‘Cincinnati’s Freemasons’

     
Congratulations to Bro. Donald Crews of Ohio on the publication a few weeks ago of his book Cincinnati’s Freemasons by Arcadia. From the publicity:

The first Masonic lodge in Cincinnati was chartered in 1791, less than three years after the town’s founding. Many prominent Cincinnatians have devoted their time, money, and effort to the fraternity. Many have also found knowledge, fulfillment, and camaraderie within the main and appendant bodies of the brotherhood. This book offers an introduction to the order’s members, buildings, and related organizations in southwest Ohio. The contributions of the Queen City’s share of the world’s oldest and largest fraternity are revealed through images from lodges and other bodies, buildings, individuals, and numerous other sources.

Donald I. Crews moved to Cincinnati as a sojourning Freemason 25 years ago and was immediately drawn to the city’s oldest lodge in part because of its long and fascinating history but also because of its home in the massive and amazing Cincinnati Masonic Temple. Images of America: Cincinnati’s Freemasons is an outgrowth of that interest, appreciation, and amazement at the variety of people, organizations, and buildings connected to the Cincinnati Masonic family.

Those of us who attended the Masonic Restoration Foundation’s Fifth Annual Symposium in Cincinnati in August met Bro. Crews, who presented, unsurprisingly, a history of Freemasonry in Cincinnati. He is a Member of The Masonic Society too.
     

‘Symposium Sunday in San Francisco’

     
This just in: The Scottish Rite Valley of San Francisco will be the site of a symposium (free admission) on Sunday titled “Revisiting the California Gold Rush, Stories Untold: The Role of Freemasons, Women, African-Americans and Religion.” The Scottish Rite is located at 2850 19th Avenue.

I usually do not publicize events 3,000 miles away, but those of us who like to see academia study the role of Freemasonry in general history are obliged to support the endeavors however we can. From the publicity:

The Policy Studies Organization invites its partners and friends around the nation to join us for the 2014 Enriching History Colloquium. The event will be held in San Francisco, California and streamed in multiple cities around the country, courtesy of the American Public University System. Enriching History aims to be part of a new series enriching American Studies and social science teaching, to deepen interest in the American saga by showing new ways of looking at our past. The series’ mission is to influence the ways in which we learn and discuss the various experiences that have produced an ever evolving country. The program brings together a diverse group of individuals who believe in the wide dissemination of, and attention being paid to, scholarly works on important historical events and figures.

Organized in cooperation with the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of California, this year’s Enriching History conference looks to explore the California Gold Rush and the involvement and influence of different minority populations within the period. This year we explore the role of Masons, women, and Jewish forty-niners, as well as examining the culture that surrounded them. This annual seminar is for social science educators and all persons interested in aspects in the social history in America.

The presenters will include Ava F. Kahn on “Jewish Voices of the California Gold Rush: Transnational Traditions,” and historian Gary Kurutz, director of the Special Collections Branch of the California State Library, with a lecture “On the Extremity of Civilization: The Golden Words of the Argonauts.” And Carson City songster CW Bayer will play music from the Gold Rush-era.

Satellite viewing locations will be offered throughout California in Scottish Rite Centers. There will be time for questions submitted via e-mail from those joining us at the below venues. Please contact each center to find out details:

· Burlingame Masonic Center at 145 Park Road in Burlingame

· Fresno Scottish Rite Center at 1455 L Street in Fresno

· Long Beach Scottish Rite Center at 855 Elm Avenue in Long Beach

· Palm Springs Masonic Temple at 450 South Avenida Caballeros in Palm Springs

· Pasadena Scottish Rite Center at 150 N. Madison Avenue in Pasadena

· San Bernardino Scottish Rite at 4400 N. Varsity Avenue in San Bernardino

· San Diego Scottish Rite Center at 1895 Camino Del Rio South in San Diego

· San Jose Scottish Rite Temple at 2455 Masonic Drive in San Jose

Please note that refreshments and lunch will be provided, free of charge, thanks to our generous sponsors. However, we do ask that you register for seating and catering purposes. Click here for the schedule of events. We hope that you will be able to join us at this exciting and informative event!

Policy Studies Organization also is planning the World Conference on Fraternalism, Freemasonry, and History: Research in Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society for next May in Paris. Click here.     

‘Mystic Tie in Maryland’

     

Maryland Masonic Research Society will meet for lunch at noon on Saturday, December 13, and Past President Joi Grieg will present “The Mystic Tie: Tying and Untying with Words.”

This will take place in the Roman Room of the Grand Lodge of Maryland, located at 304 International Circle in
 Cockeysville. Dining fee: only $15.

In addition, there will be the election and installation of officers for the ensuing year.

From the publicity:

Joi Grieg will present for discussion the topic of the Mystic Tie that connects Masons, and the language used across the fraternity to tie it together, or, in some cases, to distance. In the field of linguistics, this is called the language of inclusion and exclusion. Examples of the terms and the range of definitions used across the United States, some common and others almost contradictory, will be covered. It will include trends away from use of some of these words (such as “profane”), in the public sphere. There are choices that can be made by each of us as individuals, bound by obligations, rules, and Masonic entities, which can continue the status quo, or become more inclusive.

The Maryland Masonic Research Society was founded in 1979 with the mission and motto “Masonic Enlightenment through Research.” It is not a lodge, and is open to all who have an interest in Freemasonry. Lodges, libraries, and other organizations may become institutional members. MMRS meets at least four times a year at various locations throughout Maryland to hear and discuss research papers and presentations on philosophy, science, Masonic history, and other subjects of interest to members.

Please send your intent to mmrs1979(at)gmail.com by December 7 if you plan to attend.
     

‘Introduction to Rosicrucianism’

     
Several programs that are worth your time are scheduled for this week and beyond at the Rosicrucian Cultural Center in New York City (2303 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd.).

Tuesday, November 11 at 6:30

Introduction to the Rosicrucian Order

Who are the Rosicrucians and what do they do? Join Julie Scott, Grand Master of the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC, in this experiential introduction to Rosicrucian teachings and practices.

Wednesday, November 12 at 6:30

Rosicrucian Techniques for Radiant Health

In this experiential workshop, Grand Master Julie Scott introduces many Rosicrucian practices for Radiant Health on the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels. All are welcome!

Saturday, November 15, from 1 to 5 p.m.

Discuss Spiritual Laws with Dr. Lonnie Edwards

It is important for us as students of spirituality and mysticism to become aware and acquainted with the tremendous resources that are available to make our lives more harmonious.


Once we learn to tap these inner resources, living will be an invigorating affair, advancing and expanding the consciousness.

Through lectures, participation in meditation, and visualization exercises, we will be given the opportunity to experience the value of these principles in a group setting. Facilitating the discussions will be Dr. Lonnie Edwards, Vice President of the English Grand Lodge Board of Directors, and author of Spiritual Laws that Govern Humanity and the Universe.

Sunday, November 16 at 5:30

Spiritual Movie Night: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

Each Sunday, November through December (with the exception of December 21 when we will meet on Friday the 19th at 6:30), we will watch a film that dramatizes spiritual lessons, then discuss the film through the lens of Rosicrucianism. Our selection for this week is What the Bleep Do We Know!?

     

‘Tonight it’s AnthroPOEsophy’

     
It’s Edgar Allan Poe night at Anthroposophy NYC. From the publicity:

Literature Alive: Edgar Allan Poe

With Lenard Petit, Daniel Kelly & Ensemble

Monday, November 10 at 7:30 p.m.

Anthroposophy NYC

138 West 15th Street in Manhattan

$10 per person

Join us for a haunting evening of dramatic reading and musical interpretation of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Raven,” and “The Bells.” Lenard Petit, from the Michael Chekhov Acting Studio, and award-winning composer Daniel Kelly’s inventive chamber ensemble pull at the fabric of Poe’s textured writing. Poe’s poems and stories of suspense and terror have their place in our collective cultural psyche. Come hear these stories anew, with Petit’s powerful performance accompanied by animated and uncanny music from Kelly, whose work Time Out New York calls “powerfully moving.”

     

‘Remembering the cold cheap masonry’

     
I couldn’t let today’s silver anniversary of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall pass without comment. Something I had thought wouldn’t happen in my lifetime was made real as I watched in suspicious disbelief as it occurred on this date in 1989. An amazing turning point in human history that, amazingly, is nearly forgotten already in the United States.

The lessons for Freemasonry are stark. Speculative builders who work in virtue and morality, in brotherly love and truth, “create societies out of freedom,” as one Mason (a total stranger) I met before my initiation phrased it. (“A lodge cannot deprive a brother of his civil rights…” Constitution and Laws, 29-27, Grand Lodge of New Jersey, F&AM.) What was wrought in the “Democratic Republic of Germany” in 1961 was an immoral and hateful masonry: cheap concrete that surely would have crumbled by now, leaving only the rebar and rocks that went into the cement. When masons are free, they can build temples and churches of resources gifted by nature and handcrafted into masterpieces. When they are not, they’ll throw up slabs of shitty cement to imprison a city. Freemasons should never forget the symbolic working tools found on the flag of the DDR: The hammer of industry and the compass of science should serve to remind us all of the versatility of any tool. What matters is the hand that wields it, or as German filmmaker Fritz Lang put it in his Weimar era masterpiece Metropolis: “The mediator between the head and the hands must be the heart.”

My own mementos of the Berlin Wall acquired during a visit in 1990 include

several shards of the Wall and a few East German military and political medals.

     

‘Rosicrucian workshop at Nutley’

     
Julie Scott, Grand Master of the Rosicrucian Order’s English Grand Lodge for the Americas, will present a workshop Saturday, November 29 at the Order’s Pronaos in Nutley, New Jersey. From the publicity:

H. Spencer Lewis Pronaos

175 Chestnut Street in Nutley

Saturday, November 29

10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

AMORC members only

Fee: $54—Click here

H. Spencer Lewis Pronaos, AMORC will be honored to have Grand Master Julie Scott present a workshop at our Pronaos quarters. The theme for the day will be “Expansion of Awareness.” You will be participating with her in an experience that will help you discover your eternal, infinite, inner Cosmic Consciousness that seeks to guide you on your life’s journey. Be sure to take advantage of this precious opportunity.

Doors open at 9:30
Council of Solace at 10
Workshop Part I at 10:30
Lunch at 12:30
Workshop Part II at 1:30
Convocation at 3:30
Social hour at 4:30
     

‘Garibaldi Lodge at 150’

     

In the name of Freemasonry, Virtue, and Universal Benevolence, historic Garibaldi Lodge No. 542 was re-dedicated last night in celebration of its sesquicentennial year, as was done on its centenary and golden anniversaries—and no doubt will be done in 2064—too. By comparison, Italy, as a nation-state, is only 153 years old.

The first Italian-language lodge under the Grand Lodge of New York, Garibaldi would beget no fewer than nine daughter lodges over the years, yet Garibaldi remains unique for its periodic conferral of the French Rite Entered Apprentice Degree. In italiano. Spectators swarm from seemingly everywhere to witness the stunningly symbolic ritual of spiritual transformation that the lodge received from L’Union Française No. 17.

The Grand Master and the Worshipful Master.

Grand Master William J. Thomas and a team of Grand Staff officers opened the Grand Lodge in the Corinthian Room, spreading the elements of consecration upon the symbolic lodge in a ceremony open to the brethren’s ladies and friends. Masons from afar were in attendance; I chatted with brethren from Portugal and Paris. 

The first great care of the two GLNF brethren upon entering the room was “Why are the women here?”

Courtesy Bill Thomas

October was a busy month for the lodge, with New York City’s Columbus Day Parade and an anniversary banquet leading up to the lodge re-dedication last night.


Congratulazioni e buon anniversario, i miei fratelli!
     

‘Prevention and presumption’

     

If they aren’t already, they inevitably will start looking at me, so I hereby solemnly and sincerely promise and swear, &c., &c. that I have nothing—nutzing!—to do with the pamphlets, nor have any knowledge of the pamphleteer(s), so don’t even ask me about it unless you’re buying me a drink.
     

‘Gurdjieff: The Search for Meaning’

     
The Gurdjieff Foundation of New York City will host an event next month at the Theosophical Society to introduce us to the concepts of the Gurdjieff Work.

Toward Awakening:

The Search
for Meaning

in the Midst of Life

Friday, November 14

6 p.m.

Quest Bookshop

240 East 53rd Street

Manhattan

RSVP to gurdjieffevent(at)gmail(dot)com

After attending one of the Foundation’s introductory events, one may attend Ongoing Readings, such as those scheduled for November 21 and December 5. Each session will consider an aspect of this Gurdjieff quotation:

“The point is to re-establish what has been lost, not to acquire anything new.
 This is the purpose of development.”

Send a note to that same e-mail address for more information and to reserve your seat at the Readings if you have attended an introductory event first.
     

‘Two Magic Flutes’

     
We have two options to see Mozart’s Masonic opera this fall.

The Metropolitan Opera is staging Die Zauberflöte, now running in repertory through November 8. This is the full-length (more than three hours) version in German.

Courtesy the New York Times

Toby Spence in Julie Taymor’s production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Metropolitan Opera House.

Click here for tickets.

Click here to read the New York Times’ review.

The New Victory Theater will stage a kid-friendly, two-hour production of The Magic Flute in English in early November. Tickets for $15. 209 West 42nd Street, just off Times Square. From the publicity:

From the townships of South Africa, Isango Ensemble bursts onto the stage in an inspired reimagining of Mozart’s masterpiece opera The Magic Flute: Impempe Yomlingo. Sung in English by an ensemble of more than two dozen vibrant voices, classic arias are enlivened with exhilarating orchestrations of merry marimbas and powerful percussion. Winner of an Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival (Young Vic, London) and a Globes de Cristal for Best Opera (Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris), this fresh, fearless and fantastical production, co-produced by Eric Abraham and the Young Vic, brims with dazzling drama, crisp comedy, and the sublime joy of finding true love.

Courtesy The New Victory

New York City’s first and only full-time performing arts theater for kids, their families, and classmates, The New Victory presents a full season of adventurous multidisciplinary works from around the globe and close to home.

Click here for tickets.