The Arizona Keystone Scientia Co ronati Research Lodge #4 F. & a. m. Newsletter apr – jun 2010 A.L. 6010
Volume 3, Issue 2
They have in their Lodge several Gentlemen, sons of Art, each very eminent in his Profession: These Gentlemen, at the command of the Master, are obliged to read a Lecture upon whatsoever topic he shall direct. This gives the Brethren of the Lodge an insight into all Arts and Sciences, and furnishes them with a competency of Universal Knowledge, so necessary and commendable in a Gentleman‌ - - excerpt from a 1726 book about Freemasonry
The Arizona Keystone Volume 3, Number 2 Apr - Jun 2010 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF George Weil, Master MANAGING EDITOR Keith Rosewitz, Secretary The Arizona Keystone is an official publication of Scientia Coronati Research Lodge #4 F. & A. M. and printed quarterly. Unless otherwise noted, articles appearing in this publication express only the private opinion or assertions of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of Scientia Coronati Research Lodge #4 F. & A. M. or the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Arizona. Articles are subject to editing and becomes the property of Scientia Coronati Research Lodge #4 F. & A. M. No compensation is allowed for any article, photographs, or other materials submitted for publication.
CONTENTS FEATURES 3. EDITOR’S NOTES 4. PEN AND PAPER
Permission to reprint articles will be granted upon written request to the Editor. When reprinted, articles should note “Reprinted with permission of The Arizona Keystone (Month, year).”
Please direct all correspondence to: Editor: The Arizona Keystone 773 S. Maple Lane Chino Valley, AZ 86323
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Master’s Notes My Brothers, The year is halfway over and I feel we are still moving at a very slow pace. We have still not written the future of our Research Lodge which should include a variety of research activities and presentations. Each year this Lodge will be challenged to its relevancy in Masonry and to its importance to its membership. We must continue to put our feet on the gas pedal. As we review and re-write our By-Laws to frame them to a more palatable set of rules, we hope that this helps promote a more attractive view to joining our Research Lodge. Clearly, we must continue to be innovative in our ideas. So where do we start? Innovation doesn’t come from a study of mechanics, systems, processes, technologies or strategies, as many might assume. Innovation comes from a study of people, how they live, what they want and what they need. Innovation is about constantly finding more ways to add value to the lives of the members of this Lodge. So, we need to innovate or die? Innovation has always separated leaders from followers, those who succeed and those who just get by. Innovation is what creates progress, and progress is what advances organizations and people beyond the competitive herd of the masses, average and the status quo. I have beat the innovation drum for all to hear. Now, lets give it a try.
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PEN AND PAPER In Search of the Wisdom of Solomon Matthew Christmas explores the Solomonic Degrees
Why ‘Solomonic Degrees’? I call them so because it is the actions of Solomon, King of Israel, Hiram King of Tyre and Hiram Abif – as well as their successors – which form the allegorical and symbolic basis for the journey undertaken within them; the candidate searches for the Masonic light in his quest for the Lost Word. Brethren should recall the exchange between Master and Wardens at the Third Degree opening : What is that which was lost? The genuine secrets of a Master Mason. How came they lost? By the untimely death of our Master… How often we hear those words and overlook the fact that they encapsulate all that we seek. The story of King Solomon’s Temple is, for Freemasons, an allegory for our search for the Lost Word and, thereby, of our pursuit of Truth. These degrees should not be just collected as if we were cub-scouts in search of badges. We should view them as intimately bound up with the three Craft degrees and with the progression towards the Supreme degree of the Holy Royal Arch, when that Word is finally recovered. The Royal Arch often comes so quickly after raising that we may have missed the arduous ‘historical’ and symbolic journey leading to our exaltation. Perhaps this speed from Craft to Royal Arch should change. It might mean more if the journey were longer and demanded more consideration by us on the way. Between the times in which the Craft and Royal Arch degrees are set, four other rites and degrees lead their members to the Temples in Jerusalem and to the symbolism which revolves around them: the Mark Degree, the four degrees of Royal and Select Masters (known as the Cryptic Rite, as the ceremonies take place in a crypt or vault beneath the Sanctuary of the Temple), two of the Allied Masonic Degrees and thirteen of the so-called Intermediate Degrees (4th to 16th) of the Ancient and Accepted Rite. One of these degrees – Excellent Master – while part of the Royal Arch as conferred by the York Rite in America, and also worked in Scotland – is, regrettably, not conferred in England. English Freemasons are able to be fully admitted to the remainder of these degrees, although the Intermediate Degrees are merely conferred by name on candidates for the 18th Degree (the justifiably coveted Rose Croix which I will consider in the next issue). However, it is possible to see these Intermediate Degrees performed, with two demonstrated each year by permission of the Supreme Council 33°, the governing body of the Ancient and Accepted Rite. Having said that, there is little in any of these thirteen to justify their being worked regularly; at best, the issues which they cover are of lesser importance to our main pursuit of the Lost Word, being mainly concerned with the re-organization of the work rendered necessary by the murder of Hiram and the steps taken to apprehend his murderers. The best of them are the 15th and 16th which are based on the liberation of the Jews from the Babylonian Captivity, the reconstruction of Jerusalem and the commencement of the building of the 2nd Temple in the time of Zerubbabel, although both of these are ritually worked better in the respective degrees of Excellent Master and the Red Cross of Babylon. 4
There are in fact as many as 25 degrees which relate to the Temples of Jerusalem, but it is impossible to receive them in what might be considered a chronological order. In England, there is in no sense a separate and progressive rite which is formed by these degrees, and there is no doubt that the powers that be would frown on such a system, which is one reason why it is rarely talked about; the other reason is historical accident, as a result of which they are spread about without heed to place or meaning. We should also note Grand Lodge’s position with regard to these other degrees. For a whole variety of 19th century masonically political reasons, the Act of Union of the two English Grand Lodges of 1813 makes it clear that “pure Ancient Masonry consists of three degrees, and no more, those of the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, and the Master Mason, including the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch.” This has not changed in the 185 years since 1813, although many brethren as well as Grand Lodge officials and officers are very active in these additional degrees. These other degrees began to appear in England in the 1750s, way after pure Ancient Masonry was established here. In England, we have nothing like the York Rite in America, or the Swedish Rite in Scandinavia, which bring together under one sovereign body many of the degrees which we consider universal, as well as many which are often described as Christian. However, for the sake of this article, these 25 degrees have been arranged chronologically (see Box), so that masons can appreciate that there is an historical ‘sequence’ to them, even though the events related in all the degrees are little more than Masonic legend, based around events related in the Old Testament. There is an historical sequence, but more importantly, there is an esoteric one. The only real problem in listing them chronologically comes with the 3rd Degree, which focuses on the death of Hiram Abif, just before the degree of Royal Master, and which extends up to just before the degree of Most Excellent Master. Without divulging more than is proper, the tetragrammaton (the four Hebrew letters for the name of God) – that which was lost – could only be pronounced by the three Grand Masters acting in unison. The death of Hiram rendered this impossible, so to forestall the loss of the pronunciation forever, clues were placed in a secret vault where they remained until the three sojourners discovered them in the Royal Arch, centuries later. In the ceremonies, each of the presiding officers represents one of the original Grand Masters or his successors or substitutes, while the candidate represents a Jewish workman, contemporary character, or even most memorably, Hiram himself. We experience the building of the first Temple in the Mark Degree, the pain of the loss of the Word in the Third Degree, and the steps taken to preserve it by means of the construction of a secret vault whose existence faded into legend. We may appreciate the attempts, as illustrated in a wide variety of degrees, to carry on as normal after that loss, before embarking on a symbolic journey and crossing of a river, leading to a fraternal banquet in the Red Cross of Babylon. This leads directly to the building of the Second Temple and, ultimately, to the exaltation of discovery and realization in the Royal Arch. However, there is clearly more to this than the search for a means of pronunciation of a word, even that as significant as the word explained in the Mystical Lecture of the Holy Royal Arch. Each mason will bring to this quest – for a quest it is – what he seeks; after all, is not all Masonry veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols – as indeed spiritual life is? The Solomonic Degrees are one way of approaching that mysterious journey. There is, of course, no need to be admitted to any of these degrees between Craft and Royal Arch in order to experience what that journey has to offer, but those degrees are there if the Solomonic route seems right for you. (Reprinted with permission from Freemasonry Today, Issue 07, Winter 1998/99) 5
The Masonic Halfpenny From England's Past Social History Emerges a Story Surrounding a Small Masonic Coin In their original village life, communities were to a great extent self-supporting, and the bulk of local trade was carried out by barter, the miller taking a part of the farmer's corn as his fee for grinding it, and the boot maker receiving a sack of potatoes for his services etc. But, in the factories, labor was bought for cash, and the laborer had to buy the necessities of life with cash likewise. This great upsurge in money trade led to an embarrassing shortage of currency, particularly of smaller coins. This was aggravated by the demands for metal by the munitions industry to supply the needs of the recent war of American Independence. The Government of the day was quite unable, or too inept, to organize the money supply to meet the needs of the people. The Master of the Royal Mint was paid commission on the value of the Mint's output, so it was more profitable to produce gold and silver coins of higher denominations, even though the shortage of small change made local trading almost impossible. The upper classes also thought it demeaning to have the effigy of the monarch on base metal coins such as bronze or tin. So, in 1787, one Thomas Williams began minting his own token pennies and halfpennies from the copper he produced in his own mines. Soon, others imitated him, and subsequently even small traders and institutions were designing and producing their own token coins. Among the many traders issuing tokens was James Sketchley, a bookseller and a Mason of Birmingham, who designed and issued the coin illustrated, the Masonic halfpenny. These were issued in 1794, probably as "Pocket Pieces" or curios, but it is certain that they were circulated widely and accepted as money in the same way as all the other token coins. It is not recorded how many were made, but experts have recognized three different dies for one face, two for the other and 13 edge inscriptions, so it is fair to assume that very many were produced. After a short time, the manufacture was taken over by William Lutwyche, another Mason. The top illustration of the coin is depicted what may be termed its historical face. It carries the Mason's Arms, the insignia of the Premier Grand Lodge, which Brother Sketchley's Lodge, St Paul's, now No. 43, had adopted as its crest in 1786. Noteworthy points. First, the escutcheon or shield is divided by a chevron, on which is engraved wide-open compasses. Second, the shield is supported by two beavers, traditionally famed for their industry. Third, above the shield is a globe surmounted by the Dove of Peace, and finally, the legend Amor, Honor et Justitia – Love, Honor and Justice. Around the circumference is an inscription commemorating the election in 1790 of HRH the Prince of Wales as Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge, referred to as "The Moderns". The Prince of Wales subsequently became Prince Regent, and later King George IV. The bottom illustration I deem the symbolic or allegorical face of the coin. First, the Latin legend, “Sit Lux et Lux fuit” – Let there be light and there was Light. Also, observe around a triangle the names of those three great pillars that symbolically support a Lodge: wisdom, strength and beauty. This Masonic Token is a coin of small value, and yet as an object on which to moralize is of inestimable worth. It provides a direct link with our brethren of over 200 years ago, and illustrates the stability and unchanging nature of our peculiar system of morality that is amply illustrated by such symbols. (This article is based on a lecture delivered by the late W Bro Fred Finedon to his own lodge, Babergh Lodge No 8122 and to the Lodge of Perfect Friendship No 376—Reprinted from Freemasonry Today, Issue 16, Spring 2001) 6