‘In the pages of the summer ESM magazine’

    

ESM magazine

Speaking of White Plains Lodge (see post below), the Immediate Past Master has an article published in the new issue of The Empire State Mason magazine that includes a familiar photo.

It’s weird seeing New Jersey guys in New York’s magazine, but W. Bro. Stephen Petty included this shot from New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education 1786’s meeting of February 19 at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial. A very special occasion attended by brethren from around the country and beyond. (Click here for a recap.) The article is about the White Plains Lodge brethren’s enjoyment of the various attractions that wonderful weekend in Alexandria, Virginia.

     

‘The ALR and YOU’

     

No kidding, I was just about to post a Do You Know Where The ALR Is? edition of The Magpie Mason, in hopes of learning from someone if it still is at labor, when I unexpectedly see the above notice in the new issue of The Empire State Mason.

I emailed a reply to the address provided, and I encourage you to do likewise.

Masonic education has a very limited appeal, unfortunately, and lodges of research are an even narrower niche, but I want to think Freemasonry in Manhattan can sustain a research lodge. Maybe we can.

If my email receives an informative reply, I’ll let you know. Actually, I’ll let you know either way.

UPDATE: There will be a Zoom meeting April 28 co-hosted by the Grand Master, the Junior Grand Warden, and The ALR’s Master ad Vitam to discuss membership, research topics, and more.

     

‘A Perspective of Craft Symbols’

     

RW Gary Heinmiller

It’s been almost exactly 18 years since I first “met” Bro. Gary Heinmiller on the day he was admitted to the Masonic Light group. That was the place to be for thinking Freemasons in the world of Yahoo! Groups during the early days of this century—a simpler world before Facebook and the rest of that stuff ruined humanity. So long ago, in fact, Gary’s email provider was something called bluefrognet.net. Anyway, his regular participation in our discussions revealed his deep and wide knowledge of things Masonic, particularly in ritual and symbol, but also in history, philosophy, and other necessities. I think his internet labors on behalf of Masonic education actually predate the internet! Where would we be without this?

Today Bro. Gary is the Right Worshipful Grand Historian of the Grand Lodge of New York (my Grand Lodge), and he serves the Craft in this capacity with the written and spoken word. Rashied says there are no coincidences, but a few months ago, I posted a message to my lodge brothers in our—d’oh!—Facebook private group about the history of flaming swords. (I’m one of those Past Master-Tilers, and I wish I had one of those implements.) It must have been at about that same day when Gary wrote an article for The Empire State Mason magazine (page 16) on the subject of—the history of swords, including flaming swords! His version is better than mine.

If you are in or near Fayetteville and are available Thursday the 24th, go hear Gary present “A Perspective of Craft Symbols of the Lodge.” From the publicity:


The Worshipful Master of Nortrip Lodge 998 cordially invites you to the October 24 presentation of “A Perspective of Craft Symbols of the Lodge” by RW Gary Heinmiller, Grand Historian of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York.

Refreshments will be served at 6:30 p.m. Tiled meeting and the presentation at 7:30 p.m. at the Fayetteville Masonic Temple, 116 East Genesee Street in Fayetteville, New York.

RW Gary Heinmiller is the Grand Historian for the Grand Lodge of New York. He founded and serves as the Archivist for the Onondaga and Oswego Masonic Districts Historical Societies, which maintains an active website with more than 8,000 pages of Masonic history, philosophy, ritual, geometry, and links. He has been the Charter Area 11 Historian for the Grand Lodge from 1994 to the present. Among his works are a list of New York lodges from 1759 to the present, the book Freemasonry and a View of the Perennial World Philosophy, a compilation of more than 4,000 pages of New York Freemasons in the Civil War, and lodge histories for nearly every lodge in the Grand Lodge of New York, most of which, and more, may be viewed at the OMDHS website.

Please RSVP before October 18 to the Worshipful Master here or to the Secretary here.


We’ll have to get him to the Fourth Manhattan District soon!
     

‘Two interlaced deltas enclosing a protractor’

     

I searched through The Magpie photo archives hoping to find a shot of an Assistant Grand Lecturer wearing the apron of his office to illustrate this excerpt from the new issue of The Empire State Mason Magazine, and found Yves! Anyway, in the back of the book, Bro. Richard Kessler, the Right Worshipful Grand Lecturer, has a regular column titled, appropriately, “From the Grand Lecturer,” where this time he addresses three common questions. The first is: “Does the insignia on the Assistant Grand Lecturer apron have any significance in our ritual?”

Before I transcribe his answer, let me try to explain the design of the apron of the Very Worshipful brethren who wear it: No purple or gold, but a blue trim around a white background upon which lie a black equilateral triangle interlaced with a white equilateral triangle, forming a six-point star, within which is a protractor with its straight edge horizontal and its curved side above. Got it?

RW Kessler’s reply:

It does. The following is the symbology which has been used by Grand Lecturers in our jurisdiction: The Seal of Solomon or Shield of David is a hexagonal figure consisting of two interlaced triangles. The creates a six-pointed star. Upon it was inscribed one of the sacred names of God, from which inscription it was to derive its talismanic powers. These powers were reputed to be very extensive. It was called the Sacred Delta by the Ancients and was known as the symbol of the Great Architect of the Universe and also as the element of important ceremonies.

Magpie file photo

VW Bro. Yves Etienne
at Shakespeare 750
on September 2, 2010.

The interlocking triangles, or deltas, enclosing the protractor designate the Grand Lecturer or Assistant Grand Lecturer and are explained as follows: The two triangles, one white and the other black, interlacing, exemplify the mingling of opposing forces in nature: darkness and light, falsehood and truth, ignorance and wisdom, evil and good. They also are symbolic of the union of the body and soul. The protractor in the center of the two triangles is a symbol of wisdom and truth, and is emblematic of precision and perfection, which we hope for, both in our ritual and our lives. The emblem symbolizes one endowed with knowledge, who strives to overcome ignorance with wisdom, speak truth, and bring Masonic Light to the Craft.


If I’m not mistaken, this apron design and the office of Very Worshipful Assistant Grand Lecturer were devised in the 1990s with the goal of imparting to the brethren not only ritual instruction, but also the meanings of ritual elements and symbols. In 2015 the focus has been the Entered Apprentice Degree, and the results are conversations about the meaning of Masonry. Imagine that. The first time I saw one of these aprons, I assumed it was the apron of some crazy lodge at Masonic Hall that provided its brethren Masonic instruction with alchemical or other esoteric influences. You see all kinds of aprons at Masonic Hall.