'Grand Masters' joint statement'

     
The two grand masters of the two Masonic grand lodges in New York State have released a statement concerning current events:


Dear Brethren and Friends of Freemasonry in New York:

Masonry in New York is comprised of men of every race, creed and color. We respect and greet each other as Brothers. As such, any adverse treatment of anyone due to their color is anathema to our very tenets.

We have all watched with apprehension and concern the recent events unfolding on the streets of our City, State and Nation. While Freemasons may not all think alike, we accept and respect one another.

The core values of Masonry are basic and simple. We believe our ideals that all Masons meet as equals.

Each Brother will determine within themselves how they grieve the death of George Floyd. As Freemasons we do not approve of the destructive actions we are seeing, but we do approve of emulating the Brotherhood Masonry is built upon.

As Masonic Leaders we affirm our belief in brotherly love, relief and truth. We ask the Grand Architect of the Universe to heal the divisions within today’s society.

With kindest Fraternal regards,

MW Walter C. King
MW William M. Sardone

     

‘Build Your Inexpensive Masonic Library’

     

Every month, Open Lectures on Freemasonry takes to Zoom to share with viewers a, well, lecture on Freemasonry. This month, John Belton will present “Build Your Inexpensive Masonic Library.” From the publicity:

Open Lectures on Freemasonry

Saturday, June 27

2 p.m. Eastern

“Build Your Inexpensive

Masonic Library”

Presented by John Belton

Register here

The world of the written word has changed at a phenomenal speed over the past couple of decades, and in these days of Covid-19, when so many are locked down at home, it is possible to see rare Masonic documents in the near flesh, and to do serious research while sitting at home. The aim is to display the options from a modern “print on demand” production line, and to show where you can find 300-year-old books to download. You too can build yourself a digital Masonic library!

John Belton is a member of Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076 in London, and he is the author of the books The English Masonic Union of 1813: A Tale Antient and Modern, Dudley Wright: Writer, Truthseeker & Freemason, and the anthology A Questioning Eye on Freemasonry. His main interests are for exploring those less travelled angles to (Masonic) history that often prove the most fascinating. Professionally, John started work as a microbiologist, then changed to marketing and worked for the pharmaceutical company Astra-Zeneca.

Only registered users could get an invitation which will be sent two days before the lecture date. Please note that the size of the audience is limited by technical capacities.

OpenLFM is an independent, informal, and benevolent initiative unrelated to any Masonic body or scientific institution. It is a collaboration of a researchers’ group with different formations, and coming from various parts of the world.

In this era, where the printed and manuscript word becomes ever more available through digital technology, new wider panoramas for the curious can open. OpenLFM, through its online lecture series on Freemasonry given by prominent scholars, will aim to demonstrate a range of new perspectives for academics, Freemasons, or simply the curious.

Lectures are audible, within technical limits, to those who are interested in the topic to be presented. Participation requires prior registration. Registration is free of charge. Registered users will be invited to OpenLFM Googlegroups and will be informed about forthcoming activities. OpenLFM beholds the right to reject any registration with no further explanation.
     

‘Masonic Temple’s The Bond bronze vandalized’

   

Photo credit: Daryll Slimmer

Artist James West’s bronze statue titled The Bond, depicting Franklin and Washington, installed outside the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia, has been vandalized. Brethren of University Lodge 51 removed the paint.

“For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good…”

George Washington


“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”

Benjamin Franklin
     

‘Nuts and bolts of public speaking’

     

Oscar Alleyne, the Junior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of New York and the First Vice President of the Masonic Society, will be the next speaker in the SuperMemorize Academy/Legends of the Craft series. From the publicity:

The Art of Public Speaking:

A Nuts and Bolts Workshop

Featuring RW Oscar Alleyne

Friday, May 29

7 to 8 p.m.

Open to the public on Zoom

RSVP here

Everyone knows that public speaking is a big part of Masonry, whether it is ritual, a paper, or debate. It also is extremely important for everyday life. The ability to speak with clarity, confidence, and wisdom is a superpower. It also is one of the biggest fears for most people.

The Art of Public Speaking: A Nuts and Bolts Workshop will help you develop speaking competence by using a hands-on, small group approach. You will feel more confident and motivated to speak in any setting, and you will develop a deeper understanding of presenting to crowds.

We will dissect your current public speaking methods, eliminate any inefficiencies, and give you a series of tips, tricks, techniques, and ideas on how to inform, persuade, and educate your audience.

Dress code: Business Casual
     

‘Lexington & Rubicon lectures’

     
It’s becoming very difficult to stay abreast of all the Masonic lectures offered online these days. I no longer make much of an effort to keep track, but instead just look at the many mentions from friends that I see here and there. Even after this Chinese Virus fades away, online discussions will endure, and I believe they will chart the future of Masonic activities in the mainstream Masonic world. Private talks will remain private, but a lot of what’s available now involves general topics, and they are made accessible to the public. This—real Freemasons discussing real Masonic subjects—will accomplish more in Masonic outreach than would any ridiculous Dan Brown story, while also allowing Masons trapped in do-nothing lodges to see what is possible when Masons who know their business are at labor.

In Kentucky, both Lexington Lodge 1 and the Rubicon Masonic Society co-host a ten-part Masonic education series online. Tonight, Andrew Hammer will speak on “In Consideration of and Purpose of Our Craft.”

That will be 7 p.m. Eastern time. Click here to get started. Take note of the terms and conditions.

The series of lectures began May 4 and will end July 6. Previously, the brethren heard from Oscar Alleyne, Chris Hodapp, and Brent Morris. Future speakers will include:

• June 1—Christopher Murphy on “The Tavern Myth: Reassessing Early Lodge Culture”
• June 8—Dan Kemble on “Who’s Left Standing: Freemasonry After COVID-19”
• June 15—Michael Stoops on “Grand Lodges Today and Grand Lodges Tomorrow”
• June 22—John Bizzack on “Ode to the Way It Was: The Long-Standing Masonic Epidemic”
• and others to be announced.

The talks are recorded, and can be enjoyed here.
     

‘QC2076 conference is canceled’

     

“Freemasonry on the Frontier,” the conference planned by Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076 for Boston this September, is canceled.

Not a surprise, I suppose, but still a disappointment. Those who paid their fees will receive refunds, if they haven’t yet already.

Hopefully this will be rescheduled before long.
     

‘Unfolding the Rose’

     
Mark Stavish, the founder and the director of studies of the Institute for Hermetic Studies, invites you to partake of the IHS’ introductory course “Unfolding the Rose” at no cost.

From the publicity:

“Unfolding the Rose” is a complete introduction to Western esoteric practices and their importance for your spiritual journey. Come inside and walk with us for a while as we travel the Path of Return. Explore the meaning of initiation, tradition, awakening, immortality, and personal mastery within the framework of qabala, alchemy, astrology, and contemplative mysticism as we seek the Light that can only be found within.

Click here.

This course is the basis for our long-lived audio programs based around our book, Words of My Teachers. The entire course “The Path of Return: Essential Teachings for the Journey” is available with an extensive array of support materials and additional audio programs. We strongly encourage each of you to enroll in “Unfolding the Rose,” as well as “The Path of Return,” as there are a substantial amount of teachings included that cover the entire process of the path, all in a clear and practical manner suitable for any student at any point in his studies.

We look forward to hearing from you regarding this course.
     

‘The post-COVID Masonic fraternity?’

     
Here is your due and timely notice:

The next episode of The Masonic Roundtable podcast will be a special one. Don’t look for it on the usual Thursday night, because instead it will air on Monday. This will be the brethren’s 300th episode, and I advertise it here because they will discuss “What Does a Post-COVID Fraternity Look Like?”

That’s Monday—Memorial Day—at 9:30 p.m.

I’m finally doing a better job of keeping current with the many podcasts that serve Masonic audiences, and I find few that remain consistently excellent in the long term. This is one of them. Discussion topics often are surprising; the thoughtful opinions are on the level; and there is great chemistry among the hosts.
     

‘Italian Freemasons support Catholic-Muslim signed accord’

     

The Grand Orient of Italy reportedly has endorsed a breakthrough document signed last year by the head of the Catholic Church and the grand imam of Al-Azhar University.

Meeting in Abu Dhabi last February, Pope Francis and Ahmad Al-Tayyeb added their signatures to “Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together,” a brief document that affirms, among other things, a “closeness between East and West, between North and South, and between all who believe that God has created us to understand one another, cooperate with one another, and live as brothers and sisters who love one another.”

This accord reportedly is hailed by the Grand Orient in its magazine, New Hiram. The current issue is not yet available on the GOI’s website, but National Catholic Register quotes it, saying the signed document “is ‘innovative’ and a ‘slow-release drug’ that could herald a ‘new era’ and represent a ‘turning point for a new civilization.’ ”

Read the entire “Human Fraternity” here.

In the sometimes impenetrable world of Masonic politics and recognition, it is with the Grand Orient of Italy that we Americans have relations, but the United Grand Lodge of England does not. (As it does in France, the UGLE does not recognize the oldest and largest jurisdiction in Italy, but instead has relations with the group that it itself established, but that’s a whole other story.)
     

‘Masons in a different kind of video’

     

Here is something a little different to enjoy amid our various online Masonic activities these days.

Two Past Masters of l’Union Française Lodge 17 in Manhattan have made an English-language short video. RW Bro. Francis Dumaurier explains:


W. Bro. Alan Bresson has just released a 10-minute video interview of W. Bro. and Executive Chef Didier Virot that you can see on YouTube, in which Didier recalls his coming up the ranks in French and American top restaurants to become the admired professional we all have come to love, both for his personality and for his achievements. Didier also explains in detail his passionate relationship with baking bread, and you may become a convert too after watching this video. The video was produced, directed, recorded, and edited by W. Bresson.

The sipping of a good glass of wine while watching this video is highly recommended.


Click here.
     

‘Knight Masons on Zoom soon’

     

The three councils of Knight Masons located in New Jersey will host Mohamad Yatim for an esoteric talk that will be shared with Knight Masons everywhere via Zoom.

Mohamad will present “Zerubbabel: Lessons in Liberty and Truth” on Thursday, June 4 at 8 p.m. Eastern time. This will be available only to Knight Masons, and advance registration is required.

Also in attendance will be the Most Excellent Great Chief of Knight Masons of the USA.

If you are unacquainted, the Order of Knight Masons is one of the invitational groups appended to the York Rite in the United States, meaning Royal Arch Masons in good standing may be tapped for membership. It promulgates the Green Degrees of Irish Freemasonry, so the rituals concern the Second Temple in Jerusalem. (And they are available in various forms throughout the York and Scottish rites, so I’ve always had a hard time understanding why we need this Order in the United States, but I digress.)
     

‘Mid-Atlantic Esotericon change of plans’

     

As civil and Masonic authorities around the United States are kind of, sort of, nearly about to come around and maybe announce progress on social gatherings, word has come from the organizers of Mid-Atlantic Esotericon 2020 of their change of plans.

What had been scheduled for four weeks from today in Virginia has been moved to July on Zoom. The website has yet to be updated, but excerpted from their announcement:


The 2020 Mid-Atlantic Esotericon will be a virtual, online event held on July 25, 2020. It will be a combination of Zoom webinar presentations and Zoom break-out rooms for extras, discussions, and collaborations.

Yes, we are issuing partial refunds since costs are reduced.

Yes, we are expanding the ticket sales (with modified pricing) since we can accommodate more people. We will have those updates soon.

Current ticket-holders will receive a survey with information about the swag bag, which must be returned within the allotted time.

We will be announcing the joint inclusion of another conference to our event, to spread the love and ensure that everyone can partake in this amazing venture.

Thank you again for patience, guidance, and support!

Joe, Kevin, Jon, and Jason
     

‘Take this Masonic Jeopardy! survey’

     
New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education 1786 is preparing for some Masonic Jeopardy!-type entertainment, and wants to assess how a few exemplar questions would be received.

So click here and take this very short survey. Thanks!
     

‘Dead Sea Scrolls online conference next week’

     

New York University will host “New Discoveries on the Dead Sea Scrolls,” an international online conference, starting Sunday. The four-day virtual event is open to the public, with free admission, but registration—for each day—is required, so click here.

From the publicity:

Dead Sea Scrolls

in Recent Scholarship

May 17-20

Registration for each day of the conference, organized by New York University’s Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and with the Friends of the Israel Antiquities Authority, is required by visiting the department’s events page.

Sessions include the following:

• Canon and Authority
• Archaeology, Realia, and Science
• Interpreting Dead Sea Scrolls Texts
• Science, Technology, and the Scrolls
• Ideology and Theology
• Qumran and the Sect
• Hebrew Bible and its Interpretation
• Cave 11 and the Temple Scroll
• Law and Liturgy

The four-day event will include presentations from researchers at the following institutions: Israel Antiquities Authority, University of Haifa, Yeshiva University, University of Manchester, Hebrew University, Yale University, University of Nebraska, University of Groningen, Bar Ilan University, Brite Divinity School, Catholic University of America, University of Maryland, University of Birmingham, NYU, University of Vienna, McMaster University, University of North Carolina, University of Toronto, Oxford University, University of Notre Dame, Uppsala University, University of Kansas, and Universität Göttingen.

The conference is supported by the Friends of the Israel Antiquities Authority in collaboration with NYU, the Global Network for Advanced Research in Jewish Studies, and NYU’s Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies.

It was nearly 30 years ago when microfilm(!) images of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were hard to come by, were shared with NYU, an event I covered for the student newspaper. I’ll be glad to watch the findings today’s researchers will discuss next week—if I can understand and follow along.

     

‘Midnight’s Light Paranormal lodge’

     

Courtesy Midnight’s Light Paranormal

A random comment I just saw on Twitter from an English Freemason prompted me to look up something on the web, which led me to this curious item.

Evidently, for three years there has been a program titled Midnight’s Light Paranormal that airs occasionally on YouTube. There have been nine episodes, the most recent of which was from April 3. (It was filmed in February.) The producers say:

We are a paranormal investigation team located out of southwestern Ohio. Midnight’s Light Paranormal strives to provide its viewers with 100 percent real paranormal evidence, as well as a source of entertainment. We love helping people with paranormal related issues and making people’s voices heard. Through our investigation episodes, we display our professionalism and explain how it adds to the experience. If you have had an interesting paranormal experience or know of any haunted locations that you would like us to investigate, do not hesitate to contact us. Check us out on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Follow us into the darkness guided only by Midnight’s Light.

Courtesy Second Masonic District, GLO

The April 3 episode, titled “King Hiram Masonic Lodge,” is described thusly: “As the team heads back to West Alexandria, they have their eyes set on the mysterious King Hiram Masonic Lodge. This investigation is personal to many members of the team and the evidence that is captured is stunningly relevant. Watch as the paranormal and Freemasonry intertwine in another exciting episode.”

This lodge is King Hiram 88 in Ohio. From that description, I’ll guess one or more of the cast is a Mason. I’m going to watch it later tonight.

I know there are Masonic ghost hunters out there. When New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education met at the Trenton Temple, we were told several times of visits from brethren who, let’s say, are from The Lodge on High. It was explained that spirits are attracted to Masonic lodges where they had been members in life, because, yes, they are places the people loved, and also because the workings of rituals—the comfortable habits of repetition—render these spaces hospitable to the spirits. Nutley Lodge 25 also was said to have these visits.
     

‘Masonic Con 2021’

     

UPDATE—MARCH 2021: It’s been announced the event will be a hybrid. Those who currently hold the full package tickets may attend in person. Otherwise attendance will be online. There will be no vendors. If I understand correctly. Go to here.

UPDATE: Forget all about the information below. Forget New Hampshire completely. “Masonic Con 2020-ish” will take place at Ezekiel Bates Lodge in Massachusetts April 30 to May 2, 2021. Tickets available here.

Next May—that’ll be 2021 for those who have lost track of time due to being in lockdown—Ancient York Lodge 89 will host Masonic Con!

This is the Masonic Con of Ezekiel Bates Lodge fame; the two will co-host, but it will take place at Ancient York in New Hampshire on May 1. This time I’m going! (I always say that before remembering my aversion to leaving the house, but I’m really going this time.)

No news yet on speakers, programs, vendors, etc. I’ll report it all on The Magpie Mason when the announcements are made, but I don’t expect any of that before 2021.
     

‘An endeavor for perfection’

     

Sorry for the poor quality of the photo. Watch the video here.

Visiting a friend during the weekend, he was excited to show me this clip from a March episode of the longtime PBS series Antiques Roadshow that featured this amazing custom-made table decorated with Masonic symbols. (Turns out this was filmed at an event last year, on May 13, 2019.) You’ll see at the corners of the chess board an apron with the Square and Compasses, the Scimitar and Crescent, the Keystone, and the KT Crown and Cross. Freemasonry runs in the owner’s family.

Masonic things come up occasionally on the program. I remember the first item I ever saw was one of those early 20th century pocket watches. I think the appraiser put its value at a thousand bucks. This time, the subject is a singular work of amazing craftsmanship. Stunning.

Click here to see the video. The producers lavished nearly four minutes on this segment.

Please read the transcript of the interview below to revisit the historical details of the table according to its owner, and take due notice of how appraiser Brian Witherell assesses its worldly value—just in case your lodge has something similar laying about.


GUEST:
This table was made in 1900 by prisoners at the City of St. Louis Workhouse. My great-great-grandfather was the warden. And this was, according to family history, made as a gift for him. I know that his wife was the matron. They were there for some time. I don't know exactly how long that they were actually part of the, of the workhouse down there, but, um, it, it did seem, it's always been said it was a gift. It was presented as a gift to my great-great-grandfather.
APPRAISER:
I think you just have to assume that just because it's so finely crafted.

GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
It's almost customized for him, right?

GUEST:
Exactly. My great-great-grandfather and my family are Masons. It's got some Masonic symbols on it. They're Shriners. There's a Shrine symbol on it, as well. The thing I find most interesting is, it's 32 inches tall, 32 inches deep, and 32 inches wide. And in the Mason's world, 32nd Degree is the number you want to achieve.
APPRAISER:
Fascinating. So it's a parquetry table. So parquetry is, differs from marquetry in the sense that it's geometric forms that are inlaid in wood.

GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
The date is 1900, which is very visible because on the top, we can see where the one, nine, zero, zero for 1900. This undulating scallop top, fan forms on the edge, parquetry band with the games table in the middle, with the fraternal symbols in each corner. Beautiful, colorful bright table. Oak, walnut, mahogany, and there might be some rosewood in here, as well.

GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Rosewood can come into play if it was ever going to be sold, which I doubt it will be, if it was ever sold internationally. It's not a problem to sell locally.

GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
If we move down the table, we can see these great, big, meaty legs that taper down into a very small hoof foot in the... A goat we think it'd be modeled after, a goat?

GUEST:
Yeah. That's, that's the thinking.
APPRAISER:
These beautiful acorns, and, again, a parquetry joint there, with the hearts coming down. Prison woodworking was a very popular thing in the 19th and early 20th century.

GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
For the logical reason that it taught people a trade.

GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
But it also kept them occupied and it gave them self-worth.

GUEST:
True.
APPRAISER:
And unlike either commissioned furniture or production furniture, there was really no time limits, right?

GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
I mean, they had nothing but time. So in here, you have an endeavor for perfection. And you can really see how this is finished almost perfectly from top to bottom. I've never seen anything quite as elaborate as this, you know? You will see simple examples, but nothing as complex as this one. Have you ever had it appraised?

GUEST:
I have not. It's been in the family. I'm the fifth generation. Hopefully my son will become the sixth generation eventually, at some point in time, much further on down the road. My father did up a note that keeps with the table with some census information that we keep with it. And he said if somebody at some point in time sold it, it might be as worth as much as $15,000. But it's never been professionally appraised. It's never really been out of the house.
APPRAISER:
Okay.

GUEST:
Except between moves, before it came here today.
APPRAISER:
Well, it's a one-of-one, you know.

GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
So it's, we're kind of making a guesstimate.

GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
Based on what we think comparable sales for such material is. Parquetry tables, despite all the worksmanship that goes into them, generally don't bring a lot of money. At auction, we would estimate this at $2,000 to $3,000. If you were going to insure it, probably double that.

GUEST:
Okay, right.
APPRAISER:
$5,000. It certainly wouldn't be an easy thing to replace.

GUEST:
Exactly. It's part of our family.
APPRAISER:
Yeah.

GUEST:
And it makes it special for me.
APPRAISER:
What a nice heirloom to share and pass down.

GUEST:
Very much.
APPRAISER:
Thank you for sharing it with our family.

GUEST:
Thank you very much.
     

‘It was twenty years ago today…’

     

On this date way back in 2000, two “e-Masons” founded a discussion group that would wield influence far beyond what anyone could have guessed on that day.

Bro. Josh Heller of Pennsylvania and Bro. Chris McClintock of Ireland had been admins of a group named All Things Masonic, which had a select membership of Freemasons curious about everything from ritual to Rosslyn. On May 8, 2000, after eGroups had been acquired by Yahoo!, the duo launched Masonic Light.

I was not present for the beginning, but found the group during a search of Yahoo! for Masonic groups late one night at the end of January 2001. I was admitted to the Masonic Light group, and nothing for me would be the same.

The Wayfarer by Hieronymus Bosch,
oil on panel, c. 1500. Click to enlarge.

Discussions were cordial exchanges between Masons with questions and Masons with answers. I tiptoed in during some chat about symbolism found in art. Thinking everyone already knew about what I had to offer, I felt a little foolish telling the group about Hieronymus Bosch’s The Wayfarer, which I had learned of only recently from John J. Robinson’s book A Pilgrim’s Path, which employs the work for its cover art. Painted circa 1500, it shows a man leaving a decadent scene and heading toward a promising future. The initiated eye will discern elements in the painting that are very familiar. (The magpie at lower right is purely coincidental!) Anyway, my modest contribution to the discussion was received with appreciation and wonder. I was hooked.

In 2001, I was in my fourth year as a Master Mason, and I was in a jurisdiction that provided no venue where you could learn anything more than ritual and etiquette. (For the past five years, I am very happily laboring in New York.) Being engaged in the Masonic Light Yahoo! Group was greatly rewarding and, therefore, addictive. I don’t know if the social media we have today were even concepts back then; the ML group communicated through email, and the output could be voluminous. Don’t ask me why I remember this detail, but I recall the month of March 2003 saw more than 3,000 messages shared. That’s a lot. To be clear, there was much friendly banter that leavened the dazzling exchanges of facts and views, but there was hefty substance overall.

The Light that was beamed from all directions and reflected a thousand fold brought together Masons from all over the world, and, more importantly, from jurisdictions of all kinds. There were we mainstreamers, and Prince Hall Affiliation, and PHO, and various female grand lodges, and on and on. There even was a French-speaking man who was part of some self-initiating movement! And we all got along. (Sure there were occasional problems, but harmony prevailed.) We would open a lodge of sorrows upon the death of a member, beginning with the very missed George Helmer.

This was the influential power that I mentioned at the start. By 2002, I was attending AMD Weekend in Washington, DC (now Masonic Week in Virginia), and a large number of us were meeting in person. Janet Wintermute arranged lunches for us at Old Ebbitt Grill. Not only was it great to put faces to personalities, but having our conversations over food and drink, and cigars, whether at the hotel lobby bar or upstairs in the hospitality suites late into the night are fond memories. I’m tempted to name names, but I inevitably will forget someone vital to the experience, so I won’t risk it. Suffice to say a great many leaders, educators, authors, speakers, thinkers, mystics, artists, and other doers found unity in this Masonic Light group, and they have made obvious impacts on Freemasonry in the United States.

This blog was launched, in part, thanks to Masonic Light. There were many late nights I would return home from some amazing event in New York City and, instead of seeking sleep like a wise person, I would sit down at the computer and tell the story of what I had just experienced. Hodapp sometimes would reproduce these missives on the Dummies blog (like here and here), and soon I started blogging on my own.

Available via Amazon.

Bro. Heller and Bro. Gerald Reilly wrote a book about our group. Titled The Temple That Never Sleeps, it was published in 2006 and told of ways shared experiences among Masons via the web could carry the fraternity forward. Reflecting on that, right now at this moment when there are multiple lectures, conferences, toasts, etc. happening via Zoom and other platforms daily to unite Freemasons all over the world, shows a prescience that few grasped back then. “You can’t replace lodge meetings!” some thundered, and they were right—until you can’t hold lodge meetings.

Masonic Light still exists, but last year Yahoo! gutted its groups by eliminating all the web-based features. It’s a shame to have lost years of files and photos we shared, but the elimination of every single message exchanged among ourselves is really terrible. I actually used that massive body of information as reference materials. Some years back, I started a Facebook group for us hoping to recapture the magic, but about two years ago Facebook shut us down, citing its “community standards” bullshit.

But life goes on. Bro. McClintock is working on a new book. The Measure of Light will be a follow-up to his The Craft and the Cross, and will cover more than Freemasonry, such as mythologies, Neolithic stone structures, the Great Pyramids, and more.

Someone in the group at one point coined the term “bristers,” a contraction of brothers and sisters, to use in salutations to all of Masonic Light’s members, so to them all—wherever dispersed about the face of the earth—I say Happy Anniversary, Bristers!
     

‘Weird Fact Wednesday: The Last and Only Grand Master of America’

     

Joseph Montfort

This edition of Weird Fact Wednesday concerns the embryonic period of Freemasonry in the New World, that four-decade span straddling the mid eighteenth century when lodges were linked directly to the British Isles. In some cases, lodges here were chartered by grand lodges abroad, like George Washington’s lodge receiving its warrant belatedly from the Grand Lodge of Scotland. In other instances, the Grand Lodge of England would issue a deputation to an individual, naming him the authority for some impossibly vast tract of geography. The problems with this, I’m guessing, were two: a shortage of politically connected Freemasons who intended to relocate to the American colonies, and a general unfamiliarity with North America suffered by mother country people of this era. The latter obstacle surely changed when the shooting started in 1775, but before then I doubt many in, say, London could distinguish Boston from Philadelphia from Charles Town—much less the inestimable hinterlands beyond city limits.

Magpie file photo

Daniel Coxe

Daniel Coxe was the first of the appointees, being named Provincial Grand Master of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania in 1730, but leaving no trace of any activity connected with that authority. That was a two-year appointment for a not-so-young man of 57, involving a territory spanning, by today’s borders, more than 109,000 square miles. But getting something going (at least one lodge is known to have existed in Philadelphia, not far from Coxe’s home in southwest New Jersey) and maybe delegating a little authority would not have been impossible. If he did anything, we do not know of it today.

The Grand Lodge of England would name other provincial grand masters, including John Hammerton for South Carolina in 1736; Francis Goelet in New York in 1751; John Rowe at Boston in 1768; and, in 1771, Joseph Montfort “of and for America.”

Montfort (pronounced Mumford) was born in England in 1724 and became a highly significant figure in the early history of North Carolina by the time he died in 1776. He held a variety of public offices, appointed and elected; was a noteworthy land-owner; and led Colonial troops. On the negative side, there were unflattering and unsolved mysteries about his professional life.

He was a Mason at labor in Royal White Hart Lodge in Halifax, North Carolina. On January 14, 1771, the Grand Lodge of England named him provincial grand master “of and for America.” Montfort even had a deputy, Cornelius Harnett, and together they did exercise authority, albeit limiting themselves to the province of North Carolina. The “of and for America” part of Montfort’s title was noted on the warrants he issued to local lodges. (He chartered ten lodges and helped six others get reorganized, making huge strides toward establishing the current grand lodge, which happened more than a decade after his death.) His headstone reads, in part: “Highest Masonic official ever reigning on this continent... the Last and Only Grand Master of America.”

How the heck did that happen?

I attribute it to that lack of understanding among Britons about the territories in the New World. I don’t doubt the average man in the street understood Jamaica was different from Nova Scotia, but there was some common confusion about the Americas.

What was “North America?” Did that name apply to the thirteen future United States, or did it also include the captured New France? Did it encompass anyplace else? Were the “Plantations” down south the same legally as “Colonies” up north? Did “New England,” of which Henry Price was made provincial grand master in 1733, refer to the whole of the continent (as Grand Master John Lindsay, Earl of Crawford, purportedly told Price), or only to the northern region, as we employ the name today? In terms of Masonic hierarchy, with the advent of a provincial grand master “of and for America,” what would be the dispositions of other PGMs, such as Sir John Johnson in New York?

Fortunately, there is a document clarifying it all. On February 6, 1771, Montfort received from the Grand Lodge his commission (he had to pay for it!) certifying his rank as “P.G.M. for No. Ca.” This hangs in the offices of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina today.

Montfort is memorialized in North Carolina Freemasonry in the form of that grand lodge’s top honor being named for him. The Joseph Montfort Medal is awarded by the grand master “to any Master Mason in good standing and recognized by the grand lodge who, in the opinion of the grand master, is deserving thereof because of distinguished service or achievement.” A grand master may award no more than three medals, and they all make use of the three availabilities. Carl Claudy received the honor in 1947. In more recent years, brethren you’ve read about on The Magpie Mason have been so honored, like Bill Brunk, Dave Hargett, and Allen Surratt.

Courtesy Find a Grave

Montfort is interred on property outside his lodge building. Royal White Hart Lodge 2 originally was known as Marsh Store Lodge; under circumstances unknown today, it became White Hart Lodge. In 1764, it received a provincial warrant that named it Royal White Hart Lodge, but four years later the Duke of Beaufort issued a supernally prestigious warrant, as he was the grand master of the Grand Lodge of England.

Courtesy Find a Grave