‘Masonic museum explores York Rite’

     

A museum exhibit will open tomorrow that will showcase the York Rite of Freemasonry.

The Iowa Masonic Library and Museum will unveil “York Rite Freemasonry: The Story Continues.” Various pieces of regalia, ephemera, documents, and more from the institution’s collections will tell the story of Royal Arch, Cryptic Rite, and the Masonic Templars.

The exhibit will run through the end of the year. The Iowa Masonic Library and Museum is located at the Grand Lodge campus in Cedar Rapids. The museum is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Well done, Bro. Bill!

     

‘York Rite to return to New York’

     

Courtesy Jeff Day/Lodgical

Where else but in New York would the York Rite hold its conferences? Last September, the Northeast Conference was hosted in Albany, and this September (11 & 12) it will take place at Tarrytown. Details are still to come, but save the date.

     

‘Cyrus Cylinder at the Met’

  
As reported a number of months ago in The Journal of The Masonic Society, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will exhibit the ancient “Cyrus Cylinder,” on loan from The British Museum for a tour of the United States with other artifacts of ancient Persia, beginning tomorrow.

From June 20 through August 4, The Met will show The Cyrus Cylinder and Ancient Persia: Charting a New Empire. New York City is the third stop on the tour; the artifacts will go to San Francisco in August and Los Angeles in October before being brought back to Britain.

Courtesy The British Museum

The Cyrus Cylinder, the clay cuneiform artifact excavated in Iraq in 1879, dates to the reign of King Cyrus the Great in the Sixth Century BCE. The text includes the royal decree that allowed deported peoples to return to their homelands.

The Cyrus Cylinder often is called “the first charter of human rights,” to lend it a meaning that we in 2013 can appreciate comfortably. (It’s similar to how the First Charge of Anderson’s Constitutions of 1723, which calls on Freemasons “to obey the moral Law” and to keep their religious opinions to themselves, is believed by many Masons today to represent the dawn of an ecumenical—or even multicultural—Freemasonry, when its reality was the far more practical goal of facilitating friendships among brethren of the various Christian denominations in 1720s London.) Scholars of the ancient Near East today recognize that rulers in that time and place began their reigns with proclamations and edicts to set a tone, and Cyrus continued a governing tradition we now know was more than a thousand years old.

And this is where Freemasonry ought to show its interest. Cyrus and his edict figure dramatically in the High Degrees of the Scottish and York rites of Freemasonry, and elsewhere, such as the Irish degrees of Knight Masonry. Different Masonic ritual tellings of the building of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, loosely based on verses of the Hebrew Bible, explain how Zerubbabel was permitted to lead his people out of the Babylonian Captivity to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple and continue life in freedom, as decreed by Cyrus. Again, reality showers some cold water on Masonry’s romantic tales; Jews were not mentioned with any specificity by King Cyrus, who actually had established a general religious freedom to benefit a number of peoples who had lived in captivity in the empire.

Regardless, you Scottish Rite and York Rite Masons should charter some buses and visit The Met this summer. The Cylinder and the other pieces in this exhibit lack the fantastic resplendence of, say, the Tutankhamun dig (also exhibited by The Met, 35 years ago), but what will open tomorrow unquestionably possesses the greater spiritual and philosophical heft.

Additional programming is scheduled for June 20, June 25, June 28, and July 11.
    

‘Yes! We’ve got a video!’

    
Just brought to my attention: a video for the York Rite written and produced by Hodapp.



    

2010 AMD Ingathering

The 2010 Harold V.B. Voorhis Ingathering will take place Saturday, July 10 at J. William Gronning Council No. 83 in Freehold (Olive Branch Lodge No. 16), New Jersey.

Registration and refreshments at 8:30 a.m.

The event will begin at 9 o'clock with the presentation of papers.

Lunch will be served.

In the afternoon, the St. Lawrence the Martyr Degree will be conferred.

It is NOT necessary to present a paper to participate in the Ingathering. It IS necessary to be an AMD member to attend.

Cost per person: $25.

Each registrant will receive a St. Lawrence the Martyr lapel pin and a Grand Council parchment commemorating the degree conferral.

Papers and other suitable presentations are now being accepted from AMD members for review and possible inclusion in the day's agenda.

Research papers AND speculative writings shall be original works, not previously published, and concerning topics relevant to Freemasonry, its influences, history, rituals, symbolism, philosophy, etc. Powerpoint or other appropriate media presentations are welcome as well.

All proposed presentations shall be submitted to Gronning Council no later than June 1. For details, leave a note in the Comments section of this edition of The Magpie Mason.

The Allied Masonic Degrees is an educational group within the York Rite of Freemasonry. Membership is invitational to Royal Arch Masons.

Those who support Masonic education believe a deeper understanding of Freemasonry nourishes a stronger commitment. This annual event is one of the ways we serve.

Knight Masons of the USA

     
Just got back from the taping of tonight’s broadcast of The Late Show with David Letterman (sample joke that will not make it on air: “Today, A-Rod tested positive for bullsh*t!”) followed by a smoke and a few pints at Club Macanudo. But duty calls and it’s time for the Magpie to resume his labors.

The Magpie Mason opted to skip the 7 a.m. – what is this, the Army? – breakfast on Friday hosted by the Convent General of the Knights of the York Cross of Honor, conserving strength for the full day’s agenda of events. First up: the annual meeting of the Grand Council of Knight Masons of the USA followed by the meeting of Great Chief’s Council 0.

Seems like it was only yesterday when M.E. Donald Street took office as our Great Chief. Now it’s time for the installation of Dennis Zier and his officers for the ensuing year.

Dennis Zier, front and center, with his officers,
take their oaths of office.

Knight Masons?

This is another of the small, honorary, invitational bodies under the York Rite. Membership is reserved for Royal Arch Masons who are recognized for their talents and accomplishments, who then are invited to join.

Knight Masonry works the so-called “Green Degrees” of Irish Masonry. Click here for a taste of the history of this fraternity, written by Cousin David Lindez.