‘Welcome to these Eleven Gentlemen of Charleston’

     

Available from the SRRS. Click here.

Speaking of Masonic writers named Harris (see Tuesday’s post), the Scottish Rite Research Society’s new bonus book for members is Ray Baker Harris’ Eleven Gentlemen of Charleston, his collection of biographical sketches of the brethren who founded the Mother Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. It has been out about a month, and now is available for sale to everyone. Even autographed copies, signed by Arturo de Hoyos and B. Chris Ruli, can be had.

I am no longer a Scottish Rite Mason (buy me a beer sometime and I’ll tell you, &c., &c.), so this material isn’t as fascinating to me as it would have been earlier in life, but I maintain an appreciation for these founders. I’ve never really known anything about them, except that four were Jewish, which I consider to be a remarkable circumstance given demographics and, frankly, odds.

Originally published in 1959, Eleven Gentlemen was written by Harris while serving as Supreme Council’s Librarian. It must be nice to have the library and archives of the modern Southern Jurisdiction as your workplace. As you know, the original Supreme Council for the United States of America was established May 31, 1801 (this volume is part of the Supreme Council’s dodransbicentennial—look it up—anniversary celebration), but what you might not have known is how its archives were destroyed during the Civil War.

The Supreme Council was seated at Charleston, which suffered repeated devastations. The war began there in April 1861 with the attack on Fort Sumter, located on a man-made island in Charleston Harbor. That December, a fire destroyed much of the city. Through the war, the U.S. Navy heavily shelled Charleston. Near the war’s end in 1865, as Gen. Sherman’s army plowed through South Carolina, Confederate forces fled the city after setting fires to destroy more of it.

This book’s introduction quotes Albert Pike at the May 1878 Supreme Council session:

I am often asked why we do not publish our old Transactions, to which I am compelled to reply that we have none to publish. We have no record of the transactions at Charleston from 1801 to 1860. What minutes we had were destroyed, with many papers, pamphlets, and books of the Secretary-General during the war. I never saw any of them, and do not know how full or how meagre they were.

So, don’t feel inferior if, like me, you know little about Scottish Rite’s founding brothers.

Because I want you to enjoy, and profit from, the book, I won’t overshare its contents, but let me just name the founders and supplement the list with life dates and birth & death places:

    Abraham Alexander: born circa 1743 in London; died February 21, 1816 at Charleston.

    Isaac Auld: born February 25, 1770 in Pennsylvania; died October 1826 in South Carolina.

    Thomas Bartholomew Bowen: born circa 1742 in Ireland; died July 12, 1805 near Charleston.

    Frederick Dalcho: born October 1770 in London; died November 24, 1836 at Charleston.

    Moses Clara Levy: born circa 1749 in Poland; died March 1839 at Charleston.

    John Mitchell: born circa 1741 in Ireland; died January 25, 1816 at Charleston.

    James Moultrie: born September 1766 in Charleston; died there November 20, 1836.

    Le Comte Alexandre Francois Auguste de Grasse: born February 14, 1765 in Versailles; died June 10, 1845 at Paris.

    Jean Baptiste Marie Delahogue: born circa 1744 in France; died April 13, 1822 at Paris.

    Israel De Lieben: born circa 1740 in Prague; died January 28, 1807 at Charleston.

    Emanuel De La Motta: born November 2, 1760 on St. Croix, West Indies; died May 17, 1821 at Charleston.

Interesting to note six were born in the 1740s and the others between 1760 and ’70, showing two age groups in unity. Alexander and Mitchell died within weeks of each other in 1816; Dalcho and Moultrie died within days in ’36. Only two were born in what would become the United States. Eight died in or near Charleston, and Auld about forty miles away. The four Jewish brethren (Alexander, De La Motta, De Lieben, and Levy) are interred in the Coming Street Cemetery, the oldest Jewish burial ground in the American South. Yes, Moultrie was from the prominent Moultrie family. He was a nephew of the Revolutionary War general who designed my favorite flag of the war.

In typography, a ligature is a single character formed by joining two or more characters.

I close this edition of The Magpie Mason with praise for a style element you are sure to notice while reading. In its typography, Eleven Gentlemen features the Adorn font family. You see the ligatures—connected pairs of letters, like ct and st. For example, “Past Master” appears as “Past Master.” Something special for the typophiles. Here on this rude blog, you see their use disrupts line height, but the book is smooth reading.

   

‘At last: The Book M’

    

The Masonic Book Club has done it again—or at least it will later this year.

The 2026 volume, announced by the MBC and Arturo de Hoyos yesterday, will be William Smith’s The Book M, or Masonry Triumphant from 1736. I’ve wanted my own printed copy of this an awfully long time. I first encountered a mention of this title in Chetwode Crawley’s Caementaria Hibernica, itself reprinted by the MBC long ago, where it was described as an important source of Masonic theory—and even as “hortatory.” And then it came up again elsewhere. Then again over time, while remaining elusive on the web. I have not been able to include this on my list of the Masonic essential books without reading it, but always suspected it merits inclusion.

In a paper on the subject of Smith and this book, the late John Belton of QC2076 writes:

In 1736 there was another William Smith production: Book M: Or Masonry Triumphant. Suddenly the moral and ethical values of Freemasonry appear in an extended readable and spoken form. One might possibly think of this as the contribution from the northeast of England to Freemasonry! And from that part of England that worked the Harodim degrees. That is the opinion of Professor Jan Snoek and increasingly I think he is correct. The oratorical tradition in Masonry came from the northeast of England.

Crawley, Lionel Vibert, and others have written of the similarities of The Book M to Smith’s Pocket Companion from 1735. Belton attributes to that book what your lodge might call the Entered Apprentice Charge, saying:

John Belton

“But finally I would like to tell you about my discovery in the 1735 Pocket Companion of William Smith. It is finding the earliest piece of ritual prose in English Masonic ritual yet discovered. Masonry Dissected was pure catechism. What William Smith added to that catechism was the innovation of a “Charge to Newly Admitted Brethren.” And which uses words and phrases which still resound in English lodges to this day. When I first read it (aloud in my mind) it was the same piece of oratorical prose that remember from my initiation forty years ago. But I was beguiled by the flow of words, because there had been some changes. I showed it to few other brothers and got the same response that I had.

So I’m hooked just for the opportunity to read the early text of that charge. With a $40 price tag, we’ll be paying almost a buck a page for this reproduction of The Book M, but of course an MBC printing will include explanatory text. Take my money, please!

From the publicity:

In the decades following the formation of the Premier Grand Lodge of England in 1717 and the publication of James Anderson’s The Constitutions of the Free-Masons (1723), Freemasonry was undergoing both consolidation and public exposure. William Smith’s The Book M or, Masonry Triumphant (1736), participated in this transition by offering a blend of history, ritual elements, and songs which reflected the increasing literate and social mobility of the Craft’s membership.

The Book M is essentially a “Pocket Companion” augmented with original commentary on Northern English Masonry, “Memorables,” and ceremonial observations. This dual format, part historical narrative plus musical/occasional material, informed and entertained brethren as well as promoting a positive self-image of the fraternity. The author was likely the same William Smith who was initiated at Swalwell Lodge (Lodge of Industry 48) in 1733.

Internal evidence suggests that The Book M represents the traditions of the “Harodim,” an early form of Masonry distinct from the “Moderns” (post-1717) and “Ancients” (post-1752). Some scholars suggest that the Harodim encompassed ritual elements later found in other high degrees, such as the Rose Croix, the Passing of the Bridge, and the Mark, Ark, and Link ceremonies. However, historical records indicate that the Harodim was primarily a lecture-based assembly. It preserved some of the older traditions of Masonry, including Noah and the Flood, the Tower of Babel, Enoch’s Columns, and the construction of Solomon’s Temple as part of the Fraternity’s mythology.

Although published in a relatively large edition, surviving copies are quite rare, with fewer than ten known to exist. This attractive Masonic Book Club edition, which was re-typeset for clarity, preserves the pagination and some of the engravings of the original. Some of the engravings have been reproduced or reimagined. A new introduction by Arturo de Hoyos adds a historical context and frames the book within the traditional works of the Craft.

Getting back to Chetwode Crawley and Caementaria Hibernica, he humorously writes: “The enigmatical title of The Book M, was doubtless designed to excite curiosity. It stands among the earliest instances of that affection for the clair-obscur, which has now and again led Masonic writers into stringing together long rows of initials. It has been suggested that M stands for Mystic, or for Mirific, or for Microcosmic, or for Megalocosmic, or for a host of words, each a little longer than its superseded predecessor in the list. The irreverent reader will miss the wonder-working Mesopotamian.”

Advance orders will be accepted starting Monday and through August 6. If enough orders are received, the books will be printed and shipped to us in the fall. (Conversely, if that threshold is not reached, we’ll get our money back, so click here and think positive.)

     

‘The Mystic Tye on the art of research’

    

I’d never heard of The Mystic Tye Podcast until Monday, but they’re up to the fortieth episode, apparently. Published last Friday, “Four Masonic Leaders, One Epic Panel” unites host Wes Regan with Arturo de Hoyos, Zane McCune, and Josef Wäges for an hour of discussion on research techniques, the diversity of rites, the unexpected origins of certain traditions, technology, and other topics one discovers when reading about Freemasonry.

Click the graphic above to watch this one-hour discussion.

     

‘Brent Morris visits The ALR!’

    

Most of the group present at The ALR March 31 for Brent Morris Night inside the Colonial Room of Masonic Hall.

Still scrambling to catch up on recent events, so let me recount The ALR’s two latest meetings.

First, March 31. We had big plans for the evening—initially. We aimed to present Fellowship diplomas to three heroes in the field of Masonic learning: Arturo de Hoyos, S. Brent Morris, and Piers A. Vaughan. You know them. No need to recapitulate their curricula vitae.

The American Lodge of Research has three tiers of membership. We all begin as Corresponding Members; after satisfying writing criteria, we may, possibly, one day, maybe, be elected to Active Membership; and those happy few, if they excel at research or other service to the cause of Masonic learning, might be considered for election, by the Actives, to become Fellows. We award that last one extremely seldomly. (There are other research lodges that bestow their honors with less diligence, but that’s their problem.)

Brent and Yves.

So, we learned early that Art wouldn’t be able to travel to New York City on that night. We learned late that Piers wouldn’t be able to attend also. But, frankly, when you have Brent Morris on the bill, you’ve got all you need. And that’s without the magic tricks. Actually, the lodge could have spent a minute preparing. In the division of ceremonial labor, when our Marshal escorted Brent to the East, where he was greeted by Worshipful Master Yves Etienne, it was Conor who introduced our guest to the lodge, and then I presented the diploma. That should have been vice versa, as Conor, himself a Fellow, designed and published the diploma, and would have spoken to what this distinction means. I, having known Brent many years, would have introduced him with an embarrassing wealth of biographical triumphs. But, it went the way it did and, for better or worse, that actually wasn’t my only snafu of the night. I know everyone’s memories of the occasion will be filled with what went right, which was Brent’s presentation to the lodge.

With Art and Piers sharing the billing, we had planned a “Stump the Band” kind of event, with everyone pitching questions to our new Fellows, as knowledgable and experienced as anyone can be, but I doubt there’d have been any stumping. With Brent solo, he instead told us about the labor that went into cracking the cipher that long concealed the Craft rituals of the Rectified Scottish Rite.

If you have read Committed to the Flames, Art’s and Brent’s book on this secret code, its author, and the rituals themselves, then you know all about it, but the brethren present were new to this subject. (And, if you know the book, you’ll recall The ALR factors into the story.)

Brent’s illustrious career has encompassed teaching mathematics, statistics, computer security, and cryptology at Duke, Johns Hopkins, and George Washington universities, as well as The National Cryptologic School. This will get the conspiracy goofballs worked up, but he also was a cryptologic mathematician at the National Security Agency for a quarter-century. So you can see why he’d want to decipher a vexing code that possibly only its creator ever knew.

I’ll try to summarize the story. Circa 1826, Robert Benjamin Folger, age 23, a physician and a new Mason at Fireman’s Lodge 368 (and later in I.R.A. 2) here in New York, filled a pocket-sized commonplace book with his own cipher of the Rectified Rite’s Craft rituals. This was not like anything you’ve seen in any Masonic ritual book, nor was it the Pigpen Cipher, or any other coded alphabet that might come to mind.

The code had been cracked twice in the twentieth century, first by W. Bro. Wil Baden in the 1950s, another New York Mason; and again by Mr. Donald H. Bennett in the ’80s. Proving it’s a small world, Bennett was inspired by the article “Fraternal Cryptography” Brent recently had published on the subject. Neither man was aware of Baden’s success.

Brent Morris sporting his UGLE regalia.

Baden cracked the code using what they call the “matched plain and cipher” technique made possible by the inclusion of some English text in Folger’s pages, which Baden compared and contrasted with symbols in the cipher. Bennett employed the “cipher text only” method involving “classical cryptanalytic techniques.” His findings are revealed in his paper “An Unsolved Puzzle Solved” in Cryptologia magazine.

Honestly, it’s a bit much for me to comprehend, but some basics were discovered: Folger’s code masked English words; it is read from left to right, top to bottom; the same encryption style is employed throughout, and twenty-six symbols stand for English characters; words are represented by clusters of symbols; and identical repeats of many words are seen. Get Committed to the Flames for the full story.

The book also contains the amazing (to me, at least) biographical details of Folger’s medical career and Masonic activities. Not your typical lodge sideliner!

The Q&A was fruitful and continued into the dinner hour. I was serving as Acting Secretary for the meeting, and it was my pleasure to bring to the lodge’s attention one petition for membership submitted by an aspiring brother from Indiana. Maybe you’ve heard of him: Chris Hodapp! I emailed my congratulations to Chris within minutes of the lodge closing. (I mean we voted him in!)

The next evening with The ALR came a month later when we hosted our annual table lodge on April 29. Worshipful Master Yves provided the ritual (in my twenty-nine years, I don’t think I’ve seen the same table lodge ritual twice), and we heartily toasted seven times in the company of Grand Master Steve Rubin, then in his final week in office. Always a great time.

At The ALR annual table lodge on April 29.

In lieu of an after dinner speaker, the Grand Master used his traditional time for remarks to have us all rise and share a little about ourselves, which is an important exercise, especially in a research lodge where practically everyone hails from a different Craft lodge.

As reported elsewhere on The Magpie Mason, we will gather again next Saturday—the 30th—at Ulster Lodge 193 in Saugerties. Then we’ll conclude the year on Tuesday, June 30 at Masonic Hall for our Annual Meeting, with elections and installation. Hope to see you around.

     

‘New editor at The Plumbline’

    

“Behold, I will set The Plumbline in the midst of Masonic periodicals, and Chris Ruli shall be its editor.”

I imagine it went something like that, but all we have to go on is Chris’ modest announcement on social media:

On the thirty-third anniversary of The Plumbline’s release, I’m excited to announce that the Scottish Rite Research Society Board of Directors has elected me to serve as the publication’s editor.

The publication serves more than 3,500 members around the U.S. and abroad. Back in 1991, Rex Hutchens laid out the first issue (then just referred as the Society’s newsletter) and it became a source of news, commentary, perspective, and research. In taking on this position, I plan to shift it back to that original concept while also highlighting good papers whenever possible.

As a former contributor, I’m excited to see where this can go. It’s also nice to be associated with past editors like S. Brent Morris, Pete Normand, Robert Davis, Adam Kendall, and Aaron Shoemaker. Stay tuned.

Send your letters, requests, inquiries and anything else you want shared here.

The Plumbline of course is one of the benefits of membership in the Scottish Rite Research Society, with the annual Heredom collection of research papers and a bonus book.

Art de Hoyos

SRRS bonus book.

The bonus now in the mail to members is Étienne Morin: From the French Rite to the Scottish Rite by Arturo de Hoyos and Josef Wäges. The new Heredom is Vol. 31, edited by Adam Kendall with Associate Editor…Chris Ruli!

When he’s not authoring books, speaking before Masonic audiences, and editing others’ work, he’s out jogging. Congratulations, Chris!

     

‘Emulation Ritual’s bicentenary’

    

emulationloi.org

I wanted to get to this last Monday, which was the actual 200th anniversary, but anyway I’ll note the landmark occasion of the start of Emulation Lodge of Improvement on October 2, 1823 thusly.

Emulation is a Masonic ritual under the English Constitution of Freemasonry. The United Grand Lodge of England has no official ritual; there are, if I understand correctly, approximately eighty rituals found in UGLE lodges around the world, but I’m told practically all of them are variations of Emulation.

What is Emulation?

Seal of the Ancients.

I would say Emulation was the ritual component of bringing together the Grand Lodge of England (the “Moderns” of 1717) and the Grand Lodge According to the Old Institutions (the “Ancients” of 1751). There was a lot more that went into the amalgamation of the grand lodges in 1813 than merely who was going to be in charge. Matters of ritual and regalia and a lot more required a meeting of the minds. To discuss the ritual department, I will defer to Brent Morris and Art de Hoyos, who co-wrote the Introduction to The Perfect Ceremonies of Craft Masonry and The Holy Royal Arch, published by the Masonic Book Club in 2021.

The two former rivals had ritual variances and, for the next two years, a Lodge of Reconciliation met to create a new form of ritual acceptable to all. They did not create an ‘authorized ritual’ which was to be enforced throughout the English Constitution, but rather created a satisfactory form of ritual. Lodges would be free to include variations so long as the essentials were included…

In 1823 the Emulation Lodge of Improvement was founded for Master Masons only. Several of its members had belonged to the Burlington and the Perseverance Lodges of Instruction. Burlington began working in 1810 under the Moderns Grand Lodge, while Perseverance started in 1818 under the United Grand Lodge. As Colin Dyer noted, ‘Among the Founders [of Emulation Lodge] were some who were very able ritualists and who had a great deal of experience and expertise in the working of the new forms according to the Grand Stewards’ Lodge system.’ The founders were almost equally split in membership among the former rival grand lodges.

Peter W. Gilkes

Peter William Gilkes (1765-1833) joined Emulation Lodge of Improvement in 1825. He was initiated at age twenty-one in British Lodge No. 4, a Moderns lodge, in 1786, and became a preeminent instructor of Masonic ritual. Although not a member of the Lodge of Reconciliation, he visited it about ten times. He was known for his strict adherence to verbal accuracy, which is still a characteristic of lodges using Emulation working. It is not known precisely when the lodge adopted its particular working, beyond the lectures, but we can narrow it down to a five-year period. In 1830 the lodge sent a petition, or “Memorial,” to the Grand Master, the Duke of Sussex, requesting a special warrant to continue its practice, and sometime between then [and] about 1835, it formalized its ritual working. The earliest notice of the Emulation working appeared in an article in The Freemasons Quarterly Review (1836):

About the year, 1823, several Brethren considered that the Masonic lectures were not worked in the Lodges upon a sufficiently regulated system, and that if those whose attainments as working Masons placed them as a prominent authority, were to meet together and to work efficiently, they might be the means of effecting much improvement. They accordingly met, we believe in Wardour Street, pursuant to a general notice in the public papers, which advertisement created a considerable sensation in the Craft. Some members of the Grand Stewards’ Lodge, hitherto the only authority for a recognized system, felt that it was necessary to watch the proceedings. Some Grand Officers, with Brother E. Harper, the Grand Secretary, also attended. The several chairs from the Master to the Outer Guard were all filled with the most practical and experienced Masons of the day; and we have the authority of a Grand Officer for stating,  that never was there so perfect an illustration of the ceremonies and lectures ever before manifested. The visitors separated, highly delighted; and among them, the lamented Peter Gilkes, who so highly approved of the proceedings, that, in about twelve months afterwards, he joined the Lodge, and supported it until the time of his death.

 

It was likely in 1836 that the first version of an “Emulation ritual” was printed, appearing under the title, The Whole of the Lodge Ceremonies, and Lectures in Craft Masonry; as taught by the late P. Gilkes. Although an imprint was absent from the publication, the printer may have been George Claret (1783-1850), a well-known ritualist and acquaintance of Gilkes. This work was the first post-Union plain text English ritual, printed as a fraternal aide-mémoire rather than as a public exposé.

I’m starting to ramble, but let me close with a few words from my copy of Emulation, a well used second edition from 1970 that I bought ages ago from Yasha.

The Emulation ritual MM tracing board from Lewis Masonic’s 1970 edition.

Emulation Working takes its name from the Emulation Lodge of Improvement whose committee are the custodians of this particular ritual.... The Emulation Lodge of Improvement for Master Masons first met on 2nd October 1823. The Lodge was formed for Master Masons only, and worked, in its earliest years, only the Masonic lectures. However by about 1830 in accordance with general practice the ceremonies were also being rehearsed—always with considerable attention to accuracy, so that no alteration might inadvertently become practice. The Lodge of Improvement has met uninterruptedly since those days, so soon after the settling of the ceremonies by Grand Lodge in 1816, for the purpose of demonstrating unchanged, so far as has been humanly possible, the Emulation Ritual in accordance with the original method. Since June 1965 the variations permitted by the Grand Lodge Resolution of December 1964, with consequential amendments, have also been periodically demonstrated.

None of this has anything to do with ritual in lodges in the United States. Our practices commenced in the 1700s and evolved on their own paths into what we have today, with all their differences from state to state. Emulation is perfectly comprehensible to the American eye and ear; the biggest difference, I’d say, is the absence of our Enlightenment-era Prestonian lectures. And they have Working Tools that we do not.

If I’m not mistaken, Emulation can be found in America, in certain lodges that adhere to either the Observant or European Concept models. I think Vitruvian 767 in Indianapolis works it. Many years ago, when Marco became Master of St. John’s 1 in Manhattan, he was installed by a Board of Installed Masters of the Emulation style. Needed dispensation for that.

One of many Emulation books.

Emulation Lodge of Improvement still exists and, in fact, hosted an anniversary celebration Friday night. (I tried to join its private Facebook group last week, but couldn’t pass the test questions!) If you are interested, you can purchase ritual books from Lewis Masonic here.

     

‘House of the Temple vandalized’

    

Two years to the day after the House of the Temple was spray painted with graffiti during days of violence around Washington, DC, the two sphinxes outside the landmark were just damaged in another attack, according to Arturo de Hoyos, who shared the news via social media this afternoon.

“Vandals severely damaged the two symbolic sphinxes which grace the sides of our front outer steps,” he said. “They not only broke pieces from their faces, but smeared them with filth.”

Master sculptor Adolph Weinman created the pieces on site. He also is known for his work with the U.S. Mint, having designed both the Mercury dime and the Walking Liberty half dollar, Art also said.

     

‘The ALR’s new Fellows’

    

The vote took place during our meeting two weeks ago, but it was announced yesterday that The American Lodge of Research’s newest Fellows are…Arturo de Hoyos and S. Brent Morris!

If you read this website regularly you have an understanding of how important and treasured these brethren are. Both are titans in Masonic research, Masonic education, Masonic publishing, Masonic leadership. This fraternity would look very different if we didn’t have the benefits of Art’s and Brent’s industry.

As I always say (and possibly at some cost), the politicians come and go, usually unaccomplished, but the scholars provide consistent guidance and inspiration, as well as legacies after they’re gone.

Congratulations, brethren! Hopefully a meeting celebrating you both and showcasing your expertise can be hatched soon.

     

'Masonic Book Club is back!'

     
Art de Hoyos just shared this on Faceybook:

The Masonic Book Club (MBC)was formed in 1970 by two Illinois Masons, Alphonse Cerza and Louis Williams. The MBC primarily reprinted out-of-print Masonic books with a scholarly introduction; occasionally they would print original texts. (See “Past Publications” tab.) After some 40 years of service to the Craft, the directors in 2010 decided to dissolve the MBC. The club originally was limited to 333 members, but the number eventually expanded to nearly 2,000, with 1,083 members when it dissolved in 2010.

In 2017 MW Barry Weer, 33°, the last president of the MBC, transferred the MBC name and assets to the Supreme Council, 33°, SJ USA. The revived Masonic Book Club has the goals of publishing classic Masonic books and of supporting Scottish Rite SJ USA Philanthropies. Membership is open to anyone 18 years or older who is interested in the history of Freemasonry and allows you to purchase MBC editions at a pre-publication discount.

The new MBC will have a different business model than the old. Most significantly, there will be no dues; being a member entitles you to purchase books at a pre-publication discount. Check out the FAQ section below for more details. For specific questions, write to mbc@scottishrite.org.

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‘Masonry in the Age of Enlightenment’

     
If you were afraid of having nothing to do in the summertime, don’t worry, and get thee to Masonic Hall. On Saturday, July 14, a day of—well—enlightening lectures will be presented by four of the best speakers one could hope for. From the publicity:

Legends of the Craft

Presents

Masonry in the Age

of Enlightenment

Saturday, July 14

11:30 to 4:30

Masonic Hall

71 West 23rd Street, Manhattan

FREE admission—Tickets here

“Since 1717, there have been over 1000 ‘Masonic’ degrees created. The most popular survived and are included in many of the rites, orders, and systems we know today. Like a meal, each degree is only as good as its creator. The recipe may include many of the same ingredients as other meals, yet taste completely different. By analogy, we may see many of the same ‘ingredients’ (features like the use of the term Scottish) in a number of degrees which teach completely different things. The predilections of a degree’s author affect the content as much as the taste buds of a chef. The ‘flavor’ of the foundational Craft degrees in various rites, orders, and systems (Webb working, Scottish Rite, York Rite, Swedish Rite, RER, etc.), differs immensely, and in the ‘Higher Degrees,’ the differences are even more dramatic and pronounced. Some are philosophical, others practical; some present allegory, and others offer discourses on symbolism or (quasi-) historical themes.”

Arturo de Hoyos
“Esotericism is a Matter of Degrees”

The Legends of the Craft Symposium “Masonry During the Age of Enlightenment” is a one-day educational experience for Master Masons interested in the development of many of our rituals. The focus this year is on degree systems and rituals developed during the 18th century in Europe. We’re filling the room with Brothers, Companions, Sir Knights, and Sublime Princes from around the nation. The Symposium is free and features a 30-minute talk followed by 15 minutes of Q&A. After, there will be an amazing Festive Board (only $55 per person).

The goal is to get the smartest minds in Freemasonry in one room, and then learn a whole lot from each other.

The hosts are Shakespeare Lodge 750, Continental Lodge 287, and memorizemore.com.

The Lectures

The Legend of Comte de St Laurent

and his role in Scottish Rite Freemasonry

By E. Oscar Alleyne

In 1832 there arrived in the City of New York the Count de St. Laurent. He was a member of the Supreme Council of France and Grand Commander (Ad Vitam) of the Supreme Council 33º for Terra Firma, New Spain, South America, Puerto Rico, Canary Islands, etc. He found the old council sleeping in consequence of political and anti-Masonic troubles existing at that time. This lecture discusses his role in resuscitating that council, and many of the mysteries connected to him as he introduced Scottish Rite to African-American Masons.

Early Scots Masonry, the Royal Arch,

and the Scottish Rite

By Arturo de Hoyos

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

“Early Scots Masonry, the Royal Arch, and the Scottish Rite” explores the early migration of Scots Master from Britain to Europe, its association with Royal Arch Masonry, and how it became the foundation for the Scottish Rite degrees.

The Magician, the Mystic,

and the Mason:

The Unlikely Origin of the Rectified Rite

By Piers A. Vaughan

Pasqually, Saint-Martin, and Willermoz are names which are revered in continental European Freemasonry, yet are scarcely known in England or the United States. Nevertheless, their influence has spread far beyond the borders of France, and what they established has affected Freemasonry—and other Orders—ever since.

In this talk, you will learn how an almost chance encounter between these three men in the latter part of the 18th century led to the creation of one of the most astonishing orders in Freemasonry, one which still exists and which is considered one of the highest honors to be invited to join. Yet few of its members really understand the gnostic, theurgic, and symbolic underpinnings of an order which, had the French Revolution not taken place, was set to become the standard work across Europe for the following centuries. Had this order become the basis of Freemasonry, there would have been no doubt that the fraternity would have indeed been based upon deeply spiritual and magical practices, and would indeed have been full of “secrets!”

Stephen Morin

and the Baylot Manuscript:

The Origins of the Order

of the Royal Secret

By Josef Wäges

One of the most elusive questions of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite concerns its origins. Where exactly did it come from, and from what source do its rituals emanate?

Many scholars have rightfully determined that Étienne Morin, also known as Stephen Morin, is the founder of this system, but it is even less certain precisely from whence his authority came, let alone who Étienne Morin was. The truth is that we only have a partial picture of who he was and the circumstances concerning his authority to establish the rite. Nevertheless, when one assembles all of the evidence and gathers still more, there is still enough light left in the fragments to project a more complete vision of the truth.

A close examination of the Baylot Manuscript, in comparison to the Francken Manuscripts in particular, is necessary because it reveals that this manuscript forms the nucleus of what became the Order of the Royal Secret, and later the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
     

‘Throwback Thursday: A new Morals and Dogma’

     
When Brent Morris assigns you a book to review, you review the book. This Throwback Thursday edition of The Magpie Mason reaches back five years, when The Scottish Rite Journal published my take on the then newly revised Morals and Dogma produced by Arturo de Hoyos. This was published in the September-October 2012 issue, and my submission was trimmed by about 400 words in my recollection.


Morals And Dogma

In his Prestonian Lecture of 1997, Bro. R. A. Gilbert mentions how since the 1720s more than 10,000 books, journals, articles, periodicals, papers, pamphlets, and other output devoted to Freemasonry have been published, and although this reviewer has made barely a scratch into that tonnage of material, he cannot name another book that has been so passionately embraced and widely neglected; as studied and scrutinized, yet frequently misunderstood; and hailed as both epochal accomplishment and anti-Masonic favorite than Morals and Dogma of the Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry by Albert Pike. Making it even more remarkable is that it was published in 1871 and was intended for the education of a small minority of Freemasons, those of the A&ASR, Southern Jurisdiction.

There simply are no other books on Freemasonry from 140 years ago—even Pike’s other works—that are as widely known today, let alone deserving of a brand new edition, revised and annotated by Ill. Arturo de Hoyos, 33°, GC, one of the most knowledgeable and prolific scholars in Freemasonry in the United States. The work assigned to this laborer is to rate de Hoyos’s success in conveying Pike’s largest legacy to “the other” Scottish Rite Masons in America—those of us within the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction.

First, it is necessary to explain what Morals and Dogma is and is not. Written in the late 1860s, it perhaps is the inevitable product of the fraternity that made brothers out of men from myriad diverse backgrounds in that grim time shaped by industrialization and urbanization, and by Civil War and Reconstruction. Simultaneously the country also underwent a period of religious revolution marked by the birth of Reform Judaism, Christian Science, Pentecostalism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Salvation Army, and other movements. Elsewhere in the world, Masonry had begun admitting men of the major Eastern religious faiths, as empires emanating from the British Isles and Europe created lodges across Asia, Africa, and the Holy Land.

Fittingly, if not exactly intentionally, Pike responded, authoring a work of comparative religion in Masonry’s name, one that not only traverses the world’s borders and cultural barriers, but also reaches back through time to codify for the Scottish Rite Freemason mankind’s numerous efforts to find communion with deity. Despite how its title sounds to the modern ear, the book never was the sectarian bible authored for a supposed Masonic religion by its purported father, as is alleged even today by certain Christian fundamentalist anti-Masons.

As de Hoyos reveals in his preface to the text, Grand Commander Ronald A. Seale, 33°, had charged him with the huge job of revising this book, which went out of print in 1969. “We either need to republish Morals and Dogma or stop talking about Albert Pike,” Seale told de Hoyos. The result: A new Morals and Dogma consisting of Pike’s original writings in their entirety, augmented with de Hoyos’s notes and commentary.

Morals and Dogma was tailored for the comprehension of Freemasons who had received the new A&ASR degrees that had been penned by Pike. The previous rituals of the Rite were deficient due to problems varying from absent passages of text to confounding messages and more. Pike converted a pastiche of inadequately defined European ceremonies into a single cohesive Masonic rite consisting of degrees in a progressive structure for gradual enlightenment. Morals and Dogma contains the lectures for those degrees. The Southern Jurisdiction works variations of the Pike degrees to this day, while its sister jurisdiction in the northeast of the United States works hard not to modernize Pike rituals, but to replace them with melodramas that are not rituals of any kind, and that are bereft of any form of symbolism. It is here where the new Morals and Dogma can connect Masons to the transformational teachings of traditional Scottish Rite Masonry, “the College of Freemasonry.”

In the NMJ, 30°, Knight Kadosh, was eliminated in 2004, resulting in 31°, Grand Inspector Inquisitor Commander, becoming the new 30°, and 32°, Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret, being divided into two degrees, 31° and 32°. To conserve that which had been lost, the reader of Albert Pike’s Morals and Dogma, Annotated Edition may look inside this Templar degree to see its virtues, albeit anachronistic, laid bare and contextualized by 60 footnotes. Other rituals eliminated by the NMJ in recent years include: 4°, Secret Master; 12°, Master Architect; 19°, Grand Pontiff; 28°, Knight of the Sun; and more. (It also is true that the brethren of the NMJ are free to exemplify these now defunct rituals, but rituals rendered defunct tend not to get the attention paid to official degrees, where the labor and talent is expected to go first.) These degrees’ lectures, too, are available in the pages of this weighty text, communicating their meanings in textured prose made clearer by de Hoyos’s notes and commentaries.

There is no substitute for receiving meaningful degrees laden with lessons and symbols as conferred by knowing ritualists, but where that is unavailable, this resource text can fill in the blanks and keep concerned Masons in touch with their heritage and history. And this need not be confined to the United States, as brethren in the Ancient and Accepted Rite of England and Wales, where rituals are hardly worked at all and degrees are conferred largely in name only, can profit from this book as well.

Absent from the new book is the “Digest of Morals and Dogma,” the 218-page concordance compiled by Ill. Trevanion W. Hugo, 33°, that was added in 1909. In its stead are five appendices: “Textual Corrections” rectifies and standardizes the various errors in spelling and usage in the original (e.g. Cabala, Kabala, and Kabalah correctly become Kabbalah.) “A Glossary to Morals and Dogma” by Ill. Rex R. Hutchens, 33°, GC, is 82 pages of A-to-Z definitions of mostly difficult terms. The bibliography lists the several hundred published source materials that made de Hoyos’s work possible. “The Point Within a Circle: More Than Just an Allusion?” by Bro. William “Steve” Burkle, 32°, shows how that important symbol from the Entered Apprentice Degree also offers an apt method for inscribing a right angle within a circle. That leads nicely into Appendix 5: “The Hidden Secrets of a Master Mason: A Speculation on Unrecognized Operative Secrets in Modern Masonic Ritual” by Ill. S. Brent Morris, 33°, GC—and editor of this periodical—that brings Morals and Dogma, Annotated Edition full circle by showing how operative builders lay out foundations using the Pythagorean Theorem, the very same geometrical device Pike cites to conclude his 32°, Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret, chapter, explaining how the Triangle of Perfection symbolizes the ideal equilibrium by bringing into harmony the spiritual and the material.

This text is a gift to all thinking Masons, but especially to those in the NMJ where there are no educational publications or programs to reflect the Light of Scottish Rite Masonry, which probably is what leads to the elimination of our traditional rituals. Until this can be rectified, de Hoyos’s amazing feat is a handy tool to assist us in our daily labors at self-improvement.


The writer is a Past Most Wise Master of Northern New Jersey Chapter of Rose Croix and is the Treasurer of the four Scottish Rite bodies of Northern New Jersey. He is in the process of establishing Architects Lodge of Perfection, the first lodge of philosophical research in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. His blog, The Magpie Mason, is very widely read and seemingly enjoyed by Masons around the globe.
     

‘Journal 37 is a gem’

     

It’s been out for several weeks actually. The Journal of the Masonic Society No. 37 for Summer 2017 hit members’ mailboxes right around the Summer Solstice, so I’m late in catching up on The Magpie.

With a gorgeous shot of the East of Norman Hall in the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia on the front cover—that building never takes a bad photo—and a close-up of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania’s George Washington Apron on the back, these bookends enclose more than half a dozen explorations of the meaning of Masonry.

To join The Masonic Society, click here. Members receive four issues of The Journal per year, and enjoy full access to the superlative Masonic on-line discussion forum (if you can pull yourself away from Facebook) of international reach. In addition, our famous parchment patent with hand-pressed red wax seal memorializes your member status in a way you’ll want framed and hung on your wall. And those are just the material benefits of being with us. Learning more about your Craft in the company of like-minded Freemasons is the true point of it all.

In his President’s Message, Ken Davis imparts Part II of his advice on how to conduct Masonic research. I won’t give it all away, but one point I think is key is—his words— “Build a crap-detector.” (I call it a bullshit detector, but this is a family blog.)

When reading about Freemasonry, or anything really, consider the author’s credentials and qualifications. Look into the publisher. What other titles has it released? Is this material recent enough to be valuable currently? Scrutinize the sources. Are they reliable? Beware of academia. Sometimes reliable sources can be biased too. And, most importantly to me, distinguish between myth and history. I don’t know how many sensible and educated men in this fraternity believe the medieval Knights Templar were this merry band of mystic archaeologists who evolved into Freemasonry, but that’s a lecture for another day.

In every issue, we welcome the new members of the Society. Thirty-five are listed this time, including Brer Josh Heller of Pennsylvania! Josh is co-founder of Masonic Light, which marked its 17th anniversary exactly two months ago. I forgot to write about that. Amazingly, Josh and I have never met. I’m going to have to sneak up on him at one of his gigs one night. He plays the guitar in a rock and roll band. Welcome to TMS, Josh!

In his editorial, Editor in Chief Michael Poll tells of “The Domino Effect” that occurs when Masons labor together. The results can be the desired positive effect or can be unwanted negativity. It depends. Read his thoughtful—and I would say Rosicrucian-inspired—message on Page 10.

Turn the page and find a timely piece by Brent Morris titled “Albert Pike and the Ku Klux Klan.” In just a couple of hundred words, Morris challenges the highly flawed old sources that have been recycled over the decades to claim Pike was a member or even senior officer of the Klan.

I call this timely because it was only a month ago, on June 6, that National Review stupidly published an article by Edward Condon titled “The KKK Is Not the Christian ISIS: The Klan’s Hateful Theatrics and Symbolism Are Rooted Not in Christianity but in Freemasonry.” In this, Condon repeats the libel and goes even further, saying:

Pike was not recruited for his military savvy, however. He came into the Klan through his position as Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry’s southern jurisdiction. Pike’s 800-page Masonic catechism, Morals and Dogma, and his time as Grand Commander were major factors in setting the ritual and philosophical tone for the higher degrees of American Freemasonry; it was this experience and authority that had the Klan knocking at his door as they looked to give their ragbag insurgency some ritualistic credibility and intimidating theatrics.

(I used to be a longtime subscriber to this magazine. I’m glad I’m not any longer, and not just for this reason. Fortunately, Art de Hoyos responded immediately with an informative and correcting letter to the editor, but I don’t know if it had any effect.)

Meanwhile here on planet Earth, Brent Morris explains there are but two published claims of Pike being with the Klan. Both are from the early 20th century (as in after Pike’s death, when he could not reply to them) and both are unsubstantiated and so shaky that no reputable historian should rely on them.

Clay Anderson of St. Paul Lodge 3 in Minnesota gives us “Mozart, Masonry and the Magic Flute” which contextualizes the history of the Austrian world outside the temple at the time Mozart composed his Masonic opera, and also explains the Continental way of Masonic initiation that the composer experienced. If you wonder what is so Masonic about this piece of music, read this article.

Mike Poll is back, this time on Page 22, with an interview of Art de Hoyos, Bob Davis, and Shane Harshbarger of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction. Here all four collaborate on explaining why a Master Mason should consider the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry for his future. (To be clear, it is the Southern Jurisdiction being discussed, and not the other jurisdiction.) Excerpted:

Arturo de Hoyos: “The Scottish Rite, perhaps more than any other Masonic system in the United States, presents a wider tapestry of Masonic philosophy… As I studied it, I realized that the Rite was not just pomp, not empty ceremonial, but a system which labors to fill the promise to provide ‘more light in Masonry.’ Many people don’t realize that the Scottish Rite is the most popular form of Masonry on the planet. Its Craft degrees are conferred in more countries of the world than any other version. Being a Scottish Rite Mason also gives me the opportunity to teach Masons about Masonry. If the Blue Lodge is like an undergraduate degree, the Scottish Rite is like a post-graduate degree. We simply learn more—and the stuff is pretty cool.”

Robert Davis: “The value of the Rite’s teachings is wholly embedded in the rituals of the degrees. And that value exponentially increases in proportion to the number of degrees which are presented to its members. Taken as a whole, the instruction of the Rite carries out six major historical themes in Freemasonry, along with four essential quests of the journey to mature masculinity. These themes and quests have to do with awakening consciousness within oneself. This is one of the most difficult challenges for most men. Yet, it is what makes Freemasonry a transformative art. For men, life needs to be seen as a journey. The Scottish Rite is built on the clear understanding that men need to be engaged in their own quest for self-improvement. The greatest value of the Scottish Rite is that it facilitates this fundamental psychological need in men.”

Shane Harshbarger: “Scottish Rite and Craft Masonry are so intertwined and linked that to speak of one without the other isn’t possible. In a general sense, I see Scottish Rite and Freemasonry continuing to decline in membership as a percentage of total population. Yet, I am not convinced that we need to fear this. We simply need to plan for the challenges that come with this reality. Conversely, I believe Freemasonry and Scottish Rite will always exist. There is no possibility of it dying out or disappearing. There will always be men who are looking for what Masonry and Scottish Rite offer. It is our job to ensure that when a man joins, he receives the experience that we promise to him. Masons need to do Masonry and be Masons… The future of Scottish Rite for me rests on Valleys that have social functions, perform and utilize all 29 degrees, and have continuing Scottish Rite education. There is more Scottish Rite than any Valley can do in a year, five years, or ten years, but we must be organic.”

There is a great deal more to this three-way interview. Get The Journal.

In book reviews, the great Chuck Dunning’s new Contemplative Masonry (that has yet another photo from the Philadelphia Masonic Temple on its cover!) is defined by reviewer Christian M. Christensen as “an extremely important and useful book for the brothers seeking to either get started or deepen their contemplative practices.” Meanwhile Tyler Anderson explains why The Ten Books of Architecture (actually a single volume summary of it) by Vitruvius is important to Freemasons and Masonic ritual.

In the back of the book, we have Brett Laird Doyle, a Full Member of Texas Lodge of Research, with “Captain Peter F. Tumlinson: Texas Ranger, San Jacinto Hero and Freemason.” This is a sterling example of why Masonic researchers today ought to concentrate on the Masonic history/biography in their own backyards. Your local research lodge, wherever you are, does not need more “papers” that deliver shallow understandings of broad historical topics that have been defined expertly by the authors we read already. Follow Doyle’s lead here, and bring to light the life of a brother Mason. Or a lodge history. Something significant to your locality.

John Hairston returns to The Journal with more remarkable details from the story of Prince Hall Freemasonry, this time with previously overlooked proof of the existence of Mark and Past Master degrees as conferred by African Lodge in the early 19th century. He’s not lost in arcana here. This is really cool research that shows how old archives can yield new understandings of the way we were.

There is much more to this issue of The Journal, but I’m at 1,600 words already and I doubt anyone is still reading. Join The Masonic Society now and improve your life immeasurably!