‘Summer 2020 Journal of the Masonic Society’

     

Dave Hosler supplied this cover photo of Battle Ground Lodge 313 in Indiana, where, evidently, physical distancing has been made part of lodge life. The lodge was chartered in 1865.

Issue 49 (Summer 2020) of The Journal of the Masonic Society has been out for about a month, so let me tell you about it in case you are not yet a member. You’ll find a lot of facts, logic, and reason within its pages.

In fact, the Winding Stairway of the Middle Chamber Lecture in the Fellow Craft Degree (for a great many of us) is presented in several contexts. Jim Rumsey of Texas gives us “The Masonic Philosophy of the Winding Stairway: A Pathway to Enlightenment,” in which he leads us up the stairs, step by step. On Music, for example, this elected member of his grand lodge’s Committee on Work explains how “Music teaches us to manage our time…and to understand that it takes time and patience to accomplish life.” And that “Harmony is bringing all things together and managing conflict.”

Meanwhile, in his “Light from the East Coast,” the President of the Masonic Society brings to our attention the Scottish Enlightenment philosopher Thomas Reid, whose name is noted in the Second Degree section of William Preston’s Illustrations of Masonry. Reid is renowned as the Father of Common Sense. His treatise titled Inquiry into the Human Mind expounds on the Five Physical Senses, also known to Free and Accepted Masons through the MC Lecture, and the President’s point is to urge Freemasons to use their faculties and common sense during the pandemic so as not to be “affected by hysterical media or by politicians who never planned for any emergency.” Hmmm.

Pennsylvania’s William Britton shares “Reflecting on the Reflections of a Newly Made Mason,” an essay that was inspired by a talk he witnessed in a lodge he had visited and that made quite an impact. Sharing his thoughts, for example, on Astronomy, Britton says:

As the seasons change—winter to spring, spring to summer—so the morning changes to midday, then afternoon, and leads us into the center, or middle chamber of the day. With that advancement comes maturity—time when we are fully able to make intellectual decisions in life, rather than using our emotions, relying on rationality as a means to make decisions based on reason. It is here, in the middle chamber, we are given more refined tools that become essential to the precision required in the building process. When a building is being erected, every stone in it must be so placed that the stress of gravity pulls on all portions of the structure in such a manner that its unity and consistency are preserved. Such it is when we base our decisions upon the foundation of rational reason.

I like what he writes in this piece. I think it recalls Stoic philosophy, but you decide for yourself. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been telling anyone who would listen that when our GMHA avows “My l u ma tk; bt m intg nv,” he is not referring to pure, honest duty. He is affirming how his obligations are integral to his being. When one speaks of a building’s structural integrity, he is not talking about the building’s honesty; he is referring to the building’s very ability to exist per the proper applications of the useful rules of architecture. The Emperor Marcus makes this very point in his Stoic reflections we know as the Meditations.

Upon opening this issue of The Journal, I actually landed in the middle, where we find “Masonic Perspectives: A Second Look at Aspects of Controversial Topics in American Freemasonry.” This is one in a series where the authors reach into history to demonstrate how—to borrow Karr’s famous axiom—the more things change, the more they stay the same. In this case, John Bizzack (Masonic Society Board Member) and Dan Kemble examine two articles from the May 1929 issue of The Builder magazine. The first is titled “The Future of Freemasonry,” by Herbert Hungerford, and the second is “Where Are We Drifting?” by R.J. Meekren. You probably can guess what these two vintage articles say, because you probably have been saying the same thing, namely that “we in America have been bitten by the lust for size, for numbers, for wealth.” (Hungerford) And that the “leaders of the Craft have very frequently expressed grave fears in regard to losses from various causes, especially those by suspension for non-payment of dues. Rather less frequently, doubts have been voiced as to whether the growth in the last decade has not been altogether too rapid.” (Meekren)

There is much detail provided in membership statistics, but it is not dry reading. It really is a very important lesson in Masonic practice that future grand masters ought to read and comprehend, so the Craft may break its pointless cycle of initiating and losing such high numbers of brethren.

In The Journal’s Spotlight section, we find an interview with the irrepressible John “Coach” Nagy, a persuasive voice in social media and a prolific author. Here Nagy extols the urgency of research, and illustrates the value of etymology in understanding Masonic vocabulary—something I prize myself. We use the terms Free and Accepted, Freemason, and free stone often enough, and Nagy explains that our word “free” should not be taken merely as “unrestrained,” but as per its French origin, franche, meaning “superior, excellent, pure, master.” The discussion spans three pages, but I wish it went longer.

Likewise looking into word meanings and our need to guard the West Gate, Francis Fritz of Arizona asks “Are We a Secret Society?” It’s a pretty short, but thoughtful, opinion piece that just may cure brethren of reciting a certain ubiquitous catchphrase about a society with secrets. Check it out and decide for yourself.

Giovanni “Joey” Villegas of Manila, Philippines renders a lengthy study in the back of the magazine on the subject of “Masonry in the Time of the Corona Virus,” that naturally was written independently of the President’s message in the front of the magazine, but that synchronously also encourages us to keep calm. After a deep recitation of facts and numbers on how the fraternity worldwide is dealing with the pandemic, Villegas reminds us that “Masonry is indeed about applying the tenets and teachings for the benefit of our brethren and of all mankind. You don’t need to have a meeting to learn and serve Masonry. It was never about collecting degrees or aspiring for positions and awards. It always has been about Brotherly Love (caring), Relief (helping), and Truth (learning).”

The regular features of The Journal consistently help us navigate the Masonic world outside our lodges. In the reviews section, Steven Shimp, a Past Master of St. John’s Lodge 435 in Pennsylvania (I’ve never seen a St. John’s Lodge numbered so high!) praises the Masonic Lite podcast, hosted by five fellow Pennsylvanians. Shimp credits the show for using informal talk to present Masonic education. In the books department, Seth Anthony (another Pennsylvanian!) discusses the Roger Dachez and Alain Bauer book Freemasonry: A French View, which he lauds as “an excellent, short read that is absolutely packed with Masonic knowledge” and that clarifies for the American reader the often vexing story of Freemasonry in France. My friend Dave Tucker of New Jersey sizes up Michael Poll’s Measured Expectations: The Challenges of Today’s Freemasonry, which was honored as the Grand Lodge of Illinois’ book of the year. “Measured Expectations examines the needs of a newly raised Mason,” Tucker writes. “The book is full of very practical observations and suggestions.” Another(!) Keystone State Mason, M. Vincent Cruciani, reviews the insightful Roy Wells’ Some Royal Arch Terms Examined. Noting how the book is more useful to English Royal Arch Masons than to Americans, Cruciani encourages us to read the book for its decoding of Hebrew terms.

Speaking of Mike Poll, the Editor in Chief of The Journal, in his Editor’s Corner column, also addresses Masonic life during the pandemic. (Let me point out that this issue of The Journal went into production in April, so it’s important to appreciate the time lapsed.) He notes the online discussions among Masons, and the organized efforts of brethren to help, aid, and assist the needy, whether they are Masons or not. “We are Masons and have the need to act like Masons.”

Perhaps as a kind of bookend, Masonic Society Second Vice President Greg Knott, in his photography feature “Through the Camera Lens,” takes us on a tour of the Civil War battlefield of Fredericksburg. He shows us the statue of Confederate soldier Richard Kirkland, who was thus memorialized because he risked his neck to bring water to the wounded Union men strewn about the field. “This selfless act is a reminder of the obligation we have as Freemasons to assist our brothers and others who might need some aid,” Knott writes. “During this time of COVID-19 pandemic, let us remember to reach out to our brethren and their families to ensure their well being.”

SMIB.

There still is more to this issue of The Journal of the Masonic Society, but it’s hard for me to believe you’ve read even this far, so see for yourself. It’s the best $45 you’ll spend in Freemasonry.
     

‘Hope.’

     

Hope.

Wild seas of tossing, writhing waves,
A wreck half-sinking in the tortuous gloom;
One man clings desperately, while Boreas raves,
   And helps to blot the rays of moon and star,
   Then comes a sudden flash of light, which gleams on shores afar.

Alice Dunbar-Nelson

Alice Ruth Moore Dunbar-Nelson was born on this date in 1875 in New Orleans. She graduated from Straight University in New Orleans and worked as an elementary teacher. She was a Harlem Renaissance poet, journalist, short-story writer, playwright, and activist for civil rights and women’s suffrage. Her works include Violets and Other Tales (The Monthly Review, 1895) and The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories (Dodd, Mead and Company, 1899). She married Paul Laurence Dunbar in 1898, though they later separated. She died September 18, 1935 in Philadelphia.

“Hope.” originally appeared in Violets and Other Tales.


Courtesy Academy of American Poets.

The Anchor and the Ark are emblems of a well grounded hope and a well spent life. They are emblematical of that Divine Ark, which bears us over this tempestuous sea of troubles, and the Anchor, which shall safely moor us in the peaceful harbor where the wicked cease from troubling, and weary are at rest.

Lecture of the MM°

     

‘Taschen launches Library of Esoterica with Tarot book’

     

Click to enlarge.

I prayed this day would come, and, well, it’s almost here.

The “it” is the launch of a Taschen series of books on esoterica. I have no information on what this group of books will address, but the first volume, due out next month, will be titled simply Tarot.

Maybe you recall me telling you years ago about Taschen’s The Book of Symbols and Alchemy & Mysticism?

Anyway, from the publicity:

Trace the hidden history of tarot in the first volume from Taschen’s Library of Esoterica, a series documenting the creative ways we strive to connect to the divine. Artfully arranged according to the sequencing of the Major and Minor Arcana, this visual compendium gathers more than 500 cards and works of original art from around the world in the ultimate exploration of a centuries-old art form.

To explore the tarot is to explore ourselves, to be reminded of the universality of our longing for meaning, for purpose, and for a connection to the divine. This 600-year-old tradition reflects not only a history of seekers, but also our journey of artistic expression and the ways we communicate our collective human story.

For many in the West, tarot exists in the shadow place of our cultural consciousness, a metaphysical tradition assigned to the dusty glass cabinets of the arcane. Its history, long and obscure, has been passed down through secret writing, oral tradition, and the scholarly tomes of philosophers and sages. Hundreds of years and hundreds of creative hands—mystics and artists often working in collaboration—have transformed what was essentially a parlor game into a source of divination and system of self-exploration, as each new generation has sought to evolve the form and reinterpret the medium.

Author Jessica Hundley traces this fascinating history in Tarot, the debut volume in Taschen’s Library of Esoterica series. The book explores the symbolic meaning behind more than 500 cards and works of original art, two thirds of which never have been published outside of the decks themselves. It’s the first visual compendium of its kind, spanning from medieval to modern, and artfully arranged according to the sequencing of the 78 cards of the Major and Minor Arcana. It explores the powerful influence of tarot as muse to artists like Salvador Dalí and Niki de Saint Phalle and includes the decks of nearly 100 diverse contemporary artists from around the world, all of whom have embraced the medium for its capacity to push cultural identity forward. Rounding out the volume are excerpts from thinkers such as Éliphas Lévi, Carl Jung, and Joseph Campbell; a foreword by artist Penny Slinger; a guide to reading the cards by Johannes Fiebig; and an essay on oracle decks by Marcella Kroll.

The editor and author: Jessica Hundley is an author, filmmaker, and journalist. She has written for Vogue, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times, and has authored books on artists including Dennis Hopper, David Lynch, and Gram Parsons. Hundley often explores the counterculture in her work, with a focus on metaphysics, psychedelia, and magic.

The designer: Thunderwing is a Los Angeles-based multi-disciplinary studio co-founded in 2007 by Nic & J. B. Taylor. Collaborating on a diverse array of projects, Thunderwing creates branding and design for film, publishing, fashion, food, music, and interior design.

The contributing authors: Johannes Fiebig, born in Cologne in 1953, is one of the most successful authors on tarot and a leading expert of the psychological interpretation of symbols and oracles. His main field of interest focuses on the use of tarot and other symbolic languages as humanistic, psychological tools.

Marcella Kroll is an artist, tarot reader, metaphysical teacher, and host of the podcast Saved by the Spell. She is a program director for the Los Angeles Public Library, leading public classes for teens on Tarot and other divination subjects, and is the creator of two popular oracle decks.

Library of Esoterica explores how centuries of artists have given form to mysticism, translating the arcane and the obscure into enduring, visionary works of art. Each subject is showcased through both modern and archival imagery culled from private collectors, libraries, and museums around the globe. The result forms an inclusive visual history, a study of our primal pull to dream and nightmare, and the creative ways we strive to connect to the divine.


The book is divided into four chapters:

Stepping into Oblivion: The Evolution of the Arcana
Magic & Manifestation: The Attributes of Archetypes
Visionary Exploration: The Progression of a Practice
Speaking in Symbols: The Cards as a Tool

Tarot will be a hardcover book of 520 pages and measuring 6.7 by 9.4 inches. $40.
     

‘Time for the final toast at nine’

     
As of today, Craft lodges constituent to the Grand Lodge of New York may resume their activities, of course practicing all precautions to prevent spreading the Chinese Virus. Under the United Grand Lodge of England, lodges also will be free to return to labor, with the necessary safeguards, etc. on Thursday the 16th, and the Brother who launched the popular nine o’clock #TimeToToast custom, when brethren wherever dispersed about the face of the earth raise their glasses to absent brethren when the hands on the clock are on the square, has called for a final toast for that night.

In social media, Bro. Andy, of Warrington Temple Lodge 6420, says:

On March 17, 2020, the United Grand Lodge of England suspended all Masonic activity for a period of four months. From that date I decided to propose a toast to Absent Brethren at nine every evening, until suspension was lifted—121 toasts in total.
All good things need to come to an end and, on July 16, I intend to propose the toast for the final time.
I would like to thank everyone for joining in. It’s been great seeing everyone’s posts each evening. I have made some great Masonic connections during this time, and I would like us to continue chatting, maybe drink a toast once in a while, different Brethren taking the lead.
On the final toast on the 16th, I’d like to do something a little different, open to polite suggestions lol.

Brotherhood Winery

The word “toast” got me thinking. What does it mean? After all, it’s an odd term for the act at hand. When I was in high school, one meaning referred to something I need not get into here. As it turns out, the term in the context of communally raising glasses to drink in honor of a person or thing has origins in the late 1600s, when it somehow became fashionable to flavor wine and other drinks with pieces of spiced toast.

In Freemasonry, it is J.T. Desaguliers, upon becoming grand master in 1719, who revived the practice of Masonic toasting, according to James Anderson’s Constitutions (1738).

Albert Mackey cites this venerable toast:

A Free-Mason’s Health

Here’s a health to our society and to every faithful brother that keeps his oath of secrecy. As we are sworn to love each other, the world knows no Order like this, our noble and ancient Fraternity. Let them wonder at the Mystery. Here, Brother, I drink to thee.
     

‘Bo Cline, R.I.P.’

     

MW Bo Cline, 2013

Very sorry to share the sad news of the death of MW Bro. John R. “Bo” Cline, a friend through The Masonic Society, where he served as our third (2012-14) President, and a Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Alaska.

Getting to know him was a big part of the fun of Masonic Week. A sizable contingent from New York would attend (this was years ago), so I knew a bunch of the regulars, but meeting a Brother all the way from Alaska was pretty exotic! It was a pleasure to be in his company. Honestly, he was who you want to picture when thinking of who should be a Freemason, and who a Freemason should be.

During his tenure as Masonic Society President, I found myself in a lot of trouble with my then grand lodge (I’m safely in New York now). The kind of trouble that starkly and instantly reveals who your friends are. A hundred of my close personal friends forgot my name in about thirty seconds, but Bo Cline penned a letter to that grand lodge advocating on my behalf. I think the only immediate effect it made was to give me something to smile about—that “Bo, you kook!” kind of smile—but of course the secondary result was to teach an appreciation for honor at a moment when I believed the fraternity was lacking it.


“The Lambskin, or white apron, was the first gift of Freemasonry to our departed brother. It is an emblem of innocence and the badge of a Freemason. We are reminded here of the universal dominion of death. The arm of friendship cannot interpose to prevent his coming; the wealth of the world cannot purchase exemption; nor will the innocence of youth or the charms of beauty change his purpose.”


Alas, my Brother.
     

‘Netflix and kill: Masons and a mystery?’

     

A 32-year-old man went missing in Baltimore one day in 2006. A week later, his corpse was discovered inside an unused hotel conference room, the body apparently having torn through the roof from a height of 14 stories.

Suicide was the investigators’ estimation, but those who knew Rey Rivera deny he could have been motivated to do himself in. This month, Netflix reboots Unsolved Mysteries, the docu-drama so popular it ran for more than two decades on several television networks before everybody started buying their entertainment from, well, Netflix.

The first of ten episodes is available today. “Mystery on the Rooftop” tells the story of the late Mr. Rivera, but why am I telling you about it? There may be some link to Freemasonry.

Depending on the extent of your involvement in the fraternity, you might have added your own hotel conference room joke already, but this story concerns a newly married man, employed as a writer and with aspirations of penning Hollywood screenplays, who also had an interest in Freemasonry.

Writing for All That’s Interesting, Natasha Ishak reports:

Then, there was an obscure note uncovered from Rivera’s computer. The note was typed in small print, folded up in plastic, and taped to his home computer screen along with a blank check.
The note was addressed to “brothers and sisters” and referred to “a well-played game.” It also named famous people who had died, including Christopher Reeve and Stanley Kubrick, as well as ordinary people who Rivera knew in real life. The note included a request to make them and himself five years younger.
The finding was so puzzling that investigators sent the letter to the FBI. The Feds determined it wasn’t a suicide note.
The cryptic letter pointed to another weird detail about Rey Rivera’s circumstances: his growing interest in the Freemasons. The note he left behind began and ended with phrases used in the Masonic Order.
A representative at a local Maryland lodge confirmed that Rivera inquired about membership on the same day he went missing, but didn’t recall anything unusual about their conversation. Shortly before his death, Rivera was also reading books related to Masonry, such as The Builders.

     

‘Funded: On the Square board game’

     

Matthew & Michael Ltd. announced a few days ago that its board game On the Square has achieved full funding (plus a little more) in its Kickstarter campaign.

You can still show your support through Thursday.

Check them out all over social media, including Instagram, Discord, and much more.

If I’m not mistaken, the next issue of Scottish Rite Journal will feature mention of the endeavor too!
     

‘The Contemplative Builder channel’

     
Chuck Dunning set up a YouTube channel a few months ago to present discussion of the practical application of certain Masonic teachings.

Recent topics include “Masonry and Mental Health in the Time of COVID-19” and “Meditating with Blue Lodge Symbolism.”

We all enjoy learning about history and talking about philosophy and delving inside the rituals and symbols, but these videos illustrate ways to put into practice Masonic thinking that otherwise might remain only printed words to you. It’s a service very much needed in the Craft. Enjoy.

This talk is based on a piece Dunning wrote

for The Journal of the Masonic Society.

     

‘Masonic Week 2021’

     

UPDATE: Masonic Week 2021 is canceled, and many events will be hosted via Zoom, including the Masonic Society’s event featuring MW Elias. More info to come.

MW Akram Elias

I wasn’t going to get into an event eight months away just yet, but I see the organizers of Masonic Week have posted the preliminary schedule of events already, so let me tell you about the best part.

The Masonic Society’s annual dinner-lecture will be hosted Friday, February 12, 2021. No word yet on the menu or dining fee (I probably will have both later in the summer) but, more importantly, our keynote speaker will be MW Bro. Akram Elias, Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Washington, DC.

Masonic Week takes place at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia. It will run from Wednesday, February 10 through Sunday the 14th. (If you think your lady won’t appreciate the Operatives Brunch on Valentine’s Day, well you’re just wrong!) The website will have event registration, dinner reservation, and hotel booking information—again—probably later this summer.

You’ll see the schedule has been rearranged. The Grand College of Rites was bumped up to 1:30 on Friday, so I may just stand a chance of getting there this time. But the reason you’ll want to attend Masonic Week 2021 is the Masonic Society dinner.

MW Bro. Elias’ talk will be “Freemasonry in 2026: A Force for Good, or a Footnote in History?” He will challenge us to look five years into the future, to America’s semiquincentennial year, to candidly assess whether Freemasonry will be relevant, and what we, as Free and Accepted Masons, can do today to anticipate the future we deserve.

We’re all having a hell of a 2020 thus far, and some strategic thinking most definitely is in order.

MW Elias served as Grand Master in 2008, capping a most effective career in Masonic leadership. If you want to know what he is up to these days, check out the Masonic Legacy Society.

So, mark your calendars and plan to be with us at the Hyatt Regency on Friday the 12th at seven o’clock. All Masons, our ladies, and friends of Freemasonry are welcome to enjoy a terrific meal and great company. Everyone says it is the social event of Masonic Week, and who am I to argue? I’m lucky they let me in.
     

‘NBC News: Trump requests return of Pike statue’

     

Courtesy Washington Post

NBC News reported the other day that President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Department of the Interior to restore the historic statue of Albert Pike to Judiciary Square in the nation’s capital.

The self-described news network did not provide any attribution to its claim, and it did say the White House did not “provide a comment” on the subject, so who really knows if this is rooted in even a whiff of reality? But, reviewing the first half of 2020, I can see anything is possible.

As you may know, this statue, donated by Scottish Rite Freemasons and erected in 1901, was pulled down, defaced, and burned last week.

▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼

Days ago, I was accused in social media by Rev. Lovejoy, a Brother Mason and Methodist Minister in Iowa, of opposing the removal of “Confederate statues.” I am not. I find nothing wrong with removing memorials to historical persons’ seditious and otherwise anti-American misdeeds. (This Pike statue is no such thing.) There just has to be a legal process first.
     

‘Livingston Library services update’

     

The Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library of the Grand Lodge of New York has a way forward as circumstances change in the COVID-19 pandemic. The librarian disseminated the following information today:

Livingston Masonic

Library and Museum

Re-opening Procedures

Visits:

• The standard hours of the Library & Museum are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
• No walk-in visits by patrons or researchers. All visits are by appointment only.
• Patrons must wear a mask at all times when visiting the Library to return books.
• Patrons must use hand sanitizer when entering the Library, which will be available inside the front door.
• Every patron will write in the guest book the date of the visit, name, and contact information.

General Circulation/Research Procedures:

• The staff is limited, therefore it will take longer to answer genealogy and research requests. All genealogy and research requests should be sent via email either to Librarian Joseph Patzner or Director Alexander Vastola.
• Requests for books from patrons should be emailed either to the Librarian or the Director.
• Research Requests: Materials will be prepared, scanned, and emailed to patrons.
• Book Returns: If patrons want to return or borrow a book from the library in person, they should set up an appointment ahead of time.
• There will be a book drop located just outside the Library’s front door for patrons to return books in case some patrons decide to return their books outside of standard hours.
• Preferably, patrons who mail books should mail them directly to:

Livingston Masonic Library

71 West 23rd St., 14th Floor

New York, NY 10010

• For currently borrowed books, all late fees are waived and due dates for books are extended for the time being.

• Regarding Museum Artifacts: The museum staff will not show or send artifacts to Masonic Lodges or Masonic organizations until September 2020.

Masonic Reading Course:

• The staff is limited, therefore it will take longer to run the Masonic Reading Course.
• Patrons should hold onto the books they have borrowed until the Library fully re-opens. Once this happens, patrons should mail the books to the Library to minimize contact, but also will have the option to return books in-person.
• Reading Course Certificates will be mailed directly to patrons instead of to the staff officers since Masonic activities are still closed.

Donations to the Library & Museum:

• The Library & Museum will not accept donations of books or artifacts until September 2020.

Library Lecture Series:

• All future Library Lectures are to be determined, based on how New York City slowly reopens in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether there is a COVID-19 resurgence in the Fall.

     

‘Weird Fact Wednesday: A Monument in Honor of a Great Artist’

     

Before I begin, happy 303rd anniversary!

Depending on where you are in the Masonic world, the Master Mason Degree ritual employed by your lodge might, or might not, include a quick discourse on the final resting place of our GMHA. I think the rituals lacking this explanation intentionally seek continuity with the overall point about the immortality of the soul, meaning the disposition of the body simply does not matter. The ritual of my lodge does include this bit of legendary history; I won’t quote that here, but instead will share the version found in the unauthenticated Duncan’s Ritual—which no regular lodge uses—even though my New York ritual has a better written telling of it. From Duncan’s monitorial text:


After prayer…the body was then carried to the Temple for a more decent burial, and was interred in due form.

The body of our Grand Master was buried three times: first, in the rubbish of the Temple; secondly, on the brow of a hill west of Mount Moriah; and, thirdly and lastly, as near the Sanctum Sanctorum, or Holy of Holies, of King Solomon’s Temple, as the Jewish law would permit; and Masonic tradition informs us that there was erected to his memory a Masonic monument, consisting of “a beautiful virgin, weeping over a broken column; before her was a book open; in her right hand a sprig of acacia, in her left an urn; behind her stands Time, unfolding and counting the, ringlets of her hair.”

The beautiful virgin weeping over the broken column denotes the unfinished state of the Temple, likewise the untimely death of our Grand Master, Hiram Abiff; the book open before her, that his virtues lay on perpetual record; the sprig of acacia in her right hand, the divinity of the body; the urn in her left, that his ashes were therein safely deposited, under the “Sanctum Sanctorum, or Holy of Holies,” of King Solomon’s Temple.

Time, unfolding the ringlets of her hair, denoted that time, patience, and perseverance accomplish all things.


Monuments are in the news lately, as statues and other public memorials have been defaced, smashed, toppled, and burned during many violent rampages across the United States and beyond. It’s not about the Confederacy or slavery or Black lives mattering. It’s about cultural revolution, which we can see plainly because plenty of the monuments targeted have nothing to do with the Confederacy. Statues of Abraham Lincoln, U.S. Grant, Miguel de Cervantes, and others have been ruined. Abolitionists, like John Greenleaf Whittier and Hans Christian Heg, have had their statues attacked. On May 31, which was the 123rd anniversary of its dedication, the Shaw Memorial, which memorializes the first African-American volunteer regiment of the U.S. Army in the Civil War, was vandalized with all kinds of graffiti by those claiming to be demanding justice for African-Americans, so don’t think for a minute this destruction has even a veneer of justice on it. It is about erasing history in a manner described by George Orwell in 1984.

But this edition of Weird Fact Wednesday concerns our monument found in certain MM° rituals. Why is it there?

The monument, as described in the drama, clearly would be an anachronism, as no such thing would have existed at that historical time and in that place. Even the book, as depicted in the monument, would not have been known then. So where did this symbol come from?

We don’t find it in Preston’s Illustrations, but being a Tiler myself, I am inclined to trust the judgment of Bro. Thomas Johnson, who served as Grand Tiler of the Grand Lodge of England when he published A Brief History of Freemasonry in 1782. Therein we find a “Design for a Monument, in Honor of a Great Artist.” This shows the three Great Lights, adorned with laurels, and an urn decorated with the letter G, with the sun and moon on the sides of the monument.

Two hundred years ago, long before Freemasons could obtain official—or other—ritual ciphers or monitors, there necessarily were competing forms of Masonic works spreading across the United States. Grand lodges had to investigate and determine for themselves which systems were most authentic and useful, which I think explains why some Third Degree rituals, but not others, include this monument discussion. One of the ritual systems to emerge in the early 19th century was that promulgated by Bro. John Barney of Vermont, who is credited with innovating the icon of the marble column and the weeping virgin and Father Time, with the open book, sprig of acacia, and urn.

No doubt you are wondering where Jeremy Cross, who I think deserves third billing with William Preston and Thomas Smith Webb for creating the rituals most of us Americans have today, fits into this. It seems Cross made that column into the Broken Column, denoting how one of the principal supports of Freemasonry has fallen.

     

‘MRF postpones Detroit’

     
This evening, the Masonic Restoration Foundation announced it has postponed its Eleventh Annual Symposium, saying:


We have no alternative but to postpone the MRF Symposium for this year, until we can do what we do, in the way we are all accustomed to doing it.

When we are able to resume, we will pick up right from where we left off, and there is no better way to restart our collective soul than to continue with our plan to hold the event at the Detroit Masonic Temple. That’s why we’re calling this a postponement, and not a cancellation. We have faith in Detroit, and we appreciate the faith those good brethren have had in us.


If you’ve ever attended an MRF event, you know it is something special that cannot be on Zoom, and you understand why, so sit tight, and they will make it worth your while before long.
     

‘DC’s Albert Pike statue is felled, burned’

     

Courtesy NBC4-Washington

The soul hath its senses, like the body, that may be cultivated, enlarged, refined, as itself grows in stature and proportion; and he who cannot appreciate a fine painting or statue, a noble poem, a sweet harmony, a heroic thought, or a disinterested action, or to whom the wisdom of philosophy is but foolishness and babble, and the loftiest truths of less importance than the price of stocks or cotton, or the elevation of baseness to office, merely lives on the level of commonplace, and fitly prides himself upon that inferiority of the soul’s senses, which is the inferiority and imperfect development of the soul itself.

Albert Pike
Morals and Dogma


The above is excerpted from Albert Pike’s lecture in Morals and Dogma for the 5° of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry: the Perfect Master Degree. By “perfect,” this lecture intends another Masonic lesson in achieving equilibrium for the self and harmony in the world.

The adjective “perfect” that we use in the English language derives from the French word for “flawless” and “complete.” It is a coinage as apt for use by those engaged in the good work, square work of operative masonry as it is for those in the speculative art. Otto Jespersen, one of the great linguists, said:


The difference between the Preterit and the Perfect is in English observed more strictly than in the other languages possessing corresponding tenses. The Preterit refers to some time in the past without telling anything about the connection with the present moment, while the Perfect is a retrospective present, which connects a past occurrence with the present time, either as continued up to the present moment (inclusive time) or as having results or consequences bearing on the present moment.


Perfect, as in connecting past to the current moment.

Courtesy Shelton Herald

Albert Pike was a complicated man. Yes, he served in the Confederate army for several months during the Civil War. He was, in fact, a general, until he resigned. Because of this brief military background the “news media” keep referring to his statue in Washington, DC as a Confederate statue. It was not. It was a monument erected by Scottish Rite Masons to honor Albert Pike the Freemason.

In Freemasonry, it was Albert Pike who provided Scottish Rite rituals to Prince Hall brethren so that they too could have Scottish Rite Masonry. It was he who eliminated the medieval religious bar in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite so that Masons who are not Christian may advance to the Rose Croix Degree and beyond—and he did that about a century before the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction got around to emulating that example.

You will see all over the internet today libels about how Pike was a member—or even the founder—of the Klan. He was no such thing. You also will see the accusation that he owned slaves. I have no idea about that, but Pike was a lawyer who moved about the country; he was not a farmer on a plantation.

The mobs in the streets will not be appeased. They are not going to stop destroying historical symbols until there is no more memory of Fill in the Blank. Unchecked by civil authorities, the mobs will continue rampaging. Today’s violence may be against figures, real or imagined, of the Confederacy, but tomorrow it surely will be against the Founders of the United States and many, many, many others who contributed to the complex, but magnificent, history of this unparalleled society.

You destroy a people by obliterating their history. Religious community mocked and marginalized? Check! The family unit discredited and dispersed? Check! Symbols and traditions of common identity rejected and renounced? Double Check! Education crimped to stunt the human mind? Triple Check! And the mobs will continue erasing the historical record itself until people won’t have a past they could protest. “Who controls the past controls the future,” George Orwell instructed in 1984, and “who controls the present controls the past.” Oh, that reminds me: They will defeat and erase language also.

Courtesy WTOP

The destruction of this statue in the middle of the nation’s capital while the police watched speaks to the impotence of Freemasonry in the United States today. The Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction had years of opportunity to retake possession of and relocate the monument. I appreciate how just maintaining the House of the Temple requires so much in precious resources, but an effort to raise funds and devise a plan toward that goal could have been possible had they cared—but they didn’t. So now what’s left of this historic likeness of the man who all but singlehandedly ensured that the Southern Jurisdiction would endure into the twentieth century and beyond will be trucked to some government graveyard where the remains of the mob’s Two Minute Hates will be dumped. He’ll be in good company with Christopher Columbus, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and many, many, many others.

Some history, from three years ago, here.
     

‘Shoemaker receives Washington honor’

     

It was thirty years ago this month when the Grand Lodge of Washington devised an honor to confer in recognition of distinguished, but discreet, service to the Masonic fraternity, and the newest recipient of the Bill Paul Horn Memorial Masonic Medal is Aaron Shoemaker!

The decoration is named for a past grand master of the Grand Lodge of Washington, but it is not necessary to be a Washington Mason to receive it. Aaron is from Missouri. Past honorees include Ernest Borgnine, Bob Davis, Matt Dupee, Dick Fletcher, Nat Granstein, Forrest Haggard, Tom Jackson, Joe Manning, and Ron Seale.

Aaron is a long-serving member of the Board of Directors of the Masonic Society, and is the Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Council of Allied Masonic Degrees of the USA. He is a Past Grand Chancellor of the Grand College of Rites. I’m going to stop there, because I honestly cannot remember all of his meritorious labors in Freemasonry. He and I go way back to the first years of this century in the Masonic Light group, and I met him for the first time in 2006, when the Rose Circle Research Foundation held its first symposium at my former lodge in New Jersey.

Congratulations, my friend!
     

‘Can’t go to lodge? Bring lodge to you.’

Development of On the Square, the game of gavels I’ve been telling you about, is gaining momentum. Lend your support to the creators’ Kickstarter campaign here.

Tomorrow night, some brethren of the Leeds Light Blues Club will play the game on their Twitch TV channel. Check that out here.

     

‘Celebrate St. John Baptist Day!’

     

The George Washington Masonic National Memorial has something very special planned for us. From the publicity:

Wednesday, June 24 will mark the first Saint John’s Day since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Although we cannot gather in our lodges as preferred, we can enjoy an evening of high-toned fellowship and Masonic education. Brethren, prepare the libations of your choice for the ancient observance of Craft Freemasonry: the Feast Day of Saint John the Baptist!

To apply to be part of this event, take this survey, and then pay the $5 admission via PayPal when it comes in your email.