‘Alakazam, Abracadabra, Shazam, Amscay!’

     
It’s rare I mention the Shriners here on The Magpie, but Bro. Bill (of Knights of the North, etc. fame) shared something on Facebook today that cracks me up.

An eBay seller offers a Shrine fez this week, claiming it was owned and worn by U.S. Army legend Audie Murphy, who was the most decorated American serviceman in the Second World War, and a Freemason and Shriner.

The starting bid, which has not materialized yet, is to be $998. I encourage any potential buyer to have a very close look before bidding.

The lot is titled “Audie Murphy Owned Hella Shriner Freemasonry Hat & Case Dallas Texas 1957.” The photo:

The lot description:

This is a hat that was owned and worn by Audie Murphy.

Audie became interested in Freemasonry in 1955.

He became a Shriner (Hella Temple, Dallas) on November 15, 1957.

Audie often participated in Shrine parades.

Please see all seven of my ebay pictures.

One of them was shown in The American Soldier book by Harold B. Simpson
on page 336. This photo shows Audie wearing the hat.
 Under the photo it says: Audie, shortly after becoming a Shriner, in a Dallas
 Shrine parade on November 15th 1957.

The hat is in a wonderful case that I think is leather. Audie’s initials are
 on the top and one of my pictures shows his name on the inside of the case.
 Both the hat and case are in Excellent Condition!


First, although the photo of Murphy wearing a Shrine fez is blurry, you can see clearly that he is not wearing the fez that is listed for sale here. The fez in the black and white photo from 1957 has the scimitar above the crescent. Just like my grandfather’s fez of 1960s vintage:

But the fez on eBay has the scimitar-through-the-crescent design. Second, the old fezzes were embroidered pretty simply. These “bejeweled” fezzes, with the fake rhinestones and all that, came later. (Murphy died in 1971.)

I communicated my concerns to the seller, and promptly received this reply:

Hello,

Thanks for taking the time to write and give me your opinion.

Because of where I purchased it I am 100% confident that this hat belonged to Audie Murphy. He became a Shriner in 1957...not in the 1960s.

My ebay picture is not real clear because the photo in the book is not good but if you have the book you might take a look at it closely and you will see that the men in the photo with Audie are all wearing hats and the designs on them are very different. My hatbox also has the design different from the hat.

I paid almost 3 times the amount that I am asking for them and from where they came I will say again that I am certain they were owned by Audie.

Thanks.

So buyer beware! This is why I buy only from newly signed up sellers in Russia and China.

I am no expert on the collectibility of Shriner fezzes, but paying three thousand bucks for one fez—and let’s say it was in fact owned and worn by Audie Murphy—is nuts. (And if you did something that stupid, wouldn’t you at least know to call it a fez, and not a hat?) The $998 isn’t much smarter. I have watched enough History channel to understand how famous people’s antiques, autographs, and personal effects are valued, and this offering is a bit much. No mention of a certificate of authenticity either. I do recall several years ago some of Sir Winston Churchill’s Masonic items went under the gavel and fetched about $500.

That’s Winston Churchill of saving-the-world-fame.

Audie Murphy is remembered as a peerless war hero and even a movie star, so I reckon personal effects of his that are connected to his wartime service and screen career would be the valuable mementos. His Shrine membership? A note in a book of Masonic trivia.

Caveat emptor! (That means look out for the quicksand.)
     

‘l’Hermione aux U.S.A.’

     

You didn’t think the Hermione would visit New York City without some Masonic commemoration, did you?

It’s a replica of Lafayette’s ship actually, making the voyage from Port des Barques, whence Lafayette came in the spring of 1780, to the New World, making twelve stops along the East Coast—from Yorktown to Nova Scotia—today through July 18, including a July 1-4 stay at the South Street Seaport. Click here for the New York schedule of events.

Courtesy hermione2015.com

One of the organizers of this celebration of Franco-American history is a Freemason from France, who will be a guest speaker at Masonic Hall later this month. From the publicity:

A Lecture by Ill. Alain de Keghel, 33°

Saturday, June 20

Six O’Clock

Masonic Hall, Ionic Room

71 West 23rd Street

New York City

Alain de Keghel

Ill. Keghel will give a talk on Franco-American relations, focusing on Washington, Lafayette, and other historical figures who helped America win independence. Keghel is a well-known and highly respected author and speaker. He also is instrumental in the upcoming visit of the replica of the Hermione, the ship that brought Lafayette to the United States in 1780. Space is limited.


Bro. Keghel is the author of Two Centuries of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite in France, 1804-2004; Freemasonry in North America; and the newly published The Challenge of American Masonry: A Strong Tradition Facing Changes, among other titles.

You may be interested in an exhibit now open through December of next year at Fraunces Tavern Museum titled Lafayette, which features twenty Lafayette-related historical objects owned by the museum, including the Marquis’ pistols and the general’s sash he wore, and bled on, at the Battle of Brandywine.

Courtesy Fraunces Tavern Museum

     

‘The MMº as you’ve never seen it before’

     
And from our Just for Fun Department….

The highly bizarre (I don’t think “avant garde” really suggests enough) Cremaster series of films by Matthew Barney will return to the Guggenheim this summer for four dates of complete screenings beginning Saturday. That’s a lotta Cremaster. I’m not a customer here. Probably.

I saw Cremaster 3, which actually is the fifth and final of the series, on its release in 2002, and I related this description to the members of the ML group on May 21, 2002:


Greetings!

About two weeks ago I brought to your attention a new movie titled Cremaster 3 that the director said was based on the Master Mason Degree.

Well, I saw it on Sunday and it wasn’t what I hoped it would be. This is what you might call an “experimental” work. If you like the films of Warhol, Anger, early Lynch, etc. then you may like this one. If your tastes are more normal, then stay away from Cremaster 3.

It runs about three hours and has a 10-minute intermission. There is no dialogue, no speaking at all. Only the unbearable musical score and the sound effects are to be heard, but still the movie theater had the volume turned much too high.

There is a character named Hiram Abiff. There is another character named the Entered Apprentice. There even are characters named Grand Masters and Rainbow Girls. But this movie has nothing to do with Freemasonry; it seems the guy who wrote and directed (and appears as the EA) may have learned something about our ritual and decided it was unusual enough to incorporate into whatever story he is trying to tell here.

In fact, one review (I think in Newsday) called this movie “wonderfully esoteric.” This must be the polite way of saying that only the people who made this film are aware of what it’s about. I was probably the only one in the (sold out) theater who was in on the references to the Craft. Without even that little understanding, I cannot see how anyone else would be able to follow this movie.

Some of the scenes show:
1) a demolition derby of classic Chrysler New Yorkers
2) two hardcore punk bands playing
3) the EA filling an elevator car with cement
4) the Grand Masters having a few pints and cigars
5) a giant and a dwarf battling in Scotland

and hours more of nonsensical imagery that is not worth seeing unless you’re a fan of that kind of stuff.

I’m sorry I even brought it up. It’s at Film Forum in Manhattan (Houston near Sixth) if you’re interested.

After thirteen years, I would like to think I’d bring more understanding to the screening room, but I can’t imagine returning to see this film. Or the others. Especially when shown together in a daylong marathon.

From the publicity:


The Cremaster cycle, created and produced by Matthew Barney, is a series of five visually extravagant films made out of sequence (Cremaster 4 began the cycle, followed by Cremaster 1, 5, 2, and finally, Cremaster 3) but presented here in the order of their creation. The title of the cycle refers to the muscle that raises and lowers the male reproductive system according to external stimuli such as temperature or fear. Taken in sequential order, the films correlate to the height of the gonads during the embryonic process of sexual differentiation, with Cremaster 1 representing the most “ascended” state, and Cremaster 5 the most “descended.”

As the cycle evolved over eight years (1994-2002), this biological model was joined by other paradigms such as history, autobiography, and mythology that have added to Barney’s fantastical narrative constructs. The resulting cosmology is both beautiful and complex, with densely layered and interconnected symbols and images.

The films are screened here in chronological order of their production to reveal the development of Barney’s relationship to the material and of his creative process.

Schedule:

10:30 a.m., Cremaster 4 (1994), 41 min.
11:15 a.m., Cremaster 1 (1995), 42 min.
12:15 p.m., Cremaster 5 (1997), 55 min.
2:45 p.m., Cremaster 2 (1999), 80 min.
4:30 p.m., Cremaster 3 (2002), 178 min.

Free with museum admission.

More dates: July 11, August 8, and September 5, all from 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

For each of the films comprising the Cremaster cycle, Barney appropriates a different theatrical or cinematic genre.

Cremaster 1, 1995
35 mm film (color digital video transferred to film with Dolby SR sound)
Produced by Barbara Gladstone and Matthew Barney

Starring Marti Domination as Goodyear, Cremaster 1 parodies the musical extravaganzas of Busby Berkeley as filtered through the lens of Leni Riefenstahl’s Third Reich athletics. Chorus girls form shifting outlines of reproductive organs on a football field, their movements determined from above by a blonde starlet, who miraculously inhabits two Goodyear blimps simultaneously and creates anatomical diagrams by lining up rows of grapes.

Cremaster 2, 1999
35 mm film (color digital video transferred to film with Dolby SR sound)
Produced by Barbara Gladstone and Matthew Barney

Starring Norman Mailer as Harry Houdini and Barney as Gary Gilmore, Cremaster 2 is a gothic Western premised loosely on the real-life story of Gary Gilmore, who was executed in Utah for the murder of two men. Gilmore’s biography is conveyed through a series of fantastical sequences, including an occultist séance enacted with ectoplasm and bee pollen to signify his conception, and a prison rodeo staged in a cast salt arena to represent his death by firing squad. The film’s plot unfolds to question the inevitability of man’s fate as it is reflected in, and witnessed by, the expansive landscape.

Cremaster 3, 2002
35 mm film (color digital video transferred to film with Dolby Digital sound)
Produced by Barbara Gladstone and Matthew Barney

Courtesy Gladstone Gallery

Starring Richard Serra as Hiram Abiff, Barney as the Entered Apprentice, and Aimee Mullins as the Entered Novitiate, Cremaster 3 is part zombie thriller, part gangster film. As the final installment in the cycle, the film is a distillation of the artist’s major themes and signature aesthetic devices, filtered through an elaborate symbolic matrix involving Freemasonry, Celtic lore, and Art Deco design. Set in New York’s Chrysler Building, the film also includes detours to the Guggenheim Museum’s Frank Lloyd Wright building, to the harness track in Saratoga Springs, to Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland, and to Fingal’s Cave, on Staffa, an island in the Scottish Hebrides.

Courtesy matthewbarney-project.blogspot.com

Here, in Cremaster 3, the Architect and the Grand Masters do a job
on the Apprentice. Somehow, I can relate to this.

Cremaster 4, 1994
35 mm film (color digital video transferred to film with Dolby SR sound)
Produced by Artangel, James Lingwood, and Matthew Barney

Starring Barney as the Loughton Candidate, Cremaster 4 is set on the Isle of Man—a topographical body punctured by orifices and passageways—where a feverish motorbike race traverses the landscape, a dandified, tap-dancing satyr writhes his way through a treacherous underwater canal, and three burly fairies picnic on a grassy knoll. Part vaudeville, part Victorian comedy of manners, and part road movie, this film portrays sheer drive in its eternal struggle to surpass itself.

Cremaster 5, 1997
35 mm film (color digital video transferred to film with Dolby SR sound)
Produced by Barbara Gladstone and Matthew Barney

Starring Ursula Andress as the Queen of Chain, and Barney as her Diva, her Magician, and her Giant, Cremaster 5 is set against the Baroque backdrop of the Hungarian State Opera House. Performed as a lyric opera complete with ribboned Jacobin pigeons, a lovelorn queen, and her tragic hero, this narrative flows from the gilded proscenium arch of the theater to the aqueous underworld of Budapest’s Danube River to humid Gellért baths inhabited by hermaphroditic water-sprites frolicking in a pool of pearl bubbles.


So there you have it. The Guggenheim has a long history with Barney and his films, and 3 actually debuted there, if I recall correctly. I suppose on a very hot day these screenings could provide a comfortable escape. Maybe you’ll love these films, I don’t know.
     

‘334 Auburn Avenue’

     

I read late into the night, and in the summer months I often return to books I had read in my youth. You’ve heard of comfort food? I like comfort comprehension. I am well into The Making of the President 1964 again, Theodore White’s second of what would become his quadrennial four-book series. These are fascinating chronicles that encapsulate many of the social and political forces that shaped those times. The reporting is not only about men campaigning for the presidency of the United States; it is a witness’ account of historic happenings contextualized with details that can make your eyes pop.

So I reach Page 176, early into Chapter Six, titled “Freedom Now: The Negro Revolution” (remember, this was published 50 years ago) which recounts the birth of Martin Luther King’s nonviolent civil disobedience campaign to end segregation in the American South, beginning in Birmingham, Alabama. Excerpted:

“Full plans were drawn up after Thanksgiving, 1962. In December the Alabama Christian Movement leaders met with King at his Atlanta headquarters in the Masonic Lodge building at 334 Auburn Avenue and decided to launch their protest just before Easter.”

I probably noticed the reference to a Masonic lodge when I had read this previously decades ago during high school because my grandfather was a Mason, but obviously that sentence appears larger to me today, and I found it odd just now that the street address would merit mention.

Gotta love Google.

A flickr.com user named Wally Gobetz posted this history two years ago:

Atlanta - Sweet Auburn:

Prince Hall Masonic Temple

Courtesy Wally Gobetz

The Prince Hall Masonic Temple, located at 334 Auburn Avenue NE, was built in 1937, with an addition in 1941, for the M.W. Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Georgia, under the leadership of prominent black leader and Grand Master John Wesley Dobbs. The Renaissance Revival building was designed by Charles Hopson and Ron Howard. The Prince Hall Masons, Georgia’s most influential black Masonic lodge, were first organized in 1871 by Frances J. Peck, the pastor of Big Bethal A.M.E.

Starting 1949, the Masonic Building’s second floor housed WERD 860AM, the first radio station owned and programmed by African-Americans. Jesse B. Blayton Sr., an accountant bank president and Atlanta University professor, purchased the station in 1949 for $50,000, and hired his son Jesse Jr. as station manager. By 1951, “Jockey Jack” Gibson had become the most popular DJ in America.

The Prince Hall Masonic Building currently houses the national offices of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an African-American civil rights organization. The SCLC traces its origins back to the Montgomery Bus Boycott by the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), under the direction of Martin Luther King, Jr., following Rosa Parks’ arrest in 1955. As boycotts spread across the South, leaders of the MIA met in Atlanta on in 1957 and founded the Southern Leadership Conference on Transportation and Nonviolent Integration, which was later shortened to the Southern Leadership Conference and eventually changed to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Under the direction of its first President, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the SCLC was run out of the first floor of the Prince Hall Masonic Temple. It is said that Dr. King would bang on the ceiling of his office with a broom when he wished to address the public on WERD.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Historic District, an area bound roughly by Irwin, Randolph, Edgewood, and Auburn Avenues, was established in 1974 and later, in 1977 designated a national historic landmark, and expanded in 2001. The district encompasses the environs in which Martin Luther King, Jr., grew up, from his birth in 1929 until he left Atlanta.


I have to believe every Prince Hall Mason in the world is aware of all this, but it is news to me, and I share it here in case it’s news to you too.
     

‘Alchemy exhibit on the Summer Solstice’

     

Courtesy Rosicrucian Alchemy Museum

The Rosicrucian Order is constructing its Alchemy Museum, to be the first of its kind in the United States. Located at Rosicrucian Park in San Jose, California, the two-story structure is being built amid the Order’s Egyptian Museum and Alchemical Herb Garden. It will feature a fully equipped laboratory and an auditorium for classes in both operative and spiritual alchemy.

In the meantime, the Order is four weeks away from opening an Alchemy exhibit in the Egyptian Museum. Just in time for the solstice, the exhibit will open Saturday, June 20. A dedication ceremony will be held at six o’clock. On Sunday the 21st, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Dennis William Hauck will lead a workshop. And at 7:30, the Order will host its annual Summer Solstice Ceremony.

From the publicity:

All Day Alchemy Workshop

with Dennis William Hauck

Sunday, June 21, 2015

10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Spend the day with one of the world’s few practicing alchemists, and probe the intertwined mysteries of mind and matter. Learn how to use the alchemists’ secret formulae in practical work on all levels of body, mind, and spirit. Resonate with the magical imagery of the alchemists’ drawings, harness the archetypal power of the elements, and experience alchemical change within your own being, as you progress through each of the operations of transformation.

The alchemists not only tried to change base metals into gold, but also to rejuvenate their bodies, integrate their personalities, and perfect the very essence of their souls. Although they spoke of furnaces, retorts, and chemicals, they were really talking about changes taking place within themselves. In this unique and inspiring workshop, the secret principles of this ancient art will be revealed using the alchemists’ own writings, drawings, and meditations.

Dennis William Hauck is known for his ability to present these teachings in a way that comes alive in people. While studying for his doctorate in mathematics at the University of Vienna, he completed a three-year apprenticeship in alchemy and was later initiated into a variety of Hermetic traditions in Europe, Egypt, and the United States. He has since translated several old manuscripts and written a number of bestselling books on alchemy, including The Emerald Tablet: Alchemy for Personal Transformation, Sorcerer’s Stone: A Beginner’s Guide to Alchemy, Secret of the Emerald Tablet, and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Alchemy. More info on the lecturer here.

In preparing to complete the Alchemy Museum, the Rosicrucian Order welcomes some donations. Click here to see how you might assist.
     

‘The Masonic Society begins its eighth year’

     
If it’s May, it is another anniversary for The Masonic Society. This is the seventh anniversary of our launch, and what has been accomplished is kind of amazing. With ethical, thoughtful, and professional leadership, great things are possible.

Members of The Masonic Society have been receiving issue number 27 of The Journal—the quarterly periodical that just happened to have revived the Masonic publishing business in the United States. No. 27. Meaning twenty-six issues preceded it. I am reminded of now otherwise forgotten critics who said the Society’s business model was flawed, and that it wouldn’t get more than four issues to its members before folding. (They were championing something called Freemasons Press, which folded before getting four issues to its subscribers, but that’s old news too.) The Society begins its eighth year in service to the Craft. We have a fortune in the bank, so we’ll be around, publishing The Journal and hosting great Masonic events, for a long time.

Names in the news: Bro. Ken Davis of Albuquerque is our new First Vice President, following the departure from that post of Bro. Chip Borne in March. Ken was the obvious choice to fill that vacancy. A retired English professor and former chair of the English Department at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, he is an author of several books. Ken is a Past Master of Lodge Vitruvian No. 767 in Indianapolis, and is active these days in several Masonic groups in Albuquerque, including New Mexico Lodge of Research.

Ken has distinguished himself as a Director of The Masonic Society by serving as the Book Review Editor for The Journal, and was instrumental in creating and writing The Quarry Project Style Guide. (I return to the Board of Directors, taking Ken’s place. My thanks to President Jim Dillman and the other officers and Board members.)

Wanna hear something cool? That style guide has been adopted by the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (Southern Jurisdiction)’s bimonthly periodical Scottish Rite Journal; the Scottish Rite Research Society’s annual book of transactions Heredom; Grand Encampment’s monthly Knight Templar magazine; and Dwight L. Smith Lodge of Research in Indianapolis.

But back to The Journal.

This issue highlights several familiar elements of Masonic ritual and symbol in ways that even longtime Freemasons could find fresh. The Four Cardinal Virtues are a subject I find vital to Freemasonry—I even used to present a popular lecture of my own devising on the topic—so I’ll start by sharing a bit of “The Masonic Relevance of the Four Cardinal Virtues” by Christian M. Christensen. Here, the full member of Texas Lodge of Research reminds us of the meanings of Fortitude, Prudence, Temperance, and Justice, and then takes us from Plato to Cicero to St. Ambrose to Thomas Aquinas and, finally, to the Jachin and Boaz exposure of 1797 for the Virtues’ arrival into Masonic tenets.

“Taking the Cardinal Virtues to heart and living them day by day requires work, just as becoming a better man is hard. Instead it is easier to continue the quest for light, blinding ourselves to the fact that the most important understandings are in front of us already. The Cardinal Virtues are cornerstone of the Craft, easily explained to us and are available for all to live by—if we are ready and willing to pick up our working tools and apply them.”

In his “We Have a Problem with the 47th Problem,” Brian C. Thomas of Washington ponders why Freemasonry prefers Euclid over Pythagoras. I remember one of the first flaws I discerned in Masonic ritual was its attribution of “Eureka!” to Pythagoras, actually exclaimed by Archimedes, which Thomas notes before guiding us through the chronology of the Pythagorean Theorem and its appearance in Masonic thought. His is a reasoned study, and what I appreciate most is Thomas’ inclusion of Benedict Spinoza in his analysis. The well read Freemason must be aware of the Dutch-born philosopher (and Jewish heretic)’s Ethics, which “mimics Euclid and systematically proves that God is the universe, the single substance in which all natural phenomena exists.”

“Such a concept of God could be universally accepted in all religions,” Thomas continues. “Spinoza is clear that we can know God without intersession of the church, and that a spark of the divine is within us to be discovered.” Read all about it on Page 18.

Patrick C. Carr, Grand Senior Warden of Arkansas, reminds his reader that two of the Great Lights of Masonry are tools for moral building. “Only by learning and understanding how [the Square and Compasses] work together can we hope to begin to tame our earthly passions and begin to focus on our spiritual development in the Craft,” he advises. “Only then will we start to become true Master Masons with the ability to travel and to seek the eternal.” SMIB.

Isaiah Akin, Historian of historic Naval Lodge No. 4 in Washington, DC, presents “Gavels and Contagious Magic,” a photo spread of that most handy of working tools, the gavel. But these have illustrious origins. Gavels made of wood, stone, and ivory connected to highly notable human events. Check out these unforgettable artifacts.

And of course there are the regular features of The Journal. In the President’s Message, Jim Dillman updates us on the recent amazing developments in The Masonic Society, including a hint of things to come that take Masonic education beyond the printed word. Journal editor Michael Halleran, freshly outstalled as Grand Master of Kansas, polishes the shine of Dwight Smith. Smith, as you know from your Knights of the North reading, Laudable Pursuit, was Grand Master of Indiana in 1945. His writings were amazingly prescient for their bold foretelling of the demographic and structural ailments in American Freemasonry we see today. When the size of Masonic membership was at its unimaginable apex and the future seemed so blessed, Smith cautioned “that men judge Freemasonry by what they see walking down the street wearing Masonic emblems, and if what they see does not command their respect, then we need not expect them to seek our fellowship.”

“If we have grown so prosperous and fat and lazy,” Halleran quotes Smith, “there is nothing further to do except revel in our status symbols and create more status symbols [because] we have ceased to possess anything that is vital.” A prophet.

Yasha Berensiner’s “Masonic Collectibles” recalls eighteenth century Masonic newspapers. The good, the bad, and the inaccurate are shown in the yellowed fragile pages of long ago.

The book reviews pages share insights into half a dozen authors’ current offerings, from academic and popular approaches. “Masonic Treasures” depicts an odd ballot box of unknown origin that you have to see to believe, courtesy of Isaiah Akin.

And there is a lot more in the pages of this issue of The Journal. Membership in The Masonic Society, as boasted by many—not just me—is the best $39 you’ll spend in Freemasonry. It is a Masonic fraternity on the move. Never content to rest, TMS continues to grow because it improves the condition of the Masonic Order. Enjoy.
     

‘A Day with Plato’

     

I had a great night Saturday at the School of Practical Philosophy on East 79th attending a lecture titled “The Meaning of Meaning,” an exploration of some of the various ways one finds the mean of arithmetic (as the middle of a difference), geometry (proportional measure), harmonics (an average of numbers found in music), and by other, uh, means. It was an one-hour lecture, so there wasn’t time to delve too deeply into a subject that spans four pages of explanation in the Oxford English Dictionary, but the talk was fluid—save for the outbursts of some rude woman in front of me who thought we all paid to hear her speak.

To illustrate a basic definition of a mean in geometry, our lecturer shared a symbol that happens to be found in alchemy, astronomy, and Freemasonry: the point within a circle. With the point as Cause, and the circle as Effect, the mean is a line that connects that point to any part of the circumference. In the parlance of most Masonic lodges, “the Point within the Circle represents an individual brother; the Circle is the boundary line beyond which he is never to suffer his passions to betray him,” so I found it interesting how our speaker likened this symbol’s message to the fundamental philosophic question: Who am I? Borrowing from the Gospel of Thomas, he quoted “He who knows the all, but fails to know himself, misses everything.”

And speaking of interesting, we pondered the meaning of the word interest: inter (between) and est (being). To be between. Like a mean.

We also got into Pythagorean mean, even employing a monochord to match number to tone, and the lecture concluded on the high note of the Golden Mean, an aspect of Sacred Geometry that every thinking Mason should know.

I highly recommend studying at the School of Practical Philosophy. If enrolling in the classes is not feasible, then stay current with the schedule of these lectures. There is one coming in a few weeks that continues the theme of last November’s “The Trial of Socrates.” From the publicity:

The Great Escape

A Day with Plato

Plato’s Crito records a dramatic conversation in a damp Athenian jail between the great philosopher Socrates and his dearest friend, Crito. The stakes could not have been higher. Socrates is to be executed the following day, and Crito stands ready to implement a foolproof plan of escape.

Socrates consents to leave if reason proves this to be the right course of action. Crito has to make the case. How does he fare? What is true freedom worth?

Join us on Sunday, June 7 in a conversation that covers some of the most important questions a human being can consider.


The day includes an opening presentation, group study sessions, a Greek lunch, light entertainment, and closing reception. Family and friends are welcome and no prior study of Plato is necessary.

Reserve a place by purchasing tickets on-line or at the Registration Office on the first floor of 12 East 79th Street.

8:30 a.m.—Coffee and Registration
9 to 3:30 p.m.—Program, and Wine Reception to follow

$45 - Includes Materials, Refreshments, Lunch and Wine Reception
$25 - For full-time students
     

‘Livingston Masonic Library’s digital archives’

     

I’ve been sworn to secrecy since January, but with the Grand Lodge Communication behind us, I feel free to share this great news from the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library. Actually this announcement comes from RW Bruce Renner, President of the Library Board of Trustees:


This year the Library is engaged in another project to bring your Lodge’s history to digital life. As many of you are aware, the Library maintains historical information about Lodges in Lodge Folders, and I’m happy to announce a project that will greatly enhance the way these folders are created, updated, accessed, and preserved.

These folders contain documents dating primarily from the 20th century, provided by the Lodges, that cover a wide range, including information about important events, meeting notices, information on notable people, and even Lodge histories. They have been kept in paper folders, and stored the traditional way in metal filing cabinets. The only way to access your folder was to visit the Library, often during your brief visit to Grand Lodge each year; with several hundred Lodges wanting a look at their files, things can get quite congested.

There are many other challenges with these folders. Even for Lodges in the New York City area, there is limited access. Many Lodges, therefore, lose interest in the process, and let valuable historical information be lost. Over time, a Lodge Folder may be forgotten. In addition, many of the documents are fragile. An excellent example is newspaper clipping that demonstrates a public interest in Lodge activity, but which is printed on very cheap paper. Paper folders also are hard to maintain with our limited staff, and duplications occur frequently. Because adding documents, especially remotely, requires some work, good intentions aside, many Lodges fail to get it done. This leads to information gaps sometime spanning many years.

Finally, the only way to search for something is to handle the physical folder and each document. This requires an on-site presence, and exposes the folder to additional handling with all the incumbent preservation issues.

So just how many documents are we talking about? We estimate the collection contains at least 300,000 documents. They are stored in 35 four-drawer filing cabinets, or 140 file drawers. There is a huge variety of documents and even some three-dimensional objects stored with our museum artifacts.

Over the past several years the Library Board and Staff have been moving the Library into the digital age. The collection of Lodge Folders was an excellent target for early digitalization. After some discussion, the Board set aside funds for the project, which amounted to about $35,000. The Library undertook the digitalization of fragile materials that couldn’t be subjected to high speed scanning, but outsourced the rest of the work.

From our Board, RW Ed Chiani, our Technology Chairman, was key to getting this project off the ground.

At a high level, the process is fairly straight forward, although the actual scanning of 300,000 items is not a trivial task. First, items were presorted, and fragile items were separated out. The remaining documents were then packed into file boxes and transported to the outsourcer’s image processing center by their staff. Once there, the remaining documents are processed using high-speed scanners. An important valued added step to this process is that optical character scanning technology allows many of the documents to be indexed for on-line retrieval. The original documents were then returned to the Library. The remaining steps include enabling access for Lodges and Brothers. We expect this to be in beta test sometime this summer.

The Board has recommended not retaining the paper Lodge Folders. Lodges will be given the opportunity to reclaim their folders; unclaimed folders will be stored or discarded at the discretion of the library. The electronic version of the Lodge Folders takes up about 40.5G. It easily fits on a flash drive that fits in the palm of your hand! Now the dream of converting these files into electronic format will be realized!

Lodges should contact the Library to retain contents by July 1. Lodges may only receive folders of the current Lodge and past Lodges that have merged with their lodge. How to file your request:

Worshipful Masters or Secretaries, e-mail your requests with a list of lodge numbers for folders you wish returned. Provide shipping address to receive contents OR arrange for in-person pick-up at the Manhattan Branch by an authorized Lodge representative or DDGM.

Throughout the summer until Labor Day in-person pick-ups can be made by appointment at the Manhattan Library. Alternatively, we will also arrange for weekly shipments. DDGMs can also make pick-ups for Lodges in their districts. After Labor Day, future requests for contents will be processed on an annual basis—delivered to Lodges at St. John’s Weekend if they are still available.

Please contact the Library’s Manhattan branch by email above, or at 212-337-6619 with any questions.
     

‘You know any Freemasons?’

     
Anyone catch the mention of Freemasons on Mad Men Sunday night? Roger Sterling and Peggy Olson were getting high on vermouth(!) while Roger packed his personal belongings for the move to McCann. He pulls out a Masonic ceremonial trowel, and asks Peggy if she knows any Freemasons. She laughs appropriately.

Where did Roger get that trowel? Could he have been a member of my own lodge, Publicity 1000?

I can’t get my DVR to talk to my iMovie, so here is a crude recording of the scene. Courtesy Lionsgate Television and American Movie Classics.

I hate to be like a groupie about it, but I’m going to miss this show. Only two episodes remaining. Losing this, and Letterman, and Vin Scelsa on the radio, all at the same time, is robbery.

©The New Yorker

     

‘The Bernie’

     
One of the highlights of the Masonic calendar in Pennsylvania is near. It’s always a good time. Make sure you get there. From the publicity:

Shiloh-MacCalla Masonic Lodge No. 558

Presents the Bernard H. Dupee, PM

Memorial Lecture

Tuesday, June 2

Social Hour: 6 p.m.

Dinner: 7:15

William Penn Inn

1017 DeKalb Pike

Gwynedd, Pennsylvania

The 2015 Bernard H. Dupee, PM Memorial Lecturer is none other than Brother Pierre G. “Pete” Normand, Jr. of Texas.

Pete is known internationally for his contributions in the field of Masonic research, writing, and publishing. In 1986, for the Texas sesquicentennial, he wrote and published The Texas Masons: The Fraternity of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons in the History of Texas.

Magpie file photo

He is a Past Master of Texas Lodge of Research, having served as Master of the lodge in 1989, and was named the lodge’s 15th Fellow in Masonic Research in 2003. In 1991, just before the appearance of the internet as a means of transmitting Masonic news, he created the St. Alban’s Research Society, and its quarterly publication, American Masonic Review. As a result of those efforts, he was named the 1996 Fellow of Maine Lodge of Research.

In 1991, he was one of eight founding members of The Scottish Rite Research Society, and was named one of the first Fellows of the Society, and served for ten years as editor of The Plumbline, the Society’s quarterly bulletin. He continues to serve on the Society’s Board of Directors.

He has served as a director on several Masonic boards, including the Brazos Valley Masonic Library and Museum, the Houston Scottish Rite, the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, and the Masonic Restoration Foundation.

In 2010, in recognition of his contributions in the field of Masonic research, he was named the 99th member of the Society of Blue Friars.

Three-course dinner with wine. Choices of entrée: Chicken Marsala or Blackberry-Barbecued Pork or Mediterranean Pasta. Reservations should accompany a check for $45 per person payable to “Shiloh-MacCalla Lodge No 558” no later than May 26. Event is for Masons only. Jacket and tie required.


Drop me a note in the comments section (not for publication) with your email address, and I’ll send you the remittance mailing address.
     

‘Abraham Lincoln and Anthroposophy’

     
Things to do and places to be in Anthroposophy this month in and near New York City.

Friday, May 1—“Inquiries on God: A Talk by Joe Serio” From the publicity: “Bringing fruits from his years of research, Joe Serio will present thoughts arising out of both East Indian thought and anthroposophy, leading to a conversation.

Admission: $15 suggested donation. 7:30 p.m. at Threefold Educational Foundation’s School of Eurythmy at 260 Hungry Hollow Road in Chestnut Ridge, New York.


Saturday, May 9—Marcus Macauley piano recital: works by Mozart and Beethoven.

Admission: $20 suggested donation. Pre-concert talk at 7:30 p.m. and concert at eight at School of Eurythmy, Hungry Hollow Road in Chestnut Ridge, NY.

The Human Being between the Michaelic
and Raphael Forces by Walter Roggenkamp.

Monday, May 11—“Bringing the Lemniscate to Life.” Linda Larson, instructor in Eurythmy, will lead exercises to awaken creativity. (Bring soft-sole shoes.)

Admission: $20 (but free for first time visitors). 7 p.m. at the NYC Branch of the Anthroposophical Society at 138 West 15th Street in Manhattan.


Wednesday, May 13—“The Five Spiritual Events and Basic Human Tasks in the Michael Age.” Thomas Meyer lecture. From the publicity:

“Spiritual knowledge is not given to us as in ancient times. By spiritual means it must be struggled and striven for against a host of demons... We must therefore get to know the powers that would cover up and obscure all spiritual knowledge,” writes T.H. Meyer, in the preface of his forthcoming book on this topic. “The world seems to be standing within a demonic storm that threatens to overwhelm it.” Appeals to traditional religious belief will no longer pacify this storm, and neither will mere good will suffice. How can we better recognize the deeper significance of these times and orient ourselves accordingly?

Thomas Meyer is founder of Perseus Verlag, Basel, and editor of the monthly journals Der Europäer and the new The Present Age. His books include Reality, Truth, and Evil, Rudolf Steiner’s Core Mission, D.N. Dunlop, Ludwig Polzer-Hoditz, and The Development of Anthroposophy since Rudolf Steiner’s Death. He also edited Light for the New Millennium describing Rudolf Steiner’s association with Helmuth and Eliza von Moltke.

Admission: $20 (but free for first time visitors). 7 p.m. at the NYC Branch of the Anthroposophical Society at 138 West 15th Street in Manhattan.


Thursday, May 14—“The Reflections of Ancient Egypt on the Current Era: Thoughts on Rudolf Steiner’s First and Fourth Mystery Dramas” by Thomas Meyer.

Admission: sliding scale, $10-$30. 7:30 p.m. at Threefold Auditorium, 260 Hungry Hollow Road in Chestnut Ridge, NY.


Saturday, May 16—“The Bread of Life.” From the publicity: Lecturer Walter Alexander, medical writer and former public and Waldorf educator, “will lead a brief meditation workshop on Rudolf’s Steiner's adaptation of The Lord’s Prayer. We will consider its connection with Steiner’s Foundation Stone meditation and the relation of both to the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.”

Donations welcome. 7 p.m. NYC Branch of the Anthroposophical Society. 138 West 15th Street in Manhattan.

Saturday, May 16—“The Little Prince” performed by Matthew Dexter. Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s tale brought to life in dramatized storytelling.

Admission: sliding scale, $5 to $30. 7 p.m. at Threefold Auditorium, 260 Hungry Hollow Road, Chestnut Ridge, NY.


Friday, May 22—“Spiritual Science and the Role of Technology in Evolution” by Andrew Linnell. Topics: the future of human-machine interaction; robotics and avatars; neuroplasticity of the brain; and electricity, thinking, and consciousness. Andrew Linnell is a 41-year veteran of the computer industry, and vice president of the Anthroposophical Society of Greater Boston. He lectures on various themes from art history to ancient mysteries, to artificial intelligence, and more.

Admission: sliding scale to $30. 7:30 p.m. at The Living Room at Threefold Main House, 285 Hungry Hollow Road in Chestnut Ridge, NY.


Thursday, May 28—“Abraham Lincoln: Spiritual Aspects Connected with His Task for the United States and Humanity,” by Virginia Sease, a member of the Executive Council of the International Anthroposophical Society at the Goetheanum in Switzerland. Admission: $15. 7:30 p.m. Threefold Auditorium, 260 Hungry Hollow Road in Chestnut Ridge, NY.