‘June 24: Third Joint T.O. Festive Board!’

    

It’s really starting to look like they’re serious about flying me out there.

St. John’s Day will be the occasion of the third annual Joint Traditional Observance Festive Board for all four T.O. lodges of Oklahoma. Yours truly will be the keynote speaker. From the publicity:

Brethren all,

The time has come for us to again raise a glass of cheer and celebrate Oklahoma Traditional Observance Masonry at the Third Annual Joint Oklahoma T.O. Lodge Festive Board, hosted this year by Vitruvian Lodge 557.

The event will be held on Wednesday, June 24 at the Oaks Country Club (6500 South 49th West Avenue) in Tulsa. Attitude Adjustment Hour will commence at 6 p.m. with a cash bar, and the Festive Board will start at 7. See the flier for more details.

This year, the host lodge, Vitruvian 557, has commissioned a custom brew, created by Bro. Brett Cable of BierKraft in McAlester, and fittingly named Vitruvian Ale. A commemorative imperial pint glass and first pour of Vitruvian Ale, an English-style special bitter, may be added as an option to your reservation by use of the QR Code for Pay Online. You then will be taken to the link for registration via Square.

Our speaker for the evening will be The Magpie Mason.

The deadline for registering is June 10, in order to give Oaks Country Club sufficient time to restock their larder for our descent upon their fine facility. The cost for your reservation at this not-to-be-missed event is $86, and the optional commemorative glass and first pour of Vitruvian Ale is an additional $20.

For online reservation and online payment, please use this QR code. This is for use only by those wishing to pay by credit/debit card. Those wishing to pay by check at the door must send an email and let me know that you wish to make a reservation by pay-at-door. I will send you an alternative QR Code for that purpose.

Please remember, the hard deadline for reservations either by payment online or at the door is June 10. Don’t put this off until it is too late to join us in the evening’s merriment, mirth, and enlightenment.

Since the brethren retain the T-Word, I will discuss the traditions behind what we, as Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, think, say, and do in our lodges. I still don’t have a title for this new presentation (I’m terrible at devising titles), but you’ll learn of the origins of many of the principles and practices that make Freemasonry distinct from, and above, other private societies. You’ll see why these customs have endured the centuries and, hopefully, you will return to lodge with even stronger determination.

I won’t ask my New York brethren to commute to Tulsa, but if you’re in the area and would appreciate a good meal with the seven toasts and my golden voice, use the QR code to sign up. And get the commemorative glass too!

     

‘Visiting Vitruvian for St. John’s Day’

    

“Architects should be educated, skillful with the pencil, instructed in geometry, know much history, have followed the philosophers with attention, understand music, have some knowledge of medicine, know the opinions of the jurists, and be acquainted with astronomy and the theory of the heavens.”

— Marcus Vitruvius Pollio

If you will be near Tulsa on St. John Baptist Day, I hope you’ll buy a ticket to the Observant lodge festive board being hosted that evening by Vitruvian 557.

This will be a joint effort by the four Observant lodges, with a fifth in the making, in the Sooner State. An auspicious affair for which the hosts inexplicably have invited me to be keynote speaker.

I will present a brand new discussion—so new, I’m just now writing it (but have been drafting mentally for months)—on how certain eighteenth century Masonic literature informs what we, as Free and Accepted Masons, think, say, and do in lodge.

I have no familiarity with their ritual, aside from seeing the Oklahoma Masonic Indian Degree Team exemplify work years ago, so I hope this subject “works” out.

How can you not love a state that includes
a smoking pipe in its flag design?

Vitruvian 557 meets in Broken Arrow.

I’ll provide ticketing and time & place info when it becomes available.