereafter. Mysteries. As a type of what Sir J.G. Frazer called the dying god, i.e., a deity whose tragic death is followed If the reader will recall, in The Beehive: A by his miraculous resurrection, Dionysus, with his Migration of Myth I touched upon Ovid’s account corresponding Mysteries, also taught the truth of the of the youthful shepherd Aristaeus and the tragic immortality of the soul. Like his father Zeus, as an loss and miraculous, resurrection-like restoration infant Dionysus is said to have been tended by the of his cherished beehives. However, in Virgil’s Meliai, a sisterhood of bee-like nymphs associated version of the same story, we learn that the initial with the ash tree, who fed him on a diet solely of misfortune which was visited upon Aristaeus was honey, instead of milk. A god of wine and not simply a random act of fate, but was actually resurrection, Dionysus was frequently depicted as a orchestrated by the hero-poet Orpheus. But, before swarm of honey bees. Greek scholar Károly Kerényi we get to that, it will be helpful to first explain a postulated that the association between bees and little bit about the colorful figure of Orpheus and, resurrection in the figure of Dionysus stemmed most by extension, some of what it is that his likely from the ancient sacramental use of mead, an corresponding Mysteries entailed. alcoholic honey drink that was fermented in great subterranean vats, whose use as an entheogen According to Greek myth, Orpheus was the preceded the discovery of the intoxicating potential of son of Calliope, the muse of epic poetry, and the Dionysian vine. Apollo, the god of music. As the offspring of these two deities, Orpheus was destined for a fame and (Continued on page 42)
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Similarly, Dionysus’ brother and more ‘civilized’ counterpart Apollo who, if the reader will recall, was also the father of talented Orpheus, too was frequently associated with the hive. For it is said that Apollo’s prophetic ability was the gift of the Thiai who, like the Meliai of Zeus and Dionysus, were a bee-like sisterhood of goddessnymphs. Additionally, in his manifestation as the solar Phoebus, Apollo could also be considered a dying and resurrecting god, although his myth does not specifically hymn him as such. On the other hand, according to the Greek epic poet Nonnus of Panopolis, Apollo was responsible for the resurrection of his close companion Hyacinth, whom Apollo fatally wounded, though an accident. So, although Apollo himself was not known to have been venerated as a dying god, he bears connotations to the motif of resurrection nonetheless. Further associations between Apollo and the hive could be found at Apollo’s famous Oracle at Delphi, where the curious Omphalos or Navel Stone, a beehiveshaped stone covered with a representation of knotted net-work which is suggestive of stylized bees, was housed. Leicester Holland associated the Omphalos with the Temple at Delphi’s ability to prophecy, proposing that it served to channel the intoxicating, chthonic vapors from the very Underworld itself which would impel the Oracle to ejaculate the strange utterances for which she was so famous. Tended to by a wholly masculine priesthood, the prophetic Oracle at Delphi was regarded as “Queen Bee” in her hive of otherwise all-male workers – an arrangement that hearkened back to a time when the people which inhabited what would come to be known as Greece were still one of matrilineality and goddess worship – which brings us to our final discussion regarding the relationship of the beehive to the motif of resurrection.
buried at the bottom of deep shafts…where the corpses were laid temporarily to rest in state, until they rotted, on a bier in grand subterranean vaulted chambers within the characteristic domed shape of a beehive, the…Tholos Tombs. These…tombs imply a belief in the regenerative transition through death, since they were reused over and over again for successive burials…”
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What Prof. Ruck & Dr. Staples rightly observe is that the ceremonial removal of the deceased from the womb-like, beehive structure following the body’s decomposition would naturally lend itself, if that in fact was not already the idea intended, to the notion of a deathly transmutation – as well as a seemingly miraculous resurrection, when it was discovered by the survivors of the deceased that the remains had mysteriously disappeared from the tomb, perhaps unbeknownst to any but the priests who had tended to them. And even in tombs which are seemingly in no way associated with this manner of bee worship, there are still commonly found during archaeological excavations small, golden amulets depicting the beelike Thiai sisterhood, whose task it is thus believed was to transport the souls of the dead to the next life, implying a direct connection within the minds of the ancient Greeks between the symbol of the beehive and their belief in the immortality of the soul.
In closing, I would like to share with the reader a quote from English cleric and scholar Samuel Purchas, who noted so perfectly the complex relationship between the beehive, deathly Carl A.P. Ruck, the professor of Classics at transmutation, and the miracle of resurrection when Boston University, and Daniel Staples, Ph.D. he wrote: observed in their The World of Classical Myth that at “The [larva of the bee] lies what was once Mycenae in present day Greece can dead and entombed in the still be seen standing, for the most part intact, the cell wherein it was bred; but well-preserved remains of the famous Lion Gate, an wait with patience a score of arching gateway topped with a detailed carving of days, and you shall see it two lions flanking a single pillar, the same of which revive, and appeares a farre serves as the city’s sole entrance. A short distance more noble creature than it from this Lion Gate, we are told, can be found the was before. What is this, but so-called Grave Circle. According to the authors: an emblem of the “Beyond the [Lion] Gate to resurrection?” the right lies the Grave Circle, a cemetery within the For footnotes & references visit: http://tupelomason.blogspot.com city, where the dead were
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The Chamber of Reflection By: Randall A. Sidwell The Chamber of Reflection: It has been addressed in many books and is still utilized in Lodges around the world. There are several variations regarding its content. My intent is to share my feelings, with this interpretive article, for the benefit of The Craft. There are slight variations as to the contents in a Chamber of Reflection. For this writing I will be using Brother Christopher L. Hodapp's book Deciphering The Lost Symbol for my basis as to The Chamber's content. On the table before him in the chamber are a lit candle, a skull and crossed tibiae (leg bones), an hourglass, bread and water, small bowls of sulfur and salt, a pen, and a piece of paper. In some chambers there is also an image of a rooster, and the word vitriol appears. 1 What is there to interpret? What meaning may it hold now? How may this writing benefit The Craft? I believe there is a great deal of application that can be made. Originally The Chamber of Reflection was found in The French and Scottish Rites. It was a small room adjacent to the Lodge room. The candidate was to contemplate what he was about to embark upon. He was to examine his motives as to why he was joining the fraternity. It was a quite place to meditate before his initiation. Johann Christian Gaedicke was the author of several Masonic works. He was initiated into Freemasonry in 1804. He commented on The Chamber of Reflection by saying: “It is only in solitude that we can deeply reflect upon our present or future undertakings, and blackness, darkness, or solitariness, is ever a symbol of death. A man who has undertaken a thing after mature reflection seldom turns back”. 2 I want us to reflect on our future and present undertakings as related to Masonry. In a day where
many men seem to have become comfortable with their labor in Masonry, may they be encouraged to build up their Masonic journey. May there be a multitude of men who will strengthen that which remains within their own Lodge.
The Skull and Crossbones The skull and crossbones has long been a representation of death. An existing reminder that each of face this ultimate ending. We must ever be mindful that we are only here on this earth for a season. When we are raised as a Master Mason this begins our individual Masonic travel. It could be said that after this wonderful event we now have a “dash”. The dash represents a period of time. On any grave marker there is the year one is born and the year they passed away. In between the two years there is a dash. It emblematically represents the period of time they were blessed with. The skull and crossbones reminds us of our own personal dash. The time after we are raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason until we go to The Lodge eternal; is our own personal “dash”, our own period of time. What will we do with our dash? How will we (Continued on page 44) www.twtmag.com
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(Continued from page 43) attempt to better ourselves and what will be our lasting work as we develop our rough ashlar? Life is short, fleeting quickly by us. Consider how we will spend our time. For we are taught there comes a period where time shall be no more.
for the service of our fellow man and eight for the rest and refreshing of our body and mind.
Time is one thing that none of us seem to have enough of. The hourglass is a symbol of the surety that time continually passes. Time slips away day by day and year by year. We are taught in our Entered Apprentice degree to make the best use of our time. That which is squandered can never be regained. Different from other instruments of keeping time, the hour glass displays both the past, present, and the future simultaneously. We can contemplate both what we have done thus far, and being reminded that we do not have forever. The hour glass teaches us that the sands of time will be no more for each of us. We should ever strive to manage our time wisely. We must ever bare in mind that we have eight hours in which we are to labor, eight hours
Salt
Bread and Water
This topic shall be rather brief. Brother Hodapp references in his book cited earlier that bread and water are symbols of simplicity. In other words A Lit Candle remember the basics. Do not become so entangled Our lives are to be a shining light, with extra curricular affairs that you forget the basics to illuminate the world around us. of life. We have a obligation to our family, faith, As a child during a thunderstorm country and fellow man. We must ever be mindful of we would often lose our our personal responsibilities. What ever my beset us electricity. My mother would rush from these duties should be laid aside. Never forget around scrambling for a candle simplicity, never forget the basics. and a book of matches. Why (silly Sulfur question)? To light up the room. In a total black room one candle will shed a great deal Sulfur is a necessity in several aspects of life. In some of light. She then would place it in the center of the forms it it used in vitamins. Forms of sulfur are found room to maximize the effectiveness of the candle. It in our hair and skin. In other varieties it is found in was not lit to sit on the floor or in a corner of an fertilizers we use for producing many fruits and unused room. It was lit for use, enlightenment if you vegetables. In yet another form in is even used in will. That is what we are to do as members in this wine making. Aside from all of these uses one thing great fraternity! We should let our Masonic Light holds true it is very odorous. As one would be in a shine. It should shine with brotherly love. It should be Chamber in Reflection the sense of smell would be a radiant glow of our charity. The light should be a greatly heightened. Emblematically reminding us of light-house of Masonic education. Logic also gives the horrible vapors of trials and tribulations we face in way to the evidence that the more candles that are lit our life. But we must ever be mindful that trials do the more light that can be shed on any subject. The come to pass. Just as the odor of more our brotherhood lets their light shine the brighter sulfur dissipates over time our the way of life will glow. Brethren, shine your tribulations too come to an end. Masonic Light. Remember to make all things a learning experience. The Hourglass
Salt is a preservative. In our labors and life we should strive to set forth values and attributes that are true, wholesome and good. May our human activity be well preserved even after we are gone. Salt is also used for seasoning. May we ever season our speech and conduct with charity and brotherly love to all in whom we come in contact with in our life. May we ever touch lives in a positive way. Pen and Paper Traditionally in a Chamber of Reflection a pen and paper is used to compose one's last will and testament. I would offer the meaning of leaving a lasting and positive legacy. Character, wisdom, chivalry, and love are tremendous virtues to (Continued on page 45) www.twtmag.com
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(Continued from page 44) leave behind. These type of fingerprints on our fellowman's life are the greatest gifts we could ever bequeath. VITRIOL Again, I reference Brother Hodapp concerning VITRIOL . He says: It is an alchemical term, and is in fact an acronym. V.I.T.R.I.O.L stands for a Latin phrase, Visita Interior Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem, which means “Visit the interior of the Earth, and by rectifying, you shall find the hidden stone.” In Masonry we would look to our inner self. We would use our working tools to continually shape our rough ashlar. We should always strive for betterment in our life. We hope to turn our rough ashlar into a smooth ashlar by our endeavors and the blessings of God.
to be implemented into The Craft on a more broad basis once again.
End notes Reference #1 & 3—Deciphering The Lost Symbol Freemasons, Myths and the Mysteries of Washington, D.C. By: Christopher L. Hodapp Text Copyright 2010 Christopher L. Hodapp Published by: ULYSSES PRESS 2010 pages 72-73 Reference #2--An Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and its Kindred Sciences: The Whole Range of Arts, Science and Literature as Connected with the Institution By: Albert G. Mackey, M.D. L.H. Everts & Co. Publishing Copyright 1889 page 156
The Rooster In closing we have the rooster. The early morning crowing of the rooster in the proclamation of a new day. A fitting reminder that if granted by God, tomorrow is the gift of a new day. If we have neglected our labors in life the is no better time to start than today! It does not matter where one begins in life, but it certainly matters where and how we finish. Purpose in your heart and mind immediately to get to work and Brethren know your labor is not in vain.
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In closing, I see great meaning in The Chamber of Reflection. We can quietly meditate upon the individual meanings of its content. But, we must remember not only to ponder them we must also regularly implement them. In this study, I recognized the importance of why this was used for so many years in our Lodges. There may indeed be room for it www.twtmag.com
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York Rite - Featured Writer On March 24, 2012, the York Rite brothers of Arizona put on a festival to confer the 4 degrees of the Chapter: Mark Master, Past Master, Most Excellent Master and the Royal Arch. I took part in this festival and I have to say it was very enjoyable. It answered a lot of questions I had about the Moderns and Ancients. It also taught powerful lessons I will take with me back to the lodge. Several brothers who were present at my three degrees were also there and I found that to be very moving. I understand why Royal Arch Masons believe it completes the Master Mason degree. Such has been the conclusion of the United Grand Lodge of England since 1813. I have done a tremendous amount of research on the subject and have spoken about it in previous articles. I still contend wholeheartedly that the third degree is truly the highest. However, if you read some of the earliest exposures of Freemasonry and then take the Chapter degrees, it is clear some of what used to be part of the three degrees is now in the Royal Arch degree. To find out, you will simply have to experience it for yourself. It is probably the most inexpensive appendant body around and is worth far more than what they charge.
There is great teaching and reinforcement of the Lodge lessons in the Scottish Rite, the Knights Templar provide lessons in chivalry and the Shrine helps many, many people. Also, as I study the origins of Freemasonry at a deeper level, there is a place for the idea of Knights Templar in Freemasonry. We may have come from them. Or if we did not, they are an excellent example of suffering honorably for Freemasonry as John Coustos and many others have. The Shriners have become more Masonic in my eyes lately. There is much evidence as to the Rosicrucian origins or influence on early speculative Freemasonry and Christian Rosenkruetz did study in Fez according to legend. Shriners to me get the lessons of brotherly love and relief and perhaps there is even some truth to their ways. Perhaps Christian Rosenkruetz wore a fez. The point of all this is to say...drum roll...I was wrong in some of what I wrote in previous articles. ALL of the appendant bodies are important. Each Mason must decide which one they want to choose or if they want to choose one. I am definitely a strong proponent of the Chapter degrees now. Seeing is believing and I am sure the same is true of all the other degrees. Someday when I have more time and treasure, I may join them all.
“Joining the Royal Arch� By Matt Johnson
To be honest, there is nothing in the Chapter degrees as far as life lessons or philosophy that you can't learn in the Lodge. However, those lessons are mightily reinforced by the Chapter degrees. The Mark Master degree actually made me work harder the Monday after. The Past Master degree made me step up my game with my lodge duties. The Most Excellent Master and the Royal Arch degrees answered some lingering questions I had about Masonic traditional history and also provided some just downright cool things ala "National Treasure" that I really, REALLY liked.
But not for a while. I love my lodge, I love writing for Masons and sharing fellowship with them online and I now have my chapter as a Royal Arch Mason. I get why Masons call the third degree the highest degree. I also get why they believe the Royal Arch is the highest degree. Ultimately, the highest degree in Freemasonry is that of a Past Master. A real Past Master, not a virtual one. It shows that a man has truly labored hard to build his Brothers and his lodge. That has to be the highest calling in Freemasonry. By the way, I have currently come across I can see why the UGLE decided to make it a firm a treasure trove of free books and degree rituals of all resolution that pure Freemasonry ends with the Royal kinds. I also have been piecing together a timeline of Arch. There are so many, MANY degrees and bodies for a events regarding early speculative Masonry. I am going to Master Mason to join. It could never end and suck away be studying that for a long time and as I learn more, I will lots of time and treasure. To make a firm statement that all share it with my readers and any Brother who would like the lessons of Freemasonry stop here is helpful to Masons. to visit my lodge or chat online. Peace! There is more than enough to study in the Lodge and Chapter. That being said, I have a new appreciation for all TWT the appendant bodies now that I am a member of one.
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York Rite News & Information Featured Writer Bro. Jacob Lucas
This month, I will begin discussing the Degrees of the York Rite, as conferred in the United States, in my Jurisdiction. Where I have been able to locate information which differs in other Jurisdictions, I will provide those details. Any errors are mine alone. Please let me know if you find an error in the information that I have provided. In the United States, the first group of Degrees in the York Rite is in the Chapter of Royal Arch Masons. The first Degree earned in this body is that of Mark Master, which is seen as a continuation of the Fellow Craft Degree. In other countries, there may be different bodies conferring this Degree on Candidates. For Masons in Lodges under the United Grand Lodge of England, The Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of England and Wales and its Districts and Lodges Overseas, controls both this Degree and also the Royal Ark Mariner degree; conferred in Royal Ark Mariner Lodges, which operate under a separate warrant. For Masons in Scotland and under the Scottish Constitution, as this Degree is seen as the conclusion of the Fellow Craft, it can be conferred in a Craft Lodge. It can also be conferred in a Holy Royal Arch Chapter, as it is a prerequisite before a man can be Exalted to the Holy Royal Arch.
from these Craft Lodges, who move on to “higher Degrees.” This Degree is usually worked in a separate Mark Lodge, except where discussed above. The Mark Master candidate works in the quarries as a Fellow Craft. The ritual explains how operative Masons left their personal Mark on each stone worked, created with a mallet and chisel. During this Degree, the Mark Master will create his own Mark, which is recorded by the Chapter in the Book of Marks. It has been claimed that this is one of the oldest of all Degrees. The ritual of this Degree builds on that of the Fellow Craft, and to some, adds additional information that was missing in that Degree. In Duncan’s Masonic Ritual, we are informed that historically, this Degree is of the utmost importance. Due to the influence of this Degree, each operative Mason, at the building of King Solomon’s Temple, was able to make his good workmanship known. As each workman put his mark on his own work, a faulty craftsman would not receive wages not due him, and those who crafted suitable work would not suffer monetarily for sub-standard work.
The elected officers for a Royal Arch Chapter are High Priest, King, Scribe, Secretary and Treasurer. The appointed officers are Captain of the Host, Principal Sojourner, Royal Arch Captain, Master For Masons in Lodges under the Irish Constitution, of the 3rd Veil, Master of the 2nd Veil, Master of the 1st Mark Lodges and Royal Arch Chapters share the same Veil, Chaplain, and Sentinel. These titles will be warrant. A man must have this Degree conferred on him discussed in more detail in the article on the Royal Arch by a Mark Lodge before he is eligible to become a Royal Degree. Arch Mason. In this Degree and the others in the Chapter subsequent In Australia, depending on the Jurisdiction, the Degree to being exalted to the Royal Arch, the High Priest is the may be received in a Royal Arch Chapter, or in a Mark Right Worshipful Master (the same title given in Master Lodge. Scotland or in Lodges operating under the Scottish Constitution). The King is the Senior Warden, and the I do realize that I am using the incorrect terminology to Scribe is the Junior Warden. In these Degrees, these describe most of these situations, as the Lodges under three principal elected officers sit as they do in the Craft the English, Scottish, and Irish Constitutions generally Lodge, in the East, West, and South, as do the Secretary refer to the Craft Lodge only. I am referring to Masons (Continued on page 49)
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advanced to the honorary Degree of Mark Master Mason. Through the ceremonies of this Degree, the Candidate is informed that “the stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner.” 1 It becomes apparent that the Keystone is vital to complete an Arch planned by G. M. H. A. before his assassination. The stone is described to the Overseers, who recognize it as the one they have rejected, and search is made to recover this necessary piece, without which, the Temple cannot be completed.
(Continued from page 48) and Treasurer, whose titles do not change. The titles and duties of appointed officers will also change. The Captain of the Host, for this Degree, is the Marshal, the Principal Sojourner is the Senior Deacon, the Royal Arch Captain is the Junior Deacon, and the Sentinel is the Tiler. These officers take the same stations as those officers in the Craft Lodge, in some jurisdictions, though not others. The Marshal is located in the West, just North of the Senior Warden. The Masters of the Veils for the Royal Arch Chapter become the Overseers in this Degree. The Master of the 1st Veil is the Junior Overseer, the Master of the 2nd Veil is the Senior Overseer, and the Master of the 3rd Veil is the Master Overseer in this Degree. The duty of these officers is to inspect the quality of the craftsmanship of the workers, and if satisfactory, pass it along.
The Keystone is found, and displayed to the Craft. On one side of the stone, the letters H.T.W.S.S.T.K.S. are found in a circle. The letters are read, depending on the Jurisdiction, as Hiram the Widow’s Son, Sent to King Solomon or Hiram, Tyrian, Widow’s Son, Sendeth to King Solomon.
The Working Tools of a Mark Master are the Chisel and Mallet. The Chisel is used by operative Masons to cut, carve, mark and engrave their work, but Masonically, it morally demonstrates the advantage of discipline and education. The Mallet is used by operative Masons to knock off excrescences and The Candidate for this Degree will carry a Keystone, smooth surfaces, but Masonically, it morally teaches to support an arch, while the Senior Deacon and other to correct irregularities and to reduce man to a proper conductor carry squared stones. These squared stones level, so that by quiet deportment he may, in the pass the inspection of the Overseers, while the school of discipline, learn to be content. 2 Keystone, beautifully wrought, is not permitted to pass, as it is not square work. This stone is thus These tools also allow the Mark Master to create his rejected. The builders then gather to receive wages own Mark, with Mallet and Chisel to put upon his from the Senior Warden. own penny, and to be recorded in his Chapter. It is specified in the 1952 Indiana work, that the Footnotes Keystone symbolizes the spiritual part of man, and 1)Psalm 118:22, also referenced in Matthew 21:42, Mark must be held and treated reverently by all, except the 12:10, Luke 20:17, Acts 4:11, 1 Peter 2:7, and also Master Overseer. His existence is purely on the referencing Ephesians 2:20. material plane. It is after this, that the Candidate is prepared for the ceremony of the Degree. Having been Initiated, Passed, and Raised, he is now seeking light by being
2) From Duncan’s Masonic Ritual and Monitor. Similar explanations were given in other variations of the ritual. TWT
Sources Blaisdell, Ron, P.M., “The Rituals of American Freemasonry,” June 16, 2001, http://www.themasonictrowel.com/ebooks/fm_freemasonry/Blaisdell__The_Rituals_of_American_Freemasonry.pdf accessed on February 20, 2012.
Degrees, http://yorkrite.com/degrees/ accessed on February 21, 2012. Degree Ritual, General Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons International. 1996. Duncan, Malcolm C., Duncan’s Masonic Ritual and Monitor. 1866.
Blaisdell, Ron. Personal communication. Ritual for Degree of a Mark Master Mason. Indiana. 1952. Cryer, Neville Barker., The Royal Arch Journey. Ritual for Mark Master Mason. Iowa. 2003. 3rd
De Hoyos, Art, 33°, G C . Scottish Rite Monitor and Guide, Edition – Revised and Enlarged, 2011. Washington, DC. The Supreme Council, 33° Denslow, Ray V., A Handbook for Royal Arch Masons.
Spiedel, Frederick G., The York Rite of Freemasonry: A History and Handbook. Presented by Hugh DePayens Commandery No. 30, K.T. and associated York Rite Bodies in Erie County, NY. 1978.
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York Rite News & Information - Featured Writer- Bro. Barry Newell
http://travelingtemplar.blogspot.com/
“Symbols of the Royal Arch- Part 1” This post has been a long time coming. I was going to have one large post, but I've decided to separate this into a series. The Royal Arch degree is an amazing one with a great amount of symbolism and esoteric meaning. I truly believe that all Master Masons should go through at least the Royal Arch as it completes the story of the 3° - Master Mason. First let's discuss the High Priest, which in the American Royal Arch is the title of the presiding officer. Symbols of the High Priest And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. Exodus 28:4
The Breastplate laid upon a triple triangle is a well-known symbol of the Order of High Priesthood and/or for Past High Priests. As one can see from the two verses, the description of the high priest and his garments are in the 28th Chapter of Exodus. The Breastplate is placed upon the ephod, or holy apron-like garment. The square breastplate was inlaid with 12 precious stones, each representing the 12 Tribes of Israel, which were divided into four rows of three stones. This breastplate was also said to hold within it the two sacred divination stones, the Urim (representing light and excellence) and the Thummim (representing perfection and completion). The First Row consisted of the following stones: ● Sardius: a brownish-red or blood red stone, sometimes referred to as carnelian. ● Topaz: A yellow or yellow-green, translucent stone.
Breast Plate
● Carbuncle: A reddish stone that is said to look like burning coal.
And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the LORD continually.
The Second Row consisted of the following stones:
Exodus 28:29
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(Continued from page 50) stone was referred to just as a green stone. ● Sapphire: A saturated shade of blue, but may not have been an actual sapphire as it was unlikely they were well known or used in the ancient times. ● Diamond: most likely a white or clear stone as the art of cutting diamonds had not been attained in that day.
The Third Row consisted of the following stones: ● Ligure: A yellowish (sometimes pale) mineral. ● Agate: Commonly used in Egypt and Assyria as talismans, they were said to be sky blue. ● Amethyst: A purple stone which was thought to stop you from getting intoxicated and its name literally means "not intoxicating".
The Fourth Row consisted of the following stones: ● Beryl: A stone said to be the color of the sea (blue-green). ● Onyx: An opaque, banded stone. ● Jasper: A red stone often thought to be a ruby.
High Priest's Miter On the High Priest's head is the white fine linen turban or mitre/miter. Round the base of the turban is the crown of gold, with the inscription "Holiness to the Lord". The shape and look of the mitre may change and in today's world we see an evolved style of the mitre in the headdress of the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. The Hebrew word mitznefet ()תפנצמ has been translated as "mitre" (KJV) or "headdress". It
was most likely a "turban", as the word comes from the root "to wrap". Crowns, mitres, headdresses, hats, and so on have traditionally been symbols of authority or sovereignty. Head coverings can also be seen as symbols of victory such as we see with the wreath or garland. For Christians the crown (and those who wear it) is said to remind us of the Crown of Thorns Christ wore as well as Christ being the King of Kings. Symbolically we can see through its circular shape it denotes perfection, which Heaven is seen as, and eternal life, and while wearing it we unite the spiritual world with this material world where the sovereign can receive divine inspiration to justly rule.
Triple Tau The Triple Tau is one of the most prominent symbols of Royal Arch Masonry and has been given many different interpretations throughout its use in the world. It is literally three (3) Tau's linked in the center joined at their base. The 'tau' is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet, but it is not the letter "T" in the English language. Some of the symbolic interpretations of this symbol I will cite from the Grand Lodge of British Columbia-Yukon: This mystical character can be signified in a few different ways. First, the names Hiram of Tyre and Hiram Abif appear in the Phoenican language with the same letters “H” and “T” as they do in English. Therefore, the Triple Tau takes on the interpretation of the initial letters in Hiram Abif’s name.
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(Continued from page 51) Second, it signifies also T. H., Templum Hierosolym, the Temple of Jerusalem, and when used as the Royal Arch symbol, some jurisdictions teach that the wearer acknowledges himself a servant of God. As a Christian I see a great deal of symbolism in this. The use of 3 Tau's pertains to the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The 3 sides of the equilateral triangle represents the 3 great attributes of God:omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. The circle is not always used or seen, but, to me, it is significance as it represents eternity and the immortality of God and the soul of man. The tau in ancient times was regarded as a symbol of life. It was also used as a symbol for those acquitted of a crime or honorably returning home from battle. We also see use of it in the Bible wherein it is written in the Book of Ezekiel: And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof
http://www.goldenstatechapter.org/pdf/The%20Bre astplate%20of%20the%20High%20Priest.pdf 3. Mitre. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitre 4. Priestly Breastplace. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priestly_breastpl ate 5. Priestly Turban. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priestly_turban 6. Tarot Symbolism: The Crown. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://tarotreadingpsychic.com/tarotsymbolism-the-crown/ 7. The Triple Tau. (n.d.). Retrieved from Grand Lodge of British Columbia & Yukon: http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/symbolism/triple_tau.h tml 8. The Holy Bible, King James Version
TWT
Ezekiel 9:4 Stay tuned for Part 2 which I hope to cover the Banners, the Arch itself, and the Keystone. I will also discuss some of the lessons and duties taught in each of the degrees.
References 1. High Priest Breastplate. (n.d.). Retrieved from Phoenix Masonry: http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/mason icmuseum/high_priest_brestplate.htm 2. Meij, H. (n.d.). The Breastplate of the Highpriest. Retrieved from The Golden State Chapter of Research of the Holy Royal Arch:
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The History of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Queensland Royal Arch Freemasonry is an important part of the overall Fraternity of Masonry. It is a sovereign body, but at the same time, an integral part of the fabric of what the general public see as Freemasonry. Its history is synonymous with the rise of Freemasonry in England during the 16th and 17th centuries, which rose from the practices of the operative masons when building the great monuments throughout England and Europe. The " traditional Masonic history" which takes as it's allegorical basis, the Biblical accounts of the building of King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, is extended in the Royal Arch by using the Biblical history of the destruction of the temple and the enslavement of the Hebrews. Their release and the rebuilding of the Second Temple over the subsequent centuries, is the Royal Arch basis for colorful " parables" to convey it's principals and the tenets to those masons who joined its ranks.
holding Charters from the three Grand Bodies of England, Scotland and Ireland. It was not until 1921, some 20 years after the last of the other States, Western Australia , had done so. Moves were already afoot in the Royal Arch to follow suit but opposition from some eminent Companions in both the Scottish and English Grand Bodies in Queensland delayed the Constitution of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Queensland until 29th January 1930. At the time of the amalgamation there were 94 Chapters in existence spread across the whole of Queensland from the Border out to Charleville and up North to Townsville and Cairns. Currently there are some 105 Chapters throughout Queensland and Papua New Guinea. The Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Queensland controls within it's jurisdiction the degrees of,
The first Craft Lodge the North Australia Lodge formed in Queensland was constituted in Brisbane on 13th July 1859 under the English Constitution when Queensland was part of the colony of New South Wales. Queensland was not formed until five months later on the 12th of December of that year. The first Royal Arch Chapter, the Prince of Wales was formed on the 21st February 1865, again under English constitution. The second Chapter to be constituted was Brisbane Queensland but this time under the Scottish Grand Chapter. An other early Chapter in Brisbane, was the St. Patrick Chapter in 1867, but this time it was under the Irish Constitution.
● Mark Master Mason
From this time on, Royal Arch Freemasonry flourished as did Freemasonry with the expansion of Queensland. There were several moves in the Fraternity to form a Queensland Grand Lodge as the other States had already done by amalgamating all the Lodges in their States,
● Most Excellent Master
● Worshipful Mark Master ● Excellent Master Mason ● Royal Arch ● Third Principal ● Second Principal ● First Principal ● Royal Ark Mariner ● Worshipful Commander Noah
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York Rite News & Information (Continued from page 53) ● Super Excellent Master ● Thrice Illustrious Master ● Knight of the Sword ● Knight of the East ● Knight of the East and West ● Most Excellent Chief These 18 degrees are all fully performed ceremonies and contain beautiful ritual and traditional histories to connect the whole story. Notwithstanding the importance of the Royal Arch Degrees, membership of the Royal Arch is a prerequisite to being accepted into many other important Orders. ● The Masonic and Military order of the Red Cross of Constantine and the Order of the Holy Sepulcher and St. John the Evangelist ● The United, Religious and Military Orders of the Temple and the Order of St John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta ● The Allied Masonic Degrees ● Knight Templar Priests ● Knight of the York Cross of Honor ● The Worshipful Society of Freemasons (Operatives) The members of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter are all wholehearted supporters of the great principles of Freemasonry, by being active in their Craft Lodges as well as in the community life in the various towns and cities where they live and promoting, in a most prominent way, charity work for the aged, Widows and Orphans, and Underprivileged of our communities where ever they may be.
http://www.royalarch.org.au/2011-07-12-04-54-13/history
T WT
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The Supreme Council launched a new e-zine to help keep the Brethren apprised of current events and other useful news in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. Scroll to the bottom of the website (http://scottishritenmj.org/) to sign up for e-mail delivery. The Northern Valley has done a great job communicating with the members on events and news through technology like Facebook, podcasts, The Northern Light and now using quick email blasts to offer timely information instead of having to wait for the printed version. I applaud the Scottish Rite Northern Masonic Jurisdiction for embracing new technology and reaching its members through the tools that we are using.
FROM THE FIRST “RITE NOW” “Today the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite announces the launching of a new publication or, rather, an E-zine - to keep our members informed of the goings-on of our fraternity. As we approach the two-century mark we need the ability to connect with our Brethren with ever increasing timeliness. The Northern Light will remain as the premier communications vehicle jurisdiction-wide, and our excellent Valley publications will continue to serve the membership on a local level, but Rite Now gives us the opportunity - and gives you, the member - the ability to reach out more often and much more quickly to our Brothers to keep them informed of events and news. We will feature stories that are much shorter than those you might see in a traditional magazine or newsletter. The articles will also tend to be more immediate. For example, we will list the upcoming Degree Dates for the month in case you plan on visiting a nearby Valley. We might announce a fundraising event that will be happening within the month. We may also lead you to stories appearing on our website: ScottishRiteNMJ.org. In short, we plan to give you news that you can use right now. Welcome to Rite Now.” www.twtmag.com
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Scottish Rite News & Information
- Featured Writer- Jacob Lucas
The following series of articles will explore the 4th through the 32nd Degrees of the Scottish Rite in the United States, with a look at the history of each Degree, and how they are worked today, in both the Southern Jurisdiction and Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. Where I am able to access information for the Rite in other countries, I will have that information worked into each article where appropriate.
in before a Brother is considered to have earned the 32°, and in each Jurisdiction, both the 4° and 32° must be conferred.
In many countries, the Scottish Rite is a complete rite of 33 Degrees. In the United States, and in countries working Freemasonry under the English Constitution, Irish Constitution, and Scottish Constitution, this rite covers the 4th through the 32nd Degrees. In these countries, the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite works with the Grand Lodges, and assumes no right to work the first three symbolic Degrees. In most of the Anglophone Masonic world, the 4th Degree is the first exposure one gets to the Scottish Rite. In the United States, rituals of the mid-19th century in both jurisdictions suggested that Candidates for the Degrees become familiar with the three symbolic Degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. For more information on the Scottish Rite symbolic Degrees, please see my articles in the January (Entered Apprentice), February (Fellow Craft), and March (Master Mason) issues. In the United States today, candidates for the Scottish Rite receive the Degrees at a Reunion. This term is used, because it is a time for the Brethren of the Valley to return together, to share Brotherhood, and to educate the new members. Reunions may be once or twice a year, and the time frame may vary. Some Valleys offer a one-day Reunion, many take place over the course of a weekend, and some will take place over two weekends. One Valley, the Valley of Minneapolis, MN, does have a one-day Reunion, but also offers a 13 week program that does present all 29 Degrees, twice a year. The short amount of time in a Reunion does not permit all of the Degrees to be experienced by a Candidate, so both the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction and the Southern Jurisdiction have Mandatory Degrees that MUST be participated
The Southern Jurisdiction consists of four bodies: the Lodge of Perfection, 4° to 14°; the Chapter of Rose Croix, 15° to 18°; the Council of Kadosh, 19° to 30°; and the Consistory of Masters of the Royal Secret, 31° and 32°. The Degrees a Candidate must receive to become a Master of the Royal Secret at the 4°, 14°, 18°, 30°, and 32°. These are the initial Degree of the Scottish Rite, and the “terminal” Degrees of each body. The Northern Masonic Jurisdiction also consists of four bodies: the Lodge of Perfection, 4° to 14°; the Council of Princes of Jerusalem, 15° and 16°; the Chapter of Rose Croix, 17° and 18°; and the Consistory of Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret, 19° to 32°. The Degrees a Candidate must receive to become a Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret at the 4° and 32° and any other three Degrees between these two, known as the “bookend” system. In the Southern Jurisdiction, the 4° is called Secret Master, and follows the Symbolic Degrees of Scottish Rite Masonry. This is why Albert Pike strongly encouraged the use of those Degrees for educational purposes before a Candidate began his Scottish Rite journey. The Secret Master Degree takes place in a place representing the Temple, in mourning, over the death of G.M.H.A.. This, the first of the Degrees of the Lodge of Perfection, lays the foundation for the succeeding Degrees. The Candidate is introduced to the Kabbalah1, which he must have at least some familiarity with, or “a complete understanding of Freemasonry is impossible.” In the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, the 4° is called Master Traveler. This Degree does not follow the Degrees of the Symbolic Lodge, but serves instead as a ritualistic preview to the Scottish Rite. The Exemplar meets his guide through the Scottish Rite, followed by scenes in which he encounters a selection of characters and dialogue passages from various rituals of the upcoming Degrees. There are four
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Scottish Rite News & Information
- Featured Writer- Jacob Lucas
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characters,” meaning characters that are to inspire awe, rather than the modern meaning of the term.
scenes, representing each of the four bodies, and in each, the Candidate encounters some of the characters, philosophy, and dramatic situations he will experience on his journey. In the Francken manuscript of 1783, a Lodge of Secret Masters is convened, as there is a vacancy in the ranks of those who guard the unfinished Sanctum Sanctorum. In this version of the Degree, which was given to Francken by Stephen Morin, there are no penalties for the violation of the Obligation, and the Candidate (called a Neophyte) is not hoodwinked. In order to advance to this Degree, the Candidate should be a Past Master of the Symbolic Lodge. The Obligation does contain a vow of secrecy, and a pledge of obedience to the Supreme heads of all Masonry. The initiate is crowned, with laurel and olive leaves, and is given the apron of this Degree, and a key, explained as emblems of fidelity, innocence, and discretion. The sign is the Sign of Silence. The rituals of Frederick Dalcho are important to both the Southern Jurisdiction and the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. He was a member of the first Supreme Council, 33°, at Charleston, South Carolina. His manuscripts were used in that original jurisdiction, later to become known as the Southern Jurisdiction, as well as in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. Ill. Giles F. Yates, 33°, was a member of both Supreme Councils, first the Southern Jurisdiction, and later the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, where he became Sovereign Grand Commander, and was in possession of the Dalcho rituals.
In the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, Enoch Carson, working from a ritual of Killian Van Rensselaer, revised the ritual in 1853. In this version, there was a long opening ceremony, in which the duties of each officer were given, as they are in the Symbolic Lodge, but also included the presentation of the jewel each office. This rewritten ritual also introduced the penalty “of having my lips sealed in everlasting silence” in the Obligation. The Neophyte was also veiled, having his eyes covered. The ritual given to Albert Pike by Albert Mackey, then Secretary of the Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction, after his initiation into the Rite, in 1853, is similar to those previously mentioned. In this version, the presiding officer, representing K S , is styled “Most Puissant” (Most Potent), and the Warden, styled “Inspector,” represents Adoniram, who oversaw the completion of the construction of the Temple, and, in something I found in this version of the ritual, but not the other older ritual I studied, whom “Masonic Tradition informs us was the FatherinLaw of G M H A .” Also in this version, when describing the Hebraic Characters, we are informed that they represent “a thing above the common knowledge of mankind, which I dare not pronounce,” although it is permitted to do so within the Lodge.
Pike’s first revision of the 4th through the 32nd Degrees, his untitled edition of 100 copies, was completed in 1857, and called the Magnum Opus by Mackey. This ritual was never used by the Southern Jurisdiction, but was the basis for much of the ritual In this version of the ritual, the Candidate must be still used today. In the Secret Master Degree, the examined in the ante-chamber, by the Master of Master, representing K S , is styled “Thrice Ceremonies, in both the secrets of the Symbolic Puissant,” and there is still only a single Warden Degrees and in those of the Chair. He is introduced as (Inspector) in the West. Pike continued to revise the a Past-Master who wishes to be initiated into the rituals between 1861 and 1883. Sublime Grand Lodge of Perfect Masons. Nine names of God, given to Moses on Mt. Sinai are given to the The Candidate is examined in the work of the first Neophyte, along with their explanations. Together, three Degrees, to ensure that he is entitled to receive they are said to compose 888 letters and 72 names, this Degree, and asked if the Master’s Lodge to which which can be found in the Kabbalah and the Angels he belongs is satisfied with his conduct and behavior. It is noted that this is the last time it is necessary to Alphabet,2 along with the Ineffable3 name. The new Secret Master is told that he will have these mysteries examine a candidate in any work other than that of the degree immediately preceding that for which he explained to him in the Degree of Perfection4. The Hebraic Characters signifying these names are located wishes to advance. We are informed that the three sides of the Triangle, jewel of the Master, represent around a golden Delta, and are called “awful
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Scottish Rite News & Information (Continued from page 58) the three Divine Attributes much spoken of by Masons: Wisdom, which conceived, Power, which created, and Harmony [often incorrectly styled ‘Beauty’], which regulates and preserves, the Universe. In the chapter on Secret Master in Morals and Dogma, Pike informs us that Masonry and the symbols used in the Degrees come from a time where the purpose of using symbols was not to reveal, but to conceal. By having begun the Masonic journey, a man is now upon the path towards the summit of the mountain of Truth. Whether or not he reaches the pinnacle is dependent upon his own actions. I find myself agreeing with Pike that the true Mason is one who seeks knowledge, the most genuine and real of human treasures.
- Featured Writer- Jacob Lucas is informed that Masonry is Duty, and that the broad highway of Duty leads to Truth and Light. In the current Secret Master Degree, the Candidate is still informed that Duty is its own reward, the one great law of Masonry. The Venerable Master (not said to be representing any personage) sits in the East, and two Wardens sit in the West corners. During the obligation, the Candidate vows allegiance to the Supreme Council. The passing from the Square (earthly) to the Compasses (spiritual) is explained.
In the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, the ritual was revised in 2004, becoming known as Master Traveler, in response to shortened or one-day reunions, allowing Candidates to experience fewer Degree exemplifications. Some Grand Lodge Jurisdictions were advancing Candidates from Profane to the 32nd Degree in the same day. The purpose of the revised Charles T. McClenachan wrote the rituals used in the ritual was to give an introduction to the total Scottish Northern Masonic Jurisdiction in the period shortly Rite experience as the Candidate crossed the threshold. after the Civil War, though his work was already being He is to identify with the exemplar, who passes revised by 1871. The influence of Pike’s ritual revision through four scenes – each representing one of the four in felt in this version of the Degree, where the Master, Bodies of the Rite – encountering some of the still representing K S , is titled “Thrice Potent.” characters, philosophy, and dramatic situations McClenachan describes the aprons used in the presented through the other Degrees. Ineffable degrees in both jurisdictions, with those of his Northern Jurisdiction being triangular, while those In the current Master Traveler Degree of the Northern in the Southern Jurisdiction are square. He informs us Masonic Jurisdiction, Candidate encounters some of that the characters, philosophy, and dramatic situations that “[i]n the Ineffable degrees, every will be experienced during the Scottish Rite journey. lesson taught is connected directly or He will come across moral challenges and dilemmas, indirectly with … this or a future but these are left unresolved at this time, until each world. The whole system tends to specific Degree is witnessed. promote the glory of God and the good of mankind. In the symbolic degrees, A prologue opens this Degree, welcoming the these things are taught generally; in Candidates and explaining the Reunions. As the first the Ineffable and Sublime degrees, in scene opens, the Candidates are to identify with detail.” Brother Hiram, who will be conducted through this In the Southern Jurisdiction Secret Master Degree in use in 1955, the Degree takes place within the Holy of Holies of the First Temple at Jerusalem. The Lodge represents a meeting of the seven Princes of Israel, immediately after the death of G M H A , and before his murderers were discovered. The Venerable Master represents K S and the Senior Warden, the sole Warden, in the West, represents Adoniram. The Aspirant for this Degree is conducted around the Lodge while passages from the Bible are read, reminders of his relationship with Deity. The Aspirant
Degree by Guides5. The second scene is concerned with the Lodge of Perfection (the 4° through the 14°). The scene represents an Old Testament setting, with characters from the 8° (King David and Solomon) and the 12° (Joseph and Sepa). It is explained that the Lodge of Perfection illustrates Old Testament truths, which can be used to guide each of us toward our own moral perfection. The third scene depicts the 16°, from the Council of Princes of Jerusalem, in the (Continued on page 60)
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Scottish Rite News & Information
- Featured Writer- Jacob Lucas
(Continued from page 59) Persian court of King Darius. The Guide reinforces to the Candidates that it is the truth of the world of a man and Mason that is what really counts, not his outward appearance. The fourth scene reveals the Chapter of Rose Croix, the 18°. Here, the Candidate is reassured that although Masonry is not a religion, in the Scottish Rite, we do strive to be religious. The dignity of God is within us. The final scene of this opening Degree is set during the 31°, representing a Consistory of Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret. If more than one Guide was used, the original is now acting as conductor. This scene is composed of several “modules,” each representing one of the 14 Degrees from the Consistory. The 20° and 31° modules are mandatory, along with at least two modules from the 22°, 23°, 24°, 26°, and 27°. Many of these scenes and cast members representing this final body of the Rite are distinctly set in America, rather than in the ancient past, showing the timelessness of the lessons to be learned. I was also able to access rituals for Italian and Dutch versions of this Degree. In both of these Supreme Councils, the name of the Degree translates to Secret Master. The ritual in Italy as well as the Dutch ritual, in versions from both the 19th and 21st centuries, is close to that still used in the Southern Jurisdiction. Duty, Secrecy, and Silence are all Virtues to be practiced. This Degree sets the foundation for the Lodge of Perfection, the Ineffable Degrees, where the Aspirant truly will be guided towards improving himself in Masonry.
Footnotes 1. Also spelled Kabala,Cabala or, Qabala. The term comes from the Hebrew word meaning “receiving,” a method of explaining the relationship between Deity and His creation. Traditionally, when spelled with a “K,” it refers to the Jewish traditions, with a “C,” to Christian teachings, and with a “Q,” to Hermetic studies. In these articles, I will use the term Kabbalah throughout. 2. Probably referring to the “Enochian” language of John Dee, supposedly the language used to create the universe in ten utterances. 3. Meaning too sacred to be uttered. 4. The 14th Degree
5. In the Master Traveler Degree, there can be between one and three Guides. If two or three are used, the first Guide will also conduct the Candidate in Scene Four
Sources De Hoyos, Arturo, 33°, G C . Scottish Rite Monitor and Guide, 3rd Edition – Revised and Enlarged, 2011. Washington, DC. The Supreme Council, 33° De Hoyos, Arturo, 33°, G C . Masonic Formulas and Rituals Transcribed by Albert Pike in 1854 and 1855. 2010. Washington, DC. Scottish Rite Research Society Hutchens, Rex R., 33°, G C . A Bridge to Light, 3rd Edition, 2006. Washington, DC. The Supreme Council, 33° Francken, Henry A., Francken Manuscript, 1783. McClenachan, Charles T., 33°, The Book of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, 1867. Partridge, Irving E., Jr., 33°, The Rituals of The Supreme Council, 33°, AASR for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, United States of America, 1976. Supreme Council, 33°, AASR, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. Pike, Albert, 33°, Magnum Opus or The Great Work, 1857. Pike, Albert, 33°, Morals and Dogma, 1871. Schwartzberg, Scott, 32°, “The Scottish Rite: Southern and Northern Jurisdictions,” 2011, unpublished. Forwarded to me by W. Bro. Cory Sigler, and used by permission of the author. Trexler, C. DeForest, 33°, The Degree Rituals of The Supreme Council, 33°, AASR for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, United States of America, 2008. Supreme Council, 33°, AASR, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. Rituals of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, USA. 4° - 32°, August 2011. Supreme Council, 33°, AASR, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. Ordo ab Chao: The Original and Complete Rituals, 4th-33rd Degrees of the first Supreme Council, 33rd Degree at Charleston, South Carolina, 1995. Transcribed from newly discovered manuscript rituals in a private collection. Claimed to be transcribed from rituals belonging to Giles F. Yates, 33°, member of both the Supreme Councils for the Southern Jurisdiction and the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. Rituale per la Loggia di Perfezione dei Maestri Segreti (IV° Grado) Rituaal voor de Graad van Geheim Meester
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“Prince Hall- Masonry and the Man” First published in “The Northern Light” Vol 42, No 1 February 2011
By JEFFREY CROTEAU
organized as African Lodge No. 1, on July 3, 1775, with Hall as Master.
In order to become a fully functioning lodge that could Who was Prince Hall and why did he start his own confer degrees, African Lodge No. 1, needed to be Masonic organization? chartered. Unable to obtain a charter from a Grand Lodge in the United States, they appealed to the Grand A leading citizen in Boston’s eighteenth-century Lodge of England and were granted a charter on Sept. black community, Prince Hall (1738-1807) was an 29, 1784, as African Lodge No. 459. It wasn’t until later abolitionist who petitioned the Massachusetts that those lodges and Grand Lodges that descended legislature to end slavery and a Methodist who from African Lodge No. 459, chose to give their campaigned for schools to educate the Africanfraternity Hall’s name to distinguish it from the American children of Boston. Hall was a leather dresser by trade who, in 1777, supplied drumheads to predominantly white “mainstream” lodges that generally excluded blacks throughout the 19th and part the Regiment of Artillery. Drawn to Freemasonry’s of the 20th century. values and opportunities, Hall, a former slave, tried to join Boston’s Masonic lodges in the early 1770s, but was denied membership.
Researching Prince Hall’s Biography
Mythology and inaccuracy have dogged historians interested in African-American men’s learning more about Prince Hall. participation in Finding reliable biographical Freemasonry is generally information is challenging. This traced back to the March is mostly complicated by the fact 6, 1775 initiation of Prince that William Grimshaw's 1903 Hall and fourteen other book Official History of black men in Lodge No. 441, a British military lodge Freemasonry Among the Colored People in North attached to the 38th Regiment of Foot. A year later, the America contains a number of factual errors (and some military lodge that had initiated Hall was leaving material that appears to have been purely invented), but Boston, but before they left, the lodge granted Prince was used as a definitive source for many years, Hall and his Brethren authority to meet as a lodge, bury spreading the inaccuracies about Hall’s life much their dead, and march in processions for St. John’s Day. further beyond Grimshaw’s book. The Phylaxis Society, However, they were not given authority to confer “an international organization of Prince Hall degrees or perform any other “work.” With this Freemasons dedicated to studying the life of Prince Hall authority granted to them, Prince Hall and his Brethren and researching the history of (Continued on page 62)
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(Continued from page 61) Prince Hall Freemasonry,” has done an excellent job researching and reporting the facts of Prince Hall's life, while at the same time refuting the many errors found in Grimshaw's book. Their ongoing research into Prince Hall's biography is called the Grimshaw Offensive and is published both on their website and in their magazine, The Phylaxis. Because so few historical records related to Hall’s life exist, putting together his biography remains challenging. Further complicating this is the popularity of his name; during Hall’s lifetime, at least six men named Prince Hall lived in Massachusetts, with three of them in the Boston area. In addition to Grimshaw’s earlier fabrications, other researchers have sometimes incorrectly attributed biographical details to the Masonic Prince Hall based on records that referred to the other Prince Halls living during the same period. Bro. Hall was born in 1738. He was an enslaved person, the servant of William Hall, who eventually freed him in 1770, writing “he is no longer to be reckoned a slave, but has always been accounted as a freeman by us.” As early as 1777, Hall and other members of his lodge demonstrated their antislavery position when a petition against slavery, signed by Prince Hall and seven other black men, was sent to the Massachusetts General Court (legislature). This was followed by another petition against slave trade and kidnapping that was delivered to the Massachusetts legislature in 1788, signed by Hall. In 1797, Hall organized two more lodges – African Lodge No. 459, in Philadelphia, and Hiram Lodge No. 3, in Providence, RI, both of which worked under the Boston charter. Hall’s own lodge, African Lodge No. 459, in Boston, saw membership grow modestly over the 23 years that Hall served as Master. This is partially because Hall and his Brethren were fairly selective in who they admitted. One researcher has remarked that “compared to all of black Boston, the African Lodge accommodated a significant share of comparatively affluent African-Americans.” The exclusivity of membership in African Lodge No. 459, mirrors that of other Masonic lodges in colonial America which drew primarily from the socially elite.
Hall died on Dec. 4, 1807, and is buried in Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, one of the sites on Boston’s Freedom Trail. Who Are Prince Hall Masons? In most, but not all, states in the United States, they are officially recognized as your Brothers. Ten mainstream Grand Lodges still do not recognize their Prince Hall counterparts: Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee (Editor’s Note - As of 2011 the Grand Lodge of Kentucky now recognizes their PHA Counterpart .CS), South Carolina, Florida, West Virginia, and Kentucky. The organizational structure of Prince Hall Freemasonry mirrors that of its predominantly white counterparts, and includes the Scottish Rite, York Rite, Order of Eastern Star, Shriners, and most other appendant groups. Although white men are welcome to join Prince Hall lodges (and some do), the membership of these historically black lodges is almost entirely comprised of African-American men drawn to the fraternity’s rich history, which is as old as the United States itself. Is Prince Hall Masonry different from your own local lodge? As Alton G. Roundtree and Paul M. Bessel write in their book Out of the Shadows: The Emergence of Prince Hall Freemasonry in America: Over 225 years of Endurance, “Prince Hall Freemasonry is not a special type of Freemasonry. It uses the same Masonic suppliers, has similar rituals, adheres to the same philosophy, acknowledges the same landmarks, and performs the same Masonic work.” In short, Prince Hall Freemasonry descends from the same source – the Grand Lodge of England – as most American lodges, and a visitor from a mainstream lodge would not find a Prince Hall lodge much different from his own. The Question of Recognition Throughout most of its history, Prince Hall Freemasonry was considered clandestine or irregular by its mainstream equivalents in the United States. It is interesting to recall, as Roundtree and Bessel do in Out of the Shadows, that "From 1784 to 1813, African Lodge No. 459, was not a Prince Hall Lodge. It was a regular lodge that had not been accepted by predominantly white American Lodges. Since they came
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“This Grand Lodge deems it to the best interest of Masonry to declare that if regular Masons of African from the same source [i.e. Grand Lodge of England] descent desire to establish, within the State of and had the same authorization, African Lodge, No. Washington, Lodges confined wholly or chiefly to 459, did not seek recognition from other American brethren of their race, and shall establish such Lodges Grand Lodges since there was no need to. However, strictly in accordance with the Landmarks of Masonry, African Lodge might have been seeking social and in accordance with Masonic Law as heretofore acceptance. There is no indication that African Lodge interpreted by Masonic tribunals of their own race, and considered itself to be anything other than a regular if such Lodges shall in due time see fit in like manner to lodge until its Declaration of Independence in 1827." erect a Grand Lodge for the better administration of their affairs, this Grand Lodge having more regard for To many Masons, both Prince Hall and “mainstream,” the good of Masonry than for any mere technicality, will perhaps the thorniest and most emotional issue not regard the establishment of Lodges or Grand Lodge surrounding Prince Hall Freemasonry is that of as an invasion of its jurisdiction, but as evincing a recognition. As recently as 1988, no mainstream disposition to conform to its own ideas as to the best Grand Lodges recognized their Prince Hall interests of the Craft under peculiar circumstances; and counterparts, until the Grand Lodge of Connecticut will ever extend to our colored brethren its sincere voted to recognize its Prince Hall counterpart in sympathy in every effort to promote the welfare of the October 1989. Today, 41 out of 51 of mainstream Craft or inculcate the pure principles of our Art.” U.S. Grand Lodges have adopted resolutions stating that Prince Hall Masonry is “regular.” (Editor’s Note- Despite Upton’s attempts to put brotherhood above Now 42 out of 51 Grand Lodges recognize. CS) “technicalities,” (Upton was likely alluding to the Further complicating this situation is the fact that argument against Prince Hall recognition which claims some Prince Hall Grand Lodges feel that there should that “exclusive territorial jurisdiction” prohibits two never have been any question of their legitimacy and Grand Lodges within a state), his progressive stance do not feel that they need a stamp of approval from came at great cost. The reaction of the other Grand mainstream Grand Lodges. Despite these challenges, Lodges in the United States was swift and clear: all of mutual recognition has been achieved throughout them severed fraternal relations with the Grand Lodge most of the United States. of Washington. Finding this situation untenable, the Grand Lodge of Washington rescinded its invitation and implicit recognition of Prince Hall lodges. Earlier Attempts at Recognition – William H. Upton continued to make the case for the legitimacy of Upton Prince Hall Freemasonry until the end of his life and asked that no monument, beyond a simple headstone, be During the 19th century, some mainstream Masons placed on his grave until “such a time as the Grand called for the recognition of Prince Hall bodies. One Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Washington, or of the most interesting cases involved the Grand some other Masonic Grand Lodge now recognized by it, Lodge of Washington (State). shall unite with some organization of those Masons In 1898, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of commonly known as Negro Masons.” In 1990, nearly a Washington, William H. Upton, urged his Grand century after Upton’s attempts, the Grand Lodge of Lodge to recognize Prince Hall lodges, defined as Washington voted to recognize their Prince Hall those that could trace their origins to African Lodge counterparts. Nearly 400 Masons, both black and white, No. 459. Upton did considerable research before marched together to Upton’s grave to dedicate a reaching his decision. His report, “A Critical monument decorated with Masonic symbols. Examination of Objections to the Legitimacy of the Prince Hall Scottish Rite Freemasonry in the Masonry Existing Among the Negroes of America” was first published as a 137-page appendix to the 1898 Northern Masonic Jurisdiction Grand Lodge of Washington Proceedings. The Grand In 1944, Sovereign Grand Commander Melvin M. Lodge of Washington, under Upton’s leadership, Johnson, 33°, and five other Scottish Rite luminaries passed four resolutions, one of them stating, in part: met with Sumner A. Furniss, M.D., Sovereign Grand Commander of the United Supreme Council, 33°, Northern Jurisdiction (Continued on page 64)
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In January 1995, then-Sovereign Grand Commander Robert O. Ralston and then-Sovereign Grand Commander Samuel Brogdon Jr. of the United Supreme Council, 33°, N.J. met at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library and agreed in principle to present a resolution recognizing the legitimacy of the two Supreme Councils. Official mutual recognition followed later that year, with each Supreme Council agreeing that it would “retain its sovereignty and remain autonomous within its respective jurisdiction.” Since 1996, the Sovereign Grand Commanders of these two Supreme Councils have attended each other’s annual meetings as distinguished guests.
(Prince Hall Affiliation) and four members of his Supreme Council in New York City. Johnson described their meeting as an “adventure in mutual understanding for the common good.” The two Supreme Councils issued a joint statement that declared, among other things, that “the exigencies of the racial situation in this country are chiefly responsible for the organic separation of white and colored Masons” and that Masonic bodies “which are legally descended from African Lodge No. 459 . . . have a legitimate Masonic tradition.” The statement concluded, however, that “these informal and unofficial expressions are made in full appreciation of the difficulties of the problems necessarily involved Prince Hall Memorial on Cambridge Common as well as with full recognition that the final responsibility rests upon the Grand Lodges of Today, Prince Hall is honored in Cambridge, MA, as a Symbolic Freemasonry.” Freemason, a civil rights leader, and a “Founding Father.” On May 15, 2010, Freemasons from as far Two years later, in 1946, Commander Johnson was away as Florida and Michigan gathered on historic part of a committee of Past Grand Masters of the Cambridge Common to attend the unveiling of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts appointed to Prince Hall Memorial. The memorial stands only a few “investigate the subject of Negro Freemasonry.” feet away from a monument honoring another important Echoing William Upton and perhaps drawing on Johnson’s training as a lawyer, the committee bluntly American Freemason – George Washington. The Cambridge City Council established a Prince Hall concluded that Memorial Committee in September 2005. Over the next Other super-technical claims of the irregularity of five years an artist was selected and funds were raised to Prince Hall Freemasonry have been made, none of have the memorial erected. which is sufficiently important from a legalistic viewpoint to require comment. The real opposition to In a September 2005 resolution, the Cambridge City Council stated that Prince Hall “is primarily known as Negro Freemasonry is rather social than legal. the first Black man made a Mason in America” and also Their report was accepted and the recommendations cited that Hall had established a school organized by were unanimously voted by the Grand Lodge. This black citizens for black children; and petitioned to end step forward was short lived. In 1949, the Grand slavery and the slave trade. For these and other efforts, Lodge of Massachusetts rescinded the approved the City Council unanimously voted “to honor Prince report, citing “disharmony in American Freemasonry” Hall and his contribution to the city of Cambridge, MA, as a result of their report. and the country” by erecting a memorial. Despite these official decisions, the Supreme Council, 33°, N.M.J. and the United Supreme Council, 33°, N.J. (P.H.A.) remained on friendly terms. Masonic historian Arturo de Hoyos has noted that in the mid-to-late 1940s “a relationship was established [i.e. between the two Supreme Councils] which resulted in a cooperative revision of the Prince Hall rituals” from the 4° to 32°. These ritual revisions to Prince Hall Scottish Rite rituals were done with the full cooperation of the Supreme Council, 33°, N.M.J.
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FinalFinal Words
Dedication to the Craft one spot of ink at a time.
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