‘Rose Circle 2011’

     

Yes, that’s correct, 2011! I cannot even comprehend that five years have passed since this stellar event in New York City took place, but this Flashback Friday edition of The Magpie Mason does indeed reach back exactly to February 26, 2011, when the Rose Circle Research Foundation hosted Christopher McIntosh and Steve Burkle for invaluable talks on Rosicrucianism and Alchemy, with David Lindez doing a great job as emcee.

Here’s the catch: While I know I still have my notes from this conference somewhere at Magpie headquarters, I can’t put my hands on them easily. The notebook will turn up, as it does every so often, and I will update this post with information from those notes, but for now here is my photographic record from the Renaissance Room in Masonic Hall. A partial record. I shot more than 160 photos during the event, but these are among the most colorful. Others show some PowerPoint projections that simply do not belong on the web, so there’s that.

Some of the architecture of the Renaissance Room at Masonic Hall, the headquarters of the Grand Lodge of New York, Free and Accepted Masons. 

This is the northwest corner of the lodge room, looking to the ceiling, with pipe organ at left.

I do not recall how Jason appeared at the lectern—
but I am sure he has a good reason for it!

Steve Burkle was the first of the two speakers to address the audience. I have forgotten the title of his presentation, but he discussed aspects of the practical application of spiritual alchemy concepts, among other things, to wit:

And Steve always works a fish story into his lectures!

Seriously, he is one of the best speakers around.

David Lindez stepped ‘unto the breach,’ as it were, to serve as master of ceremonies, providing comment and context to the proceedings. (I have my moments in public speaking. Sometimes I am coherent. Sometimes I can see that I grabbed the audience. I would never attempt to emcee a Rose Circle conference.)

That is Gene and Phillipe in the rear. Don’t know the gentlemen in front.

Here are Sam and Bob from New Jersey.

I regret not knowing the names of this couple because
they are regulars at Rose Circle events.

Geoffrey from Old No. 2.

Mario, Sr. and Mario, Jr.

Michael and Joe.

Henry at center, with Richard and Nick behind him.

The incomparable Janet Wintermute perusing the index of McIntosh’s
book. (If I didn’t use her full name, she’d kill me.)

To be a fly on the wall of that room.

I don't recall how many attended the conference,
but it pretty much was a sold out affair.

Dr. Christopher McIntosh spoke on ‘Rosicrucianism and the Search for a New World Order,’ which was based on his book The Rose Cross and the Age of Reason, an utterly mind-roasting history of early European Rosicrucianism and its effects on society. The text had been published a second time since 1992 just weeks before this conference, bringing down the retail price of the book from more than $1,000 to around twenty bucks or so.

Equipment, such as mic stands, is unavoidable, but
sometimes it can drive a photographer nuts.

I’m afraid I don’t know the gentleman with the microphone,
but that’s the inimitable Jonny Clockworks at left.

Never mind McIntosh, Burkle, and Lindez (although David’s
devilish smile is priceless), look at that room!

Oscar Alleyne. All this time I didn’t realize
I had such a good photo of him on file.

You have to appreciate an audience member who drafts his questions on the pages of his own notebook (to say nothing of coordinating his sport jacket with said notebook) in preparation for the Q&A!

David and Piers A. Vaughan. Sorry to say the Rose Circle
website store is sold out of those ties!

Piers, our president, makes Christopher a Fellow in the Rose Circle.

And—sigh—it’s over.

     

‘Upcoming Events in Freemasonry’

     
I can’t get to any of these, but there’s no reason why you shouldn’t.


Saturday, July 19 – A big day in New York Capitular Masonry indeed. At 9:30 a.m. a short ceremony in front of the RAM Medical Research wing on the Utica Campus will honor ME Edmund ‘Ted’ Harrison, the first General Grand High Priest from New York State in more than 50 years, by presenting a $100,000 check from the RAM Medical Research Foundation. The patio before the building will be dedicated to Ted. All are invited to attend this open ceremony. Royal Arch Masons may wear red jackets.


July 25-27 – A grand event held annually by the Nobles of Mecca Shrine in New York City: Florence Weekend. Actually it used to be Florence Day, but Mecca exhibits great panache and gung ho in its social doings. Friday night, starting at six, fraternal festivities at The Monarch Lounge on West 35th Street in Manhattan. Bring your own cigars. Saturday, the Yankee-Blue Jays game (sold out). Sunday is the day everyone gathers at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn at 12:30 to pay respects at the final resting place of Billy Florence, co-founder of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Click here to get a look at what this is like.

But that’s not all! After the visit to the gravesite, all are invited to the Annual Mecca Barbecue at the Bushwick Country Club (618 Grand Street), which you do not want to miss.


Monday, August 4 – Maryland Masonic Research Society to host its Annual Festive Board. To feature speakers S. Brent Morris and Arturo de Hoyos(!) on “The First Two Exposures of the High Degrees of Masonry.” Books for sale and signing after the program.

August 15-17 – The Masonic Restoration Foundation invites Master Masons to its Fifth Annual Symposium at the Cincinnati Masonic Center. Festive Board, workshops, lectures, a “Scotch Harmony,” and other attractions await. Registration: $100 per person. Click here to sign up.


Saturday, September 13 – A singular occurrence, as The Masonic Society and the Philalethes Society jointly sponsor a symposium at the Scottish Rite Valley of Chicago, located in Bloomingdale, Illinois. Registration costs only $15. Attendance is capped at 100, so click here to book your seat.

Speakers: Alton Roundtree, editor of The Phylaxis; Shawn Eyer, editor of The Philalethes; Steven Harrison, editor of The Missouri Freemason; and Mark Robbins, Education Officer for the Grand Lodge of Minnesota. Andrew Hammer, author of Observing the Craft, will be the keynote speaker at the banquet, a separate event with a $35 dining fee.


Tuesday, September 16 – Second District Masonic Book Club to discuss A Traditional Observance Lodge by Cliff Porter. Dinner at 6:30. At Fidelity Lodge No. 113, 99 South Maple Avenue in Ridgewood, New Jersey.

Saturday, September 20 – The First Masonic Educational Symposium hosted by Wilmington Lodge No. 804 in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. Four speakers lined up: Charles M. Harper, Sr., author of Freemasonry in Black and White; Juan Sepulveda, of The Winding Stairs podcast; Adam T. Osman, author of Earning Freemasonry; and Shawn M. Gorley, author of Freemasonry Defined.

Open to Apprentices and Fellows. Cost: only $30 per person, in advance only, which covers breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Only 100 seats are available. For information, contact Bro. Gorley at shawn(at)drivenbylight(dot)net

September 25-30 – Joint Triennial Session of both the General Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons International and the General Grand Council of Cryptic Masons International at Buffalo, New York. Click here for the registration info.

Saturday, October 11 – New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education No. 1786 to meet at 10 a.m. in the Haddonfield Masonic Temple in Haddonfield, New Jersey. Agenda TBA.

Steve Burkle

Saturday, October 18 – Pennsylvania Academy of Masonic Knowledge to host its Fall Session. Professor David G. Hackett will speak on topics from his book That Religion in Which All Men Agree: Freemasonry in American Culture. Steve Burkle will speak on “Early Adoption of Paracelsus’ Alchemical Catechism by the Craft.” Steve knows his alchemy, so check it out.

It’s a full-day affair, beginning at 8:30 a.m. in the Masonic Cultural Center on the Elizabethtown campus. No charge, but advance registration is required; do so by e-mailing to amksecretary(at)pagrandlodge(dot)org, including name, address, lodge name and number.


October 23-25 – The Masonic Library and Museum Association will hold its Annual Meeting at the Trenton Masonic Temple in Trenton, New Jersey. Here is all the information.
     

‘2014 Alchemy Conference’

     

The 2014 Northwest Alchemy Conference is scheduled for later this spring—Friday, June 6 through Sunday, June 8—at Venusian Church-Long House, located in Redmond, Washington. Sponsored by the Northwest Chapter of the International Alchemy Guild, the conference will bring to its podium more than a dozen speakers to discuss various esoteric, spiritual, practical, historical, and other insights into Alchemy, that vexing ancestor of chemistry. It is far afield of the Magpie’s usual orbit, but I mention it here because the brilliant, sagacious, and darned handsome Steve Burkle will present “The Practice of Alchemy by the Secret Societies from the Gold und Rosencreutz, to the Golden Dawn, and into Modern Times” on Sunday afternoon. You may know Steve from a variety of print and digital media, and if you know him personally, you realize Alchemy is not a mere curiosity in his life and work. The man knows his business.

Steve Burkle at Rose Circle, 2011.

The other presenters will be great too. Click here to read about them. I’m sure some of those headshots are no cause for alarm whatever!

Makes me wish for a Northeast Conference. The Guild has chapters in Pennsylvania and New York. Maybe some day.
     

‘On the Magic Square’

    
Last night was the long-awaited appearance of Bro. Steve Burkle at Atlas-Pythagoras Lodge, where he spoke on “The 47th Problem of Euclid and the Magic Squares,” an exploration of historic and esoteric aspects of the Pythagorean Theorem. Steve is a prolific writer and presenter of research work, keeping busy in a variety of venues, including the AMD. His lecture was the last in the lodge’s “Enlightening the Temple” series, that brought to the podium seven guest speakers during the year, including Rashied Bey, Trevor Stewart, and Tim Wallace-Murphy.

On the historical side, Steve explained the known origins – mathematical and historical – of the Theorem, and explained away the clumsy manner in which it is explained in the lecture of the Third Degree. In the process, he told us about John Dee and a curiosity named Plimpton 322. The former, of course, was the 16th century English esotericist and mathematician. The latter is an ancient Babylonian cuneiform, numbered 322 among the G.A. Plimpton Collection at Columbia University, and might be the best known artifact to show mathematics in archeological history. It dates to 1900-1600 BCE, and it reveals the most advanced mathematics known previous to ancient Greece because it teaches how to form right triangles akin to the Pythagorean way.

The 47th Problem of Euclid is key to Freemasonry because it is elemental to the design of the universe. In short:

In any right triangle, the area of the square whose side is the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares whose sides are the two legs (the two sides that meet at a right angle).

Often written as the equation:

a² + b² = c²

With the number 3 being a common denominator of deity, there are many ways the triad speaks to divinity. Plato’s three-fold principle has Thought (father/generative power), Primitive Matter (mother/passive principle), and Kosmos (offspring/product). Plutarch, writing of Isis and Osiris, continues along this thinking and explains that within this right triangle the perpendicular is the masculine; the base is the feminine; and their offspring (Horus) is the hypotenuse. (Read the Master Mason chapter in Albert Pike’s Morals and Dogma for a smarter rendering of this. Regardless of how much or how little one might meditate on geometrical theorems, this particular one can be appreciated as part of the “DNA” of the universe.)

Bro. Steve later explored numerology and gematria, linking the Pythagorean Theorem to what is called the Magic Square. A Magic Square is a matrix of rows and columns containing numbers that all agree on the same sum, no matter which direction is taken to add those numbers. To wit:

I think what I like most about Powerpoint presentations is how I can
photograph the images, instead of frantically taking notes!

Then, combining the geometry of the Pythagorean triangle with the numerology of the Magic Square and the cosmic implications of Kaballah, Steve illustrated his theory of a kind of code that defines the universe.

Read more about Steve’s presentation here. He explains Masonic symbolism very poetically and cogently, especially regarding the place occupied by the initiate upon taking his oath and obligation.

The Worshipful Master thanks Bro. Steve for the lecture.

Worshipful Master Mohamad Yatim deserves hearty praise for his work this year, a term during which he not only successfully governed the lodge’s traditional operations while setting attendance records with his lecture series, but also remained on top of the ever increasing mandates of the grand lodge. I am proud to know him, and am very excited to be working with him in 2011 at the Valley of Northern New Jersey, where we will be part of a group that revives a long-dormant Masonic education program. More on that later this fall.
  

‘Euclid and Atlas-Pythagoras’

    

Bro. Steve Burkle will speak at Atlas-Pythagoras Lodge No. 10 in Westfield, New Jersey on Friday, October 15 in the Worshipful Master’s continuing program titled “Enlightening the Temple.” Steve’s lecture is titled “The 47th Problem of Euclid and the Magic Squares.”

The event is open to Apprentices and Fellows, properly avouched by Master Masons.

Bro. Burkle’s mother lodge is Scioto Lodge No. 6 in Ohio, and he is well known in Masonic education circles, being a Founding Member of The Masonic Society, and a frequent contributor to Bro. Bruno’s Pietre-Stones Review of Freemasonry. He also is a member of the research lodges of New Jersey, Ohio, and New York, as well as research societies, like the SRRS. In addition, Steve is an active member of Cushite Council No. 474 of Allied Masonic Degrees.

Atlas-Pythagoras Lodge is located at 1011 Central Ave. Kindly make your reservations with W. Bro. Mohamad Yatim at atlaspythagoras(at)verizon.net.

The lodge’s year of “Enlightening the Temple” has brought outstanding Masonic lectures to the brethren, including those by Trevor Stewart, Rashied Bey, Tim Wallace-Murphy, David Lindez, and others.