‘New book: The Silver Matchbox’

    

A Masonic achievement award named for a smoking implement is bound to catch my attention, and now there is a book on the Silver Matchbox. I don’t know the origin of the name—guess I’ll have to read the book—but it must have more to do with spreading Light than with smoking our pipes and cigars after the post-meeting hearty meal. It is awarded by Emulation Lodge of Improvement to those who demonstrate prowess in working Emulation ritual. From the publicity:

Given by the Emulation Lodge of Improvement as an award for the performance of word-perfect ceremony from the Chair without standing in need of prompting or correction, the Silver Matchbox commemorates a feat requiring perfect memory, exemplary performance, and ritual ability.

Often viewed as a Gold Medal or Black Belt in Freemasonry, the Silver Matchbox is considered by many to be the mark of highest ability in the Craft. In order to achieve full mark of excellence termed as a “complete record,” one must work the ceremonies Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, Master Mason, and the Installation without any mistakes in either words or action.

Written by Tony Henley, himself a Silver Matchbox holder (with a complete record too!), this book is a fascinating guide to Masonry, ritual, and memory.

Highlights include:

• The origins and evolution of the Emulation Ritual
• The history of the Silver Matchbox Award
• Discover the holders of the award past and present
• Matchbox Methods: memory techniques, rehearsal methods, and performance advice
• Information on the ritual awards in the Mark, Royal Arch, and Royal Ark Mariners

Filled with interesting facts, figures, trivia, and oddities. Hardback. Beautifully hand embossed.

Bro. Tony Henley was born in Lambeth, London in 1960, growing up on the inner-city streets of the Lambeth Walk. As a youth he enjoyed football, playing three times for Chelsea juniors in 1970–even being booked for a rough tackle in a match by non-other than the legendary Ron “Chopper” Harris, who told him “What a great tackle lad, but I have to book you!”

As a teenager, Tony was fascinated by engines; after school, he worked in a motorbike shop in Lambeth. On leaving school, he went straight into a motor bike trade, repairing motor bikes, and gained his apprenticeship working on Hondas. In 1976, he became a postman in Southwest London, progressing to a Postman Higher Grade in 1978. In 1980 he was promoted to an acting-inspector management role in a Royal Mail delivery office, then to a Postal Executive in 1984. He gained promotion again in 1990 to running Delivery offices across Southeast London. During this period, Tony led and implemented many projects across the area. In 2000, Tony was further promoted to an Area Performance Analysis Manager until early retirement in 2005.

He then took up a role with Kent County Council, looking after the postal services until 2010. Tony became a Freemason in 1994, being initiated into Wallwood Lodge 5143 in London, raised in May 1995, and taking the Chair in 1998.

He was immediately bitten by the ritual bug as the lodge has a long tradition working Emulation ritual. He became a member of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement in May 1995 and gained his Emulation Silver Matchbox for the First Degree in 1995, attained the Second Degree in 1996, the Third Degree in 1997, and the Ceremony of Installation in 1999 for a Complete Record on his Matchbox.

In 1998, he was approved by the Emulation Committee as an officially approved Preceptor of Emulation ritual, and he took over the Preceptorship of Kirby Lodge of Instruction 263 in London, a role he held until 2013. He has guided nine other brethren to their own Silver Matchbox awards, but more importantly gave advice and guidance to brethren who just wanted to improve their own ritual skills.

Tony also works the Grand Stewards Lodge lectures–often referred to as the Emulation lectures—and has demonstrated these at lodges on request. He joined the premier Emulation working Kirby Lodge 2818 in London in 1996, and is a holder of London Grand Rank.

He was exalted into the Holy Royal Arch in 1996 and holds Senior London Grand Chapter Rank. He has written two other masonic publications: 75 years of Wallwood Lodge No. 5143 and A Centenary Celebration of Cheerybles Chapter No. 2466. Tony also has had articles printed in The Square magazine.

He was the Centenary Preceptor of the Empress Preceptory London, gaining London Bodyguard status. He was also a member of SRIA Metropolitan College London, gaining his 5°. Tony hold Rose Croix status in the Martinist and Élus Coëns orders, and is always exploring an esoteric path including Gnosticism and Hermeticism. He has written and presented many esoteric papers on initiation and symbolism.

He was appointed a Magistrate in 1998 and was a Town Councillor. He has been a volunteer worker for the Marie Currie Cancer shop in Dartford for twenty years.

The Silver Matchbox is available from Lewis Masonic for £16, and £10 for the ebook (Glassboxx).

     

‘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.

     

‘MBC’s first offering announced’

     

The newly reestablished Masonic Book Club’s first title is a in production. The Perfect Ceremonies of Craft Masonry and the Holy Royal Arch are “the lineal ancestors of the official Emulation ritual and lectures,” according to the MBC’s announcement.

Per the stated conditions, the presses will roll only if the sufficient number of copies are sold in advance, and you have until January 21 to place your order (I was the tenth to do so). The cost of this 392-page volume is only $25. Click here.

With its publicity today, the MBC provided a PDF sample of the book that includes seven pages of the 21-page Introduction, and several pages of lodge Opening ritual. This will be a beautiful book, replete with marbled covers, decorated pages, and a satin ribbon—so you won’t have to dog-ear the pages like a savage. A step above the SRRS’s laudable Heredom, which is not an unattractive book.

If Perfect Ceremonies goes to press, it will ship at the end of March; if not, buyers will receive their refunds at the end of January. So order today! I want to see if the lectures are Preston’s or Hemming’s.

     

‘See who wants admission’

     

Two of my favorite people talking
to each other: Bro. Oscar Alleyne,
who helped organize this event,
and Bro. Jason Sheridan, soon
to be Grand Director of Ceremonies
for the Grand Lodge of New York.

It was time for the long awaited evening of Emulation exemplification yesterday, when Wallkill Lodge No. 627 hosted an all-star line-up of ritualists from the Provincial Grand Lodge of Essex under the United Grand Lodge of England, named the Teddies for Loving Care Masonic Demonstration Team, in the Grand Lodge Room of Masonic Hall in Manhattan.

Click here for a little background.

I think it is safe to say the use of ritual in English lodges is misunderstood by most Masons in the United States. Here, for some seventeen decades, we have been enforcing uniform ritual work in each of our individual jurisdictions, concentrating so intently on perfect memorization and recitation that we really have forgotten the principal point of it all. The brethren in England do that also, I am told, but the difference is diversity of rituals within the single jurisdiction. Although Emulation is thought to be the only ritual in England, the truth is there is no standard work for UGLE. There are many rituals employed.

Watching this was my first experience with Emulation, and it was fun. There are many interesting differences from what I know and have seen in my travels, but nothing so distracting or confusing as to be unrecognizable. And of course it helps to have read the ritual a number of times over the years.

The Teddies for Loving Care Masonic Demonstration Team travels and exemplifies ritual work to raise funds for its philanthropy, the goal of which is to provide teddy bears and other soft toys to children being treated by Accident and Emergency Units in order to calm the children and distract them from the distress of their injuries, making it easier for the medical staff to treat them. (We have a similar program here in New Jersey, where we hand Past Grand Masters highballs of single malt to soothe their anxieties caused by the surrender of authority, and I must say, it works like a charm.) Click here to read more about this clever program in England.

     

'Emulation exemplification'

  
Wallkill Lodge No. 627 will meet in the Grand Lodge Room in Masonic Hall to host brethren from the Provincial Grand Lodge of Essex of the United Grand Lodge of England for an exemplification of the Master Mason Degree in Emulation ritual.

Friday, April 20 at 7 p.m.
Masonic Hall, Second Floor
71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan

Often thought to be the official or—gasp!—only Craft ritual in the United Grand Lodge of England, Emulation actually is one of many rituals in England, but it is the most widely used within UGLE, and is the best known by those of us outside UGLE. (Of course UGLE has no official ritual. Imagine that.)

About twelve years ago, when I was a relative newbie in Masonry, I purchased from Bro. Yasha a weathered copy of the second edition (1970) of Lewis Masonic's printing of the ritual. Its introduction explains the history of Emulation.

The Emulation Ritual's Master Mason
tracing board, as depicted in the 1970
printing of the ritual by Lewis Masonic.

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.

There was no officially sanctioned publication of the ritual until 1969.

One cannot reveal on the web the differences between this ritual and our rituals that might further induce you to attend this event, but differences are present, and are obvious in symbols and Working Tools. In fact, as regard the Compasses, Emulation makes a striking theological point that is bound to raise eyebrows. And of course there are "Americanisms" that are absent from this English work.

Believe me, if you read this blog regularly, a guy like you has nothing better to do on a Friday night. Get to Masonic Hall. Bring your regalia and identification.