‘The Eleusinian Mysteries...in Brooklyn!’

     
It’s that time of year—fall equinox, colder days, longer nights, harvests, booths, leaves changing, etc.—when the mind turns to the connections to ancient ancestors by way of timeless ritual traditions which celebrate nature’s tireless, harmonious cycling.

The best known of the ancient mystery rites, unquestionably, are the Eleusinian Mysteries. For approximately two millennia, the small town called Eleusis, not far from Athens, was the site of a temple where the myth central to pre-Hellenic Greece’s spiritual understanding of autumn was imparted to initiates. That myth, of course, was the story of how Persephone came to live her dual life, dividing her time between the underworld and Mount Olympus. It is an allegory of the change of seasons, like most sacred stories key to the ancient mysteries.

You probably know the general story of this myth, but here it is with some detail, courtesy of Robert Graves’ The Greek Myths: Demeter (meaning Barley Mother), the goddess of the cornfield, with Zeus, bore a daughter named Core (meaning Maiden), and the two were very close. Hades, god of the underworld, fell in love with Core and asked her father/his brother, Zeus, for permission to marry her. Zeus, fearing Demeter’s reaction if he consigned their daughter to the underworld, declined either to grant or deny this request; Hades interpreted the ambivalence as a favorable decision. While making a rare visit above ground, Hades found Core one day while she picked flowers in a meadow, abducted her, and hastily raced his chariot back to the world of the dead.

Foregoing rest and refreshment, Demeter searched for her daughter for nine days and nights. After some investigation, she learned the truth: that Hades had absconded with Core, hereafter named Peresphone (meaning She Who Brings Destruction), to the underworld. Armed with the facts, Demeter was so angry and despondent that she continued to wander the earth, forbidding agriculture to grow. Mankind was at risk of extinction. Zeus made repeated entreaties to calm Demeter and to restore life to the trees and grain, but she was relentless. Messenger god Hermes brokered the deal: Peresphone may return to the world of the living on the condition that she has not yet tasted the food of the dead.

It was at Eleusis (meaning Advent) where Peresphone and Demeter were reunited, but it was revealed that the daughter had eaten seven seeds of the pomegranate—that fruit so prevalent and so symbolic in so many myths and faiths—while in the underworld. Because of this, Peresphone would not live her life above ground, and because of Demeter’s refusal to retract her curse upon the land, her daughter would not be sent to live in the underworld either. The commonly understood compromise consisted of Peresphone dividing her time equally between life above ground and life below ground denoting, respectively, the warm weather months of abundance and the cold weather months of deprivation and death. (The classical understanding of this schedule puts Peresphone in the underworld for only three months a year.) Placated, Demeter prepared to return home, but first initiated several of her allies, who had aided in the search for Peresphone, into her mysteries and worship. One of these, Triptolemus, son of King Celeus, was sent around the world to teach mankind the art of agriculture.

Triptolemus receiving wheat sheaves from Demeter, and blessings from Persephone, in this 5th Century BCE relief on exhibit at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. Click to enlarge.

I won’t bother repeating the sparse information on the orgiastic doings of the Eleusinian Mysteries, but there is a brief sketch of the ritual published by John Michael Greer in his The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Hidden History. Excerpted:

“Initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries involved a strict process that took more than a year and a half to complete. Candidates first took part in the Lesser Mysteries, the Myesis, which was celebrated in February each year on the banks of the Ilissos River near Athens. Each candidate sacrificed a pig to the gods, bathed in the icy waters of the Ilissos, and received instruction in the myth of Demeter, the goddess of the earth, and her daughter Persephone….

“After the Lesser Mysteries, candidates had to wait until September of the following year before they could take part in the Greater Mysteries, called the Teletai. These rites formally began on the 14th of the month of Boedromion, when priestesses from Eleusis came to Athens carrying baskets. The baskets contained sacred objects that were stored in the Eleusinion, a temple in Athens; what those objects were, nobody knows. Candidates began fasting on the 10th, and on the 16th they marched in a procession down to the sea to purify themselves in its water, then went into seclusion for the next two days.

“At dawn on the 19th, the candidates gathered at the Painted Porch in the central marketplace of Athens, donned myrtle wreaths, and formed a procession with the priestesses and their mysterious baskets. They left Athens by the Sacred Gate and proceeded along the Sacred Road toward Eleusis. At a bridge they met priests who gave each of them a carefully measured portion of a beverage called kykeon (meaning The Mixture), containing water, roasted barley, and pennyroyal. At a second bridge, another detachment of priests tied a thread to the right hand and left foot of each candidate. Finally, around sunset, the procession reached Eleusis and marched by torchlight into the sacred precinct. They entered the Telesterion, where the Hierophant, the chief priest of Eleusis, sat on his throne just outside the entrance to the Anaktoron.

“It is at this point that most of the surviving sources fall silent....

“According to Clement of Alexandria, a Christian writer from the fourth century, initiates of Eleusis had a special password, the synthema: ‘I have fasted, drunk the kykeon, taken things out of the large basket, worked with them, put them into the small basket, and then back into the large basket.’ Comments from many initiates indicated that whatever they saw within the Telesterion freed them from the fear of death—a point that merely deepens the mystery that surrounds Eleusis.”

Where was I going with this? Yes! Brooklyn.

On Friday night, Observatory in Gowanus will host a ritual workshop led by Pam Grossman. From the publicity:

Autumn Descent and the Eleusinian Mysteries

Friday, September 27

7:30 to 9-ish p.m.

Observatory

543 Union Street, Brooklyn, New York

Admission: $20

You must RSVP to phantasmaphile(at)gmail.com if you’d like to attend, as space is limited.

Persephone’s descent into Hades, and Demeter’s subsequent mourning, were celebrated in late September in ancient Greece via a 9-day long series of elaborate rites called the Eleusinian Mysteries. Though relatively little is known about these rituals to this day, they mirrored the changing of the seasons, and allowed initiates to reflect deeply upon the cycle of birth, death, and resurrection.

So shall we celebrate this time when the world turns dark and our thoughts turn inward. This evening will be filled with myth, ritual, and meditation to prepare us for the colder months. We will journey to the underworld, and return with messages to help guide us in the coming seasons. Themes will include harvesting, giving thanks, honoring shadow, and letting go.

Please bring:

• Any altar objects you like. These can be decorative (Thanksgiving and autumnal décor of any kind is welcome), and/or personal objects which you’d like to have charged
• A candle and holder
• A cushion, pillow, or fabric, as we will be sitting on the floor (chairs will be available for those who need).

Note-taking is welcome. This workshop is open to men and women, novices and advanced practitioners alike.

Pam Grossman

Pam Grossman is a writer, independent curator, and teacher of magical practice and history. An initiate in the wise woman tradition, she is a graduate apprentice of the green witch, Robin Rose Bennett. She is the creator of Phantasmaphile, a blog which specializes in art and culture with an esoteric or fantastical bent, and Associate Editor of Abraxas Journal. She lectures on such topics as “The Occult in Modern Art 101,” teaches classes on herbalism and ritual, and is the co-organizer of the Occult Humanities Conference at NYU.

Her writing has appeared in numerous mediums, including The Huffington Post, MSN.com, the Etsy blog, Sciences Occultes magazine, and various Fulgur press publications. As a featured guest on The Midnight Archive web series, Expanding Mind radio, and the C-Realm, Psychonautica, and Labyrinth podcasts, she has discussed the role of magic in contemporary life. Her group art shows, Fata Morgana: The New Female Fantasists, VISION QUEST, Alchemically Yours, and Sigils & Signs have been featured by such outlets as Art & Antiques Magazine, Boing Boing, CREATIVE TIME, Time Out New York, Reality Sandwich, Juxtapoz, Arthur, 20×200, UrbanOutfitters.com, and Neil Gaiman’s Twitter. She is a co-founder of Observatory, where her programming aims to explore mysticism via a scholarly yet accessible approach.
     

‘Peel your own image from the mirror’

     

So I did make it to the movies yesterday to see Free the Mind, (see post below) which turns out to be as frustrating as it is remarkable. The frustration isn’t the fault of the film; it is simply a fact that the neurology research into how governing one’s thoughts may beneficially impact the functions of the brain and body is merely beginning. (Of course, practitioners of Eastern spiritualities know something about that, but this documentary does not come from that vantage point.) What is remarkable is what we see on the screen, as three people who introduce meditative practices into their lives experience relief from severe symptoms of stress and anxiety. Long story short: two combat veterans, at risk of not getting their pre-war lives back, and one boy, approximately age five, show stunning advancement in reducing the psychological terrors plaguing them after seven days of practicing meditative and mindfulness exercises.

There is more to the movie, and the marvels are in the telling, but it is mentioned repeatedly that the science is incomplete, which is important to remember as you watch. “The brain is the most complicated organ in the universe,” says Dr. Richard J. Davidson, the lead researcher in the film. “We’ve only taken the first very, very small baby step. We’re just beginning this journey.” The scientists do not know why those who meditate enjoy more favorable preventative results from flu vaccination than those who do not meditate. Does meditation produce more neurons? They don’t know, and sometimes they don’t want to know. Davidson, based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (and a self-described “closet meditator”), explains how, when he decided to explore professionally meditation’s possible neurological benefits, he was cautioned against making a poor career choice. He ignored that advice, and has gone on to receive the acclaim of his peers in the forms of numerous appointments, awards, and fame based on his fruitful research.

In the case of the young boy, named Will, it is explained how he had a sorry story of foster home placements due to his behavior. At age three, the Big Nurse juvenile welfare and healthcare establishment diagnosed him with ADHD, and decided he had to be zonked into conformity with the drugs they use today to turn young boys into inanimate objects. The foster parents who intended to raise Will recognized that for what it is, and set about finding an alternative to solve Will’s problems. His behavior is shown a few ways: some difficulty getting along with others (as if that is unique among humans), an inability to focus (Ibid.) and, most significantly, an abject terror of riding in an elevator.

Needless to say, imparting the concepts and methods of meditation to a young boy with Will's history requires a delicate approach, and that patient touch comes in the forms of exercises that show why and when compassion can be expressed, and some practical lessons in the very basics of meditative practice. In the end, Will overcomes his elevator-phobia; where once the mere mention of an elevator would induce tears and anxiety, he concludes the movie, taking a ride up six stories, thanks to his new understandings of how to control thoughts and regulate breathing.

Naturally, the two soldiers have more serious problems to overcome. Their war-related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms differ. Veteran Steve is haunted by the moral discrepancy between having been the good man he was before combat, and having become someone else during his service. Everything you’re not supposed to do in civil society, he explains, becomes what you have to do in wartime to survive. “The person I had to be to do my job was a horrible person in my eyes. A horrible person. And I was good at it.” Returned home safely, he struggles to assimilate into his own domestic life, which means overcoming anxieties and regaining the ability to sleep without reliance on Ambien. Veteran Rich is plagued with guilt, believing he could have saved comrades who were killed in action when their Humvee was destroyed by an Improvised Explosive Device. He says he ought to have died in their place. He cannot share his wartime experiences with family or friends, and his domestic life comes apart when his wife leaves him. “Maybe I haven’t really lived since I’ve been back,” he says. “I’ve been just kinda...here.”

The two are shown being instructed in processes more involved than what Will explored. The breathing exercises alone: In through the nose; out the back of the throat. In through the mouth; out the back of the throat. Close mouth, breathe through the back of the throat. Yoga stretching exercises have the men folding and crossing their forearms behind their heads, elbows pointed to the sky and hands placed between the shoulder-blades. (Something I can’t do.) “There’s a region of the brain called the insula that’s literally used for interacting between the mind and the body,” Davidson explains. “This area is dramatically enhanced in its activation during compassion meditation and will enable practitioners who practice compassion meditation regularly to feel the emotion of others more easily.” The brain’s prefrontal cortex, that anterior portion of the frontal lobes which is thought to process actions such as personality expression and discerning good from bad, is shown to have more pronounced activity during the subjects’ meditation. By the end of the documentary, Steve’s and Rich’s symptoms are shown, according to clinical data, to have decreased by about 40 percent after seven days of the meditation therapy. Steve finds enough peace of mind to sleep at night without taking sedatives; Rich says he is experiencing changes he didn’t think possible, that he is happy, feeling “like a kid again.”

As a kind of coda, Davidson finishes the movie reading this poem:

Love After Love

By Derek Walcott

The time will come

when, with elation

you will greet yourself arriving

at your own door, in your own mirror

and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.

You will love again the stranger who was your self.

Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart

to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored

for another, who knows you by heart.

Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,

peel your own image from the mirror.

Sit. Feast on your life.

     

‘Free the Mind film’

     
This afternoon I plan to catch the 2:45 screening at The Quad of Free the Mind, the documentary by Phie Ambo released last year that explores research into how the human brain affects the physical body, and the difference meditation may make.

From the publicity, a note from the director:

We are entering a new era – a renaissance where everything gets turned upside down. In all fields, science makes new discoveries that constantly change our world view and leave nothing the way we first assumed. Our knowledge expands and gets more complex. Constantly, new fundamental questions are raised about who we are as human beings. The more questions asked, the more obvious it is to me how many things we still don’t understand. I find that very inspiring!

Free the Mind is the second part of my trilogy on the fundamental human questions. The first film Mechanical Love (2007) was about robot science. Characteristic for both films is their location in the field where science meets reality and where scientists use dashes and question marks instead of dots. In Free The Mind the central questions are: What is a thought, and how does it create a manifestation in the body?

Can we make a physical change of the brain only by the power of thoughts? My personal reason for choosing this subject was sudden panic attacks a couple of years ago. It was a very physical experience, and I felt as if the record in my mind was stuck and that it took a physical effort to get the pick up back in the groove. I found that meditation could be the push I needed, and I became interested in understanding how it was linked. It made me want to open up the skull and look into the brain and see what was really happening during meditation.

Free the Mind is the result of that study. The film is not an answer, but the beginning of an ongoing debate on what is the human being.

Phie Ambo,
May 2012


Maybe I will see you there.
     

‘The Significance of the Autumnal Equinox’

     
The Rosicrucian Order will host an aptly timed program titled “The Significance of the Autumnal Equinox” tomorrow at 5 p.m. at the Rosicrucian Cultural Center, located at 2303 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard (near 135th Street) in New York City.

From the publicity:

Our discussion will include not only a consideration of the Rosicrucian Autumn Equinox observances, but also their parallels in world spiritualties and cultures across the ages. Participants are invited to share their own experiences of the Fall of the year, and its resonances in their lives.

Magpie file photo

The presenter, Steven A. Armstrong, M.A. Hum., M.A., M.Div. is a professional historian, philosopher, and teacher based in the San Francisco Bay area. His current areas of interest include how the Primordial Tradition permeates all world traditions, and the way in which the Rosicrucian and Martinist paths provide a unique and unifying viewpoint on those traditions. Author of more than 30 published papers, articles and podcasts, and a lecturer for the RCUI, he is no stranger to NYC, as he received two of his Master’s Degrees at Fordham’s Rose Hill Campus, and did his undergraduate work just north of New York at Yale.

There is no cost to attend but, they say, donations are welcome.
     

‘JSTOR unveils JPASS, easy access’

     
JSTOR, the on-line trove of journals, papers, and other published research data for the use of libraries, publishers, and other institutions, today introduces an access plan to attract those of us who cannot afford the non-profit’s subscription fee. JPASS is intended for the individual JSTOR user, with options for both monthly and annual access.

JSTOR says more than 80 percent of its data will be available to JPASS clients. From the press release issued this morning:

JSTOR Introduces JPASS

Personal Access to Its Vast Digital Library

of Journal Archives for Individuals

New York, NY— JSTOR, the not-for-profit digital library that is a widely used resource for academic research, unveiled this week its latest effort to open its doors to people beyond universities, colleges, and high schools. Individuals can now get their own JPASS: a monthly or annual pass that provides access to 1,500 journals from JSTOR’s archive collection.

JPASS offers people unlimited online reading from an expansive library of high quality journals across 50 subject areas and the ability to download up to 10 articles a month or 120 per year. JPASS holders also get a MyJSTOR account, enabling them to access JSTOR 24/7 from any device by simply logging in. In addition, this personalized access provides users with the ability to set up alerts for specific search terms or journals; to save and export citations; and, as a unique feature, to enjoy a personal library of saved article downloads, which are preserved and accessible to them—even if their JPASS expires.

“We are incredibly excited to be offering JPASS as an additional access option for JSTOR,” said Jennifer Farthing, who is leading this and other individual access initiatives for the organization. “JPASS is for everyone who needs affordable, access to high-quality, trusted research—whether for a few days at a time or on a regular basis. It’s a great option if you are not able to get ready access through an educational institution or public library or if you need access beyond JSTOR’s free, limited reading program, Register & Read.”

So just who are these future JPASS holders? “As one indication, nearly 1 million people have registered with JSTOR and are using Register & Read today,” says Farthing. “Those that have told us about themselves include independent scholars, writers, business people, adjunct faculty, and life-long learners, among others. Many say they love our free reading program, but some tell us they’d love to be able to do more on JSTOR.”

Now they can. JPASS fees range from $19.50 for a monthly to $199 for an annual pass. Discounts are being made available to JSTOR’s Register & Read users as well as to members of scholarly societies whose journals are included in the JPASS Collection.
For more information on JPASS, visit http://jpass.jstor.org.

About JSTOR

JSTOR (www.jstor.org) is a digital library of more than 1,800 academic journals, 16,000 books, and 2 million primary source objects. JSTOR helps people discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content through a powerful research and teaching platform, and preserves this content for future generations. JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization that also includes Ithaka S+R and Portico.
     

‘Tonight: Full Moon Meditation’

     
There will be a full moon this evening, in case you’re feeling some inexplicable ticking in your psyche today, so get to the Rosicrucian Cultural Center for the monthly Full Moon Meditation.

Rosicrucian teachings suggest that each of the celestial bodies, including the moon, has a particular influence on one’s consciousness.

The Cultural Center is located on Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard, near the corner of 135th Street, in New York City. Get there by 7:30, as the skies go dark.

I attended the gathering last month, and enjoyed a really unique experience and met a group of very friendly people.

And check out these photos of the moon, taken by NASA, and just recently compiled into animation-type footage to show the moon rotating, affording us earthlings a look at the far side of our closest celestial neighbor. The side we never get to see. NASA released this video Monday.
     

‘Anthroposophical Society this week’

   
These Anthroposophical Society events coming this week in and near New York City sound terrific.

What is Anthroposophy?

“Anthroposophy is a source of spiritual knowledge and a practice of inner development. Through it one seeks to penetrate the mystery of our relationship with the spiritual world by searching for answers and insights that come through a schooling of one’s inner life. It draws, and strives to build, on the spiritual research of Rudolf Steiner, who maintained that every human being (anthropos) has the inherent wisdom (sophia) to solve the riddles of existence and to transform both self and society. Rudolf Steiner shared the results of this research in 40 books and in over 6,000 lectures now available in 300 volumes. He is increasingly recognized as a seminal thinker of the 20th century and one of humanity’s great spiritual teachers.”

Anthroposophy NYC is located at 138 West 15th Street in Manhattan. The bookstore has resumed regular business hours.

From the publicity:

Wednesday, September 18

Ten Part Lecture Series Begins

David Anderson on Spiritual Beings and Their Work

7 p.m. - Regular Fees

Contrary to the commonly held view that behind all we perceive with our senses there is ultimately only dead substance being blown about by physical causes and effects, there is actually a world of many levels of being and consciousness. This year we will look at the invisible beings who, whether we are aware of them or not, are intimately involved with our lives. We will systematically survey the whole scale of these beings and examine how we fit into their organized interrelationships.

Part 1. We will begin with an overview of the spectrum of spiritual beings found in the various planes of being and learn how they cooperate to build up the world.

David Anderson: has taught drawing and Wagner painting at Rudolf Steiner School in New York City and around the world. He holds a Master of Arts Degree and certificates from Emerson College (Waldorf education), and the Wagner School at the Goetheanum (teaching painting).

The second presentation in this 10-part series will take place Wednesday, October 16.

Regular Program Fees – Discounts for All Programs
Non-members $20/*$15, Members $15/*$10, or one Frequency
Discount Ticket (FDT). *The discount in each case is for seniors 65+, full-time students, and active Waldorf teachers. FDTs may be bought at a 25 percent discount for 10 events, 15 percent for 5, and do not expire.

In case of inability to pay, best contribution is always allowed.


And:

The Challenge of Objectivity in Spiritual Research

Thursday, September 19 through Sunday, September 22

Chestnut Ridge, New York

Category: Eastern Region, Spiritual Research

2013 Living Questions Research Symposium

at Threefold Educational Center

All the technical achievements of our modern civilization are evidence of our ability to objectively understand the material world. But what about the non-material world, the world of consciousness, of soul, of spirit? Are there also ways of objectively investigating the world of soul and spirit? In particular, can the soul-spiritual dimension of the world be objectively investigated by soul-spiritual means? Are there non-material ways of researching the world that can lead to more than subjective belief or personal interpretation?

How should we regard the results of such spiritual research? How can their truth and objectivity be tested? How do the spiritual researchers themselves conduct their work and test their own results? How do they strive for objectivity in their particular field of inquiry and activity?

At this year’s Living Questions Research Symposium, we will actively explore these questions and also hear them addressed by practicing researchers in diverse fields of scientific and artistic endeavor. Join us.

Plan to attend our sixth annual fall research symposium, and take part in a living conversation on these vital questions. On tap:

Keynote talks by Michael D’Aleo, Gerald Karnow, and Laura Summer;

Interactive workshops led by Michael D’Aleo, Annelies Davidson, Laurie Portocarrero, Hans Schumm, and Gary Lamb;

Research Perspectives, Open Space Gatherings, guided conversation, and more.
     

‘Coming soon to the C.G. Jung Foundation’

   
The fall season at the C.G. Jung Foundation is scheduled to begin in a few weeks, and I should highlight a few events that may interest Magpie readers.

Courtesy zazzle.com

Saturday, October 5 is date of a full-day conference of discussions titled C.G. Jung in the 21st Century: His Impact on Science, Religion and Culture. Dr. John R. Haule will deliver the keynote address, discussing how “Jung’s doctrine of the archetypes anticipated Evolutionary Psychology by some 70 years, and is much better nuanced,” according to the conference announcement. “The complexes have been largely ‘explained’ by neuro-psychology, and brain science supports all of Jung’s claims about dreaming.”

In addition, Royce Froehlich, a faculty member at the Foundation, will present Jung and the Religious Spirit in the 21st Century, explaining “Jung’s ideas for maintaining a balanced attitude by adopting and adapting, creatively modifying homo sapiens’ innate religious function, part of the transformational process of evolving consciousness.”

Also on the agenda is Laurie Layton Schapira, president of the C.G. Jung Institute of New York, who will discuss the many ways Jung’s “psychological terms and constructs—shadow, archetype, collective unconscious, synchronicity, introvert/extravert—have even entered into the common parlance” since Jung’s death in 1961.

There is more on the schedule. Click here.

The cost per person is $60 for Foundation members, and $75 for the public.

Magpie file photo

This conference is independent of the fall course schedule, which will include a number of interesting classes, including:

Joseph Campbell and The Power of Myth
6 Wednesdays, 7 to 8:40 p.m.
Beginning November 6 (excluding November 27)

Instructor Fanny Brewster, Ph.D.

Joseph Campbell, following in the tradition of C.G. Jung, provided us with a contemporary perspective from which to view our lives, and deepen our life experiences through mythology. This year is the 25th anniversary of the widely successful The Power of Myth, initially previewed to television audiences in June, 1988. In this course, we will view the six episodes of the documentary, followed by a discussion of Joseph Campbell’s views on mythology, and how we can use our knowledge of it to live full, wonderfully powerful lives.
     

‘No Irving Place like home’

   

After more than fifty years at 32 Irving Place, the Rosicrucian Order’s New York City Lodge will pack up, move out, and return the keys to the landlord at the end of this month. The reason, as explained to me recently by a member, is the rising cost of rent.

Courtesy NYC Lodge

Unfortunately, it is an all-too-common refrain heard in the city that is transforming into the exclusive hyper-commercial center it obviously is becoming. Of course money never has been strange to New York City, and complaints of gentrification were on the record, even in Greenwich Village, a century or more ago, but now free enterprise is being supplanted by privilege enterprise. It is the relentless liquidation of beloved places where everyday people gather, as landlords decline to renew leases and opt instead to triple, quadruple, quintuple rents. These leases can be signed only by national chain stores, like the Ace Hardware and 7-Eleven which flank the Blue Note today (to say nothing of the proliferation of Starbucks and banks), or the incomprehensible boutiques that cater to the nonsensical rich. (There are three Marc Jacobs stores on Bleecker Street now.) It seems like every place that had any charm, every place you might have loved, every place where something important in your life happened is on the clock, waiting for that last day of whatever month in whichever year when the lease will be up, and the life’s work either must be relocated or surrendered entirely to the dollar Darwinism of the Bloomberg age. The billionaire mayor publicly laments not being able to lure all of Russia’s oligarchs to Manhattan to live. The obituaries of 2013 alone read like a book of lamentations as too many of the night clubs, eateries, bookshops, record stores, bakeries, and other landmarks of both time and place have shuttered, unable to pay the monies due monthly that dwarf the mortgage on my home. Can a small retail space on the ground floor of a 100-year-old building really be worth $60,000 a month? Today, evidently.

But I digress.

On Saturday, Rosicrucians from the lodge and their guests will gather at their longtime home to celebrate the spiritual life enjoyed there for the past half-century. And a celebration it will be, I’m sure. Rosicrucian teaching, in my limited understanding, explores the metaphysical, so I don’t doubt a new location will be settled without much disruption. I wish them the best.

     

‘Deism defined in its time’

     
The good people at 18th Century Bibles, through their Facebook page, today posted several definitions of "deist" and "deism" as published in The Encyclopedia Britannica in 1770 and An Universal Etymological English Dictionary of 1761.

From The Encyclopedia Britannica:

"Deists, in the modern sense of the word, are those persons in Christian countries, who, acknowledging all the obligations and duties of natural religion, disbelieve the Christian scheme, or revealed religion. They are so called from their belief in God alone, in opposition to Christians. The learned Dr Clarke taking the denomination in the most extensive signification, distinguishes deists into four sorts.

Courtesy 18th Century Bibles

1. Such as pretend to believe the existence of an eternal, infinite, independent, intelligent Being: and who teach, that this supreme Being made the world, though they fancy he does not at all concern himself in the management of it.

2. Those who believe not only the being, but also the providence of God with suspect to the natural world; but who, not allowing any difference between moral good and evil, deny actions of men; these things depending, as they imagine, on the arbitrary constitutions of human laws.

3. Those who having right apprehensions of God, and his all governing providence, and some notion of his moral perfections also; being prejudiced against the notion of the immortality of the human soul, believe that men perish entirely at death, and that one generation shall perpetually succeed another, without any future restoration or renovation of things.

4. Such as believe the existence of a supreme Being, together with his providence in the government of the world, as also the obligations of natural religion; but so far only as these things are discoverable by the light of nature alone, without believing any divine revelation. These last are the only true deists; but as the principles of these men would naturally lead them to embrace the Christian revelation, the learned author concludes there is now no consistent scheme of deism in the world."

From An Universal Etymological English Dictionary:

"Deism... is the Belief of those, who, denying all Revealed Religion, acknowledged only the Natural, viz. the Existence of one God, his Providence, Virtue, and Vice, the Immortality of the Soul, and Rewards and Punishments after Death."

Courtesy 18th Century Bibles

     

‘Fama and Confessio’

     

Courtesy Ouroboros Press

The Temple of the Rosy Cross, 1618.

Treat yourselves—well, some of you anyway—to copies of the limited edition imprints of the Rosicrucian Manifestos soon to be available from our friends at Ouroboros Press, printers of esoteric texts and supporters of education in our arts.

Of course the books are the Fama Fraternitatis and Confessio Fraternitatis, the heralds of the founding in the early 17th century of the Brethren of the Rosy Cross, an order outside of dogmatic religions that championed the search for the secrets to life, the universe, and everything via Alchemy and Kabbalah.

The texts’ origins, not unlike the origins of practically everything else one studies in the Western Mysteries, are obscure and confounding, and yet the so much is built upon the foundation they constructed that they are essential reading. And if you have to read a book, I suppose it may as well be a beautifully bound, heirloom quality masterpiece you will treasure for life.

And then there is the trade edition for guys like me. Click here to make your selections and place your advance orders.

Silkscreen on camel-stock prints, 18x24, of the artwork above also are available for purchase at $25 each.

Courtesy Ouroboros Press

    

‘Lubitz lecture next Monday’

    
Bro. Lenny is back on the road, scheduled to speak at Masonic Hall next Monday. From the publicity:

In the tradition of our ancient operative brethren, who were committed to their Labor throughout the year, as evidenced by both those who constructed the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem as well as those who built the Great Pyramid of Cheops without any cessation during the summer months, you are invited to a lecture titled “Isaac Newton and the Temple of Solomon” by W. Bro. Lenny Lubitz.

Monday, August 5 at 7:30 p.m.

Masonic Hall

71 West 23rd Street, Manhattan

Wendell Walker Room

On arrival, please proceed directly to the rear lobby (at the 24th Street entrance) to the Wendell Walker Room. Brothers of all ranks are welcome and encouraged to attend. Please RSVP by e-mail to prestonslevel (at) gmail.com with your full name on lodge
affiliation.

Fraternally,
The Preston’s Level Masonic Education Association
    

‘Morbid Manhattan Monday, Obscura Style’

     

Courtesy atlasobscura.com

I am baffled to no end over not having seen this headstone before, but with all the hours I’ve spent over the years inside Trinity Church and on its grounds, actively seeking Masonic clues on headstones and elsewhere, the final resting place of Bro. James Leeson eluded me until Bro. Isaac shared it on Facebook a little while ago. The credit goes to Laetitia Barbier, writing today on the Atlas Obscura website of her experience visiting Trinity. Barbier is a student at the Sorbonne working on a dissertation about the artist Joe Coleman (or perhaps has completed it already).

What is Atlas Obscura? I think that is answered best by the group’s three-part philosophy spelled out at the bottom of its website:

     1. There is something NEW under the sun, every day, all over the world.
     2. Around the corner is something that will SURPRISE the hell out of you.
     3. Atlas Obscura is for people who still believe in DISCOVERY.

(Earlier this year, a group of Atlas Obscura folks visited Masonic Hall to see the Livingston Library.)

Anyway, click here to see Ms. Barbier’s reportage. She does a great job of explaining the Masonic significance of the headstone, especially what is sometimes called the Masonic alphabet. We’ll forgive her for not addressing the Pot of Incense, a symbol not very well known outside the Craft. And check out Atlas Obscura too, which I am sure you will find to be worth your time.
    

‘Trevor Down Under’

    
Trevor Stewart is headed back out on the road next month. Lots of air travel, actually. He e-mailed me his itinerary today for publicity purposes, I assume, but I can’t promise you anything, Trevor. The places you will visit have relatively few Magpie readers. (In five years of publishing The Magpie Mason, it has been visited by only 1,071 unique readers in Australia! Don’t they speak English down there?)

Magpie file photo

Trevor Stewart

Regardless, it looks like a truly wonderful way to spend the coming two months, even if it is the dead of winter there. Over the years, I have been very fortunate for either having attended or read a number of Trevor Stewart’s lectures, and they are exceptionally rewarding experiences. His presentations gratify the intellect, reassure the soul, and the camaraderie engendered by those in attendance is an energy all its own, which I have to assume is how these speaking engagements come about.

Without further ado, Bro. Trevor Stewart’s (if you somehow don’t know who he is, just scroll down to the Magpie Index at bottom left and click on his name) 2013 ANZMRC Lecture Tour of Australasia!

I simply have copied and pasted Trevor’s own format: Date, Locale, Lodge Name & Number, and Lecture Topic.


Monday, 5th August
Singapore
Lodge St Michael 2933 EC
A Fresh Look at Some Masonic Symbols: A Personal Perspective

Wednesday, 7th August
Kuala Lumpur
Lodge Tullibardine-in-the-East 1118 SC
TBA

Monday, 12th August
Hong Kong
Lodge Cosmopolitan 428 SC
Scottish Masonic Processions

Thursday, 15th August
Bangkok
Combined Lodges SC, EC & IC (Lodge Lane Xang)
TBA

Saturday, 17th August
Auckland (North Shore)
ANZMRC and SRIA combined
The Remarkable Contribution of Martinez de Pasqually – A Truly Original French-born Masonic Innovator

Monday, 19th August
Winchester (Canterbury)
Midland District Lodge of Research 436 NZC
A Fresh Look at Some Masonic Symbols: A Personal Perspective

Tuesday, 20th August
Dunedin
Research Lodge of Otago 161 NZC
Gentlemen Entrants in 17th Century Scottish Lodges: Motivations, Processes and Consequences

Friday, 23rd August
Invercargill
Research Lodge of Southland 415 NZC
Robert Burns: Bard, Mason, and National Treasure

Saturday, 24th August
Christchurch
Masters & Past Masters Lodge 130 NZC
Gentlemen Entrants in 17th Century Scottish Lodges: Motivations, Processes and Consequences

Saturday, 31st August
Blenheim or Nelson
Top of the South Research Lodge 470 NZC
The Remarkable Contribution of Martinez de Pasqually – A Truly Original French-born Masonic Innovator

Monday, 2nd September
Wellington
Research Lodge of Wellington 194 NZC
Those Two Pillars Again! – A Personal Re-examination of a Recurring Masonic Image

Thursday, 5th September
Inglewood (Taranaki)
Research Lodge of Taranaki Province 323 NZC
Robert Burns: Bard, Mason, and National Treasure

Friday, 6th September
Palmerston North
Research Lodge of Ruapehu 444 NZC
The Curious Case of Bro Gustav Petrie: A Model for Doing Masonic Research

Tuesday, 10th September
Hastings
Hawke’s Bay Research Lodge 305 NZC
Gentlemen Entrants in 17th Century Scottish Lodges: Motivations, Processes and Consequences

Thursday, 12th September
Tauranga
Waikato Lodge of Research 445 NZC
The Curious Case of Bro Gustav Petrie: A Model for Doing Masonic Research

Saturday, 14th September
South Auckland – Mangere
United Masters Lodge 167 & Research Chapter 93 (NZ)
Robert Burns: Bard, Mason, and National Treasure

Monday, 16th September
Cairns
WHJ Mayers Memorial Lodge of Research UGLQ
The Edinburgh Register House MS (1696) – Our Earliest Known Masonic Ritual

Wednesday, 18th September
Brisbane
Barron Barnett (Research) Lodge 146 UGLQ
Rev’d Dr. J. T. Desaguliers’s Visit to Edinburgh, 1721

Friday, 20th September
Townsville
WH Green Memorial Masonic Study Circle UGLQ
A Fresh Look at Some Masonic Symbols: A Personal Perspective

Monday, 23rd September
Sydney
Discovery Lodge of Research 971 NSW/ACT
The Edinburgh Register House MS (1696) – Our Earliest Known Masonic Ritual

Tuesday, 24th September
Canberra
Linford Lodge of Research NSW/ACT
TBA

Friday, 27th September
Melbourne
Victorian Lodge of Research 218 UGLVictoria
The Remarkable Contribution of Martinez de Pasqually – A Truly Original French-born Masonic Innovator

Monday, 30th September
Launceston
Launceston Lodge of Research 69 Tasmania
Rev’d Dr. J. T. Desaguliers’s Visit to Edinburgh, 1721

Thursday, 3rd October
Adelaide
Lodge of Friendship 1 South Australia/NT
TBA

Between Wednesday to Friday 9 – 11 October
Perth
Western Australia Lodge of Research 277 WA
TBA

Additional papers which can be chosen:

• Enlightenment in the Alps – Shelley’s forgotten ‘Rosicrucian’ novel, St. Irvyne (1811)

• Polymnia and the Craft – a preliminary examination of some early Scottish Poetry and the Craft

• The HRDM – a fourth visitations to a curious eighteenth-century Masonic phenomenon from the north-east region of England

    

‘Bro. Neville Barker Cryer, R.I.P.’

    
The sad news seems to have eluded cyberspace for a week, but now newspapers in England are reporting the death last Tuesday of The Rev. Neville Barker Cryer, a most distinguished brother who shared his understanding of the works of the spirit in his insightful and prolific writing and lecturing on matters Masonic.

Courtesy PGL of East Lancs 

Both The Times (of London) and The Press (York) published the following obituary today:

CRYER The Reverend Neville Barker, after a period of illness, died 2nd July 2013 at York Hospital. Remembered and loved by Marjorie his wife, and all his family. Funeral Service at St Mary’s Church, Haxby, York on Monday 15th July 2013 at 11am. Family flowers only please, donations in memoriam to Manormead Care Home (Dementia Care Unit) and to Bible Society. All enquiries please to J. Rymer Funeral Directors. Tel: 01904 624320.

Bro. Cryer, to mention a few highlights, was a member of York Lodge No. 236, the oldest lodge in York; a Past Grand Chaplain, the Prestonian Lecturer in 1974, Batham Lecturer in 1996-98, and a Past Master of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076.

I will share only one Freemasonry Today column by Cryer, from about two and a half years ago, addressing the meaning of charity.

Some thirty years ago I began to realize that those who were called upon to present a toast to the Initiate, or to present or respond to the toast to the guests, were frequently using a phrase that must have seemed to be a most satisfactory one at that point. The phrase was: ‘That’s what Freemasonry is all about, isn’t it?’

In another context, and as a clergyman, I can just imagine a fellow cleric banging a pulpit ledge and in an attempt to silence all disagreement saying loudly, ‘That is what Christianity is all about, isn’t it?’

At the dinner table I can see the speaker now, warming up to his chance to impress the new Candidate sitting beside the Master and reminding him of what he earlier experienced in the north-east corner of the lodge room. Wanting to drive home the useful and correct need for a spirit of benevolence and care for others he works himself up to the climax of his speech and says: ‘Now Charity, that is what Freemasonry is all about, isn’t it?’ The speaker may sit down feeling that it is a job well done. But is it?

Forgive me if thirty years later I still have to point out that that is not what Freemasonry is all about. A person joining the Craft today might, of course, be forgiven for gaining the idea that it was.

A lot of provincial magazines that I see give me the sense that this is indeed the primary and overwhelming concern of the Craft. Yet how can it be? If it were, then we don’t practice what we claim.

Surely if that were true then why do we spend so much on maintaining halls, buying regalia, jewels and even books, having substantial meals, entertaining our guests and, forgive me perhaps for mentioning it, paying Grand Lodge and Provincial Grand Lodge dues. We do all these things because they too are important and, we believe, worth supporting. Benevolence has to be seen as part and parcel of this whole Masonic program in which we take part but to make the claim and try to drive home that claim with our newest members is untrue and unfair.

Of course it is right, and not the least when Christmas with its emphasis on giving is part of our national heritage, to appeal to a Freemason to show generosity to any who are so much less fortunate than ourselves – as we should remind ourselves every time we dine at home as well as at a lodge meeting. As I am sure the public are now much more aware we seek to share our giving for charity with many more than just our own members though they should be our first care.

Anyone reading this magazine, and I am sure you leave it around for the family and friends to see, can have no doubt about the range of our concern. Great as the range is, however, and generous as is the support that it represents, there are some things that I believe we need to think about afresh.

I am fully aware that what is written in the Volume of Sacred Law is not these days regarded by people at large with the same respect as was previously the case but it is still open for our contemplation at every lodge meeting. At one point it states this: ‘So when you give to the needy do not announce it with trumpets to be honored by men. But when you give to the needy do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving may be in secret.’ Much as I appreciate the desire we have had to be more open about what we do could it be that we are blowing our own trumpets a little too much? I think this matter does need some further thought.

There is something else that I think should concern us and is increasingly troubling me. I read in the first of the Emulation Lectures: ‘From him who is in want, let us not withhold a liberal hand. So shall a heartfelt satisfaction reward our labors, and the produce of love and Charity will most assuredly follow.’

What, I wonder, is happening to us when our charity collection in the lodge meeting is sometimes half, a third, or even a quarter of what is raised by a raffle? Why do we need another kind of ‘spirit’ than generosity to enable us to support those who are in genuine need?

What about the heartfelt satisfaction that should reward our giving or are we, as Free and Accepted Masons, only the same as most other folk and these words are just meaningless ritual? It has made me clear as to what I must do in future.

The ranks of Freemasonry Today staff have dwindled too suddenly and too soon. Editor Michael Baigent passed just last month.