‘New editor at The Plumbline’

    

“Behold, I will set The Plumbline in the midst of Masonic periodicals, and Chris Ruli shall be its editor.”

I imagine it went something like that, but all we have to go on is Chris’ modest announcement on social media:

On the thirty-third anniversary of The Plumbline’s release, I’m excited to announce that the Scottish Rite Research Society Board of Directors has elected me to serve as the publication’s editor.

The publication serves more than 3,500 members around the U.S. and abroad. Back in 1991, Rex Hutchens laid out the first issue (then just referred as the Society’s newsletter) and it became a source of news, commentary, perspective, and research. In taking on this position, I plan to shift it back to that original concept while also highlighting good papers whenever possible.

As a former contributor, I’m excited to see where this can go. It’s also nice to be associated with past editors like S. Brent Morris, Pete Normand, Robert Davis, Adam Kendall, and Aaron Shoemaker. Stay tuned.

Send your letters, requests, inquiries and anything else you want shared here.

The Plumbline of course is one of the benefits of membership in the Scottish Rite Research Society, with the annual Heredom collection of research papers and a bonus book.

Art de Hoyos

SRRS bonus book.

The bonus now in the mail to members is Étienne Morin: From the French Rite to the Scottish Rite by Arturo de Hoyos and Josef Wäges. The new Heredom is Vol. 31, edited by Adam Kendall with Associate Editor…Chris Ruli!

When he’s not authoring books, speaking before Masonic audiences, and editing others’ work, he’s out jogging. Congratulations, Chris!

     

‘SRRS in Memphis next month’

    

The Scottish Rite Research Society will host its third symposium in Memphis next month, and the call for papers is out. From the publicity:

Call for Papers:

2024 SRRS Symposium

The Scottish Rite Research Society is accepting papers for its annual symposium to be held in Memphis, Tennessee on Saturday, October 19, 2024. Interested applicants must complete the form available here to be considered a symposium speaker. The deadline to submit papers is October 1, 2024. Accepted speakers will be notified via email several days after the deadline with further details.

Viable papers must be:

scholarly or academic in nature with a focus on the history, philosophy, symbolism, biography, or ritual of the Scottish Rite, Freemasonry, and/or an affiliated group;

the speaker’s own research that has not yet been published in Masonic or non-Masonic publication, with exception to a recent or upcoming SRRS publication; and

long enough to present on the topic for 15-20 minutes, plus additional time for question and answer by SRRS participants.

The SRRS symposium will be held in-person and virtually for remote participants and more details will be provided in the coming weeks. Accepted speakers will not be reimbursed for travel to the symposium, and are therefore encouraged to present virtually. If you have any further questions, please contact Chris Ruli here.

I don’t think I knew the SRRS had such events, but I don’t get out much.

     

Scottish Rite Symposium next month’

    

Unless my memory really is failing, this is the first I’ve heard of this, but the Scottish Rite Research Society has a symposium planned for next month, and the call for papers is out. From the publicity:

The Indiana University Center for Fraternal Collections and Research is proud to host the 2023 Scottish Rite Research Society Symposium on October 14, 2023. Everyone is welcome to attend! The event will be held in the historic McCalla Building on the beautiful campus of Indiana University.

The symposium will feature a mix of presentations and panels. The Scottish Rite Research Society is one of the most dynamic forces in contemporary Masonic research, making it a natural partner for IU’s Fraternal Center.

The schedule of speakers will be posted as presenters are confirmed.

Call for Papers

The SRRS is interested in papers of interest to Society members, such as history of Freemasonry and the Rite, Masonic symbolism and philosophy, development and changes in ritual over time, and similar topics. Download the Call for Papers document for details. The deadline for submission of papers is October 1, 2023.

     

‘Food for thought in Tennessee’

     

Magpie file photo.

This portrait of General Andrew Jackson by Charles Wilson Peale hangs in the office of the Grand Master of Pennsylvania in the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia. I don’t think art historians, or anyone else, are aware of its existence. I shot this photo in October 2007.


I typically avoid matters of Masonic politics and recognition on The Magpie Mason—I doubt my own powers of persuasion, and I don’t find these foibles all that interesting—but as today is the (249th) birthday of Andrew Jackson, there is something I cannot resist pointing out.

If you do not follow anything on Freemasonry in social media, you may not be aware of the public relations disaster being foisted upon the entire Masonic fraternity in the United States by two grand lodges down south: Georgia and Tennessee. Both recently have banned gay men from Masonic membership. As usual the most comprehensive and level-headed coverage can be found on the Dummies blog. Not only is the matter examined here and there in Masonic cyberspace, but more recently NPR and other mass media outlets have reported on it.

Tennessee has taken the additional step of proscribing Masonic membership for those who cohabitate without the benefit of marriage.

Enter Andrew Jackson, Grand Master of Masons in Tennessee, 1822-24.

In a tragedy of errors when Jackson was in his early twenties, he married Rachel Robards, the daughter of Jackson’s landlord who happened to have been married already to one Lewis Robards. She erroneously believed that first marriage, a very unhappy union, had been terminated, and that she was free to marry again. This was not the case, and her wedding to Jackson legally was viewed as bigamy and adultery. The Robards’ marriage eventually was ended in divorce in 1793 on the grounds of Rachel’s adultery. She and Jackson wed for the second time, and for keeps, several months later.

This would haunt Jackson through life, although it evidently did not affect his rise through the ranks of Tennessee Freemasonry. Actually, the record of his initiation is unknown today, but we know he served as Grand Master in the early 1820s. In 1806, he killed a man in a duel who had impugned his wife’s reputation. In his campaigns for the presidency, his opponents and enemies savagely exploited the illegal adulterous first marriage for political advantage. It worked in 1824, when Jackson lost to anti-Mason fanatic John Quincy Adams when the election was settled in the House of Representatives. As for Rachel, she would not see the White House. She died December 22, 1828 after Jackson’s election to the presidency, but before his inauguration in March 1829.

Her death did not satiate the puritans, and the Jackson administration would fall apart from another matrimonial scandal when Secretary of War John Eaton’s marriage to Margaret “Peggy” O’Neill was scrutinized. Eaton, a widower at 28, was a U.S. Senator from Tennessee and a Mason in Cumberland Lodge No. 8; Peggy was married to a Navy man named Timberlake who died overseas in 1828. It was thought Eaton arranged to have Timberlake deployed overseas so he could keep time with the wife during his absence. It also was thought the widow failed to observe a traditional period of mourning her husband’s demise before marrying again. The 1820s version of real life real housewives of Washington, DC conspired to shun the Eatons, keeping the couple from having any social life within the city of power, a very potent peer pressure indeed. The animus affected President Jackson’s cabinet to the extreme point where nearly all the cabinet members would resign only two years into the administration. It also ended Vice President John C. Calhoun’s presidential aspirations, as it was his wife who organized the ostracizing of the Eatons.

Political satire during the anti-Masonic hysteria in the early 1800s included illustrations such as this one depicting President Andrew Jackson, on the right, with members of his cabinet who also were Freemasons. This drawing appears in Light on Masonry, the massive compendium of Masonic ritual exposures, edited by Arturo de Hoyos, and published by the Scottish Rite Research Society in 2008.

There is resistance among Tennessee Freemasons to what has been done, but there also is support. The Grand Lodge will convene next week for its regular elections and balloting on legislation, so we’ll soon learn how this question will be settled. Follow the Dummies blog for that news.
     

‘High Degrees discussion in Maryland’

     

Unfortunately the deadline for reservations was Friday, but I’ll announce just FYI that the Maryland Masonic Research Society will host its 11^th Annual Festive Board next Monday in Columbia, Maryland. The speakers for the evening will be S. Brent Morris and Arturo de Hoyos, presenting “The First Two Exposures of the High Degrees of Masonry.” From the publicity:

The first alleged exposure of Masonic degrees was published in 1723, and the first alleged exposure of the Master Mason Degree was in 1730. It was 33 years later that Conversations Allegoriques revealed the catechisms of ten degrees after Master Mason, and in 1766 Les Plus Secrets Mysteres des Hauts Grades de la Maçonnerie Dévoilés gave the full rituals (with costumes, scenery, props, and stage directions) for seven high degrees. Arturo de Hoyos and S. Brent Morris translated these books in 2011 and 2012 for the Scottish Rite Research Society. Their talk will discuss the evolution of high degrees and the significance of these two books.

These renowned scholars and authors will be available for book-signings after the program.

The Maryland Masonic Research Society is an independent group consisting of Masons from a variety of jurisdictions united for Masonic education and fellowship.