‘KST: Separating Fact from Fiction’

     
The Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library at the Grand Lodge of New York will welcome a renowned Masonic scholar back to the lectern next Thursday to present his popular lecture from January. That’s December 14 at 6:30 p.m. The library is located on the 14th floor of Masonic Hall (71 West 23rd Street, Manhattan). Photo ID is required to enter the building.

From the publicity:

Due to popular demand, RW Pierre de Ravel d’Esclapon will reprise his lecture “Solomon’s Temple: Separating Fact from Fiction.”

Magpie file photo

Pierre de Ravel d’Esclapon

We are honored to have this recognized historian deliver this fascinating lecture again at the library. This lecture is a companion lecture to the December 2016 “Magic Lantern Slide Show,” which is available on our YouTube channel. We are excited to learn of the changes in knowledge about this important building which features so prominently in Masonic symbolism.

Pierre de Ravel d’Esclapon is the First Vice President of the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he is a Professor of Law at University of Montréal Law School and, by avocation, is a historian.

He has written extensively on historic topics, and has lectured several times as part of the Distinguished Speakers Series at New-York Historical Society, the John Jay Homestead, the National Arts Club, the Holland Lodge Historical Society, the Bicentennial of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar, and, most recently, at The American Lodge of Research.
     

‘Solomon’s Temple lecture at Livingston Library’

     
The Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library’s lecture series continues this month with a presentation on the 26th by Pierre de Ravel d’Esclapon. From the publicity:


In a companion lecture to our December 2016 “Evolution and Restoration of King Solomon’s Temple Magic Lantern Slide Show,” which was originally produced in 1926 by the Grand Lodge of New York, this month, RW Pierre de Ravel d’Esclapon, First Vice President of the Library’s Board of Trustees and noted lecturer, will speak on the current body of knowledge concerning King Solomon’s Temple.

Thursday, January 26

6:30 p.m.

Masonic Hall

71 West 23rd Street

14th Floor

Manhattan

Join us for an evening of exploration and information! White wine will be served. Seating is limited and preference will be given to those who reserve seats. Please RSVP here. Photo ID is required to enter Masonic Hall.
     

‘Things to do in March’

     

Now through May 8

Mystery and Benevolence:

Masonic and Odd Fellows Folk Art

from the Kendra and Allan Daniel Collection

Folk Art Museum

2 Lincoln Square

Manhattan

Click here.

March 4 and 5

Red Book Conference

New York City

Click here.

Saturday, March 5

7 p.m.

The Four Ages of Man: Myth or Truth

by Robert Blejer 

School of Practical Philosophy

12 East 79th Street

Manhattan

From time immemorial and from cultures around the world there have been stories and conjectures about a Golden Age that existed when mankind first made an appearance. As in the story of the Garden of Eden, life was a paradise free from strife and unhappiness. However, the paradise lasted only for a time; eventually something led to a life less than golden. Frequently, this movement has been described in descending order of spiritual understanding and moral values, with the various stages being named after the four primary metals: gold, silver, bronze and iron.

Join us for a presentation on the Four Ages of Man as we uncover the qualities of each age and consider questions such as: what leads to the decline, is it universal or individual, is it ordained and inexorable or a choice and under humanity's control? Finally, what lessons can the seeker of truth take from these stories?

Tickets cost $25, which includes refreshments, and are available here.

Wednesday, March 9

7 p.m.

Mariners Lodge 67 Stated Communication

and Maritime Festive Board

Work of the Evening:

Talk by Bro. Robert G. Davis titled

“The Journey to the Mature Masculine Soul”

Masonic Hall

71 West 23rd Street

Manhattan

Doric Room, Eighth Floor

Bro. Davis is a Freemason of over thirty years standing, having served in numerous Blue Lodge, Scottish Rite and York Rite capacities. He is a Past President and Fellow of the International Philalethes Society, a Past President of the Masonic Restoration Foundation, and the author of Understanding Manhood in America, Freemasonry’s Enduring Path to the Mature Masculine, and The Mason’s Words: the History and Evolution of the American Masonic Ritual.

Maritime Festive Board Menu—a Southern-style Feast: Low Country Fried Chicken; Barbecue Beef Short Ribs; Chicken Fried Steak with White Pepper Gravy; Macaroni & Cheese; Mashed Potatoes with Brown Gravy; Creamed Spinach; Long-Cooked Collard Greens; Buttermilk Biscuits; Soda, Seltzer and Mariners Punch.

Cost per person of the Festive Board is $35, plus transaction fees. Click here.

Saturday, March 12

9:30 a.m.

New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research

and Education 1786

Papers will be presented

535 Main Street

(Hightstown-Apollo Lodge 41)

Hightstown, New Jersey

Sunday, March 13

Grand Master’s Day at Tappan

Click here.

Thursday, March 17

7 p.m.

2016 Wendell K. Walker Lecture:

by MW William J. Thomas, Grand Master

Independent Royal Arch Lodge No. 2

Masonic Hall

71 West 23rd Street (room TBA)

Manhattan

(details to come, and will be updated here)

Friday, March 18

7:30 p.m.

“Freemasonry and the Mystic Schools of the East”

by Bro. Mohamad Yatim

Atlas-Pythagoras Masonic Lodge 10

Westfield, New Jersey

Master Masons only.

March 18-19

SteinerBooks Seminar and Party:

Engaging the Heart

NYU Kimmel Center

60 Washington Square South

Manhattan

SteinerBooks’ annual spiritual research seminar at New York University’s Kimmel Center will feature professionals actively engaged in the world in developing new heart forces in social life, law, medicine, and education. Aonghus Gordon, Peter Gruenewald, Maureen Curran, and William Manning will explore contemporary problems and offer new models and paradigms to find creative solutions and opportunities for building a more human future. Read all the details here and plan to make the short walk up town for the After Party on Saturday, March 19.

Anthroposophy NYC is honored to host the SteinerBooks Spiritual Research Seminar After Party for a second year at our branch home just a few blocks away from NYU. Following last year’s well attended and spirited evening, we’ll again be offering a meeting place for seminar attendees to gather after the weekend’s events to enjoy warm company, live entertainment, biodynamic wines, and light refreshments. The party will commence shortly after the close of the seminar on Saturday. We invite everyone to join us for hearty post-seminar conversations before heading out to explore the NYC nightlife. Thanks to SteinerBooks for their collaboration and to all those who filled our branch last year. We look forward to another evening of living community!

Saturday, March 19

1 p.m.

Discuss Spiritual Laws with Dr. Lonnie Edwards

Rosicrucian Cultural Center

2303 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd.

Manhattan

Once we learn to tap inner resources, living will be an invigorating affair continuing. We need to keep foremost in our consciousness certain principles, conditions and laws to gain access to spiritual tools and to arrive at permanent solutions to life's challenges. Through lectures, participation in meditation, and visualization exercises, we will be given the opportunity to experience the value of discussing these principles in a group setting.

Facilitating the discussions will be Dr. Lonnie Edwards, Vice President of the EGL Board of Directors, and author of Spiritual Laws that Govern Humanity and the Universe.

Tuesday, March 29

“The Relations Between Freemasonry

and the Vatican”

by Bro. Pierre F. de Ravel d’Esclapon

Cocktails at 6:30 and lecture at seven

Masonic Hall (room TBA)

$20 per person

Open to Masons, family and friends

To benefit Holland Lodge Historical Society.

March 31 through April 2

New England Masonic Academic Convocation

Grand Lodge of Massachusetts

186 Tremont Street

Boston

Tickets and necessary information here.

     

‘Freemasonry and the Roman Church’

     

Celebrating its 190th year in 2015, Mariners Lodge No. 67 in the First Manhattan District offers an attractive calendar of activities under the leadership of Worshipful Master Francisco Nuñez-Fondeur. For instance, the lodge’s October 14 Stated Communication will feature a lecture by RW Pierre de Ravel d’Esclapon, a Fellow of The American Lodge of Research, on “The Intersection of Freemasonry and the Roman Church.”

Magpie file photo

Pierre de Ravel d’Esclapon

RW Pierre de Ravel d’Esclapon is renowned for his deep research into his subjects. It was he who found the evidence of Pierre Charles L’Enfant’s Masonic membership several years ago while researching early French lodges in New York City.


The lodge meeting and lecture will be followed by the famous Maritime Festive Board. Not tiled, the dinner is open to friends of Masons, but seating is limited so make your paid reservations in advance by clicking here.

It’s a great lodge and it’s always a wonderful time being there. I don’t visit nearly often enough, but I’ll be there October 14.
     

'ALR Festive Board'

     
Friday night was the occasion of The American Lodge of Research’s Annual Meeting for the election and installation of officers, and other necessary business. Oh yeah, and the Festive Board!

Bro. Mark Koltko-Rivera

A new change in by-laws has rescheduled our Annual Meeting from St. John Evangelist Day, when holiday travel and the inclemency of the season prevents a well attended meeting, to the proximity of St. John Baptist Day, when there are no such concerns, and we align ourselves with the regular calendar of New York Freemasonry. It was a good move, smartly thought out by the proposers. So ALR’s schedule of Stated Communications now is June 24 (unless June 24 lands on a weekend, holiday, or other religious observance, or coincides with Grand Lodge’s Saint John’s Day activities, in which case the Master will select a near weekday), October 29, and March 29.

Rather than have the 2012 officers jostled so soon into their original term, the line will remain in place, except for a switch of the Wardens. Bro. Henry now is in the West, and Bro. Daniel returns to the South. But we gained a Marshal upon the election to Active Membership of W. Henry Colon, junior Past Master of Shakespeare No. 750, who was installed moments after being made eligible to serve as an officer. The Installing Master was none other than RW Bill Thomas, the new Deputy Grand Master, who is a Past Master of ALR.

In other exciting news, RW Pierre F. de Ravel d’Esclapon was elected to Fellowship in ALR. The lodge’s Active Members elect Fellows extremely rarely, and only on the basis of outstanding Masonic research, and it was Bro. Pierre who settled centuries of uncertainty surrounding the Masonic membership of another Pierre, namely the designer of the Federal City, Major Pierre Charles L’Enfant. In the course of Bro. Pierre’s research into his terrific paper on French lodges in 18th century New York City, he also discovered in the meeting minutes of Holland Lodge No. 8 the evidence that answered the lingering question into L’Enfant’s Craft membership. Click here to read about that.

The firing glass.

Then it was time for the Festive Board. We headed to Sagaponack, one block down on 22nd Street, for a typically excellent meal with plenty of wine and various beers and ales. As Senior Deacon I was tasked with proposing the toast to MW James E. Sullivan, the new Grand Master. Bro. Mark Koltko-Rivera delivered the keynote, titled "A Primer for Esoteric Research," that acknowledges the reality of esoteric studies entering the field of Masonic research. I think it is safe to say modern Masonic research, beginning with the appearance of Quatuor Coronati 2076, has concerned historical facts (e.g. L’Enfant), and that doesn’t have to change if students approach the esoterica with the same determination to get at the truth. It is a tougher job, because facts are facts, but matters of the spirit ... are spiritual matters. Anyway, Bro. Mark’s lecture will appear in next year’s Book of Transactions.



Along the way, Bro. Henry unveiled the designs of various pieces of regalia and attire coming our way from Toye, Kenning and Spencer, including new officer aprons, membership jewels, neckties, and cufflinks.

As above: The ALR apron of Past Master Harold V.B. Voorhis photographed in its display case at a Scottish Rite valley.

So below: The TKS design (that's only a sheet of paper!) of one of the officer aprons coming soon to ALR. Looks like we're keeping it traditional. I am envious of the brethren in New York who have no Grand Lodge parameters on regalia design.

We didn’t get out of there until midnight. This was a really great evening, perfect even. The only blemish was found on my end at 12:10, when I exited the restaurant and found my car had been towed.

The finest public servants in the city work at Pier 76.

     

‘ALR Transactions available now’

    
The 2008-09 Book of Transactions of American Lodge of Research will be mailed to members soon. Non-members can purchase copies through the publisher.

Previews of the index and first page of the papers are on the links.

To buy the hardcover, click here. To buy the softcover, click here.

There are three meetings of ALR on the calendar for the remainder of 2010. On Wednesday, September 29, there will be a Special Communication held upstate. The Centerville Masonic Center is located at 648 Centerville Pl., in North Syracuse. On the Trestleboard for this Communication is a presentation by RW Pierre F. de Ravel d’Esclapon, Worshipful Master.

Lodge opens at 8 p.m. Attire: business suit. There will be a pre-meeting meal. (Details TBA.)

On Friday, October 29, the lodge returns to Masonic Hall in Manhattan for its next Stated Communication. The Grand Lodge of New York is located at 71 West 23rd St. The lodge meets on the 10th floor, in the French Ionic Room. On the Trestleboard for this Communication is presentation by the Magpie Mason titled “The Emblem of a Pure Heart: The Pot of Incense as a Masonic Symbol.”

Lodge opens at 8 p.m. Attire: business suit. We will dine together informally next door at the Limerick House at 6 p.m.

The final meeting of ALR in 2010 will be the Installation of Officers on Monday, December 27 – St. John’s Day!

For a petition to become a Corresponding Member of ALR, click here.
   

ALR anniversary

 
Happy Anniversary wishes are in order! On this date in 1931 was held the Constituting Communication of American Lodge of Research under dispensation of the Grand Lodge of New York. (May 21, 1931 was the date of the first Stated Communication held under its own charter.)

The Magpie Mason is still playing catch-up in its reporting of recent events, the March 29 meeting of ALR among them, but before I tell you about that, let me share some ALR-related good news:

• The lodge's Publications Committee has been revamped by the Worshipful Master, with RW Bill Thomas serving as its new chairman, and the Master, Bro. Henry, Bro. Miller, and myself working together on the next book of transactions, which will go to the printer very soon.
• And ALR has a new website, one that is not hosted through Grand Lodge's site. Click here.
• In addition, there is a new Yahoo! Group for discussion of research, events, etc. Click here.

But about the latest meeting.

W. Bro. Uwe Hain presented "German Freemasons in the American Revolutionary War," which recounted the contributions of brethren from Germany... on both sides of the conflict.

That is the work of the lodge, and I'll explain more below but, in lodge business, there are a few announcements to make.

 

• Appointed to serve the rest of the year as Secretary Pro Temp, following the retirement of Harvey Eysman,  is none other than Michael Chaplin of Shakespeare Lodge No. 750, The Masonic Society, et al. The lodge extended a vote of thanks to Harvey, a Past Master and Fellow of the lodge who had served as Secretary for 23 years.

• Under membership, four new Active Members were elected, including Bro. Chaplin, our speaker Bro. Hain, and Bro. Mark Koltko-Rivera.

• A Special Communication has been called for Wednesday, September 29, when the lodge will meet in Syracuse. Details to be announced.

And in a related matter, Thomas Smith Webb Chapter of Research No. 1798, chartered under the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of New York, has published its first book of transactions. Its contents include "Symbolism, and Freemasonry as a Mystery School" by R.E. Piers A. Vaughan, Grand Principal Sojourner of the Grand Chapter of New York.

But back to Uwe's paper. He did a fine job of identifying the key military personnel from Germany who fought for the American and British causes, and who were Freemasons. The American War of Independence factors heavily in the story of Masonry in the United States, but it also is a component in the histories of Masonry in other countries.

Explaining how as much as one-third of the forces under British command actually were Hessians, the mercenary troops from Germany, he narrowed his focus, for example, to the 3,000 troops from the Braunschweig (Brunswick) region, including nine who would be initiated into the arts and mysteries of Freemasonry in an Irish military lodge, a lodge in which St. Patrick's Lodge No. 4 (Previously No. 8) has roots.

Nicholas Herkimer, of the Mohawk Valley area of New York (where there has been a village, a town, and a county named for him since 1788) would fight both for and against the British, but in both instances fighting for sovereignty. In the 1750s, during the French and Indian War (Seven Years War), Herkimer fought on the British side, against the invaders, but when the Revolution began, he quickly became a brigadier general of Colonial militia in his native area. He was made a Mason in St. Patrick's Lodge during peacetime in 1768.

Also on the side of American independence, of course, were the giants of history, like Baron von Steuben, the Prussian general staff officer under Frederick the Great, credited with creating the Continental Army by instilling the training and discipline the troops had lacked. He was a member of Trinity Lodge No. 10 (now No. 12) and later affiliated with Holland No. 8, both in New York.

And there is Baron DeKalb, the native of Bavaria who served under the French flag, under LaFayette, and became a major general in the Continental Army. He died of wounds sustained during the fighting at Camden, South Carolina in 1780. He funeral was a Masonic obsequy, officiated by none other than Gen. Charles Cornwallis, commander of the British forces in the south.

Of course there is much more information and many more details in the paper itself, which will be published in a forthcoming book of transactions of the lodge.

The next Stated Communication of the lodge will be Friday, October 29 at Masonic Hall in Manhattan. On the agenda thus far is the Magpie Mason, delivering "An Emblem of a Pure Heart: An Aromatic Editorial," which discusses the Pot of Incense as a Masonic symbol. I hope I'm only an opening act for someone better.
     

‘To debunk Masonic history’

     
The American Lodge of Research will meet Monday, March 29 at 8 p.m. in the French Ionic Room of the Grand Lodge of New York in Manhattan.


In addition to the regular business of the lodge, the brethren will hear “German Freemasons in the American Revolutionary War,” presented by  RW Bro. Uwe Hain.


Before this 346th Regular Communication, the brethren have the option of either getting together for dinner next door at the Limerick House, or – and this is new – visiting the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library. Normally the library would close at 4:30, but now, and by prior arrangement with the library (not the lodge), the brethren may visit after hours while waiting for the lodge to open. To contact the library, click here and take note of the phone number at the bottom of the page.


At the December meeting of ALR, Worshipful Master Pierre F. de Ravel d’Esclapon took us back to the late 18th century to examine the activities of French Masons in America, and this month we will look at German Masons of the same era. In his latest From the East message to the lodge, de Ravel d’Esclapon quotes ALR’s first Master, MW Charles Johnson, who defined the mission of this lodge: “to debunk Masonic history.” Here’s to another great year at ALR.
     

‘Early French lodges in NYC’

     
The American Lodge of Research held its first meeting of the 2010 Masonic year last night. The Installation of Officers was followed by the presentation of the new Master’s inaugural paper, a probing examination of a singular subject. W. Bro. Pierre F. de Ravel d’Esclapon presented the fruits of his research into “The History of French Lodges in New York City, 1760 to 1800,” which explains the origins of four francophone lodges and the very complicated men who created them during the earliest years of New York Masonry.

The lodges were La Parfait Union (Perfect Union), Loge la Tendre Amitie Franco-Américaine (French-American Loving Friendship Lodge), L’Unité Americaine (American Unity), and L’Union Française (French Union).

The first of these was Perfect Union, chartered on November 1, 1760 by Provincial Grand Master George Harrison. That date is significant not only because it predates even Independent Royal Arch Lodge No. 2, but because it lands during the French and Indian War (or the Seven Years’ War, as it was known to its European combatants). At issue were the activities of the French nationals residing in enemy territory: the British colony of New York. When Britain declared war on France, the French commercial dealings in the Caribbean became a strategic consideration, and the merchants “worked around the embargo,” as de Ravel d’Esclapon phrased it. The matter was so serious that French merchants in New York were arrested, and some were kept in prison even after the cessation of hostilities in 1763. A significant number of these businessmen were brethren of Perfect Union, and this disruption to their lives seems to have resulted in the demise of the lodge.

Decades would pass until French lodges again would populate Freemasonry in New York City. Not a war this time, but a different bloodbath remembered as the slave revolt on Saint-Domingue. During the 1790s, French Masons fleeing this revolution on the sugar producing island colony emigrated to the United States. Seeking more than the religious freedom and economic opportunity that typically drew immigrants, these people were refugees running for their lives. The first lodge created by this wave of immigrants was Loge la Tendre Amitie Franco-Américaine (French-American Loving Friendship Lodge), which was set to labor on a six-month dispensation on December 12, 1793. In time, the Grand Lodge of New York allowed the dispensation of this French Rite lodge to expire, preferring to create a lodge named L’Unité Américaine (American Unity), which received its dispensation on Christmas Day, 1795. The lodge would go dark in 1799.

Even more useful than the details of the lodges in this paper are the personal stories of the people involved. One of the reasons for the short life of French-American Loving Friendship Lodge was the discovery that one of its founders never had been initiated, passed, and raised. To remedy this, Grand Lodge convened a meeting especially for the purpose of conferring the three degrees upon him, in French. Another Grand Lodge meeting was convened on Christmas Day 1797 to suspend a brother who had been found stealing from his business. (With the mention of how Masonic meetings had taken place on two Christmas Days, I ought to point out that Americans of this period did not make Christmas the central Christian holiday that it is today. For more, see the American Creation blog here.) Other intimate details shared in this presentation include the revelation that one brother’s wife was the most successful madam in the city. Turning to matters deadly serious, American Unity Lodge thrived at a time when a yellow fever epidemic menaced the city. An unexpected surprise was the discovery many years after the fact of Perfect Union Lodge’s warrant... in Nova Scotia, a revelation that recast New York Masonry’s early history.

The fourth French lodge in the Worshipful Master’s paper is L’Union Française. French Union No. 17 remains at labor today, having been chartered in 1861, but this seminal incarnation of the historic French lodge was set to labor on December 26, 1797, and received its charter from Grand Lodge six months later. Its rolls list brethren who were members of the two aforementioned short lived lodges. This lodge’s embryonic years extend well into the early 19th century, but as the parameters of this paper are curtailed at the year 1800, it will be understood that the French Union set to labor more than two centuries ago still is an influence on the cusp of 2010.

A look at various books of GLNY proceedings will yield much of the lodge information that the Master shares in his paper, but what makes his work true research are the data discovered during the course of his meticulous digging and compiling. There is a lot more to the story of these so-called “Refugee Lodges” in New York City. The role played by the local Huguenot church in helping these French immigrants get established was revealed thanks to searching the church archives. Records of births, baptisms, marriages, and deaths helped de Ravel d’Esclapon develop the French Masons’ identities, as well as trace their genealogies. And there is more to this than just budgeting time and showing up. These records date to the 1680s and can be very difficult to read. In addition, the spellings of names was anything but standard, with translations and spelling variations requiring intent study to discern their meanings. Members of the same family could have their surname recorded as Maxfield or Machsfeld. (But even the church’s relationship has Masonic roots, as it was a brother of Holland Lodge No. 8 who introduced the French immigrants to the local Huguenot congregations. Social and commercial contacts as well.) Other resources de Ravel d’Esclapon tapped include the New York Historical Society.

The history of French lodges in New York City is the story of refugees seeking support in a network that allied Freemasonry with the local French Huguenot church, and international commercial connections. These lodges may not have lasted long, but their effect on the city’s French community reached through generations. It is what one ought to expect of the Masonic Order.

His is a brilliant paper that I look forward to reading when it is published. Magpie readers, please note that any inaccuracies here are to be attributed to me, and not to the speaker.

W. Bro. Pierre F. de Ravel d’Esclapon, a prominent attorney and a published author, has plans for American Lodge of Research in 2010, continuing the progress of RW Bill Thomas in 2009. He seeks to establish relationships with Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076, Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 808 under the Grand Lodges of Germany, and the research lodges under the Grand Lodge Alpina of Switzerland and the Grande Loge Nationale Française. Our Master also is a Past Master of France La Clémente Amitié Cosmopolite No. 410, and is a member of Holland Lodge No. 8, both in New York City.

In other ALR news, the Magpie Mason was surprised to hear the announcement of RW Harvey Eysman of his retirement as Secretary of the lodge after 22 years at the desk. Harvey immediately instills in you the confidence that he is more than just a good Secretary, but that he is supposed to be the Secretary. As he undertakes some changes in life, he also is exiting the secretarial posts of his mother lodge, his chapter, and other Masonic bodies. He cheerfully maintained a workload that would have turned the Magpie Mason into an obese, suicidal alcoholic. (Oh, wait a minute.) His last meeting as Secretary will be the March 2010 Stated Communication. The Master will appoint a replacement at that time.

Secretary Harvey Eysman, left, presents junior Past Master Bill Thomas his Past Master Jewel at The American Lodge of Research last night.