‘Mark Tabbert in Morristown’

     

Northern New Jersey Chapter of Rose Croix will host its next meeting in Morristown on Tuesday, November 13, when Most Wise Master Moises I. Gomez welcomes Ill. Mark A. Tabbert, 33° to the podium as our honored guest speaker.

Mark A. Tabbert

We’ll start out at Cincinnati Lodge No. 3 for a catered meal before heading around the corner to the historic Ford Mansion for Mark’s talk on the Masonic life and times of George Washington. As you know, Mark is the Director of Collections at the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Virginia, as well as the author of several thoughtful books on Freemasonry that you should have read by now.

This meeting commemorates the 260th anniversary of the Masonic raising of a young man named George Washington. Cincinnati Lodge is named for the Society of the Cincinnati, America’s oldest private society devoted to patriotic values. Founded in 1783 by American and French military officers of the American Revolution, it lives on today through its hereditary membership as a historical and educational foundation in the public service. The Ford Mansion is a mid-18th century residence that served as Gen. George Washington’s headquarters during the storied winter of 1779-80. It now is part of the National Parks Service.

So you see the theme here.

The program at Ford Mansion is open to Master Masons. Leave me a note (not for publication) with your e-mail address in the comments section if you want to attend, and I’ll get back to you.

     

‘Hammer strikes’

     
Bro. Andrew Hammer is keeping busy this fall. Andrew is the author of Observing the Craft, a book I consider to be one of the most important writings on lodge life to be published in ages. If you are the Mason who hasn’t read it yet, click here, and order your copy. My review appears here.

Anyway, here are three dates I should bring to your attention.

On Thursday, October 11, Andrew will speak at his own lodge, historic Alexandria-Washington No. 22, which meets inside the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia.

His topic will be “What Came Ye Here To Do: The Transformation of American Masonry,” in which Andrew will present “some thoughts on purpose and focus in our Masonic endeavors, and report on the exciting developments now taking place in the Craft throughout the nation.”

I’d say few are as qualified to speak on that subject today. Get there if you can, but you must make dinner reservations by e-mailing the Senior Steward at reservations(at)aw22.org now.

On Saturday, October 27, Andrew will speak at the Pennsylvania Academy of Masonic Knowledge in Elizabethtown. As always, the Academy will meet in the Deike Auditorium of the Freemasons Cultural Center at the Masonic Village. Registration will open at 8:30 a.m., and the program will start at 9:30 a.m. Lunch will be served at noon, and the program will be completed by 3 p.m. Dress code for this meeting is coat and tie. All Masons are welcome to attend, but please contact Bro. Shawn Dignazio at dignazio(at)yahoo.com no later than October 21.

Andrew will be sharing the podium with Bro. Alton G. Roundtree, Past Master of Redemption Lodge No. 24 PHA in Washington, DC. He is co-author, with Bro. Paul Bessel, of Out of the Shadows: The Emergence of Prince Hall Freemasonry in America.

On Monday, November 19, Bro. Andrew will return to New Jersey, this time to speak at Nutley Lodge No. 25 in Nutley. (This will be the only one that I’ll be able to attend. Hope to see you there.)

     

‘Apron presentations’

    
I intended to post this weeks ago, while there still was time for dinner reservations, but here is the good news anyway.

RW John Walker Robinson and RW Jason Sheridan are the kind of Masons you like to see in Grand Lodge office. Both are important to the 21st century revival of Craft Masonry in New York City, and with many more years of labor ahead of them, things will improve further.  (I look forward to getting to know RW Bro. Nagel.)

It is a classy tradition in the Grand Lodge of New York, that of presenting (or re-presenting) the grand rank apron to the staff officer in his mother lodge. These events are pretty amazing, with testimonials from longtime brethren, and the presence of so many relatives and friends. I regret not being able to attend tomorrow night, but I hope to be there on the 17th.

‘Traubenfest next Sunday’

    

And after Grand Master’s Day, don’t forget Traubenfest, just around the corner at German Masonic Park!

     

     

‘Temples lie open unto the fields’

    
(With apologies to William Wordsworth.)

Hard to believe Grand Masters Day arrives next weekend, but here we are. Summer is over; Masons are at labor; and my paltry speaking tour to raise funds for The American Lodge of Research resumes.

If you haven’t heard already (where have you been?) Grand Masters Day will be Sunday, October 7 at DeWint House, located at 20 Livingston Street in Tappan, New York. Just a short drive from Manhattan, and only five minutes outside Bergen County, New Jersey. DeWint House is worth your time on any day. It is open to the public, free of charge, Tuesday through Sunday. The meticulously groomed historic campus consists of the 17th century Dutch Colonial home, that also happens to be the oldest structure in Rockland County, and is famous for serving several times as Gen. George Washington’s headquarters during the American Revolution. (To learn more, click here. Also, scroll down to the Magpie Index at left, and click on DeWint House to see previous posts about this amazing site, including a number of photographs.) In addition, there is the Carriage House, which is packed with Masonic pieces and other antiques. Your eyes won’t know where to look first. In addition, the landscape itself is wonderful, with exotic trees and beautiful plants and flowers, and even a group of graves that will leave a lump in your throat.

If you’ve never been there, make plans to go, even if you can’t make it on October 7. If you do attend on October 7, be prepared to hear me speak. I am much honored to be DeWint House’s guest speaker that afternoon in the presence of so many Masonic dignitaries and friends of Freemasonry. (The good news is they’ve limited me to only eight minutes, so it won’t be too bad!) In “Temples Lie Open unto the Fields,” I will discuss DeWint House as a crucial example of the proper way American heroes and principles should be memorialized for posterity.

It all begins at 2 p.m., but there will be a brunch at 11:30 a.m. at ’76 House, located right around the corner. See the invitation below for RSVP info.

Sorry for the upside down text. The invitation is laid out for folding,
and for some reason I cannot rotate the JPG.


Hope to see you there.
    

‘Architecture and Psyche’

    
I came home to this in my in-box tonight. An encouraging message to help conclude this grim anniversary day:

As part of the C.G. Jung Foundation’s initiative to reach out to the many Jungian communities worldwide to share information and build community, we are presenting a new program, titled The President’s Lecture Series. By sharing information, we can draw together in our work to enlarge analytical psychology to its fullest capacity, benefiting a new audience of people in their quest for greater consciousness.

Date: Tuesday, October 23 from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Location: Jung Center, 28 East 39th Street, New York City

Courtesy C.G. Jung Foundation

Speaker: Anthony Lawlor on “Architecture and Psyche: Experiencing Archetypes, Alchemy and the Collective Unconscious in Everyday Places.”

Award-winning architect Anthony Lawlor will discuss the connection between psyche and architecture and design. He is the author of Home for the Soul and The Temple in the House: Finding the Sacred in Everyday Architecture.

His presentation will illustrate the ways in which the design of homes and public spaces offers tangible encounters with archetypes, alchemical processes, and the collective unconscious. Doorways, pathways, places of arrival, and other common architectural elements provide a symbolic landscape for individuation. The process of extracting, manufacturing and finishing metallic ores, timber and other raw materials will be related to the alchemical process of transmuting the prima materia into the Lapis Philosophorum (Philosopher’s Stone) of experience. Finally, he will examine some of the ways in which design of public and private areas within a city embodies the codes and beliefs of the collective unconscious and supports the cultural rituals of its mythology.

Anthony Lawlor is an architect, author and teacher who focuses on the relationship between consciousness and design. His books A Home for the Soul, The Temple in the House, and 24 Patterns of Wisdom show readers how design and art can become allies in deepening one’s experience of the human journey. During 30 years of architectural practice, he has received awards for excellence in design from the American Institute of Architects and Interior Design magazine. His work has been featured on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” National Public Radio, and numerous other national media. Lawlor received his Master of Architecture Degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Learn more about his work here.

To purchase tickets ($20 Foundation members; $25 public) click here and scroll down to the bottom of that page.