‘Texas Masonic politics to be Masonic Society discussion’

    

The Masonic Society has announced its keynote speaker for our annual dinner next month during Masonic Week at Crystal City, Virginia.

President Oscar Alleyne says Bro. Billy Hamilton, Master of Texas Lodge of Research, will discuss Masonic politics in Texas. From the publicity:

Billy Hamilton

The Masonic Society is excited to announce that W. Bro. Billy Hamilton will be the 2024 TMS Dinner Speaker at Masonic Week on Friday, February 9 at 7 p.m. His topic involves civil politics spilling over into the lodge room, a Texas standoff between Masons and a guy fending off an armed posse with a canon at his house.

Just to clarify, the title of the talk will be “Allen and Williams: Masonic Politics in the Republic of Texas.”

Bro. Billy Hamilton is the Worshipful Master of Texas Lodge of Research and is a Past Master of Fort Worth Lodge 148. He is a co-host of the Fort Worth Masonic Podcast and is one of the organizers of Texas MasoniCon, an annual Masonic educational conference.

Bro. Hamilton was the General Manager of the Grand Lodge of Texas Library & Museum in Waco from 2020 to 2022. He has been published in The Journal of the Masonic Society, Knight Templar magazine, Fraternal Review, and Texas Lodge of Research’s Transactions.

His book, Ancient Mysteries and Modern Masonry: The Collected Writings of Jewel P. Lightfoot, is available through Westphalia Press or Amazon.com.

Tickets for this event can be purchased at Masonic Week’s Registration link here.

      

‘Have dinner with the Masonic Society’

    

I’ve been remiss in touting the Masonic Society’s annual dinner next month during Masonic Week. That’ll be Friday, February 10 at 7 p.m. in the Hyatt Regency Crystal City. The dining fee costs $60 and when registering, you’ll see a choice of entrées.

Robert Dupel

The keynote speaker will be Robert Dupel, who is both Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Quebec and the Grand Master of Canada’s Allied Masonic Degrees. He will present “It’s About Me,” which, I’ll guess, may be rich in Masonic motivation.

Sorry to say I won’t see you there. It’s our fourteenth event at Masonic Week (because we missed 2021 when the pandemic pre-empted Masonic Week) and I’ve attended all but one, but I don’t see myself joining in Masonic Week any further. My first was in 2002, and I guess I simply have had enough.

That’s the Masonic Society’s current events, but there is a lot more news that was announced recently by President Oscar Alleyne.

New Treasurer and Secretary

The Society has a new Secretary. The mighty Nathan Brindle has retired after serving since our launch in 2008. Nathan was both Treasurer and Secretary, and I can tell you that, having been a Board member and an officer (2008-22) myself, he had a lot of work! Administering all the membership needs, from enrolling new members to creating the patents to invoicing for dues; handling the finances, from depositing dues to getting the tax returns filed; webmaster, including the TMS store; generating the reports the Board needs to see; and a lot more. And that’s on top of his myriad other stations and places in the fraternity. And, oh yeah, his family and career. We were lucky to have you, Nathan, and I salute you, sir! Former President Jim Dillman has taken over the Treasurer’s desk. That’s good luck for us too.

The new Secretary is Shamus Driver. I don’t know Shamus, but if the Board elected him, then he’s right for the job. Plus, he’s in Indiana, which is important, as that has been our headquarters where all the hospitality suite libations are stored.

New Vice Presidents

I regret to see the departure from the First Vice Presidency of Greg Knott who resigned recently. We’ve lost Vice Presidents before. The recently deceased Rex Hutchens was one of our inaugural veeps, but he had to step aside because the TMS workload was more demanding that he expected, and he already had tons to do elsewhere in Freemasonry of course. (The Masonic Society is not a place to just receive a title and loaf around. There’s a lot of work to do.) And we lost another VP several years later. Literally. At the mall.

I was looking forward to seeing Greg become President next year, knowing he possesses the talent and temperament to steer our quirky and diverse team. Maybe he could return some day. So, Mark Robbins is elevated from Second Vice President to First; and Mason Russell moves from our Board of Directors to the Second Vice Presidency. Congratulations!

The Journal is coming

You wonder why you haven’t received a Winter issue of The Journal of the Masonic Society. It is because a double issue of Freemasonry’s pre-eminent periodical is in production and will reach you soon. Having adhered to the tradition of our Past Presidents not meddling in the decision making, I do not know the particulars of that, but as the Masonic Society nears its fifteenth anniversary (May 1), things are as lively as ever.

     

‘Masonic Week 2022’

    

I meant to post this a week ago, but it’s been busy and, frankly, social media renders Magpie coverage of Masonic Week redundant. I mean, during last Saturday’s AMD Grand Council Annual Communication, Barry was tweeting and I was Faceypaging progress of the meeting in real time. And then came tons of everyone’s photos. So this edition of The Magpie Mason is brief—I attended only several events anyway—and it is light on photography. There were No Photography signs posted around the meeting room but, unknown to me, they referred to the degree conferrals and not to the business meetings. So I inadvertently denied you my customary lens work, capturing the scenes of the same ten guys appointing each other to the officer lines.

My first Masonic Week (called AMD Weekend back then) was 2002, and this weekend, like that one, was blessed with unseasonably warm weather for the dead of winter. I wistfully recall sitting at the bar in the Hotel Washington’s lobby, enjoying a pint and a cigar, writing postcards to the brethren back at lodge, and noticing the tourists outside were wearing shorts and T-shirts. The temperature reached as high as 61 degrees this time. But no smoking anything anywhere in any hotel these days, just to illustrate how far our society has collapsed in only two decades.

I reminisced with Rashied for a few minutes about those old times and about all the friends who we don’t see anymore. Janet, who organized the annual luncheon at Old Ebbitt Grill; Scott, who played his bagpipes; and so many more Masonic Light members, some who have passed on, or no longer make the trip.

Heather Calloway was there, allegedly. I’m told she was representing Indiana University’s Center for Fraternal Collections and Research, supposedly. I’m doubtful because I staggered around the atrium, where stood everybody’s display tables, repeatedly, but didn’t see her. I probably need some kind of cognitive testing.

I didn’t even get a chance to shake Mark Tabbert’s hand. Just a fast wave. Mark’s book, A Deserving Brother, is due out this month. But I did get to meet Scott Schwartzberg after all these years.

It was a great Masonic Week thanks, in part, to the absence of a few of the usual groups that still were skittish over the pandemic. No offense, but without Athelstan and Knight Templar Priests, there was room on the schedule for degree work open to AMD brethren. What a concept.

The Masonic Society

Attendance this Masonic Week reached an all time high (at least as records and memories go), with about 430 registered. So it was exciting to see a record high 112 signed up for the anchor event of the weekend: the Masonic Society’s annual dinner. Because the pandemic pre-empted last year’s Masonic Week, this was our thirteenth, instead of fourteenth, meeting, and it felt good to be back.

Having been awake for twenty-two hours by the time we entered the banquet room, an endodontic job, sans anesthesia, would have been fine by me, but this was a true pleasure and a high note on which to conclude my term as president.

The new leadership team:

President Oscar Alleyne

First Vice President Greg Knott

Second Vice President Mark Robbins

Our seven-member Board of Directors has been reorganized with Mark joining the officers and John Bizzack retiring (he’s a new VP at Philalethes now). We have added Kevin Wardally of the MW Prince Hall Grand Lodge of New York, and Mason Russell of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. Coincidentally, both are grand treasurers of their respective grand lodges.

And I also had the honor of announcing two new Masonic Society Fellows: William Maurer and Michael Moran. Bill has been published in the pages of The Journal of the Masonic Society, is a valued historian of early America, and is a long-serving trustee of the Livingston Library here in New York. Mike is the book reviews editor of The Journal. He also is central to Masonic education at home in the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. We’re lucky to have so much talent in the family.

After a savory meal of roast beef and winter vegetables, it was time for our speaker. Chris Ruli was the grand historian and librarian of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia (on sabbatical now to work on another project) who has been studying Freemasonry’s historic activities in the Federal City for many years. He presented us “Masonic Myth of Our Nation’s Capital,” a discussion of some of his research that is intended to dispel the frivolous tales we sometimes hear about the Craft’s role in building Washington, D.C.

Chris told us of the persons, places, and things involved in how the District took shape with Masons participating, from the placement of the Boundary Stones that marked the city’s borders in 1791, to the construction of the Executive Mansion in 1792, to the cornerstone ceremony at the Capitol in 1793, with a lot more around town and into the next century too, including recovery from the arson of the War of 1812, and up to the Lincoln years. (I resisted the temptation to say that very day, February 11, was the anniversary of the start of the surveying process in 1791 that established the District’s boundaries.)

He exhibited not only command of his subject, but also command of his audience. You had to see it! I’m not enthusiastic about video recording our doings, but I’m sorry we didn’t preserve this lecture. It was a performance, and it was praised throughout the weekend at the hotel and for days after on social media. Chris has an uncommon gift for oratory, engaging listeners with humor to make a fascinating story doubly memorable. Not having the speaking skill or that confidence myself, I am really impressed and am in agreement with all who said this was one of the top Masonic talks I’ve seen.

The Q&A took us beyond the hour we were entitled to have the room, so we broke it up reluctantly. I really had to get some sleep anyway. But before our Friday night dinner, I attended the Blue Friars and the Nine Muses.

The Society

of Blue Friars

The Society of Blue Friars is a small Masonic institution that honors authors with membership in its select ranks. This year Adam Kendall of California became Blue Friar 111. He is a member of Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076 and is editor of The Plumbline. Adam presented his “The Scandals and Secret Rites of Benjamin Hyam,” found in QC2076’s Freemasonry on the Frontier anthology. It’s a story as wild as the Wild West and as confounding as any you’ll find in Masonic history.

Adam, Balvin, and David.

I encourage you to seek the several videos on YouTube of Adam’s previous tellings of the tale.

Council of Nine Muses 13

Then, at the meeting of the Allied Masonic Degrees’ Council of Nine Muses 13, James Winzenreid of West Virginia was seated, becoming both the fiftieth member in the elite council’s history and the warm body needed that afternoon to achieve a quorum. He succeeds Tom Jackson of Pennsylvania who died last year.

Tom’s death added another dimension to Masonic Week; he was eulogized repeatedly and extensively in multiple meetings. To hear different summations of his eighty-seven years is to wonder where one’s own life is going. His too numerous feats in Freemasonry comprise only a subplot in a life that couldn’t have been more productive without elongating the weeks and adding more months. Successes followed successes in his personal, professional, academic, and civic lives. Did you know he was a weightlifting champion as a young man in his early twenties?

Grand College of Rites

After about ten hours of deep sleep, it was time for the Grand College of Rites. I haven’t attended one of our meetings in several years, mostly because of repeated schedule changes. I think Saturday morning is a good time for it.

A lot of news from this meeting. Our new Grand Chancellor is David Kussman of California. If the name rings a bell, he is the Knight Templar who was illegally removed from his elected office as deputy grand master of the KT Grand Encampment by the grand master of the Grand Encampment—and is that guy gonna get his comeuppance next month! Read the Dummies blog for that story.

Joining the officer line as the grand seneschal is Clyde Schoolfield of Oklahoma. Clyde is grand secretary of the AMD. Jerry Klein retired as our grand registrar, and has been succeeded by Christopher Gamblin of Indiana. Duane Vaught exited the grand chancellor’s chair and took over as grand treasurer.

Arturo de Hoyos, grand archivist, was absent, tending to family needs, so there was no report on the upcoming edition of Collectanea, but we know it will be a continuation of the 1807 Cerneau Scottish Rite rituals. In the meantime, however, a bonus Collectanea has been mailed to the membership. Forget what I said about the Masonic Book Club possibly publishing Burlesque Degrees. The text of humorous, if hokey, rituals from the Golden Age of Fraternalism now is among the GCR bibliography.

Ark and Dove Degree

Somewhere in the weekend I, and maybe about a hundred others, received the Ark and Dove Degree. I have to hit the books and learn about this one; I’m not sure I’ve even heard of it before. From its name you’d connect it with Royal Ark Mariner, but it is different. Whether it’s derivative of, or adjunct to, R.A.M. I don’t know. It imparts a lesson in temperance, particularly with food and drink. I can’t decide if that message is ironic for Masonic Week, or if it is especially needed there, but it is a thoughtful brief degree. The ritualists performed well, and it was appreciatively received.

(You ever notice the word “peradventure” is used in a couple of our degrees?)

Grand Council

of Allied Masonic Degrees

And speaking of the AMD, Grand Master Mohamad Yatim enjoyed a dynamic year in office. The poor man was installed in quarantine conditions and via Zoom last February, but that humble start sparked a ceaseless tornado of activity that improved AMD at home and was felt abroad from the Philippines to the Congo. The accomplishments literally are too numerous to list here, so I’ll have to refer AMD members to the first four issues of the Allied Times newsletter. I will point out though how Prince Hall brethren now are able to be invited into AMD councils.

The Marvin E. Fowler Award was presented to Moises Gomez in thanks for his expert stewardship of the planning and execution of Masonic Week each year. To be clear, there is a committee. Its members get us attendees signed in, paid up, credentialed, inspected, injected, detected, and rejected—but it is Moises who is the omnipresent force in the hotel before we arrive, while we run amok, and after we’re gone. He checks the meetings to ensure the hotel is performing correctly. He provides his personal equipment so Chris Ruli can screen his slides during his presentation. He visits the brother who became ill and needed to be hospitalized. Moises is the Indispensable Man.

Aaron Shoemaker of Missouri is our new grand master. I think it’s reasonable to expect a similarly productive year for him. One of his first acts was to make Moises the grand superintendent for New Jersey.

So this, the 130th Annual Communication of the Grand Council of Allied Masonic Degrees, was the final meeting of the last Masonic Week I plan to attend, and even I was part of the ceremonies. My thanks to Mohamad for recognizing my work on the newsletter with a handsome plaque. Editing Allied Times last year was the least I could do—and let it never be said I don’t do the least I can do!

     

‘At the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier’

    

Moises Gomez photo

Without yet being present, I’ll begin coverage of Masonic Week 2022 with word from the Grand Council of Allied Masonic Degrees. Yesterday, MVS Grand Master Mohamad Yatim, accompanied by Grand Council officers, visited Arlington National Cemetery to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

While this solemn activity has become especially important in Masonic circles in recent years, the fraternity paying respect at the Tomb is a tradition. For instance, on October 19, 1925, the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (Southern Jurisdiction) visited the Tomb, taking a break from its deliberations at the House of the Temple.

In 1922, just several months after the Tomb’s installation, New York’s RW Bro. Solomon Holzer, Past Master of Daniel Carpenter Lodge 643, wrote to Grand Secretary Robert Kenworthy, saying he thought our Grand Lodge ought to encourage the Masonic Service Association to “place a suitably inscribed bronze tablet” on the Tomb, and should the MSA not succeed, the Grand Lodge itself ought to do it with the goal of holding a ceremony on November 4, the Masonic birthday of George Washington. I don’t think the idea went anywhere.

I expect to arrive at our hotel this afternoon, just in time to witness Adam Kendall take his place among the Society of Blue Friars. See you there.

     

‘Masonic Myth of Our Nation’s Capital’

    

February already? It’s hard to believe, but that means my tenure as President of the Masonic Society is in its final days. As always, there will be a peaceful transfer of power, and that will take place next Friday in Virginia, when Bro. Oscar Alleyne will become our eighth President. Our after dinner speaker will be Bro. Chris Ruli, Grand Historian of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, on “Masonic Myth of Our Nation’s Capital.”

Masonic Society

Annual Meeting

Friday, February 11

7 p.m.

Masonic Week

Arlington, Virginia

$55 per person

Reserve here

We have 85 guests booked as of yesterday and there’s still room if you haven’t added us to your itinerary. And, of course, if you are a local Mason inexperienced with Masonic Week, you are more than welcome too! This event is open to all Masons and friends of Freemasonry.

      

‘Are you free for dinner?’

    

Masonic Week draws near—next month, in fact—and registration for our events is open. The anchor of the multifaceted affair is the Masonic Society dinner on Friday, February 11. It’ll be a big deal!

We will seat our new President, and the new Second Vice President, and two new members of the Board of Directors. Plus, more surprise announcements.

Our after dinner speaker will be Bro. Chris Ruli, Grand Historian and Librarian of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia. Chris will give us just the facts concerning “Masonic Myths of Our Nation’s Capital.”

The dining fee is $55 per person, and attendance is open to all Freemasons, our ladies, and friends of Freemasonry. (And, for a hotel, the food is good.)

Oscar Alleyne

Our eighth President will be Bro. Oscar Alleyne. Oscar is a New York Mason, but he kind of is a citizen of the Masonic world—a member of QC2076, a frequent flyer on the lecture circuit, and a valued leader in numerous groups within the fraternity. Come, and let’s give Oscar a momentous inauguration!

Founded in 2008, the Masonic Society is an independent 501(c)(3) educational foundation that publishes the quarterly periodical The Journal of the Masonic Society. Membership, at $45 annually, is a source of pride, many brethren inform me. (The hand-stamped, wax-sealed parchment each of us receives itself prompts accolades.)

The Journal is a beautifully designed and thoughtfully balanced mix of educational papers, speculative writings, news, opinion, photography and more. (We call it the Time magazine of Freemasonry, if you’re old enough to get that reference.)

Again, click here to join us for dinner and conversation on Friday, February 11 at Masonic Week in Arlington, Virginia. Vivat!

     

‘Masonic Week registration is open’

     

Moises announced this morning that both the hotel and events registration for Masonic Week 2022 are open!

We’re still at the Hyatt Regency at Crystal City in Virginia, this time from February 9 through 13.

The highlight of the whole affair is the Masonic Society’s annual dinner-meeting. We’ll get together Friday the 11th at seven o’clock. I will exit the office of the presidency, and Oscar Alleyne will take over, becoming the most powerful man in the Masonic free world. We also have a wonderful after-dinner speaker for you, which I’ll tell you about soon.

Click here to get started.

This will be my last Masonic Week, so I’m looking forward to seeing you because, unless you visit New York City, I might not see you again.

For many years, Masonic Week was my favorite event on my Masonic calendar. (It was AMD Weekend then.) After twenty years, the routine of watching ten guys appoint each other to the officer lines somehow lost its allure. In recent years, I’ve been attending only the Masonic Society’s board meeting and dinner on the Friday. It’s one of only a few meritocracies that meet there. And so it goes.

     

‘Masonic Week 2022’

    

I know it’s still early, but in case you haven’t heard:

• Masonic Week 2022 is a “go.” We are scheduled and booked to resume our regular, live, in-person meetings and events in February!
• The voting members of the Grand Council of Allied Masonic Degrees of the USA met virtually recently and voted to remain at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City for the three ensuing years (2023-25).

A tentative schedule for 2022 is ready and will be disseminated soon. As you know, the Masonic Society’s dinner is the highlight of the five-day affair. I’ll let you know about the menu and dining fee as soon as I can.

My tenure as president of the Masonic Society will end Friday, February 11. Don’t despair! On that afternoon, current First Vice President Oscar Alleyne will accept the presidency, so come to our dinner and cheer him on.

I have been mentioning in private conversation here and there how Masonic Week 2022 most likely will be my last. My first—back when it was humbly AMD Weekend—was 2002. (I still cherish a certain cork and a small stone, souvenirs from late night sacred rituals upstairs in the Hotel Washington.)

But we’ll have fun next February! See you in Arlington.

     

‘Masonic Week 2021’

     

UPDATE: Masonic Week 2021 is canceled, and many events will be hosted via Zoom, including the Masonic Society’s event featuring MW Elias. More info to come.

MW Akram Elias

I wasn’t going to get into an event eight months away just yet, but I see the organizers of Masonic Week have posted the preliminary schedule of events already, so let me tell you about the best part.

The Masonic Society’s annual dinner-lecture will be hosted Friday, February 12, 2021. No word yet on the menu or dining fee (I probably will have both later in the summer) but, more importantly, our keynote speaker will be MW Bro. Akram Elias, Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Washington, DC.

Masonic Week takes place at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia. It will run from Wednesday, February 10 through Sunday the 14th. (If you think your lady won’t appreciate the Operatives Brunch on Valentine’s Day, well you’re just wrong!) The website will have event registration, dinner reservation, and hotel booking information—again—probably later this summer.

You’ll see the schedule has been rearranged. The Grand College of Rites was bumped up to 1:30 on Friday, so I may just stand a chance of getting there this time. But the reason you’ll want to attend Masonic Week 2021 is the Masonic Society dinner.

MW Bro. Elias’ talk will be “Freemasonry in 2026: A Force for Good, or a Footnote in History?” He will challenge us to look five years into the future, to America’s semiquincentennial year, to candidly assess whether Freemasonry will be relevant, and what we, as Free and Accepted Masons, can do today to anticipate the future we deserve.

We’re all having a hell of a 2020 thus far, and some strategic thinking most definitely is in order.

MW Elias served as Grand Master in 2008, capping a most effective career in Masonic leadership. If you want to know what he is up to these days, check out the Masonic Legacy Society.

So, mark your calendars and plan to be with us at the Hyatt Regency on Friday the 12th at seven o’clock. All Masons, our ladies, and friends of Freemasonry are welcome to enjoy a terrific meal and great company. Everyone says it is the social event of Masonic Week, and who am I to argue? I’m lucky they let me in.
     

'Masonic Week registration is open'

     
To get started, click here.

Remember, the Masonic Society dinner-meeting on Friday night costs only $55 per person. A sirloin entree will be served. Open to all Freemasons and guests.

Come hear Bro. Mark Tabbert present the keynote: "A Deserving Brother: George Washington and Freemasonry."

This will be our Annual Meeting, with elections of officers, presenting new Fellows, and other exciting announcements.
     

‘The Masonic Society at Masonic Week 2020’

     

I can barely plan six hours in advance, so I can understand not grabbing your interest with this news that comes six months ahead, but mark your calendars for Friday, February 7 for the Masonic Society’s annual dinner-meeting amid the Masonic Week festivities at Crystal City, Virginia.

There will be elections of officers. (Unless the members come to their senses, yours truly will become the Society’s seventh president.) We will announce new Fellows. We’ll tackle usual business, like budget stuff.

And…

Mark Tabbert

The main reason you’ll want to be there is our keynote speaker: Bro. Mark Tabbert, Director of Collections at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia, will present “A Deserving Brother: George Washington and Freemasonry.”

You think you know Washington the Freemason, but this discussion will reveal Mark’s recent research that went into his new book on the subject.

Also, I must point out the dining fee has come down significantly since recent years. Our banquet—and, I imagine, others—have lost patrons to other, off-site, dining opportunities due to the exorbitant cost of eating in the hotel. It gives me great pleasure to tell you that this dinner will cost only $55 per person. We will work on the menu shortly. Masons, our ladies, and friends of Freemasonry are welcome to attend. The website for booking your seats will be ready soon, and I’ll share that news at the right time.

Otherwise, Issue No. 46 of The Journal of the Masonic Society is in production now, and will reach our members’ mailboxes in September. Join us! It’s the best $45 you’ll spend in Freemasonry.
     

‘A great night for The Masonic Society’

     

A great annual meeting and banquet this evening in Arlington, Virginia at Masonic Week. Good food, fine fellowship, and an incredible keynote address.

Our outgoing President, Bro. Kenneth W. Davis of New Mexico, could not be with us, but his valedictory thoughts, highlighting the successes of the Society and news of big things to come, were communicated by another Brother in Ken’s stead.

The Masonic Society’s new President: Bro. Patrick Craddock (The Craftsman’s Apron).

First Vice President: The Magpie Mason

Second Vice President: Bro. Oscar Alleyne (The Hardest Working Man in Freemasonry).

Courtesy Greg Knott

Bro. Eric Diamond

Bro. Eric Diamond presented a thought-provoking keynote address that prompted many questions, comments, and requests for copies. Eric spoke of the need for today’s Freemason to assert himself in the public square to help society sidestep the perils of what is known as the “Dark Enlightenment,” not unlike how our Masonic ancestors brought the Enlightenment to English, French, and American life centuries ago.

And seven Fellows of The Masonic Society have been named:

Oscar Alleyne
Tyler Anderson
Christian Christensen
Patrick Craddock
Moises Gomez
Cameron Poe
Christopher Rodkey

Issue No. 40 of The Journal of the Masonic Society is in production, and will reach our members in March. If you want to read it, join now.

     

‘The Masonic Society at Masonic Week’

     
It’s official: The keynote speaker at The Masonic Society’s banquet at Masonic Week next month will be Bro. Eric Diamond of Chicago!

Bro. Eric is well known about the apartments of the Temple, but he might be best known as the long-serving host of X-Oriente, the granddaddy of Masonic podcasts, launched more than a decade ago. (I don’t mean to exclude co-host Bro. Jason Van Dyke! The pair bill themselves as “The shock troops of the Enlightenment.”) Eric is a Board Member of The Masonic Society, and is at labor in outstanding Craft lodges in Chicago and New York.

The subject in store for us on the evening of Friday, February 9 will be how Enlightenment values, from which Freemasonry emerged and had nurtured, are under threat today.

The Masonic Society banquet is the highlight of the Masonic Week festivities. Hosted in the coveted Friday night slot, this event is open to, yes, Masonic Society members, and also other Masons, our spouses, and friends of Freemasonry. If you are not planning on attending Masonic Week—for example, if you reside in the area, and want to join us for this dinner—I believe that can be arranged.

Visit Masonic Week here. And from there, you may make dinner reservations and follow another link to book your hotel room.
     

‘Masonic Week 2018 info is posted’

     
The program for Masonic Week in February has been posted, as has the hotel registration page. Click here. I see some significant changes in the schedule, so have a careful look.

But the Masonic Society dinner remains in place on Friday night. We are finalizing the keynote speaker’s arrangements now, so there will be an announcement on that coming soon.

I am retiring from Masonic Week. Going forward, it’ll just be Masonic Friday for me, with the Masonic Society’s Board meeting that afternoon and the dinner later. After that, I’ll be heading home.

I started attending in 2002, when it was known as AMD Weekend. I was Senior Warden of my Council at the time, and it was a revelation seeing AMD’s top brass do their thing. I luckily enjoyed so many fun times over the years: The late night conversation in the hospitality suites; the Cabal’s top secret doings at Gadsby’s; and, of course, the birth of the Masonic Society in 2008 in the aftermath of a most interesting Philalethes annual meeting! Things have changed though. Many of the brethren who I delighted in seeing have stopped attending. And, at long last, I must give up my dream of becoming Grand Bung. I just wasn’t made for these times.

But we’ll have a great time at the Masonic Society banquet on Friday. See you there.
     

‘Live from Masonic Week?’

     

This week’s X-Oriente podcast just concluded (will be posted soon), and the brethren were thinking out loud about possibly going live from Masonic Week in 2019, or maybe even giving it a go next February. It’s not even an embryonic idea yet, but Eric and Jason are interested in exploring the feasibility of hosting their show from the hotel.

The questions they ask now are: Would you attend in person and perhaps take part or observe; or would you watch on line from afar?

Or “if you think this is a horrible idea,” they want to hear from you also. Topic suggestions are welcome too.

Eric launched X-Oriente more than a decade ago to continue the magic of Masonic Week (then called AMD Weekend) conversations year round. Masonic Week consists of the annual meetings of a bevy of obscure Masonic fraternities, which can be pretty dull but, outside and between these meetings, Masons from all over meet in hospitality suites and other nooks to discuss the meaning of Masonry. Friendships are cemented, and it is not unusual for the brother you’ve just met to wind up guest lecturing at your lodge later in the year. (Some of these guys have been dining out on the same lectures for ten years! Hmmph.)

But check in with X-Oriente to make your opinions heard. Click here.
     

‘Another(!) singular surprise at Masonic Week’

     

Belated coverage of Masonic Week 2017 slowly continues with this account of the 73rd Annual Consistory of the Society of Blue Friars on Friday, February 10 in Arlington, Virginia.

The proclamation of a new Blue Friar is a very closely held secret usually. I imagine only Grand Abbot Brent Morris and the new appointee are in the know for many months. This year there was an innocent and very temporary slip in social media that revealed this embargoed information. Did you catch it?

Michael Poll, of Cornerstone Publishers, Journal of the Masonic Society, Masonic research, etc. fame, was made Blue Friar No. 106 in a tradition launched in 1932 upon the formation of this unique fraternity comprised exclusively of Masonic published authors.

Bro. Poll had been away from Masonic Week for a long time, probably since it was last known as AMD Weekend, and his appointment to the ranks of the Blue Friars last month was to be his first trip back. Unfortunately, rough winter weather, with lots of snow forecast, menaced the District of Columbia area, and Mike’s flight was cancelled, preventing him from reaching us in Arlington. Even worse, it turned out that not one snowflake fell in the DC area!

Nevertheless Poll appeared at his two planned speaking engagements—Blue Friars and Masonic Society—thanks to quick thinking and technology. His Blue Friars address, titled “The Role of the Masonic Writer,” was video recorded and made available to us via the interwebs, to wit:

Unquestionably a first for the Blue Friars. Not that they’d want to make it a habit, but it’s good to know an option like this can save the day. But this isn’t even what is meant in the title of this edition of The Magpie Mason. No. Something else unexpected occurred that made the meeting even more memorable.

Nearing the end of the meeting, the Grand Abbot, who wields supreme dictatorial powers by the way, announced a surprise: Another Blue Friar was being made!

BF 107 was in attendance, sitting in near anonymity on the sidelines: Robert L.D. Cooper of Scotland!

Grand Abbot S. Brent Morris, right, greets Blue Friar 107 Robert L.D. Cooper of Scotland after surprising him with the prestigious appointment at the Society’s 73rd Consistory last month in Virginia.

Among the books Bob Cooper has authored are Cracking the Freemasons Code, The Red Triangle, and (my favorite) The Rosslyn Hoax. Please read The Rosslyn Hoax. He is curator of the Scottish Masonic Museum and Library, and is a true expert on the subjects that confound so many well intentioned Freemasons: Rosslyn Chapel, the Sinclair family, and the Templars. If you think you know something about these, do yourself a big favor and read Cooper’s findings.
     

‘A singular surprise at Masonic Week’

     
I better get to the Masonic Week coverage, although there won’t be much this time because I attended only three functions before heading home too early on account of a medical concern. So, I attended The Masonic Society’s ninth annual banquet, the Society of Blue Friars 73rd annual Consistory, and the Grand College of Rites’ annual meeting. But this edition of The Magpie Mason concerns the Allied Masonic Degrees meeting on Saturday, by which time I was well on my way home, where Bro. Mohamad was honored with a singular surprise.

I was there in 2002 at the former Hotel Washington when Grand Master James Olmstead inaugurated the Marvin Edward Fowler Award as his final action in office, presenting it to Herb Fisher (MVGM of AMD in 1981). Olmstead designed the glass piece, having a gentle green hue added to symbolize AMD beyond the fraternity’s emblem and wording on the surface of the beveled glass. It is awarded, and not necessarily meant to be given every year, to those designated by the grand master in thanks for outstanding service to the fraternity. Its namesake had died just two months before our meeting in Washington, DC. Marvin Fowler was one of those Masons who provided backbone to American Freemasonry, having served as grand master of AMD and grand master of the Grand Lodge of Washington, DC, and was a VIP in many other apartments of the Temple. He is remembered as one of the Masons who ensured the Masonic Week (then known as AMD Weekend) tradition continued through the years as chairman of the planning committee. He had been around for some time, having been coroneted at 33° Scottish Rite Mason back in 1943! (He was made a Mason at age 22.) I did not know him; in addition to the age difference, I was still somewhat new to AMD in 2002. Nevertheless, I felt it was a pretty emotional moment when the award was revealed to the brethren present, and its first recipient was asked to approach the East to accept it. Fowler’s son Ed was junior grand warden of the Grand Council of AMD at the time too, adding more fraternal warmth to the occasion.

Courtesy Moises Gomez

Fast forward 15 years, and it is Bro. Mohamad’s turn. Here he is, at left, receiving the award from outgoing Grand Master Lawrence Tucker.

One unusual detail: Mohamad is a past master of Atlas-Pythagoras Masonic Lodge 10 in New Jersey. There are three other Fowler Award honorees who have links to the lodge. First, of course, is Thurman Pace, who served as grand master of AMD in 1994. In addition—and I had no idea of this until Bro. Moises Gomez pointed it out in the lodge’s March trestleboard—two honorary members of A-P 10 have received it: James M. Ward, past grand master of Mississippi (2004), and William R. Logan, past grand master of South Carolina (2016).

Congratulations, Mohamad! In addition to being proud to be your friend, I am in awe of your commitment to Freemasonry, and enjoy watching the tokens of esteem come to you.
     

‘Masonic Week deadlines near’

     

Masonic Week is less than a month away, meaning the deadline for booking rooms and meals is very near.

To see the agenda of all the meetings, click here.

For hotel accommodations, click here. Reserve before February 1.

For meal reservations, click here. Also before February 1.

If nothing else, be sure to attend The Masonic Society’s banquet on Friday night, but click that link to book your seats. Our keynote speaker will be Michael Poll of Louisiana—scholar, writer, publisher extraordinaire, and editor-in-chief of The Journal of The Masonic Society.

Also, look for our hospitality suite!

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.