‘…and the moon governs the night’

Visitors to the Newman Catholic Community Center at Drexel University in Philadelphia are greeted by audacious symbolism. The fresco rendering of the iconic color photograph of earthrise taken from the lunar surface lends context to the most incomprehensible phrase in human vocabulary: ‘In the beginning, God...’ Superimposed upon it all is the Chi-Rho mounted on a cross. The Chi-Rho, one of the oldest symbols denoting Christianity, is a combination of the Greek letters chi (X) and rho (P), the first two letters in the Greek spelling of Christ, meaning ‘king.’

On the 40th anniversary of mankind’s arrival on the moon, thoughts inevitably turn to the significance of the moon in Masonic symbolism. There is much to consider.

“The adoption of the moon in the Masonic system as a symbol is analogous to, but could hardly be derived from, the employment of the same symbol in the ancient religions,” says the 1924 edition of Mackey’s An Encyclopædia of Freemasonry and its Kindred Sciences. “In Egypt, Osiris was the sun, and Isis the moon; in Syria, Adonis was the sun, and Ashtoroth the moon; the Greeks adored her as Diana, and Hecate; in the mysteries of Ceres, while the hierophant or chief priest represented the Creator, and the torch-bearer the sun, the officer nearest the altar represented the moon. In short, moon-worship was as widely disseminated as sun-worship. Masons retain her image in their Rites, because the Lodge is a representation of the universe, where, as the sun rules over the day, the moon presides over the night; as the one regulates the year, so does the other the months, and as the former is the king of the starry hosts of heaven, so is the latter their queen; but both deriving their heat, and light, and power from Him, who as the third and the greatest light, the Master of heaven and earth, controls them both.”

Freemasonry as we know it is a product of the Enlightenment, meaning, in part, it is a philosophical society intended for the improvement of man’s station. Its use of universal symbols leads to great confusion among those who mistake it for anything from a continuation of the ancient mystery religions to a form of neo-paganism, like Wicca. Those who hold these opinions miss the point that above all else it is reason that Masonry aims to inculcate, not nature worship. It is thoughtful inquiry into the essence of nature we are taught to pursue, and not satisfaction with the superficial mindset that accepts Creation on par with the Creator.

“Whoever reflects on the objects that surround him will find abundant reason to admire the works of Nature, and adore the Being who directs such astonishing operations,” writes Bro. Charles Leslie in A Vindication of Masonry, his remarks to Vernon Kilwinning Lodge in Edinburgh on May 15, 1741. “He will be convinced that infinite wisdom could alone design, and infinite power finish such amazing works.”

Revealing what later generations of Masons will know as the Middle Chamber Lecture, Leslie continues:

“Speculative Masonry is so much interwoven with religion as to lay us under the strongest obligations to pay to the Deity that rational homage, which at once constitutes the duty and happiness of mankind. It leads the contemplative to view with reverence and admiration the glorious works of creation, and inspires them with the most exalted ideas of the perfections of the great Creator.”

And on Astronomy:

“Astronomy, though the last, is not the least important science. It is that divine art by which we are taught to read the wisdom, strength and beauty of the almighty Creator in those sacred pages, the celestial hemisphere. Assisted by astronomy, we can observe the motions, measure the distances, comprehend the magnitudes, and calculate the periods and eclipses of the heavenly bodies. By it we learn the use of the globes, the system of the world, and the primary law of nature. While we are employed in the study of this science, we perceive unparalleled instances of wisdom and goodness, and on every hand may trace the glorious Author by His works....

“By employing ourselves in the knowledge of these bodies, we are not only inspired with a due reverence for the Deity, but are also induced to apply with more anxiety and attention to the sciences of astronomy, geography, navigation, &c.”

Above, Mackey mentions Diana, the Roman moon goddess, and counterpart to the Greeks’ Artemis, who earns mention on her own in another, exoteric, section of the Middle Chamber Lecture on the subject of the Orders of Architecture:

“The Ionic is a mean between the more solid and the more delicate orders. Both delicacy and ingenuity are displayed in this pillar, the invention of which is attributed to the Ionians, as the famous Temple of Diana at Ephesus was of this order. It is said to have been formed after the model of a young woman of beautiful shape....”

The divine feminine looms large in other systems of symbols, like the tarot deck and astrology. (The Magpie Mason does not advocate use of tarot cards or astrology for divination, but, for reflection, study and exploration of symbols, tarot and astrology are as valid as any other works in the gallery of esoteric arts. Parallels to Masonic imagery are numerous.)

In tarot’s major arcana there is Card 18, called The Moon, which is thus described by Adele Nozedar in The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols:

At the lower level of the three layers that comprise this image, is a square-edged lake with a crayfish in it. Above, there are two dogs – or possibly a wolf and a dog – that look up to the Moon, jaws open, possibly howling. To their left and right are the corners of two buildings, both slightly different. One has a roof; the other appears to be open to the sky and is reminiscent of the Tower that was struck by lightning in Card 16. In the sky at the top of the card is the full Moon, with a face that points to the left and with a halo of rays, like moonbeams, surrounding it. There are teardrop shapes surrounding it that seem to either emanate from the Moon or, alternatively, are sucked into it.

The dogs are a reminder of the hounds that accompany the Moon Goddess. Dogs also act as psychopomps, guardians of souls in the spirit world. There is a nightmarish aspect to this card. The surrounding landscape is barren, only two small plants appear in it, a sort of no-man’s land. This card represents the “dark night of the soul.” However, the preceding card (No. 15, The Star) signifies hope, and the Moon provides the light that is reflected from the Sun (Card 19), illuminating the way ahead, indicating that guidance will come from above.

Left: An elegant interpretation of The Moon tarot card, courtesy of All Posters.

Right: Bro. Colin Browne’s version, from his Square and Compasses Tarot Deck, which connects the moon to the Senior Warden in the West.



There is a lot to work with here. The dogs can remind us of hunting, as in Diana, Goddess of the Hunt. The twin towers may speak to certain pillars Masons know well. That crayfish is important for its shell. In other tarot decks and elsewhere in symbolism, creatures with shells (crabs, scarab beetles, etc.) denote self-protection, and even aloofness. The astrological connection, naturally, is to the crab of the Cancer constellation, which Nozedar describes elsewhere in her book as a female symbol that denotes the moon and, interestingly, spans from June 21 to July 22.

On July 20, 1969, astronauts named for the god of the sun landed on and walked on the moon. And Freemasonry was there. Bro. Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, the second human to walk on the moon, was made a Mason at Montclair Lodge No. 144 in Montclair, New Jersey, which was Aldrin’s hometown. That lodge no longer exists; it is one of the many lodges that amalgamated into what today is Essex Lodge No. 7. But, getting back to the feminine, Aldrin’s mother’s maiden name was... Moon.

He coined G.A.O.T.U.

     
Happy birthday wishes to the man who coined the phrase “Great Architect of the Universe.” Yes, John Calvin would be 500 years old today. Among the world’s major religions, Calvinism is kind of a youngster, but its importance to Protestantism and its indirect benefit to Freemasonry are very important.


It was Calvin, the legendary French troublemaker, who coined that phrase in his “Commentary on Psalm 19,” which sometimes is translated to say Supreme Architect.

(The 19th Psalm itself is worthy of every Junior Warden’s attention.)



But the idea of God being a kind of cosmic architect predates Freemasonry by even more centuries. Depictions of this nature are found in medieval Christian art. The “Bible Moralisée,” published about 1250 AD, shows God busy at work with compasses in hand.

G.A.O.T.U. was introduced into Freemasonry by Dr. James Anderson, author of the Premier Grand Lodge’s first Book of Constitutions in 1723. A Presbyterian minister himself, Anderson is a theological descendant of Calvin. However, I’d say the credit for making the phrase Masonic vernacular belongs to Albert Mackey who used the term in his groundbreaking list of Masonic Landmarks, which has affected the jurisprudence of our grand lodges since its publication in 1858. And then of course there is the Scottish Rite and its siblings, which employ the term in prayer and ritual. (Photo courtesy GL of British Columbia and Yukon.)
     

Cushite at labor

Senior Warden Rob Morton, Sovereign Master David Lindez, and Bro. Steve rally around the altar at the Hunter Estate, the private home where Cushite Council No. 474 held its first meeting July 3.

An interesting development in New Jersey Freemasonry is the current proliferation of AMD councils. If you are not familiar with the Allied Masonic Degrees, it is an honorary, invitational fraternity within the York Rite. Membership is predicated on Royal Arch membership, and the AMD is supposed to be devoted to research and education, and the preservation of a corpus of very interesting degrees that long ago were worked in lodges, but later were discarded, and finally were collected under the authority of the AMD.

Anyway, two AMD councils are being set to labor in New Jersey, with talk of a third on the way. DaVinci Council is forming in central Jersey, and Cushite Council No. 474 held its ceremony of constitution and first meeting last Friday. The third council is in an embryonic phase in north Jersey, but I’m sure it’ll come together and begin functioning soon.

You might recognize the name Cushite. In the Bible, Cush was the son of Ham. He and his people inhabited the land called Cush, which we know today by its Greek name Ethiopia. In Freemasonry, Cushite Lodge was to be a lodge set to labor in Newark, New Jersey in 1870. The Grand Lodge denied the petition for a warrant. The brethren aiming to form Cushite Lodge instead organized Alpha Lodge No. 116, whose Worshipful Master today is W. Bro. David Lindez, the Sovereign Master of the new Cushite Council.

(I won’t attempt to summarize the history of this process, which is very complicated, involves race relations, and has been told by more competent writers. A quick Google search will yield GLNJ proceedings and other trustworthy sources of this exciting time in 19th century Masonic history.)

I think just about all of Cushite Council’s brethren come from Alpha Lodge and Alpha Chapter. But there was one special guest at this first meeting last Friday: Bro. Balvin came all the way from North Carolina, making John Candy’s travels look like a hansom cab ride in comparison.

Cushite AMD Council plans to meet in a local restaurant, returning Masonry in one respect to its tavern roots. “Eat, drink, and be Masons,” I always say.

The first paper presented in this new council was presented by Bro. Steve, who spoke on the symbolic and numerological significances of the number 27. Citing Biblical, Pythagorean and other esoteric sources, Steve linked the permutations of the three-fold number to various elements in Masonic ritual and symbol. Well done!

Next up was the Sovereign Master’s paper on the August Order of Light. Also very enlightening.

All in all, it was a great start for a council that will be productive for many years.

I feel a verse is imminent!


Deity was invoked,
and incense was lit.
Masonry was worked,
and whiskey was sipped.
Cigars were smoked,
and Balvin finally made it.

Bro. Balvin joins V. Lindez in the East of Cushite Council.

This fall at ALR

     
Another reason to look forward to fall is the next Regular Communication of American Lodge of Research on Thursday, October 29 at 8 p.m.

This will be the Annual Meeting, with the election of officers, and WM Bill Thomas announces the paper presented that evening will be “The Anti-Mason’s Toolbox: Abusing Logic to Attack the Craft” by W. Gilbert Ferrer. “An introduction to the logical fallacies underlying some typical arguments of contemporary Anti-Masonic zealots. The focus will be on debating tactics zealots use to avoid having to prove their allegations against the Craft.”

The lodge meets in the French Ionic Room at the Grand Lodge of New York, located at 71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan.

Before the meeting, brethren are welcome to join the lodge’s officers for dinner at the Limerick House Pub next door at 6 p.m.
     

Opportunities for scholars

     
Here are two opportunities for Masonic scholars to present their work and maybe earn a little praise as well.

Pythagoras Lodge of Research in Washington, DC invites the brethren to participate in its Masonic Research Awards Program, intended to encourage research and education work.

From the official announcement:

The following criteria will be used to evaluate all submissions:

Originality: The topic introduces new ideas, innovative concepts, unfamiliar resources, and/or creative methods. Topic is the writer’s choice.

Masonic connections: Interesting, informative, and innovative references to Masonic symbolism, ritual, practices, history, etc. are included.

Style: The author displays a thorough knowledge of the content. Alternative viewpoints are legitimately presented. The content is characterized by clear, unmistakable evidence, and focused on the central statement (thesis) or research topic with effective transitions between points.

Content: All information is well arranged with compelling presentation of the issue, question or problem. The research is supported by an investigation of facts and a development of the ideas. The paper is closed with strong supporting points that underline or expand the central postulate.

Persuasion: The concluding position provides coherent argument illustrative of critical analysis and a thoughtful level of inquiry, supported by well-founded, fact-based solutions and/or cause and effect relationships.

Format: The presentation is neat, correct and consistent in appearance, including margins, font size, indentations, titles, quotations, etc.

Grammar: The research paper is free of errors in terms of sentence structure, punctuation, spelling, and mechanics.

Person: The research paper is presented in perspective of Third Person focusing attention on the work, not on the author. Personal essays are not encouraged.

Citations: The bibliography demonstrates sufficient synthesis of relevant literature and practices. Citations are embedded, footnoted, and quoted correctly. A minimum of three external sources should be included.

Summary: An abstract briefly provides the key elements, main findings, and overall conclusions of the research.

Entries are to be submitted as Word documents by e-mail to W. Bro. Ted Berry at eab_dc(at)yahoo.com no later than October 31.

By submitting a paper, the author recognizes that such entries might be included in Pythagoras Lodge publications and/or forwarded to other Masonic research bodies for inclusion in their publications, with appropriate attributions.

Three medals will be awarded.

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In addition, the National Heritage Museum, located at the headquarters of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, is planning for its first symposium in what is hoped will become a bi-annual tradition.

“New Perspectives on American Freemasonry and Fraternalism” will take place April 9, 2010 at the museum in Lexington, Massachusetts.



From the official announcement:

Recently, a call for papers was issued, and we are pleased to announce that response has been brisk.

The symposium seeks to present the newest research on American fraternal groups from the past through the present day. By 1900, over 250 American fraternal groups existed, numbering six million members. The study of their activities and influence in the United States, past and present, offers the potential for new interpretations of American society and culture. Diverse perspectives on this topic are sought; proposals are invited from a broad range of research areas, including history, material and visual culture, anthropology, sociology, literary studies and criticism, gender studies, political science, African American studies, art history, economics, or any combination of disciplines. Perspectives on and interpretations of all time periods are welcome.

Possible topics include:

• Comparative studies of American fraternalism and other international forms
• Prince Hall Freemasonry and other African-American fraternal groups
• Ethnically- and religiously-based fraternal groups
• Fraternal groups for women or teens
• Role of fraternal groups in social movements
• The material culture of Freemasonry and fraternalism
• Anti-Masonry and anti-fraternal movements, issues and groups
• Fraternal symbolism and ritual
• The expression of Freemasonry and fraternalism through art, music, and literature
• Approaches to Freemasonry from disciplinary, interdisciplinary, or transnational perspectives; the historiography and methodology of the study of American fraternalism

If you know anyone interested in submitting a proposal, these are the details: Submit an abstract of 400 words or less with a resume or c.v. that is no more than two pages. Be sure to include full contact information (name, address, e-mail, phone, affiliation).

Send proposals to: Aimee E. Newell, Director of Collections, National Heritage Museum, by e-mail at anewell(at)monh.org or by mail to 33 Marrett Road, Lexington, MA 02421.

Deadline for proposals to be received is August 15. For questions, contact Aimee E. Newell as above, or call 781-457-4144.

‘52nd annual Hill Degree’

     
It’s that time of year already. Mt. Anthony Lodge No. 13 in Vermont will host its 52nd annual “Hill Degree” later this month in Bennington. From the publicity:

Mt. Anthony Lodge cordially invites all Master Masons and their families to Bennington for the weekend of July 24-26.

Master Masons are welcome to attend the 52nd Anniversary Hill Degree on July 25. The HILL DEGREE is a day of fraternal brotherhood and the conferment of the Master Mason degree on one or more candidates. The first section the degree is worked in our historic lodge room. Officers of the Grand Lodge of Vermont will perform the first section degree work. Following the first section, all are invited to a great steak dinner (open to the family) on the outskirts of town. The second section is done in full costume at an outdoor natural amphitheater at dusk.

For information on registration, accommodations, etc., click here.
     

‘Is Summer over yet?’

     
This edition of The Magpie Mason is dedicated to Bro. Gallant, who is in search of New York lodges that work Scottish Rite ritual.

Here is a reason to look forward to autumn: Garibaldi Lodge No. 542 will confer its world famous Entered Apprentice Degree on Friday, October 9. The Friday before Columbus Day.

The lodge will open at 8 p.m. in the Grand Lodge Room (third and fourth floors) at the Grand Lodge of New York, located at 71 West 23rd St., near the corner of Sixth Avenue, in Manhattan.

This degree draws visiting brethren from all over the world. The last time I attended – April of last year, I think – the visitors were called upon to introduce themselves, and they hailed from lodges across the United States, and indeed all over the globe. The Grand Lodge Room accommodates approximately 1,200 people, and believe me when I tell you that every seat in the room was occupied. (In fact, the first time I attended – April of 2001, I think – four hundred Masons, mostly those who arrived late on their buses from Pennsylvania, had to be turned away to placate the Fire Marshal, who was poised to close down the building for safety’s sake.)

If you plan to attend, be at the front door of Grand Lodge at 6 p.m. Bring your regalia and membership identification.

But that reminds me of another important observation. The last time I attended an EA° at Garibaldi in the fall – October of 2003, I think – the room was nearly empty. I was able to get one of the best seats in the house, and I’m not saying where that is.

Other facts you should know:

• Born on the fourth of July 1807, Giuseppe Garibaldi is regarded as “the George Washington of Italy” because his military and political skills were crucial to the unification and establishment of the modern Italian nation-state. And he was not limited to that nation; Garibaldi also fought for independence in Brazil and Uruguay. (It was then that he adopted the red shirt as symbolic attire. At Garibaldi Lodge, you’ll see the officers wearing red dress shirts with their tuxedos.)

After revolutionary exploits in Italy in the late 1840s, Garibaldi went into exile in of all places... Staten Island, New York. So there is a physical proximity of the lodge to its heroic namesake, as well as the ethnic unity. Because of his sojourn in New York City, there is a terrific statue of Garibaldi in historic Washington Square Park. The bronze depicts the warrior with his hand on the hilt of his sword. Is the warrior drawing the weapon, or is the statesman sheathing it?

• The lodge works in Italian, but that does not mean the ritual is incomprehensible to those of us who do not understand the language. Unlike the Preston-Webb-Cross rituals most Masons in the United States know, this ritual is much more physical and expressive and, frankly, dramatic. Its symbolism contains many alchemical elements. I won’t say more.

• Not only are Apprentices and Fellows welcome to attend, but they in fact will be seated in the East with the Worshipful Master, Grand Master, and other dignitaries. Just make sure you introduce them as such to the tilers at the doors.

• Be prepared for a long night. It takes a while to get everyone seated and the lodge brought to order. The degree is longer than that worked in most New York lodges. There are introductions of dignitaries. Maybe the Grand Master will make a speech, as MW Neal Bidnick did last spring... for 45 minutes. My point is, this is not a Broadway production with an audience that can walk out if they’re bored. This is a tiled meeting of a duly constituted and ritually opened lodge. There have been times when visitors, who were so startled by this uncommon ritual, walked out of the lodge. Don’t do that.

• The ritual is “unusual” in that it is uncommon in the United States. There are approximately 10 lodges in Louisiana, several in California, and a few elsewhere that work this ritual. What is it? I call it Scottish Rite. My longtime penpal Bro. Jacques Huyghebaert terms it French Rite. My droog and leader Bro. Piers Vaughan once described it to me as Memphis-Misraim Rite.

I think we all are fundamentally correct, because I don’t think there are material differences separating those three forms of Masonic ritual.

Frère Jacques is co-editor of a very important book on Masonic history and ritual titled “Le Progres de l'Oceanie 1843: The First Masonic Lodge in Hawaii (Sandwich Islands),” which is available from the Grand Lodge of California for about $40. (Seriously, contact Grand Secretary Allan Casalou for a copy of this fascinating piece of research.)

This is a bilingual text of mid 19th century Scottish Rite Craft ritual used by a lodge in Hawaii that was founded by the Scottish Rite Supreme Council of France in 1843. (When you see kings of Hawaii on lists of famous Masons, they were members of Lodge Le Progres de l’Oceanie.) Read the lodge’s history here. Therefore I pay attention when Jacques describes the Garibaldi ritual as French Rite ritual translated into Italian.

Now Garibaldi himself was grand master of the Ancient and Primitive Oriental Rite of Memphis-Misraim, an amalgamation of the Rite of Memphis and the Rite of Misraim, two Masonic orders in Europe that drew from the history and myths of Egypt for their ritual and symbolism. Therefore I pay attention when Piers describes Garibaldi Lodge’s ritual as M-M.

Whatever one wants to call it, it must be experienced. The candidates who enter the Inner Door begin a transformational process. Of course the labor is up to them (and some do not return for the Second Degree), but this highly instructive ritual has the ability to grab the heart and vitals, and set that labor into motion.
     

Plaridel!

MW William Berman presents the gavel of authority
to RW Jose Daguman, inaugural Master of Plaridel.

RW Jose Daguman, RW Constantino Buno and RW Ross Rosales are the inaugural Master and Wardens.

The new altar cloth is in place.

The festivities are still underway as this edition of The Magpie Mason goes on-line, a celebration of the constitution of New Jersey’s newest lodge: Plaridel No. 302.

Above: MW John Colligas, our junior past Grand Master, reads aloud the warrant issued to Plaridel as MW Berman looks on. Below: the warrant.

It isn’t every day that we form new lodges; the trend for decades has been merging, consolidating, or just going dark. In the past 20 years or so, the Grand Lodge of New Jersey has constituted four lodges, including our research lodge (which the authorities say is not a lodge). The last Ceremony of Constitution took place seven years ago, when Sons of Liberty Lodge No. 301 quit the Garden State Grand Lodge and affiliated with us. The celebration tonight marks the constitution of Plaridel Lodge No. 302.

Above and below: officers and brethren of Plaridel Lodge.

What these two new lodges share in common are their urban origins and ethnic identities. If you have any communication with Masons from outside the English-speaking world, you undoubtedly have been told of a fraternity that is heavy on initiation and instruction in the Craft’s symbols and teachings. The hotdog eating contests, kiddie parties and other ridiculous activities that have undermined Masonry in the United States are unknown to them, and if they do know, they’re mortified. Polite about it perhaps, but mortified.

I’m really hoping Plaridel adopts the cause of meaningful initiation supported by true impartation of the Craft’s secrets. Of course the lodge must function within the laws of our Grand Lodge (some of whose officers say there are no secrets in Freemasonry), but a lodge can walk that tightrope if its officers know what the rule book says – and what it does not say.

Both Sons of Liberty and Plaridel are at labor in New Jersey’s Fifth Masonic District, which covers Hudson County and is home to most of this jurisdiction’s urban lodges. These two lodges consist of brethren who are immigrants or first generation Americans, and I believe the advent of these lodges hints at the future of Freemasonry in New Jersey. Almost all of the other lodges in the state exist in suburbs, where they in effect become part of the civic club landscape alongside the Elks, Rotary, Kiwanis, etc. These “ethnic” lodges however offer the promise of true Freemasonry: a brotherhood informed by our unique God-centered psychology, and united in labors of intellectual, moral and spiritual growth. The names of these lodges recall fights for freedom from oppression. Those battles were not waged for the right to host chili cooking contests. Freemasonry is about more serious things, and is intended for more serious men. I wish them great success.

W. Phil Caliolio, left, as president of the Philippine Masonic Association of New Jersey, helped establish Plaridel. RW Steve Wolfson, on left in photo at right, had the goal of adding to his District a new lodge that adds to the ethnic diversity of New Jersey Freemasonry.



Plaridel Lodge is named for Marcelo H. del Pilar, a hero who is dear to The Magpie Mason’s heart because he was a journalist who labored to end three centuries of Spanish colonialism in the Philippine Islands. If only we had one of his kind in this country today. Read more here.

One aspect of fraternal life at Plaridel is confirmed: They eat well. This roast pig was the main course tonight, but hardly the only choice facing kosher/halal diners.

Approximately 100 Masons from across New Jersey, plus New York and the Philippines packed the lodge room at the Bayonne Masonic Temple, home of mighty Peninsula Lodge No. 99 (The Magpie Mason’s mother lodge). The 85-year-old temple has a special energy to it, albeit without air conditioning! It was the site of the first Rose Circle conference and salon in 2006.

‘Free to keep secrets’

     

Standing before a bookcase stocked with a complete set of AQCs, author James Wasserman addressed a packed room May 29 at the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Library at the Grand Lodge of New York.

Author James Wasserman was the guest lecturer for “Freemasonry and the Quest for Liberty” at the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Library at the Grand Lodge of New York May 29, promoting his latest book The Secrets of Masonic Washington: A Guidebook to Signs, Symbols, and Ceremonies at the Origin of America’s Capital.

I think library Director Tom Savini should be proud. It was an excellent event that drew a standing room only crowd, which is amazing considering how many other things there are to do in New York City on a warm, still, summertime Friday evening. The Master of The American Lodge of Research was there, as was the Junior Warden of Civil War Lodge of Research, and other accomplished people in the field of Masonic education, like John Mauk Hilliard. But it seemed as though most of those present were not Masons, which indicates to me that Freemasonry can pique the interest of educated adults by hosting cultural events in elegant settings.

“Freemasonry is the spiritual component of the greatest political experiment in history,” said Wasserman, introducing his thesis of the Craft’s significance in the birth of the American Republic. He divided Freemasonry’s inevitability into three historical epochs. The first is Biblical history, wherein we see man attempting to govern himself in Eden, followed by that gradual evolution of patriarchal leadership, from Noah to Moses. His point: that the political governance we know today has a spiritual basis. He illustrated this with a recollection of the prophet Samuel who sagely warned the Israelites that they should be careful what they wish for when it comes to hoping for a king to lead them. Investing their faith in a temporal king would displease the Lord. Quoting 1 Samuel 8:10-14:

And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king.... This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.... And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards.... and give them to his servants.

A period of about 500 years in which the Hebrews would be ruled by kings ensued, ending with the Babylonian Captivity. This, Wasserman said, would not have escaped the notice of those who wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence, with its list of grievances against George III.

We remember the somber observation of the Declaration’s first paragraph, where it is stated that people with sufficient cause have the right to dissolve political ties with others for their self-preservation. Then of course there is the immortal, stirring, poetic clarion of the second paragraph.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

What many of us probably forget is the list of several dozen very specific complaints enumerated against the Crown, “a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny,” and that foreshadow the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

At approximately the same time Samuel’s warning came to fruition, Classical Greece and Rome were giving the world new forms of government, Wasserman explained. Direct democracy was practiced by the former (c. 500 BCE to 322 BCE), and an embryonic form of representational government was established by the latter (c. 509 BCE to the first Caesar). Greek Democracy proved to be unwieldy and inevitably dysfunctional; Roman politics morphed into militarism, which led to empire and “bread and circuses” until “leaner, meaner and hungrier barbarian tribes” undid it, he added. A millennium later, the Catholic Church proved to be the stabilizing force that established a political hegemony over Europe’s many regional rulers. This brings us to Wasserman’s second, if ironic, historical period of Freemasonry’s eventuality: feudalism.

While this term often is applied to other places and times, feudalism is the political and legal system of medieval Europe in which peasants, who were bound to the land on which they lived, were in effect possessions of the lords who owned those lands. Needless to say, these peasants, or “serfs,” had no political rights or access to justice. Even the advent of the Magna Carta in 1215, a revolution well remembered by the Founding Fathers, did not adequately address the rights of the peasantry. This backdrop reveals the glaring contrast embodied by the operative stone masons who were free to travel to practice their craft.

From the 12th to the 16th centuries, thousands of cathedrals, churches and other stone structures were built across the British Isles and throughout Europe, Wasserman explained, “about 1,200 of them, in 25 countries, remain today.” Their existence is thanks to “skilled craftsmen, geometricians and architects” who were permitted and capable of electing their own officials, occupying their own residential areas, tending to their own charitable and health care benefits for their workers and dependents.

Masons developed the guild system, which expanded on those existing freedoms, adding the ability to establish rates of pay, delineation of responsibilities, prevention of fraud and, of course, systems of recognition – those ritualized answers to questions that affirm ownership of one’s mind.

“Secrecy is the right of a free person,” Wasserman said, thus operative masonry is the second building-block, set atop the foundation stone of Biblical man’s struggle to establish self-rule, leading toward a culmination of individual liberty and political governance. That operative masonry, with its “magnificent edifices reaching skyward,” best represents the singular experience of a free person, for its successful transformation of mysteries, like geometry, into permanent achievements.

Of course before that zenith is reached, Europe evolves through the Renaissance, described by Wasserman as the offspring of the communion of Christianity and Islam, and the Reformation, and it is shortly thereafter that masonry undergoes an important, if enigmatic, transformation. The 17th century saw membership in masons’ lodges opened to men who had no connection to the building trades. The best known of these is Elias Ashmole (1617-92), an intellectual possessing a strong interest in Natural Philosophy, who was drawn to the society for its possession of Sacred Geometry and other hidden wisdom.

Wasserman’s third building-block, his capstone, is the Enlightenment. The labors of Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, Denis Diderot, Christopher Wren and so many others gave rise to and defined the Enlightenment, when “rationality, as a means to understand reality, rejected the hopelessness of earlier Catholic thought.” To Wasserman, the United States, its Declaration of Independence, its Constitution and Bill of Rights embody mankind’s desire for spirituality. “The human soul craves religion, spirituality, and oneness with God,” he said, whereas atheism and agnosticism “leave an unsatisfied hunger in the human psyche.” And Freemasonry is a companion to this new nation and its government. It offers to the seeker after knowledge that very quest, without causing him to leave his intellect at the door of a church. “I believe that resulted in the greatest quest for human liberty in history. The United States of America and its entire legal and ethical system is based on the Bible, and it is no mistake to identify America as a Christian country. (I’m Jewish, by the way.)”

For James Wasserman, Freemasonry is the “most refined advance of Western culture.” While it consisted of wealthy elites at the time it took root in America, it grew and spread throughout the new nation when it embraced soldiers, artisans, merchants and other self-made men, proving itself to be an ordered society of far-thinking individuals who also would work outside of the lodge to help society strengthen its democracy by dismantling social and economic barriers.

It was a great event for the Livingston Library. The only problem is the talk Wasserman gave was more interesting than the book he wrote. In recent years there have been a bunch of quality books about Freemasonry that are excellent resources for Mason and non-Mason alike, and Wasserman’s “Secrets” definitely ranks among them. His book is one of the more lavishly illustrated, with dozens of outstanding color photographs – many of them close-ups – revealing the amazing details of the symbols and codes embedded in the architecture of our nation’s capital.


Monuments, statues, friezes, plaques, and other architectural voices tell the story of a peculiar system of human governance, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols that are mysterious to all but the initiated eye. But to be honest, a great many of these do not have connections to Freemasonry. To be sure, there are many Masons depicted in stone and metal, from George Washington to Albert Pike, and there are symbols that also appear in Masonic instruction, but the majority of these landmarks have oblique relationships to the Craft: Biblical figures, Greco-Roman gods, zodiac symbols, et al. “The Secrets of Masonic Washington” is valuable reading to the student of symbolism, but its Masonic education value is more contextual; in a way, it actually demonstrates that Washington, DC is not the physical manifestation of Masonic idiom that inexperienced or naïve Masonic students want to believe it is.

The stronger expressions of the Wasserman thesis are found in his discussion of the city’s man-made topography itself, and while nearly all Masons in the United States know at least a little about how Brothers L’Enfant and Washington sketched the earliest drafts of the federal city’s layout, Wasserman does a great service by poetically likening the square shape of the capital to both moral integrity, as in a square deal, and to a more esoteric understanding of the four physical elements of Fire, Air, Earth and Water. Other eye-openers include Wasserman’s perspectives on the Constitution’s relationship to the placement of the seats of the three branches of government; on the cruciform nature of the city’s design; and the spiritual harmony it all was meant to convey to the people. Invaluable reading, but outweighed by the Walking Tour that begins on page 71 that illustrates the many beautiful, but not necessarily Masonic, sights to see.

James Wasserman is not a Freemason. He said he is pursuing membership in the Craft in Florida, where he resides. It is no secret that many of the best books written about Freemasonry in the past 20 years were authored by non-Masons, and Wasserman deserves to be listed among those despite what I think might be a misguided enthusiasm to credit the Craft with too much.
     

Alpha Lodge on parade

Montclair, New Jersey’s annual African-American Heritage Parade and Festival took place yesterday. Hundreds of marchers representing a variety of groups, from Masonic lodges to the Stiletto Rydaz Motorcycle Club, marched through the heart of this historic township.

Part of the Alpha Lodge contingent gathers at the starting point waiting for the parade to begin.

Alpha Masons and Prince Hall Masons mingle before the start of the parade. In addition to the Alpha brethren and those from other area lodges, the parade included Prince Hall Masons from Eureka Lodge No. 52, and Shriners from Golconda Temple No. 24.

The Orange High School Marching Tornadoes line up and get ready to hit the road.

Many classic cars were in the parade. Shown here: a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air; a hot rod Cadillac; and a really souped up Chevy Nova.

Whether lining the streets or observing from their stoops, Montclair residents turned out in great numbers to watch this colorful and loud procession.

The downside about marching in a parade of course is you actually miss the parade. Alpha Lodge was near the front of the procession, nearly at its head, so it was tough to photograph most of the sights.

Above: This happy fellow is available from a local antiques dealer we marched past. Naturally it reminds one of Sir Francis Bacon’s coat of arms, so I took it as fortuitous that it decorated our parade route. Price: $180, but the Magpie Mason was assured it can be had for $120.

Below: One of the homes we passed in a residential area dominated by 100-year-old Victorians is guarded by knights in... well, evidently not shining armor, but armor nevertheless.

V.I.T.R.I.O.L.

It is official: Bro. Mohamad Yatim will be the guest speaker at Sons of Liberty Lodge No. 301 on June 10. He is going to discuss the Scottish Rite initiatic element known as the Chamber of Reflection, with an explanation of V.I.T.R.I.O.L.

Sons of Liberty meets at the Secaucus Masonic Temple, located at 1422 Paterson Plank Rd. in Secaucus, easily reached from Route 3, the NJ Turnpike, etc. Opening at 7:30 p.m.

The Chamber of Reflection offers the aspirant a very different experience than New Jersey’s ritually standard Preparation Room. In the latter, lodge officers greet the candidate with specific questions and make certain he is properly clothed for his initiation. But in the Chamber of Reflection, the candidate for the mysteries of Freemasonry is given time to think. He’ll need it, because he should achieve an emotional distance from the concerns and employments of the world outside; he should attain a mental clarity to appreciate his infinitesimal place in the universe; he needs to understand his very existence is just a temporary blip.

This is accomplished with the aid of several highly instructive symbols placed in the Chamber. Daniel Béresniak, in his excellent book “Symbols of Freemasonry,” describes the Chamber of Reflection beautifully. (These photos, shot by Laziz Hamani, are from this highly recommended book.)

“The Chamber of Reflection, present only in certain Masonic rites, is a small room in which the candidates are left on their own for a period before the initiation ceremony begins. Seated at a table, they write their Philosophical Will, which is later to be read out in the lodge....

“The initiate is alone with a sheet of paper and a pencil. The Chamber of Reflection is lit only by a candle which casts its feeble light on a number of ornaments: a human skull, some bones, a saucer containing salt and another containing sulfur. On the wall are murals painted in white on a black background: a cockerel, a scythe, and the word V.I.T.R.I.O.L. which is the ancient command to examine oneself: Visita interiora terrae, rectificando invenies occultam lapidem, (or Visit the center of the earth, and by rectifying you shall find the hidden stone).

“These symbols derive from alchemy, a tradition which has provided us with all of the symbols we use today to describe metamorphosis....

“The hourglass is an invitation to reflect on the reversibility of time; the bread denotes the vital transformation from the raw to the cooked; and water represents fertility. So knowledge has to be re-examined, not to increase its ontological qualities, but to alter them. ‘Not to fill up a vase, but to light a fire,’ as Montaigne put it. This quotation from the author of the ‘Essays’ leads us to the cockerel, which announces the appearance of light. It is associated with Mercury/Hermes who sets limits and helps us to cross them. The ability to associate things by distinguishing between them is proof of the passage from knowledge to experience.

“As for the scythe, the tool used for reaping, it is only since the fifteenth century that it has been put in the hands of a skeleton to represent death, the great leveler. This image confirms and illustrates the teaching revealed in the other symbols: Death in the vegetable world is a source of life for the animal world.

“These symbols focus the neophytes’ attention on the need to recognize reality as it is, and to free themselves from those phantoms which set light and darkness in opposition. This initial trial and proof of earth in the Chamber of Reflection shows the way forward, to replace the word ‘or’ and its surrounding attitudes by the word ‘and.’”

More ‘Alpha males’

Senior Warden Kevin, Organist Nathaniel, and Bro. Ali at Alpha Lodge Wednesday night.

It isn’t necessary to be a Masonic VIP from a faraway land to speak at Alpha Lodge’s podium. On Wednesday, we heard from a homegrown Alpha male, recently raised to the Third Degree.

Bro. Nathaniel spoke on several subjects, compensating for two other Alpha brethren who could not attend.

“Music, Brotherhood and Harmony” was his first subject. Steering clear of the obvious approach (i.e. famous Masons who composed music), Nathaniel neared his topic obliquely. “Harmony is the Mystic Tie that binds brethren together,” he said. “It binds our hearts together in brotherly love.” He recounted the significance of music in Masonic labors, starting with the songs printed in the back of Anderson’s Constitutions, and explained the unifying joy of music in Masonic refreshment, as in the ways Masons in previous generations would support the performing arts by attending concerts together as a lodge.

Perhaps the best point Nathaniel made concerned the elementary definitions of the words harmony and brotherhood.

har•mo•ny: 3 a: pleasing or congruent arrangement of parts (a painting exhibiting harmony of color and line) b: correspondence, accord c: internal calm: tranquility.

broth•er•hood: 3 : as association (as a labor union or monastic society) for a particular purpose.

Every Mason is like a musical instrument, he explained. Each gives a gift to the lodge, and then unites, as for a symphony.

Read more about it here.

‘The reign of error’

     
All bad things must come to an end, and King Nelson is retiring as editor of “The Philalethes,” the bi-monthly journal of unctuous opinion that suffered long and needlessly under His Highness’ rule.

This is the first necessary step that the Philalethes Society must take if it is to regain whatever credibility is possible. (Actually, it has been explained to me that Nelson hasn’t truly been the editor for a number of years, and that there is someone on the payroll who does the work of a managing editor, but still it is necessary to separate his name from the voice of the society.)

My advice, which I admit is worth zero, is for the society to lose its tired, exaggerated sense of self-importance, to economize financially (and they know what I mean here), to find a new voice and a solid purpose, and to meet the expectations of the 21st century Freemason in North America. I don’t envy Terry Tilton, the current president, and I wish him lots of luck. He needs it.
     

Bro. Ambrose Ely Vanderpoel (1875-1940)

On Memorial Day, we inevitably wind up visiting cemeteries. There is one tiny burial ground in my native hometown that is the final resting place of Bro. Ambrose Ely Vanderpoel (1875-1940). A member of Madison Lodge No. 93. He was part of the wealthy and influential Ely family that settled in the area in the 18th century. Bro. Ambrose made the Masonic Charity Foundation of New Jersey a beneficiary in his will, bequeathing $2 million in the 1940s. (About $30 million in 2009 dollars.) Evidently the Vanderpoel Pavilion at the Home is named in his honor.

Here are two photos of his headstone. A monument actually. Stands about eight feet tall.

Richard Ely emigrated from Plymouth, England c. 1655 and landed in Boston. He settled in Lyme, Connecticut. His great-grandson, Captain William Ely, a veteran of the colonial wars, moved from Lyme to New Jersey in 1756 with his wife Elizabeth Perkins Ely and their seven children, settling on a tract of farm land. (A portion of this property would be owned by my family two centuries later.)

Their family tree would grow large, and would include many notable personalities in business, industry, government, military, clergy and other fields. One of those families that apparently justified its own genealogical book, published in 1902.

If the findings published in this book are accurate, Richard Ely is a descendant of one Tassilo, a Roman youth living in Buda (Budapest), capital of Hungary circa 550, who would marry Brunehilda, daughter of the Hungarian monarch Theodoric. Their son would become Theodoric the Hun, who in 580 would become a duke in the area southwest of Austria, near Lombardy.

Fast forward five and a half centuries, and Helias de la Flèche, Count of Maine, emigrates to England, where King Henry I grants him extensive lands in Cambridgeshire, including the Isle of Ely, where he died in 1110.

The family is involved in government and church for generations, with its men holding high offices, and one, Sir Walter de Ely, fighting in the Crusades, earning distinction at the storied Siege of Acre under Richard the Lionheart. He died circa 1220.

Jump ahead 405 years, after many marriages producing sons who would graduate college and become clergymen, and our Richard Ely is born at Basingstoke. Might have served under Cromwell.

There is Ely Cathedral also, located in the same Cambridgeshire.

Etheldreda (Æthelthryth, Ediltrudis, Audrey) (d.679), queen, foundress and abbess of Ely. She was the daughter of Anna, king of East Anglia, and was born, probably, at Exning, near Newmarket in Suffolk. At an early age she was married (c.652) to Tondberht, ealdorman of the South Gyrwas, but she remained a virgin. On his death, c.655, she retired to the Isle of Ely, her dowry. In 660, for political reasons, she was married to Egfrith, the young king of Northumbria who was then only 15 years old, and several years younger than her. He agreed that she should remain a virgin, as in her previous marriage, but 12 years later he wished their marital relationship to be normal. Etheldreda, advised and aided by Wilfred, bishop of Northumbria, refused. Egfrith offered bribes in vain. Etheldreda left him and became a nun at Coldingham under her aunt Ebbe (672) and founded a double monastery at Ely in 673. (from FARMER, David: The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 3rd ed. OUP, 1992.)

Etheldreda restored an old church at Ely, reputedly destroyed by Penda, pagan king of the Mercians, and built her monastery on the site of what is now Ely Cathedral. After its restoration in 970 by Ethelwold it became the richest abbey in England except for Glastonbury.

Etheldreda's monastery flourished for 200 years until it was destroyed by the Danes. It was refounded as a Benedictine community in 970....

Work on the present Cathedral began in the 11th century under the leadership of Abbot Simeon, and the monastic church became a cathedral in 1109 with the Diocese of Ely being carved out of the Diocese of Lincoln. The monastery at Ely was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539. Ely suffered less than many other monasteries, but even so, statues were destroyed together with carvings and stained glass. St Etheldreda's Shrine was destroyed.
The Cathedral was refounded with a Chapter of eight canons in 1541 as was the Kings School.
Robert Steward, the last Prior of the monastery, became the first Dean.

The first major restoration took place in the 18th Century under James Essex. With the arrival of Dean George Peacock in 1839 a second restoration project began. Together with the architect Sir George Gilbert Scott, he restored the building to its former glory.

A third major restoration project, the most extensive to date, was begun in 1986 and was completed in the year 2000.

Read the whole story here.

The most recent interment at the Ely Family Cemetary in New Jersey took place in 1978, when Janet Halsey Olstead, an eighth-generation descendant of Captain William Ely, was laid to rest.

Per the terms of deeds, covenants, etc., only Ely family members may be buried on this land. There is plenty of vacant land within the 145-year-old stone fence surrounding the burial ground. The shortage, evidently, is of Elys. The Historical Society that serves in trust for the cemetery is unaware of any surviving family members, and in fact does not know who, if anyone alive, is the owner of the cemetery.

The earliest headstones, made of sandstone and not enduring time well, mark the graves of Elizabeth Ely Jones, her husband Frederick Jones, and their son Bennoni, all dated 1777.

Inscribed: “Bennoni Jones, son of Frederick & Elizabeth Jones. He died 1777. Aged 3 years.”

The final resting place of Smith Ely (1825-1911), mayor of New York City, 1877-78.

Making a pleasant coincidence, another Ely, Mr. Ambrose Ely, donated $300 in 1855 to a civic club that purchased land about a mile west of this cemetery for what would become Olivet United Church of Christ, which remained on that little piece of land until September 1973. I don’t know exactly when, but later that decade the church building was purchased by one of the local Masonic lodges, which moved in and held its meetings there until—I think—about 2001, when it merged with the other lodge in town, located a few miles to the east. The former church/lodge building still stands, and I’m pretty sure the current lodge still owns it, and is eager to sell.

‘Unforgettable’

   


Installation of Officers
St. John’s Lodge No. 1, Ancient York Masons
New York City
May 20, 2009