‘Best Practices in College Station’

    

To whet your appetites before the Masonic Restoration Foundation Symposium this weekend, budget about an hour and a half to watch this new episode of the Masonic Improvement podcast. Pete Normand, a past president of the MRF, converses with co-hosts Justin Jones and Dennis Yates on the topic of the best practices set to labor in St. Alban’s Lodge 1455 in College Station, Texas.

Normand helped establish this lodge in 1992 with the specific goal of curating a certain Masonic experience, one far away from what was typical in that area at that time. An antidote to the deleterious mix of tedious meetings, non-Masonic activities, uninspired food, and lackadaisical attire that are the hallmarks of lodges that have given up.

Pete does about 99 percent of the talking in this interview, but it’s all instructive to the attentive ear. Listen to him recount how he explored Freemasonry for years before even learning how to petition for the degrees. How he recognized the lodge experience he inherited was not optimal. How he discovered the components of what some today call an “Observant lodge,” and the smart way to incorporate them into lodge culture.

Some of these ideas later became Grand Lodge law.

To Pete, it’s just common sense “best practices,” and he communicates it in recollections of how St. Alban’s accomplished it. The best kind of lesson.

Find Masonic Improvement on YouTube and your favorite podcast platforms. Feel free to skip the first sixty seconds to spare yourself the grating theme song, and enjoy the conversation.

     

‘Indian Degree Team coming to St. Alban Lodges’ Gathering’

    

Happy St. Alban’s Day!

Today is the Feast Day of the first Christian martyr in the British Isles, an anniversary previously employed by Freemasons for convivial observance. Maybe in some places it is still, but Bro. Pete, at St. Alban’s Lodge 1455 and Texas Lodge of Research, says St. Alban’s Day was the summertime celebration occasion for English Freemasons before St. John’s Day, on the 24th, was chosen.

Why switch? Pete says it simply was because the Baptist’s Feast Day was an official holiday in English life, so it made more sense to delay the festivities for two days and synchronize the Masonic partying with everyone else’s.

I think we deserve both, but no one listens to me. Here’s more on St. Alban.

So, a couple years ago, I told you about the International Gathering of Lodges Named for St. Alban that was scheduled for Long Island, home of St. Alban’s 56. As you recall, the pandemic resulted in everything being canceled. (The brethren did get together last year at St. Alban’s 6 in Rhode Island.) But this party—the seventieth—is on!

October 13-15 in Rockville Centre.

One added feature I heard about will be the appearance of the Oklahoma Masonic Indian Degree Team. Founded circa 1950, according to OMIDT Secretary David Dill, the Degree Team travels the United States (and has a few times to England) to confer the Third Degree in full Native American ceremonial attire. I saw them in New Jersey about twenty years ago, and remember that the ritual is Grand Lodge of Oklahoma standard work, which differs slightly from what we know in New York, but the treat is the ritual garb in the Masonic setting. It means a lot.

OMIDT

The team’s last visit to New York was 1999, Bro. Dill says. “The team is loosely based out of Tulsa. Members belong to multiple lodges in northeast Oklahoma, and we also belong to several different tribes,” he adds.

“Right now, the tribes represented are Muscogee (Creek), Cherokee, Pawnee, Ottawa, Apache, Choctaw, and Seminole. In the past there have been many other tribes represented as well. To be on the the team, you must belong to a tribe, know multiple parts in the Master Mason Degree (Oklahoma ritual), have regalia, be able to dance (a native dance like what you would see at typical pow-wow), and be able to travel up to two times per month,” Dill continues.

“Our outfits are actually dance clothes you would normally see at a pow-wow. The different outfits belong to different dances. We make our outfits ourselves. We all have real eagle feathers. New members must serve a year-long apprenticeship. Full membership is attained by a vote of the team at one of our biannual meetings. We have had non-native members in the past. These are special exceptions and in these cases these members are ‘adopted’ into the team, much like a tribe can adopt non-members.”

“For us to travel, we require three things: transportation costs, lodging, and meals while we’re away. We do not charge for degree work.”

It could be another couple of decades before the team returns to New York, so try to get to this event. For information, contact Bro. Scheu here.

     

‘The Bernie’

     
One of the highlights of the Masonic calendar in Pennsylvania is near. It’s always a good time. Make sure you get there. From the publicity:

Shiloh-MacCalla Masonic Lodge No. 558

Presents the Bernard H. Dupee, PM

Memorial Lecture

Tuesday, June 2

Social Hour: 6 p.m.

Dinner: 7:15

William Penn Inn

1017 DeKalb Pike

Gwynedd, Pennsylvania

The 2015 Bernard H. Dupee, PM Memorial Lecturer is none other than Brother Pierre G. “Pete” Normand, Jr. of Texas.

Pete is known internationally for his contributions in the field of Masonic research, writing, and publishing. In 1986, for the Texas sesquicentennial, he wrote and published The Texas Masons: The Fraternity of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons in the History of Texas.

Magpie file photo

He is a Past Master of Texas Lodge of Research, having served as Master of the lodge in 1989, and was named the lodge’s 15th Fellow in Masonic Research in 2003. In 1991, just before the appearance of the internet as a means of transmitting Masonic news, he created the St. Alban’s Research Society, and its quarterly publication, American Masonic Review. As a result of those efforts, he was named the 1996 Fellow of Maine Lodge of Research.

In 1991, he was one of eight founding members of The Scottish Rite Research Society, and was named one of the first Fellows of the Society, and served for ten years as editor of The Plumbline, the Society’s quarterly bulletin. He continues to serve on the Society’s Board of Directors.

He has served as a director on several Masonic boards, including the Brazos Valley Masonic Library and Museum, the Houston Scottish Rite, the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, and the Masonic Restoration Foundation.

In 2010, in recognition of his contributions in the field of Masonic research, he was named the 99th member of the Society of Blue Friars.

Three-course dinner with wine. Choices of entrée: Chicken Marsala or Blackberry-Barbecued Pork or Mediterranean Pasta. Reservations should accompany a check for $45 per person payable to “Shiloh-MacCalla Lodge No 558” no later than May 26. Event is for Masons only. Jacket and tie required.


Drop me a note in the comments section (not for publication) with your email address, and I’ll send you the remittance mailing address.
     

‘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.”

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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.

     

‘Masonic Week 2010: Society of Blue Friars’

    
This edition of The Magpie Mason is the fifth attempt to catch up on 2010 events I haven’t told you about. Every time I post one of these, I remember yet another, so this may take a while. In fact, this one dates to Masonic Week 2010, nearly a year ago, and I want to finish catching up before this Masonic Week arrives in only two weeks!



Blue Friar No. 93 Thomas W. Jackson, left, and the newest Blue Friar, No. 99, Pierre “Pete” Normand, Jr. react to a funny remark from Blue Friar 95, Mark A. Tabbert (not shown) at the 66th Annual Consistory of The Society of Blue Friars February 12 during Masonic Week 2010 in Alexandria, Virginia.

Friday, February 12, 2010

After the dual meetings of the Knight Masons, it was time for the 66th Annual Consistory of The Society of Blue Friars. The likelihood of cronyism is much lower here because, while it is not stated as such in the rules, it evidently is a longstanding tradition that those tapped to join the Consistory be published authors or otherwise reputable writers and educators. I’d rather hang out with these guys any day.

The perils of the snowy weather affected this meeting also. It was said, but I still don’t know if in jest, that Grand Abbot S. Brent Morris would not be able to attend, for although the major roads had been cleared of the record snowfall by Friday morning, he wasn’t about to shovel his driveway! Well, he’s earned that right.

So, the lovely and talented Tom Jackson of Pennsylvania – the mere mention of whom induces agita in some grand officers I know – assumed the presiding officer’s duties, and did a fine job of welcoming the 2010 Blue Friar – that’s No. 99, for those keeping score: Pierre “Pete” Normand, Jr. of Texas!

I’ll admit from the start that I cannot do justice to Bro. Pete’s Masonic resume, but here are the obvious highlights:

• Past Master of Sul Ross Lodge No. 1300, Texas;
• Past Master of St. Alban’s Lodge No. 1455, Texas;
• editor, (the former) American Masonic Review;
• Past Master and Fellow of Texas Lodge of Research;
• author, The Texas Masons: The Fraternity of Ancient Free & Accepted Masons in the History of Texas;
• editor, The Plumbline, the newsletter of the Scottish Rite Research Society;
• Honorary SGIG (33°), A&ASR-SJ; and
• Founding Fellow of The Masonic Society.

After 11-and-a-half months, my notes are among That Which Was Lost, but Pete’s address concerned something near and dear to the Magpie Mason’s heart: the origins and successes of what now is called European Concept and Traditional Observance practices. His presentation followed the outline sketched by someone else I’m fond of: Bro. John Mauk Hilliard. In brief, and with my own editorializing:

Excellence in ritual: Before thinking that phrase speaks for itself, please understand that the excellence involves more than perfect memorization and flawless recitation, because artistic ability is equally vital. You see, the benefit ought to belong to the aspirant, in the form of his comprehension and enlightenment. It is not about the ritualist and his next gold pin.

Masonic education: Lodges must teach the meaning of Masonry by instructing the brethren in the meanings of our rituals and symbols, as well as in overall philosophy, history, jurisprudence, and other aspects of Masonic culture. Why does this need to be pointed out?

Table Lodge/Festive Board: Is there a better way to spread the cement than to dine together, sharing a convivial ritual experience? Great food, great company, great conversation. We aspire to these in our other walks of life, so why not in the lodge?

Charity: The real thing, and not just having the treasurer cut a check to this or that or the other, but having the brethren sink their hands into the mortar of their community, giving their own time, talent, and toil to benefit others.

Attire: Proper dress for the Speculative Mason really should be black tie, plus regalia that is equally resplendent. It is often said in Masonry that it is the inner qualities of the man, and not his outer characteristics, that make him suitable to the Craft, but it is forgotten how that message originally was directed to wealthy Masons, and now it is commonly misinterpreted as an excuse for the less motivated among us (I’m as guilty as anyone) to not go the sartorial extra mile.

Exclusivity in membership: There is no reason to initiate every man with a pulse. In my jurisdiction, if you can fog a mirror, pay the paltry petition fee, and pass a criminal background check, you’re in. Consequently we are well stocked with men who really should have joined the Elks or Kiwanis. Those are worthy organizations that need good people too. Instead, they are Masons, and they are the reason why so many lodge events and projects are incongruent with the sophistication of our Order’s teachings and ethos.

Commitment: Whether a brother sits on the sidelines or labors his way to the East, every Mason needs to support his lodge in tangible ways. Attendance and participation are required. Lodges that do not demand these do not get them. My lodge has about 500 members, 450 of whom exist only in a database.

It’s a short list, and it is irrefutable. Amazingly, in 2011 these guidelines still are heretical to many.

I can’t wait for the 67th Annual Consistory next month on Friday the 11th.