‘Happy Garibaldi anniversary’

    

Just in time for Garibaldi Lodge’s 160th anniversary year, a pipe maker, that I unhappily cannot identify, seems to have produced a briar bearing the handsome likeness of Giuseppe Garibaldi. This photo shows a page in the October issue of Arbiter magazine. It is being circulated on social media by Al Pascià to promote its Ovalina shape, two of which are seen resting on the page. Maybe this Garibaldi briar is made by that venerable pipe-maker, but I cannot find any info on the web about it.

Anyway, the actual anniversary of the lodge’s constitution passed on June 11, but the brethren will meet tomorrow night at eight o’clock in the Corinthian Room for its regular communication. (It’s impossible to choose a favorite lodge in the Tenth Manhattan District, but I’m drawn to Garibaldi because of the French Rite EA° it famously confers, in Italian, to the delight of hundreds of visiting Masons.)

Magpie file photo

From the 150th anniversary.

Garibaldi 542 was the first lodge under the Grand Lodge of New York to work in the Italian language. There was confusion in the Craft at the beginning, as the lodge was trilingual—Italian, French, and English—so that the DDGM had to direct the Worshipful Master to keep the lodge’s proceedings in Italian, per the Dispensation granted by Grand Lodge.

The lodge’s namesake, of course, is the Italian freedom-fighter and Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy. Did you know Giuseppe Garibaldi resided in Staten Island for a time? Read more about Garibaldi 542’s history here.

Happy anniversary!

     

‘Unity Day tickets are on sale’

    

Click to enlarge.

The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania will host Unity Day this time. Tickets went on sale last Thursday ($75 each) for the Saturday, January 25 event at the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia.

Only 600 seats are available (although I’m surprised that quaint little lodge building of theirs can accommodate that many!), so don’t wait too long to book yours. Looks like a great day.

Grand Lodges participating: Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Puerto Rico. Of course, Master Masons from all recognized grand lodges are welcome to attend.

Ritual work:

Entered Apprentice Degree by Garibaldi Lodge 542 of New York.

Fellow Craft Degree by the Masonic Kilties of New Jersey.

Master Mason Degree by the Colonial Degree Team of Delaware.

Open Installation of Officers and the Entered Apprentice/Fellow Craft degrees combined by the Pennsylvania brethren.

Breakfast, lunch, and a commemorative gift are included in your ticket price.

To be honest, I won’t be there. Too far. Too long (7 a.m. to 6 p.m.) a day. Too many people packed inside. I know I wouldn’t enjoy it, but those who attend these things always express their elation and praise, so let that be your guide.

Click here for tickets.

      

‘Garibaldi Lodge schedules its EA°’

    

Sure it’s six months out, but add it to your calendar so you don’t forget. Historic Garibaldi Lodge 542 in the Tenth Manhattan District will confer the Entered Apprentice Degree next April.

This is the famous French Rite ritual as worked in the Italian language. With plenty of Alchemical and Rosicrucian symbolism, it likely is very different from what you are accustomed to.

Apprentices and Fellows are welcome (as always, they would be accompanied by a MM from lodge) and, in fact, are seated in the East with all the dignitaries.

Advance reservations are required. While the Grand Lodge Room is Masonic Hall’s largest space, it is not without seating limitations. The first time I witnessed this degree, the Fire Department inspected and evicted several busloads of Pennsylvania Masons (they were the last ones in) because the room’s lawful capacity had been exceeded. Click here and follow the instructions.

Bring photo ID to enter the building, Masonic ID to work your way into the lodge, and your apron.

     

‘Garibaldi EA Degree’

   

If you still, somehow, have not witnessed Garibaldi Lodge’s famous Entered Apprentice Degree yet, your next opportunity will come this spring.

This is the very dramatic French Rite First Degree, delivered in Italian, inside the Grand Lodge Room of Masonic Hall in Manhattan. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself among a thousand or more brethren from around the world. (One time, the Fire Department ordered bus loads of Pennsylvanians out of the room because the attendees exceeded the room’s legal maximum capacity.)

So, arrive at six o’clock; bring photo ID to enter the building; have Masonic ID, apron, and knowledge to work your way into a tiled meeting; and be prepared to sit tight for a number of hours, because this is a real Masonic initiation, and not a performance in a theater.

But it is highly theatrical. This ritual is far different from what you probably know from your lodge. It is very dramatic and expressive, being how it is full of Alchemical and Rosicrucian symbolism. Seven petitioners are expected, so this will be a longer night than we’ve seen in many years.

     

‘Garibaldi Lodge’s EAº in November’

     

Bust of MW Giuseppe Garibaldi
by RW Anthony Cuonzo, presented
to MW Vincent Libone in 2010.

Garibaldi Lodge 542 in the Tenth Manhattan District will confer its famous Entered Apprentice Degree on Friday, November 1. This is the unforgettable ceremony of initiation that attracts busloads of Freemasons from throughout the Northeastern United States and beyond.

What draws hundreds of Masons eager to make an advancement in Masonic knowledge is the 18th century French Rite ritual that is delivered in the Italian language. Unless you are from a Red Lodge or other Craft lodge that works European rituals, this First Degree is very unlike anything your lodge does. It is worlds apart from the Preston-Webb-Cross rituals known in almost every jurisdiction in America, as it is heavily laden with Rosicrucian and Alchemical symbolism. To be clear, it is a wholly Masonic ritual. Furthermore, it is easy to follow the action even with the foreign tongue being spoken.

Arrive at Masonic Hall (71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan) by 6 p.m. Bring your apron and membership card, and be prepared to work your way into a tiled Masonic lodge at labor. Apprentices and Fellows are welcome—they need only be avouched by a Master Mason—and in fact are seated in the East with the dignitaries.

I’d say the evening should end by around ten o’clock.

The lodge needs a headcount. (The first time I visited for this degree, about ten years ago, hundreds of Pennsylvania Masons had to be turned away because the Fire Department would not permit them inside the room, which already was packed to capacity with about 1,200 Masons.) So contact the lodge secretary here to report how many are in your party.

It’s a must see, and is one of the most talked about events on the Masonic calendar in New York. See you there.
     

‘Garibaldi Lodge’s EAº in November’

     
It is hard to think of November during this August heat wave, but mark your calendars for Garibaldi Lodge 542’s Entered Apprentice Degree. When the lodge confers the EAº in the fall, I think it usually chooses the Friday before Columbus Day, so this one is a bit later, but save the date: Friday, November 2.

Magpie file photo

Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. Bring your apron and current membership card. Be prepared to work your way into a Masonic lodge. Garibaldi will meet in the Grand Lodge Room.

Please help the lodge help you by making reservations. If you are traveling in a group, send a headcount to Garibaldi by emailing them here before October 24. (It’s important. The first time I attended this degree many years ago, I saw a huge contingent of Pennsylvania Masons turned away because the fire department wouldn’t permit an excess of the lawful maximum occupancy for the room.)

Apprentices and Fellows are welcome! They just need a MM escort.

With all that safely explained, about the degree: Garibaldi Lodge 542 is part of the Tenth Manhattan District, that group of historic lodges that includes lodges working in foreign tongues. Garibaldi was chartered in 1864, at which time it received from l’Union Française Lodge 17 its French Rite rituals, and then translated them into Italian. These rituals are very different from what we’d see in nearly every other lodge in America, being that they are of the Continental tradition, rather than the Anglo-American tradition most of us have inherited. The European tradition, at least in this case, features Rosicrucian and Alchemical symbolism that makes the ceremony of initiation very dramatic—flamboyant even. It’s been said that visiting brethren have walked out of the lodge room in protest over the unexpectedly exotic ritual. Don’t be one of those guys. This isn’t theater; this is a tiled Masonic lodge working its Entered Apprentice Degree. If you believe your lodge’s rituals are universal across the country, you are uninformed, so come get some culture at this wonderful opportunity.

Garibaldi Lodge will be at labor and the degree is expected to begin at around eight o’clock, with the closing anticipated to come at about 10 p.m.
     

‘Moments of Vision’

     

Magpie file photo

Eighteenth century French engraving depicting First Degree ritual on display at the Livingston Library in Masonic Hall.

On Friday, Garibaldi Lodge 542 will meet in the Grand Lodge Room to confer its famous Entered Apprentice Degree. This is the French Rite ritual, entrusted to Garibaldi by l’Union Française Lodge 17, that Garibaldi works in Italian. It is heavy with alchemical and Rosicrucian meanings that one would expect in a European Masonic initiation, and near the end of the ceremony, the Youngest Entered Apprentice has thrust upon him a jolting moment of clarity.

Today is the last day of National Poetry Month. Launched in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets, the celebration highlights the importance of poetry to us all by reading, by honoring poets past and present, by sharing books of poems, and by organizing support for poets and poetry. With this in mind, here is a great from 100 years ago.

Moments of Vision

Thomas Hardy

That mirror
     Which makes of men a transparency,
     Who holds that mirror
And bids us such a breast-bared spectacle to see
     Of you and me?
     That mirror
  Whose magic penetrates like a dart,
     Who lifts that mirror
And throws our mind back on us, and our heart,
     Until we start?
     That mirror
   Works well in these night hours of ache;
     Why in that mirror
Are tincts we never see ourselves once take
     When the world is awake?
     That mirror
   Can test each mortal when unaware;
     Yea, that strange mirror
May catch his last thoughts, whole life foul or fair,
     Reflecting it—where?
     

‘Garibaldi EA° next May’

     
I realize this comes a bit early, but save the date, mark your calendar, program your phone or whatever for Friday, May 5, 2017 when Garibaldi Lodge 542 in the Tenth Manhattan District will confer its famous and singular Entered Apprentice Degree.

This will take place at Masonic Hall (71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan) inside the Grand Lodge Room, which accommodates a maximum of, I think, around 1,200 people. I’ve been there when that huge room was full beyond capacity, and the Fire Department ordered hundreds to be removed for safety reasons—causing several bus loads from Pennsylvania to head home before even the first gavel was sounded.

Don’t let that happen to you.

Make group reservations with the lodge secretary by e-mailing him here. Tell RW Mascialino who you are, from where you will be coming, and how many will be in your party to ensure seating will be waiting for you. Bring your Masonic membership identification and your apron, and be ready to work your way into a tiled Masonic lodge. And you’ll need photo identification to enter the building. Make it easy on yourself and everyone else by arriving at Masonic Hall before 6 p.m. The degree will start at eight.

Magpie file photo

Garibaldi Lodge altar.

The allure of the Garibaldi EA° is almost entirely attributable to the ritual that will be worked. It is a French Rite ritual given to Garibaldi Lodge by its sister lodge in the Tenth Manhattan, l’Union Française Lodge 17. Garibaldi modified it by translating it into Italian, and that will be the language spoken during the degree. All other greetings, commentaries, commands, etc. from the East will be in English.

If you know about Scottish Rite lodge degree rituals, then you have an idea of what to expect on this night: highly symbolic and intense floor work with obvious alchemical meanings, as one finds in lodges in Europe and South America. Don’t worry about the language barrier; it only enhances the enthralling otherworldliness of the proceedings—and you’ll still get it, I assure you.

You’ve probably heard something of the Garibaldi EA, but maybe haven’t had the chance to experience it, so take advantage of this more-than-six-months advance notice and plan to get to Masonic Hall next May 5.
     

‘Garibaldi Lodge EA° in November’

     

Magpie file photo

World famous Garibaldi Lodge No. 542 will confer its totally unique and renowned Entered Apprentice Degree—French Rite ritual spoken in Italian—Friday, November 6 inside the Grand Lodge Room of Masonic Hall in New York City (71 West 23rd Street).

This time seating is by advance reservation only. Contact Secretary Bob Mascialino here or Treasurer Steve Marrone here no later than October 30, and give the number of brethren in your party. Bring your identification and regalia, and be prepared to work your way into a tiled lodge of Freemasons. Arrive before 6:45 p.m. The degree will begin at around eight o’clock, and should conclude by 10:30.

I imagine the degree always is a transformational experience for the Apprentices, but it also is an unforgettable experience for those of us on the sidelines. The ritual is a very highly expressive initiation rite with abundant alchemical symbols and deep lessons. You’ve heard about it; you know you want to see it; go already.
     

‘That’s Italian!’

     

Magpie file photo

It’s an event that deserves six months advance notice, so mark your calendars and charter your buses. Garibaldi Masonic Lodge in New York City will confer the Entered Apprentice Degree in November at Masonic Hall.

Garibaldi Lodge No. 542

First Degree of Freemasonry

Friday, November 6

8 p.m.

Grand Lodge Room

Masonic Hall

71 West 23rd Street

New York City

This is the wonderfully alchemically symbolic ceremony of Masonic initiation from the French Rite, delivered in the Italian language.

Apprentices and Fellows are welcome and, in fact, are seated in the East with the Master and dignitaries, but must be accompanied by Master Masons when admitted. Bring aprons and identification, and be prepared to work your way into the lodge room.

Contact the lodge secretary, RW Bro. Robert Mascialino, no later than October 30 to report how many Masons are in your party. My advice is to arrive at around six o’clock to ensure you’ll find seating.
     

‘Garibaldi Lodge at 150’

     

In the name of Freemasonry, Virtue, and Universal Benevolence, historic Garibaldi Lodge No. 542 was re-dedicated last night in celebration of its sesquicentennial year, as was done on its centenary and golden anniversaries—and no doubt will be done in 2064—too. By comparison, Italy, as a nation-state, is only 153 years old.

The first Italian-language lodge under the Grand Lodge of New York, Garibaldi would beget no fewer than nine daughter lodges over the years, yet Garibaldi remains unique for its periodic conferral of the French Rite Entered Apprentice Degree. In italiano. Spectators swarm from seemingly everywhere to witness the stunningly symbolic ritual of spiritual transformation that the lodge received from L’Union Française No. 17.

The Grand Master and the Worshipful Master.

Grand Master William J. Thomas and a team of Grand Staff officers opened the Grand Lodge in the Corinthian Room, spreading the elements of consecration upon the symbolic lodge in a ceremony open to the brethren’s ladies and friends. Masons from afar were in attendance; I chatted with brethren from Portugal and Paris. 

The first great care of the two GLNF brethren upon entering the room was “Why are the women here?”

Courtesy Bill Thomas

October was a busy month for the lodge, with New York City’s Columbus Day Parade and an anniversary banquet leading up to the lodge re-dedication last night.


Congratulazioni e buon anniversario, i miei fratelli!
     

‘Flashback Friday: Three Extinct Knocks’

     
I had meant for Flashback Friday to be a weekly feature here for telling you about events that I’d neglected to write about in a timely manner, but I haven’t even posted Flashbacks on time. It’s not for a lack of overdue subject matter, believe me. I never even addressed the International Conference on the History of Freemasonry at Alexandria, and that was three years ago and alone merits several thousand words, plus a few dozen photos. I’ll get to it. Eventually.

But today we travel back to Friday, February 8, 2013 when the Grand College of Rites met for its annual meeting at Reston, Virginia. I confess my notes from this occasion are with That Which Was Lost, but the meaningful artifact—my copy of Volume 22, Part 1 of Collectanea, distributed to members in attendance and later mailed to those wherever dispersed over the face of the earth—is handy. I really have been remiss in not telling you earlier about this great service to Masonry.

But first—and bear with me a minute—speaking of ICHF 2011, early in the conference, Professor William D. Moore, then of UNC-Wilmington and now of Boston University, presented “Darius Wilson, Confidence Games, and the Limits of American Fraternal Respectability, 1875-1915.” Excerpted from his abstract:

“This presentation will examine the forty-year career of Darius Wilson, who founded the Royal Arcanum, assumed the title of ‘Grand Master of the Venerable Symbolic Grand Lodge Ancient Egyptian Rite of Freemasonry for the United States of America,’ and claimed to have developed a cure for deafness. Between 1875 and 1915, Wilson was both hailed for providing insurance to poverty-stricken immigrants and decried as a fraud who foisted worthless fraternal, medical, and financial certificates upon a credulous public. A resident of Boston, Massachusetts, Wilson was a member of Rochester, New York’s Yonnondio Lodge No. 163, F&AM, before he was expelled. Subsequently he was repeatedly arrested and tried for improperly selling Masonic degrees.

William D. Moore at ICHF 2011.

“Wilson provides a case study for the exploration of issues of authority, legitimacy, and confidence within the American industrializing economy, and will provide new perspectives for understanding both fraternalism and Progressive cries for governmental regulation at the birth of the twentieth century.”

With that taste of context established, here are some of the salient details and eye-catching curiosities from this volume of Collectanea, titled “Darius Wilson’s Most Worshipful Grand Lodge Ancient and Accepted Scottish Free Masons of the United States of America,” edited by Arturo de Hoyos, Grand Archivist of the Grand College of Rites.

The book opens with several pieces of Masonic legal documents concerning the expulsion from Freemasonry of Darius Wilson, deemed an impostor. It was March 1902 when the charges made against Wilson were sent to Charles W. Mead, Grand Master of New York. Wilson was accused of “clandestinely and unlawfully” assisting in conferring the degrees of Masonry upon one Theodore A Tripp. Wilson answered the charge with a denial, but a finding of facts states that Wilson, acting at his professional office located at 41 West 24th Street in Manhattan (only steps from the previous Masonic Hall, headquarters of the Grand Lodge of New York, which meets there still today, in two buildings constructed approximately a decade later) did serve as a senior deacon in ceremonies that imparted the grips, signs, and words of the degrees of Craft Masonry, allegedly under the auspices of a lodge chartered by the Grand Lodge of Ohio on Friday, December 13, 1901.

Evidence in the case against Wilson included a handbill advertising the availability of the degrees of Masonry, courtesy of “the new Grand Lodge of Ohio,” which stated it was forming Masonic lodges in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and in New England. This document runs several hundred words, but I’ll quote the first sentences to show the more things change, the more they stay the same. See if this reminds you of the lunacy seen all over the internet, thanks to self-described, self-initiated, and self-deluded “Masons” who create or lend their names to websites that purport to be lodges, among other shams.

“Would you like to be a Mason? There is no patent right on Masonry, and no man or body of men have exclusive jurisdiction to work any degrees thereof. All Rites of Masonry are equally legitimate and regular.”

In a document offered by Wilson in his defense, the same logic was applied toward the High Degrees of Masonry and even the Shrine, as memberships in something dubbed King Edward Consistory 32° and something else named Aleppo Temple of the Mystic Shrine were offered free of charge to the intrepid men of the new Masonry. “Our Scottish Rite is neither the Northern or Southern Jurisdiction or either of the ‘Cerneau Rite’ Supreme Councils, but it is the genuine Scottish Rite as worked in Scotland, and ours is the only Supreme Council that was ever authorized by Free Masons of Scotland to work the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in the United States. If you desire to take the degrees from the 4° to the 32° inclusive, and can come to my New York office during my office hours… I will arrange to have the degrees conferred upon you without any cost to you whatever, after which I can offer you something of perhaps greater interest.”

You get the idea, but I’ll point out the inconsistency of both insisting that “all Rites of Masonry are equally legitimate and regular,” and boasting of having “the genuine Scottish Rite as worked in Scotland.” Of course it is hilarious, especially if you possess a rudimentary knowledge of Scottish Rite, but it also is a “logic” key to today’s fakes, phonies, and frauds.

Courtesy Prof. Moore

In the end, Wilson—who is identified as grand master of this rite by a note within the text of the ritual—was expelled from the Grand Lodge of New York. Collectanea is unambiguous with the facts of Masonic jurisprudence; Professor Moore’s paper was lenient with Wilson.




(I chatted with Moore after his presentation, and it turns out he was a volunteer at the Livingston Library years ago.)

Now, to the ritual.

The language of these EA, FC, and MM degrees is, for the most part, easily recognizable to Masons today. The origins of these degrees are unknown, but there are elements of French work and custom. In fact, the Grand Orient is mentioned several times in the text in ways that suggest a relationship. French Rite ritual had been used in New York City in Grand Lodge of New York lodges for more than a century by this point. Regardless, there are unfamiliar idioms, some quirky, others hugely significant.

The Lodge Opening: The lodge is “well guarded,” not tiled. The Wardens, not Deacons, take up the Word. The Word is changed semi-annually. Visitors remain outside until after the “Family Work” (lodge business) is completed. Business is done on the EA Degree. The lodge is alternately called the “Respectable Lodge” and “Respectable Workshop.”

The lodge is opened, in part, with the members, in unison, giving a sign, a battery, and this, “the mysterious acclamation”: “Houze. Houze. Houze.” Or “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.” (This “houze,” as best I can guess, is a cousin of “huzzah,” a variation of “hurrah” or “hooray.” Anyone knowing for sure is asked to post a comment below.) In voting, the members raise their right arms, and “noisily” slap their hands on their thighs. To speak, a member first must obtain permission from the Master (imagine that) and, while speaking, make a hand gesture that I take to be a familiar one to Apprentices.

The initiation: An officer named Master Expert attends to visitors, ensuring they can prove themselves. Candidates for initiation are seated in the East, where the Master tends to interrogatories. These questions, perhaps unsurprisingly because we don’t know what, if any, inquiries were made into the characters and standings of prospective members, are not queries meant to elicit biographical information, but are mostly rhetorical questions intended to justify to the candidate the lodge’s existence. For example:

“If Masonry is good, why should not all good Masons rejoice when any profane is made a Mason, no matter whether by one Rite or another?”

And:

“Do you know that the Ancient and Accepted or Scottish Rite Masonry, the kind practiced by us, is the only universal Masonry—that is, the only kind that is practiced in nearly all, if not in all, countries of the world?”

Indeed, this appears to be a French Rite, or often called Scottish Rite, Entered Apprentice Degree, very similar to what the celebrated Garibaldi Lodge No. 542 works in Italian in New York City. There is Brother Terrible. There is “swordplay,” I guess I’ll call it. There are symbolic trials of fortitude and endurance, and sensory stimuli (e.g., a drink of water flavored with quassia). There are philosophical questions posed to the candidate by the Master (e.g., “What is ignorance?” “What is your opinion of fanaticism and superstition?” “What is error?”)

A first journey (widdershins) involves various spatial challenges, and symbolizes life’s passions, conflicts, and obstacles. A second journey (clockwise) is easier deliberately to symbolize “the effect of constancy in following the road of virtue.” A third journey, from West to East, is conducted silently and effortlessly as reward for perseverance.

There are two obligations. The first is rightly called an obligation for the way its bonds the candidate to his new brethren; the second is actually an oath, for the way it binds the candidate to the authority of his new lodge and grand lodge. The language of both is standard Masonic usage, and the penalty of the degree is consistent with what you’d expect.

There is the “triple bise,” as our French brethren might say, although this one includes a plant on the lips. No comment.

The second degree: It is worked in a Lodge of Companions. The degree strikes me as mostly standard European Masonic ritual, except for a few conspicuous allowances for modernity. The Industrial Revolution never impacted the ritual my lodge works, and I bet the same can be said of yours. Here, however, we find a frankly delightful alchemical nod to Bro. James Watt:

“Among men, one of the manifestations of life is the movement of blood, like the movements in a steam engine, which are repetitions of expansions and condensations of steam. In the engine, the actuating force is the fire which changes the water into steam in the boiler. Forced to find an outlet, the steam pushes the piston and excapes by an orifice to be condensed by the cold air, and returned to a reservoir as water, [and] reintroduced into the boiler by a feeding pump. This is perpetual so long as the fire, water, and air are thus utilized.”

And a moment later, some thoughts on natural electricity from the Worshipful Master—and remember this comes from the early years of man-made electricity. Excerpted:

“With electricity, the most intense heat known to man can be produced. Under its devouring influence, the metals volatize in an instant, and stones melt like the snow in a hot fire.”

The Number Five is presented by five symbolic journeys about the lodge, each involving a pair of working tools or Liberal Arts and Sciences. Most are familiar, but there also is the “pinch,” a small crowbar. The five physical senses are discussed as “symbols of our spiritual faculties.” And the letter G? It is “the image of universal intelligence,” as Geometry supports Astronomy, which “has given us the courage to measure the sun, moon and myriad other stars…”

It is worth noting that the Word of the Rose Croix Degree is imparted here, as explanatory of the neophyte’s fourth journey in this degree.

The third degree: A Lodge of Masters, termed the Middle Chamber, receives the Companion seeking advancement in the form of “an augmentation of salary.” You know what he’s getting at. The talk, again, goes philosophical, as the candidate is asked to describe his understandings of “right,” justice, and conscience. Whatever his answers, it is the Worshipful Master who informs the lodge that:

“Right is that which we are permitted to do in accordance with the dictates of our conscience. Each man has the right to assure, protect, and develop his material existence, his intellectual faculties, and his moral qualities…. Justice is the highest of virtues; it makes us respect the rights of others and render to each that which belongs to him. This virtue is then essential to every true Mason…. Conscience is the sense of justice which we have naturally in us in our quality of reasonable beings. It is the cry from the heart of man, the marvelous voice which he hears from the depths of his soul, which tells him that which is just and good, and which saves him from inclination to evil.”

The Wilson ritual’s greatest departure from the work standard in most of America is embodied by “the cooling corpse.” There is no candidate raising in this MM°, but rather the Companion is conducted toward a coffin (occupied by the previously made MM, dubbed the Respectable Master). The trials of our GMHA are consistent with what you know, but with a different tool here, and a different injury there, and the hurried burial of “Hiram Abiff or Adon Hiram” (sic) differs a bit, but in the degree’s spiritual essence we see something highly unusual.

Arturo de Hoyos at the meeting.

The exemplar MM in the coffin is raised to his feet in a way you’ll know. The Worshipful Master exclaims: “Our Master has returned today. He is reborn in the person of [candidate’s name].” Of course, the talk of rebirth catches the eye. The mainstream of Freemasonry does not promise the supernatural, especially in the forms of resurrection or reincarnation. The degree continues, taking another Rose Croix turn with the WM saying “Thus day by day, each hemisphere afflicted by the absence of the father of light, assumes again, when he reappears, its cheerfulness and brilliant dress; thus, the torch of genius and of truth dissipates the shades of ignorance and error.” The Wardens reply: “Let us unite, my Brothers, to celebrate the return of light and truth.” Then follows the obligation (no surprises), and the instruction in the Five Points of Mastership: “hand to hand I greet you as a Brother; foot to foot I will support you in all your laudable undertakings; knee to knee the posture of my daily supplication shall remind me of your wants; breast to breast, your lawful secrets, when entrusted to me as such, I will keep as my own; and hand over back, I will support your character in your absence as in your presence.”

At the end, the Worshipful Master delivers the Allocution, a fairly lengthy and poetic legendary history of Masonry that renders GMHA superior over Solomon, as it is Hiram who is “the personification of humanity working and struggling without ceasing, succumbing sometimes, but always returning stronger, more active and more courageous to continue the march and arrive at the supreme end—eternal truth.”

▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼

Pierre 'Pete' Normand
Grand Chancellor, 2013

At our meeting back on February 8, 2013, a new Grand Chancellor was installed. Pierre “Pete” Normand of Texas is well known about the apartments of the Temple, especially the libraries and reading rooms. He most definitely is an education Mason, perhaps best known for championing the 21st century revival in American Masonry that has become known collectively as the “Traditional Observance” movement. Pete’s lodge, St. Albans No. 1455 in College Station, helped spark that revolution when he co-founded it ... in 1992!

In other news, the College’s Knight Grand Cross was awarded to several greatly surprised brethren. It was fun watching Bill Brunk, Paul Johnson, and Joe Manning be summoned to the East, and a great honor to stand with them and receive the prestigious award. I don’t want to gush, but I’ll say it means a lot.

     

‘Garibaldi EA° in October’

    

In the recent reconstruction of Washington Square Park, its statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi was moved about twenty feet to the north, and was reoriented to face due south. Is the Grand Master drawing or sheathing his sword? Read more about the monument here. Coincidentally, I just happened to shoot this photo yesterday.

This just in:

Garibaldi Lodge No. 542 will confer the Entered Apprentice Degree on Friday, October 19.

Masonic Hall
71 West 23rd St., Grand Lodge Room (third and fourth floors)
Manhattan

It’s a big room, but it does have a maximum capacity, so let the Secretary know you’re coming. Contact RW Robert Mascialino at garibaldi542(at)verizon.net no later than Monday, October 8.

My advice: Arrive no later than 6 p.m., and have your own apron and lodge membership card, and be prepared to work your way into a lodge. More information here.

If you do not know about the Garibaldi Entered Apprentice Degree, it probably is a ritual unlike any you have seen so far. I think its origins have been explained to me, but either I have forgotten, or didn’t understand. To make a long story short, this initiation is a very symbolic and highly dramatic work that comes to us from either the Memphis-Misraïm or the Scottish Rite tradition of Masonry. (Garibaldi was Grand Master of the M-M Rite in Italy.) It is spoken in Italian. Alchemical symbolism abounds. There is a true trial by fire. It has to be seen to be believed, and that’s why I’m telling you about it now.

The last time I visited, I brought with me a copy of the First Degree as published in Le Progres de l’Oceanie 1843: The First Masonic Lodge in Hawaii (Sandwich Islands), a bilingual text of mid 19th century Scottish Rite Craft ritual used by a lodge in Hawaii that was founded by the Scottish Rite Supreme Council of France in 1843. I thought I could have confirmed that the lodge was working AASR ritual, and it is very similar to Garibaldi’s ritual, except that it has far more spoken word for the Venerable Master than you’ll hear at Garibaldi.

Anyway, I will see you there.
  

Grand Master’s Day at Tappan

   

DeWint House, located in Tappan, New York, is owned and operated by the Grand Lodge of New York. During the Revolutionary War, it repeatedly served as a headquarters of Gen. George Washington.

Today was the big day at Tappan, where the Grand Lodge of New York hosted its annual Grand Master’s Day at DeWint House, the historic site preserved by the brethren in New York for its significance as a repeated headquarters of General George Washington during the Revolution.

Most notably, this modest home was used by Washington during the trial of Major John André, to whom General (and Freemason) Benedict Arnold had passed secret information to help the British capture the American garrison at West Point, the strategic artery that gave its owner control of the Hudson River. André was captured, tried, and, on October 2, 1780, executed. Arnold would escape capture, be commissioned a brigadier general in the British army, and lead British troops in Virginia and Connecticut.

RW Vincent Libone, Deputy Grand Master, at far right, presided over the reception today in lieu of Grand Master Edward Gilbert, who is recovering from an ailment.

The colors were presented by the Masonic War Veterans, led by RW John Borycki, Commander General.

Bro. Karl Best receives an honor from Grand Lodge. From left: Deputy Grand Master Vincent Libone, Bro. Karl Best, and RW Manuel Abad, vice president of the Board of Trustees of the Masonic Hall.

One of the more enjoyable moments of the day was the presentation of a proclamation from the Grand Lodge to Bro. Karl Best, who serves DeWint House as assistant superintendent. Best and his wife work with RW Harold Jones, superintendent, and his wife, to keep everything operational at the historic site. From greeting visitors to managing the priceless property, the two couples work hard in the service of Freemasonry and the public.

RW Dom Grippo is a trustee of the Masonic Hall,
and was secretary of Garibaldi Lodge No. 542 for many years.

There were many different aprons worn by the VIPs today. Plenty of purple and gold, and a diversity of styles and symbols. I had to get a shot of this one, worn by RW Bill Maurer, chairman of the DeWint House Committee.

Anyway, the attractions of DeWint House are numerous, and vary from the architecture of the house itself, which is Dutch Colonial; to the beautiful landscape, with its diversity of trees, and historic embellishments; and the many historical artifacts on display in the museum.

The earliest owners of this property owned slaves. These headstones once were in a cemetery several miles away, on land where the Palisades Parkway now stands. They are marked only with one to three letters.

This flag is a reproduction of the personal flag of Gen. Washington,
as commander-in-chief, during the Revolution.

This Japanese Maple is one of many exotic trees on the grounds.

A copy of the historic print titled ‘The Unfortunate Death of Major André.’

An antique painting of the house as it looked long ago.

A scale model of the HMS Perseverance,
a 36-gun frigate built in Britain in 1781.

I suspect the face on this clock is not original, because I have seen it on others, but there is no denying the beauty of the case of this clock. A marvelous example of craftsmanship, in, I think, mahogany.

Wall space is maximized with artworks of various kinds and vintages.

There are many more items on display at DeWint House, too many to show here. The site is closed Mondays, but is open the other six days a week for visits. Highly recommended.