‘Diogenes’ Lamp’

   
It’s been months since the Magpie Mason reviewed a book, and now that the 2008 offering from the Masonic Book Club is out, what better opportunity?


“Diogenes’ Lamp” by Adam Weishaupt is subtitled “Or, an Examination of Our Present-Day Morality and Enlightenment.”


If you know who Weishaupt was, you realize his present day was the late 18th and early 19th centuries – the Enlightenment – and that he founded the storied and feared Illuminati. But it would be wrong to view this as an Illuminati book. This originally was published near the end of Weishaupt’s life, several decades after the Illuminati was suppressed by the state, and the author renounced his affiliation with the order.

Diogenes of course was the Greek philospher of the Cynic school who carried a lamp in broad daylight in his search for an honest man.

“When I compare our world of today with the worlds of older times – the worlds of the Greeks and the Romans, or even just the Middle Ages – the differences appear so great to me that, by my way of thinking, people from those distant eras would have trouble recognizing themselves in us or convincing themselves that the scene of their former activities is still the same place and that we are their descendants,” Weishaupt begins his book. “Not just people and actors have changed, but also objects and things. Both Heaven and Earth have expanded since that time, and entirely new peoples have shared in the ruling of this earthly globe. Where, in the older world, nomadic tribes wandered with their flocks through the wilderness, states have now arisen that, like so many powers of the first water, have advanced the direction of European political knowledge.”

If only the man could have seen how his own name and his Illuminati would fuel the minds of paranoid, benighted kooks and opportunist authoritarians alike in generations to come.

“Diogenes’ Lamp” is a discourse in the first person. Not divided into chapters or subjects (he really could have benefitted from an editor), this book is a clarion in Weishaupt’s voice calling for man to arise to right thinking and right action. It is a philosophical treatise, and reading it, one cannot help but wonder why he continues to inspire so many conspiracy theorists. Not only is his philosophy non-threatening to decent people and just societies, but there isn’t even anything “new” in his thinking.

“For about four thousand years, as far back as our history goes, we humans have, on this earth, thought, acted, believed, taught, and governed. Despite all this, it is widely and generally believed that we remain unchanged, and not one iota better than before. If this belief has grounds, then thinking, believing, teaching, and governing are the most unnecessary things in the world, and it would be impossible to make their disgrace and disparagement more plain.”

Here he seems to reject Rousseau’s grim view of human nature and culture. He continues:

“Our assessment of humanity’s moral behavior does not look much better. In this area as well, all human beings hold very high opinions of themselves. Humanity’s finer side conceals such opinions behind the veil of modesty. But this so-pleasant virtue is for the most part just a facial expression we assume... As a result, everyone has the greatest difficulty suspecting themselves capable of flaws and afflictions.”

I’m reminded of Decartes and his “Discourse on Method,” in which his wit and candor are set to labor, very effectively, to make the reader laugh at human foibles. Weishaupt however is more blunt than witty.

“I am malicious, if this way of being different deserves to be called malicious, because I am neither a flatterer nor blind; because I distinguish between the better driving forces and the worse ones; because no one could wish more for things to be better than they are; and because at the same time I am convinced that things cannot be better until people stop failing to recognize the true forces driving their actions. If using a higher standard to determine people’s true value indicates maliciousness, then I cannot deny that I am malicious, and I believe I would be the loser if I were any other way.”

Contrary to resembling the architect of a godless, totalitarian “New World Order,” Weishaupt reveals himself in these pages as an optimistic thinker with highly Catholic tastes. (He was Jesuit educated.)

“Our men of the world are completely correct when they claim that a person can act morally, be a very upright, generally respected, and beloved man, and still be able to deny the future. People certainly have sufficient other reasons for behaving justly and correctly. They do not require the gallows or the wheel to do so. A certain moral behavior results from the nature of the relationships under which we live. Our needs force us to fulfill certain obligations. Some of the ends we pursue with themost yearning cannot be achieved without our suppression of our own demands and self-interest. It is in every man’s interest to be just and moderate… There is also no lack of examples of men who denied the future and yet lived as philanthropists.

“This may well all be probably perfectly true. A morality built on unbelief may be completely adequate for humans to become the way they currently are, but it is not adequate if people want to become more than they currently are; it is not adequate if the source of our lamentations is to be lifted. it does not suffice for making people into what they are capable of becoming, or ennobling the mind itself as the source of all behavior. it does not suffice for people to act uniformly and always in this same manner. It does not raise the mind up above all temptations and attractions, to do the opposite. there are situations in which the usual reasons for correct behavior do not pass the test. There are situations that raise people up above the usual considerations...

“Therefore, if men of the world call upon the philanthropy and goodness of their actions as evidence of higher morality, they may indeed be very good, when judged by their effects, but this does not prevent the source from being dishonest and the foundation from being shaky. What is truly good is found not in the actions but in the convictions. The virtue exists not in individual deeds, because virtue is a Whole, and where it is not, there can be good deeds that are not good, and there are only too many of those.”

For Weishaupt, the perfect society is a busy place. Its citizens are striving for happiness, each by bringing his strengths and weaknesses into balance. In Masonic history, Operative Masonry was the laborious construction of physical buildings, which gave way to Speculative Masonry, as in the improvement of the self through gradual embracing of high minded ideals. Adam Weishaupt takes us full circle. His Operatives would metabolize the Speculative teachings, making them second nature, and then resume their labors in constructing, not stone cathedrals, but societies founded on virtues.

Of course that is what agitates the manipulators of religion and politics. In short, his thesis is the twin of that of the 32° of Scottish Rite Masonry, which came to light almost simultaneously to the publication of this book.

Drawing his conclusion, Weishaupt says “...we would be very much in error if we wanted to believe that this insight and conviction are for everyone. Convincing oneself that such a way of acting is the only way and the best way requires, if you do not want to fool and undermine yourself with empty words, great understanding of the overall situation, and thus a very highly developed mind. It presupposes that you first know how many ways of acting exist, which effect result from each of them, how every deed, emotion, and idea behaves in relation to what has already happened. It requires you to be able to prove the agreement and the contradictions of yourself and others, and to be able to distinguish the apparent agreement or contradiction from the real. All of these are great and unusual prerequisites and characteristics.

“In general, acting in accordance with the purest of motivations and highest principles is such an equivocal thing, associated with so many difficulties, that in reality it is one of the rarest of occurrences.”


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It is essential reading, but there are big problems with this book. Masonic Book Club publications often are facsimiles of original and rare titles, allowing the modern eye to see the books as they were intended for the first readers. Because Weishaupt’s original is in German, a direct reproduction is impossible. The typeface chosen for this printing makes an already challenging content a little more difficult to read for comprehension. I don’t know the name of this font, but it is italicized and has exaggerated serifs. The accumulated effect of hundreds of pages of this is not kind to the eyes.

Also, Weishaupt, a native of Bavaria, obviously composed his teachings in German, so this publication is an English translation. (The text is translated by Amelia Gill.) Nevertheless, the text includes numerous quotations of Greek, Latin and French sources, and there is extensive use of German; none of these are translated into English. Footnotes could have been used, or even an appendix, but no such luck. A rotten editorial judgment that detracts from this book’s usefulness because Weishaupt uses these quotations for direction before expanding on their meanings.

Even worse, frankly, is the 20-page, two-part introduction authored by Mark Bruback, who inexplicably is credited as a Knight Templar. What that affiliation has to do with this book or with the MBC is lost on me. He also is listed as the project coordinator, a mysterious appellation requiring a visit to his MySpace page for clarification. As it appears on February 8:

“I acquired the dusty old volume, Lara Croft style, in an old Masonic Library where I instantaneously recognized the author’s name and proceeded to carefully flip through the aged manuscript. Printed in Austria in 1804, its brittle 368 pages stirred in me a wonder.”

And then:

“Even though I have been offered thousands of Dollars by various private individuals and churches to sell the original book, I felt it so important to continue this project I had to turn them down. Afraid they might try and destroy it and/or slant it in their own unknown agendas, I declined their offers when the prospect (and need) for money in my life was very strong.

“In order to safe guard the book, I heavily insured it and mailed it to the Masonic Temple in Evanston, Illinois. I let my contact, (the Knight Templar commander who knighted me there in 2001) know the importance (and financial value) of safeguarding the book and suggested it be put in the large vault within the sanctified walls of the temple.”

There is no explanation of how this rare and valuable book, once the property of a Masonic library, came to be owned by Sir Knight Bruback for his disposal. (If SK Bruback is reading this, he is cordially invited to post a comment to explain. The lamp Diogenes carried, after all, was to help him find on honest man.)

He goes on to say he intends to publish this commercially.

“I am relieved now as the Masonic Book Club of America is releasing this gem in December of this year, slated as their book for 2008… This is by no means the stopping point of this project. My literary agent J. Joyce is working hard, as we speak, to find a major publishing house to release this book to the masses.”

I would direct his attention to page iv, where the MBC’s copyright is printed.

Anyway, his introduction to “Diogenes’ Lamp” rambles in a juvenile voice, displays a variety of style inconsistencies, and distracts the reader with countless errors in punctuation and grammar. Note to the editor: The ampersand (&) is not universally interchangeable with “and,” the proper conjunction that eluded you. Albert Mackey’s name has become MacKey. And on, and on. These transgressions are so numerous and so damaging to the book that longtime members of the MBC are in for a staggering shock. Perhaps the patrician reliability of the Club is being dropped in an appeal to the My Space generation. (If you do not know, the Masonic Book Club has begun a new era under new management upon the recent retirement of Robin Carr. I hope the new management gets the help it needs. Today.)

As one popular Masonic author phrased it yesterday, “The good news is that we at last have the first book of authentic Illuminati writings translated into English. The bad news is it's this one.”

This misstep aside, the MBC is worthy of the brethren’s support. I think. Membership is limited to 1,500 and vacancies exist. There is a new website.
     

‘To keep and conceal?’

Nutley Lodge Master Franklin Suco presents a gift to W. Ben Hoff in thanks for the lecture delivered there Monday night. Hoff is Master of New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education in Trenton.

The yearlong Masonic education program at Nutley Lodge No. 25 continued in fine style Monday night with the appearance of W. Ben Hoff. The Worshipful Master of New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education in Trenton journeyed north to share with the brethren one of his always illuminating presentations. This one concerned the history and diversity of ritual ciphers.

Ben is an avid researcher of Craft Masonry rituals – their history, variations and, when possible, their appearance in cipher books, official or otherwise. His personal library of ritual books includes genuine antique treasures like “The Master Key” by John Browne from 1794 (a book that even Mackey said was rare, and that was 150 years ago), and the more famous Antient ritual exposures from the 1760s, like “Three Distinct Knocks.” Of more modern publications, Ben has a library of American and English ritual books, some published officially, others not.

When giving these talks, Ben always brings a batch of these texts for the brethren to see and handle. Monday night we had the chance to peruse a variety of books, including a handwritten ritual book, in code, from Aurora Lodge No. 3 in New Hampshire (which no longer exists). I think it was a 19th century vintage. Its code was the “dreaded single-initial” abbreviation style, as opposed to the unique symbol characters in the ciphers of New Jersey and elsewhere. And he also distributed brief excerpts from New Hampshire’s official ritual book of 1948. In both samples, it was hard to decipher everything because that jurisdiction’s language differs very slightly. But other variations are major, like the absence of Deacons taking up the Word during the opening.

The proliferation of ritual exposures was natural, Ben explained. Although published commercially and without official sanction of the Grand Lodges, these books were mightily sought by the brethren for use as memory aids. Even those books published by anti-Masons for the purpose of diminishing the fraternity’s mystique and allure were snatched up by Masons struggling to study independently. “We’re not supposed to write (the secrets of the degrees),” he added, “but nobody ever said anything about buying.”

One might be tempted to think the study of Masonic ritual ciphers would be dull and dry. The truth is the real story of Freemasonry is encoded in those pages. The comparison of one modern ritual to its ancestors reveals more about the Craft than any dozen lame “Templar Chapel Decoded!” type books on the point-of-sale rack in Barnes & Noble. But it requires patience, and it is necessary to read history for context. From there you can see with your own eyes how the lodge of the tavern became the lodge of the temple; how lectures were taken away from the brethren assembled and assigned to a lone orator; how Openings were changed from the EA° to the MM°; and how beautiful prose was excised by ritual committees that had no idea of the meaning and purpose of those words.

There were changes arising outside the temple as well.

William Morgan’s ritual exposé resulted in the scandal that almost destroyed the fraternity in the early 1800s. To cope and attempt a comeback, many of the Grand Lodges sent delegates to the Baltimore Convention in 1843, where the feasibility of a nationwide standardized ritual was seriously proposed. The anti-Masonic movement of the era produced America’s first political third party: the Anti-Masonic Party, which enjoyed significant electoral success, even electing a governor in Vermont.

During the Civil War, the prolific author Rob Morris devised his Mnemonics system, which he offered as a potential standard ritual for the country’s recovering Masonic fraternity. That ritual is seen today in the work of Connecticut’s lodges, among others.

The advent of ritual books caused the fraternity to obsess over its ceremonies. By having the printed word for reference, Masons became devoted to letter-perfect performance of the degrees. Ceremonial form became more important than instructive substance, and passing generations of mistaken Masons came to believe there never have been changes to their rituals. Sound familiar?

“The essence of ritual is not the precision of the words,” said Hoff, whose research will result in a book on the evolution of Craft ritual, the chapters of which he presents as papers to our research lodge. “Originally there was no standardized ritual. To this day in England there is no standardized ritual!”

The point, he added, is that these ceremonies need consist only of their necessary initiatory elements (the entrance, circumambulation, etc.). This does not mean anything goes in the degrees, but rather lodges do not have to be the cookie-cutter clones we have today. “Lodges with non-standardized rituals have brethren who are more passionate about preserving their lodges’ rituals and heritage.” They have to be more careful; they don’t have books to pass around. “They also spend more time visiting other lodges to see what they do differently. It’s cool!”

As regards New Jersey’s ritual, what we see today printed in plain English in our books once was merely commentary on the actual ritual, which we know in code. This added commentary gradually became incorporated into the ritual itself, making the ritual more complicated... resulting in the demand for written texts.

New Jersey ritual ciphers date back more than a century, to “King Solomon and His Followers: A Valuable Aid to the Memory.” The MM° Opening in this unauthorized book shows the Deacons being summoned to the West; charged by the SW to satisfy themselves that all present are MMs; and then traveling East by the North and South. No Word is taken up. Instead, a Deacon halted in front of an unfamiliar brother, until he was properly avouched.

Another unofficial New Jersey cipher, titled “Ecce Orienti” circa 1918, begins with a 13-page discussion of the Essenes, a term used to confound the uninitiated (and incidentally a term used about 30 years before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls).

The publishers of both of these books also printed versions for other Masonic jurisdictions. Remember this was the golden age of fraternalism, when publishers, manufacturers and vendors of all kinds could earn their livelihoods by gratifying the needs of the hundreds of thousands of men who comprised the countless fraternities, benefit societies, and other groups upon which people depended for their social lives and economic security. The codes employed in these pages are recognizable to Masons today.

The same is not true of the aforementioned Browne’s “The Master Key.” That author devised a cipher that replaced vowels with the letters of his last name.

A = B
E = R
I = O
O = W
U = N
Y = E

So, of course, the use of a B could indicate an intended A... or it could just be the B.

The Magpie reader who can decipher the following phrase will receive a pint of Guinness and a fine cigar next week at the Alex Mark Hilton.

Thrko Ngbndthrc Rbftwoth

‘A Night at the Opera’

On Saturday, April 25, St. John’s Lodge No. 1, AYM in New York City will host its second annual Opera Night, taking in Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” at the Metropolitan Opera House. Last year, the brethren attended Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.”

Riccardo Frizza makes his Met debut this season. Here he conducts Tenor Marco Berti in the title role of the heroic troubadour and Baritone Željko Lučić as his powerful rival. Soprano Hasmik Papian stars as the noble Leonora and Luciana D’Intino returns to this opera as the gypsy woman fixated on past crimes and vengeance.

Sung in Italian with “Met titles” in English from the libretto by Salvadore Cammarano.

John W. Freeman of “Opera News” summarizes the story:

ACT I. (The Duel) Outside the guardroom of Aliaferia Palace in Aragon, Count di Luna's soldiers are waiting to apprehend Manrico, a troubadour, who rivals the count for the favors of the Lady Leonora. Ferrando, captain of the guard, keeps his men awake by telling them of a Gypsy woman burned at the stake years ago for bewitching Di Luna's younger brother. The Gypsy's daughter sought vengeance by kidnaping the child and, so the story goes, burning him at the very stake where her mother died. Di Luna, though, still hopes his brother lives.

In the palace gardens, Leonora confides to Inez how at a tournament she placed the victory wreath on the brow of an unknown knight in black armor; she saw him no more until he came to serenade her. Though Inez has misgivings, Leonora declares her love for the handsome stranger. No sooner do the women reenter the palace than Di Luna arrives to court Leonora. Simultaneously Manrico's song is heard in the distance, and Leonora rushes to greet him. The jealous count challenges Manrico to a duel, and they hurry away.

ACT II. (The Gypsy) As dawn breaks in the Biscay mountains, Gypsies sing at work with hammer and anvil. Azucena - the Gypsy's daughter described by Ferrando - relives her mother's fiery execution, recalling the dying woman's plea for vengeance. Manrico asks to hear her full story, becoming confused when Azucena, overwhelmed with memories, blurts out that by mistake she hurled her own son into the flames. Assuring him of a mother's love, Azucena makes Manrico swear revenge, but he says a strange power stayed his hand when he could have killed Di Luna in the duel. A messenger brings news that Leonora, thinking Manrico dead, plans to enter a convent. Despite Azucena's pleas, Manrico rushes away.

Di Luna, burning with passion for Leonora, waits by the cloister to kidnap her. When she enters with the nuns, he strides forward, only to be halted by Manrico, who suddenly appears with his men. As the forces struggle, the lovers escape.

ACT III. (The Gypsy's Son) Di Luna has pitched camp near the bastion of Castellor, where Manrico has taken Leonora. After soldiers sing of their eagerness for victory, Ferrando leads in Azucena, who was found nearby. The Gypsy describes her poor, lonely life and says she is only searching for her son. Di Luna reveals his identity, at which Azucena recoils and is recognized by Ferrando as the supposed murderer of Di Luna's baby brother. The count orders her burned at the stake.

Inside the castle, Manrico assures Leonora her love makes him invincible. As the couple prepares to go to the wedding chapel, Manrico's aide Ruiz bursts in to say that Azucena has been seized and tied to a stake. Manrico stares in horror at the distant pyre, which has been lit. He runs to his mother's rescue, vowing vengeance.

ACT IV. (The Torture) Ruiz brings Leonora to the foot of the captured Manrico's prison tower, where she voices her undying love and prays for his release. Monks are heard intoning a doleful Miserere for the soul of the condemned, while Manrico sings farewell from inside the bastion. Leonora resolves to save him. When Di Luna appears, Leonora agrees to yield to him but secretly swallows poison.

In their cell, Manrico comforts Azucena, who longs for their home in the mountains. No sooner does the old Gypsy fall asleep than Leonora rushes in to tell her lover he is saved, urging him to flee. Manrico comprehends the price of his freedom and denounces her, but the poison begins to take effect. He takes her in his arms as she dies. Furious at being cheated of his prize, Di Luna sends Manrico to the executioner's block, while Azucena staggers to her feet to see the ax fall. She cries out that her mother is avenged: Di Luna has killed his own brother.

After the performance, the brethren will dine at O’Neals Restaurant, directly across from Lincoln Center.

The Met celebrates its 125th anniversary this season.

Bro. Lightfoote, R.I.P.

The Magpie Mason just read the obituary of Bro. Andrew “Monty” Montgomery, the alter ego of Bro. Lightfoote, the brilliantly insightful diarist who recorded for posterity the doings of Stonic Lodge more than two centuries ago. Bro. Lightfoote’s Journal has appeared in “Freemasonry Today” magazine for years, and in fact has been the Magpie Mason’s first stop upon receipt of each new issue.

From the Winter 2008-09 issue:

ANDREW JOHN MONTGOMERY 1952 - 2008

We were all saddened to hear that our Deputy Editor, Andrew Montgomery, (Monty) died suddenly early November.

Monty was the author of our very popular series detailing the wayward life and masonic times of the worthy and worshipful Brother Lightfoote, who, according to a very early story, was responsible for the deep gash across the brow of the carved head of the apprentice in Rosslyn Chapel when he stumbled and inadvertently discharged his pistol. Monty received his education at the Royal Masonic School for Boys and gained an early love of Freemasonry. He was initiated into Old Masonians Lodge, No. 2700 and after taking his three Craft Degrees moved on to join Royal Arch, Mark, Royal Ark Mariners and Knights Templar.

Monty attended the Bournemouth College of Technology graduating in 1974 when he obtained a post with the BBC in Television production. Two years later he left the BBC and worked freelance beginning as an assistant director in the commercial film industry. He moved up through the production grades to end as a producer. During this period he spent time in Thailand, Brazil, Austria, Germany, the United States and Pakistan working on film projects. He stayed for some months in the same hotel in Peshawar as Osama bin Laden and had a number of conversations with him. At the same time journalists were reporting how difficult it was travelling far into the mountains to interview this supposedly elusive fighter. During the filming of an Arthurian epic, the Irish horsemen were unhappy about the long hours and what they considered to be low pay. Monty solved the situation by adding a risk payment: any riders who fell off their horses into the water during filming received an extra daily payment. Thereafter all the riders contrived to fall into the water at least once a day. Writing was one of Monty’s many talents and he scripted Porterhouse Blue and Demob for British television among other projects. At the time of his death he had just finished working on a new film project in Paris and Portugal.

Monty loved music and played well. He also loved classic cars. He wrote a coffee-table book on great American cars and the definitive book on General Motors’ iconic sports-car designed by the great Harley Earl, the Chevrolet Corvette. He also loved photography, especially purchasing old cameras and film on the internet and then using them to produce powerful and often emotional images. But his old Leica IIIf remained a favourite.

In 1989, while both were working on a Television series, Monty met his wife Fleur and she continues in the film industry as a leading art director.

Above all Monty loved life and always saw the humorous side. He held a compassionate view of humanity. He followed a spiritually informed and creative journey with great optimism and enjoyment. He is much missed.

Bro. Lightfoote’s Journal has been the humor section of the magazine, and each entry of the diary indeed has been hilarious, but it would be a mistake to not look beyond the wit and absurdity. “Many a true word is spoken in jest,” says the old English proverb, and it is proven in Lightfoote’s log. Rosslyn Chapel, the pyramids in Egypt, Templars, female initiates… nothing was above a good-natured and cleverly crafted jibe.

Here he explains the nature of Masonry’s degrees.

Moral rectitude: “I then reminded Brother Secretary that he had, more than once, been so inebriate at the cessation of festivities that it had taken the combined efforts of three, five, seven or more brethren to bear him home. Further, they had been constrained to assist him in the urgent matter of passing water in a public place. Brother Secretary, the while, keeping up a loud and spirited rendition of the Sailors' Song from Purcell's celebrated Dido and Aeneas with lyricks of his own invention that I shall not here record. Not only was Brother Secretary guilty of drunkenness, disorderliness and indecency, but half the lodge were accessories, before, during and after the fact!”

Stuart Masonry: “Gentlemen-at-Arms rushed forward, fearing that an attempt had been made on the life of His Royal Highness and I was pulled to my feet with pistol pointed at my head. The Prince, regaining his feet and straightening his clothes, demanded of me if I were a supporter of the Stuart cause. I replied, trying to make light of the incident, that I was merely a Comedy Jacobite! The man lacks humour, doubtless due to his German ancestry. I was led away. Fortunately I was released without charge but the incident has been widely reported and I have become the butt of many a ribald joke, principally at the Stonic Lodge where I am currently referred to as The Prince’s Truss.”

Tongue of Good Report: “A candidate for initiation has been proposed in the Stonic Lodge and this has caused great consternation. His name is Andrews, Nathaniel Andrews, and he is a rat catcher by trade. When his curriculum vitae was read out by his proposer, a fishmonger, there was a distinct and uncomfortable stirring in the ranks. A brother who considers himself a gentleman, but is in fact a lawyer, raised objection on the grounds that having a rat catcher in the lodge might lower the tone of our proceedings...

“Consider this: as we are not all operative masons, but rather free and accepted, or speculative, might we not ponder the possibility of free and accepted rat catchers and, indeed, speculative rats? Intolerance, injustice, intemperance and insolence are spread, like the foulest canker, from the middens of mean minds to infect humanity at large? Who resists? Who remains steadfast in the faith? Who cuts off the tales of those that tell tales and holds tight to the truth? We do, brethren. Thus are we rat catchers all, are we not?”

Fine dining: “I attended a Lodge meeting recently, having partaken, rather freely, I admit, of Casbon’s Cleansing Ale with a light luncheon at The Antlers Club (jugged hare, cold capon, pork pies, gooseberries & custard, Cheshire cheese), and enjoyed a glass or two of fine Hollands gin, together with some quite exquisite smoked eels, with my doctor in the afternoon. I arrived at the Yorick Tavern a little early, suffering from a bout of flatulence that was positively escharotic, to employ a medical term. What can have brought this on I cannot imagine but something had to be done before the meeting commenced. A Brother was to be raised to the Sublime Degree and I didn't want the sepulchral silence of the ceremony’s central section interrupted by an unexpected eruption on my part. It took three large brandies to quell the storm, I fear. (A digression: I knew a boy at school who could produce, a posteriori, as it were, Handel’s celebrated Largo from Xerxes, which must have required quite exceptional muscular control. His name? Ramsbottom. I jest not.)”

Egypt-mania: “‘How do you know how old they are anyway? When was the first description of them given by a reliable witness, which is to say by an Englishman, eh?’ I sensed that I had him on the run and kept chasing. ‘I’ll wager, Brother, that the pyramids of Egypt are not more than fifty years old and probably built on a timber frame.’

“I could tell that he was outraged because he said ‘I’m outraged! The Egyptian pyramids are mentioned in Classical Greek texts!’ The man was gullible beyond belief, as most classicists are, in my experience. I spared not the rod of my derision. ‘So is the Cyclops, and the Minotaur, and the winged horse and, indeed, the wooden horse. I suppose you believe all those too, do you? I am sorry to be the one to have to disillusion you, Brother, but the Greeks are largely liars, except for the ones from Crete, who are all liars...’”

Grand Lodge pomp: “We keep our speeches brief at Stonic: ‘talk short, drink deep’ is the motto, and so it was until our honoured guest got up on his hind legs. He proceeded to lecture us on our several failings, claiming that our demeanour was, in general, irreverent and our ritual, in particular, irregular. He made special mention of my contribution, claiming that my witty paraphrase of the tale of Jephtha and Ephraimites constituted an innovation in the ritual and suggested that I, and everyone else, might care to attend a Lodge of Instruction. At this point, Lightfoote, already feeling clamorous and turbulent, broke out into full-blown fury. I rose to respond, noting that the Worshipful Master looked a little pale. I reminded the Grand One that he was a guest and it wasn’t a guest’s place to tell his host how to behave; if he didn’t like us, he would have to lump us. Further, I reminded him of the address made to the brethren on installation night, which points out, quite unequivocally, that our end and aim is primarily to please ourselves, not the Grand Lodge, the Emperor of China, my wife, the landlord’s dog or anyone else!

“Like a cup of last night’s claret, it didn’t go down well.”

Hospitality: “This very morning I was awoken at eight o’clock by stones being thrown at my bedroom window. I rose, for the first time, to ascertain the cause. A man was standing in the street below, smiling up at me. ‘Good morning, Sir,’ said he, ‘I trust that I haven’t disturbed you.’ ‘In whom do you put your trust?’ I enquired. ‘In the Metropolitan Insurance Company,’ he replied, quick as lightning, ‘and so should you!’ Now I knew what he was - and what he wasn’t – and what to do about it. ‘Against what should I be insured, do you think?’ I asked. He stepped closer. ‘Fire and flood, loss and damage, personal injury, robbery, acts of God…’ I emptied the chamber pot over him and shut the window.”

Masonry’s origins: “Now I’m an easy-going fellow, am I not? I enjoy a jest as much as the next man, possibly more. I am quite happy, if it makes them happy, for people to put forward suggestions about masonic ritual being founded on the long-lost practices of the Mediaeval Guilds, the Knights Templar (God bless them!), the Vikings, the Cult of Mithras (whoever she was) or whatever, but men from Mars is going too far – far too far. I could scarce restrain myself. ‘Spheres!’ I cried, though their synonym had first come to mind, ‘Orbs to the pair of you!’ ‘Globes – Celestial and Terrestrial!’ I could see that I had managed to discomfort them but a far more distracting interjection was supplied by our Junior Warden. Leaping on to his chair, he turned, dropped his breeches and announced that the pale moon was rising. It was acknowledged that the night was, indeed, waning fast and the Lodge was duly closed with some hilarity.”

Charity: “Just yesterday I was walking down Jermyn Street, thinking to buy Mrs. Lightfoote some perfume, when my ears were assaulted by what I at first took to be the cries of persons in panic and in pain. I hurried forward, ready to give what aid I could, assuming that a carriage must have overturned or some such similar catastrophe occurred –but it was carol singers! It was impossible to tell what carol they were singing, even assuming that they were all singing the same one, but whatever it was it came to a ragged conclusion as I came up. A young ruffian in a ruff rattled a box at me and demanded that I spare him a copper. ‘What for?’ I enquired. ‘Christmas, of course,’ the filthy urchin replied, bold as brass. I clarified my question. ‘For whom are you collecting, boy? Widows? Orphans? The poor and distressed?’ ‘No!’ he barked, ‘It’s for us, innit.’ The only thing this chubby little extortioner appeared to me to be in need of was a good hiding, but thrashing choristers in public, esp. during the Festive Season, might easily be interpreted as anti-social behaviour and one has to be so careful about that kind of thing nowadays.

“I advanced, pursued by a torrent of obscenities that would have made a naval surgeon blush, to the doors of my grocer’s shop. The place was heaving with humanity of every hue and it was only after some delay that I managed to collar a clerk and confirm the contents of the Lightfoote hamper: a ripe Stilton cheese, ditto Cheshire, a side of Hereford beef, three York hams, pork pies, rabbit pies, pigeon pies, game pies; hen’s eggs, quail’s eggs, duck’s eggs, plover’s eggs; French brandy, Scotch whisky, Plymouth gin and halfa- dozen cases of Yardy’s Wolfshead port to give away – I’m not wasting the ’59 on trades people! Five geese, four colley birds, three French hens – the usual stuff. It suddenly occurred to me that there were people in this world – in this city – who would not have enough to eat on Christmas Day or indeed on any other day and I suddenly felt quite guilty. I thought of cancelling my order but the thought soon passed; instead, I ordered that it should be doubled so that half may be given to those in need.”

Rosslyn Chapel: “I had to put my shoulder to the door to gain admission and fell through it to find myself on my arse, on a damp floor, staring at a rotting roof that threatened to join me at any moment. The place was encrusted with crude carvings, decayed to the point at which their content could be construed as anything that an over-fertile imagination might conceive. I stumbled about in the gloom, searching for meaning and busting for a piss. At the far end of the place were three pillars; I relieved myself, copiously, against what must have been wisdom as I had no strength and there was little beauty involved in the act. As I concluded my libation, I received such a fright that, had I not just emptied my bladder, I’d have wet myself. A dark shape swooped down at me: was it a bat?, was it a ball?, was it a heavy maul? I will never know, but I tumbled backwards, a cocked piece in both hands. Inevitably, one of them went off.”

Becoming a better husband: “I was invited to attend, as a guest, a new-founded Lodge that meets in some picturesque ruin over in Islington. I rarely travel out of town for meetings nowadays. Mrs. Lightfoote deeply resents my coming home very late and very drunk and so I restrict myself to returning fairly late and very drunk. Could a man be more reasonable? I think not!”

A distressed worthy brother: “It was decided that one of us must go immediately to see what could be done, either for W.Bro. Courts or for his dependents. Lightfoote, being able to spare the time and bear the cost, was the obvious choice....

“The trip was hell. Like the poor candidate in a state of darkness, Lighfoote risked death by divers dreadful means, finally coming to light on the shore of that ragged, rugged and remote rock that is known as the Isle of Man.... Lightfoote’s composure was almost restored when it was shattered anew by the arrival of a breathless messenger who could barely gasp out the awful words: ‘Mister Courts, he dead....’”

A healthy sense of skepticism couched in a hearty sense of humor.

It’s Saturday night. I think I’ll honor the good brother’s memory with a meal of scallops, gull’s eggs, the finest smoked herrings, stilton and of course a bottle of Yardy’s!

Alas, my brother.

‘Esoteric Quest’ is New York bound

After many years abroad, the annual Esoteric Quest will take place in America this summer. Read all about it here.

August 24 to 28
Upstate New York near Woodstock

Join us for the Open Center’s eighth Esoteric Quest, this time on the home soil of America. After seven previous conferences in Europe on the Western Esoteric Tradition, the time has come at this moment of rebirth of the American spirit to search for the Inner America—one known to the indigenous peoples, and a source of deep fascination to many esoteric thinkers from alchemists and Rosicrucians in the 17th century, to Masonic circles around the Founding Fathers, to the Transcendentalists and many writers and artists in the 20th century who have profoundly influenced modern times.

Upstate New York in the 19th century was a hotbed of spiritual innovation. It was the birthplace of many forms of unorthodox inner inquiry including the early spiritualists and feminists, the Oneida community, and the Hudson River school of painters. The Transcendentalism of Emerson, Whitman, and Thoreau uplifted the difficult and dangerous epoch of the Civil War. Remarkable figures emerged such as the African-American student of magic Paschal Beverly Randolph, and later Madame Blavatsky herself founded the Theosophical Society in New York City in1875. Throughout this time the Native Americans maintained profound insight into the soul of this land and the Iroquois Confederation went so far as to impact the shaping of the United States constitution.

In the 20th century many American artists were influenced by esoteric philosophy, from Elvis to Philip K. Dick to Saul Bellow. Martin Luther King Jr.’s profound spirituality was influenced by Gandhi, who was, in turn, indebted to Thoreau, and the African American Church served as a powerful generator of soul, courage and compassion. The latter part of the century was filled with an esoteric explosion as Sufi, Buddhist, Shamanic, Vedic and many other paths found common ground in a new, holistic culture.

This conference will examine and celebrate the life-enhancing spiritual impulses that emerge powerfully in America: the creative meeting of all cultures and spiritual paths; the natural American generosity of spirit; the “Yes We Can” attitude of optimism and self-belief; and the bedrock commitment to the virtue of equality. At a time when hope is high for a new American Renaissance, please join us for this exploration and celebration of the deepest and best in the soul of this country.

‘A night in Fairless Hills’

   
It has to be something important to get the Magpie Mason to miss a meeting of his Rose Croix Chapter, and so it was Tuesday night. The first meeting of 2009 at Fairless Hills Lodge No. 776 in Pennsylvania was highlighted by several educational presentations that inaugurated a full year’s calendar of lectures and other programs and travels intended to broaden the perspectives of the brethren. The Magpie Mason couldn’t miss that!

And there were many gifts and awards given by the Worshipful Master. Arguably the most touching honored W. Bro. William E. Jones who received his Past Masters jewel and apron, having just completed his year in the East.

The Worshipful Master, left, and W. Bro. William Jones.

The main presentation was provided by a visitor, the junior Past Master of New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education, located just across the river in Trenton. His subject was the Four Cardinal Virtues, which he was told do not appear in Pennsylvania Craft ritual, making his job of spreading Light a little more challenging than usual.

It was a lengthy presentation that tied together how Plato, St. Thomas Aquinas, William Preston and Thomas Smith Webb all are heard in Masonry’s ceremony of initiation where the Four Cardinal Virtues are symbolized by the Perfect Points of Entrance, and also in the governance of the lodge as provided by the Master and Wardens. Understanding, internalizing and exemplifying the Four Cardinal Virtues are key to making a Mason.

Well, except in Pennsylvania.

The guest speaker distributed a sheet of notes summarizing the main points of his presentation to the 40 Masons present:

Plato, Aquinas and YOU:
The Four Cardinal Virtues in Making a Mason

The Four Cardinal Virtues are Fortitude, Prudence, Temperance and Justice.

FORTITUDE

• Oxford English Dictionary: Physical and structural strength; moral strength and courage.

• Plato: The military class of society is prepared for arduous endeavor against obstacles.

• Aquinas: “A certain firmness of mind” and a “condition of every virtue” when facing “grave dangers.”

• Preston: Teaches us to “encounter dangers with spirit and resolution” and not rashness and cowardice.

• YOU: “Undergo pain, peril or danger in the performance of duty.” Withstand efforts to extort Masonic secrets. Be received upon the point of sharp object…. (Think Senior Warden: Sees that “none go away dissatisfied” to protect the peace and harmony – “the strength and support” – of our institution.)


PRUDENCE

• O.E. Dictionary: Ability to discern the most suitable, politic or profitable course of action, especially in conduct; practical wisdom, discretion (as in jurisprudence).

• Plato: From the intellectual conflict between the producer class and the military class arises the philosopher (lover of wisdom) class, which rules society.

• Aquinas: Goodness comes from applying “right reason to action.”

• Preston: “Regulate our conduct by the rules of right reason” to benefit the “general good.”

• YOU: We “regulate our lives and actions according to the dictates of reason… to wisely judge and prudently determine on all things relative to our present as well as to our future happiness.” (Think Worshipful Master: Embodies the wisdom of Solomon as he gives us “good and wholesome instruction” so the Craft enjoys “profit and pleasure thereby.”)


TEMPERANCE

• O.E. Dictionary: Rational self-restraint and moderation in action of any kind.

• Plato: “Bottom” class of society that produces the necessities of life for all. Can never be self-indulgent or inefficient.

• Aquinas: Moderation in human functions and appetites; differs from Fortitude because Temperance withdraws man from seductive things, while Fortitude enables him “to endure or withstand” them.

• Preston: Masons control their passions and desires for the health of body and mind.

• YOU: Restraint of affections and passions; “guards the mind against the allurements of vice” for the protection of Masonic secrets. (Think Junior Warden: “Call the Craft from labor to refreshment” and allow none to “convert the purposes of refreshment into those of intemperance and excess.”)


JUSTICE

• O.E. Dictionary: The exhibition of morally just principles; integrity, just conduct, rectitude. Observance of divine law. Conformity to reason, fairness, correctness.

• Plato: Justice is the result of all three classes of society operating harmoniously. Justice is the only virtue that is directed at others, rather than for the benefit of oneself.

• Aquinas: “The common good transcends the individual good of one person.” Justice comes from the rational appetite, unlike the other virtues which come from the sensitive appetite.

• Preston: A Mason renders “to every man his due without distinction; it is not only consistent with divine and moral law, but is the standard and cement of civil society.”

• YOU: “As Justice characterizes the really good man, it should be the invariable practice of every Mason never to deviate from the minutest principles thereof.” (Think Freemasonry: The Craft at labor in peace and harmony, united by the cement of brotherly love, meeting on the Level, acting by the Plumb and parting upon the Square.)



Plato (427-347 BCE) – Athenian philosopher, student of Socrates and master of Aristotle. Founded the Academy to pass the Socratic method of thinking to younger generations. Most significant writing is titled the “Republic,” which discusses the Four Cardinal Virtues as ideals for both the individual and society. He termed the Virtues: justice, wisdom, courage, and moderation. His philosophy is known as Platonism.

Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274 CE) – Italian-born member of the Dominican Order. Avid student of Greek philosophy whose writings reconciled Aristotelian thought with Catholic theology by explaining how an understanding of God can be achieved by applying human reason. His most influential writing, titled “Summa Theologica,” was unfinished at the time of his death. Because of his impact on the Church, he was canonized a saint in 1323 and proclaimed a Doctor of the Universal Church in 1567. In Christian iconography, he is represented by the Blazing Star, which also is a Masonic symbol. His philosophy is known as Thomism.

William Preston (1742-1818) – English Freemason and prolific scholar who gave shape to the rituals used in Britain and America. His book, titled “Illustrations of Masonry” published in 1772, provided some uniformity in ritual. A lasting effect of this was to turn Freemasonry from a purely convivial club to a fraternal order that had profound lessons to teach. In his honor every year the Prestonian Lecture is authorized by the United Grand Lodge of England to share a topic concerning the Craft in England.

Thomas Smith Webb (1771-1819) – Massachusetts-born Freemason who authored “The Freemason’s Monitor or Illustrations of Masonry” in 1797. This continued Webb’s work and is the basis for much of the ritual we use today. Served as Grand Master of Rhode Island in 1813. He is credited with establishing the (York Rite) Knights Templar in 1819.

Royal Arch Research

Thomas Smith Webb Chapter of Research in New York has called a meeting during the weekend of the Grand Chapter of NY’s Annual Convocation in Albany.

From the Secretary:

Companions, you will shortly be receiving your meeting notice/summons for Thomas Smith Webb Chapter of Research’s annual meeting on Thursday, March 5 at noon at the Holiday Inn on Wolf Road in Albany. Among the items to be discussed are changes to our by-laws, You’ll get a copy in the mail with your meeting notice.

I need RSVPs from our appointed/elected officers as to their attendance at this SUMMONED meeting.

Also, we are sending a request for papers. Please consider delivering a short paper or discussion at the meeting. Notify me of your interest in presenting, and I’ll send you some additional information.

Zealously,

Bill Thomas, Secretary
Thomas Smith Webb Chapter of Research
BillThomasNYC (at) earthlink.net

It’s Yasha!

The Masonic Society has announced the keynote speaker at its first banquet will be RW Bro. Yasha Beresiner, one of the Society’s Founding Fellows.

An introduction is not necessary, and would take too long anyway. For a look at his Masonic credentials, click here.

The Masonic Society banquet is the new addition to the Masonic Week events. It will take place Friday, Feb. 13. Tickets cost $65 per person, and must be reserved in advance. Click here.

In Freemasonry, Bro. Beresiner has just about done it all, but in my estimation he has the best job around: that of traveling to Masonic museums, libraries and meeting spaces to examine and photograph the countless artifacts, art works, manuscripts, letters, records, folk art, etc., and writing his findings for one of the best magazines serving the Craft.

It is not necessary to be a member of the Masonic Society to attend this banquet, but if you’ve read this far, you ought to consider joining. Membership is open to brethren of jurisdictions constituent to the Conference of Grand Masters of Masons in North America, and those jurisdictions in amity with the same.

RW Yasha also is world famous for his research work within Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076 in London, and other lodges of Masonic education. He is somewhat personally known to many Masons around the world through his distribution of many valuable books. Without him, I might not know anything about Emulation ritual, and my oldest copies of Ars Quatuor Coronatorum came from him. It’ll be great to finally meet him.

‘That is “Amadeus” backward’

David Greilsammer conducts Suedama Ensemble through its rehearsal before its New York City debut Dec. 11 at the 92nd Street Y.

The Magpie Mason began the month of December with mention of Suedama Ensemble’s upcoming performance at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, and before the month is out I’d better tell you what happened!

The performance was the NYC debut of this very excellent chamber orchestra that, for the occasion, chose a program of Mozart’s Masonic music and other esoterica-inspired works, including the world premier of an avant-garde piece. The evening was titled “A Musical Exploration of Freemasonry and Kabbalah.” The Y’s gorgeous and acoustically magnificent Kaufmann Concert Hall was the perfect venue. Its performance space is seemingly a smaller version of (pre-renovation) Alice Tully Hall, and the highest reaches of its walls are engraved with the names of our cultural giants: David and Moses; Washington and Lincoln; Shakespeare and Dante; Beethoven and Bach; and others. A monument to Western civilization.

For a music lover, it was a perfect day. Through the kind offices of the orchestra’s management, the Magpie Mason was granted access to the dress rehearsal before the performance, and to the performance itself, for a total of about five hours of live music. Many thanks to superpublicist Amelia Kusar for her limitless patience and cheerful assistance.

The second piece performed was Mozart’s “Masonic Funeral Music” for orchestra in C Minor, K. 477. Composed in 1785, this short work commemorates the deaths of two of Mozart’s lodge brothers. No fewer than three basset horns are enlisted for the work, lending a sublime aura to an already somber sound. The program notes for the concert say “the key of C Minor, with its three flats, and the work’s ABA form, reflect Masonic Trinitarian symbolism,” and that “the midsection is based on a Gregorian chant sung during Holy Week.” The piece’s final C major chord “foreshadows the eternal peace that Mozart described in an often-quoted letter to his dying father: ‘Death is the key which unlocks the door to our true happiness.’ ” And indeed that chord, which was rehearsed to tonal and timed perfection that afternoon, conveyed an optimism that would remind any Mason of the immortality of the soul.

“I don’t know if the ‘Funeral Music’ would have had the same meaning for me if it had been of a different nature,” said Artistic Director and Conductor David Greilsammer during a telephone interview five days after the performance. “I have a few friends who have joined lodges in different parts of the world – Tel Aviv, Paris, New York – who have told me about Freemasonry. It’s really a beautiful thing to see how the ideas and works of the composer have been influenced (by Masonry), and it has been on my mind. It has a transcendent psychological power. We were all feeling very much that connection to something very mystical and special. A lot of passion went into it.”

Greilsammer and Suedama Ensemble have one CD available. Titled “Mozart Early Piano Concertos,” it consists of three concertos for piano and orchestra (K. 175, K. 238 and K. 246), composed during Mozart’s youth. Greilsammer said the composer’s Masonic music will “definitely be a big part of the next recording.”



The second Mozart work performed that night was Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-Flat Major, K. 482, and was by far the best known piece in the program. The program notes say Mozart unveiled this work in December of 1785, possibly at a “musical ‘academy’ sponsored by a Masonic lodge.” Specifically it is the piece’s third movement that even the least osmotic listener of classical music can recognize from its various pop culture uses. As the program notes put it: “Mozart decorates (it) with dazzlingly virtuosic passagework. A brief Andantino episode interrupts the musical momentum before piano and orchestra resume their merry dash to the finish line.” And it is a lively finish indeed, rendered all the more impressive by Greilsammer’s dual roles as conductor and pianist!

Without recounting the entire evening, the Magpie Mason must share a little about the world premier of Jonathan Keren’s “On the Bridge of Words: A Triple Concerto for Narrator, Clarinet, Piano and Chamber Orchestra.” This 15-minute piece is the aforementioned avant-garde work inspired by the Kabbalah of Jewish mysticism. Or, more accurately, as Keren explained during an interview before the show, this music’s narration borrows from six literary texts that were Kabbalah inspired. His goal as composer was to envision music that could have inspired those texts, creating a triangular cycle among the ancient Kabbalah, these six texts spanning from the 13th to 20th centuries, and this modern music.

“It’s not a bad thing to be inspired by the world outside of music,” Keren said. “We derive our inspiration from real life experiences.” This particular real life influence arrived in the form of a commission from the 92nd Street Y and the Koussevitzky Music Foundation, a challenge that didn’t cause him to blink at all. “The real challenge is to work with that and still be yourself. It can nourish and inspire. One day I may have to write a trumpet concerto, and I’ll have to deal with that!”

Well, let’s hope his career won’t force him onto that daunting a path.

“On the Bridge of Words” is music that one probably would not play in the car. It is not intended for background or even passive enjoyment, but demands your attention. The narrator’s six texts are conversational to the music; each quotation marks a movement, and the seventh movement is a pastiche of all the six quotations, culminating the lesson in symbolism for the listener. The music itself reminds me of Frank Zappa’s orchestral work and, by extension, of Zappa’s influences, like Varese and Holst.

As the program notes put it: “On a deeper symbolic level, Keren tells us that each text relates to one of the seven lower Sefirot, or so-called attributes in the Kabbalah. These attributes – such as understanding, judgment, beauty, and victory – are held to be emanations of the divine principle, the creative forces that link the infinite realm of the unknowable to the finite world of creation. Taken together, words and music constitute what the composer describes as ‘a musical and philosophical journey.’ ”

Greilsammer, who collaborated with Keren on the work, offered more background.

“I was born and raised in Israel, with a traditional Jewish family, but Kabbalah was very secretive. You don’t learn about it in school and do not hear a lot about it. So I started my own reading of philosophers’ and rabbis’ ideas. It is a different world that fascinates me.” Of the music itself, he describes it as “an interesting contrast between two languages: one avant-garde, and one musical sound we always use classically.”

“Usually when you hear an opera, it can be very difficult to understand,” he added, “but I have found that as crazy as (this) music is, you can relate and make sense of the narrator. He’s just giving you information. He’s not acting, making it different and a unique format.”

That’s a fact!

▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼ ▲▼

It is New Year’s Eve, and quite a blizzard is brewing here. The Magpie Mason is signing off for 2008, wishing you all a joyful and hopefully prosperous 2009.

‘On the go in Stillwater’

Guildhall Lodge No. 553 in Stillwater, Oklahoma is a little outside the Magpie Mason’s orbit, but he has long wanted to visit the Valley of Guthrie, so maybe he’ll get there eventually.

The lodge has a busy year planned for 2009. Many thanks to Bro. Robert Davis, one of the founders of this Traditional Observance lodge, for sharing this information. Here is the lodge’s education agenda:

January – “Out of the Crucible: from the Reformation to the Age of Enlightenment”

February – “The First Recorded Freemasons, and Rosicrucian History”

March – Festive Board

April – “Sacred Space and the Lodge: A Footprint of Sacred Geometry”

May – “Current Global Trends in European Masonry”

June – Festive Board

July – “Comparing Practices of Kavvanah to Practices of the T.O. Lodge”

August – “C... K... Qabalah and Hermetic Philosophy”

September – Festive Board

October – “Alchemy: Spagyric Tincture Lodge Experiment”

November – “Jungian Psychology and Esoterica 101”

A new year at ALR

The new elected officers of American Lodge of Research.

The annual installation of officers took place a few hours ago at American Lodge of Research in New York City. RW Bill Thomas is the new Worshipful Master.

About 70 Masons filled the French Ionic Room to capacity for the occasion. The brethren came from multiple lodges representing many jurisdictions to salute the incoming Master and to honor the country’s oldest lodge of research. There was a dizzying blur of regalia, as aprons, collars, jewels, crests and other pieces displayed more designs and colors than one usually finds in a single lodge, especially an educational lodge. And speaking of diversity, it was difficult to place every one of the many foreign accents heard across the room. (And no, I don’t mean Queens and Brooklyn!) Did someone say “cosmopolitan Freemasonry?”

Lots of familiar faces also. As so often is the case in the field of Masonic education, the inhabitants are relatively few, and tend to find each other at the same kinds of events. I finally got to meet Steve Starkes, the new Junior Warden; we’ve been internet penpals for a number of years. There was Ted Harrison and George Harrison. Spiro, Philippe, Daniel from the library, Henry, Frank, the other Henry, a François or two, John Simon-Ash, the officer line of Boyer Lodge No. 1 of New York Prince Hall, and Luther from Cornerstone No. 37. And a lot more.

Shakespeare Lodge, Sibelius, Composite, King Solomon-Beethoven, Allied and other lodges were represented, as was the Grand Lodge, with multiple Right Worshipfuls showing their interest in the research lodge. (Something that can’t be taken for granted, believe me.) Also Thomas Smith Webb Chapter of Research. France L.C.A.C. And Hibiscus Lodge No. 275 in Florida was present too. An interesting lodge. Not a research lodge, but nonetheless publishes its own “International Journal of Masonic History and Culture,” copies of which were presented to WM Bill.

The inaugural paper of the Worshipful Master concerned a darkly amusing topic: the life of one George Cooke, a brother from Mt. Vernon Lodge No. 3 in Albany during the 19th century who made a name for himself as a con man, claiming to be everything from an attorney to a medical doctor to a major general.

The next Regular Communication of American Lodge of Research will take place Monday, March 30. A paper will be presented by RW Bruce Renner, Senior Grand Warden.

Journal No. 2

Word comes from our editor-in-chief that Issue No. 2 of “The Journal of the Masonic Society” will soon hit the streets.

Features include:

• Alpha Males: Trevor Stewart at Alpha Lodge, New Jersey
• Cleaning the Temple by Mark A. Tabbert
• Defining Esotericism from a Masonic Perspective by Shawn Eyer
• On Brotherhood by Robert Wolfarth
• First Degree Masonic Tracing Board: art and text by Greg Stewart
• There's A Hole In Our Bucket, Dear Hiram, Dear Hiram by Stephen Dafoe
• Photos by Ted Bastien

...and much, much more.

You mean you're still not a member of the Society? Well, consider this your engraved invitation.

And your subscription to this magazine is only one of the benefits of membership.

In addition, members are granted access to the Society’s on-line forum, where hundreds of Masons from around the globe interact every day, helping each other advance in their Masonic knowledge. As of today, there are 369 Society members discussing nearly 1,473 topics!

And of course it wouldn’t be a Masonic organization without goodies like pins and membership cards, but the Society cranks up the quality of these items, producing elegant symbols of membership that are earning accolades. In addition, each member receives an 11x14 patent, personalized and highly stylized that you'll want professionally framed. It is a very impressive document, on parchment with a hand-stamped wax seal.

But the true benefit of membership in The Masonic Society is the learning experience. Whether it’s an eye-popping topic in the magazine, or just simple conversation in the forum, there is no end to what a Mason can learn from his brethren in this organization.

Since announcing our existence on May 1, our membership has grown to more than 550. Our President is MW Roger Van Gorden, Past Grand Master of Indiana. Our Editor-in-Chief is W. Bro. Chris “Freemasons for Dummies” Hodapp. And our Directors, Officers and Founders include many leaders in Masonic education, including authors, publishers, curators, lecturers and more.

On Friday, Feb. 13, the Society will host its first banquet, as part of the Masonic Week events in Alexandria, Virginia. (Mention Hodapp's name and receive your complimentary champagne cocktail.)

‘A-P goes for the gold’

RALLYING AROUND TREVOR – Several Atlas-Pythagoras brethren flock to the side of W. Trevor Stewart at a recent visit. Rear, from left: Mike, Moises and Mohammad. Front: Pedro, Trevor and the inimitable Thurman Pace.

Atlas-Pythagoras Lodge No. 10 in Westfield, New Jersey is exploring the benefits of adding formal educational programs to its meetings. W. John Braun, the new Master has planned interesting lectures for the coming year with the encouragement of his officers. I’m told the new Senior Warden aims to continue the effort in 2010. A-P already is one of the strongest lodges in that part of the state, and with this new emphasis on education, things can only get better. (The Magpie Mason thinks he committed to a date, but can’t remember.)

On Friday, Feb. 6, Bro. Yasser Al-Khatib, Senior Warden of Fritz Lodge No. 308 in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania will speak on the history and mystery of the Order of the Golden Fleece. This meeting will be open to Apprentices and Fellows. Dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m. and the Communication starts at 7.30. Call the lodge at (908) 233-7349 to make your dinner reservations.

‘A happy St. John’s Day’

   

The Master of Fairless Hills Lodge No. 776 in Pennsylvania, presents a gift to the Rev. Canon William Rauscher in thanks for his talk on religion and Freemasonry today. Rauscher has been a Mason for 40 years.

I enjoyed a terrific afternoon in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania today, driving out there to join the St. John’s Day celebration at the invitation of the lodge’s Worshipful Master. Scores of other Masons, family, friends and the curious converged on the lodge for a full program of cordial ceremony, food and intelligent conversation.

The keynote address was provided by a very thoughtful man and a delightful speaker. The Rev. Canon William V. Rauscher spoke, mindful that about half the audience members were not Freemasons, on the subject of religion and Freemasonry. He began in broad terms, describing religion as the human need to have “a general belief in powers larger than oneself” to allow “the experience of harmony with oneself and with God.” And Freemasonry he defined with familiar language: “A system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated with symbols that give insights into life, service and brotherhood.”

Masonry is not a church, he explained, although it can serve as a “spiritual anchor” for men who rightly understand its “short morality plays” as lessons of charity, fraternity and wisdom. “There is nothing incompatible with traditional religious beliefs,” something attested by the many clergymen who cherish their Masonic affiliations. Indeed Masonry’s “spiritual content is its most attractive and significant” offering. The degrees are the “embodiment of the simple words of the one eternal religion: the brotherhood of man, the fatherhood of God, the Golden Rule, the hope for everlasting life.”

“We need it today more than ever.”

He touched on other factors that shape Freemasonry’s relationship with religion, including the secrecy of the fraternity, and also anti-Masonry, defining the foes of Freemasonry as varying from mainstream religions to communist regimes to “extreme radical secularists” whose aim is to have “a society without any rules at all.”

A very well received talk.

In other Fairless Hills Lodge news, the Worshipful Master has unveiled his schedule of lodge events for the coming year. Not unlike New Jersey’s Alpha and Nutley lodges (see below), this lodge is heavy on education.

Jan. 20 – The Magpie Mason speaking on the Four Cardinal Virtues.

Feb. 17 – Bro. Matthew D. Dupee, Esq., PM speaking on “Freemasonry in Europe.”

March 17 – Bro. Jerry Hamilton, PM on “The True Meaning of Masonic Ritual.”

April 21 – Three speakers: Bro. Rev. William D. Hartman, Grand Chaplain, on “George Washington and Freemasonry.” Bro. Walter Lamont on “Music and Freemasonry Around the Globe.” And Bro. Carl L. Swope, DDGM on a topic to be announced.

May 19 – Bro. Aaron White, PM of Kite and Key Lodge No. 811 speaking, appropriately, on “Traditional Observance Lodges.”

May 23 – The ceremony of initiation! The EA° will be conferred at the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, Va.

May 27 – The lodge will visit Kite and Key Lodge, which meets at the Allentown Masonic Temple.

Oct. 20 – The MM° will be conferred by Past Masters. Speaker: Bro. Frank Walker, PM of Texas, comparing Pennsylvania and Texas rituals.

Nov. 17 – Bro. George R. Haynes, PM on “Lodge Models and Model Lodges.”

Nov. 29 – The Annual Lodge Banquet, featuring Bro. Tom Jackson, Past Grand Secretary.

In addition to all that, this lodge has a great program, devised by the aforementioned Bro. Haynes, called “One Lodge, One Book.” The lodge purchases copies of a book of Masonic significance, and mails those copies to all the lodge’s brethren. The result is improved attendance at lodge, and meaningful discussions at meetings, said the Worshipful Master, who recalled how Hodapp’s “Freemasons for Dummies” doubled lodge attendance. The book now being provided is the new one from Bro. Robert L.D. Cooper of Scotland titled “Cracking the Freemasons Code,” which is one of those great books that makes Masonry comprehensible to non-Masons without forgetting to teach Masons themselves a thing or two also.

Worshipful Master, you’re going to have an amazing year! See you on the 20th.
   

2009 at Alpha Lodge

Lord Cannock and David Lindez last December at Alpha.

2009 events at historic Alpha Lodge No. 116

56 Melmore Gardens in East Orange. Easily reached by Route 280, the Parkway, etc.


Wed. Jan. 14 - Junior Warden Robert Morton on “From Whence We Come.”

Wed. Feb. 25 - Special Multimedia Presentation on Haitian Freemasonry, with a catered Haitian Agape. $10 at the door. 7:30 p.m.

Wed. March 25 - World famous Masonic author and lecturer Dr. Tim Wallace-Murphy to speak on “The Enigma of Rosslyn Chapel.”

Wed. April 8 - Visit by Oliver Kruse, Orator of the Swedish Rite in Germany, to give a paper “An Introduction to the Swedish Rite.”

Wed. April 22 - Presentation by the Worshipful Master on the Johannite traditions in Freemasonry.

Wed. May 27 - Academic presentation of Masonic research papers by brethren of Alpha Lodge:

“Archetypical Influences and the Molecular Impact of Sacred/Secret Words in Masonry” by Dr. Mardoche Sidor;

“The Pillars of Masonry” by Michael Terry; and

“Reactions to Music in Freemasonry” by Nathaniel Gibson.

Wed. June 24 - Summer Solstice Agape Observation of St. John's Day (talk to be given by the Worshipful Master on “Planetary, Lunar and Solar Influences in Masonic Movement, Stations and Places.”

Wed. Sept. 9 - RW Rashied Sharrieff-Al-Bey of Cornerstone Lodge No. 37, MWPHGLNY, will speak on the “Hidden Work of our Gentle Craft.”

Wed. Oct. 14 - Presentation on “Willermozism” by VW Piers A. Vaughan, world renowned expert on the RER.

Wed. Oct. 28 - Dr. R.A. Gilbert speaking on Br. A.E. Waite’s mystical approach to Freemasonry.

Wed. Nov. 11 - Visit by MW Thomas R. Hughes, Grand Master of the MW Prince Hall Grand Lodge of New Jersey, to speak on Freemasonry’s historic importance in the black community.

‘Hermes, Guide of the Soul’

     
The C.G. Jung Foundation has a daylong seminar scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 21 at its Manhattan headquarters. Led by Gary D. Astrachan, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and Jungian analyst from Maine, this event will “explore, celebrate and delight in the Hermetic mythologem, with lecture material, slides, music, readings and lively discussion.”

Recommended readings are excerpts from Charles Boer’s “Homeric Hymns” and Karl Kerenyi’s “Hermes: Guide of Souls.”

The Foundation is located at 28 East 39th St. General public admission costs $70 per person.
     

‘Going nuts for Nutley’

While you are filling in your 2009 calendars, you may want to take note of the schedule of Nutley Lodge No. 25.

The following dates are first Mondays:

January 5 - Bro. R_____ M______, Past Sovereign Master of Voorhis Council No. 260, AMD, speaking on “The Traditional Observance Lodge System.”

February 2 - W.B. Ben Hoff, Master of NJ Lodge of Masonic Research and Education, on “The Development & Diversity of Masonic Ritual.”

April 6 – the Magpie Mason on “Esoterica and Common Sense.”

June 1 - M.W. David Chase, Past Grand Master of NJ, on “Masonic Symbolism.”

October 5 - W.B. Trevor Stewart, Past Prestonian Lecturer of UGLE, on “Kabbalistic Influences on Freemasonry.”

November 2 - W.B. Mark Tabbert, author of “American Freemasons: Three Centuries of Building Communities.”

The new Worshipful Master at Nutley is W. Franklin Suco, who is one of those rare guys who “gets it.” He and other officers have been making a huge impact at Nutley in recent years, and the commitment shown to Masonic education is only one aspect of their dedication to the Craft.

Nutley Lodge No. 25 is located at 175 Chestnut St. in Nutley, which is in the Essex-Passaic county area. Nutley is easily accessible from routes 3, 23, 46, 80, 280, and the Parkway and Turnpike.

Hope to see you there.

Another Big Night at ‘The Little Inn’ (conclusion)

It normally doesn’t take your correspondent a week and a half to complete a thought, but it’s been a hectic week and a half. Forthwith, here is Part Four of “Another Big Night at the Little Inn.”

“Thank you for the 48 hours notice,” said Bro. Trevor Stewart to Master of Ceremonies Bill Thomas. “I appreciate the gesture!” It was true. Trevor had been drafted into the program at the proverbial eleventh hour. Not having a talk formally prepared, he nonetheless professorially clutched a sheaf of papers as he spoke engagingly of the ways brethren of the 18th century supported the arts in their communities.


“We know from playbills and other ephemera that, as the 18th century went on, Freemasons, as individuals or lodges, were involved with theatrical performances,” he said, beginning a short lecture on what could be titled “Processions: Masons in Regalia.” Torch-lit parades, even with military bands, would march from the tavern/lodge to the theater and back. “This happened frequently.” I don’t know if Trevor realized it, but he was expanding on a detail in the talk he gave in this very room 52 Mondays ago.

This started around 1723. It was “strange in England,” because a ban on Masonic processions was attempted in 1745 in the wake of scurrilous embarrassments. “But the Irish, bless them, had frequent processions,” Trevor said. We know from newspapers, diaries and playbills that comedies and Shakespeare were the frequent beneficiaries of Masonic sponsorship. “In the early 18th century, there were 11 lodges dedicated specifically to the name of Shakespeare!” And in fact, we had a Shakespeare Lodge with us that evening. The Bard’s comedies were very popular, but his historical plays – “Henry IV,” “Henry V,” and “Henry VI” also were underwritten by the brethren. These dramas, particularly “Henry V,” were popular because “they espoused ideas that went to the heart of the Hanoverian times” with melodrama, heroism and idealism.

This item has nothing to do with Trevor’s talk exactly, but it is in the archives of the Livingston Library, and was included in its exhibit at Fraunces Tavern Museum seven years ago. It is the program of St. Patrick’s Lodge’s St. John’s Day procession in New York City in 1795. The lodge was accompanied by 10 other lodges, two marching bands, a contingent of Knights Templar, and the Grand Lodge officers. They marched from City Hall, through what is today the Financial District, and to “the Church,” which I take to mean St. Paul's. They returned to City Hall by a different route.

There were exceptions though.

“Prior to 1745, there were plays of ‘Macbeth’ sponsored by the Masons,” Trevor Stewart explained, but that stopped because the Hanoverians, “a very querulous people,” feared any talk of rebellion.

There were several motives at work in the Masonic patronage of the performing arts. The brethren quickly arranged to sponsor plays and to put themselves on parade, “making a spectacle of themselves in a theatrical and political statement.” These processions had order, and were characterized with “great dignity and decorum.” The brethren were not only on display in the street, but at the theater they’d sit in special boxes with the Lord Provost and other civil authorities. “Masonic lodges were taking active part in the body politic at this time. They were guys who had arrived, socially.”

They were opportunistic, but they also raised money to give to charity, and “not just Masonic charity, but any charity.” A playbill in 1785 told how “a poor house and asylum for the mad folk” in Edinburgh was one such recipient. “They were motivated by the idea of being good, and being charitable to the less fortunate.”

“The gentlemen Masons were putting on street theater, but more importantly than that, they played a crucial part of the body politic at the time,” Trevor added. “As the 18th century progressed, the legitimate activity of a gentleman was not just to be in the isolation of his lodge room, but to also be out in the streets, in coffeehouses, literary clubs and attending the theater, culturally inspired.”

“So, what has this got to do with us? We can’t parade in the streets with our regalia as much as we might wish,” he added, “but we can sponsor plays and musical performances. Why not?”

He then went on to explain how last year’s International Conference on the History of Freemasonry featured the young musicians of the Royal Academy of Scotland, thanks to the sponsorship of the Grand Masters of England, Ireland and Scotland. He also told of the lavish catalog provided to him that chronicled a major artistic exhibition in London, but that had no mention of Freemasonry. “Why not?” he asked. “We can’t parade in the street, but we can make that statement.”

The Magpie Mason could not agree more! There is so much opportunity to show ourselves to the public. Not by bowling against the Elks lodge down the street, but by sponsoring the arts, especially in and around New York City. Just off the top of my head: Lincoln Center has “Mostly Mozart” and the Duke Ellington festival; there is “Shakespeare in the Park” in Central Park; the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival is just across the Hudson from West Point; “The Magic Flute” pops up at the Met and NJPAC on occasion. I may have been the only one who knew, but a mere 72 hours after this dinner-lecture the chamber orchestra called Suedama Ensemble would perform a concert inspired by Freemasonry just a few miles away! (But more on that later.) All of these endeavors rely mightily on private sector sponsorship.

Livingston Library Executive Director Tom Savini had the sobering answer.

“We need to look within before we look outside to help others,” he said, explaining how the library’s priority now is to find the resources to create the position of archivist. In the works is a database to record the histories of New York lodges, past and present.



Hopefully the means will be found to support many parallel projects in the effort to preserve Masonic culture, both within and without the temple.

‘Deep Purple III’

Some other notable installations in the past week:

Evan Weiner, with whom I was raised in 1997, reached the East of (mighty) Peninsula Lodge No. 99 in Bayonne last Thursday. High honors were announced for two other Peninsula Masons: RW Greg Scott will take over as District Deputy Grand Master, and W. Mike Kinigstein will become Grand Chaplain in May. Congratulations brethren!

At Nutley Lodge No. 25, my friend Franklin Suco was installed into the Solomonic chair on Monday. Franklin is committed to excellence in all aspects of Masonry. Despite that, he has invited me to return to the lodge’s podium in April to deliver an educational talk. I’d better come up with a good one.

The highlight of that evening was Franklin’s introduction of his parents, who had traveled from Ecuador to be there. Franklin presented his mother with a bouquet of beautiful flowers, and he embraced his father, a brother Mason, and thanked him for teaching him how to be upright before God and man. It happened very suddenly, otherwise there wouldn’t have been a dry eye in the standing room only lodge.

The Magpie News Service would have had a photographer present, except that someone forgot to charge the camera battery.



In the York Rite, both Scott Chapter No. 4 or Royal Arch Masons and Scott Council No. 1 of Royal and Select Masters installed their officers for the coming year. Mario Bolaños, Jr. is the new MEHP of the former, and Bill Krzewick is TIM of the latter. In addition, Max Marcille is the new Master of J. William Gronning Council No. 83 of Allied Masonic Degrees. Congratulations guys!