‘The professor’s reading list’

     
I meant to get to this yesterday, but let me send belated happy birthday wishes to the late Joseph Campbell, who would have turned 114 years old on March 26. To mark the anniversary, let me share the professor’s reading list from his days—38 years, actually—teaching at Sarah Lawrence College. This comes courtesy of Mr. David Kudler, publications director of the Joseph Campbell Foundation, and via goodreads.com, where Mr. Kudler is a librarian. Now read these books before Monday for a group discussion.


Ovid. Metamorphoses.

Frazer, Sir James George. The Golden Bough. One-volume ed. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1922.

Durkheim, Emile. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life.

Levy-Bruhl, Lucien. How Natives Think. Trans. Lilian A. Clare. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985.

Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. Trans. James Strachey. New York: Basic Books.

Three Contributions to a Theory of Sex. Trans. A. A. Brill. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1962.

Totem and Taboo. Trans. A. A. Brill. New York: Vintage Books, 1950.

Moses and Monotheism. Trans. Katherine A. Jones. New York: Vintage Books, 1967.

Jung, Carl Gustav. Integration of the Personality. Trans. Stanley M. Dell. New York and Toronto: Farrar & Rinehart, 1939.

The Secret of the Golden Flower: A Chinese Book of Life. Translated and explained by Richard Wilhelm, with a foreword and commentary by C. G. Jung. Revised and augmented edition. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1962.

The Tibetan Book of the Dead, or, The After-Death Experiences on the Bardo Plane: according to Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup’s English renderings. Compiled and edited by W. Y. Evans-Wentz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1960.

Coomaraswamy, Ananda. The Dance of Ṥiva. London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Co., 1924.

The Bhagavad Gita. Trans. W. J. Johnson. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.

Okakuru, Kazuko. The Book of Tea. Tokyo & New York: Kodansha International.
Watts, Alan. The Way of Zen. New York: Pantheon, 1957.

Herrigel, Eugen. Zen in the Art of Archery. Trans. R. F. C. Hull. New York: Vintage Books.

Lao-Tze, The Canon of Reason and Virtue (Tao Te Ching). Chinese and English. Trans. D. T. Suzuki and Paul Carus. La Salle, Ill: Open Court, 1974.

Sun-Tzu, The Art of War. Trans. Thomas Cleary. Boston: Shambhala.

Confucius. Analects. Trans. and annotated by Arthur Waley. Reprint of 1938 Allen & Unwin edition. London and Boston: Unwin Hyman.

The Great Digest and Unwobbling Pivot. Trans. Ezra Pound. New York, 1951.

Chiera, Edward. They Wrote in Clay; The Babylonian Tablets Speak Today. Ed. George G. Cameron. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938.

Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. The Birth of Tragedy. Trans. Walter Kaufmann. New York: Vintage Books, 1967.

Bible, New Testament, Book of Luke.

Aeschylus. Prometheus Bound. Trans. James Scully and C. J. Herrington. New York: Oxford University Press, 1975.

Euripides. Hyppolytus. Trans. Richard Lattimore, In Four Tragedies. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1955.

Alcestis. Trans. William Arrowsmith. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.

Sophocles. Oediups Tyrannus. Trans. and ed. by Luci Berkowitz & Theodore F. Brunner. A Norton Critical Edition. New York, Norton, 1970.

Plato. Phaedrus. Trans. R. Hackforth, in The Collected Dialogues of Plato. Ed. Edith Hamilton & Huntington Cairns. Bollingen Series LCXXI. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961.

Symposium. Trans. Michael Joyce, in The Collected Dialogues of Plato.

The Koran. Trans. N. J. Dawood. 3rd rev. ed. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1968.

The Portable Arabian Nights. Ed. Joseph Campbell. New York: Viking Books, 1951.

Beowulf. Trans. Lucien Dean Pearson. Ed. Rowland L. Collins. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1965.

Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson. Trans. Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1916. Also, trans. Jean I. Young. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1964.

Poetic Edda. Trans. Henry Adams Bellows. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1926. Also, trans. Lee N. Hollander. 2nd ed., rev. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1962.

The Mabinogion. Trans. Jeffrey Gantz. New York: Dorset Press, 1985.

Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. Grimm’s Fairy Tales. New York: Pantheon, 1944.

Adams, Henry. Mont Saint Michel and Chartres. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1932. Also New York: New American Library, 1961.

Boas, Franz. Race, Language, and Culture. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1940.

Mann, Thomas. “Tonio Krøger,” trans. H. T. Lowe-Porter, in Stories of Three Decades. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1936.

Thompson, Stith. Tales of the North American Indians. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1929.

Opler, Morris Edward. Myths and Tales of the Jicarilla Apache Indians. New York: The American Folklore Society, 1938.

Benedict, Ruth. Patterns of Culture. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1934.

Stimson, John. E. Legends of Maui and Tahaki. Honolulu: The Museum, 1934.

Melville, Herman. Typee. The Library of America. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, distrib. by the Viking Press, 1982.

Frobenius, Leo, and Douglas C. Fox. African Genesis. New York: B. Blom, 1966.

Radin, Paul. African Folktales and Sculpture. 2nd ed., rev., with additions. New York: Pantheon Books, 1964.

Deren, Maya. Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti. New Paltz, NY: McPherson, 1983.
     

‘Islamo-Nazi barbaric subhuman murders Freemason in France’

     

UPDATE: 2023—Lt. Col. Arnaud Beltrame would have reached his fiftieth birthday this year. To commemorate his life, La Poste, France’s postal service, issued a stamp with his likeness in March. He was a Freemason with the Grand Lodge of France.

UPDATE: March 28—France honored Lt. Col. Arnaud Beltrame with a daylong tribute that included a eulogy by President Emmanuel Macron, who also awarded the murdered hero the Legion of Honor, France’s highest award.

Courtesy Ministry of the Interior, France

Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, Freemason.

The Gendarme officer slain during the string of terrorist attacks in France on Friday was a Brother Freemason, according to a statement released last night by the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of France.

It is with great emotion that the Brothers of the Grand Lodge of France learned today of the death of their Brother, Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, member of the Respectable Lodge Jerome Bonaparte in the Orient of Rueil-Nanterre.

They join forces to pay homage to this “hero-driven” man, who has demonstrated a sense of duty and exemplary sacrifice. This act of bravery and its unfailing patriotism saved lives and reminded us that we must never bow to barbarism. All the thoughts of our Brothers accompany his family in this moment of great sadness.

The Grand Lodge of France continues to greet representatives of the forces of the Order of the Republic who fight all forms of ostracism, xenophobia, and terrorism—in a word, to all forms of rejection of others, our brothers and sisters in humanity.

Philippe Charuel, Grand Master
Grand Lodge of France


Lt. Col. Beltrame, age 44, was the last of four to lose their lives Friday during a terrorist spree that left 16 others injured, two seriously. He placed himself in danger’s way by volunteering to be held hostage in an attack on a Super U supermarket so that a woman could be freed. He died later of gunshot and stab wounds.

“Beltrame was a highly-regarded member of the Gendarmerie Nationale, and was described by France’s president on Saturday as someone who ‘fought until the end and never gave up,’” the BBC reports today. “He graduated in 1999 from France’s leading military academy in Saint Cyr, and, in 2003, became one of just a handful of candidates chosen to join the gendarmerie’s elite security response group GSIGN.” He also had special training in combating terrorist attacks in supermarkets, having taken part in a simulated such attack in December.

The violence began Friday morning when the Islamo-Nazi barbarian carjacked a vehicle, killing one person. He then shot at a group of policemen, wounding one. In his attack on the Super U, the animal murdered one customer and one employee, and then held others hostage. Most of the hostages were freed, except for one woman who was held as a human shield, according to news accounts.

Beltrame offered to take the place of the female hostage. He surreptitiously used his cell phone to allow police to monitor events inside the market. Upon hearing shots fired, police charged into the store, killing the barbarian, and discovering Beltrame gravely wounded.

Beltrame is to receive a national honor for his heroics, according to The Washington Post.

When Islamo-Nazi scum strike in France, they seem to find Freemasons to kill. Three years ago, in the Charlie Hebdo attack, two Masons of the Grand Orient of France were murdered.
     

‘Behind the Scenes of the Secret Triangle’

     

Courtesy Grand Lodge of France

It is without hesitation, secret reservation, etc., etc. and with free will that I admit to knowing nothing of graphic novels, comics, and other illustrated media. Nothing against them; it’s just that other things come first. Anyway, there is in France a series named “The Secret Triangle” that involves Freemasons at the headquarters of the Grand Lodge of France. (The GLdF is the French Masonic jurisdiction that is regular, but is not recognized by grand lodges in the United States, because we recognize the National Grand Lodge of France, which was created by the United Grand Lodge of England a little more than a century ago. If you’re keeping score.)

The Grand Lodge of France will present an exhibition on “The Secret Triangle” comic in its museum next month. Running from April 16 through June 22, “Behind the Scenes of the Secret Triangle” will “summarize this saga with the presentation of boards, accompanied by explanatory texts to share the general context of the series,” says the GLdF publicity. “Cult objects that inspired the author will also be placed in the windows of the museum atrium.”

More from the publicity:

The famous esoteric series “The Secret Triangle” sold more than 2 million copies, being a precursor to The DaVinci Code as an adult comic strip bridging science and the occult. Author Didier Convard has permitted his seven chapters of the story to be the basis of this museum exhibit.

There will be three events in connection with the exhibit:

Saturday, April 21 at 1 p.m. – In the presence of the author, the museum will host a public conference to discuss “The Legend of the First Lodge” inside the Pierre Brossolette Temple of the Grand Lodge.

Wednesday, May 16 at 3 p.m. – To Be Announced.

Thursday, June 21 at 4 p.m. – Music Festival.

Register for these events here. More on the exhibit here.

Courtesy GLdF

Didier Convard began as a draftsman. At Glénat, he succeeds François Bourgeon on Brunelle and Colin. In 2000, he published the first volume of the famous esoteric series composed of seven chapters, “The Secret Triangle,” drawn by several authors. He continues the exploration of “The Secret Triangle” with “INRI,” “Hertz,” and finally “The Guardians of the Blood,” three series with 1 million readers again. In 2016, he released a new hit series from the world of “The Secret Triangle”—Lacrima Christi.

Courtesy GLdF

Didier Convard sweeps the last 2000 years of our history, starting from a mad and reckless hypothesis: The Church hides a terrible secret since the arrival of Jesus on earth, leaving mankind in ignorance and deception. The story of the first volume of “The Secret Triangle” thus draws directly on the sources of metaphysics and religion. It features two researchers, Didier Mosèle and Francis Marlane, who, initiated together in Freemasonry, have been working for nine years on the mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls, through the restoration of one of the scrolls that deals with the origins of Christianity.

This quest for meaning is coupled with a real investigation, because Didier sets out in search of his missing friend, who, through a recorded tape, confesses that he has seen the Light, but that he will not deliver the truth, in order to preserve it.
     

‘Paschal Lamb next Thursday’

     
It’s that time of year again, when the lessons of the Passover feast and Good Friday are united in the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry’s ecumenical celebration of Light and Life.

Courtesy Valley of NYC

The Feast of the Paschal Lamb

New York City Chapter of Rose Croix

Thursday, March 29 at 8 p.m.

(Seating at 7:30)

Masonic Hall, Grand Lodge Room

71 West 23rd Street, Manhattan

Open to the public, the Ceremonial Feast of the Paschal Lamb presents a rare opportunity for the Scottish Rite brethren to reveal a fundamental aspect of the Rite’s traditional mission: to employ meaningful ritual to convey urgent human truths.

The Feast of the Paschal Lamb is not a meal. The ritualists exemplify a symbolic banquet to communicate teachings from both the Passover Seder and the Last Supper. (In the Southern Jurisdiction, it is called Maundy Thursday, and, I guess, has a different ritual.)

I think it noteworthy that this event next week will be hosted in the Grand Lodge Room (third floor), which may indicate an anticipated large turn-out. You should be there.

The keynote speaker will be The Rev. Canon Clive Oscar Sang, 32º, of Trinity Episcopal Church. After the Feast, the brethren invite you to enjoy refreshments in the French Ionic Room on 10.

Photo ID is required to enter Masonic Hall.
     

‘Two weeks notice: El Quijote will close’

     

Courtesy Eater New York

Arguably the most beloved and famous eatery in closest proximity to Masonic Hall, which until 2014 had been owned and operated by a Brother Freemason, will serve its last meals two weeks from today, local media are reporting.

El Quijote, at 226 West 23rd Street, on the ground floor of the historic Hotel Chelsea, has been serving delicious Spanish dishes for nine decades but, like everything else in New York City that you ever loved, it will cease to be.

“…it’s an end of an era for El Quijote, which opened in 1930,” Eater New York says. “After the closure of El Faro, it was the oldest surviving Spanish restaurant in the city. The legendary restaurant features a floor-to-ceiling mural of scenes from Don Quixote, the book that inspired the name. There are three dining rooms in the maze of a restaurant, which also has a series of strange oil paintings and carved Don Quixote figurines.”

For four years, the future of the famed restaurant had been in question. The landmark hotel itself was purchased then by a group that pledged to renovate and “rebrand” what had been cherished for generations for being a cheap place to live for artists of all kinds. The investors also acquired El Quijote, and told reporters they planned to leave the restaurant unmolested.

As Leonard Cohen might say, “I remember you well at the Chelsea Hotel.”
     

‘Lecture: Searching for George’

     
This month’s free lecture at the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library at the Grand Lodge of New York will highlight the fine arts. From the publicity:

Searching for George

By Bro. Evar Miller

Thursday, March 29 at 6:30 p.m.

Masonic Hall

71 W. 23rd Street, 14th floor

Brother Evar Miller of O-At-Ka Lodge 759 in Scottsville, New York, a painter and art teacher, will explain the symbolism in the 100-square-foot mural featuring George Washington that he painted on the east wall of his lodge’s Fellow Craft room.

He also will highlight details about Brother Washington’s life, which he discovered during his research, and will additionally discuss other paintings of George Washington by other artists.

Brother Miller received his Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Painting from the University of Illinois, his MFA in Painting from Yale University, and his Master of Arts in Teaching from Harvard University.

He has taught in public schools in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, and at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire.


Photo ID is required to enter Masonic Hall. Please RSVP here.
     

‘May his place of rest be in Gan Eden’

     
Sad news just announced by the Grand Lodge of New York:


Dear Brethren and Friends,

RW Paul M. Rosen

It is with a very heavy heart that I learned this morning of the passing of our Grand Secretary, Right Worshipful Paul M. Rosen. Brother Paul laid down the working tools of a Mason last night around 11:30, when he was called to the Celestial Home above.

A Masonic and Jewish Religious Service will be held at 1 p.m. on Thursday, March 15 at his local synagogue, Congregation Sons of Israel, located at 1666 Pleasantville Rd., Briarcliff Manor.

The Masonic Service will begin at 1 p.m. on Thursday followed by the Religious Service. After the services, the burial will take place at Mount Eden Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.

Clare and her family will sit shiva at the family residence until Tuesday.

“May the Great Architect of the Universe, our Heavenly Father, bring Solace and Comfort to all who loved and new Paul. And may Paul rest in Heavenly Peace. Amen.”

Fraternally,
Richard W. Bateman
     

‘Rashied back at the lectern’

     
Bro. Rashied K. Sharrieff-Al-Bey, Past Master of Cornerstone Lodge 37 under the MW Prince Hall Grand Lodge of New York, has a few speaking dates upcoming in Manhattan. He is one of the best in the business, and it has been too long, so go and listen.

Magpie file photo

Next Wednesday, the 14th, Bro. Rashied will be hosted by Mariners Lodge 67 in the First Manhattan District. That’s a 7 p.m. start, and Rashied’s work of the evening is titled “Three Knocks and an Opening,” which discusses certain distinct knocks and the Scriptural verses to which they relate.

Mariners always serves a feast for which reservations are required unquestionably. Don’t be one of those guys. It will sell out. Click here.

On Friday, April 20, Rashied will be the guest of Consolidated Lodge 31, also in the First Manhattan. The lodge bills the event as an eight o’clock start, and Rashied’s topic will be Bro. Prince Hall.

Masonic Hall is located at 71 West 23rd Street. Photo ID is required to enter the building.

Hopefully more dates will be announced; if so, I’ll share the info here.
     

‘Research lodge meeting upcoming’

     
New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education No. 1786 will meet for its quarterly communication next Saturday, and has two worthy presentations slated.

That’s Saturday, March 10 at 9:30 a.m. at Hightstown-Apollo Lodge 41 (535 North Main Street) in Hightstown.

Junior Warden Michael Carducci will speak of his analysis of the Scriptural passages employed in the Craft degrees. Howard Kanowitz, who we continue to fail to draft into the officer line, will deliver “Growth of Science.” I have no idea what that will entail, but if you know Howard’s work, then you know this will be another brilliant talk on an unusual subject.

There will be a continental breakfast—don’t ask me which continent—before the meeting, and a light lunch afterward. Then, please feel free to follow me to Newark, where the 25th Annual New York Pipe Convention will be in progress already. That’s at the Wyndham near the airport. With the losses of McClelland and Dunhill pipe mixtures, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, but it’ll be fun overall.
     

‘Patrick Craddock in New York’

     
The President of The Masonic Society, the most powerful man in the free world, will come to New York next week on a speaking engagement. This flier ’splains it all:

Click to enlarge.

     

‘Masonic philatelists to meet’

     
It seems like I’m writing only about Virginia these days, but here’s one more event. The George Washington Masonic Stamp Club will meet Sunday the 25th for its annual meeting. From the publicity:

George Washington

Masonic Stamp Club

Sunday, February 25

1:30 p.m.

George Washington Masonic

National Memorial

Alexandria, Virginia

1:30 – Review covers, socialize.

There will be a number of very valuable collections available for sale, including one that was turned over to your president last summer. Though not well organized, there are many Masonic covers and cachets with a significant collection of Isle of Man stamps. Two additional Isle of Man celebration sheets, obtained at the United Grand Lodge of England, will be available for $30 each. There will be a number of albums up for sale, many belonging to your president, that have been collected over the years. There will be many items of interest for club members to purchase. Of course, we will have the usual door prizes.

2 p.m. – Meeting, including Master of Philately Degree and election of officers for the ensuing two-year term.

If you have not received the Master of Philately from the GWMSC, you may receive it at this meeting. Please reserve in advance with Bro. John Allen so we’ll have your certificate for you. Applicants for membership may attend and receive the Master of Philately, subject to favorable vote into membership. Candidates should bring their current lodge dues card. With the demise of the Masonic Stamp Club of New York last year, the GWMSC is the only group conferring Master of Philately now. Qualifications: You must be a GWMSC member, be present at the Annual Meeting, and not have received it from the GWMSC already. There are no added fees for this degree.

4:45 – Gather at Joe Theismann’s Restaurant. Dinner at 5:30. Ladies and guests welcome.

Speaker: Walter Benesch, club president, on his experiences attending the tercentenary celebrations at the United Grand Lodge of England last fall.

In case you are not aware, on October 31, 2017, the United Grand Lodge of England celebrated its 300th anniversary. The Royal Albert Hall, which seats more than 5,000, was the focal point of the celebration, with the overflow crowd, of which your president was part, seated in the Grand Lodge, watching a live telecast. The program was outstanding. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience that hopefully will be of interest to all at dinner. Remember, wives and non-club members are welcome to attend. (A separate tercentennial slideshow has been developed, should any of your Masonic bodies wish a more formal presentation.)

It is hoped many of you within a 75-mile radius will be able to attend the Annual Meeting. It should be fun. There will be at least one candidate for the degree and the fellowship is always enjoyable.

Fraternally,
Walter Benesch, President
     

‘Freemasons in the Transatlantic World’

     
I learned a new term today! “Atlantic History.” If I understand it correctly, it is the study of how Europe, Africa, and the Americas interacted in the creation of social systems, cultures, etc., beginning about five centuries ago. I’d say Freemasonry can fit inside this subject quite easily.

Does anyone here study this? Is it a legitimate field of study? A politically skewed interpretation of history?

Masonic Light
March 19, 2009


It was just about nine years ago that I learned a term from the academic world—Atlantic History—and immediately asked the Masonic Light group if anyone had any experience with it. Freemasonry seemed like such a natural fit, but I didn’t hear anything more. Fast forward to 2018, and Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076 is planning a conference around this topic for September at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial. From the publicity:

Freemasons in the Transatlantic World

September 14 to 16

George Washington Masonic National Memorial

Alexandria, Virginia

The Program:

Day One

Friday, September 14

9-9:30 Registration
9:30-9:45 Welcome and Introduction
9:45-10:45 Paul Monod: The Conflicted Identity of Early 18th Century English Freemasonry

10:45-11 Coffee
11-12:30 First Panel: Freemasonry in the Caribbean
Neil Wynes Morse, Susan Snell, and Andreas Önnefors
12:30-1:15 Lunch
1:15-2:15: Second Panel: Scottish-American Freemasonry in the Eighteenth Century
Bob Cooper and Mark Wallace
2:15-3:15 Third Panel: Freemasonry in North America
John Laurence Busch and Jeffrey Croteau

3:15-3:30 Coffee
3:30-4:30 Fourth Panel: French Lodges and Connections in the Americas
Eric Saunier and Jeffrey Kaplan
4:30-5:30 Fifth Panel: Transatlantic and Back Again
Marsha Keith Schuchard and Hans Schwartz

5:45-7:30 in North Lodge Room
A Universal Lodge: some differences and commonalities between English and American rituals (tyled)
A Talk: Masonic symbolism in Washington, DC (open)
Followed by an evening in Alexandria. Mark Tabbert will conduct guided tours of the GWMNM on Friday evening and throughout the conference.

Day Two

Saturday, September 15

8:30-9:15 North Lodge Room
The Patriot Lodge: Tyled Meeting of the Convocation of Academic Lodges
9:15-9:30 Welcome
9:30-10:30 Jackie Ranston: The Multifaceted Freemasons of Jamaica

10:30-10:45 Coffee
10:45-12:15 Sixth Panel: Freemasonry in North America
Ric Berman, Erich Morgan Huhn, and Shawn Eyer

12:15-1 p.m. Lunch
1-2:30 Seventh Panel: Religion & Freemasonry
Lucio Artini, Roberto Pertocucci, Fenando, Gill Gonzalez and John Acaster
2:30-4 Fourth Panel: Material & Print Culture
Felipe Corte Real de Camargo, Hilary Anderson Stelling

4-4:30 Coffee
4:30-5:30 Larry Adamson, Past Grand Master, California: Bringing Masonry to the University
5 p.m. Conference Dinner, followed by an evening in Alexandria

Day Three

Sunday, September 16

9:15-9:30 Welcome: Arturo de Hoyos, Brent Morris
9:30-10:15 Oscar Alleyne: The role of men of color in the early period of Freemasonry
10:15-11:30 Ric Berman and Susan Mitchell Sommers: The First Grand Lodge: 1717 or 1721? A debate and discussion followed by Q&A
11:30 Conclusions
2 p.m. Guided Tour of Washington
Depart GWMNM

Please note that events, panels and speakers may be subject to change. Please see the detailed conference program here.

How to Book

Booking could not be easier: go to the QC website and click on the link to the in-house QC ticketing page under 2018 Conference. You can book using a credit card or PayPal here.

How much does it cost?
Conference Registration Fee
Whole Conference (3 days) $119 for QCCC members; $149 for non-members
Saturday only: $85 for QCCC members; $115 for non-members
Saturday/Sunday (2 days): $105 for QCCC members; $125 for non-members

Demonstration and Talk, GWMNM Friday Evening: $5 per person. The fee covers incidental costs specific to the event.

Conference Dinner Saturday Evening: $87 per person. Guests and wives are welcome to attend. Please book ASAP so that we can finalize numbers.

Guided Tour of Washington Sunday Afternoon: $25 per person.
     

‘Spiritual Laws study day’

     

The living Heaven thy prayers respect, 

House at once and architect,

Quarrying man’s rejected hours,

Builds therewith eternal towers;

Sole and self-commanded works,

Fears not undermining days,

Grows by decays,

And, by the famous might that lurks

In reaction and recoil,

Makes flame to freeze, and ice to boil;

Forging, through swart arms of Offence,

The silver seat of Innocence.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Spiritual Laws

1841

The School of Practical Philosophy will host another Emerson Study Day next month—highly recommended!—to focus on excerpts of Emerson’s “Spiritual Laws.” From the publicity:

Emerson Study Day

School of Practical Philosophy

Sunday, March 11

8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

12 East 79th Street

Register here.

Join us in an exploration of the spiritual and intellectual legacy of America’s great philosopher and teacher, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Drawing on the wisdom of Plato and the Eastern traditions, Emerson knew from direct experience and observation that unity is the true reality. He spoke of “one mind common to all,” and “one soul which animates all things.” His affirmation of Unity was total, and he encouraged people to discover this for themselves.

We shall study selected passages from “Spiritual Laws.” This essay offers guidance in understanding the natural laws of the Creation. When we are in alignment with these laws, the result is harmony with the universe, and the potential for realizing our full stature.

From the essay:

“A little consideration of what takes place around us every day would show us, that a higher law than that of our will regulates events; that our painful labors are unnecessary, and fruitless; that only in our easy, simple, and spontaneous action are we strong, and by contenting ourselves with obedience we become divine.”

All are welcome. No prior study of Emerson is required.

8:30 a.m. – Sign in. Coffee available.
9 a.m. – Brief introduction followed by study sessions in small groups.

Fee: $30 – Includes a light brunch and printed material.
     

‘Masonic research at Manassas’

     
The next meeting of Civil War Lodge of Research 1865 is taking shape. The lodge announced yesterday that it will meet at the Manassas Battlefield in Virginia in April. A weekend of activity, actually. From the publicity:

Civil War Lodge of Research 1865

Saturday, April 21 at 10 a.m.

Stuart’s Hill, Manassas Battlefield

The weekend will start with a meeting in conjunction with Manassah Lodge 182 (9810 Cockrell Road, Manassas) on Friday, April 20. Dinner at six. The guest of honor will be the MEGHP of Royal Arch Masons.

The next day’s itinerary is:

8 a.m. – Refreshments at Manassah Lodge
8:45 – Relocate to Stuart’s Hill at the Manassas Battlefield for an outdoor meeting (bring a chair)
10 a.m. – Civil War Lodge of Research 1865 opens
Noon – Lodge closes, but to be followed by a talk at Brawner Farm
1 p.m. – Barbecue lunch at Manassah Lodge
2:45 – Return to Battlefield for Deep Cut and Unfinished Railroad tour
4:30 – Stop at Visitors Center

Accommodations are available at Comfort Suites Manassas. When booking, mention the Bennett Hart/Masons block or rooms or use code 570704495.

While the lodge meetings are for Masons only, the other events are open to the brethren’s ladies and friends.
     

‘Chuck Dunning at A-W 22’

     
Historic Alexandria-Washington Lodge 22 at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Virginia will host Bro. Chuck Dunning next month. The flier says it all:

Click to enlarge.

     

‘Masonic Knowledge on March 17’

     
Don’t forget the Pennsylvania Academy of Masonic Knowledge next month. I’m going. Ric Berman and Adam Kendall will be the presenters at the spring session. I haven’t seen Ric in two years, and I cannot even remember the last time I met up with Adam. From the publicity:

Pennsylvania Academy

of Masonic Knowledge

Saturday, March 17 at 9:30 a.m.

Freemasons Cultural Center

Masonic Village

1 Masonic Drive, Elizabethtown

Register here

Bro. Richard (Ric) Berman was the 2016 Prestonian Lecturer of the United Grand Lodge of England. Berman is the author of Foundations of Modern Freemasonry now in its second edition; Schism, which examines the conflict between the Moderns and Antients; Loyalists & Malcontents, a history of colonial Freemasonry in the American Deep South; and Espionage, Diplomacy & the Lodge. Bro. Berman, a Freemason for forty years, holds Senior London and Provincial Grand Rank. He is a Past Master of the Marquis of Dalhousie Lodge 1159 (EC); Treasurer of Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076 (EC), England’s premier research lodge; and a PM of the Temple of Athene Lodge 9541 (EC), the research lodge of the Province of Middlesex.

Foundations: New Light

on the Formation and Early Years

of the Grand Lodge of England

2016 Prestonian Lecture

The lecture explores the evolution of Freemasonry, queries long-standing myths, and explains the step change that occurred with the creation of the first Grand Lodge of England in 1717. Ric outlines the connections between Freemasonry and the British establishment in the eighteenth century, and how and why its leaders positioned Grand Lodge as a bastion of support for the government.


Bro. Adam G. Kendall is the editor of The Plumbline for the Scottish Rite Research Society and a member of its governing board. He is a Past President of the Masonic Library & Museum Association, and the former Collections Manager and Curator of Exhibits for the Henry W. Coil Library and Museum at the Grand Lodge of California.

For more than a decade, he has presented at several international symposia—most notably, the World Conference on Freemasonry & Fraternalism at the National Library of France; the British Association for American Studies at Exeter University (BAAS); the International Conference on the History of Freemasonry (ICHF) in Edinburgh; the American Association of State and Local History (AASLH); The Quarry Project, University of California Los Angeles; and the National Heritage Museum in Lexington, Massachusetts. In addition to his public presentations, documentaries, and exhibits, he has published several essays and reviews in notable publications such as the European Journal of American Culture, Western Museums Association, The Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism, The Journal of the Philalethes Society, Heredom, and Ahiman: A Review of Masonic Culture and Tradition.

Bro. Kendall is a Past Master of Phoenix Lodge 144 in San Francisco, and a full member of Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076 in London.

The Geometry of Mystery:

Ancient Egypt, Freemasonry,

and Secret Societies

The opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 set off a world-wide craze for all things Egyptian-inspired, but it was by no means the first wave of “Egyptomania.” Ancient Egypt has been a land of mystery and wonder for the West for three thousand years. It has influenced art, architecture, mathematics, literature, and religion. This presentation is an examination of the real and imaged cultural legacy of Ancient Egypt, the history of the romanticism of this venerable civilization, and how its powerfully influential tradition of exotic and esoteric wisdom claimed by secret societies and mystical fraternities is only loosely based upon historical reality.

Please recognize that a cost is incurred to the program for your registration. If you pre-register and subsequently determine that you will be unable to attend, please have the Masonic courtesy to cancel your reservation by the same method and providing the same information.

Registration will open at 8:30 a.m. with the program beginning at 9:30 a.m.

A lunch (requested contribution of $10) will be served at noon, and the program will be completed by 3 p.m. All Masons are welcome to attend. Dress is coat and tie.