The Communicator March/April 2014

volume 61, No. 02 206-324-3330

USPS 485-660 Periodicals postage paid

March / April 2014

Sim贸n Bol铆var Scottish Rite Freemason

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The Altar

Guest Speaker

Rite History

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pg 10

pg 11

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Scottish Rite Communicator Valley of Seattle

www.seattle-scottishrite.org

SCOTTISH RITE OFFICERS Ill. Ronald A. Seale, 33° Sovereign Grand Commander

Ill. Alvin W. Jorgensen, 33° S:.G:.I:.G:., Orient of Washington Ill. Sat Tashiro, 33° Personal Rep. of S:.G:.I:.G:. stashiro@comcast.net Ill. Greg Goodrich, 33° General Secretary Communicator Editor secretary@seattle-scottishrite.org Ill. Norman Miller, 33° Treasurer Ill. George A. Lofthus, 33° Almoner

Leave a legacy that will make a difference!

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embers can leave gifts and bequests to deserving activities within your Valley, i.e. - Almoner’s Fund, RiteCare Seattle Clinic, or the Valley of Seattle activities in general. You can specify where you want your legacy to make the most difference. All legacy and bequest gifts – large or small– will make a significant difference to ensure the future of the Valley of Seattle and its ongoing support for our charities.

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lease contact the Valley office for further information and to include your Planned Giving with the Seattle Scottish Rite.

PRESIDING OFFICERS Jeff Craig, 32° K:.C:.C:.H:.

Venerable Master, Lodge of Perfection Brian Thomas, 32° K:.C:.C:.H:.

Wise Master, Chapter of Rose Croix Gale Kenney, 32° K:.C:.C:.H:.

Commander, of Kadosh Jack Stewart, 32° Master, Seattle Consistory

Scottish Rite Masonic Center 1207 N 152nd St Seattle, WA 98133-6213 206 324-3330 voice 206 324-3332 fax Brian Lorton Building Manager brian@seattle-scottishrite.org Lorna Schack Administrative Assistant lorna@seattle-scottishrite.org The Communicator (USPS 485-660) is published by the Seattle Valley of Scottish Rite, 1207 N 152nd St., Seattle, WA 98133-6213, for the benefit of its members, bi-monthly and is mailed as a non-profit publication to all members of the Seattle Valley and to specified other interested parties. $2.00 per member is assessed for the publication of The Communicator. Periodicals postage paid at Seattle, Washington and at additional mailing offices.

The material contained within this publication is intended for the education and enjoyment of the members of the Masonic Fraternity and all material published becomes the property of Seattle Valley of Scottish Rite. Permission to reproduce material from this publication for Masonic publications is hereby granted.

Postmaster: Send address changes to — The Communicator at 1207 N 152nd St., Seattle, WA 98133-6213.

Valley of Seattle Est.

1872

News from the Personal Representative

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e are well into the 2014 Scottish Rite Seattle Valley year with a full corps of officers, and, for the first time in many years, with many new appointed officers in the four bodies. The new members and many members of some years are stepping up.

The January and February stated meetings were well attended by the members, highlighted first by installation of officers, and, in the second month by a program focusing on Mozart, his life and his music.

As the year unfolds, each member is reminded that attendance at our many functions will count towards points leading to a Double Eagle medallion. Please contact the office staff for further information.

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he Double Eagle program recognizes that active members by awarding the medallion after the receipt of a preset number of points. This past year we were proud to award the medallion to 15 members of the Scottish Rite at a special ceremony. Points are awarded for attendance at stated meetings, business meetings, seminars, degrees, practices, etc., all associated with Seattle Valley sponsored events.

Our 2014 goals are many. We will be providing to our membership, a year filled with meaningful meetings, Masonic education and speakers, in addition to our traditional degrees. Our detailed schedule of activities will be forthcoming on our web page. You are urged and reminded to check on the dates of any upcoming future events, in the event that they have been cancelled or moved. While we try to develop a schedule for the entire Scottish Rite year, there are inevitable conflicts.

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e have received many petitions for our 2014 year, and will begin with the 4º and 14º on March 29, Saturday, starting at 11 AM. Venerable Master Jeff Craig and his cast, composed of members from the Lodge of Perfection, Rose Croix, Kadosh and Consistory, look forward to an outstanding degree(s) for the class. All members are urged to attend, as we focus on making these degrees a never-to-be-forgotten learning experience.

In coming weeks the office staff will also be developing a story of the Seattle Valley to be shown as a part of the Celebrating the Craft, being organized by the House of Temple in their annual effort, through the TV media to raise support and funds for the work on the Temple.

Please remember and spread the good works of our philanthropy, the Rite Care clinic of the Seattle Valley. We need the support of the members of the Seattle Valley at their upcoming Beers and Brats fund raiser, which is scheduled for April 12th. The past year shows an increase in donations for their work, a gratifying sign.

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e recently completed an upgrade to the lighting in the dining room, and the lobby rest room. We continue to make improvements to our Scottish Rite building, and we invite all of our members to come for a personal tour by the office staff. I would like to extend to our LLC members an appreciation of being ever ready to assist us as we make these improvements.

Fraternally, Sat Tashiro, 33° Personal Representative of the S:.G:.I:.G:.

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rethren, first I want to thank each and every one of you that continue to make the Valley of Seattle a wonderful place to practice Scottish Rite Freemasonry. As many of you know, at our stated meeting in January we had an excellent presentation on Mozart and Freemasonry. With well over 50 brethren in attendance, it was truly a spectacular night and seemed to make a great an impression on many of you.

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n our continual promise to be the University of Freemasonry we also kicked off our first School of the Ancient Rite (SOTAR) event in February with the discussion led by the school director, Dantes LaHens, 32°. We had a great turnout from members of our Valley, and also brethren from other Valleys and craft lodges interested in continual Masonic education.

The mimosas and breakfast items that Dantes provided were also a welcome treat and helped to get us in the mood for discussion. Please stay tuned for the announcement of when our next SOTAR event will be held.

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n April 15th we are delighted to host Illustrious Robert G. Davis, 33° Grand Cross, who will be talking about his new book, The Mason’s Words: The History and Evolution of the American Masonic Ritual. This will be open to all Masons, for further information see the announcement on page 13.

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astly, we have several degrees already scheduled for the year. Be sure to put them on your calendar and come and support this years candidates through their journey in Scottish Rite Freemasonry. The 4th - 14th degrees will be on March 29th.

Fraternally, Greg Goodrich, 33° General Secretary

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Scottish Rite Leadership Workshop March 14 & 15 Portland, Oregon

The biannual Supreme Council Leadership Workshop will be held in Portland, Oregon on March 14 & 15th. All members who are interested are encouraged to go. The registration fee to cover the costs of preparing and conducting the meetings is $175.00 per person, $50.00 for a spouse.

Hotel registration is extra. You can find more information and/or register at the Supreme Council website, www.scottishrite.org. Hotel registration is separate directly through the hotel but that information with links will be available through the Supreme Council website as well, www.scot-

Why exercise?

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hy exercise? My reply is “why not?” I grew up in the Midwest to a father who exercised routinely. Dad had been gifted with great strength and had held the heavyweight championship wrestling belts of North Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana and had beaten the champion from Canada. Unfortunately, Dad had rheumatic fever before penicillin and the sulfur drugs had been invented, which would have counteracted his high fever.

While I was growing up as a pre-teen, my father’s exercise routine became less frequent as his health deteriorated.

I promised myself that I would always exercise, if physically able to. Equally important to me, as a child, was eating slowly. Dad was a physician who had a huge medical practice and was often unable to sit down and enjoy a meal. Consequently, he often ate his meals quickly. I learned to eat slowly and fortunately maintained my weight as I grew. Nutrition was also an important ingredient along with exercise.

With exercise, I have learned to take whatever is given me. When I had my foot amputated in ‘86, cycling became my primary source of exercise. I lived close to the Burke Gilman Trail. Fortunately, my younger son, John, had the same passion for cycling that I did. When John was 13 we cycled from Seattle to Portland and also Seattle to Vancouver twice. Both events were sponsored by the Cascade Bicycle Club. When John approached me during his senior year of high school, in 1994, to cycle coast to coast, my response was “why not?” At 58 years of age, I was physically fit from years of continuous exercise and John and I both knew I could complete the 3,450 mile ride as an amputee.

The seven weeks of cycling was the greatest physical and emotional experience of my life and I shared it with my son! John summed up the experience in a newspaper article: “The ride has been even more special for me because I was doing it with my dad. We have had a few disagreements but have grown even closer together. We started out the trip in an outrageously small tent designed for one person, but since we’ve gotten a larger, roomier tent. This has helped a lot. I like being close to my dad, but not that close.”

My son John is now 37 years old and his exercise is running. He recently completed a 2 hrs 45 minute marathon.

John is training for a 100 mile run in one day later this year. Now at 77 years of age, I go to the LA Fitness four to five times a week. Although, I only cycle on a stationary bike, I always get my heart rate up to 150 as part of my strenuous exercise routine. Whenever I have to recite the Middle Chamber Lecture or recite the Preceptor in the 30th Degree, I always have my workout first, because my recitation is always better after exercise.

George Lofthus, 33° Almoner

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The Altar of Freemasonry

BY: WILLIAM HARVEY, J.P., F.S.A.Scot.

he enthusiastic Freemason who is genuinely interested in the system of morality which the Order exists to inculcate climbs rung after rung of the ladder which leads to knowledge in our mystic circle. Doubtless the brother who reaches the summit forgets much that he has learned in the course of his toilsome ascent, but one thing he is ever likely to remember is the Altar at which he knelt as an Initiate, and upon which, when darkness had been removed from his wondering eyes, he beheld the three great Lights of our Ancient and Honourable Fraternity. The Altar is the rallying point of Masonic thought.

It is the point with the Masonic circle at which all distinctions among men are swept away, and to which every member may stand related in a common endeavour to achieve a splendid equality of Virtue, Morality, and Brotherly Love. Rising from this sacred spot at which, by his belief in God and his honour as a man, he has pledged himself to secrecy, fidelity, and obedience, the young mason is privileged to view the Lodge as an emblem of the Universe, and to note the symbols of the Faith of which, of his own free will and accord, he has become a devotee. And the Altar itself may first claim his attention.

From earliest days the Altar has been invested with peculiarly sacred associations, and in most religions has been regarded as an indispensable requisite of every place of worship. In primitive times it was believed to be the temporary abode of the Deity; and, if the idea is well founded that the Lodge is a symbol of the Universe, it is fitting that the Altar should occupy a central position since the Supreme Being, whose favour we solicit, and whose love we acknowledge, is the centre and source of all creation. The original purpose of an altar was to provide a place where sacrifices could be made. After the erection of the Tabernacle, there was added the Altar of incense which is described as square in section, one cubit each way, and two cubits in height, with projecting horns; and authorities insist that is the proper form of a Masonic Altar. In the Jewish ritual the Altar had a three-fold significance: it was the place where sacrifices were made, where incense was offered, and at its horns certain classes of offenders found sanctuary. In modern Freemasonry, the whole may be moralized as the spot at which the fervent Craftsman offers the incense of Brotherly Love, Relieve, and Truth, on which he lays unruly passions and worldly appetites as a fitting sacrifice to the genius of the Order, and under the shadow of which he finds sanctuary from greed, and avarice, and other lusts that would devour him.

The Altar is the appropriate resting-place of the three great Lights of Masonry which are the Volume of the Sacred Law, the Square, and the Compasses. These are called the furniture of the Lodge, and are dedicated respectively to God, to the Master, and to the Craft. The Initiate is told that the Bible is a gift from God to man to rule and govern his faith, the Square is to square his actions, and the Compasses to keep im in due bounds with all mankind. Oliver, in his lectures, illustrates the three Lights as follows: “The Bible”, he says, “is said to derive from God to man in general, because the Almighty has been pleased to reveal more of His divine will by that holy Book than by any other means. The Compasses, being the chief implement used in the construction of all architectural plans and designs, are assigned to the Grand Master in particular, as emblems of His dignity, He being the chief Head and Ruler of the Craft. The Square is given to the whole Masonic body, because we are all obligated within it, and are consequently bound to act thereon.”

As we rise from the Altar to take our place in the Universe symbolized in the Lodge we, as worthy Masons, should carry the three great Lights with us, letting them be lamps unto our feet in all our later days: treasuring in our hearts the Volume of the Sacred Law as the unerring standard of Truth, the Square as the monitor of mercy, and the Compasses as the symbol of that circle of Temperance in all things by which we should constantly surround ourselves.

Passing from the Altar and the Lights, the Initiate may next observe the form of the Lodge of which he is now a unit. It is what is popularly, if somewhat inaccurately, described as “an oblong square”, and is situated due east and west. According to Oliver the form of the lodge ought to be “a double cube expressive of the united powers of darkness and light in the creation, and because the ark of the Covenant and the Altar of incense were both of that figure.” Dr. Albert G. Mackey, in his “Lexicon of Freemasonry,” puts forward the theory that the oblong form has a symbolic allusion to the ancient world.

“If,” he says, “we draw lines which shall circumscribe just that portion of the world which was known and inhabited at the time of the building of Solomon’s Temple, these lines, running a short distance north and south of the Mediterranean Sea, and extending from Spain to Asia Minor, will form an oblong square, whose greatest length will be from east to west, and whose greatest breadth will be from north to south. This oblong square, he adds, which thus enclosed the whole inhabited part of the globe would represent the form of the Lodge, to denote the universality of Masonry, since the world constitutes the Lodge; a doctrine that has since been taught in that expressing sentence: In every clime the Mason may find a home, and in every land a brother.” Brethren with a larger imagination take even a broader view than Mackey, telling us that the Lodge represents the whole universe, being in length from east to west, and in breadth from north to south, and in height even to Heaven itself. And it is just because of this that the roof is frequently decorated to represent the starry firmament,

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an emblem of those immortal mansions to which faithful Masons hope at last to ascend, there to behold the Grand Master of the Universe who reigns for ever. To reach the celestial city the Initiate is taught that he must climb a ladder which rests upon the Volume of the Sacred Law, and of which the principal rungs are Faith, Hope and Charity -- Faith in God, Hope of Immortality, and Charity towards all men.

The Ladder, frequently called Jacob’s Ladder, because it suggests that which appeared to Jacob in his vision at Bethel, is one of the prominent emblems of the Tracing Board to which the Initiate Section 1s attention may next be directed. There is a tradition that in early days the speculative Mason, anxious to illustrate his teaching, followed the fashion of his Operative brother, and chalked the desired design on the floor of the Lodge, just as to-day, in rural places, we may find a stonemason who draws upon the ground the arch for which he is dressing stones. It is probably on account of this ancient custom that one prominent feature in the movable Tracing-Board of to-day is what is called the Mosaic Pavement which represent the Floor or Carpet of the Lodge.

The pavement itself with its checkered squares is a fit emblem of human life, with all its lights and shadows -- its joys and sorrows, its successes and failures. To-day “our feet tread in prosperity, tomorrow we totter on the uneven paths of weakness, temptation and adversity,” and, therefore, by such a moral emblem as this we are taught “not to boast of anything but to give heed to our ways, and walk with humility and uprightness before God.” The Pavement is skirted by the indented or Tesselated Border, and the whole is bound by a cord of sixty threads which terminate in tassels pendant from the corners.

The conventional explanation of the Indented Border is, that, as the Pavement “points out to us the diversity of objects which decorate and adorn the whole creation,” so the Border “refers us to the Planets which , in their various revolutions, form a beautiful border or skirtwork round the Sun,” an explanation which, I fear, is not very satisfactory. A more reasonable interpretation is given of the cord of sixty strands. These strands, Bro. J.G. Gibson tells us, “represent the regular number of members” that were wont to be in a Lodge, and the whole, he adds, “was arranged round the boards with a series of lovers’ knots -- all meaning the mystic tie by which each of the members of the Lodge, and all, might be regarded as bound to serve the brotherhood and each member of it.”

The Tassels pendant from the corners are called the Guttural, Pectoral, Manual and Pedal Tassels, and they allude to the four Cardinal Points of the Lodge -- N. S. E. and W. -- the four Cardinal Virtues, and the Mason who desires a Biblical reference says that they also refer to the four rivers of Paradise. According to one authority they point us to four deliberate acts in the First Degree.

Guttural, the tongue, alludes to the penalty of the Obligation under which the Initiate swore never to divulge the secrets of the Order; Pectoral, the breast, in which the Freemason safely deposits his secrets from a curious world; Manual, the hand placed on the Volume of the Sacred law, as a testimony of his assent to the Obligation of a Mason; and Pedal, the feet placed in proper position at the N.E. part of the Lodge to denote a just and upright man and Mason.

It is said that Marcellus, the roman consul, contemplated building a temple to Virtue and Honour, but departed from the idea, and later, erected two structures so placing them that the worshipper who desired to approach the temple of Honour could only do so by passing through the temple of Virtue. The design of the Consul is object lesson to all men that Honour cannot be attained except by Virtue. To make men virtuous is one of the main objects of the Fraternity. Virtue has been described as the highest exercise of Reason, and Honour as the most manly sentiment or impulse of the soul which Virtue can inspire.

The actions of all good men are regulated by Honour, for the man of Honour scorns to do evil. The Virtuous and the Honourable man is also a man of Mercy, that quality which adds lustre to the monarch Section 1s crown, freshness to the victor Section 1s wreath, and is the chief attribute of the deity on whom the best and wisest of men must rest his hope when the actions of this mortal life are weighed in the eternal balance.

Virtue, Honour, and Mercy crown the hill of high endeavour which every faithful craftsman seeks to climb, and if he be true to his code, and earnest in his toil, then, in the words of the familiar lecture, “though these characteristics should be banished from all other societies they will still be found in a Mason’s breast.”

The lessons which the Freemason learns at the Altar would not only be seen reflected in his own life, but should help him to influence the world around. The thought is beautifully expressed in the opening lines of a poems by br. McBride, Bard of Leven St. John No. 170: Go forth, go forth and be a Mason true Be master of thyself, and thou shalt sway A mightier sceptre than great Caesar knew, A Kingdom grander, born not for a day, But as thyself - - immortal.

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Simón Bolívar Scottish Rite Freemason

The minds of liberty-conscious souls of North and South America turned to the beautiful little city, Bolivar, Missouri, on July 5, 1948.

There the imposing 7-foot bronze figure of Simon Bolivar, South America’s Liberator and a Mason, standing on a marble base 11 feet high, the gift of Venezuela, was unveiled. There the life, the character and achievements of the George Washington of six countries of South America were fittingly commemorated in the speeches of President Harry S. Truman, President Romulo Gallegos of Venezuela, and the Governor of Missouri, Philip M. Donnelly, and by the presence of Sr. Gonzalo Carnevali, Venezuelan Ambassador, other notables and thousands of plain American citizens.

“Bolivar’s life presents one of history’s most colorful personal canvases of adventure and tragedy, glory and defeat,” said Wallace Thompson.

We here present but a brief sketch of his life’s picture, and express the hope that our readers may not only seek to learn of the 200 battles he fought as he moved his troops over an untracked wilderness under an equatorial sun, and in the severe weather atop the Andes, of the nations he freed from the yoke of Spanish oppression, but that they will study his life’s work and his writings to learn of his motives, his ideals of liberty in all its phases, his achievements, and his concepts of statecraft. For the six republics - Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia - and the foundation laid for Pan American relations for the Western Hemisphere are monuments to his military skill and statesman-like vision.

Born to the nobility and to wealth in Caracas, July 24, 1783, Simon Bolivar forsook the luxurious life of material things and the social position for the nobility of the spirit, and he died in abject poverty.

The Liberator’s father was Juan Vincente Bolivar y Ponte, and his mother was Maria de la Concepcion Palacios y Blanco. Both of his parents were of noble families and both died before he was fifteen years of age.

After acquiring a liberal education at home, largely from private tutors, Simon was sent to Europe at the age of seventeen under the guidance of his favorite tutor, Simon Rodriguez, a noted philosopher who was received among the scholars of Europe as such and who was suspected of “radical leanings” as he was in sympathy with the teachings of the great French philosophers of the 18th century which were held in abhorrence by the overly nice people of Spain, France, Italy and the ruling class of his native land - the exploiting class.

With an income of $20,000 a year - a large income for that period - and the husband, at the age of eighteen, of a rich wornan who had attained her sixteenth year, social attentions were showered on young Bolivar by the courts of Europe, the great and the near great, much of which he regarded with superciliousness.

His wife died of yellow fever in less than a year after her marriage, and Bolivar a few years later returned to Europe to study conditions there. While in Madrid, he was presented to His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen, with a condescension which his keen sense of such relations perceived as empty social etiquette extended to a rich, young Colonia of noble blood. As was due one of his social standing, Bolivar was received in audience by the Pope. But one age-old custom at the Holy See, always expected of visitors at such audiences, is that of kissing the Pope’s foot. This Bolivar refused to do, “looking the other way.” Asked by the Spanish Ambassador, who had taken him to the Vatican, why he had not conformed to the custom, he curtly replied that his respect for the high office of the Pontiff should not be measured by an act of servility.

Like Thomas Jefferson, who had visited Europe, Bolivar saw much and reflected much on the causes of the despair, squalor and degradation of the masses in Rome and the larger cities of France, Italy and Spain, where Romanism so largely prevailed. Having observed the same conditions in his own country, he, a few mornings after his audience with the Pope, climbed to the top of Mount Aventin with his faithful Rodriguez. There, while meditating amidst the ruins caused by the defiance of the power of aristocracy by the people, Bolivar suddenly saw a great light and, throwing his hands heavenward, is said to have taken a vow to devote his life to freeing his own land from the oppressive power of Spain.

Bolivar had spent much time in Paris and there became a Mason in the York Rite and received the Scottish Rite Degrees as far as the 30th Degree.

Returning to Venezuela by the way of the United States of America, where he visited many celebrities in the eastern cities, he returned to Caracas at the end of 1809, at the age of twenty-six. He soon offered his services to the junta of which he was a member and which, on April 19, 1810, had revolted against the crown of Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain, in favor of Ferdinand VII, son of Charles IV, who had been deposed by the French Government, and they forced the Viceroy to abdicate. Thus Venezuela was the first Colony of Spain to declare its independence, an event which took place July 5, 1811.

The spirit of revolt having been participated in early by General Miranda, a Mason, who had served under George Washington in the War for Independence, Bolivar was sent by the junta to England to call him back from exile to the colors of the Revolutionaries. He returned and headed the revolutionary forces with Bolivar as one of his generals. Defeated by the Spanish forces, Bolivar became a refugee on the Island of Curacao. But, by September, 1812, he was in Cartagena, where he scored a victory against the S panish in New Granada (now Colombia). Then, at the head of some 500 men, he marched over the Andes to Venezuela and, joined by many recruits en route there, he defeated a large Spanish force and, though he entered Caracas triumphantly on August 4, 1813, he was defeated a year later.

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Returning to New Granada, he won a victory at Bogota. But, failing at Santa Marta, he resigned his commission and went to Jamaica and then to Haiti. From there, with the aid of President Peton, he organized a small force and sailed for Venezuela in March, 1816, where for three years his fortunes of war varied between defeat and victory. Offering to resign at the end of three years, he was prevailed upon to continue the war. This was in 1819.

Having reorganized the army, Bolivar for the third time crossed the Cordilleras of the Andes to New Granada. There he joined the forces of General Santander, a Mason and a Republican leader, and, in August, won the pivotal battle of Boyaca. Four months later Venezuela united with New Granada and formed the new Republic of Colombia and, following the victory at Bambona, Ecuador was included as a part of the new republic. With the victory over the Spaniards at Carabobo, June 25, 1821, Spain lost control of this area.

The Spanish power was not yet cleared from that vast region of upper and lower Peru (now Peru and Bolivia) which extended from the boundaries of Chile and Argentina to Ecuador. General Jose de San Martin, a Mason, and General Bernardo O’Higgins, also a Mason, had freed Argentina and Chile of the Spanish power, and the former, now “Protector” of Peru, arrived at Guayaquil on July 26, - 1822, where he conferred with Bolivar. What procedures were decided upon, with respect to Peru, at that conference between t hese two great Spanish Liberators, both of whom were Masons, will probably never be known. San Martin resigned his “Protectorship” of Peru and returned to Argentina. At any rate Bolivar took over and, arriving at Callao, September 1, 1823, he was invested with the title of “Liberator” of Peru. He trained some 4,000 Peruvians and, with the army that had come to Peru with him, he had some 9,000 men. With these he engaged an equal number of Spaniards at Junin in a bloody cavalry battle with sabers, where not a shot was fired, and won a victory which, with the one at Ayacucho on December 9, 1824, under General Antonio Jose de Sucre, forever ended the Colonial power of Spain in the New World.

Having planned these battles with General Sucre, a Mason, Bolivar went to Lima to organize a civic government and to call a constitutional convention. When, on February 8, 1825, he had effected the new government, he resigned the supreme power in Colombia and Peru. Declining a gift of 1,000,000 pesos (about $200,000) from Peru and having attended to some civic matters in upper Peru (Bolivia), Bolivar left General Sucre in charge and headed for Bogota, Colombia, to quiet civil strife which had arisen between his former comrades. Arriving there in November, 1826, he soon went on to Venezuela, calling a constitutional convention enroute to meet at Valencia, January, 15, 1827. Though he had not been able to adjust the disaffection, he entered Caracas in triumph. Finally, after fourteen years in supreme command, Bolivar’s resignation was accepted by the Congress at his request, in the face of the intrigue and abuse of his enemies who were hungry for power. Returning to Bogota in September, 1828, he called a general convention but, despite his appeals, most of his old friends withdrew, leaving no quorum. In September, he escaped assassination in Bogota. Trouble broke out in Peru, which, with the help of Sucre, was quieted in 1829. Trouble resumed in Venezuela and Colombia and, though he was recovering from a critical illness at Guayaquil, he returned to Bogota. His convention having failed of organization, the disaffection between his old followers not having been settled, and being in ill health, he finally again resigned the supreme power, April 27, 1830, which he had taken temporarily, and left Bogota, feted and honored as he went from place to place on his way to Cartagena. There he learned of the murder of his most trusted and efficient General Sucre, on June 4th, the effect of which, together with his advanced state of tuberculosis, caused his death on December 17, 1830, at the age of forty-seven, at a country place a few miles from Santa Marta, Colombia, where he issued his last proclamation.

Intrepid, hopeful, farsighted, indomitable, and profound in his thinking for the welfare of mankind, Bolivar proclaimed, to those who had the vision to see, the following Masonic principles as his life ebbed to the shores beyond: “All of you must work for the inestimable good of the Union; the people obeying the government in order to avoid anarchy; the ministers praying to heaven for guidance; and the military using its sword in defense of social guaranties. . . . If my death contributes to the end of partisanship and the consolidation of the Union, I shall be lowered in peace into my grave.” - Simón Bolívar - Article by Elmer E. Rogers, 33°

Simón Bolívar as President of Gran Colombia

32° apron belonging to Simón Bolívar

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Seattle Scottish Rite Presents

on Tuesday April 15, 2014, world renowned author Robert G. Davis will be speaking on his new book about the history and evolution of the America masonic Ritual. This is sure to be an event that you will not want to miss out on. This is the story of the masonic ritual, the language and ceremonial forms that have evolved into the present structure of American Freemasonry, defined its lodge space, and offered its members the same stabilizing influence of instruction that has prevailed on every continent for nearly 400 years. This is the story of the mason's words; the history and evolution of the American masonic ritual. It is an interesting bit of history that is perhaps all the more fascinating because it is so rarely known. “This is one of the most important books to be written about Freemasonry in many years. In this book he turns his attention to the past, to pin down the elusive history of the Masonic ritual---no easy task for words which traditionally were not written down The research is excellent, and the writing invites you to join a voyage of discovery which reaches through space and time. It is rewarding in every way, and belongs in the library of every Mason and everyone interested in Freemasonry�. - Jim Tresner, Masonic Author and Historian.

Tuesday April 15, 2014 All masons welcome : 6:30 pm : $15.00 dinner : 1207 N 152nd St. Shoreline, WA RSvP Required : www.seattle-scottishrite.org : 206.324.3330

History of the Rite

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ike so much early Masonic history, the origins of the Scottish Rite are hidden in mist. There’s evidence that by the early 1730s in England there were “Scotch Masons” or “Scots Master Masons,” a step after the Master Mason Degree (and apparently unrelated to Scotland). By 1742 in Berlin there was talk of “higher or so-called Scottish Masonry.” In 1743 the Grand Lodge of France adopted a regulation limiting the privileges of “Scots Masters” in lodges. It’s clear from these few mentions that something was going on behind the scenes with “Scottish Masonry,” but we’re not quite sure what. These developments were happening at the same time the Royal Arch was gestating before its birth in 1754. It’s even possible that the Royal Arch and Scottish Masonry came from the same sources. We just don’t know.

What we do know is that the high degrees found fertile ground when they were introduced to French Masonry.

In 1745, two years after restricting Scotch Masons, the Grand Lodge of France gave them special privileges, and more privileges and authority followed in 1747 and 1755. In contrast, the Royal Arch appears in lodge minutes in America in 1753 and England in 1758 with little official notice. By 1766 we know that an elaborate sequence of High Degree or “Scottish” Masonry is being worked in France. There’s much activity prior to 1766 that we’ll cover later, but we want to take a look now at that sequence of High Degrees.

Emperors and Knights in France

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ompetition is the force that drives the world’s economies, and it also seems to have driven Scottish Masonry in France, which became part of jockeying for power within the Grand Lodge of France. The Council of the Knights of the East, Sovereign Prince Masons, was organized in 1756, and included in its government middleclass Masons who had been excluded in previous High Degree ventures. It is not known how many degrees the Knights worked, but they seem to have faded out around 1768–1779.

Coming on the heels of the Knights of the East in 1758 was the Sovereign Council of Emperors of the East and of the West, Sublime Scottish Mother Lodge. The Emperors attracted the upper class and nobility and competed with the knights in the number of degrees they offered. (Just from a marketing point of view the newer group bested the older: “Emperors” are more powerful than “Knights,” and “East and West” is twice an extensive as only “East.”)

The Invention of Stephen Morin

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n August 1761 Stephen Morin received a patent from the Grand Lodge of France “authorizing and empowering him to establish perfect and sublime Masonry in all parts of the world, etc., etc.” Morin was a wine merchant from Bordeaux and set up business in Santo Domingo in what is now the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean.

Morin is little remembered for his wine business, but his Masonic activities have gained him lasting fame.

It took Morin about 15 months to make it from France to Santo Domingo, arriving in January 1763, because his ship was captured by the English and he was taken to England. While we know that he arrived with a patent of authority over the High Degrees, we don’t know how many or which High Degrees he controlled! What we do know is that he met a Dutch merchant, Henry Andrew Francken, and made him a Deputy Inspector General sometime between 1763 and 1767. Francken in turn traveled to Albany, New York, and created there a Lodge of Perfection (4°–14°) in 1767.

In addition to creating the Albany Lodge of Perfection, Francken at least four times copied all of his degrees into books: 1771, 1783, and two undated versions. The “Francken Manuscripts” contain the earliest English versions of 21 degrees from 4°, “Secret Master,” to 25°, “The Royal Secret or Knights of St. Andrews—the faithful guardians of the Sacred Treasure,” a 25-degree system with the first three degrees conferred in Blue Lodges. This should establish conclusively that Morin worked a system of 25 degrees, right? Well, only if the degrees that Morin gave to Francken are the same ones that he received in France!

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Page 12 There is growing evidence that Morin took whatever high degrees he had received in France and refashioned them into the Order of the Royal Secret, creating additional degrees as needed. The governing document, the “Constitutions of 1762,” has been discovered by Masonic scholar Alain Bernheim to be a slightly modified version of the constitution of the Grand Lodge of France. Morin apparently acted to create a new Masonic body with himself as the only “Grand Inspector.”

The First Supreme Council: Charleston, 1801

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owever the 25-degree Order of the Royal Secret came into being, it proved popular. These French high degrees, unlike the English York Rite, were spread by traveling Inspectors who conferred them for a fee. It wasn’t necessary to wait for enough Masons in a town to receive the high degrees somewhere else and for them to apply for a charter; the itinerant Inspector could take care of everything as soon as he arrived. Eight bodies of the Royal Secret were formed in America before 1800, from New Orleans to Albany. The weakness of the Order proved to be the unchecked system of Inspectors General.

Each Inspector General could confer the degrees on Master Masons, establish local bodies, and create new Inspectors—all for an appropriate fee. There were no guidelines on cost, no limitation on numbers, and no restriction on how many more Inspectors an Inspector could create. By 1800 there were over 80 Inspectors General, and the system was moving toward chaos.

Then on May 31, 1801, the first Supreme Council of the Thirty-third Degree, the Mother Council of the World, declared its existence with a motto of “Ordo ab Chao” (Order from Chaos). It announced a new 33 degree system of high degrees that incorporated all 25 of the Order of the Royal Secret, and added eight more, including that of 33°, Sovereign Grand Inspector General. This new organization declared control of high-degree Masonry in America.

The new Supreme Council had a written constitution and a plan for organizing and managing the bodies under its control. The problem it faced was how to rein in the roving Inspectors General. The solution was shrewd and depended upon convincing the Inspectors to voluntarily yield allegiance to the Supreme Council. Any Inspector of the 25° would be given authority to confer up to the 32° (the extra seven degrees would make his product more attractive), if he turned in his old patent and agreed to follow the rules of the Supreme Council. This strategy was reasonably successful, and independent Inspectors General soon disappeared.

The Second American Supreme Council: New York, 1806

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he Charleston Supreme Council had organized itself according to the “Grand Constitution of the Thirty-third Degree,” purportedly written by Frederick the Great of Prussia in 1786. The Constitution provided for one Supreme Council in each country, except that the United States of America could have up to two. (This is an odd provision for a document supposedly originating from Prussia in 1786!) The decision to create a second American Supreme Council was unexpectedly thrust upon the Supreme Council in Charleston.

The second Supreme Council in the world was established in Santo Domingo in 1802, a fitting return to Stephen Morin’s home. This Supreme Council died with the slave revolt on the island, but one of its members, Antoine Bideaud, fled to New York. While there he came across five Frenchmen who were interested in the high degrees.

For a fee of $46 in 1806 (about $565 in 2000), Bideaud conferred the degrees upon his customers and formed them into a “Consistory” of the 32°—all without the knowledge of the Charleston Supreme Council.

The same year that Bideaud was creating his Consistory, Joseph Cerneau, a French jeweler, moved from Cuba to New York City. He had a patent from an Inspector of the Order of the Royal Secret that gave him limited powers in Cuba, but that didn’t stop him from setting up his own consistory in New York City. Cerneau operated without saying much about whether he had a 25-degree or 32-degree consistory.

Emmanuel de la Motta, the Grand Treasurer from the Charleston Supreme Council, arrived in New York City in 1813, examined the two competing factions, and decided against Cerneau. De la Motta regularized Bideaud’s group and transformed them into the second Supreme Council for America, now known as the “Northern Masonic Jurisdiction” and consisting of 15 mid-western and northeastern states from Wisconsin and Illinois northeast to Maine. The original Supreme Council or “Southern Jurisdiction” is composed of the other 35 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. All regular Supreme Councils of the world today descend from the Mother Supreme Council of Charleston.

- Supreme Council, 33°, S.J., U.S.A.

Beer Festival Come raise a glass to our 30th anniversary!

APRIL 12, 2014 12:00 -5:00 PM -Over a dozen breweries to sample - Full bratwurst lunch - SWAG, raffles and prizes - Music by GatorBoy Productions - $30.00 through Brown Paper Tickets* ($35.00 at the door)

On Saturday, April 12th, from 12:00 to 5:00 PM, RiteCare of Washington will host our second annual Beer Festival at the Seattle Scottish Rite Masonic Center. Entry fee includes 7 tastes, a full bratwurst lunch and commemorative event glass. Extra tastes can be purchased at the event.

Breweries to date include Hilliard's Beer, Fremont Brewing Company, Diamond Knot Brewing Company, Big E's Ales, Lagunitas Brewing Company, Fort George, Deschutes, Mac and Jac's, Sierra Nevada and six different breweries' beers from the Odom Corporation and Great Artisan Beverage Company!

RiteCare of Washington opened its doors in Seattle in 1984.Through fundraising events such as the Beer Festival we can keep our doors open and serve more families and children in need! *http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/579261 Or stop by the clinic to purchase tickets.

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Scottish Rite Research Society ‘Studying our past to illuminate our future’

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s I sat in the Salt Lake City airport for 22 hours trying to find a flight home after mine was cancelled I had the opportunity to do some reading. I never travel with out several books, and usually at least one of them relates to Masonry. So in a quiet corner of the airport, at 2 am I was reading “God’s Soldiers”

by Dudley Wright originally published in the 1920’s.

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his book is a spine chilling narrative for any Freemason as it addresses the arrest and interrogation of Freemasons up and into the 19th century by the Inquisition. Many of you might hear that name and think it died centuries before, but it did not and was actively pursuing Freemasons into the 1800’s in countries where it held sway. It made me about why we tyle our door, and how important the Tyler is to our Brotherhood.

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hen we hear our ritual recited at each meeting the words sometimes sound archaic, but when you reflect on them you realize that when they were first uttered in a masonic lodge they heralded the coming of democracy, liberty and justice for the common person in a world ruled by wealth, royalty and state religions.

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n a time of almost overwhelming oppresand protected by our oaths, nascent about the freedom of religion, the freedom and the freedom of movement. In short, first conceived as something real and enof those sanctuaries of conscience and and Lafayette to name a few.

sion, behind the safety of our tyled doors ideas were beginning to be discussed, ideas to pursue liberty, the freedom of thought in those tiny lodges the modern world was during. Look at the men who walked out changed the world, Franklin, Washington,

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ach era has its taboo subject, each time has its inquisition driven by those established in power and wealth who would retard or extinguish the birth of a new better world. Never forget your brothers in Light who died for believing in freedom, science, and justice, in short hope of a better world for all mankind. So often in the past that new world has been conceived first in a Lodge dedicated to the Holy Sts John. We, as Freemasons, should foster and promote a better world and we should stand ready to shield and defend it against those who would oppose it. The first soldier in the army of the Light is the Tyler. Next meeting thank him for his service.

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y Brethren the Scottish Rite Research Society is not a university, its not a place to get schooled in our history. It’s a band of brothers dedicated to the discovery of more Light. Please, join us in this quest. Our world, our time, as all times needs your dedicated service to explore, preserve and expand our special Light to the world.

Thank you!

Mike Priddy, 32° http://www.scottishriteresearch.com

(The Scottish Rite Research Society® (SRRS) was formed on May 8, 1991, when fourteen Scottish Rite Freemasons were granted a charter by the Supreme Council, 33°, S.J. The administrative offices of the SRRS are at the House of the Temple in Washington, D.C., under the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite. Activities and publications of the Society are governed by a Board of Directors, who are all Life Members of the Society, representing Scottish Rite valleys across the country.)

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Valley Messages Lodge of Sorrow Our brethren lie before us, overtaken by that relentless fate which, sooner or later, is to overtake us all..

Virtus Junxit Mors Non Separabit Julian Everett Myles Holmdahl Kenneth Kessler Arnold Olson Jack Sahlberg Harvey G. Scott Leonard Vann

01/31/2013 01/28/2010 01/11/2014 10/22/2013 11/20/2013 12/15/2013 01/25/2014

Happy Birthday!

Congratulations from all your Scottish Rite brethren to our members who have reached a very important birthday!

March William Porter Frederick Maxam William Mattson James Prince Edward Baker James Stephens Ralph Hansell George Artim April Richard Clow Harold Lauridsen Henry Smith David Smith Manuel Lott Norman Figgins Edward Hyde Edgar King Hardy Day William Johnson

3/11/1917 3/23/1918 3/9/1920 3/14/1920 3/19/1920 3/25/1921 3/21/1922 3/13/1923 4/26/1917 4/23/1918 4/2/1920 4/7/1920 4/13/1920 4/19/1920 4/18/1921 4/8/1922 4/27/1923 4/6/1924

Page 16 Scottish Rite of Freemasonry 1207 N 152nd Street Seattle, WA 98133

Periodicals Postage Paid USPS 485-660

Schedule of Events

March 2014

Saturday March 1st

www.seattlescottishrite.org

9:00 am

Executive Council

Sunday March 2nd

Tuesday March 18th

3:00 pm

Grand Master’s Reception (Masters here at 2:00)

6:30 pm

Stated Meeting (Remembrance & Renewal)

Saturday March 29th

11:00 am

4° - 14° (Candidates here at 11:00 am)

Saturday April 5th

9:00 am

Executive Council

Tuesday April 15th

6:30 pm

Stated Meeting (Robert G. Davis, 33° presentation)

April 2014

The Third Annual Celebrating the Craft May 17, 2014 from 3pm to 9pm (PDT).

Conceived in 2012, Celebrating the Craft (CTC) tribute to the Scottish Rite and its members, endeavors. CTC is similar in structure to a tele-

is an annual webcast hosted each May that pays while also supporting the Fraternity’s charitable thon, but is broadcast over the internet.

The Third Annual Celebrating the Craft will air The show focuses on Freemasonry, the Scottish of Brothers throughout the Southern Jurisdicof laughter, entertainment, and learning that pays members and supports a greater good.

on May 17, 2014 from 3pm to 9pm (pacific).

Rite, and the vast talents and accomplishments tion. CTC is about coming together for a night homage to our cherished fraternity and esteemed

Throughout the live six-hour program, viewers are encouraged to make a donation via phone or online to be split 50/50 between the House of the Temple Historic Preservation Foundation, Inc. and Scottish Rite philanthropies in the donor’s Orient as directed by his SGIG or Deputy.