'Coming attractions'

  
The Magpie is attracted to bright, shiny things, so there you go.

Upcoming events in and near New Jersey

Friday, February 17 at the MW Prince Hall Grand Lodge of New York: historical program in commemoration of the bicentennial of Prince Hall Masonry in the State of New York. 454 West 155th Street in New York City. Open to the public.

Sunday, February 19 at DeWint House in Tappan, New York: Bro. Mark Tabbert, Director of Collections at the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia to deliver the keynote speech at this Grand Lodge of New York celebration of George Washington's birthday.

Wednesday, February 22 at Sons of Liberty Lodge in Secaucus: Bro. Mohamad Yatim, Past Master of Atlas-Pythagoras Lodge, will speak on "Freemasonry and the Mystic Schools of the East."

Thursday, March 1 at the Scottish Rite Valley of Rockville Centre
28 Lincoln Ave., Rockville Centre, NY

"Pillars of the Porch: The Duality of the Masonic Experience"
By Ill. Steven Stefanakos, 33°
and
"The Frontispiece of the 1611 King James Bible from a Masonic Perspective" by SP Oscar Alleyne

8 p.m. Open to Master Masons.

RSVP to valleyofrvc(at)gmail.com

Saturday, March 10 at Advance Masonic Temple in Long Island City, New York: Quest XXXII. (See post below.)

Thursday, March 15: Independent Royal Arch Lodge No. 2's annual Wendell K. Walker Lecture delivered by W. Bro. David Lindez, titled "That Which Wendell K. Walker Held Most Dear." 7 p.m. in the Empire Room, 12th floor, of Masonic Hall. 71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan. Open to Apprentices and Fellows. Attire: business suit.

Collation to follow at Aleo restaurant, 7 W. 20th Street. Fixed price menu at $60 per person. Reservations no later than 5 p.m. on March 9 are required. Contact Bro. Charles Henry George at charlesgeorge252(at)earthlink.net

Friday, March 16 at Atlas-Pythagoras Lodge in Westfield: Bro. Andrew Hammer, Past Master of Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22 in Virginia, will speak on "Observing the Craft," the thesis of his book of the same name.

Saturday, March 17 at NJ Lodge of Masonic Research and Education, being hosted by Palestine Lodge in Princeton. Papers to be presented. 10 a.m.

Monday, March 19 at Fidelity Lodge in Ridgewood: Book Club and Discussion Group to review Laudable Pursuit by the Knights of the North. 7:15 p.m.

Thursday, March 22 at Peninsula Lodge in Bayonne: Bro. Andrew Hammer, Past Master of Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22 in Virginia, will speak on "Observing the Craft," the thesis of his book of the same name.

Thursday, March 22 at Alpine Tilden Tenakill Lodge in Tenafly: Bro. Mohamad Yatim, Past Master of Atlas-Pythagoras Lodge, will speak on "The Chamber of Reflection - V.I.T.R.I.O.L."

Saturday, March 24 at the Pennsylvania Academy of Masonic Knowledge at Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania: program TBA.

Thursday, March 29 at The American Lodge of Research, at Masonic Hall in New York City: Bro. Conor Moran on "Freemasonry and the Holocaust." 8 p.m.

Thursday, April 12 at Peninsula Lodge in Bayonne: Bro. Mohamad Yatim, Past Master of Atlas-Pythagoras Lodge, will speak on "The Myths Behind Who Killed Hiram Abiff."

Saturday, April 14, hosted by St. George's Lodge (GLNY) at the Desmond Hotel in Albany, New York: symposium featuring four accomplished Masonic educators.

Thursday, April 19 at Mountain View Lodge in Haledon: lecture on "The Emblem of a Pure Heart: The Pot of Incense as a Masonic Symbol."

Thursday, April 26 at the Scottish Rite Valley of Central Jersey: the Magpie Mason to address the Past Most Wise Masters Dinner.

April 27-29 at three locations: New Jersey Symphony Orchestra to perform a program of Mozart's Masonic funeral music, and similarly themed pieces by other composers.

Saturday, April 28 at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and Library at Lexington, Massachusetts: 2012 Symposium on American Freemasonry and Fraternalism.

Monday, April 30 at noon at Federal Hall, New York City: the annual re-enactment of the first presidential inauguration of Bro. George Washington on this, the 223rd anniversary of that historic moment. Naturally, the George Washington Inaugural Bible will be on hand.

Monday, April 30, hosted by Shiloh Lodge (GL of Pennsylvania) at the William Penn Inn in Gwynedd: the fifth annual Bernard H. Dupee Memorial Lecture, presented by RW James W. Daniel, Past Grand Secretary of the United Grand Lodge of England.

Saturday, May 5 at a restaurant to be announced: The American Lodge of Research's dinner-lecture, hosting W. Bro. Adam Kendall of the Henry Wilson Coil Masonic Library and Museum in San Francisco.

Saturday, May 19 at the Valley of Central Jersey in Bordentown: Scottish Rite Symposium featuring Ill. Robert G. Davis of Oklahoma; Ill. Christopher Hodapp of Indianapolis; and Ill. Brent Morris of Washington. $50 per person. More info TBA.

'Mohamadmania'

Bro. Mohamad Yatim is on tour. Catch him at any of these New Jersey dates:

Tuesday, January 24 at Olive Branch Lodge No. 16 in Freehold.

Topic: Freemasonry and the Mystic Schools of the East.


Wednesday, February 22 at Sons of Liberty Lodge No. 301 in Secaucus.

Topic: Freemasonry and the Mystic Schools of the East.

Thursday, March 22 at Alpine-Tilden-Tenafly Lodge No. 77 in Tenafly.

Topic: The Chamber of Reflection - V.I.T.R.I.O.L.


Thursday, April 12 at Peninsula Lodge No. 99 in Bayonne.

Topic: The Myths Behind Who Killed Hiram Abiff.

OPENING ACT: Foghat!
  

Plaridel!

MW William Berman presents the gavel of authority
to RW Jose Daguman, inaugural Master of Plaridel.

RW Jose Daguman, RW Constantino Buno and RW Ross Rosales are the inaugural Master and Wardens.

The new altar cloth is in place.

The festivities are still underway as this edition of The Magpie Mason goes on-line, a celebration of the constitution of New Jersey’s newest lodge: Plaridel No. 302.

Above: MW John Colligas, our junior past Grand Master, reads aloud the warrant issued to Plaridel as MW Berman looks on. Below: the warrant.

It isn’t every day that we form new lodges; the trend for decades has been merging, consolidating, or just going dark. In the past 20 years or so, the Grand Lodge of New Jersey has constituted four lodges, including our research lodge (which the authorities say is not a lodge). The last Ceremony of Constitution took place seven years ago, when Sons of Liberty Lodge No. 301 quit the Garden State Grand Lodge and affiliated with us. The celebration tonight marks the constitution of Plaridel Lodge No. 302.

Above and below: officers and brethren of Plaridel Lodge.

What these two new lodges share in common are their urban origins and ethnic identities. If you have any communication with Masons from outside the English-speaking world, you undoubtedly have been told of a fraternity that is heavy on initiation and instruction in the Craft’s symbols and teachings. The hotdog eating contests, kiddie parties and other ridiculous activities that have undermined Masonry in the United States are unknown to them, and if they do know, they’re mortified. Polite about it perhaps, but mortified.

I’m really hoping Plaridel adopts the cause of meaningful initiation supported by true impartation of the Craft’s secrets. Of course the lodge must function within the laws of our Grand Lodge (some of whose officers say there are no secrets in Freemasonry), but a lodge can walk that tightrope if its officers know what the rule book says – and what it does not say.

Both Sons of Liberty and Plaridel are at labor in New Jersey’s Fifth Masonic District, which covers Hudson County and is home to most of this jurisdiction’s urban lodges. These two lodges consist of brethren who are immigrants or first generation Americans, and I believe the advent of these lodges hints at the future of Freemasonry in New Jersey. Almost all of the other lodges in the state exist in suburbs, where they in effect become part of the civic club landscape alongside the Elks, Rotary, Kiwanis, etc. These “ethnic” lodges however offer the promise of true Freemasonry: a brotherhood informed by our unique God-centered psychology, and united in labors of intellectual, moral and spiritual growth. The names of these lodges recall fights for freedom from oppression. Those battles were not waged for the right to host chili cooking contests. Freemasonry is about more serious things, and is intended for more serious men. I wish them great success.

W. Phil Caliolio, left, as president of the Philippine Masonic Association of New Jersey, helped establish Plaridel. RW Steve Wolfson, on left in photo at right, had the goal of adding to his District a new lodge that adds to the ethnic diversity of New Jersey Freemasonry.



Plaridel Lodge is named for Marcelo H. del Pilar, a hero who is dear to The Magpie Mason’s heart because he was a journalist who labored to end three centuries of Spanish colonialism in the Philippine Islands. If only we had one of his kind in this country today. Read more here.

One aspect of fraternal life at Plaridel is confirmed: They eat well. This roast pig was the main course tonight, but hardly the only choice facing kosher/halal diners.

Approximately 100 Masons from across New Jersey, plus New York and the Philippines packed the lodge room at the Bayonne Masonic Temple, home of mighty Peninsula Lodge No. 99 (The Magpie Mason’s mother lodge). The 85-year-old temple has a special energy to it, albeit without air conditioning! It was the site of the first Rose Circle conference and salon in 2006.

V.I.T.R.I.O.L.

It is official: Bro. Mohamad Yatim will be the guest speaker at Sons of Liberty Lodge No. 301 on June 10. He is going to discuss the Scottish Rite initiatic element known as the Chamber of Reflection, with an explanation of V.I.T.R.I.O.L.

Sons of Liberty meets at the Secaucus Masonic Temple, located at 1422 Paterson Plank Rd. in Secaucus, easily reached from Route 3, the NJ Turnpike, etc. Opening at 7:30 p.m.

The Chamber of Reflection offers the aspirant a very different experience than New Jersey’s ritually standard Preparation Room. In the latter, lodge officers greet the candidate with specific questions and make certain he is properly clothed for his initiation. But in the Chamber of Reflection, the candidate for the mysteries of Freemasonry is given time to think. He’ll need it, because he should achieve an emotional distance from the concerns and employments of the world outside; he should attain a mental clarity to appreciate his infinitesimal place in the universe; he needs to understand his very existence is just a temporary blip.

This is accomplished with the aid of several highly instructive symbols placed in the Chamber. Daniel Béresniak, in his excellent book “Symbols of Freemasonry,” describes the Chamber of Reflection beautifully. (These photos, shot by Laziz Hamani, are from this highly recommended book.)

“The Chamber of Reflection, present only in certain Masonic rites, is a small room in which the candidates are left on their own for a period before the initiation ceremony begins. Seated at a table, they write their Philosophical Will, which is later to be read out in the lodge....

“The initiate is alone with a sheet of paper and a pencil. The Chamber of Reflection is lit only by a candle which casts its feeble light on a number of ornaments: a human skull, some bones, a saucer containing salt and another containing sulfur. On the wall are murals painted in white on a black background: a cockerel, a scythe, and the word V.I.T.R.I.O.L. which is the ancient command to examine oneself: Visita interiora terrae, rectificando invenies occultam lapidem, (or Visit the center of the earth, and by rectifying you shall find the hidden stone).

“These symbols derive from alchemy, a tradition which has provided us with all of the symbols we use today to describe metamorphosis....

“The hourglass is an invitation to reflect on the reversibility of time; the bread denotes the vital transformation from the raw to the cooked; and water represents fertility. So knowledge has to be re-examined, not to increase its ontological qualities, but to alter them. ‘Not to fill up a vase, but to light a fire,’ as Montaigne put it. This quotation from the author of the ‘Essays’ leads us to the cockerel, which announces the appearance of light. It is associated with Mercury/Hermes who sets limits and helps us to cross them. The ability to associate things by distinguishing between them is proof of the passage from knowledge to experience.

“As for the scythe, the tool used for reaping, it is only since the fifteenth century that it has been put in the hands of a skeleton to represent death, the great leveler. This image confirms and illustrates the teaching revealed in the other symbols: Death in the vegetable world is a source of life for the animal world.

“These symbols focus the neophytes’ attention on the need to recognize reality as it is, and to free themselves from those phantoms which set light and darkness in opposition. This initial trial and proof of earth in the Chamber of Reflection shows the way forward, to replace the word ‘or’ and its surrounding attitudes by the word ‘and.’”