'PHA research lodge to meet'

  
New Jersey Prince Hall's Lodge of Research and Education No. 2006 will meet next week.

The info, as it appears here, is:

Stated Communication

Thursday, December 29

at 8 p.m.

Hiram Lodge No. 5

143 Warwick Road

in Lawnside

Attire: Masonic Dress

Any Master Mason recognized by the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of New Jersey may attend. For more information, call Worshipful Master Eubert G. Brown at (609) 332-0959.

Usually, I don't catch these announcements until after the meeting date, but I tried to be vigilant this time. Unfortunately it is too far a commute for me, but I've alerted the brethren at LORE 1786, many of whom reside not too far away, so hopefully some will visit.
  

'A study in symbols'

  
The M.E. High Priest and I have this personal thing. When he is installed in the East of a Masonic society, he invites me to lecture at his first meeting. We did that in 2009 at Fairless Hills Lodge, and again in 2011 at Kensington-Kadosh Commandery, and we'll give it another go next month at Abington Royal Arch Chapter.

Hanukkah having begun only a short while ago -- best wishes for a happy one, to all who celebrate -- I thought it a good time to announce this event. (Disclaimer: I am not an expert on the subject of Kabbalah or other aspects of Jewish mysticism, therefore I have defined the limits of this talk very narrowly. Yet there still is a lot to discuss.)

Within the realm of Kabbalistic learning, there is a vast body of literature named Zohar, which I'll describe essentially as esoteric commentary on the Pentateuch and other Jewish Scripture. When I say "vast," I refer, for example, to my own copy, 23 large hardcover volumes, which resembles a set of encyclopedias. It is far much more than commentaries, but if I try to explain that, I'll only sound ignorant and a little crazy.

From this library, I'll share with the Companions the esoteric contexts of a number of aspects of ancient Jewish spirituality which appear to have relevance to Royal Arch Masonry. The High Priest and the Ark, to name only two obvious examples. Believe me, it will be a learning experience for myself as much as anyone else.

As you can see in the graphic above, this will take place Tuesday, January 24 at 7:30 p.m. in the Jenkintown Masonic Temple in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. This is a wonderfully situated Masonic space, nestled amid a very charming downtown area. There's just something very "Simpkins' Store" about it, if you know what I mean.

I'll wind up missing a pretty big event at my Scottish Rite Valley that night. Sorry about that, but I committed to this years ago.

As you also can see in the graphic above, there is an illustrated text in the background. Here is a better view:

The two pages shown are not from the Zohar, but are from, of all places, the first Calvinist vernacular Bible printed in Poland. This holy text was printed in 1563 under the auspices of Prince Mikolaj Ridziwil (1525-65), one of the great religious reformers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and a defender of Lithuanian sovereignty. The illustrations are woodcuts. They were to help the Christian reader understand Jewish ritual of the Temple period. At left is the Altar of Burnt Offerings; at right of course is the High Priest in full ceremonial vestments.

In addition to the obvious good fit, I chose to use this image for the graphic because this very copy of this Bible once was owned by a certain son of England's King George III. Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1773-1843) is the very same man who, as the first Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England, solidified the union of the Moderns and Ancients beginning in 1813, and served as ex-officio Grand First Principal of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, holding both offices for the last 30 years of his life.

He should be remembered fondly by Masons everywhere for his open-mindedness regarding religion and Masonry. As MQ Magazine puts it: "His liberal attitude towards religion (he was in favour of Catholic Emancipation and had many Jewish friends), influenced the creation of a more inclusive, less obviously Christian Grand Lodge." His influence permitted men like me to become Freemasons at a time in England when non-Christians enjoyed no civil rights.

Happy Hanukkah!

'ALR to meet next week'

    
From the Secretary's Desk:

The 352nd Stated Communication of The American Lodge of Research will be held in the French Ionic Room of Masonic Hall, 71 West 23rd Street, City of New York, on Tuesday Evening, December 27th, 2011 at Eight O’Clock, for the Presentation of Annual Reports, Adoption of the 2012 Budget, Unaffiliation of Members in Arrears, Proposed By-Law Changes, the regular business of the Lodge, the Public Installation of Officers for 2012 and the Public Inaugural Address:


The Beginnings of Indian Freemasonry
by W. Gilbert Ferrer, Incoming Master


The Master and Wardens summon your presence and invite other Master Masons to accompany you. At Six O’Clock, following the usual custom of the Lodge, members and their guests may dine together at their own expense at the Outback Steakhouse, across 23rd Street from Masonic Hall.

W. Bro. Ferrer is a Past Master of Shakespeare Lodge No. 750.

The proposed amendment to our by-laws concerns the meeting schedule, specifically changing one meeting from St. John Evangelist Day (December 27) to St. John Baptist Day (June 24) to avoid holidays and the inclemency of the winter season.
    

'A new look at ye olde Bible'

  

Magpie file photo

A King James Version of the Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments, the 'George Washington Inaugural Bible' was printed in the 1760s, and has been owned since then by St. John's Lodge No. 1 AYM in New York City. On April 30, 1789, George Washington took his first presidential oath of office upon this Bible, his hands resting at Genesis 49-50.

I had the good fortune to be in the presence of a certain Bible on Friday night, one that has been discussed here before. A cherished, priceless document we in Freemasonry call the George Washington Inaugural Bible was brought to a local Masonic lodge in New Jersey to display during a ceremony.

I just want to offer a quick post on this now to share a perspective that is new to me. Two, actually, but I'll begin at the beginning.

The George Washington Inaugural Bible, a King James Version containing the Old and New Testaments, has been owned by St. John's Lodge No. 1, Ancient York Masons, in New York City since the lodge purchased it from Baskett printers in London in 1767, for use as the lodge's altar Bible. It earned its nickname because on April 30, 1789, George Washington took his first presidential oath of office with his hands resting on the pages of this Bible, opened to Genesis 49-50, in a ceremony on Wall Street.

In a fraternal order that cherishes its history and its artifacts, this holy text enjoys a unique standing; whereas those Founding Fathers who were members of Masonic lodges left this world long ago, this Bible serves as a portal that grants us today the chance to touch them in their day. Well, almost. The Bible is handled only by select members of St. John's Lodge when they travel with it on the very few occasions it is allowed to travel. But it does travel, unlike so many other pieces permanently encased in glass or locked in vaults, never to reach their full value as educational tools and cultural touchstones.

One of those guardians on Friday night was VW Bro. Piers Vaughan, who addressed the audience of approximately 150 to tell the history of this Bible, and his own thoughts on why this particular text came to hold its singular significance.

Piers Vaughan, in Masonic regalia, exhibits 

a miniature replica of the historic George

Washington Inaugural Bible, one that

features the autograph of George H.W. Bush.

Piers spoke of how the preparations for Washington's inauguration were planned to the most minute detail, even down to the quantities of hay and water required to refresh the horses in the procession. How could it be that the very instant of inauguration could be bereft of a Bible? It is a depth of thoughtlessness that seems too improbable to be taken seriously. Instead, argues Piers, the president-elect himself fashioned "an elegant solution" to a potential political and religious misstep. With the new American states characterized by different sectarian beliefs, the choice of one holy text over another in the performance of this swearing-in ceremony could have had repercussions throughout the land. But because of the very high esteem in which the public regarded Freemasonry, Washington's choice of a "Masonic Bible" would have been appreciated as the best obtainable ecumenical solution to the ceremonial dilemma.

And the second point that caught my ear Friday night was the ranking in which Piers placed this Bible in political and civic importance: third, after only the Declaration and the Constitution.

His reasoning is because Washington was created president of the United States with the assistance of this Bible, the Executive Branch of U.S. government was thereby embodied by him that very moment. Enlightened by this view, I now see the aspiration of the Declaration of Independence as prelude to the covenant of the Constitution, rendered in the flesh as a civilian, temporary, and elected chief executive.

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In other New York City news, I repeat the info on an upcoming lecture at Fraunces Tavern Museum on Thursday, January 19 at 6:30 p.m.

From the publicity:

Most people are aware that Freemasonry is a centuries-old society cloaked in mystique, its brethren ever present in the sweep of history, but what exactly do Masons profess? Did Freemasonry inspire the War of Independence? Were all the Founding Fathers members of the Masonic fraternity? Drawing from period literature, and with an insider's understanding of how Masonic lessons are imparted, Jay Hochberg, an officer in New York City's only Masonic lodge of research and education, will define and contextualize the Colonial Freemason's bond to his neighbor, his government, and his god.

Seating is limited to about 60, and no advance reservations are taken. Tickets are sold, at $10 per person, at the door.

     

'Wendell K. Walker 2012'

  
Every year, Independent Royal Arch Lodge No. 2 hosts its Wendell K. Walker Lecture, an event to allow us all a day's advancement in Masonic knowledge together. The 2012 lecture will be held Thursday, March 15. Lecturer: no stranger to the pages of The Magpie Mason ... W. Bro. David Lindez!

Bro. David's presentation is titled "That Which Wendell K. Walker Held Most Dear." 7 p.m. in the Empire Room, 12th floor, of Masonic Hall. 71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan. Open to Apprentices and Fellows. Attire: business suit.

Collation to follow at Aleo, 7 West 20th Street. Fixed price menu at $60 per person. Reservations no later than 5 p.m. on March 9 are required. Contact Bro. Charles Henry George at charlesgeorge252(at)earthlink.net

The Wendell K. Walker Lecture is an annual event in memory of Bro. Walker, a beloved leader in the field of Masonic education. He led in the establishment of the Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library and The American Lodge of Research.

Independent Royal Arch Lodge No. 2 is one of the oldest fraternal and social institutions in continuous existence in the City of New York. Chartered on December 15, 1760, “Old No. 2,” as it is popularly styled, has, for two-and-a-half centuries, exerted a civilizing and fraternal influence in New York.
  

'Save the date: May 19'

    

    

'Deep Purple'

  

Ambassadors Jason, Piers, and Steven traveled to Atlas-Pythagoras Lodge No. 10 Friday night, bringing with them the historic George Washington Bible. The holy text has been owned by their lodge, St. John's No. 1 Antient York Masons, since the 1760s, and it is in fact the Volume of Sacred Law upon which George Washington took his first presidential oath of office on April 30, 1789 at Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City.

I can't even remember the last time I was in a Craft lodge, but Friday night was the installation of Moises Gomez into the Solomonic chair. Wasn't going to miss that. And besides, he asked me to take pictures.

They came from all over New Jersey, from New York City, from the Hudson Valley, Delaware, New Hampshire, maybe elsewhere too. About 150 of us met to salute a Mason who I think is the hardest working Brother I've ever seen. We all know guys who excel in a million things in lodge, or in Scottish Rite, or the Shrine, or wherever, but Moises is everywhere. And without neglecting family and career.

Of course now that he is Master of his lodge -- oh, did I mention it's Atlas-Pythagoras Lodge? The Provincial Grand Lodge of Union County? -- I imagine he'll have to change some of his habits and scale back the extra-curricular stuff. Or at least that would be my strong advice to him.

It was a grand evening. Plus I got to see Piers, Jason, and Steven from St. John's No. 1. I hardly get to see those guys any more.

The Rampant Lion Pipe Band set the tone by opening the festivities with a Scottish march.

The George Washington Inaugural Bible with Square and Compasses.

The banner of the lodge. I'll try to decode the coat of arms. Clockwise from top left: Atlas and Pythagoras; three plows denoting New Jersey heritage; three S&Cs representing Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty; and the cornucopia, because this lodge has everything in abundance. "Ex tenebris lux" can be understood as "From darkness, light." 

The appointed officers for 2012. Thurman, at left, is the Historian.

Not easy zooming in to get this shot of the new Master's gavel,
presented to him by Junior Warden Mike.

It's almost a crime to cut into this cake.

Very Worshipful Brother Piers Vaughan presents Worshipful Brother Moises Gomez a miniature replica of the George Washington Inaugural Bible, a memento from St. John's Lodge No. 1 AYM.

     

'The Magpie and the Tavern'

     

As you may have guessed from the slowdown of traffic here on The Magpie, I have stepped back from almost all of my Masonic activities this year to attend to other important things in life, but I hope to be back in 2012. In fact, I'll be back with a vengeance in January, with three speaking engagements in three states in two weeks. (I've been assured this is not illegal.)

I wasn't even going to publicize this event myself, except for a subtle clue at left you probably never noticed, a quick mention on Facebook, and the use of the touchscreen in the lobby of Masonic Hall , but I cannot rely on the museum to get the word out. The Sons of the Revolution e-mailed its newsletter to subscribers, but printed the wrong date and other errors that were minor but still annoying. Fraunces' website still lists events that have passed, and there is no mention of this one yet. And I didn't want to publicize it myself because the point of the lecture is to reach the public, not a bunch of my friends who already know what I'm going to say. Anyway, the museum's newsletter, which did get it right, can be read below, and hopefully it will be linked to its website soon.

In the ten or so years that I have been speaking on Masonic subjects, I have done so only to Masonic audiences, with one exception this April, when I discussed ritual elements, philosophy, and history at the New York City Chapter of the Joseph Campbell Foundation. I broke my own rule because I've been active there for a number of years, and I know the people there to be serious thinkers and students of mythologies, religions, and similar paths of wisdom, so I don't even consider that a general audience. It was more like speaking to a college-level class on a subject they want to know, and I anticipate the same kind of audience at Fraunces Tavern Museum.

Or I would if the museum would kindly tell its members and supporters about it.

In the meantime, here is the Magpie announcement. The major details are in the graphic above. In addition, you should know seating is limited to about 60, and it is not at all unusual for this venue to sell out. NO advance reservations are taken; tickets are sold at the door at $10 per person, so I recommend arriving no later than six o'clock. I take to the podium at 6:30.

By the title of the talk, an informed Mason would know where I'm headed, but I'm hoping this will be news to the public. Drawing from Masonic literature of the Colonial/Revolutionary period, I'll explain what it is that Freemasons mean by our "profession." In addition, I'll sketch a historical picture to clarify the role Masons played, on both sides, of the Revolutionary War, which I suspect will be surprising to those who have the popular notion that all of America's Founding Fathers were Freemasons, and they all were good guys.

Afterward, I'll be downstairs at the wonderful Porterhouse Brewing Co. drinking.

     

'Finding YOU'

     
"A ritual is the enactment of a myth. And, by participating in the ritual, you are participating in the myth. And since myth is a projection of the depth wisdom of the psyche, by participating in a ritual, participating in the myth, you are being, as it were, put in accord with that wisdom, which is the wisdom that is inherent within you anyhow. Your consciousness is being re-minded of the wisdom of your own life."

Joseph Campbell


This evening was the only New York City area screening of a new film titled "Finding Joe," a documentary about the work of Professor Joseph Campbell, the scholar at Vassar who delved into the world's mythologies and religious stories, discovering what he believed to be the single unifying theme found in all those morality tales: the Hero's Journey.

Arguably the most apt example of this is that first Star Wars movie from 1977. Consider the plot and you'll have the Hero's Journey concept, because George Lucas very deliberately assembled the story in accord with Campbell's teachings in his book "The Hero with a Thousand Faces." Luke Skywalker, a boy of uncertain parentage, suffers a life-changing shock which propels him, reluctantly, forth into the dangerous world (or galaxy, as this story has it). He meets with an older figure, someone to mentor him, and together they travel to places unimaginable. The mentor equips his apprentice with special tools, and schools him in their esoteric uses. The apprentice suffers the loss of his master, and must continue the adventure without him, relying on himself and what he has learned. He does battle with an enemy thought unbeatable, and even is swallowed whole by a monster, before conquering the enemy, achieving his goal, and returning to the world he had left in the innocence of his youth.

To strip this theme to its skeleton robs it of much of its appeal, but think of how many of man's stories adhere to that very formula. It's the life of Jesus, the dream of Dorothy, the quest of Frodo, the lessons of so many Greek myths. There's no limit to its application, because a story's time and place are only incidental; what matters is the story is true to each of us. Your psychology or my psychology or anyone's can be grafted onto the fundamental theme of the Hero's Journey to tell our own unique epics. Each of us has a paralyzing fear to confront and defeat as a necessary part of growth, and indeed achieving happiness. At the end of this film, it is explained that "Finding Joe" is not the documentarian's search for this famous man named Joe, but as a title, "Finding Joe" is only a rhetorical device synonymous with you finding yourself; you identifying your fundamental purpose in life, and then surpassing all internal obstacles (fear and other emotions that produce our excuses and procrastinations) to achieve your goals.

The tagline in the film's marketing quotes Campbell saying "We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us." An urgent lesson for anyone, but especially for those who have come in the same way and manner as all others before.

The various people interviewed in the film phrase these concepts far more creatively than I have here, and so I urge you to see "Finding Joe," and even to arrange to screen it for your brethren. This edition of The Magpie Mason is a rare commercial endorsement, so click here to purchase the $20 DVD. (My movie ticket at Symphony Space cost me $22!) The running time is only 80 minutes, but the impact of the wisdom imparted will leave you with a different understanding of any number of Masonic rituals, from the Sublime Degree to Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret. All of those rites in which Masonic Man is sent forth on a quest owe their existence to this amazing anthropological dynamic Joseph Campbell discerned in the world's religions and mythologies.

"A ritual is the enactment of a myth. And, by participating in the ritual, you are participating in the myth. And since myth is a projection of the depth wisdom of the psyche, by participating in a ritual, participating in the myth, you are being, as it were, put in accord with that wisdom, which is the wisdom that is inherent within you anyhow. Your consciousness is being re-minded of the wisdom of your own life."

Don't let Campbell's Hero's Journey displace any of the moral and esoteric understandings of Masonic degrees you hold already, but just make some room for another shelf amid your stock of knowledge.
    

‘Second Circle is ON’

     

'Oh, it is so on.'

“The dead have no existence

other than that which

the living imagine for them.”

Jean-Claude Schmitt

Ghosts in the Middle Ages:

The Living and the Dead
in Medieval Society

The New Jersey Second Circle of The Masonic Society will meet again next week for its second annual Feast of Saint Andrew.

Wednesday, November 30

7 p.m.

Bloomfield Steak and Seafood House

409 Franklin Street in Bloomfield

Cost: $41 per person.

Your message here (optional):

Professor Breandán Mac Suibhne will present The Freemasons and the Fannet Ghost: An Episode in Irish Cultural History, 1786–1822. This will be a reprise of his lecture to the International Conference on the History of Freemasonry in Virginia this May. It is part ghost story, and part political history, but it is a tale you won’t forget.

Breandán Mac Suibhne, Assistant Professor of History at Centenary College, is a historian of society and culture in Ireland. He has published on para-militarism and the construction of Irish identity in the 1780s, republican rebellion and its suppression in the 1790s, and agrarian “improvement” and social and political unrest in the 1800s.

One of the founding editors of Field Day Review, an interdisciplinary journal of Irish politics and culture past and present, he also is editor of John Gamble’s Society and Manners in Early Nineteenth-Century Ireland, and, with David Dickson, he edited Hugh Dorian’s The Outer Edge of Ulster: A Memoir of Social Life in Nineteenth-Century Donegal, the most extensive account of Ireland’s Great Famine. He is completing a monograph on northwest Ulster, c. 1786–1822.

Let’s get together for drinks at 6:30, and we’ll retire to our room at 7 p.m.

It is NOT necessary to be a member of The Masonic Society to attend. All Masons are welcome, as are our ladies, family, and friends.

If you were there last year, you noticed it’s a small space. Seating IS limited to 30. Reservations are required and, as always, must be made in advance by transmitting your payment, via PayPal. See the "button" above.

For entrées we’ll have broiled salmon, chicken marsala, and prime rib, plus red roasted potatoes, all served as buffet. Plus there will be copious appetizers, the house salad, soft drinks, and coffee & dessert. Of course the bar will be open for your individual patronage.

(And of course the famous Masonic Society gift bag awaits you at the end of the evening.)

If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me at that address as well, and I will get right back to you.

Swingers image courtesy Independent Pictures (II).

'Tonight at ALR'

  
The American Lodge of Research met tonight to hear the paper presented by W. Bro. Scott Thomas Cairns titled "From Lead to Gold: The Path of Alchemy and the Masonic Path."

From the lodge summons:

To those who are wise and knowledgeable, Alchemy is far more than the mundane pursuit of turning lead into gold. It is the extraordinary process of personal transformation.

It has been said that Freemasonry has been the repository for the secrets of such groups as the Knight Templar, the Hermetic Mystery School and other Eastern Mystery Schools. The one discipline that binds all of these together is Alchemy. The three Craft Degrees, as well as those of the York and Scottish Rites, contain the secrets of Alchemy.

Join us for an evening of shared wisdom on October 31, as Worshipful Brother Scott Thomas Cairns, Ph.D. gives extraordinary examples of the alchemical process of transformation that is embedded in our Masonic degrees. It is a powerful transformation process for all Masons "making good men better."

W. Scott Thomas Cairns is a Past Master and current the Secretary of Glen Cove Lodge No. 580 of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York's Second Nassau District. He also is Past Master of Carbon Lodge No. 2910 under the United Grand Lodge of England. He is a faculty member of the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus. His Ph.D. is in International History from the London School of Economics.

To me, one of the more amazing aspects of Masonic thought is its undeniable parallels and links to Alchemy. The term "Royal Art" first appears in Masonry in Anderson's Constitutions of 1723. Without context or explanation, it is assumed to be an allusion to royal patronage, but it simply is the borrowing from the lexicon of Alchemy. (As an aside, I again recommend the book Alchemy & Mysticism  by Alexander Roob. There is much the Masonic eye will see in this copiously illustrated text.) Alchemy employs the symbolism of Jachin and Boaz. Its point-within-a-circle is the symbol of gold. In Alchemy, the sun and the moon denote gold and silver. The legend of GMHA is understood alchemically as part of the endless cycle of death, decay, and rebirth.

Speculative Freemasons labor to perfect rough ashlars. Spiritual Alchemists toil at transmuting base metal into gold. (In my own thinking, Freemasonry evolved out of a need for a social, interactive mode for that work. Where the labor of the Alchemist is solitary, undertaken in a laboratory, Masonic work of course is pursued in lodge by the group.)

These are the kinds of topics broached by Bro. Cairns this evening. His paper is a great example of how speculative subjects can be approached by research lodges when they are anchored in documented facts.
 

'Celts, kilts, and the Most Excellent Sample'

    
Well, it seems sleep is out of the question for the 412th consecutive night, so I may as well edit the photos I shot Thursday at the meeting of the local Knight Masons council, and if I'm going to do that, I might as well share some of them with the regrettably neglected readers of The Magpie Mason.

And I confess to an ulterior motivation: It was a great night that needs to be publicized not so much for the Who, What, When, Where, and Why, but for the How To. Freemasonry has many men who find themselves prematurely or otherwise inappropriately hired to preside. I offer the following only to suggest that all things are possible when it comes to planning a Communication or a dinner, or anything really. "Just do it," sayeth the ad campaign of the athletic supply company named for the ancient goddess of victory.

Here's the rundown on what happened: It was the Knight Masons' final meeting with David Lindez as Excellent Chief of Northern New Jersey Council No. 10. That alone is important to the story because it brought forth Celtic dancers, Scottish bagpipers, poetry, and the initiation of, I think, more than a dozen new Cousins for two councils. (We're called Cousins in Knight Masonry.) Plus the Great Chief of the United States, Most Excellent Kevin B. Sample, was in attendance. Our Council usually hosts the MEGC every year. Also present was Right Excellent Douglas Jordan, Grand Scribe. Doug was in New Jersey only three months ago as the honored guest, in his capacity as Most Venerable Grand Master of Allied Masonic Degrees of the USA, at the Harold V.B. Voorhis Ingathering, our annual statewide AMD conference. Also present was Very Excellent Matthew Dupee, Grand Senior Warden of Grand Council, who came from Pennsylvania, as did Very Excellent George Haynes, the Superintendent of that state. There even was a Cousin from Kentucky! (I think there used to be a song called 'Cousin from Kentucky.') And the V.E. Grand Sentinel was with us too, but he's a member here. Past Great Chief Thurman too. The distinguished East also included Cousin Piers Vaughan, wearing red, in his capacity as R.E. Captain of the Host of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of New York.

What I'm trying to say is this was a big night! Anyway, the pictures will tell the story.

Cousin David leads his Rampant Lion Pipe Band through a march that opened the festivities. 

The distinguished East gets settled on the dais.

Our master of ceremonies welcomes Excellent Chief David Lindez to the podium.

V.E. George Haynes, Superintendent of Pennsylvania, and V.E. Matthew Dupee Grand Senior Warden.

R.E. Doug Jordan, Grand Scribe.

John Barnes, Excellent Chief of the new Jersey Shore Council, and Piers Vaughan, Grand Captain of the Host of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of New York.

David welcomes M.E. Kevin B. Sample, Great Chief of the USA.

It's hard to convince some people, but oftentimes the best photos

are taken without the subjects' knowledge.

But there's nothing wrong with a posed picture either: Makia and Bill.

Only in Freemasonry can a father and son also be brothers and cousins! The Mario Brothers.

The ceremonies begin.

The grand officers in the East of the Council.

It is hard to say one particular portion of the evening was the best moment, but this gets my vote. At right is Rich Hammill, one of our Past Excellent Chiefs. He was surprised with an appointment by the Great Chief to the position of Very Excellent Superintendent for New Jersey.

Utterly stunned, here he receives the congratulations of his cousins. It is an honor earned and deserved. Rich labors mightily in Knight Masonry, and throughout the York Rite.

Time for the entertainment portion of the evening. The Rampant Lion Pipe Band returns.

Talented and brave performers from a dance school treat us to several Celtic folk dances.

Another attraction of the evening was the constituting of a new Knight Masons Council. Jersey Shore Council is the third in New Jersey. It will serve the central area of the state.

M.E. Sample presents the charter to inaugural Excellent Chief John Barnes, as David looks on.

The gratuitous end-of-the-night photo of all the big shots.

Actually too many of them to make for a decent photo.

Cousins, if you plan to attend Masonic Week in February, make sure you get to the meeting of our Grand Council on Friday morning. I know, I know, it's always a grueling business meeting that makes you want to kill yourself, but the 2012 meeting will be very different. New blood has been transfused into Grand Council, and things are changing. And then, at noon, there will be a luncheon hosted by Grand Council. Trevor Stewart will be our guest speaker!
    

'The Last Degree'

  

This shot is an ECU of part of the stained glass window outside the library
at the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction's headquarters in Lexington, Massachusetts.

I regret not being in Chicago with my brethren and friends today. Right about now they, and many others, are behind closed doors, having the Thirty-Third and Last Degree of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry conferred upon them. In fact, I'd guess right at this minute the candidates are having their rings placed on their fingers.

One can find all kinds of Masonic rings for sale all over the place, but the Scottish Rite has only two rings that are part of The Work: those of the 14th and 33rd degrees. Of a different context, Albert Pike writes "...a ring was given to him as a symbol of the Divine Protection, and also as an emblem of Perfection." If there are two Masons who deserve the Divine Protection, they're Piers and Chris! God bless you both and all the brethren.

In addition, let me send Magpie congratulations to Matt Dupee of Pennsylvania, who has been elected to receive the 33rd Degree, and will be coroneted next August in Cleveland. Bravo Matt! (More names surely will be added here, as additional good news gets around.)
  
I'll close on a musical note - not Howie Damron! - but Mr. Frank Sinatra.