‘North American Convocation of Academic Lodges’

     
Just two weeks away! Admission to the conference is free, and the Saturday night dinner (with open bar) costs only $50 per person. Click here to get started. From the publicity:

North American Convocation

of Academic Lodges

March 31-April 1

Grand Lodge of Massachusetts

Boston

The North American Convocation of Academic Lodges was formed as a way for the Harvard, Boston University, MIT Lodges to assist each other in their respective work. The tradition was begun in 1930 and restarted in 2006. We are pleased to welcome members of Boston-area Academic Lodges this year, as well as guests from fellow Academic Lodges both near and far, in addition to other Masonic and non-Masonic guests for yet another wonderful year of Fraternity and Scholarship “on the Level.”

Friday

Panel: The Path of Freemasonry and Its Relevance in Early and Modern Society

Shawn Eyer: The Philalethes Society

Wisdom of the Founders: Over Three Centuries of Masonic Learning

Shawn Eyer

Shawn Eyer, PM is a writer on Masonic symbolism, history, ritual, and philosophy. Brother Eyer is a Past Master of Academia Lodge 847 in California, and Junior Warden of The Lodge of the Nine Muses 1776 in the District of Columbia. He holds a Master of Arts in Transpersonal Psychology, and a dual Baccalaureate degree in Psychology and Religious Studies.

Tom Worrel: Writer and World Traveler

An Early and Unknown Esoteric Order of American Freemasonry

Tom Worrel

Thomas Worrel has an MBA from the University of San Francisco as well an MA in Theology from the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California. Brother Worrel has published in Masonic journals such as Ad Lucem and Ahiman: A Review of Masonic Culture & Tradition. He has articles in other journals such as The Ogdoadic Journal of the Western Mysteries. He has published in magazines such as GNOSIS: Journal of the Western Inner Traditions and The Philalethes. Brother Worrel also authored a chapter in Bro. Jay Kinney’s book The Inner West titled “The Quest of the Magus.” Thomas Worrel now lives in New York City.

Saturday’s Keynote Speaker:

Mitch Horowitz

Masonic Nation: How the Ideals

of Freemasonry Touched America

Mitch Horowitz

A writer and publisher with a lifelong interest in man’s search for meaning, Mitch is a PEN Award-winning historian and the author of books including Occult America (Bantam); One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life (Crown); and Mind As Builder: The Positive-Mind Metaphysics of Edgar Cayce (A.R.E. Press).

Horowitz is a vice president and executive editor at Penguin Random House, and frequently writes and speaks on alternative spiritual topics in the national media including Dateline NBC, CBS Sunday Morning, CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.

Friday

6 p.m. - Welcome and Presentation of Speakers

8:30 p.m. - Refreshments

Saturday

12:30 p.m. - Registration

2 p.m. - Greetings from the East, Presentation of Conference Gavel, and Receiving of District Deputy Grand Master, Right Worshipful Robert F. Stanley, and his Suite.

2:30 p.m. - Session I

James Tyler Carpenter: Masonry Re-Loaded at the Millennium: A Psychologists Looks at the Craft and Esoteric Knowledge.

Keith MacKinnon: The Historical Relevance of Masonic Artifacts.

Elliot Chikofsky: Behold How Good: The Hidden Message of the 133rd Psalm.

Aaron Sherman: Guided Tour of Grand Lodge.

3:30 p.m. - Session II

Ori Noked: The Hebrew Origins of Masonic Symbols.

Oscar Alleyne: The Prevalence of Clandestine Masonry in the USA.

Jamie Gorton: The Meaning of Masonry: A Critical Examination of Walter Leslie Wilmshurst’s Seminal Work.

Aaron Sherman: Ordo Esoterica

4:45 p.m. - Keynote Address by Mitch Horowitz - Masonic Nation: How the Ideals of Freemasonry Touched America.

Q&A, Presentations, Closing, Reception and book-signing.

7 p.m. - Dinner with open bar (ticket required: $50 prepay or $65 at the door).

Hotel accommodations: The Bostonian. Click here to reserve your room.