‘Rubicon conference: Shapers of Our Ritual’

    

The Rubicon Masonic Society will be back next month for its twelfth annual festive board and conference, this time rallying around the theme “The Shapers of Our Ritual.” Four Masonic educators will take turns discussing the four historical figures who, indisputably, have the most to say about the degrees and other ceremonies in our lodges today.

This will be the weekend of September 27 at Lexington, Kentucky. From the publicity:

➤ William Preston, presented by RW Andrew Hammer

➤ Thomas Smith Webb, presented by RW Timothy L. Culhane

➤ Jeremy Ladd Cross, presented by RW S. Brent Morris

➤ Rob Morris, presented by W. John W. Bizzack

MW Terry L. Tilton, Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota, will deliver the keynote address at the Festive Board, presenting “The Use of Scriptures in Our Ritual.”

Brethren, it is through ritual that Freemasonry connects us and communicates with us harmoniously through the hourglass of time to teach us its aim and purpose. Come and greet old friends, make new ones, and engage in an in-depth exploration of our ritual and the men who shaped it.

The festive board and conference are separate events; for tickets, hotel, and the rest, click here.

     

‘Bizzack and Dunning at Pennsylvania Academy…in Philly!’

    

The next session of Pennsylvania Academy of Masonic Knowledge will be hosted in the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia, rather than the usual venue on the Elizabethtown campus. That is part of the sesquicentennial celebration of the headquarters of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.

The speakers on Saturday, March 18 will be John Bizzack and Chuck Dunning! From the publicity:

Pennsylvania Academy

of Masonic Knowledge

Masonic Temple

1 North Broad Street, Philadelphia

Saturday, March 18

Registration 8:30 a.m. Program 9:30

W. Bro. John W. Bizzack on “Quandary in the Quarries: Rediscovering the Business of Our Masonic Lodges.”

W. Bro. C.R. “Chuck” Dunning on “Compassion and Gratitude in Masonry, Psychology, and Contemplative Practice.”

Read their biographic summaries here, but if you have read any of these eminent Masons’ books and other writings, you know theirs are voices to be heard.

I don’t see a link for advance registration, but I’m sure that’ll be added soon. And if you can’t be there, I bet the session will be streamed live and viewable on YouTube later as well. This is not to be missed.

Also, be on the lookout for a date in June to be announced for a rededication ceremony at the Temple. I’ll share it here when I know.

     

‘Expect the unexpected (and the expected)’

    

I have to learn to expect the unexpected and remember to expect the expected.

Yesterday was one of my busy quarterly Saturdays, with the research lodge in the morning and AMD at night.

At New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education 1786, we took it easy. Expecting many of the brethren needing to depart early for lodge installations, Christmas parties, and other idiomatic demands of the season, Worshipful Master Marty planned accordingly. One change that proved popular was substituting our usual luncheon for breakfast. It might sound like an obvious tweak for a lodge that meets in the morning, but this was a first for us after nearly twenty years at labor. The Master and Wardens prepared scrambled eggs and omelettes, pancakes and French toast, bacon and sausage, plus something called “pork roll” (Taylor Ham in the civilized part of the state), and more.

The brethren had one of those trade show table covers made for the lodge to use at large Masonic events here and there. (Marty photo)

It was very greatly appreciated, and could have been improved only with fine cigars, but we had the next best thing: Bro. Byron took to the lectern to discuss various commonalities he discerns in Masonic lodges and cigar shops. Or at least the type of tobacconist that offers a smoking lounge.

Both the lodge and the lounge are spaces where certain rituals, both individual and group, are followed to uphold harmony in human interactions. Not mere politeness, but an inspiring energy (“egregore” was a term used) that unites all present in a shared purpose. Byron spoke of the universality of smoke rituals, which reminded me of my long ago lecture on incense in Freemasonry. It was asked from the sidelines if maybe a good coffee place or bagel joint would function similarly, but the tobacco shop has the requisite peculiarity that beckons a specialized clientele sharing their unwonted pursuit.

Next up was the Brother Senior Warden, who was excited to tell us about Bro. John Bizzack’s book For the Good of the Order: Examining the Shifting Paradigm within Freemasonry. Bro. Don admitted how although this book spans about a hundred pages, he nevertheless feels compelled to read it a second and third time to harvest every informative notion from its pages. Bizzack, who ought to be a Blue Friar, explains the key to securing a future for the Craft is in embracing smallness for the fraternity and reverting to its neglected traditions and many standards of excellence. (A familiar message to regular readers of this blog.)

Bizzack is a longtime Board member of the Masonic Society. He is a principal of Lexington Lodge 1, the Rubicon Masonic Society, and other great elements in Kentucky Freemasonry. I am eager to hear back from him in the wake of the tornado there. He’s okay, and Lexington didn’t suffer badly.

Between this and the upcoming AMD meeting, I had to make up my rassoodock what to do with the day. The nearby movie theater made the choice easy: House of Gucci. I had a basic familiarity with the brand name, but I never knew they were killing each other! Elements of early Roman Empire and Shakespearean tragedy, but wrought in recent years. A great cast (Jared Leto as patetico Paolo!) led by that psychiatrist of film directing Ridley Scott.

And then it was time for J. William Gronning Council 83 of Allied Masonic Degrees. Fortunately both the council and the research lodge meet in the same space and on the same days because these meetings are far from Magpie Headquarters. If it’s December, this must be the annual meeting: elections, installation, housekeeping, and even some time for a short presentation from the lectern.

Bro. Tom was elected to the Sovereign Master’s chair, was qualified, and then installed. The rest of the officer corps was figured out after some confusion (several members have left for a newly chartered council, but haven’t withdrawn from Gronning) and there was much rejoicing.

Tom is well known for having attractive and unique pins made, and for generously sharing them. He presented each of us with one of these tokens of AMD membership.

Tom’s son, Steven, now Senior Deacon, spoke on the subject of money. The crypto part went over my head, but I think the gist of it was money, in whatever form, is symbolic. It can represent anything from the time of your working life to the freedom you might think you possess. Disquieting ideas for these worrisome times.

Like his father, Bro. Steven also is a gift-giver, handing each of us the pin he had commissioned for his tenure next year as Worshipful Master of Amwell Lodge 12. A pretty hefty one—about the diameter of a half-dollar.

One surprising detail I didn’t expect was the arrival of Tom’s dog, Mason, in the meeting. I’m told it’s something of a tradition.

And, what I completely did not expect was the near total indifference toward—and even lack of awareness of—the most recent scandal in the grand lodge. I’m pretty indifferent myself, but I’ll try to recap: the grand master removed the elected and installed senior grand warden from his station recently, alleging dereliction of duty. A few of the past senior grand warden’s friends vocally protested this. One, a prominent past grand orator, had his membership suspended last Thursday in the usual jerseyprudence: no charges, no trial, no due process. A past grand master was advised to cool it. A past district deputy grand master had his name put on a list.

Oh, man! There’s a good Gucci joke I could make here.

Anyway, at the research lodge, the brethren were aware of the problems, but were not interested. It’s just the “same old, same old” in the eyes of the wise. At AMD, hardly anyone seemed to know about it. Most of the brethren are a little older, and practically everyone, I think, is focused on the York Rite, with little, if any, concern for the grand lodge. I’ve been in both groups for two decades, so I should have known that, as focus groups, they would be unresponsive to this stuff. Sometimes you have to expect the expected.

UPDATE: A week later, it has become known that three of the past senior grand warden’s allies have been suspended per edicts from the grand master, pending the “preferment and disposition of Masonic charges,” for allegedly disrupting the peace and harmony of the fraternity with their protests on social media of the defrocking of their friend. Will they receive speedy, fair, etc. trials? I don’t know. I do know the lawyer who represents the grand lodge will enjoy many billable hours of income at the brethren’s expense.

     

‘If we’re all pretty lucky, we’ll wind up in Kentucky’

     
It is just about two months away. The Masonic Society’s 2017 Conference in Lexington, Kentucky awaits you September 7 through 10. An amazing group of speakers will discuss “Centuries of American Freemasonry: 1717-2017, Our Past, Our Present, Our Future.”

This brochure tells the tale. Click here to register. Click here for hotel accommodations.

 Click to enlarge.

Congratulations to John Bizzack for putting this together! I believe this event will become the benchmark for future TMS conferences. Hope to see you there.
     

‘Big news for 2017’

     

Cinema Group Ventures

New Year’s greetings to everybody in Masonic cyberspace, and thank you for reading The Magpie Mason, which begins its ninth full year with this post you’re reading now. I don’t know what everyone has been eating for breakfast lately, but readership has been in the several thousands per day during the past month or so, a reach I don’t think I’ve seen since the golden age of Masonic blogging back in 2009-10. Honestly, it is humbling to learn how what is basically a hobby of mine can be interesting enough to so many others who make time to read it. My thanks to you all.

But the big news for 2017 mentioned in the subject line concerns The Masonic Society, which also begins its ninth year this year.

Next month, The Masonic Society will hold its annual meeting in Virginia. That’s Friday, February 10, amid the Masonic Week festivities to take place at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City at Reagan National Airport in Arlington. This is one of the few events on the Masonic Week calendar that all Masons, their ladies, and friends of Freemasonry may attend. But unlike, say, the Society of Blue Friars meeting, our banquet is not free of charge. The food was terrific last year, and I’m sure it will be again, but we pay in advance. Click here to take care of that.

Our keynote speaker for the banquet will be Michael Poll, a Fellow and Past President of The Masonic Society, as well as the editor in chief of The Journal of the Masonic Society. Mike is owner of Cornerstone Book Publishers, and is a New York Times bestselling writer and publisher, in addition to being a prolific writer, editor, and publisher of Masonic and esoteric books. Additionally, he is a Fellow of the Philalethes Society, a Fellow of the Maine Lodge of Research, secretary of the Louisiana Lodge of Research, and a full member of the Texas Lodge of Research. As time permits, he travels and speaks on the history of Freemasonry, with a particular focus on the early history of the Scottish Rite.

If you plan to attend Masonic Week in any way, or if you live in the Washington, DC area and want to check it out, please make sure you get to this banquet—arguably the highlight of the annual event’s calendar.

Looking later into 2017, The Masonic Society will host its annual conference in Kentucky. “Celebrating 300 Years of Freemasonry” is the theme of this event to take place September 7-10 at the Embassy Suites in Lexington. Our cosponsors are Lexington Lodge 1 (chartered in 1788), the Rubicon Masonic Society, the Grand Lodge of Kentucky Education Committee, William O. Ware Lodge of Research, and Ted Adams Lodge of Research.

More details on everything to come later in 2017, but do anticipate a roster of nationally known speakers, a formal festive board at Spindletop Hall(!), and tours of local attractions, like the Kentucky Horse Park.

The initiative behind this upcoming conference in Kentucky is John Bizzack, a Fellow of the Society, and a member of its board of directors. You may know him through any of the five (I think it’s still five) books on Freemasonry he has written, or through the Rubicon Masonic Society and other educational groups and activities in Kentucky, or from Masonic cyberspace.

Speaking of Masonic cyberspace, The Masonic Society has a new member on our board of directors. Eric Diamond of Chicago joined the team in late 2016 upon the resignation of José Diaz. Eric is a Past Master of Oriental Lodge 33, Chicago’s oldest lodge. Surely you know him from X-Oriente, the podcast—actually the granddaddy of Masonic podcasts—that has been educating Freemasons all over the world since 2004.

The leadership of The Masonic Society is an all-star team, like the Harlem Globetrotters, or the 1927 Yankees, or the ’94 Rangers. The weak link in the chain is myself, but the other officers and the board members are Masons whose work you have been enjoying for years, even if you don’t know their names. Writers, researchers, lecturers, makers of bespoke regalia, officers at the national level—all proponents of improving the condition of the fraternity. (If you have noticed the degree of turnovers in our leadership ranks, let me explain it is because of the demands of serving The Masonic Society. It’s real work. I can name a number of Masonic groups that are happy with the prestige of gathering eminent Freemasons among their leaders, but The Masonic Society asks much of its officers and directors, and sometimes a brother decides it’s better for all concerned if he steps aside to allow for another to carry on the labors.)

The chief labor of The Masonic Society is its quarterly periodical The Journal of The Masonic Society, the 34th issue of which reached members’ mailboxes in December. Under the guidance of Editor-in-Chief Mike Poll and Art Director John Bridegroom, The Journal has a new look and a sharper editorial focus now. (Advertisers, contact me here to place your message in the pages of The Journal.)

Issue No. 34 features:

Fascinating content from the Society’s Fall 2016 conference in California: “Freemasonry on the Frontier.” John Bizzack (there he is again!) offers “The Expansion of Freemasonry into the West: The Pivotal Role of Kentucky, 1788-1815,” in which he explains how America’s first western state was home to American Freemasonry’s westernmost grand lodge, which set about chartering lodges throughout the nation’s north, south, and west regions. This resulted in a kind of standardization of customs and usages based on Kentucky’s own, with results enduring through today.

Knights of the North alum (and possibly the most handsome man in Freemasonry) Bill Hosler, who likes to scatter his lodge memberships among a number of states to keep people guessing, asks “Living Stones or Bricks?” in which he weighs the meanings of making oneself better in the Masonic context.

Barry Denton, also of Kentucky, submits “Thoughts of Freemasons: Freemasonry and the Generational Gap,” that endeavors to make some sense of what Masons of different generations require of the fraternity.

In addition, there are book reviews (with maybe a literary feud in bloom!), poetry, breathtaking photography, the Masonic Treasures feature on the back cover, and much more.

C’mon, it’s $45 a year for membership in the United States. Make it a New Year’s resolution, and join now.
     

‘Setting out for the Masonic frontier’

     
The deadline for registration is near for The Masonic Society’s “Freemasonry on the Frontier” conference in California in three weeks. From the publicity:

The Masonic Society Announces

Speakers for ‘Frontier’ Conference

The Masonic Society has announced the line-up of nine speakers for its conference “Freemasonry on the Frontier” to be held October 7-9 in Morgan Hill, California. A registration form and hotel information can be found here.

“We’ve built the event around a particularly distinguished slate of speakers,” said Society President Kenneth W. Davis. “When possible, we’ve arranged topics chronologically and geographically, tracing the growth of Freemasonry from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific.”

Samuel Clemens, better known as “Mark Twain,” will kick off the program with an after-dinner speech Friday evening. Brother Clemens’ talk is made possible by Jefferson H. Jordan, Jr., immediate past grand master of Masons in New Mexico.

Mark Tabbert, director of collections at the George Washington Masonic Memorial, and author of several acclaimed Masonic books, will deliver Saturday morning’s keynote address. His topic will be “George Washington and the Masonic Frontiers of the 1700s.”

Also on Saturday morning, William Miklos, past master of Northern California Research Lodge, will speak on “Masons Pushing or Pulling the Constitutional Convention,” and Moises Gomez, past grand historian of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey, will speak on “Early Traveling Lodges of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey: Bringing Light to the American Frontier.”

Adam Kendall, collections manager and curator of exhibits for the Henry W. Coil Library and Museum at the Grand Lodge of California, and editor of The Plumbline, the quarterly bulletin of the Scottish Rite Research Society, will keynote the Saturday afternoon sessions, speaking on “Pilgrimage and Procession: The 1883 Knights Templar Triennial Conclave and the Dream of the American West.”

Also speaking Saturday afternoon will be Kyle Grafstrom, of Verity Lodge 59, Kent, Washington, and author of articles in both The Philalethes and Living Stones, on “Freemasonry in the Wild West.” Wayne Sirmon, past master of Texas Lodge of Research and instructor and fellow at the University of Mobile, will present “West by Southwest: The Expansion of Frontier Freemasonry in the Old Southwest.”

John Bizzack, fellow and board member of The Masonic Society, fellow of the Rubicon Masonic Society in Kentucky, and author of five books on Freemasonry, will deliver Saturday evening’s after-dinner speech, “The Expansion of Freemasonry into the West: The Pivotal Role of Kentucky, 1788-1810.”

John Cooper, past grand master and past grand secretary of Masons in California and current president of the Philalethes Society, will keynote Sunday morning with “Freemasonry and Nation-Building on the Pacific Coast: The California Experience.” His speech will be followed by a panel of all speakers, discussing with the audience “Freemasonry on the Frontier.”

Sunday afternoon will feature a tour of the Winchester Mystery House, with Masonic connections, and said to be haunted.

The conference is directed by Gregg Hall, member of Morgan Hill Masonic Lodge, California, and The Masonic Society’s board of directors.
     

‘Now on sale: Freemasonry on the Frontier’

     

Tickets to The Masonic Society’s Fall 2016 Conference, titled “Freemasonry on the Frontier,” scheduled for October 7 to 9 in California, are available now via eventbrite.

Click here for the ticketing options. Click here for all the info about the conference.

From the publicity:


Featured Speakers

Friday Evening:

Samuel Langhorn Clemens: Brother Samuel Clemens was made a Mason in 1861, at Polar Star Lodge 79, St. Louis, Missouri. His many literary works (often published under the pen name Mark Twain) include “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” (set less than 135 miles from the site of this conference) and “Roughing It,” an account of Clemens’ life and travel on the Western frontier.

Clemens’s appearance is made possible by WB Jefferson H. Jordan, Jr., immediate past grand master of Masons in New Mexico and an authority on Clemens’ life and work. He is past master of Temple Lodge 6, Albuquerque, past district deputy grand lecturer for two years, and past district deputy grand master.


Saturday Morning:

Mark A. Tabbert: “George Washington and the Masonic Frontiers of the 1700s”

Worshipful Brother Mark Tabbert has served as curator of the Scottish Rite National Heritage Museum, and currently is director of collections at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. He is past master of Mystic Valley Lodge, Arlington, Massachusetts, and Lodge of Nine Muses 1776, Washington, DC. He is a full member of Quatour Coronati Lodge 2076, London, and a member of the Society of Blue Friars.

Tabbert is the author of American Freemasons: Three Centuries of Building Communities; Museum and Memorial: Ten Years of Masonic Writings; and, with William D. Moore, Secret Societies in America: Foundational Studies of Fraternalism.

He is working on three books on George Washington and Freemasonry-related topics.


Saturday Evening:

John Bizzack: “The Expansion of Freemasonry into the West: The Pivotal Role of Kentucky, 1788-1810”

Worshipful Brother John Bizzack is a 25-year veteran of the Lexington (Kentucky) Police Department and, more recently, Commissioner of the Department of Criminal Justice Training for the Kentucky Justice Cabinet.

Bizzack is a member of Lexington Lodge 1, where he serves as the Education Committee chair and coordinator of the Masonic History and Study Group. He is author of several books and numerous papers on leadership, criminal investigation, and organizational management, as well as five books, along with dozens of publications, about Freemasonry. He speaks nationwide on the criminal justice system, critical thinking, and Freemasonry.


John Cooper: “Freemasonry and Nation-Building on the Pacific Coast: The California Experience”

MWB John Cooper is a past grand secretary of the Grand Lodge of California, having served for almost eighteen years when he retired in 2008. In 2013-14 he served as grand master of Masons in California. He holds a Ph.D in education from Claremont Graduate School, and before becoming grand secretary, he held various teaching and administrative posts in the public schools of California.

A Mason since 1964, Cooper served as master of James A. Foshay Lodge 641 in Los Angeles, and is both a 33º Mason in the Scottish Rite, and a Knight of the York Grand Cross of Honor in the York Rite. His primary interest in Freemasonry has been the history and philosophy of the Craft, and he has published numerous papers on Freemasonry. He has served as master of both Northern and Southern California research lodges, and currently is president of the Philalethes Society.
     

‘The Masonic Society’s annual meeting’

     

So we’re here in Arlington, Virginia for Masonic Week, the highlight of which undoubtedly was the banquet just concluded where The Masonic Society’s annual meeting took place.

There is a lot of exciting news to come, but there’s only so much I’m willing to type on my phone, so I’ll share the personnel updates only.

Our President is Kenneth W. Davis of New Mexico (formerly of Indiana). Ken, a retired professor, is bursting with ideas and initiatives for this new two-year term, and these comprise the exciting news I mention, so stay current with The Journal, our social media, and The Magpie. Ken succeeds Jim Dillman of Indiana, whose thoughtful leadership has brought The Masonic Society through a period of greater creativity, and to this cusp of inspired innovation where we stand tonight.

Our new First Vice President is Patrick Craddock of The Craftsman’s Apron fame, who will prove instrumental to bringing those startling initiatives to fruition even as he anticipates his own presidency two years hence. Ours is a holistic, long-term planning strategy.

The new Second Vice President is me. In over my head, as per usual.

New Board members:

Oscar Alleyne of New York; John Bizzack of Kentucky; and Mark Robbins of Minnesota. These are names you probably recognize, and their joining the Board is a clue to the incredible Masonic education programs The Masonic Society will launch in the coming years.

That’s all I have for now. I’m off to the hospitality suite for whiskey and good conversation.

     

‘Journal No. 30 is out’

     

Issue No. 30 of The Journal of the Masonic Society is in the mail now, providing indispensible insights into things Masonic to members of The Masonic Society and to non-member subscribers. Click here to join us.

In other news, the bustling Forum, our on-line place for discussion among paid members, has been reborn in time for a new year. Thanks to Bro. Nathan, the change is from phpBB, which is fraught with technical inferiorities, to XenForo, which is a contemporary platform with a better look and improved functionality. I just logged on, and I’m very pleased with the results.

And don’t forget our upcoming annual meeting. Click here for details.

But about the new Journal: Progress, even when arrested, seems to be a theme.

Bo Cline, a Past Grand Master of Alaska and a Past President of The Masonic Society, gives us “Ahead of Their Time: The Grand Lodge of Washington, and the Aborted Recognition of Prince Hall Freemasonry” in which he recounts the story of William Henry Upton.

Upton was grand master of the Grand Lodge of Washington at the close of the nineteenth century—so you see how incomprehensively ahead of his time he was—when he guided the grand lodge through the revolutionary process of extending recognition of Prince Hall Masons in Washington.

Of course it was not to endure (it wasn’t until 1990 that the two grand lodges in Washington established relations), but the details are amazing.

Executive Editor Michael Halleran, a Past Grand Master of Kansas, suggests “Let Him Wait with Patience?” in which he analyzes the effects of the crazy membership drives on Freemasonry in the United States. This is not a familiar retelling of the arguments over one-day classes and other exertions to boost membership; Halleran follows “doctrinal shifts” in Masonic history to form his bold conclusion summarizing where Masons are today, and hinting at where we must go tomorrow.

And one aspect of Masonic progress that is near to my heart is communications, namely those strategized by lodges to maintain a consistent reputation and relevance within their communities. Here, Ms. Emily Limón, the Grand Lodge of California’s vice president of communications and the executive editor of California Freemason magazine, outlines her plan for a professional Masonic awareness campaign. And—Hey!—it’s not about membership development. Owned media and shared media; paid media and earned media; goals and results are explained clearly. Freemasonry has a unique reason for being, she says, and strategic communications “can make all the difference in motivating members, educating the public, and moving the organization forward for future generations.”

(Not for nothing, but I was saying that to anyone who would listen fifteen years ago in my home jurisdiction. The closest I came to any success was seeing the PR committee in another jurisdiction brazenly plagiarize my Masonic media plan.)

In his “Thoughts on the Craft,” Stephen J. Ponzillo, Past Grand Master of Maryland (To be clear, it is not necessary to be a grand master to write for The Journal of the Masonic Society!) explains demographic changes in Freemasonry, drawing a conclusion about today’s youngest Master Masons that may be surprising to a certain kind of thinker stuck in the past.

Elsewhere in the name of progress in this edition of The Journal, President Jim Dillman of Indiana writes of “New Horizons for the Masonic Society” in his eighth and final President’s Message. He does not say goodbye as he welcomes Ken Davis to the presidency, but promises to continue serving The Masonic Society for as long as he has something to offer. And that he has. TMS is planning several historic initiatives to be unveiled in the near future. (Actually, we will share some of this information at our annual meeting next month.) The Masonic world is going to take a new look at The Masonic Society.

In other regular features of The Journal, Masonic Collectibles by Yasha Beresiner shares several hilarious vintage Masonic postcards. Book reviews delve into new titles (John Bizzack’s Taking Issue and the long awaited Masonic Perspectives by Thomas W. Jackson, for starters) and a classic text from eighteenth century German Enlightenment.

Membership in The Masonic Society costs only $39 a year—the best money you’ll spend on a Masonic affiliation outside your lodge. January 1 is a great time to start.
     

‘Yesterday, today, and tomorrow in the new Journal’

     

Issue No. 25 of The Journal of The Masonic Society is reaching members’ mailboxes now, so here is my latest reminder to you to join the Society and start enjoying the benefits of being part of a dynamic Masonic fraternity that thinks highly enough of you to publish the best magazine in the English-speaking Masonic world.

Of course I cannot be unbiased.

In this issue of The Journal:

In “Worthy of Being Worn: The Importance of Masonic Regalia,” Patrick Craddock—a one-man cottage industry in the design and manufacture of Masonic aprons and other textiles—renders an illustrated history of the evolution of what we call “the badge of a Mason.” Patrick, whose apron enterprise has been so successful he has been able to make it his livelihood, explains the artistry and industry of 19th century aprons, and takes us to the present day with the importance the “Observant Mason” assigns to this highly personal ritual garment.

In his “From the Editor” Column, our Executive Editor, Michael Halleran, who happens to be Grand Master of Kansas in his spare time, suggests “colonization” be employed to save struggling lodges that are short on manpower. In colonization, participating brethren of nearby lodges petition for affiliation in the troubled lodge “with the express purpose of revitalizing it.” Once elected to this plural membership, the “colonists” take up the labors of remedying the problems the lodge faces. It won’t work in every case, Halleran concedes, but it can be a more attractive option than consolidation or, naturally, going dark.

Checking in from Down Under, Kent Henderson brings us up to date on “How Masonic Education Has Transformed Freemasonry in Australia,” in which he notes real life examples of how the Craft there made candidate comprehension of Masonic ritual and symbol key to his advancement to the next degree. Not sweaty haste to push through as many as possible to prop up lodges with fresh blood—which we all know does not work—but instead thoughtful instruction and measured progress. Kent knows about such things. If you are keen on these European Concept and Traditional Observance movements, you owe Ken and his brethren at Lodge Epicurean a round of drinks, because they pioneered it all at the close of the last century. Get the magazine to read exactly how man-made miracles are wrought in the Land of Oz.

Speaking of Masonic education, those of us who may not be able to visit San Francisco any time soon have the benefit of hearing from Adam Kendall, Collections Manager and Curator of Exhibits at the Henry Wilson Coil Library and Museum at the Grand Lodge of California, for his highlight of the upcoming exhibition there titled “The Masonic Art of Education.” This will showcase historic tracing boards, modern tracing boards painted by Angel Millar, floor cloths, Magic Lantern images, and other visual arts the fraternity has embraced over the centuries to explain this thing of ours to initiates.

And speaking of timeless customs, author John Bizzack of Kentucky remembers “Nine Lost Traditions in Freemasonry,” in which he guides us through elements of lodge life that recall a much larger time. Some of these you may have seen (Chain of Union); some you may have heard of (Purging the Lodge); and others may be news to you.

In the back of the book, José O. Diaz of Ohio State University leads us on a tour of the library of Lancaster Lodge No. 57 in Ohio. This ain’t some locked barrister bookcase of untouched 100-year-old Mackey books. Lancaster Lodge’s library has survived inundations and conflagrations to pass to posterity its treasures, and Diaz tells a most inspiring story.

Throughout the pages, this issue of The Journal delivers Letters to the Editor, Book Reviews, Masonic Collectibles by Yasha Beresiner, and other attractions that make The Journal of The Masonic Society the most accessible periodical you’ll find. Membership in the Society confers much more than the quarterly Journal. Check us out. Everybody says it’s the best $39 you’ll spend in Masonry.