‘Storage Wars: The Shrining’

  

Courtesy A&E

The May 14 episode of Storage Wars (the original, in California) features the Shriners of El Bekal in Anaheim, who host bickering bidders Brandi and Jarrod, who are trying to learn the values of several pieces.

Nothing much to see here, but the kids donate the Shriner memorabilia, consisting of a set of four goblets—possibly antiques, possibly with gold trim—to an upcoming Shrine auction fundraiser. The other piece was a Shriner bobblehead which Jarrod damaged. Value: nada.

‘Historians and America’s First Secret Societies’

  
There are plenty of blogs out there devoted to Freemasonry, but it can be more fun reading blogs from outside the fraternity that occasionally focus on Masonry from their perspectives. It’s usually history.

From the Stacks, the blog of the New-York Historical Society Museum & Library, features a post today written by Mr. Kevin Butterfield titled Historians and America’s First Secret Societies. Butterfield is a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow at N-YHS this year. His research here stems from his doctoral dissertation.

Courtesy New-York Historical Society 

Click here to read the piece and see the accompanying art, including this image of the Masonic Hall, located on Broadway near Pearl Street, c.1831. Pretty churchly architecture, eh? Click the image to enlarge.
  

‘The 2013 Ingathering’

  
I don’t know if we’re still calling it the Harold V.B. Voorhis Ingathering anymore, but this year’s will take place on Saturday, July 20, and will be hosted by none other than Harold V.B. Voorhis Council No. 260, it was announced by our Grand Superintendent, today.

The Ingathering will take place at the Scottish Rite Valley of Central Jersey, located at 103 Dunns Mill Road in Bordentown (Exit 7 off the New Jersey Turnpike). Meeting to open at 9:30 a.m. and should conclude at about 3:30.

Guest of Honor: Most Venerable Matthew D. Dupee, Sovereign Grand Master of the Grand Council of Allied Masonic Degrees of the USA.

This one will be very different from previous Ingatherings in that three councils from New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania will take turns conferring three degrees: Architect, Grand Architect, and Superintendent.

Advance registration is required. Make your $35 check payable to NJ AMD INGATHERING, and remit to the Grand Superintendent. Leave me a note (not for publication) with your name, e-mail address, and council name in the comments section, and I will get back to you with the mailing address.
  

‘Serious times for The Players’

    

Trevor Stewart delivering the Wendell K. Walker
Lecture, March 24, 2011 at The Players

Declining membership, financial debt, personnel controversies, and enough existential uncertainty to worry its members, neighbors, and admirers are dogging The Players, the venerable private club at Gramercy Park that is a beloved destination of several lodges and other Masonic groups in New York City.

The club even has resorted to selling and pawning its Sargents to pay for capital improvements.

DNAinfo.com-New York has been reporting the sad story, with numerous heart-breaking details, for more than three weeks. Read all about it here. I know this will interest many of the brethren, ergo this edition of The Magpie Mason.
    

‘Isaac Newton and King Solomon’s Temple’

  
Two rules of thumb: 1) If you’re a regular reader of this website, you’re a guy who has nothing to do on a Friday night; and b) Bro. Lenny Lubitz is our kind of Freemason. Combine these two factoids and you have plans for tonight.

I don’t know Lenny well, but he’s one of the Masons who “gets it.” I keep bumping into him here and there. The book club up in Bergen County. The research lodge in New York City. ICHF.

Lenny is a Past Master of Abravanel Lodge No. 1116 in New York, and tonight at Atlas-Pythagoras he will discuss “Isaac Newton and King Solomon’s Temple.” The lecture is open to Apprentices and Fellows. Lodge opens at 7:30.
  

‘Pennsylvania Lodge of Research’

  

Founding Members jewel.

I’m just on my way out the door to attend the Wendell K. Walker Lecture tonight, but not before I spread the news of the next meeting of Pennsylvania Lodge of Research on Saturday, June 29 at Lehigh Lodge in Macungie.

Pennsylvania Lodge of Research will meet Saturday, June 29 at Lehigh Lodge No. 326 in Macungie.

I’ve never been able to catch one of these meetings. The lodge is to meet twice each year, with additional meetings at the discretion of the Master, and I think there always is one meeting in eastern Pennsylvania, but somehow I’ve never made it there. This will be a busy weekend. The American Lodge of Research will meet the night before in Manhattan, and Bro. Piers is hosting his annual barbecue on Sunday. (If you haven’t heard, he graciously moved it from Saturday to Sunday in appreciation of all the Masonic goings on scheduled for Saturday.)

Looking forward to it all... and then to a quiet summer punctuated only by the AMD Ingathering (more to come on that ambitious project!) and maybe the MRF conference in New Hampshire too, but I’m undecided on that one.

Officers apron.

One thing at a time, as we try to explain to the youngest Entered Apprentice. Pennsylvania Lodge of Research will open at 10 a.m. that day. Lehigh Lodge is located at 2120 Route 100 in Macungie, which is not prohibitively far into the Keystone State for us New Jersey guys. It’s only about 90 miles from the headquarters of Magpie Industries, which is notably nearer than Philly, so I got that going for me.
  

‘Wendell K. Walker Lecture 2013’

  
If it’s spring, it must be time for the annual Wendell K. Walker Lecture hosted by Independent Royal Arch Lodge No. 2 – “Old Number 2” – of the First Manhattan District. It’s this Thursday!

Courtesy Rome Sentinel

RW Bro. Bruce Renner will speak on “The Outermost Order: Freemasonry and the Western Esoteric Tradition.” Bro. Renner is a Past Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of New York, and is the president of the board of trustees of the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library. In the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Bro. Renner holds memberships in several Valleys in upstate New York; he holds the 33°, and he currently is working on a comprehensive history of the AASR in New York from the Union of 1867 to the present. In the York Rite, he is a Past Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of New York, and holds both the KYCH and the Order of the Purple Cross. (I have never heard of the latter.) His lecture Thursday night will define what is meant by “esoterica” in the Craft, and will explain various paths an esoterically inclined Mason might wish to pursue, acknowledging however that not all the brethren are so motivated.

Once again, the lecture and the dinner will take place in separate venues, and reservations are required. Leave me a note with your name and e-mail address (not for publication) in the Magpie comments section, and I’ll put you in touch with Bro. George, the Junior Warden of the lodge. The lecture will be hosted in the Empire Room on the twelfth floor of Masonic Hall (71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan) at 7:30 p.m. Afterward, the brethren will retire to dinner at Aleo, located at 7 West 20th Street. The fixed price menu, at $50 per person, includes wine and beer, and gratuity. A cocktail cash bar will be available.

See you there!
  

‘Town Hall’

RW William J. Thomas

    
Come one, come all to the Town Hall... uh, meeting.

Brethren of the First, Fifth, Seventh, and part of the Ninth Manhattan Districts are welcome to attend a program hosted by RW Bill Thomas, Deputy Grand Master, and other grand staff on protocol and etiquette, to be followed by questions and answers.

Wednesday, April 10, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Masonic Hall, Jacobean Room on the eighth floor. Attire: suit and tie or grand staff uniform, but no regalia.
    

‘Join the club’

     

Craft apron, probably European, I shot at the House
of the Temple a few years ago.

Bro. Bil Vassily of New York announces the formation last week of The Traditional Observance Club at Liverpool. Any Master Mason from a lodge under the Grand Lodge of New York or from a lodge within a grand jurisdiction in amity with GLNY is eligible to apply for membership. Just contact Bil at bilgeo(at)twcny.rr.com

For more information on the Traditional Observance movement in Freemasonry in the United States, visit the Masonic Restoration Foundation here, and don’t forget about the MRF’s annual symposium in August.

    

‘Spring 2013 Truman Lecture’

    

This just in from Bro. Aaron: The Spring 2013 Truman Lecture, hosted by Missouri Lodge of Research, will take place Saturday, May 4 at noon at the Grand Lodge of Missouri headquarters in Columbia. Bro. Alton Roundtree will speak on the history and development of Prince Hall Freemasonry, followed by a question-and-answer session.

Brethren, their ladies, and guests are welcome.

Tickets, at $20 each for lunch and the lecture, are available here. This is far outside the Magpie Mason’s regular orbit, so unfortunately I won’t see you there, but having heard Bro. Alton speak on this subject before, I promise it is worth your time. The history of Prince Hall Masonry can be vexing, so it is best to have a guide like Bro. Roundtree.
    

‘2013 College of Freemasonry’

    
The flier below speaks for itself. This part of New York is too far north for this Magpie, but if you are in the area, you would do well to attend this event. To have all of these speakers together for a single day very well may be too much, but it is a good kind of too much.

Click to enlarge.