‘Of Errors & Truth translated’

     

Click to enlarge.

You know Piers Vaughan is a well practiced translator of Robert Ambelain, but now Piers has a book that returns a text by Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin to the seekers of hidden wisdom.

Click here.

“Very happy to announce that my translation of Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin’s first book, Of Errors & Truth, written in 1775, is now available in hardback and paperback on Amazon,” Piers says. “I had the pleasure of working from a copy of the original 1775 book, published in Lyon, France. The book is an extraordinary work against the creeping materialism and atheism of the Enlightenment period immediately prior to the French Revolution. As well as giving an insight into esoteric and Masonic thinking of that time, it also gives us a glimpse into the life and times of late 18th century France.”

From the publicity:

Courtesy Piers Vaughan

Of Errors & Truth, or Man Restored to the Universal Principle of Knowledge was published in Lyon in 1775, when Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin was 32 years old. Born in 1743 in Amboise, France, he studied law for a short time before entering the army, serving as a commissioned officer at the regiment stationed at Foix. There he met the enigmatic Martinez de Pasqually, and shortly thereafter he was initiated into his extraordinary theurgical Masonic group, called the Order of Elect Cohens of the Universe. He soon resigned his commission to become the Master’s full-time secretary, eventually reaching the highest Grade in Pasqually’s Order, that of Reaux Croix.

He worked with Pasqually on his great work, Treatise on the Reintegration of Beings, an extraordinary sprawling work setting forth a unique view on the origin of man, his fall, and providing an unorthodox commentary on the first part of the Old Testament. It is through this close collaboration that Saint-Martin came to meet Jean-Baptiste Willermoz, another disciple of Pasqually who was a prominent Lyonnais businessman and Freemason who went on to found many Masonic Orders, in particular the Scottish Rectified Rite and the Knights Beneficent of the Holy City.

However, Saint-Martin became increasingly uncomfortable with the elaborate theurgical rituals of the Elus Cohen, and when Pasqually left France in 1772 to take up an inheritance in St. Domingo, the Order began to fall apart, and Saint-Martin found himself becoming increasingly mystical in outlook.

Courtesy Piers Vaughan

During an extended stay in Lyon with his friend Willermoz, Saint-Martin wrote his first book, under the pseudonym Unknown Philosopher. The book, recollecting Pasqually’s Treatise, outlines a mystical philosophical outlook that is clearly based on Pasqually’s teachings, but with a distinct Christian flavor. It is wide-reaching, attempting to put forward his theories by drawing on examples from many fields, including Politics, Philosophy, Music, Writing and Painting. The book was printed by Willermoz’s fellow lodge members, the Perisse Brothers, although the frontispiece claims the book was printed in “Edimbourg,” a common practice at the time to avoid paying exorbitant taxes charged on all books printed in France at that time.

The Enlightenment had led to a great expansion in the sciences, and the search to find the solutions to the great questions in nature and in man, rather than in God, distressed him greatly. He was particularly concerned about the influence of the so-called Materialists, who he felt were leading mankind on a path toward atheism. Therefore he wrote this book to counter their materialism, and to set forth a sweeping vision of the origin of man, his fall, and the path of return, which, following Pasqually’s terminology, he also called the Path of Reintegration.

The book was an immediate success, particularly among Masons, though its veiled criticism of religion and politics led to it being put on proscribed lists for a time. Naturally, it drew the wrath of the Enlightenment philosophers of the time, and in particular Voltaire. However, it takes its place as one of the great mystical Christian writings of the 18th Century, and as a major early document on the teachings of European Freemasonry in general, and the nascent Scottish Rite in particular.

Click here.

Don’t forget Piers will be the guest speaker at Phoenix Lodge in New Hampshire Friday night.
     

‘Don’t look AT, but look for the eclipse on the 21st’

     
On Monday, August 21, a solar eclipse will be visible across the continental United States. It will look different depending on where and when one sees it.

Here’s how NASA explains it in less than a minute.

‘Philatelists to meet in Baltimore next month’

     

The George Washington Masonic Stamp Club, the last group of philatelist Freemasons in America I know of, will meet next month in Baltimore. Club President Walter Benesch shares this message:


For those who missed the Annual Meeting in February, we had a wonderful time.

The plans for Michael, our Cachet Maker and Cover Chairman, to be succeeded by Assistant Cachet Maker Casey in 2018, hit a snag. Casey has moved to New Jersey, and we are not sure if he will be able to take over. Think about next year. February 2018 will be our next election. We need volunteers to fill the various offices. Your president and many of the other officers are getting up in years. If the club is to continue we’ll need younger blood to take on some of the roles.

Our summer meeting will be at BALPEX on Saturday, September 2 at 1 p.m. in Salon C at the Baltimore Hunt Valley Inn. The program will be “Actors in World War II and in Philately.” Mind you, not all the actors mentioned will have been Masons, but they are included as a reminder of how Hollywood served our country. Still there will be a number of them who will be seen on various stamps, some from other nations.

The Baltimore Hunt Valley Inn is located at 245 Shawan Road, Hunt Valley, Maryland, just off I-83 at Shawan Road (Exit 20 East). There is plenty of free parking. There is a quality restaurant in the hotel, but if there is enough interest, we may go as a group to Outback for an early dinner around 4 p.m. I want everyone to have enough time to review the exhibits at BALPEX as well as to talk to some of the vendors and add to your collections.

Let me remind you the club is dependent upon new members. Remember to talk up the George Washington Mason Stamp Club at your lodge and other Masonic bodies. If you don’t have an application they are available here, and we can vote in new members at BALPEX.

Over the past few years, the number attending BALPEX has been very low. If we wish to continue meeting there, it is up to you to support the club by attending. Remember this is not just for members, but for the whole family and any friends interested in stamps, Masonry, or would just like to get away for a Saturday. All BALPEX programs are totally open. Hope to see many of you there.

Fraternally,
Walter Benesch
President
     

‘Steiner Books Summer Sale’

     

Through August, there is a 25 percent off sale on books ordered directly from Steiner Books. Use discount code AUG25 at checkout.
     

‘Bergman’s Magic Flute: beauty, intelligence, wit, and fun’

     

Courtesy Sveriges Radio

The Metropolitan Opera and the Film Society of Lincoln Center will co-host an outdoor screening of Ingmar Bergman’s adaptation of The Magic Flute on Friday, August 25. From the publicity:


The ninth Summer HD Festival features nine thrilling performances from the Met’s Live in HD series of cinema transmissions—plus a special pre-festival screening of Ingmar Bergman’s classic 1975 film version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, a co-presentation with the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The festival runs from August 26 through September 4, with more than 3,000 seats set up in front of the opera house each night, as well as additional standing room around Lincoln Center Plaza.

Friday, August 25, 8 p.m.

The Magic Flute

Courtesy Sveriges Radio

Director Ingmar Bergman was a lifelong fan of Mozart’s late operatic masterpiece Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), having seen the work as a young boy. He went on to create a cinematic version of the opera, sung in his native Swedish, which blends 18th century stagecraft with fairy-tale adventure. For the film, maestro Eric Ericson conducted the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and a cast that included a number of young Scandinavian artists, most notably baritone Håkan Hagegård—who sang nearly 90 performances for Met audiences—as the charming bird catcher Papageno.

Approximate running time: 2 hours 15 minutes


Vincent Canby’s review in the New York Times of November 12, 1975:

THE MAGIC FLUTE
By Vincent Canby

It’s grand opera. It’s a Freemasonry fable. It was made for Swedish television and reportedly cost about $650,000, which would barely cover the expenses of a Hollywood motorcycle movie. It’s based on a work with a magnificent score but with a libretto whose second act seems to have forgotten how the first act started.

Yet Ingmar Bergman’s screen version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, which opened at the Coronet yesterday, is an absolutely dazzling film entertainment, so full of beauty, intelligence, wit, and fun that it becomes a testimonial not only to man’s possibilities but also to his high spirits.

All of the best Bergman films have been about some aspect of love (often its absence), but The Magic Flute is virtually an act of it.

It is, first and foremost, Mr. Bergman’s exuberant tribute to Mozart’s genius, with full, amused recognition of the inconsistencies in the Schikaneder libretto. Mr. Bergman hasn’t set out to interpret The Magic Flute but rather to present it as it originally was, bursting with the life of an exquisite stage production as it would look within the physical limitations of an eighteenth-century court theater.

This approach recalls the Laurence Olivier production of Henry V, though there are marked differences. The Bergman Flute begins as if it were simply the record of a single performance of the opera on a golden summer evening in a theater set in a royal park. During the overture the camera scans the faces in the contemporary audience, all of whose members, with several obvious exceptions, look exceptionally, particularly Swedish. The recurring expression of the film itself is that of an enraptured little girl (said to be the director’s daughter) as she watches the opera unfold.

As the overture ends and the curtain goes up, the camera slides over the footlights into a magical world of painted backdrops and other eighteenth-century stage conventions. Unlike the Olivier Henry V, the Bergman Flute never moves through the painted backdrops into a realistic world beyond. Though the film, after having established its stage conventions, enlarges upon them and, once or twice, abandons them when it suits the director’s purpose, the Bergman production is virtually a hymn in praise of theatricality and the efficacy of art.

At the opera’s intermission, the camera catches Tamino and Pamina, the opera’s two young lovers, playing chess in a dressing room, while the evil Queen of the Night smokes languidly under a backstage No Smoking sign. Mr. Bergman, who loves Mozart and the theater, has special fondness for the performers who work so hard for our joy.

The Magic Flute was first performed in a theater near Vienna on September 30, 1791, just a few weeks before Mozart died. Though Don Giovanni is the grandest of Mozart’s operas, The Magic Flute is the more ideally romantic, the work of a man who, while dying, was able to compose the kind of profoundly lyrical and witty music that almost convinces a lot of people—including me—that opera should begin and end with Mozart.

Mr. Bergman treats the odd Schikaneder libretto fairly straight, neither apologizing for it nor patronizing it. Tamino, the young prince who, in the first scene, is charged by the Queen of the Night with the rescue of her daughter from the wicked sorcerer, Sarastro, winds up by becoming a member of Sarastro’s mystical priesthood, the members of which are the protectors of truth, beauty, and wisdom. Somewhere near the end of the first act, the Queen of the Night has become the villainess of the piece, and The Magic Flute has turned into what was, in its day, quite bold propaganda for Freemasonry.

I hesitate to say even this much about the story of The Magic Flute since it gives no indication of the opera’s phenomenal beauty and good humor. Reduced to its showbiz essentials, it’s about the triumph of the perfect love of Tamino and Pamina, the daughter of the vengeful Queen of the Night, with the help of a little magic and a lot of steadfastness of purpose.

The aural quality of the production is superb. Mr. Bergman recorded the music before he began shooting the film, thus allowing the actors to lip-synch the lyrics (which are in Swedish, not German) instead of belting them out on-camera. The system works beautifully because of technological magic I don’t understand and because the actors are lip-synching their own voices.

He has also found singers who both look and sound right, including his Tamino (Josef Kšstlinger), who resembles a prince in a Maxfield Parrish mural, and a beautiful Pamina (Irma Urrila), who looks like a young Liv Ullman. He is especially fortunate, too, in his choice of a Papageno (Håkan Hagegård) who manages to be simultaneously robust and comic without ever being opera-silly.

The film is full of memorable moments, some moving, as in the first-act Pamina-Papageno duet, and some gravely funny, as when three little boys in a festively decorated eighteenth-century balloon caution Tamino to be steadfast, silent, and wise, which are probably the three things that any three little boys you or I know would find most difficult to do. The camera, in close-up, never misses a gesture.

Make no mistake: This Magic Flute is no uneasy cross-breed of art forms. It’s a triumphant film in its own right.

THE MAGIC FLUTE (MOVIE)

Directed by Ingmar Bergman; written (in Swedish, with English subtitles) by Mr. Bergman, based on the opera Die Zauberflšte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Emanuel Schikaneder; cinematographer, Sven Nykvist; edited by Siv Lundgren; music by Mozart; production designer, Henny Noremark; produced by Mans Reutersward; released by Svergies Radio/TV2. Running time: 135 minutes.

With: Ulrik Gold (Sarastro), Josef Kšstlinger (Tamino), Erik Saedén (Speaker), Birgit Nordin (Queen of the Night), Irma Urrila (Pamina), Håkan Hagegård (Papageno), and Elisabeth Erikson (Papagena).
     

‘Hear ye, hear ye: Short Talk Bulletins’

     
For twenty bucks a year, you can subscribe to the Masonic Service Association’s Short Talk Bulletin Online Audio Library. There are more than 275 available currently and, it seems, they add a couple more every month. From the publicity:

For almost a hundred years the Masonic Service Association of North America has published the Short Talk Bulletin every month, discussing various symbols, lore, and Masonic historical figures and events, being the de facto public face of Masonry in North America. If Masonry in North America were a church, these would be the sermons.

These have historically been printed and mailed. By subscribing to the Short Talk Bulletin Online Audio Library, every month you will receive the current Short Talk Bulletin as a spoken audio file, and in addition will receive notification of and access to the growing collection of historical STB as they are produced. The vision of Anaba Publishing is to record all of the historical STBs, being spoken/delivered by various Masons around the country; to preserve this ongoing legacy to speak to the world about the value of Masonry; and provide real and tangible support to further the goals of the MSANA: disaster relief, educational publications, and Masonic information. Membership in the Short Talk Bulletin Online Audio Library equals direct support for the MSANA. All content is used with permission of the MSANA.

Participating Narrators:

VW Bro. Peter Cutler, DEO 14th, Maine
Bro. Colin Briton, Freeport 23, Maine
RW Bro. Mark Rustin, Grand Secretary, Maine
Bro. Michael Smith, Freeport 23, Maine
RW Bro. Toby Williams, PDDGM 14th, Maine
RW Bro. Arthur L. Borland, DGM, Oregon
RW Bro. S. Joseph Esshaghian, Grand Orator, California
Bro. Erick Weiss, Freeport 23, Maine
MW Bro. Craig Hummel, PGM, Iowa
RW Bro. Dexter Rowe, DDGM 6th, Vermont
Bro. David Asherman, Freeport 23, Maine
Bro. Daniel Margasa, Amity Mosaic Lodge, Danvers, Massachusetts
WM Bro. Donald Cyr, PM Freeport 23, Maine
MW Bro. Brian J. Murphy, PGM, Montana
MW George Braatz, PGM and PGS - Ohio; Executive Secretary - MSA
Bro. Darren Marlar, Chaplain, Lodge 102, Rockford, IL
MW Bro. Russ Chardonia, PGM - California
MW Bro. William J. Thomas, PGM - New York
MW Bro. C. Michael Watson, PGM GS, Ohio
MW Bro. Walter MacDougall, PGM, Maine
RW Bro. Alan C. Hindley, DDGM 14th, Maine
Bro. Phil Pearce, Dallas 192, Georgia
Bro. David Kancz, United 8, Maine
     

‘Back to the quarries’

     
There have been a few degrees conferred at rock quarries in and around New York this summer. I missed two recent Royal Arch events, but there also is a Craft lodge in Connecticut planning a MM° later this month. From the publicity:

Courtesy Moosup Lodge 113 AF&AM

The Quarry Rite

Hosted by Moosup Lodge 113

Saturday, August 19

4 to 11:30 p.m.

69 Prospect Street

Moosup, Connecticut

A Master Mason Degree performed in a real working stone quarry, under torchlight and set to resemble what may have been experienced in the time of King Solomon.

In the mid 1990s, there was an idea to confer a degree in a local stone quarry near Moosup. A brother at Moosup Lodge was the owner of a quarry, and asked if having an outdoor degree there interested the lodge. Begun in 1996 as an EA Degree, The Quarry Rite since has been performed a half dozen times as the MM Degree, and has been visited by brothers from the neighboring jurisdictions in New England, New York, and New Jersey, as well as by brothers from as far away as the Phillipines and Nova Scotia.

This year (August 19, 2017), We have reservations for four current Grand Masters to join us. The Quarry Rite is a one-of-a-kind degree performed outdoors, by torchlight, in an operative quarry. Under the stars, standard Connecticut ritual is augmented by soliloquies written specially for the event. Seating is unlimited, and reservations for the preceding cookout are necessary. Dress is extremely casual—this degree is in an operative quarry—bring a lawn chair and appropriate outdoor gear (hat, bug spray, water or soft drinks, and jacket).

• We ask that all who intend on joining us for the 4 p.m. cookout please RSVP here.
• There is no rain date for this event. Please visit this page in the days leading to the degree for notices regarding weather issues.
• We ask that alcohol not be brought into the quarry for obvious liability issues.

It has been more than fifteen years since I attended something like this, which took place near Harmony Lodge in northern New Jersey. I don’t think they do it any more, which is a shame, because it was a memorable and pleasant change of pace.

This one is out of my orbit, but York Temple Chapter 155 in Ohio will celebrate the tenth anniversary of its famous Mark Master cavern degree on Saturday the 19th with a conferral of the degree on Master Masons. Wish I could get there.
     

‘Celebrate the 300th in fine style’

     

I hope things are more in order where you are, but in the New York City area there doesn’t seem to be much celebration of the tercentenary of the founding (sic) of Freemasonry in London. Of course the June 24 target date has passed, but I’m not seeing any ado this whole year around here.

But…

The Masonic Society is doing it right! Next month in Lexington, Kentucky we will host our annual conference. That’s September 7 through 10 for “Centuries of American Freemasonry: 1717-2017, Our Past, Our Present, Our Future.”

Click each of these pages to enlarge.

Click here for registration.

     

‘The Gnostic Sophia’

     
I’m enjoying summer to much to think of anything planned for next February, except this class at the C.G. Jung Foundation because on this date in 1875, Carl Jung was born. From the publicity:

The Gnostic Sophia:

Redeeming the Feminine Divine

C.G. Jung Foundation

28 East 39th Street, Manhattan

14 Thursdays, 7 to 8:30 p.m.

February 1 through May 10, 2018

Carl Jung’s seminal work, Answer to Job, remains highly relevant today. In 1945, Jung was implicitly responding to the horrific events of the Holocaust and the dropping of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For the first time, the capacity to annihilate humans was no longer projected onto a godhead, but now onto humankind. Individually and collectively, we find resonance today with Jung’s text as it speaks to the dire plight of humanity that is blatantly before us. With current world and national events constantly bombarding our collective psyche, how do we attend to our own individuation processes in the midst of this chaotic and dis-regulating news cycle? What is the impact of the current state of affairs on the processes of clients and on the collective at large?

Click to enlarge.

In Answer to Job, Jung looks to the divine image of the Gnostic Sophia as a potential remedy for the collective. To repair and redeem ourselves, we need to repair and redeem the fragmented feminine on a mytho-poetic level. This course will pick up where Jung left off in Answer to Job. The Gnostic Sophia is an image of feminine wisdom that meets and balances the masculine principles. She is a figure that can potentially restore wholeness to the Western civilization’s collective myths.

Collectively, we are left with patriarchal values that prioritize the accruing of power and domination at the risk of losing our very humanity. The topics that will be explored in depth reveal the clinical application of a deeply valued Gnostic belief in gnosis, or knowing. Within each class, there will be an in-depth exploration of the Gnostic religion and its significant role in influencing Jungian thought and concepts, as well as how this symbol system can serve us now both personally and clinically. Clinical cases will be presented in each class to amplify the material presented and offer an opportunity to discuss the inner knowingness that is awakened in psychic material and its meaning for our unfolding individuation processes.

Instructor: Hilda Seidman, MFA, is a Jungian analyst in private practice in Manhattan. She is a graduate of the C.G. Jung Institute of New York, for which she wrote the thesis “Redeeming the Feminine Divine: Encountering Gnostic Sophia.” She is a co-founder and co-owner of a private education company, Intelligentsia, Inc., working with school-age students to become advocates for their own intellectual and academic development. In her previous graduate studies, she taught courses on performance and authentic creative expression.
     

‘No Esoteric Book Conference? Try this instead’

     
I’m sorry to say there will be no 2017 Esoteric Book Conference in Seattle, but there will be a Masonic event there in October that may interest you. University Lodge 141 will host its first Esotericism in Freemasonry Conference on Saturday, the 21st. This notice has the info available thus far. Click to enlarge:

     

‘Stories that Can Change Your Life’

    

There is one more evening on the calendar at the School of Practical Philosophy for the Summer Stories Program, “Stories that Can Change Your Life.”

From the publicity:

Summer Stories Program

Tuesday, August 29 at 7 p.m.

School of Practical Philosophy

12 East 79th Street, Manhattan

$20 per person, click here

“The Universe is made of stories, not atoms.”
 - Muriel Rukeyser

We often hear the phrase “You are not your story!” and with just a little reflection we know that it is true. Yet, stories can also point the way to self-knowledge and bear witness to acts of heroism, transformation, and true love. They can awaken the desire for knowledge and truth, arouse the sleeping giants within us and, perhaps most important, make us laugh at our foolish antics and grandiosities. In fact, with an attentive heart, hearing stories can change your life.

Please join us for tales of the great masters that provide humor, direction, and good company for the journey.

Friends and family are welcome.

Tickets are $20, which include refreshments, and are available online at our website and in the Registration Office. You may register here. Special Events tend to sell out quickly, so it is suggested that you register well in advance to secure a seat.
     

‘Consolidated lectures this fall’

     

Courtesy Consolidated 31

Consolidated Lodge 31, of the First Manhattan District, has two star guest lecturers coming in the fall to help the brethren make their advancement in Masonic knowledge.

On Friday, October 20, RW Curtis Alan Banks will take to the lectern to present “Whence Came You?” specially for the lodge’s Youngest Entered Apprentices. Bro. Banks hails from historic Allied Lodge 1170, and he is soon to become the M.I. Grand Master of the Cryptic Rite in New York.

On Friday, November 17, the one, the only RW Rashied Bey of Cornerstone Lodge 37, of the MW Prince Hall Grand Lodge of New York, will deliver a lecture on the history of Prince Hall Freemasonry.

In addition, on Friday, September 15, RW Moises Gomez, of Atlas-Pythagoras Lodge 10 in New Jersey, will present his highly sought talk on his experiences during the events of September 11, 2001. “Remembrance: My 9/11 Experience” recounts Gomez’s labors as a Port Authority Emergency Service Unit sergeant on the day our world changed forever.

Masonic Hall is located at 71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan. Photo ID is required to enter the building. Be prepared to work your way into a Masonic lodge.
     

‘A home run of a lecture in two weeks’

     

Courtesy remnantradio.org

Want to know about Freemasonry and baseball? (What, did you not read The Philalethes from 1985 to 2009?) Come to the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library in New York City in two weeks for a home run lecture on the subject. From the publicity:

Baseball and Freemasonry

A Lecture by RW Cary S. Cohn

Thursday, July 27 at 6:30 p.m.

Masonic Hall, 14th floor

71 West 23rd Street, Manhattan

RSVP here

The Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library of the Grand Lodge of New York is proud to welcome RW Cary S. Cohn to present a lecture on the history of baseball, and its connections with Freemasonry. Having recently penned an article for Empire State Mason about Freemasons who were members in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, RW Cohn will discuss the various baseball eras and other Masonic connections he found during his research.

RW Cohn has previously served as the Master of Maimonides-Marshall Lodge No. 739, as well as District Deputy Grand Master. Today, he is the Chairman of the Masonic Youth Committee. His involvement in baseball includes playing on the vintage baseball team Mineola Washingtons, which requires playing hardball by the 1864 rules without gloves. Additionally, Cohn serves on the Board of Directors for Stan Musial Baseball League and coaches a men’s baseball league and little league.

Come wearing a baseball hat to represent your team!

We serve white wine and water at our lectures.
     

‘Peerless Piers to appear at Phoenix Lodge’

     

Piers Vaughan is on the road, and will visit New Hampshire’s Observant lodge next month for a reading from his most recent book. From the publicity:

Friday, August 11

7 p.m.

Phoenix Lodge 105

At Tilton Masonic Lodge

410 West Main Street

Tilton, New Hampshire

RW Piers Vaughan will read “Alchemy in Freemasonry” from his latest book Renaissance Man & Mason.


Agape to follow. Reservations are required. Click here.

Do visit Phoenix’s website to learn about the proper way of visiting this unique lodge. Have a great time! Wish I could be there.

Keep up with Piers via his blog here, and listen to the inaugural podcast.
     

‘Journal 37 is a gem’

     

It’s been out for several weeks actually. The Journal of the Masonic Society No. 37 for Summer 2017 hit members’ mailboxes right around the Summer Solstice, so I’m late in catching up on The Magpie.

With a gorgeous shot of the East of Norman Hall in the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia on the front cover—that building never takes a bad photo—and a close-up of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania’s George Washington Apron on the back, these bookends enclose more than half a dozen explorations of the meaning of Masonry.

To join The Masonic Society, click here. Members receive four issues of The Journal per year, and enjoy full access to the superlative Masonic on-line discussion forum (if you can pull yourself away from Facebook) of international reach. In addition, our famous parchment patent with hand-pressed red wax seal memorializes your member status in a way you’ll want framed and hung on your wall. And those are just the material benefits of being with us. Learning more about your Craft in the company of like-minded Freemasons is the true point of it all.

In his President’s Message, Ken Davis imparts Part II of his advice on how to conduct Masonic research. I won’t give it all away, but one point I think is key is—his words— “Build a crap-detector.” (I call it a bullshit detector, but this is a family blog.)

When reading about Freemasonry, or anything really, consider the author’s credentials and qualifications. Look into the publisher. What other titles has it released? Is this material recent enough to be valuable currently? Scrutinize the sources. Are they reliable? Beware of academia. Sometimes reliable sources can be biased too. And, most importantly to me, distinguish between myth and history. I don’t know how many sensible and educated men in this fraternity believe the medieval Knights Templar were this merry band of mystic archaeologists who evolved into Freemasonry, but that’s a lecture for another day.

In every issue, we welcome the new members of the Society. Thirty-five are listed this time, including Brer Josh Heller of Pennsylvania! Josh is co-founder of Masonic Light, which marked its 17th anniversary exactly two months ago. I forgot to write about that. Amazingly, Josh and I have never met. I’m going to have to sneak up on him at one of his gigs one night. He plays the guitar in a rock and roll band. Welcome to TMS, Josh!

In his editorial, Editor in Chief Michael Poll tells of “The Domino Effect” that occurs when Masons labor together. The results can be the desired positive effect or can be unwanted negativity. It depends. Read his thoughtful—and I would say Rosicrucian-inspired—message on Page 10.

Turn the page and find a timely piece by Brent Morris titled “Albert Pike and the Ku Klux Klan.” In just a couple of hundred words, Morris challenges the highly flawed old sources that have been recycled over the decades to claim Pike was a member or even senior officer of the Klan.

I call this timely because it was only a month ago, on June 6, that National Review stupidly published an article by Edward Condon titled “The KKK Is Not the Christian ISIS: The Klan’s Hateful Theatrics and Symbolism Are Rooted Not in Christianity but in Freemasonry.” In this, Condon repeats the libel and goes even further, saying:

Pike was not recruited for his military savvy, however. He came into the Klan through his position as Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry’s southern jurisdiction. Pike’s 800-page Masonic catechism, Morals and Dogma, and his time as Grand Commander were major factors in setting the ritual and philosophical tone for the higher degrees of American Freemasonry; it was this experience and authority that had the Klan knocking at his door as they looked to give their ragbag insurgency some ritualistic credibility and intimidating theatrics.

(I used to be a longtime subscriber to this magazine. I’m glad I’m not any longer, and not just for this reason. Fortunately, Art de Hoyos responded immediately with an informative and correcting letter to the editor, but I don’t know if it had any effect.)

Meanwhile here on planet Earth, Brent Morris explains there are but two published claims of Pike being with the Klan. Both are from the early 20th century (as in after Pike’s death, when he could not reply to them) and both are unsubstantiated and so shaky that no reputable historian should rely on them.

Clay Anderson of St. Paul Lodge 3 in Minnesota gives us “Mozart, Masonry and the Magic Flute” which contextualizes the history of the Austrian world outside the temple at the time Mozart composed his Masonic opera, and also explains the Continental way of Masonic initiation that the composer experienced. If you wonder what is so Masonic about this piece of music, read this article.

Mike Poll is back, this time on Page 22, with an interview of Art de Hoyos, Bob Davis, and Shane Harshbarger of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction. Here all four collaborate on explaining why a Master Mason should consider the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry for his future. (To be clear, it is the Southern Jurisdiction being discussed, and not the other jurisdiction.) Excerpted:

Arturo de Hoyos: “The Scottish Rite, perhaps more than any other Masonic system in the United States, presents a wider tapestry of Masonic philosophy… As I studied it, I realized that the Rite was not just pomp, not empty ceremonial, but a system which labors to fill the promise to provide ‘more light in Masonry.’ Many people don’t realize that the Scottish Rite is the most popular form of Masonry on the planet. Its Craft degrees are conferred in more countries of the world than any other version. Being a Scottish Rite Mason also gives me the opportunity to teach Masons about Masonry. If the Blue Lodge is like an undergraduate degree, the Scottish Rite is like a post-graduate degree. We simply learn more—and the stuff is pretty cool.”

Robert Davis: “The value of the Rite’s teachings is wholly embedded in the rituals of the degrees. And that value exponentially increases in proportion to the number of degrees which are presented to its members. Taken as a whole, the instruction of the Rite carries out six major historical themes in Freemasonry, along with four essential quests of the journey to mature masculinity. These themes and quests have to do with awakening consciousness within oneself. This is one of the most difficult challenges for most men. Yet, it is what makes Freemasonry a transformative art. For men, life needs to be seen as a journey. The Scottish Rite is built on the clear understanding that men need to be engaged in their own quest for self-improvement. The greatest value of the Scottish Rite is that it facilitates this fundamental psychological need in men.”

Shane Harshbarger: “Scottish Rite and Craft Masonry are so intertwined and linked that to speak of one without the other isn’t possible. In a general sense, I see Scottish Rite and Freemasonry continuing to decline in membership as a percentage of total population. Yet, I am not convinced that we need to fear this. We simply need to plan for the challenges that come with this reality. Conversely, I believe Freemasonry and Scottish Rite will always exist. There is no possibility of it dying out or disappearing. There will always be men who are looking for what Masonry and Scottish Rite offer. It is our job to ensure that when a man joins, he receives the experience that we promise to him. Masons need to do Masonry and be Masons… The future of Scottish Rite for me rests on Valleys that have social functions, perform and utilize all 29 degrees, and have continuing Scottish Rite education. There is more Scottish Rite than any Valley can do in a year, five years, or ten years, but we must be organic.”

There is a great deal more to this three-way interview. Get The Journal.

In book reviews, the great Chuck Dunning’s new Contemplative Masonry (that has yet another photo from the Philadelphia Masonic Temple on its cover!) is defined by reviewer Christian M. Christensen as “an extremely important and useful book for the brothers seeking to either get started or deepen their contemplative practices.” Meanwhile Tyler Anderson explains why The Ten Books of Architecture (actually a single volume summary of it) by Vitruvius is important to Freemasons and Masonic ritual.

In the back of the book, we have Brett Laird Doyle, a Full Member of Texas Lodge of Research, with “Captain Peter F. Tumlinson: Texas Ranger, San Jacinto Hero and Freemason.” This is a sterling example of why Masonic researchers today ought to concentrate on the Masonic history/biography in their own backyards. Your local research lodge, wherever you are, does not need more “papers” that deliver shallow understandings of broad historical topics that have been defined expertly by the authors we read already. Follow Doyle’s lead here, and bring to light the life of a brother Mason. Or a lodge history. Something significant to your locality.

John Hairston returns to The Journal with more remarkable details from the story of Prince Hall Freemasonry, this time with previously overlooked proof of the existence of Mark and Past Master degrees as conferred by African Lodge in the early 19th century. He’s not lost in arcana here. This is really cool research that shows how old archives can yield new understandings of the way we were.

There is much more to this issue of The Journal, but I’m at 1,600 words already and I doubt anyone is still reading. Join The Masonic Society now and improve your life immeasurably!
     

‘MLMA Rhode Island plans’

     

The 2017 Annual Meeting of the Masonic Library and Museum Association is coming into focus. This will take place at the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island during the last weekend of September.

If you are a member of the MLMA, you’ll receive the registration information soon, if you haven’t already. If you are not a member of the MLMA, there is a registration fee of just $80.

Some of the offsite attractions awaiting us are tours of the Providence Athenaeum, John Hay Library (Brown University), Redwood Library and Athenaeum, Newport Tower, and various dinners. The library tours never disappoint. The hosts usually unearth from their archives most rare and amazing Masonic treasures and other historic artifacts. Cannot wait to see what will be revealed to us this time!

Check it out here, and be sure to scroll down to read the abstracts of the fascinating presentations planned. (I’m dying to hear about H.P. Lovecraft!)