The Journal Of The Masonic Society
SPRING II 2013
Issue 20
Spring II 2013
10
OF THE
MASONIC SOCIETY
Thoughts on Masonic Research by S. Brent Morris, FMS
WWW.THEMASONICSOCIETY.COM
ISSN 2155-4145
Executive Editor Michael Halleran editor@themasonicsociety.com
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Political incorrectness in eighteenth century Boston by John T. Parsons
1427 W. 86th Street, Suite 248 Indianapolis IN 46260-2103 Editorial Committee Kenneth W. Davis - Reviews Editor
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Queries concerning prospective articles should be sent to: Articles@themasonicsociety.com
Widow Unveiled by Kenneth W. Davis, MMS
Design & layout John A. Bridegroom, FMS - Art Director
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Alphonse Mucha by Adam Kendall
Officers John R. Cline, President James R. Dillman, 1st Vice President John Palmer - 2nd Vice president Nathan C. Brindle, Secretary/Treasurer Christopher L. Hodapp, Editor Emeritus
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Issue 20
FEATURES
THE JOURNAL
Directors Ronald Blaisdell Kenneth W. Davis Andrew Hammer James W. Hogg Mark Tabbert
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The broken column of Daniel H. Boughton by Herbert F. Merrick
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Traditionally Speaking by Cliff Porter
SECTIONS 4 President’s Message 5 News of the Society 6 Conferences, Speeches,
36 Symposia & Gatherings
8 From the Editor 30 Masonic Treasures 31 Book Reviews
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Journal of The Masonic Society, 1427 W. 86th Street, Suite 248, Indianapolis IN 46260-2103 © 2013 by The Masonic Society, Inc. All rights reserved. The MS circle and quill logo, and the name “The Masonic Society” are trademarks of The Masonic Society, Inc. and all rights are reserved.
THE COVER: The Masonic Hall at Beamish, The North of England Open Air Museum, is typical of the type of hall built in the late 1800s. Originally it was built by St John’s Lodge of Sunderland in 1869. It was disassembled and moved to the Museum in 2006. The frontage is original, and the lodge room is as close to the original as could be achieved. It is a spectacular glimpse of Masonic history. SPRING II 2013• 3
THE JOURNAL OF THE MASONIC SOCIETY
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
The Real World Practice of Freemasonry. by John R. “Bo” Cline, FMS
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n 2011, Albert McClelland, with support from the Grand Lodge of Indiana, hosted a series of video lectures on the internet entitled The Worldwide Exemplification of Freemasonry (http://weofm. org/). These video presentations are still available on the internet today and are an amazing source of information on Masonic history, philosophy, and symbolism. This past year, Matanuska Lodge No. 7 (my mother lodge) began displaying these videos in open lodge for the benefit of all of the members. We also provided additional information to augment these lectures and moderated the discussion and questions afterward. I have witnessed a growth in the maturity of my lodge through the discussion of these videos, which has led to a more satisfying Masonic experience for all.
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I must stop here and say that, although desirable from my perspective, the real world practice of Freemasonry described above is not one which I have experienced to any great extent during my pursuit of Masonic light. Rather, what I have experienced in Freemasonry has been confusion between Masonic ‘Work’ and the ‘Business’ of a lodge. As I was introduced to the Craft through the ‘Work’, I was enticed by the promise of further Masonic education. What I have typically experienced during lodge gatherings can be best described in the definition taken from my grandfather’s 1917 Masonic monitor, which states, “The business of the Lodge is that which it does chiefly in common with other societies”.4 The image of a business
asons should ask themselves what is meant by systems of morality and wisdom today...
One of the recent videos we viewed that particularly resonated with me was titled The Dilemmas of Freemasonry & The Masonic Secret, presented by Dr. Bob James, an educator and Freemason from New South Wales, Australian. In his presentation, Dr. James argues that the failings of modern Freemasonry are internal and are based on the mistaken belief that the theory and practice of Masonry are one and the same.1 He offers as a definition of Freemasonry’s theory one attributed to Albert Pike, who in the nineteenth century said: Freemasonry is a system of morality and wisdom, both practical and speculative, truth is its center, the eternal point pointing out to its disciples, not only a knowledge of the Great Architect of the Universe and the moral laws, which He has ordained for their guidance, but of those useful arts and sciences, which alone distinguish civilized man from his uninformed savage brother. 2 Dr. James argues that these are not the words that most would choose today to describe our Craft, as they don’t sound appropriate, they don’t reflect the society of change, because the society around Freemasonry has changed. He goes on to argue that instead of stating what Freemasonry IS in terms used by our eighteenth and nineteenth century brethren, we should consider what Freemasonry is today, and that the practice of Masonry should allow for discussion and the interchange of ideas from the “real world”. Masons should ask themselves what is meant by systems of morality and wisdom today; what is the difference between practical and speculative today; what is the nature of truth, especially Masonic truth; what is meant by the center of truth and the eternal point; how do disciples and the Great Architect communicate; how are God’s moral laws known; and what were the useful arts and sciences 4 • SPRING II 2013
in the nineteenth century and what are they today?3
meeting that is common with other societies doesn’t really fit my image of what Freemasonry is as defined by Pike or even the practice of allowing for discussion and the interchange of ideas as described by Dr. James. What I have always been wanting and have practiced independently is the pursuit of Masonic education. Dr. James states that “only about one percent of Masons today are interested in Masonic education and only about one percent of those do anything about it.” 5 I can’t attest to the accuracy of this statistic. Although I understand that men join in our labors for various reasons, I do believe that self improvement through the study of history, philosophy, and the symbols of Freemasonry is chief among them. I have reflected on this unconfirmed statistic and the nature and purpose of The Masonic Society and have come to the conclusion that, if it is accurate, then the members of our Society represent a portion of the one percent of Masons who truly have an interest in Masonic education. It is this fact that first drew me to The Masonic Society, and it is my association with you, the pursuers of Masonic light, that revives me and renews my faith that Freemasonry will long endure. NOTES 1 2 3 4 5
J ames, Bob. “Dr.” The Dilemmas of Freemasonry & The Masonic Secret. http://www.weofm.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id= 69&Itemid=67: Worldwide Exemplification of Freemasonry, June 11, 2011. (James 2011) (James 2011) Reed, Thomas Milburne. “P.G.M.” The Washington Monitor and Freemason’s Guide. The Grand Lodge of Washington, 1917. (James 2011)
THE JOURNAL OF THE MASONIC SOCIETY
News of the Society
T
he Masonic Service Association of North America is embarking on a monumental publishing effort. The MSA has published a Short Talk Bulletin virtually every month since 1923. Now, they are assembling these gems of Masonic education into bound volumes, freshly edited and typeset. It will soon be possible to own complete bound sets on subjects that range from Masonic history, symbolism, philosophy and biographies. Volume 1 (1923-1937) of five projected volumes will be printed in Fall 2013 for delivery before Christmas, featuring an index and more than 750 pages. Subsequent volumes will be published every 9-12 months. All profits will be used to support MSA activities. The books are edited by Brother S. Brent Morris, editor of the Scottish Rite Journal.
the decision of the Grand Master declaring the Shrine clandestine. This vote approved the statements and letters issued by the current Grand Master concerning Arkansas’s relationship to the Shrine, and the choice he declared his members must make concerning either being a member of the Shrine or blue lodge, but not both.
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he Scottish Rite Northern Jurisdiction is selling its headquarters compound to the city of Lexington, Massachusetts for approximately $11 million. The Rite will move into space at the adjacent National Heritage Museum (which is NOT being sold).
Three options are planned. The Master Mason Edition will be bound in linen fabric with sewn signatures. Price: $90 + $7 shipping (Pre-publication price: $55 + $7 shipping if ordered before September 1, 2013). The Lodge Edition is identical to the Master Mason edition, but lodges may order 1 copy per lodge for $45 + $7 shipping, only if paid for with a lodge check. Must be ordered before September 1, 2013. The Grand Master Edition is bonded leather binding, with gilt edges and satin book marks, and autographed. Price is $150 + $15 shipping. Pre-publication price is $110 + $15 shipping if ordered before September 1, 2013. Shipping costs are for U.S. orders only. Please contact the MSANA for non-U.S. orders. Publication of this volume is dependent upon sufficient prepublication sales prior to September 1, 2013. All pre-publication payments will be reimbursed if there are an insufficient number of orders.
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er the Grand Lodge of Ohio’s Facebook page:
“Effective this date: February 11, 2013, The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of AF&AM of West Virginia has reestablished fraternal recognition of The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of F&AM of Ohio. The respective edicts will be mailed to the Lodge Secretary’s with the quarterly Grand Secretary’s Newsletter.”
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n February, the assembled delegates of the Grand Lodge of Arkansas formally approved (in what amounts to a referendum)
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rance’s Past Grand Master François Stifani has been expelled from the Grande Loge Nationale Française. Grand Master JeanPierre Serval issued General Order 1584 on April 24, expelling the embattled PGM. Because of Stifani’s actions over the last three years, relations between the GLNF and numerous jurisdictions have been suspended, leaving France without a regular, recognized Grand Lodge for much of the Masonic world.
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he Waco, Texas Scottish Rite Bodies Almoner is accepting financial donations for the community of West, TX. Fourteen people were killed and over 200 injured when an explosion at a fertilizer plant occurred on the evening of April 17. Please mail checks to : WSRB Almoner P.O. Box 32508 Waco, Texas 76703
SPRING II 2013 • 5
THE JOURNAL OF THE MASONIC SOCIETY
News of the Society ith great pride and appreciation, The Masonic Society welcomes the following brethren as our esteemed new members. Isaiah Akin Christopher John Apgar Erik L Arneson Dean R. Baker Robert M. Barbour Shane Michael Bastar Daniel M Brandt Michael Hendrik Brisson Rashad Burns Michael Catello Edward Lee Choate Christian M Christensen John R Christopher William Aldrich Cousins Steven Crawford Helio Lopes Da Costa Jr. Nicholas D’Angelo Harley R Davis James Davis “John “”Dusty”” Deryck” Marion W. Dey
Nicholas Benjamin DiDolce Louis Domenech Roderick A Dunnett Tim Earle Martin Ede Matthew D Gale Martin Gehrke Graham Nathanael Giesen Robert A. Guthrie Michael Dean Hall Esq. Orrin Blake Hansen Quinn F Harry Michael A. Henry Roberto Antonio Hinojosa P.E. James W Hoffpauir Kennyo Ismail George R. Katchue Dan M. Kemble Dr. Andrei Kozma M.D. Richard F Kutschinski Michael Lake
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ew York Past Grand Master Neal Bidnick was expelled permanently from Freemasonry in May by a vote of the Grand Lodge. Bidnick had been expelled and then reinstated by successive Grand Masters. The Grand Lodge’s action makes the expulsion permanent. Bidnick served as Grand Master of New York from 2006 - 2008.
Adam Thomas Lang Dominique Denis Lefebvre Angel R Liboy-Muñoz Matthew John Liotta Terry C. Martz David A. McCuistion Darrell Wayne Miller Tony L Morgan William L Morris Jr. David D Najera Chris S Nigro Raymond Ortiz II Rodrigo Ortiz Nicholas L. Paone William G Peddicord Richard R Petty Jr. Robert Scott Pless Robert L. Poll Erick T Potter Michael Jay Ramos Jon Ruark
C. Douglas Russell David R Sandy Todd Marshall Schmitz Juan Orlando Sepulveda Mark A Spear Richard W Spencer Casey D Stanislaw H. Glenn Teater Dr. Armando Torres-Gomez M.D. James H Veale Roderic L. Wagoner, Jr. Brandon Waleszonia 1SG Philip Ray Webb Roy F. Weingarten Steve M. Whitaker Brian S Williams Rev. David J Williamson Brent Edward Wolke Larry D. Wright Ronald E Young Jr.
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he Grand Lodge of Ohio moved its location from its longtime home in Worthington, Ohio to Springfield onto the campus of the Ohio Masonic Retirement Community in December. This triggered a clause in a 1955 agreement and the ownership reverted to New England Lodge chartered in 1803. That leaves the seven Masonic bodies that meet in its old buildings in an uncertain quandary.
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n Friday, February 8th, the Society of Blue Friars’ Grand Abbot S. Brent Morris named Shawn Eyer as its newest Friar, number 102. Shawn is the editor of The Philalethes magazine. The Society of Blue Friars was established in 1932 specifically to recognize Masonic authors. There are currently twenty-four living members. --IN MEMORIAM
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A
ccording to Subic Bay News , a fire struck the ground floor of the Grand Lodge of the Philippines building at San Marcelino St., Malate, Manila, particularly the York Rite office. Over fifty OSM (Order of the Secret Monitor) officers & members were forced to evacuate the building through smoke-filled halls and stairways. MW Santiago T. Gabionza, Grand Master of Masons in the Philippines, was on hand along with several other officers, to oversee the successful fire-fighting efforts.
Renew your membership now online at www.themasonicsociety.com
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rother and TMS Founding Member Allen T. Schneider, age 61, of Eastpointe, passed away March 22, 2012. He was a passionate lifelong learner, a member of the Roseville Masonic lodge #522, and a volunteer with Greyheart Greyhound rescue. Allen is survived by his beloved wife Kathy Schneider; son Jason (Sarah) Schneider; brother Douglas (Fran) Schneider; and uncle Gerard Monfette.
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rother and TMS Founding Member Spiridon Arkouzis passed away on the 16th of December 2012.
THE JOURNAL OF THE MASONIC SOCIETY
Conferences, Speeches, Symposia & Gatherings June 23, 2013 St. John’s Day Celebration, R.E.B.I.S. Research Society,Scottish Rite Valley of Danville, IL, 3:00, keynote speaker, Chris Hodapp June 27, 2013 Walter F. Meier Lodge of Research No. 281 (Grand Lodge of Washington State) to meet. 7:30 p.m. at Greenwood Lodge No. 253 in Seattle. Presentation to be announced. June 28, 2013 American Lodge of Research Annual Communication, Masonic Hall, 71 W. 23rd St., New York, NY, 7;30 P.M., V.W. Piers Vaughan, presenter, info at www. americankidgeofresearch.org June 29, 2013 A. Douglas Smith, Jr. Lodge of Research No. 1949 (Grand Lodge of Virginia) to meet. 10 a.m. at the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria. Presentation to be announced. June 29, 2013 James Noah Hillman Lodge of Research No. 1883 (Grand Lodge of Virginia), Stated Communication, Abingdon Lodge No. 48, 325 W. Main St.,.Abingdon, VA 10:00 A.M., Andrew Hammer, presenter.
July 14-16, 2013 Annual Great Smokies Summer Assembly of York Rite Masons at Maggie Valley, North Carolina. Theme: “Challenge, Commitment, Crusade.” Speakers to include Sean Graystone, and others. www.yorkrite.org/nc/GSSAeform.htm July 19-20, 2013 Rocky Mountain Masonic Conference hosted by the Grand Lodge of Montana, at the Great Northern Hotel, Helena, MT. No contact information provided. July 20, 2013 1861 Civil War Lodge of Research (Grand Lodge of Tennessee) to meet. Noon at Beaver Creek Lodge No. 366 in Knoxville. Presentation to be announced. July 20, 2013 Harold V.B. Morris AMD Ingathering, Scottish Rite Valley of Central New Jersey, Bordentown, NJ, 9:30 A.M. Contact H.V. Abel, Grand Superintendent August 16-18, 2013 4th Masonic Restoration Foundation Symposium, Manchester, New Hampshire, hosted by Phoenix Lodge. No contact information provided.
June 30, 2013 Imperial Shrine Session, Indianapolis, Indiana.
August 20, 2013 Mississippi Lodge of Research DCXL to meet. 7 p.m. at Old Highway 43 North in Jackson.
July 6, 2013 TMS Editor Michael Halleran will present on Freemasonry in the Civil War at Gettysburg National Military Park sesquicentennial event. 12.30 p.m. Admission is free.
August 22, 2013 Walter F. Meier Lodge of Research No. 281 (Grand Lodge of Washington State) to meet. 7:30 p.m. at Greenwood Lodge No. 253 in Seattle. Presentation to be announced.
July 6-7, 2013 Civil War Lodge of Research No. 1865 to meet at Hagerstown, Maryland.
August 31, 2013 A. Douglas Smith, Jr. Lodge of Research No. 1949 (Grand Lodge of Virginia) to meet. 10 a.m. at the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria. Presentation to be announced.
September 14, 2013 New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education No. 1786 to meet. 10 a.m. at Hightstown- Apollo Lodge No. 41 in Hightstown. September 14, 2013 Tennessee Lodge of Research to meet. Noon at Oriental Lodge No. 453 in Knoxville. Presentation to be announced. September 25, 2013 Masonic Lodge of Research (Grand Lodge of Connecticut) to meet. 7:30 p.m. at 285 Whitney Avenue in New Haven. Presentation to be announced. September 27-29, 2013 The Quarry Project: Conference on Masonic research and preservation at the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. The conference is open to anyone interested in Masonic research and preservation, but will be specifically targeted to members of Masonic lodges of research as well as authors, writers, and researchers, both published and aspiring; and Masonic librarians and museum curators. October 19, 2013 Englewood Lodge #715 Masonic Seminar, 6170 E. Southern Ave., Indianapolis, IN W.B. Cliff Porter, keynote presenter, info at Englewoodmasoniclodge715@gmail.com
BROADCAST YOUR EVENT TO THE WORLD! To include your event in our listing, please submit the following information Event Name Event Location Event Date Speaker(s) Short Description Web Address or Contact Info Send these details to: ARTICLES@THEMASONICSOCIETY.COM with “EVENT” in the subject line. SPRING II 2013 • 7
THE JOURNAL OF THE MASONIC SOCIETY
FROM THE EDITOR
The Politics of Inertia by Michael Halleran, Editor
At a recent annual communication in a nameless jurisdiction, a funny thing happened. If the reports are to be believed, there was politicking, and something very like electioneering, where there had never been politicking (or electioneering) before. Apparently this activity involved an appointed Grand Lodge officer, who had never been elected to grand rank in any capacity, who suddenly threw his hat in the ring for the Grand East. And, of course you know, politics are verboten in lodge, whether Grand or local. That’s not to say that in some jurisdictions, Masons can’t announce their intentions to seek a particular office, but in the jurisdiction in question, these events had no precedent in living memory. Invariably these brethren have advanced their wardens. My correspondent reveals that this incident caused some consternation on a number of levels, but that in the end, it didn’t amount to much. The challenger – if that is what we should call a brother Mason in like circumstance – garnered about one percent of the vote, and the incumbent (if again, it is proper to refer to him as such), who apparently saw no need to campaign on his own behalf, was swept into office overwhelmingly. No doubt you are shaking your head about this, just as I did when I heard about it, laboring under the assumption that, once again, some young buck who is determined to make his mark on the fraternity, or to begin some fundamental changes in our order, had overstepped the bounds of propriety, and disregarded our traditions. Or, maybe you look at it the other way. You see this as an indictment of the “progressive line,” that system that all but assures constancy and solidity and which has been a staple of Masonic tradition for at least the last hundred odd years. You might, if viewed by those lights, see the brother not as some waggish upstart, but as a champion of younger ideas and forward-thinking policies who was frustrated by the imperturbable inertia of our customs and traditions. If only the progressive line didn’t exist, or had never been invented, perhaps this fraternity would change with the times, you might think. And here – aha – is living proof of that. Right? Not so much. And actually, either way, you would be wrong. If the reports are accurate, the challenger was considerably older than the incumbent, and he reportedly represented the senior members of our brotherhood, who neither seek change nor embrace it. It was the younger incumbent who had the reputation for having discarded several longstanding traditions in favor of other methods. In short, the incumbent was apparently the upstart, and the challenger represented the forces of immoveable Masonic solidity, putting a different spin on this story altogether. 8 • SPRING II 2013
Time will tell whether the voters – if we should call them that – made the right choice. In the meantime, it is worth thinking about how a society so renowned (and frequently lampooned) for its institutionalized resistance to change could consider not electing a challenger who promised more of the same. A sign of hope, surely. Or perhaps the old guard just decided to vote the way they have always done whatever the consequences. It’s happened before. IN OTHER NEWS, BUT ODDLY RELATED… In February, I attended the 2013 Conference of Grand Masters of North America, held in Kansas City, Missouri. The conference assembled representatives of some two million Freemasons in the Western Hemisphere hailing from the Arctic Circle to the Equator and points in between. Topics up for discussion ranged from CHIPs programs to membership retention, but one item was conspicuously short-shrifted: the relationship of Shriners International to the grand lodges. Not included on the official agenda, it was left to an ad hoc group to attempt to advance a measure to the floor for discussion, which was brief and largely procedural. Nothing of substance on this issue was discussed in the legislative session – and perhaps that was intentional in order that harmony might prevail. And while harmony is a laudable goal in any of our proceedings, it seems to me that regardless of your position on the Shrine and the grand lodges, a subject of such potential consequence simply must receive better billing at the only conference that unites the jurisdictions. Spending all our time on CHIPS and charity is ostrich-like. IN THIS ISSUE Happy St. John’s Day! This midsummer issue of the Journal of the Masonic Society explores a variety of topics, from Kenneth W. Davis’ wonderful piece on the sacred feminine, to Adam Kendall’s informative editorial on Alphonse Mucha, exploring Masonic philosophy and art, respectively. Herb Merrick contributes the first Masonic biography of Daniel H. Boughton, a noted military Mason, and John Parsons writes about the origin of the controversy concerning PHA Masonry in a very compelling essay. Along with our regular news and events , we are pleased to present another in our series of editorials on Observant Masonry by Cliff Porter. I trust you will find this issue well-rounded and informative, and as lodges around North America go dark for the summer, I look forward to our next issue in the cool of the autumn. ABOUT THE EDITOR Michael A. Halleran is the Executive Editor of the Journal of the Masonic Society. A practicing attorney and an instructor at Emporia State University, Halleran is also the Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Kansas A.F. & A.M. He has written extensively on military Masonry and has lectured in both the United States and Great Britain; his first book, The Better Angels of Our Nature; Freemasonry in the American Civil War (University of Alabama Press: 2010), is an in-depth examination of the role of the fraternity during the war, and the first scholarly treatment of that subject. He is also the author of Bro. Brother’s Journal (Macoy, 2012), a fictional account of an inept Kansas City Mason at the turn of the twentieth century.
THE THE JOURNAL JOURNAL OF OF THE THE MASONIC MASONIC SOCIETY SOCIETY
Letters to the Editor Dear Editor, Thomas Jackson’s article “The World’s Freemasonry” [Issue 17] resonated with me…. Most of what I know about Freemasonry is from books and over the past five years I have found not much of what I read in my lodge. I find very little “making good men better” -type lessons or discussions. Our meetings and side committees are about fundraising. If my local lodge is going to thrive/survive they need to re-embrace our foundation of philosophy, education and instruction of those things that “make good men better.” Being charitable in my estimation should be only a byproduct of becoming good. Your article printed furthered my impression of this and has confirmed to a certain degree that it may not just be my local lodge but maybe more wide-spread in our country. Jason Koscinski Michigan
GOT AN OPINION?
If you can write it in 150 words or less, submit your letter via email to editor@themasonicsociety. com. We do not accept letters via US Mail. Include name, address, and day and evening phone numbers for verification purposes only. Do not include attachments. All letters are subject to editing for length, accuracy, taste and libel. Anonymous letters, letters to third parties, and letters to other publications will not be considered. Responses to other letters are welcome. Any letter published becomes the property of the Journal of the Masonic Society.
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SPRING II 2013 • 9
THE JOURNAL OF THE MASONIC SOCIETY
OPINION
Thoughts on Masonic Research By S. Brent Morris, FMS
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’ve been fascinated with Masonic research since before I became a Mason. Before I was initiated I read most of the Masonic –themed books in the Southern Methodist University library, although unlike today, there weren’t many titles available. A few years later after joining the York Rite, I published my first paper in the March 1974 Knight Templar, “Thoughts of a New Knight.” I continued reading and writing about Freemasonry and enjoying myself.
Writing something new is relative—what’s new to an Entered Apprentice might not be to a seasoned Past Master. A good paper on Masonic presidents or symbolism or philanthropies could be perfect for an open house or for newly raised Masons, but rather stale fare for a research lodge. A little thought (and perhaps consultation with a more seasoned brother) will help you decide what is new for your audience. Deciding what’s truthful, however, can be more problematical.
And then came that fateful day not so long ago when I was approached by the Quarry Project: “Brent. You’re something of a senior researcher. Could you share your experience with younger guys?” Senior researcher? Younger guys? Oh dear Lord—I’ve become a “senior Mason!” While I just think of myself as one of the guys, albeit one of the guys who’s read a little more than most, I reluctantly accepted the assignment and this paper represents a few thoughts on writing Masonic research.
If you’re talking about symbolism, then almost anything can be true, unless it begins “From time immemorial. . . .” or “Masons have always. . . .” But otherwise it takes some discernment to separate Masonic wheat from chaff. Albert Mackey did a tremendous job with what he had, but much of the documentary evidence of early Masonry wasn’t available to him (old charges, catechisms, exposés, and so on). Further, early in his writing career he fully accepted the theory of Masonry descending from the ancient mysteries, but renounced it later. Robert Freke Gould was one of the founders of Quatuor Coronati Lodge and author of The History of Freemasonry, the first carefully documented history of the fraternity. Despite his otherwise meticulous research, he insisted in calling the Grand Lodge of Ancients “schismatics” even as new information was discovered. Most historians today agree that the “Ancients” were formed by Irish Masons in London who had been denied admission to English lodges. They were indeed rivals to the “Moderns,” but to be schismatics, they would have had to first be part of the Moderns.
The Making of a Good Research Paper A good Masonic research paper is much like a good story that you’d tell at dinner with friends. It has something interesting to say. It is truthful and new—at least to its audience. It is of appropriate length. (With a dinner story for friends, truth can be stretched more than with a research paper!) And, of course, it needs to be well written. Writing well is beyond the scope of this essay, but think back to your essays in high-school English and check out the classic book on clear writing, The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr., and E. B. White. Writing something of an appropriate length is the easiest task. For a Masonic publication like the Scottish Rite Journal, 700 words is a page, and rarely is an article longer than three pages or 2,100 words. For a research publication like the Journal of the Masonic Society or The Plumbline, longer articles of perhaps 5,000 words are appropriate. And for Heredom or Ars Quatuor Coronatorum or another major publication, 10,000+ words work fine. Just as a skilled speaker adjusts the length of his oration to suite the setting, the length of a paper should be appropriate for its venue.
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The point of these examples is that even the most respected historians can have “bad days,” and that our understanding of history evolves as new evidence is uncovered. Be sure to rely on solid, dependable Masonic researchers like Robert F. Gould, Albert G. Mackey, Albert Pike, Henry W. Coil, and others whose reputations have endured and grown through the years. Also know your sources. You can generally depend on anything published in Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, Heredom, the Transactions of the American, Texas, and other Lodges of Research, and the Journal of the Masonic Society and The Philalethes Magazine . If a theory, like Templar or Pharaonic origins, hasn’t found traction in these publications, then there’s more than a little doubt about it.
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he researcher today has access to tools barely dreamed of even twenty years ago. Through the internet you can access journals, proceedings, transactions, and original documents.
The most subjective and perhaps difficult of my three criteria is that the topic be interesting, because this comes down to a matter of “good taste.” The fact that a couple of auto dealers in your town on opposite corners of an intersection are both Masons isn’t very interesting; the fact that Henry Ford and Ransom Olds were Masons is. Similarly the fact that several restaurant owners in your town are Masons isn’t interesting, but it is remarkable that Dave Thomas of Wendy’s, Harland Sanders of KFC, and Bob Evans of Bob Evans Restaurants were all Masons. If you’re not sure if something’s interesting, then bounce it off of your friends or run it by an editor. There’s no point is spending time researching and writing about a boring topic! What I Think The easiest topic for anyone to write about is their own opinion. To paraphrase the late John Robinson, “you are the world’s expert on your own opinion.” My first published Masonic article represented my thoughts on the burning Knight Templar question of the mid-70s: What to do about the KT uniform and about “The Word,” a combining of all York Rite Degrees into one theatrical experience. I didn’t have to research anything. I didn’t need to give references or citations. I just said what I thought. It was interesting because it was topical. It was true because it was indeed my opinion. It was new because no one had heard from me, and it was the right length—about 1½ pages. A personal opinion can be engaging and entertaining if the writing is tight or the approach different. It is especially appropriate if you’re speaking from a unique position: a new member, a long-time ritualist, an experienced chef of lodge meals. Even a rant about your personal likes or dislikes can be engaging and if interesting of the appropriate length.
“
What He Thinks I believe the next stage of Masonic research is to discover Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and Coil’s Masonic Encyclopedia and to write about what they think about something. Research of this sort is much like a term paper. At a more sophisticated level, such secondary research involves reading journals, grand lodge proceedings, and research lodge transactions. Research of this sort, if the sources are carefully chosen, can be fascinating and significant. There are many topics that lend themselves well to research in secondary sources like encyclopedias, books, or journals. For example, Masonic customs and protocols are not static, and most have evolved with time. There are dyed-in-the wool Masonic conservatives who believe, “Nothing has changed in Masonry since King Solomon gave us our rituals!” But it is the duty of the researcher to show that such is not the case. The development of customs and protocols can be traced in a timeline of articles published over the years. Lists of the “Landmarks of Masonry” are an American obsession not always well-received by all grand lodges nor universally agreed upon. Dual membership is normative in almost all grand jurisdictions today, but it was once considered an innovation on the body of Masonry—a radical innovation that could destroy our traditions. The Doctrine of Perfect Youth has been almost universally abandoned because of returning wounded heroes from WWI, WWII, and other conflicts, but the change did not come easily.
What’s New and Original There is only a thin line between summarizing what someone else thinks about a topic and doing original research. It’s the difference between a master’s thesis and a doctoral dissertation. The suggested topics above comes close to that line and could easily pass over. For example, describing the Doctrine of Perfect Youth and its application is secondary research; focusing on when and how it changed is primary research. What’s exciting to me as a researcher is how easy it is to slip over the line from reading about a topic to doing original research. Here are some examples of purely original research. The Morgan Affair is well-known and well-summarized, but what happened to your lodge or grand lodge from 1826–1841? What letters were written? Who resigned and who remained? What did your local papers say about Freemasonry during this time? What monitors have been used by your grand lodge? Most can be traced back to Anderson’s Constitutions of the Free-Masons, Dermott’s Ahiman Rezon, or Preston’s Illustrations of Masonry . What’s the “family tree” of yours? What changes were made from the original and from edition to edition? How did your grand lodge react to the introduction of new Masonic bodies in its jurisdiction: Eastern Star, Shriners, youth groups, and others? Were these new groups welcomed as natural expansions of the mission of Masonry, or were they considered subversive to the established order? The researcher today has access to tools barely dreamed of even twenty years ago. Through the Internet you can access journals, proceedings, transactions, and original documents. This is especially true if you’re affiliated with a university or college. Even local libraries or community colleges have unbelievable resources, and librarians live to fulfill obscure requests for information. If the documents aren’t available now, you can often pay a modest fee and have them scanned for you. Your resources are only limited by your imagination. One nagging question often remains for the budding researcher: How to find a good research topic? This reminds me of a story attributed to Arnold Palmer. When a reporter commented on a spectacular shot, he said, “Mr. Palmer, you must be the luckiest golfer on the tour.” Palmer replied, “The more I practice, the luckier I get.” In a similar fashion, the more you read about Masonry, the easier it is to find good research topics! ABOUT THE AUTHOR S. Brent Morris, 33°, Grand Cross, is Managing Editor of the Scottish Rite Journal . He retired after twenty-five years as a mathematician with the federal government and has taught at Duke, Johns Hopkins, and George Washington Universities. He is a Past Master of Patmos Lodge No. 70, Ellicott City, Maryland, and Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076, London, a life member and Mackey Scholar of the Scottish Rite Research Society, a Fellow of the Philalethes Society, a Fellow of The Masonic Society, an honorary Fellow of the Phylaxis Society, founding Editor of Heredom , the transactions of the Scottish Rite Research Society, and Grand Abbot of the Society of Blue Friars.
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MASONIC HISTORY
Voices from the Past - 1873 Edition
M
uch has been said, also, against wearing Masonic jewelry too conspicuously, or in too great profusion. A man exhibits his character in dress. A sensible man wears plain, unostentatious apparel, although it may be rich in quality. A fop has his foppishness exhibited, in bold relief, all over his person, which is too frequently seen to need description. And so it is with a foppish Mason. His Masonic character is frequently known by the manner in which he wears his Masonic jewelry. The well-posted and discreet Mason wears few Masonic symbols, and those in a modest manner; while the superficial, mercenary, and selfconceited Mason may be known by the profusion and conspicuousness of these unappreciated emblems upon his person. If, my Brethren, you should meet a stranger gorgeously arrayed in these beautiful emblems of our Order, and who uses with too much freedom the grips and signs, with frequent and significant reminders that “it is all right, on the square,” my advice would be to you, ignore him, return none of his salutations, have no Masonic communication with him whatsoever, but treat him as you would a foppish profane, with only merited respect.” “Masonic Address by H.C. Clapp, W.M. of Mendon [Michigan] Lodge No. 137,” The Michigan Freemason, Kalamazoo: Ihling Bros., 1873, 51-2.
12 • SPRING II 2013
T
he scene amidst which C
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HISTORY
POLITICAL INCORRECTNESS IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY BOSTON: WHY PRINCE HALL MASONRY WAS SHOWN THE DOOR By John T. Parsons
M
ost Masonic historians generally tend to view the origins of Price Hall Masonry from one of two perspectives. Many view Prince Hall’s own initiation into a British regimental lodge in Boston as illegal or “clandestine,” since there were other Craft lodges in Boston at that time to which Prince Hall could have theoretically applied for admission. Similarly, these historians tend to view the establishment of Prince Hall Grand Lodges as illegal and irregular, since those Grand Lodges espouse the doctrine of “Exclusive Territoriality,” meaning there can be only one Grand Lodge in any given territorial boundary. Other historians, primarily African-American, view the non-recognition of Prince Hall Masonry as evidence of de facto racial discrimination. While there may be some merit to the latter theory regarding the continued non-recognition of Prince Hall Masonry by some Grand Lodges, both points of view are erroneous. The main reason for the initial non-recognition of Prince Hall and his lodge by Massachusetts had little or nothing to do with race, but was instead politically motivated in the aftermath of the American Revolution. To understand Prince Hall Masonry in context, however, we must first re-examine the American Revolution and, if necessary, dispel a few popular myths, many of them Masonically related, that have arisen and been accepted as fact by most contemporary American Masons. As the saying goes, “History is written by the winners,” and Masonic history is no exception. First of all, the American Revolution was not a war between two separate countries, the United States and Great Britain, it was a civil war.1 In 1775 the American colonist viewed himself as a British subject. Contrary to popular belief, developed after the Revolution, Paul Revere on his famous ride did not cry, “The British are coming!” but rather the “Regulars are coming out!”2 In contemporary terms, the Minutemen facing off against the Redcoats at Lexington Green, was the equivalent of the National Guard engaging in battle with the regular army. American Masons revel in the patriotism displayed by Revolutionary War era Masons, such as George Washington, Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Benjamin Franklin, but not all Masons were patriots. Benjamin Franklin’s son, William, a Mason and the Governor of New Jersey, was a Loyalist who fled to England after the war. There were Loyalist adherents to the Crown, as well as proponents of the
A
“Prince Hall (1735-1807), first Worshipful Master of African Lodge No. 459 and founder of Prince Hall Masonry, from Black Americans of Achievement: Prince Hall, Arthur Diamond and Nathan I. Higgins,New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1992.
and New Jersey and the Carolinas had about as many active loyalists as they did patriots. New England, however, had fewer Loyalists than the other colonies.3 Opposition to the Crown in New England had roots going back nearly a century and a half. Most of the immigrants to New England originally came from that area of England known as East Anglia, a hotbed of support for Cromwell during the English Civil War, and their anti-Royalist sentiments were still evident.4 Further evidence that the American Revolution was indeed a civil war
merican Masons revel in the patriotism displayed by Revolutionary War era Masons, such as George Washington, Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Benjamin Franklin, but not all Masons were patriots.
Revolutionary cause, in all parts of the colonies. New York raised more troops for George III than they did for George Washington, 14 • SPRING II 2013
can be seen on the other side of the ocean. There was as much opposition to the colonial policies of George III in England as there was in North
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As with the history of the American Revolution, we need to reexamine our Masonic history. The Modern Grand Lodge of England was founded in 1717 in London, and that Grand Lodge chartered subordinate and provincial lodges in the colonies as well as in England. The membership in those lodges was composed generally of the more well-to-do and societal elites. The Ancient Grand Lodge emerged in England in 1751, partially because of disagreements with the ritual of the moderns, but also because of class differences. The membership in the Ancient lodges was comprised of more tradesmen, craftsmen, and generally members of the emerging middle class. The Ancients also established lodges in the colonies. In the colonies, as well as in England, the Ancients had more members from the emerging middle class (such as the silversmith Paul Revere) while the Moderns had more of an upper-class membership. In 1775, Massachusetts had Provincial Grand Lodges that had been established by both the Ancients and the Moderns. Joseph Warren was the Grand Master of the Ancient Grand Lodge, while John Rowe was the Grand Master of the Modern Grand Lodge.7 In addition to the lodges under the Ancient and Modern Provincial Grand Lodges, in 1775 there were lodges in most of the British regiments in New England. Thirteen regiments of foot (infantry) and one of dragoons were stationed in Boston and its environs. Two regiments did not have lodges: the remainder did. Four regimental lodges were chartered by the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and the rest by the Grand Lodge of Ireland.8
Gen. William Howe was noted for his sympathy towards American colonists.
America. John Wilkes, a leader of the Parliamentary opposition to the Crown, was outspoken in his support for the rebels. Nine of the twelve members of parliament from London were pro-American. Gen. Geoffrey Amherst, the senior ranking British officer in 1775, who had commanded British and colonial forces during the French and Indian War, refused to take command in North America due to his admiration of the colonists and their values. Gen. William Howe and his brother Adm. Richard Howe, who took command of British land and naval forces in North America in 1776, supported the demands of the American colonists, and indeed refused to assume military command unless they were dual-hatted as peace commissioners. While Gen. Howe was in command, he refused to treat the colonists harshly, and reprimanded any of his subordinates who attempted to do so.5 Gen. Henry Clinton, who succeeded Howe in 1778, was married to an American and did not get along well with the Loyalists he dealt with in New York and the other colonies. One of the principal reasons why George III resorted to hiring mercenaries from Germany is that young men in England would not enlist to fight their fellow countrymen in North America. To this day, British regiments do not display battle streamers for those actions, such as Bunker Hill, Long Island, and Brandywine in which they participated during the Revolution, considering that conflict to be domestic strife, and not a conflict with a foreign power. In short, there was a great deal of sympathy for the colonial viewpoint in England.6
Prince Hall and several other African-Americans were initiated into Lodge No. 441 in 1775 in Boston. Attached to the 38th Regiment of Foot9, Lodge No. 441 was one of those regimental lodges chartered by the Grand Lodge of Ireland. When the regiment departed Boston after the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1776, Prince Hall was given a permit that allowed him and the lodge members remaining in Boston to meet as a lodge, conduct Masonic funerals, and to march in procession on St John’s Day, but with the stipulation that they could not initiate any new members.10 Prince Hall appears to have had some conversations with Joseph Warren, the Provincial Grand Master of the Ancient Grand Lodge of Massachusetts regarding affiliation with that body, and Warren was apparently receptive to the idea. Unfortunately, Warren was killed at Bunker Hill, and the effort went nowhere.11 After the Warren’s death, Prince Hall obtained a warrant from the Provincial Grand Master of the Moderns to meet as African Lodge No. 1, and ultimately obtained, in 1787, a charter from the Modern Grand Lodge of England. Over the next two centuries many theories were advanced as to why Prince Hall Masonry was not recognized by predominantly white or “mainstream” Grand Lodges. The theories advanced by the white lodges to deny recognition were usually based on two arguments, the doctrine of “Exclusive Territoriality,” and the fact that Prince Hall was not a member of the 38th Foot (and therefore ineligible for membership in its lodge). Both arguments are fallacious. The doctrine of “Exclusive Territoriality” holds there can be only one Grand Lodge within a given territorial boundary. This is, however, an American innovation and is not recognized anywhere else in the Masonic
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world. There are numerous examples of subordinate lodges chartered by several Grand Lodges meeting in the same country. Japan, for instance, has a Grand Lodge of Japan and numerous subordinate lodges operating within its territory, but there are also lodges chartered by the Grand Lodges of England, Scotland, the Philippines, Massachusetts, and the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Washington, all meeting in Japan. The Grand Lodges of England, Scotland, and Ireland all have lodges meeting in New Zealand, while both England and Scotland have established lodges in several provinces of Canada, and Australia as well as South Africa, Brazil, and Argentina. This doctrine was contrived in the nineteenth century for several reasons, one of which was to perpetuate the non-recognition of Prince Hall Masonry.12
may be that there were already black Masons in Lodge No. 441. The 38th Regiment had been stationed in Barbados in the West Indies for a number of years and perhaps had black members in the regiment.13 If so, it is possible that some of these men from Barbados may have joined the lodge. Unfortunately, the records of the Grand Lodge of Ireland during this time frame are nonexistent. It should be noted, however, that, many African-American Masonic historians have focused on racial undertones for non-recognition almost solely and to the exclusion of other possible factors. While racism was certainly responsible for much of the perpetuation of the policy of non-recognition in the past two centuries, it was not the primary cause for the initial non-recognition by Massachusetts of Prince Hall. The chief cause of that nonrecognition was politics.
The contention of Prince Hall’s ineligibility is similarly invalid. Joseph Warren was the Grand Master of the Ancient Grand Lodge in Lodge No. 441 was authorized, Massachusetts who was killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill, 17 June 1775. As previously noted, opposition by the terms of its warrant, to to the Crown was also very initiate not only members of the regiment, but also any other pronounced in Massachusetts. local residents, if there was “no other lodge available.” The phrase “no While Patriots and Loyalists managed to co-exist in the South after other lodge available” means no other lodge chartered by the Grand the Revolution, Massachusetts was notoriously hard on Tories and Lodge of Ireland. In Boston in 1775 there were civilian and regimental suspected loyalists, many of whom were persecuted and harried into lodges chartered by the Ancient Grand Lodge of England, the Modern exile in Britain or Canada. In fact, many Masons suspected of loyalist Grand Lodge of England, and the Grand Lodge of Scotland, but the sympathies left Boston in 1775 with the British Army, while others left
W
hile racism was certainly responsible for much of the perpetuation of the policy of non-recognition in the past two centuries, it was not the primary cause for the initial non-recognition by Massachusetts of Prince Hall. The chief cause of that non- recognition was politics.
only lodges chartered by the Grand Lodge of Ireland were regimental lodges. Therefore, members of those regimental lodges chartered by the Grand Lodge of Ireland could initiate local civilian residents in addition to members of that regiment. There is no record of why Prince Hall chose to petition Lodge No. 441 rather than some other lodge. There is some speculation that he may have considered petitioning St Andrew’s Lodge, an Ancient Lodge chartered by Scotland. St. Andrew’s was under the jurisdiction of Grand Master Joseph Warren who was known for his liberal racial views. Why, then, did Prince Hall petition Lodge No 441 instead of St Andrew’s Lodge or one of the other regimental lodges in Boston that had Irish charters? The answer 16 • SPRING II 2013
later.14 This diaspora among Modern Masons imploded the Provincial Grand Lodge and it was absorbed by the Ancient Grand Lodge in 1792.15 While Massachusetts may have been rabidly anti-loyalist, it was also probably as color-blind as any eighteenth century society. Numerous free blacks had served in Massachusetts and other New England regiments during the war, and Massachusetts was the first state to abolish slavery in 1784. Prince Hall received a warrant from the Provincial Grand Master of the Moderns, John Rowe, after he could not obtain one from the
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Ancient Grand Lodge due to the death of Joseph Warren. After the Revolution, Prince Hall continued his efforts to obtain a charter, since his warrant only allowed him to meet, and not to initiate any new members. He may have gone to the Grand Lodge of Ireland for such a charter, but this remains pure speculation owing to the dearth of Irish Masonic records during this period. What we can prove is that he again attempted to obtain a charter in Massachusetts from the Ancient Grand Lodge, presenting the warrant signed by John Rowe. The charter was not granted. Subsequently, he applied for a charter from the Modern Grand Lodge of England, ultimately receiving it in 1787.16
ABOUT THE AUTHOR John T. Parsons is a Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Nebraska. He received his A.B. in History from Franklin and Marshall College, and his M.A. in International Relations from Creighton University. He is a retired Air Force officer, Department of the Air Force Civilian, and currently is a consultant for a defense contractor. He is a Past State President of the Nebraska Society Sons of the American Revolution.
The correspondence between Prince Hall and the Ancients in Massachusetts did not survive, and was destroyed by a fire in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries, so the conclusion is therefore somewhat speculative. It is likely, however, that the Ancient Grand Lodge of Massachusetts refused a charter to Prince Hall based on the fact that his warrant had been signed by a Modern, John Rowe, who was suspected to be a Tory. Rowe, in fact, had stayed in Boston during the British occupation, and had dined with various British officers who were Masons. When Warren was killed at Bunker Hill, his attempts to participate in the Masonic funeral services for Warren were summarily rebuffed because of his perceived Tory sympathies.17 There may also have been some suspicions regarding Prince Hall’s role and sympathies during the Revolution. While some historians assert that Prince Hall was sympathetic to the Revolutionary cause, and have speculated that he even served in a Massachusetts militia unit, specific evidence is lacking.18 Indeed, while some of the New England colonies enlisted free blacks into their ranks (the 1st Rhode Island Regiment is often cited as an example), the British also made a concerted effort to entice slaves away from their masters by offering them their freedom in exchange for their service in support of the Crown.19 Given the fact that a suspected Tory signed the request for a charter, and that Prince Hall did not have any unambiguous credentials as a Patriot veteran, it is likely the request was refused out of hand. All the rationalizations for non-recognition, based on the faulty premises that Prince Hall’s initiation was somehow illegal and “clandestine” and that the doctrine of “exclusive jurisdiction” precluded such recognition are flawed. A politically motivated decision by a Grand Lodge in Massachusetts over two centuries ago, totally independent of race and slavery, continues to serve as the primary justification for nonrecognition by some grand lodges today. It is interesting to speculate a bit further: what would have been the status of Prince Hall Masonry from the Revolution to the current date had Joseph Warren not been killed at Bunker Hill? Had Warren lived, he probably would have issued a charter to Prince Hall in 1775. Prince Hall’s Lodge would have been entered on the rolls of the Ancient Grand Lodge of Massachusetts (the one then in existence), and it would today be just one of the nearly 250 lodges on the rolls of Massachusetts, and not the Mother Grand Lodge of a separate branch of Freemasonry. Had that happened, Prince Hall and his brethren would have become a mere footnote to Masonic history, and today we certainly would not have the robust fraternity that Prince Hall Masonry has become. It appears that the Great Architect of the Universe may have known what he was doing after all.
NOTES 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Kevin Phillips. The Cousins Wars. New York:1999, 161-232; See also Janet Schaw, Journal of a Lady of Quality: Being the Narrative of a Journey from Scotland to the West Indies, North Carolina and Portugal, in the Years 17741776, 1921 (excerpt):from Making the Revolution: America, 1763-1791, in http://americainclass.org/american-revolution-as-civil-war/ (Accessed 4 April 2013) David H. Fischer. Paul Revere’s Ride. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994, 120 Phillips, 161-232 David H. Fischer, Albion’s See: New York: Oxford University Press, 1989, 199-203 David H. Fischer, Washington’s Crossing: New York, Oxford University Press, 2004, 160-181 Phillips, 233-245 Steven G. Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood: Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1996, 112-114 Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, The Temple and the Lodge: New York, Arcade Publishing, 1989, 269-270 Formed in 1705 as Luke Lillingstone’s Regiment of Foot, the regiment was numbered the 38th Regiment of Foot in 1751. In 1782, it was renamed the 38th (1st Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot. Later, it merged with the South Staffordshire Regiment before being reorganized as the Staffordshire Regiment in 1959. In 2007, The Staffordshire Regiment became the 3rd Battalion, The Mercian Regiment. Harry E. Davis, A History of Freemasonry Among Negroes in America: Bloomsburg, PA: United Supreme Council, AASR, Northern Jurisdiction USA, (PHA), 1998 (reprint), 34 Davis, 33 Conference of Grand Masters, List of Masonic Lodges. Bloomington, IL: Pantagraph Printing, 2012 Davis, 31 Bullock, 112-115 Bullock, 112-115 Davis, 38-39 Bullock, 112-115 Joseph A. Walkes, Jr., Black Square and Compass:200 Years of Prince Hall Masonry. Richmond, VA: Macoy Publishing, 1994, 9-10 Phillips, 223-224. After the Revolution many of those freed slaves were, in fact, given land in Nova Scotia and other parts of Canada.
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ESOTERICA
Widow Unveiled: Freemasonry and the Inner Sacred Feminine By Kenneth W. Davis, MMS
F
maternal ancestry to assure readers that he was Jewish and that such an important job at the holy temple had not been done by a foreigner.3
reemasonry is a traditionally all-male fraternity, and the characters in its ritual are male. Only a small number of relatively minor symbols are treated as feminine: faith, hope, and charity; the seven liberal arts; the virgin at the broken column; and a few others. However, there is one feminine presence in Masonic ritual who may at first seem minor, but is in fact all-important. She is the widow of whom Masons claim to be sons. But who is this widow? Answering that question—unveiling the widow—can bring insight into one way Freemasonry can help its initiates grow, psychologically and spiritually.1
But that assurance is hardly necessary in Freemasonry. Of course, calling Masons “widow’s sons” can be justified by the identification of Hiram as a widow’s son and by Masons’ own identification with Hiram in the third degree. But the widowed mother of all Masons is surely someone much more important than a particular tenth-century BC Jewish mother.
Hiram’s Mother The widow first appears in the Master Mason degree, during the drama of the second section. She is introduced as the mother of Hiram Abiff, the chief builder of King Solomon’s Temple. That relationship is recalled later in an important twelveword question that Masons are taught. In the Bible, Hiram’s widowed mother is unnamed. In First Kings, she is identified as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali; in Second Chronicles, she is of the tribe of Dan.2 In the context of the epic story of the building of the temple, identifying Hiram as a widow’s Tree of Life, medieval. son seems an odd, insignificant detail. Some Bible scholars suggest that because Hiram’s father was a gentile from Tyre, the authors of Chronicles and Kings mentioned Hiram’s 18 • SPRING II 2013
The Holy of Holies Because the widow first appears in the third degree, and because that degree, in some jurisdictions, symbolically takes place in the Holy of Holies of King Solomon’s Temple, she can be sought there.
Jerusalem and King Solomon’s Temple, by Hartmann Schedel, 1493.
So what is found in the Holy of Holies? Its contents are said to have included two olivewood cherubim protecting the Ark of the Covenant, which in turn held the two tablets of the Ten Commandments, pieces of manna from the Exodus, and the rod of Aaron. But the room also contained something else, something not exactly material. The Holy of Holies is audaciously said to have contained the very presence of God. The ancient name for this presence is Shekhinah, a name derived from the Hebrew verb meaning “to dwell.” She is the manifestation of Yahweh as he dwells among his people. She is the glory of God as available to the five senses. She is, in fact, the feminine face of God. She is the Sacred Feminine. Why “she?” In Hebrew, shekhinah is a grammatically feminine noun, but that fact was not especially important in early Judaism. Only later, as Kabbalah developed, did the Shekhinah come to be considered a feminine being.4 In Kabbalah her name is often given to the lowest sefirah (circle) in the Tree of Life, the sefirah closest to humankind, as a partner of, or equivalent to, the better-known Malkhut. The Temple Solomon’s Temple had a precursor: the tabernacle carried through the wilderness during the Exodus. The tabernacle itself was sometimes regarded as feminine; in the Kebra Nagast, a holy book of Ethiopian Christians and Rastafarians, both Solomon and the Queen of Sheba refer to the tabernacle as “my Lady.”5
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priest: “Every Mason is intended to be the High Priest of his own personal temple and to make of it a place where he and Deity may meet.”8 The Widow’s Veil In many Jewish texts, the Shekhinah is referred to as a widow, a woman widowed not by her husband’s death but by his separation from her. (In modern English as well, the word widow can have this meaning, as in “golf widow,” to give a trivial example.) The Shekhinah’s separation from her divine husband, Yawheh, is, in part, a result of her accompanying the children of Israel into their many exiles. As Matt wrote, quoting the Talmud, “Wherever Israel has been exiled, Shekhinah has been with them.”9 Similarly, Baring and Cashford noted, “In her exile she [the Shekinah] is “named ‘the Widow,’ and the ‘Stone of Exile.’”10 Tabernacle, by Jacob Judah Leon, circa 1647.
Tradition holds that when the high priest entered the Holy of Holies each Yom Kippur, he approached the Shekhinah with hands flattened, palms facing away, lifted either above the head or only to the shoulder. Master Masons in North America will recognize four variations on this gesture in the third degree: • • • •
During the obligation In the due-guard In the second section’s climactic gathering in the West As an accompaniment to the twelve-word question mentioned above
Further, in some Jewish traditions, the Shekhinah is presented as having a variety of relationships with the artificer Tubal Cain.6 In the Masonic classic General Ahiman Rezon, Daniel Sickles wrote, The steps of this Winding Staircase commenced, we are informed, at the porch of the Temple, that is to say, at its very entrance. But nothing is more undoubted in the science of Masonic symbolism than that the Temple was the representative of the world purified by the Shekinah, or the Divine Presence. The world of the profane is without the Temple; the world of the initiated is within its sacred walls. Hence to enter the Temple, to pass within the porch, to be made a Mason, and to be born into the world of Masonic light, are all synonymous and convertible terms.7 W. L. Wilmshurst, in The Meaning of Masonry, wrote that when a Freemason symbolically enters Solomon’s temple, he enters as high
Gershom Scholem, arguably the greatest authority on Jewish mysticism, wrote that in Kabbalah, it is in fact the Shekhinah who gives exile its very purpose and meaning: Precisely because the real existence of Israel is so completely an experience of exile, it is at the same time symbolic and transparent. Thus in its mythical aspect the exile of Israel ceases to be only a punishment for error or a test of faith. It becomes something greater and deeper, a symbolic mission. In the course of its exile Israel must go everywhere, to every corner of the world, for everywhere a spark of the Shekhinah is waiting to be found, gathered, and restored by a religious act. And so, surprisingly enough, still meaningfully anchored in the center of a profound Jewish gnosis, the idea of exile as a mission makes its appearance.11 In playing the role of a widow, the Shekhinah is symbolically dressed as a widow. In many accounts, she is described as wearing black.12 In many cultures, widows are veiled, and so, quite literally, was the Shekhinah. The Holy of Holies is said to have been separated from the rest of the temple by a veil, a curtain which the high priest had to part when he made his annual visit. Indeed many spiritual traditions, East and West, use the veil, as a metaphor or as an actual object, to symbolize the barrier between the known and unknown, between the exoteric and the esoteric, between the initiate’s old life and new life. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke appropriate, perhaps misappropriate, the veil of the temple in their accounts of the Crucifixion. Matthew, for example, writes, “Jesus cried out again with a
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loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.”13 This detail was doubtless added to the narrative to further the Christian teaching that Christ’s sacrifice made the presence of God available to all, not just to a high priest.
Alchemical illustrations often show the sacred marriage as resulting in an hermaphrodite. One illustration, from the 1650s, is particularly interesting to Masonic researchers because the hermaphrodite holds a square and compasses.17 Freemasonry, it is taught, is “a peculiar system of morality, veiled [notice that word] in allegory and illustrated by symbols.” Symbols can, of course, have multiple interpretations. But one reasonable interpretation is that the widowed mother of Masons is the Sacred Feminine herself. And in the context of King Solomon’s Temple, she has a name: Shekhinah.18
The Bride’s Veil But widows are not the only women who traditionally wear veils. In many cultures, veils are also worn by brides. The Shekhinah traditionally takes the role of the Sacred Bride, who must be united with her bridegroom in a sacred marriage. Scholem defined the sacred marriage in Judaism as the union of the male and female aspects of God, the king and his consort, who is nothing other than the Shekhinah and the mystical Ecclesia [congregation] of Israel. The wide range of meaning contained in the symbol of the Shekhinah thus enabled the masses of the people to identify this sacred marriage with the marriage between God and Israel, which for the Kabbalists was merely the outward aspect of a process that takes place within the secret inwardness of God himself.14
By being named, the Widow has been unveiled. And that act, unveiling the Widow, can help Masons grow toward even further psychological and spiritual light. Jung and the Anima A good map for the journey to further light can be found in the works of Carl Jung. Jung’s paternal grandfather, his namesake and one of his greatest influences, was Grand Master of Masons in Switzerland. Young Jung surely inherited from his grandfather his deep and lifelong interest in symbols.
In fact, Scholem wrote, “The Kabbalists held that every religious act should be accompanied by this formula: this is done ‘for the sake of the reunion of God and His Shekhinah.’”15 The holiday most associated with the Shekhinah is Tu B’Av, which usually falls near the summer solstice. It is a celebration of courtship, marriage, and rebirth, much like its counterpart in European folklore, Midsummer Day (and its Night). Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is only one of many works rooted in this folklore. June 24, just two or three days after the Summer Solstice, is the Feast of St. John the Baptist, one of the two principal holidays in Freemasonry and a longforgotten tribute to the Shekhinah. In Christianity, Jesus says, in the Gospel of Thomas, “When you make the two into one . . . and when you make male and female into a single one . . . then you will enter [the kingdom of heaven].”16 Christian nuns are said to “take the veil” when they take their monastic vows and enter into a sacred marriage with Christ. For Gnostic Christians, the sacred marriage is a particularly important concept, as it is for alchemists, who regard it as the final step in their Great Work. Likewise, one of the three foundational manifestos of Rosicrucianism was The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz (1616), demonstrating yet another symbolic association between sacred marriage and a spiritual goal. 20 • SPRING II 2013
This interest in symbols contributed to Jung’s theory of archetypes—mental structures that most people share and which appear in our dreams and mythologies. Integration of these archetypes is necessary for individuation: the fully human state toward which each human psyche journeys. Not all, of course, complete this journey.
Ark of the Covenant, by Wenceslas Hollar, 17th Century.
Five of Jung’s archetypes are considered primary, the first three of which are shared by both men and women: • • •
The shadow, the part of the psyche that men and women are not aware of, and often suppress The persona, the image they present to the world The Self, their true center, the enabler of the individuation toward which they strive (in many esoteric teachings, the Self is the part of the psyche that is always in touch with God)
The other two primary archetypes are usually gender-specific: • •
The anima, the feminine component of the male psyche The animus, the male component of the female psyche
These last two can be illustrated by the yin and yang, where a small portion of the yin resides in the yang, and vice versa. John Sanford, a priest and Jungian analyst, wrote, That which makes men and women different is not that men are entirely Yang and women Yin, for each sex contains the
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other within; it is the fact that a man ordinarily identifies his ego with his masculinity and his feminine side is unconscious to him, while a woman identifies herself consciously with her femininity, and her masculine side is unconscious to her.19 Many men, perhaps most, spend their youth and middle years projecting their anima onto actual women—sometimes their wives, sometimes other women from the present or past. Dante is the classic example, carrying a lifelong passion for Beatrice, whom he saw only a few times, as a young man. Reclaiming the Anima Jung wrote of the value of initiation rites for preserving ancient teachings: For thousands of years, rites of initiation have been teaching spiritual rebirth; yet strangely enough, man forgets again and again the meaning of divine procreation. . . . the penalty of misunderstanding is heavy, for it is nothing less than neurotic decay, embitterment, atrophy, and sterility. . . . Fortunately, we have proof that the spirit always renews its strength in the fact that the central teaching of the ancient initiations is handed on from generation to generation.20 For Jung, a crucial step in men’s life journey is the reclaiming of their anima. Only by recognizing and integrating their feminine side can men move toward individuation and discover their capital-S Self. The Shekhinah, as Sacred Feminine, is a wonderful personification of the anima. Once she became established as a female being, she came to be thought of as the feminine aspect of the traditionally male Yahweh—Yahweh’s anima, if you will. Recalling Jung’s concept of individuation, Scholem wrote, “This is the stage of true individuation in which God as a person says ‘I’ to Himself. This divine Self, this ‘I’, according to the theosophical Kabbalists— and this is one of their most profound and important doctrines—is the Shekhinah, the presence and immanence of God in the whole creation.”21
The Widow, by Anders Zorn, circa 1882-83.
Jung believed that the great inner work of men in their youth is discovering and acknowledging their shadow, accepting the part of their personality that they have kept hidden from themselves. In a striking reference to medieval craft guilds—such as stonemasonry—Jung calls this acceptance of the
shadow the “apprentice piece,” the piece of work a would-be craftsman must present to prove his readiness for an apprenticeship. Similarly, Jung believed that the great inner work of men in old age is reclaiming their anima, their inner feminine. He calls that process the “master piece,” from the piece of work a craftsman must present to prove his readiness to become a master.22 In Freemasonry, three stages of life—youth, middle age, and old age—are symbolized by the three degrees. In an exact parallel to Jung’s conception, the first degree, the Entered Apprentice degree, teaches the initiate to bring his shadow to light, and the third degree, the Master Mason degree, teaches the initiate to reclaim his anima.23 The anima is experienced in several ways in the second part of the third degree: •
The initiate is forced to become more helpless and passive than men stereotypically like to be. • He is veiled, almost literally. • He is denied a voice. • He is taught how to call for help, an acknowledgment that he cannot always stand on his own or be in control. • He is pulled into a very intimate position. Moreover, when in the third degree obligation, the initiate promises to circumscribe his relationship with the several female figures in a brother’s family, he is symbolically promising not to come between a brother and his inner female, his anima. Jung himself wrote that the anima can be “sister, wife, mother, and daughter.”24 Thus the ritual of the Master Mason degree serves to teach the initiate to create his inner “master piece,” the reclaiming of the anima into the psyche. Older initiates may receive this teaching at just the right time, but as their younger brothers experience the third degree over and over again, they are being prepared, without knowing it, for the inner master piece they must fashion in their later years. The Lost Word In some jurisdictions Masons are told that the third degree symbolically takes place in the unfinished Holy of Holies. On the surface, the word unfinished is perhaps included to conform to the unfinished state of the temple as a whole, or simply to acknowledge that once the Holy of Holies was finished, craftsmen would certainly not have been SPRING II 2013 • 21
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Fœderatis. He is past master of Lodge Vitruvian 767 in Indiana and is a Knight Templar. A founding member of The Masonic Society, Davis currently serves on its board of directors and as review editor of The Journal of the Masonic Society. Davis and his wife, Bette Davis, have two children and a grandson. They live in the high desert of central New Mexico with their two dogs, Chip and Sandía. Davis is currently working on books on the subjects of this article and on the winding staircase as helix. NOTES 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Cover, The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, 1616.
allowed to meet there. But psychologically, a man’s inner Holy of Holies remains unfinished until he has performed the Sacred Marriage between his anima—his Shekhinah—and his holy Self. In at least one place in the Zohar, the great book of mystical Judaism, the Shekhinah is referred to as davar, a Hebrew word meaning “word.”25 Her name is sometimes treated as equivalent to the Greek word logos, also meaning “word.” Indeed the Shekhinah has sometimes been identified as the Torah itself, the very Word of God.26 Until a Mason can reunite with the Shekhinah, as anima and as “word,” she is lost to him. So perhaps the Shekhinah—the widowed mother and the Sacred Bride—is the true lost Word of Freemasonry.
17 18
Basil Valentine, Azoth, 1659 or earlier. Theron Dunn has written an excellent blog post in which he makes the case for the Widow as representing the Egyptian goddess Isis and the Christian saint Mary, mother of Jesus. He is absolutely right: Isis and Mary are incarnations of the Sacred Feminine in their respective traditions, just as Shekhinah is in Judaism. Dunn, “Who Is the Widow?” accessed May 21, 2013, http:// beaconofmasoniclight.blogspot.com/2007/10/who-is-widow.html. 19 John A. Sanford, The Invisible Partners: How the Male and Female in Each of Us Affects Our Relationships (New York: Paulist Press, 1980), 12-13. 20 Jolande Jacobi, ed., Psychological Reflections: An Anthology of the Writings of C. G. Jung, (New York: Pantheon Books, 1953), 323.
21
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
22
Kenneth W. Davis, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of English at Indiana University and an independent researcher and writer. He has authored or co-authored nine books with major publishers.
23
Davis is chaplain of Albuquerque Lodge 60 and the Lodge of Research of New Mexico and is a member of the Collegium Mexico Novus, Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus 22 • SPRING II 2013
12 13 14 15 16
roughout this article the word initiation and its variants are used in the Th general sense, not the specific Masonic sense of the first degree only. 1 Kings 7:14, 2 Chronicles 2:14. Michael D. Coogan, ed., New Oxford Annotated Bible, New Revised Standard Version, 3rd edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 502. Gershom Scholem, Kabbalah (New York: New American Library, 1974), 31. The Kebra Nagast (Oxford: Acheron Press, 2012), Chs. 26, 28, Kindle. Moshe Idel, Kabbalah and Eros (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005), 116. Daniel Sickels, General Ahiman Rezon (publisher unknown, 2011), “Lecture on the Legend of the Winding Stairs,” iBook. W. L. Wilmshurst, The Meaning of Masonry (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1999), 97. Daniel C. Matt, God and the Big Bang (Woodstock, Vermont: Jewish Lights, 1996), 138. Anne Baring and Jules Cashford, The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution of an Image (London: Penguin, 1993), 641. Gershom Scholem, On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism (New York: Schocken, 1965), 116. Scholem, Kabbalah, 67. Matthew 27: 50-51, New King James Version. Scholem, On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism, 138. Scholem, On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism, 108. Gospel of Thomas, saying 22, in Marvin Meyer, ed., The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The International Edition (San Francisco: Harper, 2007), 143.
24 25 26
Gershom Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, 3rd rev. ed. (New York: Schocken Books, 1941), 216. C. G. Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, 2nd ed. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969), 29. Because the journey to reclaim the anima is a uniquely male journey, a psychological case can be made for Freemasonry as an all-male fraternity. Jung, Archetypes, 29. Daniel C. Matt, translator and commentator, The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, Vol. 2 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004), 192. Scholem, On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism, 67.
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CULTURE
Alphonse Mucha: Artistic Visionary & Freemason By Adam Kendall, FMS “The purpose of my work was never to destroy but always to create, to construct bridges, because we must live in the hope that humankind will draw together and that the better we understand each other the easier this will become.” This sensitive and insightful quote is by a Freemason who transformed himself from an average student and amateur musician into one of the most imitated artists and designers. Indeed, he is widely considered the father of what came to be known to the world as Art Nouveau, which is one of the most important aesthetic trends of the last 200 years. Alphonse Mucha not only exemplified the artist as a visionary, but also as a storyteller. If it is the duty of the artist to explore the currents of emotion, identity, and mythology that influence civilization, then the philosophy credited to the Art Nouveau movement was that everything could and should be art. It was this artistic worldview that also influenced Mucha in his Freemasonry, as he is also considered the father of Czech Masonry and not only served as Grand Master, but also in the capacity of Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry for Czechoslovakia. Mucha was born in 1860 in Ivancice, Moravia, in what is now the Czech Republic. Despite his father’s wishes, he became an artist after being inspired by the paintings in local churches. As was typical of almost every aspiring artist in fin-de-siècle Europe, Mucha moved to Paris (where he would be initiated into Freemasonry in 1898) and after a few sponsorships dried up, he was left broke and adrift at the age of 27 as a proverbial starving artist—a role that he was to play to perfection for the next five years. At the age of 34, after designing posters for several plays starring the legendary Sarah Bernhardt, Mucha became an overnight sensation. He designed stamps, wallpaper, lamps, sculpture, and type fonts, all while creating lushly thematic paintings for clients such as the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris. His intention was that his vision not be confined solely to personal artistic copyright, and in 1905 he published the seminal “Figures Decoratives” as a philosophical manifesto for the the next generation of artists. His style became a frequently imitated blueprint. Four years later he was
commissioned to paint a series of murals for the Lord Mayor’s Hall in Prague, a project that was to consume the next eighteen years of his life. The end result was “The Slav Epic,” a set of twenty massive twenty-four foot by thirty foot paintings chronicling the Slavic people’s historical evolution and representing Mucha’s hopes and dreams for his Czech homeland. In the years following World War I, Mucha became an anachronism. While his art was still relatively popular, political attitudes shifted and the kingdoms of the Czech region united to form the nation of Czechoslovakia. In the face of these changes, his stylized, romantic imagery was increasingly derided as old-world—an unforgivable sin in the artistic and political communities of the day. Nevertheless, whether it was due to his sizable influence, his deep involvement with Freemasonry, or both, he was still important enough to be arrested when the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia. After returning to his home on July 14, 1939 following a harsh questioning session by Gestapo agents, Mucha died. His violent demise was ironic for a visionary who believed in the inherent artistic merit and humanity of his culture, as well as the rest of the world. Tragically, it was a world that would continue to plunge into barbarism and ultimately set his beloved country ablaze. A 1932 Masonic address by Mucha to his lodge in Pilsen: “A Masonic lodge is not a club where precious time and brotherly togetherness are wasted in chattering about everyday things, social matters and the like, which could be just as well discussed elsewhere. Nor is Masonry a monastery where every monk builds his own salvation in sombre secrecy and isolation from the world... No! Our work is strictly self-discipline, so that we may set a shining example to others in our land whom we wish to draw towards our light.” ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adam G. Kendall, PM, is the Collections Manager and Curator of Exhibits for the Henry W. Coil Library and Museum at the Grand Lodge of F. & A.M. of California. He has lectured on American fraternal organizations at numerous venues--most notably at the 2013 British Association for American Studies at Exeter University, the 2009, 2011 and 2013 International Conference on the History of Freemasonry (ICHF), as well as two international symposia at the National Heritage Museum in Lexington, MA, and he has published articles and essays in such notable publications such as the Western Museums Association, the Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism, the Journal of the Philalethes Society, Ars Quatuor Coronati, and Ahiman: A Review of Masonic Culture and Tradition. He is also honored to be the 2011-2013 Vice President of the Masonic Library & Museum Association (MLMA). SPRING II 2013 • 23
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BIOGRAPHY
The broken column of Daniel H. Boughton: A military mason and his legacy by Herbert F. Merrick
M
any men are footnotes to history -- close to greatness, but cut off by fate. One such person was Col. Daniel Hall Boughton. A skilled writer, a serious student of military art, and a brave combat leader, Boughton’s promising military career in the U.S. Army was cut short by his untimely death, depriving the army and the nation of his considerable talents, and the Masonic fraternity, in which he was a prominent member, of his labor. Many of his contemporaries and friends became general officers who gained prominence in the World War I and some in the World War II, and had he lived, Boughton surely would have been among them. A man of his times, Boughton was also a Mason who would help shape the history of one Kansas lodge, and become a leading figure in Kansas Masonic history.
EARLY LIFE Boughton was born August 27, 1858 in the southern Minnesota town of Nunda in Freeborn County. Following the death of his father in 1870, his mother remarried and the family moved to a farm in the vicinity of Osage, Iowa. His stepfather, a civil war veteran, undoubtedly fostered an interest in the military. Daniel attended Cedar Valley Seminary in Osage, Iowa where he earned a reputation for being a strong debater with excellent writing skills. By the summer of 1877 he was teaching school in a rural school house when word came that the local nominee for the 1881 class at the United States Military Academy at West Point had failed the entrance exam, and a competitive examination in the district would be held to replace the appointment.1 Boughton won this exam with ease and was admitted to the academy in September 1877. He graduated in 1881 standing ninth in a class of fifty-three and, to the surprise of his contemporaries, Boughton elected to join the Third United States Cavalry.2 Branch selections were based on class standing with the highest placed students normally selecting the Corps of Engineers or the artillery over the cavalry, and there were four artillery positions open to Boughton. His early assignments did not show great promise, but rather a solid, though not outstanding, student of the military art. From the very beginning of his career, Boughton demonstrated independence when pursuing personal goals. COMMENDED BY ROOSEVELT IN CUBA On the eve of the Spanish American War, Boughton was promoted to captain and given command of D troop, Third U.S. Cavalry, at Jefferson Barracks in Saint Louis. Sent to Cuba with his regiment, Boughton played a conspicuous role in the famous fight at San Juan Hill. During the battle, Boughton led his troop onto the field and immediately set 24 • SPRING II 2013
to work directing artillery onto the Spanish positions, while standing in plain sight in the middle of a road. When a sergeant commanding a gun complained that although his battery had been under fire since early morning, he hadn’t even glimpsed a Spaniard, Boughton shot back, “’I can show you plenty,’ ….. and, raising his hand pointed toward the San Juan blockhouse and the ridge in its vicinity, sweeping his hand toward the right.” The gunner took the hint and almost before Boughton finished speaking, his guns were in action.3 During the assault on the hill, which made the reputation of Theodore Roosevelt (who served with his unit, the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, alongside Boughton’s men), Boughton was “one of the first officers upon the hill.”4 His conduct caught the eye of Roosevelt during the attack as his troop engaged the enemy alongside Roosevelt’s volunteers, and the Tenth U.S. Cavalry (Buffalo Soldiers). Writing of Boughton and a fellow officer, Roosevelt remarked, “I had been watching them both, as they handled their troops with the cool confidence of the veteran regular officer, and had been congratulating myself that they were off toward the right flank, for as long as they were there, I knew I was perfectly safe in that direction.“5 Roosevelt later wrote, I had the good fortune to be an eye-witness to Captain Boughton’s cool courage and soldierly conduct at the extreme front in the Santiago fighting, and I speak of him with the most unreserved praise. His is as good an officer as there was in the cavalry division…. I cannot too highly commend him. 6 For his actions at Santiago-de-Cuba, Boughton was brevetted Major, and the impression he made on Roosevelt remained very favorable. He was mentioned in Roosevelt’s subsequent correspondence as one of two regular army officers he would recruit to command cavalry brigades should things continue to go wrong in Mexico.7 DISTINGUISHED SERVICE IN THE PHILLIPINES In July 1900, the Third Cavalry was alerted to support the punitive expedition to China but was instead diverted to the Philippines. On arrival, Boughton’s squadron immediately took the field, and he was engaged with Philippine insurrectionists at Sinait, on September 26, 1902, and later participated in the capture of Santa Rosa Mountain. This was irregular warfare, and by all accounts, Boughton seemed to excel at it. A typical report detailed how Boughton and a detachment of cavalry unexpectedly encountered insurrectionists in the mountains near Taison. Without hesitation, Boughton and his men “charged at once with revolvers and defeated them, capturing 3 ponies and equipments [sic].”8 As the fighting died down, Boughton shifted to an administrative role and was appointed Judge Advocate to the First Separate Brigade, Provost Marshall and Commissary General of Prisoners, placed in charge of civil affairs by Gen Franklin Bell.9 This assignment led to him serving
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Boughton was also attracted to the Appendant bodies of Masonry, and he joined the Army Chapter of Rose Croix on May 19, 1906, became a charter member of Council of Kadosh on February 24, 1907 and was a charter member of Armed Forces Consistory on October 27, 1907. Similar to his leadership role in Hancock Lodge, Boughton served as Venerable Master in 1907 – the same year he presided over his lodge -- and later served as Master of the Kadosh in 1908.16
as the Chief of Staff for the Lobo Campaign of 1902.10 Coordinating these actions for Bell’s units would lead in April to the surrender of General Malvar, who blamed his failure on being kept continuously on the move and the attrition of his staff.11 Capt. Boughton then served as the Treasurer of the War Emergency Rice Fund which was used to prevent the widespread famine brought on by the insurrection and its aftermath. Typical of Boughton’s efficiency, the fund balanced to the penny when it was transferred to the Auditor of the Philippines.12 AN ACTIVE MASONIC CAREER In May 1903, Boughton earned his majority, and returned to the United States, assigned to the Army’s General Service and Staff College (CSSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. There he served as the head of the Department of Law, then the Department of Tactics, and finally as the Assistant Deputy Commandant. Maj. Boughton was familiar with Ft. Leavenworth, having first been posted there as a student with the Infantry and Cavalry School.13 During his second stint at the Fort, he petitioned Hancock Lodge No. 311, the Masonc Lodge located on post, and named after Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, one of the heroes of Gettysburg, and himself a Mason.14 There are hints that Boughton was first attracted to Freemasonry while he was assigned to West Point, but there is no documentation to support this belief. There is no doubt that he had met many important officers over his military career including Theodore Roosevelt in Cuba and Arthur MacArthur during his first tour at Fort Leavenworth. An active Mason with a deep interest in the operation of the lodge, Boughton was also a keen student of the ideals of the institution. He was elected to membership in November 190515 and raised on April 9, 1906. Doubtless in part due to the transitory nature of Army service, Boughton was immediately elected an officer of the lodge, serving as Senior Warden in the fall of 1906 and Worshipful Master in 1907. During this period almost eighty percent of the lodge’s active local membership was in the military which lead to a high turnover in Hancock Lodge’s leadership.
A HEART THROB OF SORROW In March 1911, Boughton was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and sent back to the Philippines17. He remained there for two years serving on the staff as the Provost Marshal General. While there, he crossed paths with more future leaders of the United States Army including generals Leonard Wood and John Pershing (who was also a Mason at that time),18 as they fought the last insurrection in the Moro provinces. Boughton did well in this assignment. However, he became ill just after his promotion to Colonel in April of 1914. He was assigned to Command the Tenth Cavalry (Buffalo Soldiers) in Fort Huachuca. He took command on August 1, 1914, and died, of cerebral hemorrhage, at Fort Huachuca on August 24, 1914. He had commanded for less than one month and that his Tenth Calvary would be active in combat within just months.19 His obituary in the West Point alumni publication declared “a heart throb of deep and genuine sorrow surge through the military service, when it became known” that Boughton “had passed away in the prime of his manhood, and at a climax in his exceptional career when best fitted by rank, experience, and professional attainments, to excel in those many and varied things which fall to the lot of higher commanders.”20 Buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Boughton was accorded the usual military honors of a battalion of troops from the engineers of Washington Barracks with its band, 21 but also with a Masonic procession of over two hundred members of the Washington DC chapter of the Knights Rose Croix in a “beautiful and impressive Masonic services of the Scottish Rite.”22 Among his pallbearers were Brigadier General Frank McIntyre (later a Major General Director of Insular Affairs), Colonel Joseph E. Kuhn (later Brigadier General and director of the Army’s War College), Colonel J.E. McMahon (later Major General and commander of the Fifth Infantry Division), Colonel H.C. Hodges (later Major General), Major Parker West and Major Charles Crawford (later Brigadier General and commander of Third Infantry Division). Even in death D. H. Boughton was unique. He has a personal memorial stone in Arlington measuring over three feet high and four feet long with the badge of a 32° Scottish Rite Mason, inscribed with a verse from Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.” BOUGHTON’S LEGACY But Boughton’s greatest memorial is not his grave site at Arlington. Rather, it is Daniel Hall Boughton Memorial Hall, located on the post of Ft. SPRING II 2013 • 25
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Leavenworth. Although the building houses the United States Post Office for the installation, Boughton Hall is unique in that it is also the permanent home to the Armed Forces Masonic Bodies, including Hancock Lodge No. 311, and the Armed Forces Scottish Rite Bodies. As such, it is the only Masonic Lodge housed in a Masonically owned Temple on a military reservation in the United States.23 This building had been Boughton’s dream while assigned to Fort Leavenworth, in part because his lodge was often forced to relocate to 26 • SPRING II 2013
different facilities in the installation, and also because Boughton felt that a permanent home was needed. According to the minutes of the lodge he often spoke on this need and following his death, the lodge set about gathering the funds to build such a building. Following the First World War, military budgets shrank substantially and Fort Leavenworth found itself in need of a new post office. The newly formed Daniel Hall Boughton Building and Memorial Association proposed a solution to both problems, and after discussion with the Kansas congressional delegation, the United States Congress, in its War
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Department Appropriations Act for 1920, approved the “Boughton Memorial Association, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Kansas, be, and is hereby, authorized to erect and maintain a suitable building, under such regulations as the Secretary of War may prescribe, in and upon the United States military reservation at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, the plans of such building to be first approved and to be constructed in such location as may be prescribed by the Secretary of War : Provided, That the use of such portion of the ground floor of said building as may be necessary shall be given to the Post Office Department of the United States, free of charge, for the post-office service of the reservation.”24 It is clear that had he lived a few more years he would have risen in fame both in military and Masonic circles. Peers and superiors all saw it, but sadly for all this did not happen. But, he did leave a grand legacy, one that stands in stone on Ft. Leavenworth, and in the example for his brothers. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Herbert F. Merrick is an Assistant Professor of Strategic Studies at the United States Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, KS. A retired Lt. Colonel in the United States Army, he is a member of several Masonic Lodges and is a past master of Hancock Lodge No. 311. Currently the Grand Pursuivant of the Grand Lodge of Kansas, Merrick is also active in the Armed Forces Scottish Rite, Shrine and Eastern Star, and is a member of the executive board of the Daniel Hall Boughton Memorial and Building Association. NOTES 1 2 3 4 5
harles D. Rhodes, Boughton obituary in Annual Report of the C Association of Graduates, 1915, Boughton Cullum File, USMA. USMA Register of Graduates, 4-62. John H. Parker. History of the Gatling Gun Detachment, Fifth Army Corps at Santiago, Kansas City: Hudson-Kimberly, 1898, 131-2. Parker, 137. Theodore Roosevelt, “The Rough Riders,” New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1899, 53.
6 Assoc. of the Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy. Forty-Third Annual Reunion of the Association of Graduates, Saginaw(MI): Seeman & Peters, 1912, 101-2. See also, Jason Patrick Clark. 326. 7 Edmund Morris, Colonel Roosevelt, New York: Random House, 2010. 132. 8 “Report of Operations of January 1, 1902,” in U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Philippines. Hearings Before the Committee on the Philippines of the United States Senate. Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Office, 1902,1695. 9 Jason Patrick Clark. 327. See also “Gen. Orders No. 3, Hdqrs Third Separate Brigade (Dec. 11, 1901),” in U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Philippines. Hearings Before the Committee on the Philippines of the United States Senate. Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Office, 1902, 1644. 10 J. Franklin Bell to Loyd Wheaton, 26 December 1901, quoted in Robert D. Ramsey, III, A Masterpiece of Counterguerilla Warfare: BG J. Franklin Bell in the Philippines, 1901-1902, Long War Series, Occasional Paper #25 (Fort Leavenworth, Kan.: Combat Studies Institute Press, 2007), 9 Jason Patrick Clark. 2009. The Many Faces of Reform: Military Progressivism in the U.S. Army1866-1916, Ph.d Diss., Duke University, 328. 11 Brian McAllister Linn, The Philippine War 1899-1902, (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2000) , 304 12 Boughton obituary from 1915 Annual Report Association of Graduates, in Boughton Cullum File 2887, USMA.. 13 Jason Patrick Clark. The Many Faces of Reform: Military Progressivism in the U.S. Army1866-1916, Ph.d Diss., Duke University, 2009, 323. 14 Hancock Lodge was charted by the Grand Lodge of Kansas on 15 May 1888. Winfield Scott Hancock (1824-1886) was a member of Chartiers Lodge No. 297, Canonsburg, Pa. For more information on Hancock Lodge, see http://www.signaleer.us/HL311/Historical/ HLHistory.htm (Accessed May 15, 2013). 15 Boughton’s original petition. Hancock Masonic Lodge No. 311, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. 16 Archives of the Armed Forces Scottish Rite Bodies, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. 17 Boughton obituary from 1915 Annual Report Association of Graduates, in Boughton Cullum File 2887, USMA. 18 “General Masonic News,” The New Age Magazine, v. 28, 1920, 335. Pershing was a member of Lincoln Lodge No. 19, Lincoln, NE, since his raising in 1888. Leonard Wood joined the Order at Anglo Saxon Lodge No. 137 in Brooklyn, NY, two years after Boughton’s death. See also The Masonic Year, Chicago: Masonic History Co., 1921, 72, 76. 19 Boughton obituary from 1915 Annual Report Association of Graduates, in Boughton Cullum File 2887, USMA. 20 Assoc. of the Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy, 99. 21 The Washington Post September 1, 1914. 22 Boughton obituary from 1915 Annual Report Association of Graduates, in Boughton Cullum File 2887, USMA. 23 http://www.signaleer.us/HL311/Historical/HLHistory.htm (Accessed May 15, 2013). 24 United States Congress. The Statutes at Large of the United States of America (May 1919-March 1921), v. 41, pt. 1, Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1921, 130.
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Reflections from the Chamber by Cliff Porter, FMS
T
raditional Observance has three practices that garner more attention (and more argument) than any other. They are: the Chain of Union, a solemn ceremony closing the lodge, the Agape or Festive Board, a formal dinner punctuated by discussion and toasting, and, the most controversial of the three, the Chamber of Reflection.
From a historical perspective, we know that the Chamber was already in use by Masons in the 1740s when it first begins to appear in exposés, such as Les Secrets des Francs-Maçons (1742). However, the Chamber of Reflection is no longer a common practice for American Masonic lodges and it is likely that it was never widely practiced, although it has been in regular use in some lodges throughout North and South America since Masonry arrived in those locations. Lodges throughout Central and South America use a version of what many Masons would call the Scottish Rite symbolic degrees as opposed to a Preston-Webb ritual often referred to as York Rite symbolic degrees. Most, if not all, Chambers of Reflection are small dark rooms, candlelit, containing a desk, stool or chair, and something to write with and on. The idea behind the Chamber is simple. A man should have the privilege of contemplation before entering upon the Great Work of Freemasonry. Sometimes the Chamber is augmented with other furnishings, and often these additions raise objections. Lodges sometimes include such things as a skull, or a scythe, bread, water, salt, sulfur, mercury, the hourglass, and the word vitriol or its acronym: V.I.T.R.I.O.L. Recently, one jurisdiction, barred its use by name, going so far as to declare no candidate should be left alone in the preparation room with a chance to reflect less it become a Chamber of Reflection. Others, including the Grand Lodges of Colorado and Michigan have recommendations for its use, and the Grand lodge of Massachusetts has recently restored the Chamber of Reflection in their Grand Lodge building, and has allowed it to be used. Elsewhere, other Grand Lodges take a laissez faire approach to it. The Chamber has always maintained a central role in the Masonic experience within the State of Louisiana, where the degrees for some of the lodges there were influenced by the same French rituals which spurred the 1740s exposés. Throughout Central and South America, where the first three degrees are not York-styled, the Chamber is a regular fixture.
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The objection that the Chamber is not Masonic is not factual. The more accurate statement is that the Chamber of Reflection is not common throughout the United States at this juncture in our Masonic history. But, there are many things that are defensible as a Masonic tradition, that are no longer in regular practice within the lodges of the United States. Solemnity, well attended lodges, buildings in good repair, and thorough background checks are all missing from various Masonic lodges throughout the United States as well; and yet they remain historically defensible Masonic traditions.
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More important than the Chamber itself is the philosophy it represents. The proponents of using Chambers of Reflection tend to emphasize the idea that Masonry is extraordinary in every way and should be treated as such. The journey of initiation is meant to powerful and meaningful. They accept and celebrate that Freemasonry strives to make good men better. The critics of the Chamber see it just opposite – that the use of the Chamber attempts to insert a fundamental change in the standard Masonic practices of the last hundred years, borrowing from the York Rite, when they should leave well enough alone. I argue that the Chamber of Reflection certainly isn’t for everyone, or every lodge. But, just as the Grand Lodges extoll the virtues of allowing men to explore whatever Masonic path they choose to follow, by permitting membership in Appendant Bodies, why not allow a lodge to use a legitimate Masonic practice to provide for a meaningful initiation? W.L. Wilmshurst, a respected member of the United Grand Lodge of England, and a member of one of its first “Traditional Observance” lodges, described the ideal Masonic initiations as “an expansion of consciousness from the human to the divine level.” Is it such an odd invention that we should contemplate such an undertaking? We recommend that Masons should never undertake a laudable pursuit without first invoking the blessing of Deity. We recommend that a man should reflect and pray. Yet, when the Chamber of Reflection is not used or the preparation room is not handled properly we rob our candidates of the same opportunity to follow a recommendation we are about to make to them. By permitting the selective use of Chambers of Reflection, the Grand Lodges encourage our men to follow the dictates of Freemasonry. We encourage our membership to be introspective, to meditate and to pray. We provide an example of our teachings in a very real and tangible way. I don’t pretend that the Chamber of Reflection is a magic pill for improving Freemasonry, but I do believe it can improve the initiate experience for those who chose to utilize it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Cliff Porter is the Chairman of Masonic Education for the Grand Lodge of Colorado, Hon. Past Grand Lecturer of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia, Past Master of Enlightenment Lodge 198, and an associate member of the Lodge of Living Stones 4957 in Leeds, England. He is a veteran law enforcement officer and is recognized internationally for his work in the field of subconscious communications. Bro. Porter is the author of The Secret Psychology of Freemasonry (2011). His upcoming book, A Traditional Observance, will be available wherever fine books are sold.
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THE JOURNAL JOURNAL OF OF THE THE MASONIC MASONIC SOCIETY SOCIETY THE
Masonic Treasures Jewels of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia This pair of beatifully crafted jewels are representative of high offices in the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, and are just a couple found in a stunning collection owned by Right Worshipful Frater Martin T. Elwick, Deputy Grand Director General of Ceremonies. The Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia is an independent Christian society. Admission is limited to Master Masons who are subscribing members of a Lodge under the Grand Lodge of England or a jurisdiction in amity with Grand Lodge and who accept and believe in the fundamental principles of the Trinitarian Christian faith.
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IN PRINT
Book Reviews: Current The Foundations of Modern Freemasonry: The Grand Architects—Political Change and the Scientific Enlightenment, 17141740, by Ric Berman “In brief, there was no unique thread that joined pre-mediaeval and mediaeval Freemasonry to what was to develop in the eighteenth century.” —Berman Contrary to the popular notion that speculative Freemasonry developed gradually from operative masonry during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, author Ric Berman convincingly argues that modern Freemasonry was created out of whole cloth by John Theophilus Desaguliers and a band of like-minded English gentlemen in London during the birth of the scientific enlightenment. Berman describes the association with operative lodges of non-operatives (like Elias Ashmole) as a pursuit of sociability and networking opportunities and not for philosophical purposes. The Foundations of Modern Freemasonry is a scholarly work of the authentic school of Masonic research. An expansion on Berman’s doctorial thesis (The Architects of Eighteenth Century English Freemasonry, 1720-40), this book is well referenced with over fifty pages of notes and an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources. The book traces the formation of the premier grand lodge in England at the time of the scientific enlightenment. During this period, Masonry both influenced and was influenced by new scientific discovery, when, as Berman contends, nearly 50 percent of the Fellows of the Royal Society were Freemasons. Berman also outlines the Hanoverian (anti-Jacobite) influence on the Craft, as well as influences from the judiciary, the military, the Royal Society of Physicians, the Society of Antiquaries, the Royal Society of Apothecaries, and other professional organizations. Finally, Berman discusses the pursuit of aristocratic patronage and the rise of the first noble grand masters as titular leaders of grand lodge. Although The Foundations of Modern Freemasonry does not provide a history of the foundations of Masonic philosophy and symbology, it is an excellent book and a welcome addition to the bookshelf of the serious student of Freemasonry, alongside Stevenson’s The Origins of Freemasonry. Reviewed by: Bo Cline Sussex Academic Press (2012), 344 pages Hardcover US$79.50, £55; paperback US$39.95, £25
Short Talk Bulletins Bound Set, 19231937, edited by S. Brent Morris Since 1923, Short Talk Bulletins have doubtless been the most-used resource for Masonic education in Canada and the United States. Published monthly by the Masonic Service Association of North America, they have covered Masonic topics from “Acacia Leaves and Easter Lillies” to “Youth Programs for Boys and Girls” (sorry, none begins with a Z). This first volume in a planned series will have more than 750 pages of the earliest Short Talk Bulletins. It will be published in Fall 1013 in two hardback editions: a Grand Master Edition, gilt-edged and leather-bound, and a Master Mason Edition, linen-bound. This set of Short Talk Bulletins is a must-have for lodge libraries and the personal libraries of serious Masonic researchers and educators. Reviewed by Kenneth W. Davis Masonic Service Association of North America (www.msana.com) Master Masion Edition US$55 ($90 after September 1, 2013) Grand Master Edition US$110 ($150 after September 1, 2013)
Meet the Reviewers: Kenneth W. Davis, Ph.D., is chaplain of Albuquerque Lodge 60, New Mexico, past master of Lodge Vitruvian 767, Indiana, and a member of The Masonic Society’s board of directors. John R. “Bo” Cline, president of The Masonic Society, is a past grand master, twice past master of Matanuska Lodge No. 7 in Palmer, Alaska, and a member of various Masonic research groups. He is very interested in the study of Masonic history and symbology. S. Brent Morris, Ph.D., is managing editor of The Scottish Rite Journal, past master of Quatuor Coronati Lodge, and a Founding Fellow of The Masonic Society. Current Books Received Bizzack, John. Discovering Freemasonry in Context: The Laboratory of Moral Science. Autumn House, 2012. Hart, Ronald J. R. Enhance Your Masonic Knowledge. Hersham, Surrey: Lewis Masonic, 2013. Jackson, Keith B. Beyond the Craft. Hersham, Surrey: Lewis Masonic, 2012. Lomax, Fred. Fred’s Five Minute Talks: Your Masonic Questions Answered. Hersham, Surrey: Lewis Masonic, 2013. Rees, Julian. Ornaments, Furniture and Jewels. Hersham, Surrey: Lewis Masonic, 2013. If you are interested in writing a review any of these books, please contact Kenneth W. Davis (kennethwdavis@mac.com).
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IN PRINT
Book Reviews: Classic
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The History of Freemasonry by Robert Freke Gould My taste in Masonic books is inspired by the famous line from Dragnet, “Just the facts, ma’am. Just the facts.” I’m not opposed to symbolism or speculation or interpretation, but they’re not my cup of tea. Especially since so many such authors seem to start from a basis of wishful thinking rather than verifiable fact.
In 1884, The History of Freemasonry changed all that. Gould’s conclusions were based upon careful documentation and conservative deductions. New records have been found since 1884, but Gould’s reasoning is still solid. His view of the great sweep of Masonic history is still respected. If you’re going to study Freemasonry, you may as well start with a solid foundation of basic verifiable facts. Once you have a solid foundation, anything you build on it will endure.
Robert Freke Gould was one of the founders of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076 in London and the “authentic school” of Masonic research. Prior to Gould and QC, the “romantic school” held sway, and facts were not as important as a persuasive case for Masonic antiquity and famous members.
Reviewed by: S. Brent Morris Available in multiple free or low-cost paperback, e-book, and Web editions.
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34 • SPRING 2013
THE JOURNAL OF THE MASONIC SOCIETY (ADVERTISEMENT)
F
reemasonry and the founding of the United States have been intertwined since the very beginning. Now discover the brotherhood of Freemasons at the center of Dan Brown’s novel, The Lost Symbol. Follow fictional symbologist Robert Langdon’s factual trail through the streets and monuments of Washington D.C., and into the innermost lodge rooms and temples of the Masons. Best-selling author of Solomon’s Builders and Freemasons For Dummies Christopher Hodapp has created the definitive guide to the symbols, legends, and mysteries of The Lost Symbol. Take an insider’s trip to uncover the true stories behind the Freemasons and the nation’s capital, and interpret the clues and claims of Brown’s book. From Masonic presidents, secret codes, and esoteric rituals, to curious cornerstones, monuments, and symbols, Deciphering The Lost Symbol is the only key you need to unlock the secrets and the truth behind Dan Brown’s fiction. ISBN: 978-1569757739 Ulysses Press Paperback, 208 pages, US $12.95
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The Masonic Society 1427 W. 86th Street, Suite 248 Indianapolis, IN 46260-2103
Masonic Treasures
PAST MASTER’S JEWEL Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076
The Premier Lodge of Masonic Research This is a stunning example of a rare
Masonic Past Master jewel. The jewel
belongs to S. Brent Morris, 33°, Who has the distinction of being a Past Master of
Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076. It is an honor afforded to few, as the lodge has a very limited membership and the level of
scholarly research expected is very high. The history of the jewel is recorded on
its reverse side, and notes that W. Bro. S.
Brent Morris served as Master in 2007-2008, and the jewel was previously entrusted
to W. Bro. A.C.F. Jackson who served as
master of the lodge in 1974-1975. The jewel is fully hallmarked and appears to have
been manufactured by Toye, Kenning and
Spencer. The face of the jewel depicts the Quatuor Coronati, or the four crowned
martyrs, who, legend says, were prominent
in early freemasonry. The reverse shows an image of Saint Michael.