‘At the House of the Temple’

The altar in Supreme Council’s Temple Room room displays multiple VSLs. Made of black and gold marble, engraved into the front are the Hebrew letters that read: “God said, ‘Let there be Light’ and there was Light.”

Before another month passes, I had better resume Magpie coverage of Masonic Week 2009, but first a stop at the House of the Temple in Washington, DC. During a tour nearly two hours long, thanks to the indulgence of our guide, the Magpie Mason shot more than 100 photos. Herewith I share some of my favorites:

Bro. Jim, docent Kendall, and Grand Commander Ron.

Architect John Russell Pope’s columns.

I swear there was a dog outside
that was almost as big as this sphinx. Ask Jim!

You know they had to work 33 into the street address.

On the bicentennial of President Lincoln’s birthday, Bro. Jim Dillman of Logan Lodge in Indianapolis – a Board member of The Masonic Society, by the way – and I visited the headquarters of the Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction. This is the home of the “Mother Supreme Council,” the governing body of Scottish Rite that was established in Charleston, South Carolina on May 31, 1801.

In preparation for the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, the House of the Temple’s Library Reading Room displayed numerous images and books highlighting the 16th president. This statue caught my eye because it is a miniature of a famous statue very near Magpie headquarters. Sculpted by Bro. Gutzon Borglum, of Mt. Rushmore fame, it stands – or maybe sits – in Newark behind the old Essex County Courthouse.

The marvelous sites within this landmark structure truly are too numerous to list. Every Freemason, whether a Scottish Rite Mason or not, who visits DC should make some time to tour the House of the Temple. The architecture, statuary, stained glass, countless museum exhibits and stunning library demand hours of your attention. Hang around long enough and you’ll bump into Sovereign Grand Commander Ronald Seale or Brent Morris, the managing editor of the Scottish Rite Journal.

The East of the smaller (not subterranean) Supreme Council meeting room.

In the Temple Room.

There are many likenesses of Albert Pike in the House of the Temple. Left: a bust overlooks the Grand Staircase. Right: a Classical interpretation.

Above the staircase bust is the inscription: “What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us: What we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.”

These are found in the Albert Pike Museum on the Ground Floor.

I'm sorry to say this photo fails to capture the effect of this beam of light entering the Grand Staircase. It was sublime.

Some of Pike’s A&ASR regalia.

A frequent chess player and occasional pipe smoker myself, I couldn’t help but notice these personal items owned by Albert Pike.

Aprons on exhibit.
Above: Master Mason.
Below: Rose Croix.

The Egyptian style statues at the foot of the Grand Staircase are representative of guards to a portal or entrance. Each is carved from a solid piece of marble quarried on the shores of Lake Champlain in New York state. Each statue carries a hieroglyphic inscription. Freely translated by the Metropolitan Museum of New York, they read: “Established to the Glory of God” and “Dedicated to the teaching of wisdom to those men working to make a strong nation.”

(Caption courtesy of House of the Temple.)

Above: A wall in the Library Reading Room.
Below: Part of Pike’s personal library collection.

This is about 25 percent of the Robert Burns collection.

Here is a collection of fountain pens once owned by Bro. Maurice Thatcher. (Yes, I sent a JPG to Cliff.) This gavel is made of pine once part of the White House, discarded during the reconstruction of the Executive Mansion after it was burned by the British during the War of 1812.

Left: stained glass. Right: Hermes appears frequently in fixtures about the building.

Under glass, a copy of Anderson’s Constitutions.

Back when America had folk music, Bro. Burl Ives was a popular voice. Ives was a friend of Manly P. Hall and was well known about the apartments of Scottish Rite Masonry in California.

The Burl Ives Collection is surprisingly large!

Haitian Masonry and Agape

   

W. Bro. David Lindez and three Masons from Haiti display the flag of Haiti.

Only at Alpha Lodge can the Master bring the brethren to Haiti without having to move the charter!

The journey through time and space took place Wednesday night, as the lodge catered to the five senses in recreating the Haitian Masonic experience, topped with the screening of a video documenting the St. John’s Day festivities held last June in Jacmel, Haiti.

We departed New Jersey upon entering the lodge room. The air was thick with incense of various aromas. The only illumination was the G and the collective glow of scores of candles: beeswax tapers about the altar; others in the South, West and East, and elsewhere about the lodge.

Do not adjust your monitor. This image captures the candle-lit, incense-laden atmosphere inside historic Alpha Lodge during its sojourn to Haiti.

W. Bro. David Lindez gave the brethren a history of Freemasonry in Haiti, a very colorful description that goes a long way toward explaining the highly esoteric nature of the fraternity there. It’s the story of Pasqually, Willermoz, Rectified Scottish Rite, Strict Observance, and Elu Cohens.

Then the brethren adjourned downstairs for the feast, a true Masonic Agape with exotic dishes (goat!) and other ethnic comestibles on the menu, all homemade right in the lodge’s kitchen by an experienced chef.

The Grand Orient d’Haiti dates to 1824. Its 6,000 brethren are at labor in 51 lodges found among numerous cities and towns. The lodge shown in the video is Parfaite Sincerite No. 4 in Jacmel.

This documentary shows the lodge’s annual public procession in celebration of St. John the Baptist Day 2008. Now it’s one thing to listen to Bro. Trevor Stewart discuss the Masonic processions of 18th century Britain, but it is quite something else to view the esoterica, solemnity, hierarchy and regalia of the Haitian brethren as they undertake their culturally significant ritual, enduring what looked like crippling heat, in a public square.

It is not easy to describe all that was captured by the camera, but it must be explained that the Freemasonry of this island nation is commingled with church, resulting in Masonic and ecclesiastic organizations running parallel, if not actually integrated. The hierarchy of those in the procession was evident. Those attired in regalia marked with Templar crosses comprise the inner ring of a huge throng of circumambulating Masons encircling the altar. A pyre actually, built of specially chosen woods with sacramental elements liberally splashed upon it and prayers inscribed on paper ritually placed within it. The next ring of celebrants is attired in what Scottish Rite Masons would recognize as Rose Croix regalia. Look closely! There’s Bro. David from All Seeing Eye Lodge in New York! Still others display the Triple Tau. The Master Masons, easily identified by their aprons, form the outermost ring of Masons; those outside of that are family and friends of the brethren. All carry candles to illumine the massive procession, except those bearing the banners of their respective Orders, plus one brother with a Flaming Sword. All are barefoot, for they know the ground where they walk is sacred.

The small group of men at the very center, those applying the sea salt, holy water and other elements to the ritual pyre, are not adorned with special symbols. Simple white. Everyone knows who they are.

And this procession is not mere marching. On the stone pavement about the altar is drawn a circular map of spiritual progression revealing the first 24 names of the Shemhamphorasch. (One must be very careful here. This is not for the casual, kidding himself Kabbalist. These divine signs often are exploited by hard-hearted manipulators of hedonists and other weaklings.) The brethren here affect ritual steps, just as one would upon entering or leaving the lodge, signifying their conformity with one another and with deity.

It is a dizzying demonstration. The heat of the pyre warms your face, and the humidity in the air hugs the body. The juxtaposition of familiar symbols with foreign rites renders the whole scene dreamlike and cinematic, and yet nothing to these Masons is more real and immediate than this ritual. The power of the union achieved by the brethren is palpable.

The film ends. The lights come up. We are returned from Haiti.



   

On this day in 1732

In Manhattan at the beginning of Fifth Avenue, on the north side of Washington Square Park, stands the Beaux Arts monument of Tuckahoe marble displaying two huge likenesses of George Washington, warrior, statesman, Freemason.

From mountvernon.org:

George Washington was born at his father’s plantation on Pope’s Creek in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on February 22, 1732. His father, Augustine Washington, was a leading planter in the area and also served as a justice of the county court. Augustine’s first wife, Janet Butler, died in 1729, leaving him with two sons, Lawrence and Augustine, Jr., and a daughter, Jane. The elder Augustine then married George’s mother, Mary Ball, in 1731. George was the eldest of Augustine Washington’s and Mary Ball’s six children.

In 1735 Augustine moved the family up the Potomac River to another Washington home, Little Hunting Creek Plantation (later renamed Mount Vernon). In 1738 they moved again to Ferry Farm, a plantation on the Rappahannock River near Fredericksburg, Virginia, where George spent much of his youth. Little is known of Washington’s childhood, and it remains the most poorly understood part of his life. Popular fables illustrating his youthful honesty, piety, and physical strength have long taken the place of documented fact. Some of these fables are more plausible than others. The story that Washington threw a silver dollar across the Potomac River – an impossible feat – had its origins in the recollections of a cousin that George could throw a stone across the much narrower Rappahannock River. But others, including the familiar story of Washington and the cherry tree, seem to have been invented by one of Washington’s first biographers, Mason Locke Weems.

When George was eleven years old, Augustine died, leaving most of his property to George’s older half brothers. The income from what remained was just sufficient to maintain Mary Washington and her children. As the oldest child remaining at home, George undoubtedly helped his mother manage the Rappahannock River plantation where they lived. There he learned the importance of hard work and efficiency.

Little is known about George’s formal education. Commonly the children of Virginia gentry were taught at home by private tutors or in local private schools. Boys generally began their formal education around the age of seven with lessons in reading, writing, and basic arithmetic. Later they were taught Latin and Greek, as well as such practical subjects as geometry, bookkeeping, and surveying. Wealthy planters often sent their sons to England to finish their schooling, as was done with George’s two elder half brothers, Lawrence and Augustine.

The death of his father, however, made schooling abroad an impossibility for George Washington. He may have attended a school near his home for the first few years. Later he went to another school, either in Fredericksburg, Stafford County, or Westmoreland County. He excelled in mathematics and learned the rudiments of surveying. But he was not taught Latin or Greek like many gentlemen’s sons, and he never learned a foreign language. Nor did he attend college. His formal education ended around the age of 15.

Among the gentry class, strong social skills were also considered an essential part of a young man’s or woman’s education. After the death of their father, George began to spend a great deal of time with his older half brother, Lawrence, at his home, Mount Vernon. Lawrence became a mentor to his younger brother, tutoring him in his studies, teaching him social graces, and helping to introduce him into society.

Throughout his life, Washington regarded his education as defective. He consciously made up for some of what he did not learn in school through reading and study on his own. Over the years he amassed a large and diverse library, and in his later years he subscribed to several newspapers. He became a skilled and prolific writer. Perhaps as a result of his lack of formal education he strongly believed in the value of a good education and left money in his will for establishing a school in Alexandria, Virginia, as well as for establishing a national university.

One of Bro. Washington’s aprons.

In 1752, Washington was initiated into Freemasonry at a Scottish lodge at Fredericksburg.

Washington Square Park in Philadelphia.

Washington’s chair at Independence Hall, where the Second Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence, remains in place. It is adorned with a sun, of which Benjamin Franklin said “I have often looked at that behind the president without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now I... know that it is a rising...sun.”

The MLMA

     

Bro. Sal Corelli, a New Jersey Mason, manufactured
and manned the MLMA’s information display at Masonic Week.

Sticking its toe into the waters, as it were, for the first time at Masonic Week was the Masonic Library and Museum Association.

Not joining the program of meetings or banquets to be sure, the MLMA wisely arranged to have a display among the various research societies, authors and vendors on site, including The Masonic Society, the SRRS and Chris Hodapp.

Bro. Sal Corelli of New Jersey was the MLMA’s representative. He not only manned the display during the busy hours, but he also made it from scratch. Members of the Valley of Northern New Jersey – especially Glenn and Dave, the curators of its Museum of Masonic Culture – would be proud to know that the main illustration of the display is a photograph of their work.

Close-up shot taken inside the Museum of Masonic Culture
at the Valley of Northern New Jersey.

Bro. Sal is a faithful supporter of the cause behind Masonic libraries and museums. He has been instrumental in building up his lodge’s library; has become indispensable to the MLMA, traveling cross-country to support its meetings; and is cheerful about helping others get their own Masonic repositories started.

The mission of the MLMA is straightforward: “…to assist and support, through education, facilitation of communication, coordination of effort, those individuals charged with, or interested in, the collection, management, and preservation of Masonic heritage.”

A benefit of this is important and intangible, namely that when the authors and producers who put Freemasonry into the public eye with their books and films endeavor to learn about Freemasonry, they wind up at the major facilities that hold MLMA membership. And when lesser known academics perform their research in support of their theses, they visit MLMA members large and small. It is not an overstatement to say the MLMA plays a vital role in sparking the process that attracts people to Freemasonry, so if any grand lodge officers are reading this, please consider getting involved in the hard work of preserving and exhibiting Masonic artifacts and records. If you like the way popular culture has suddenly made your lodges appear to be relevant, then support the means by which the creative process is guided by historical facts.

Bro. Sal also displayed the MLMA’s new promotional literature, and made sure scores, if not hundreds, of Masonic Week attendees received copies.

One of the more innovative ways for grand lodges to get involved is to sponsor the digitalization of their archives of grand lodge meeting proceedings. This is being done by the George Washington Masonic Memorial, of which nearly all mainstream U.S. grand lodges are constituent members. The cost is approximately $500 per book. Several grand lodges have pursued this to date.
     

‘How good and how pleasant…’

They made it official a few days ago: The Grand Lodge of New York and the Grand Lodge of Washington, DC again are in amity.

The Grand College of Rites

It is very easy to explain why the Grand College of Rites is one of my favorite groups of Masons: It is focused on a single, important job, and it performs that task perfectly. I imagine the work behind the scenes is sometimes a bit like making sausages, but the work gets done, and without the usual fanfare of Masonry. Let those who have ears hear.

Last year, there was an inconvenient shortage of American flags in the meeting rooms of Masonic Week, and the Magpie Mason had to appeal to the front desk to ensure one was delivered to the AMD’s meeting place. No such problem arose this year when, in fact, several of the events had color guards present the Stars and Stripes. At the GCR’s meeting, the color guard included none other than M.I. Urban T. Peters, the Grand Chancellor himself. He was accompanied by a delegation from Washington Council No. 3 of the National Sojourners.

One of the Sojourners then gave “A Toast to the Flag.” (If you’re tempted to think this a little hokey, remember that Masonic Week takes place on the weekend before Washington’s birthday, and that we’re in Virginia, having left the Hotel Washington, our home for nearly 80 years. It was the bicentennial year of Washington’s birth that coincided with the creation of the original AMD Weekend participants.)




It being the annual meeting, the officers for 2008-09 were installed. Our new M.I. Grand Chancellor is David D. Goodwin of New York. “I’m going to rely on Art de Hoyos for direction, and do nothing that Thurman says!” he joked about his plans for the year.

And there were a few surprises too. R.I. Gary D. Hermann, our long-serving Grand Registrar, announced his retirement. “Due to my advanced age and approaching senility,” he said to sympathetic laughter, “I do not wish to be re-elected.”

R.I. Billy Koon rose to pay tribute to this valued officer, recounting the circumstances of 12 years ago that led Gary to the Grand Registrar’s desk. Apparently, his predecessor was less than diligent in getting the work done, maintaining proper records, etc. The College’s funds were not accounted. The computer purchased for him to discharge these duties was instead put to other uses. Archives were stored in boxes on a wet concrete floor. With an administrative performance like that, it’s a wonder the GCR remained functioning. So R.I. Hermann restored order and helped guide the College through more than a decade of stability and growth. (In fact, it was mentioned later that this year saw the largest expansion of GCR membership in its history.) After a round of applause, Billy introduced a motion, seconded by Thurman Pace, to make Hermann our Grand Registrar Emeritus. Passed unanimously of course.

Remember that mysterious briefcase from Pulp Fiction? Yeah, it belongs to the GCR. Here, R.I. Gary Hermann announces his retirement as its guardian.

While those of us in the ranks of the GCR were surprised by Hermann’s retirement, I bet no one was at all shocked by the decision to aptly reward both Dan Pushee and Paul Newhall, the two coordinators of events at Masonic Week, with the GCR’s Knight Grand Cross, a badge of distinction given in thanks to those few who labor especially hard for the College.

Paul Newhall, left, and Dan “As Below, So Below” Pushee, right, were honored with the GCR’s Knight Grand Cross.

These two men are responsible for executing all the plans – not just for the GCR – set by the Masonic Week organizers, and for “herding the grand masters,” as one phrased it, ensuring that everyone is properly registered for their events. In short, Dan and Paul make everything happen, and if you’ve ever attempted to arrange a single event anywhere in Freemasonry, you should appreciate what these poor souls suffer, yet they make it look easy.

Anyway, the purpose of the Grand College of Rites is embodied by its Publications Committee, quarterbacked by Grand Archivist Arturo de Hoyos. The GCR has three aims:

• The study of the history and ritual of all Rites, Systems and Orders of Freemasonry not under the control, jurisdiction and/or stewardship or regularly existing and recognized Masonic bodies.

• The elimination of sporadic efforts to resuscitate or perpetuate Rites, Systems and Orders of Freemasonry in the United States, except to bring them under control of the Grand College of Rites.

• The collection and preservation of rituals of various Rites, Systems and Orders of Freemasonry ordinarily not available to Masonic students.


These goals culminate every year in the publication of “Collectanea,” the transactions of the GCR. Each book consists of a body of rituals from defunct Masonic fraternities, and sometimes the constitutions and other defining literature. For the past decade, “Collectanea” has explored the many variations and permutations of what used to be the Rite of Memphis. Since 1999 we’ve read:

• Ritual of the Ancient and Accepted Egyptian Rite of Memphis 96º, also Constitution and By-Laws of the Sovereign Sanctuary, Valley of Canada.

• Lectures of a Chapter, Senate & Council: according to the forms of the Antient and Primitive Rite, but embracing all systems of High Grade Masonry. Translated from the French by John Yarker, 33-96º.

• Rituals of Calvin C. Burt’s Egyptian Masonic Rite of Memphis, Sovereign Sanctuary (95º) of the Valley of Chicago.

• Statutes, Public Ceremonials and History of the Antient & Primitive Rite of Masonry … for the United Kingdom [by John Yarker].

• Constitution and General Statutes for the Government of the Antient & Primitive Rite of Masonry … for the Continent of America [by Alexander B. Mott].

• Manual of the Degrees of the Antient & Primitive Rite of Masonry … for Great Britain and Ireland [by John Yarker], Part 1, 4º–33º.

The Magpie Mason doesn’t mind admitting that he’s a little Memphis’ed out after all that reading. But to be fair, this is pretty important information to some of us, not just for the historic and educational values, but because there have been con artists in recent years who sold degrees and regalia of the Memphis Rite. Some of you know who I mean, but it must also be understood that there are sincere workings of Memphis in America, albeit in organizations that go unrecognized by the mainstream. And then there are jurisdictions abroad that are recognized by the mainstream that work the Memphis degrees, so it gets pretty confusing. (David, feel free to jump in here.)

The history of the GCR is intertwined with that of Memphis Masonry.

In 1931, J. Raymond Shute II, of Monroe, North Carolina, obtained information from Harold V. B. Voorhis, of Red Bank, New Jersey, that the Right Reverend Henry V. A. Parsell of New York, New York, was a surviving member of the defunct Egyptian Rite of Memphis in the United States.

Following some correspondence between Brothers Shute and Parsell, and talks with a few other interested brethren, it was decided and agreed to revive this Rite and thus gain control of it, together with its rituals and archives. The purpose of such action was to give a body to be subsequently formed—a Grand College Rites—some material to publish, namely rituals. The idea of forming of a Grand Body to print rituals of dormant Masonic bodies having been already planned by Brother Shute and a few brethren interested in such a project.

I guess it could be said that the GCR itself is a Memphis spin-off.

Admittedly, it – like a lot of Freemasonry – could sound frivolous to an outsider, but the doings of the Grand College of Rites are hugely significant to the efforts to conserve Masonic heritage. No one was really shocked by the discussion of another group in the United States that is busy encroaching on the GCR’s identity and mission, resulting in the College now having to spend its money on lawyers to safeguard its intellectual property. Who says Freemasonry is a sacred retreat from the concerns and employments of the world?

Look well to the briefcase! – R.I. Martin Starr and Grand Archivist Art de Hoyos keep an eye on things.