‘Bernard Bailyn, R.I.P.’

     

Courtesy The British Journal

The American historian Bernard Bailyn died yesterday. If not for his being very elderly, at age 97, his death may sound tragically apropos, coming as it has during this endless Two-Minute Hate when everything U.S. History is being invalidated systematically, and sometimes violently, for the cause of compelling everybody toward a grim unknown. Perhaps his fatal heart failure, at home near Boston, might satisfy a poetic impulse.

He was not a Freemason, as far as I know. His enduring contribution to his craft is in how he told early American history. We Masons in the United States largely are guilty of upholding a folklorist telling of our Masonic forefathers’ roles in the American Founding. We credit them all with everything from the Boston Tea Party to winning the War of Independence to promulgating the U.S. Constitution. Go ahead, ask a random lodge brother how many signers of the Declaration were Masons, and I bet you’ll be told “Well, all of them!”

Well, not so fast. Nothing is quite that simple, especially in history, particularly in a history of a revolution. When examining the past, we quickly realize truth is stranger than fiction. The details of yesteryear, thanks to the limitless inconsistencies, improbabilities, and missteps dealt by human hands often leave one exclaiming “You can’t make this stuff up!”

A professor at Harvard University, Bailyn wrote and co-wrote dozens of books and is known best for his text from 1967 titled The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. In his research, he delved into the print shop pamphlets circulated during the quarter century before the Declaration. Rather than see the Revolution as only a fight for the right to make money, Bailyn reminded a forgetful people that it was the classically liberal thinking for natural rights—human liberty and happiness—that drove a mostly agrarian society to fight off an oppressive power. The book garnered Bailyn his first Pulitzer Prize. I’m not old enough to know for certain either way, but I can’t help but wonder if his rendering of history had encouraged this country’s enthusiasm for its bicentenary, immediately preceded as it was by various ignominous national failings.

And one wonders if Ideological Origins could be published today. We live in Howard Zinn’s world, when the Pulitzer committee now awards vapid manifestos like the New York Times’ 1619 Project.

On Freemasonry, Professor Bailyn was not one to connect the fraternity to the fight for freedom. He drove where the evidence led, and it does not lead anyone to surmise that Freemasonry, as a group, was an engine in the war for personal liberty and national sovereignty. We know individual Masons were heroic giants, and how local Masonic lodges played their part in building community, but our fraternity was no congress for a new republic.

For a host of reasons, we need more Bernard Bailyns. R.I.P.
     

‘Esoteric Quest goes virtual’

Esoteric Quest, in its 25th year, is on for October—and it’ll be hosted as a “digital summit.” Tickets will be available soon, and I’ll let you know.

Oh, and Christopher McIntosh will be one of the presenters.

From the publicity:

We are proud to announce

The Esoteric Quest 2020

Virtual Summit

October 9-13, 2020!

For the first time in its 25-year history, The Esoteric Quest—one of the leading global conferences on Western Esotericism—will be held as a digital summit. This wisdom-packed five-day event will bring together the world’s foremost leading experts, writers, artists, and academics for an interactive online travel experience exploring the lost or half-forgotten spiritual history of the West through lectures, musical performances from Iceland to Occitania, breakout sessions, and much more.

Join us for an immersive, virtual journey across the world as we dig deep into the history, mysticism, and wisdom traditions of the West, including:

• Honoring the first Esoteric Quest in 1995 in Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic, the Southern Bohemian Mecca of Alchemists (described as the “esoteric woodstock” by Gnosis magazine)
• Presentations on the Italian Renaissance and the influence of Esoteric Traditions in Florence, Italy and how they spread to Elizabethan England
• Glimpses of the Golden Age of Andalusia in its Portuguese dimension
• Music of the Cathars and Troubadours in 12th century Languedoc
• Explorations in the esoteric Art of Memory, and the work of the great historian Frances Yates

Whether you are fascinated by history or spiritual studies, or someone looking to deepen your knowledge of some of the most profound mysteries and wisdom traditions of the Western part of the world, and the myriad cultures that have fed into this stream, The Esoteric Quest is for all who are curious. Tap into your ancestors’ roots, debunk pop culture depictions, and get to the heart of the real deal, or just simply learn something new.

The event will take place entirely online. Our program will feature a mix of morning, mid-day, and late afternoon/evening sessions in different formats to keep you engaged, active, and having fun. All sessions will be recorded, so if the time zone or other commitments prevent you from experiencing sessions live, they can be easily accessed later.

Tickets will go on sale soon, and with early bird pricing. The program and featured participants will be announced soon. Don’t miss out!
      

‘Haywood’s outline for Masonic education’

     

Masonic Dictionary

Although education-minded Masons in the United States a century ago did not have The Journal of the Masonic Society at their disposal, there were quality periodicals available then. One of them was The Builder.

Published by the National Masonic Research Society during the early decades of the previous century, The Builder, thanks to Editor-in-Chief H.L. Haywood, also offered a correspondence course to guide education Masons through their lodge communications and study group meetings.

A few hours ago, I spoke with Bro. Doug, chairman of my own lodge’s education committee. After we hung up, I sent him this outline I cribbed from The Builder, which published it as a kind of advertisement for this Correspondence Circle. And then it occurred to me to share it here. Excerpted:


The Course of Study has for its foundation two sources of Masonic information: The Builder and Mackey’s Encyclopedia… The Course is divided into five principal divisions which are in turn subdivided, as is shown below:

I. Ceremonial Masonry

a) The Work of the Lodge
b) The Lodge and the Candidate
c) First Steps
d) Second Steps
e) Third Steps


II. Symbolical Masonry

a) Clothing
b) Working Tools
c) Furniture
d) Architecture
e) Geometry
f) Signs
g) Words
h) Grips


III. Philosophical Masonry

a) Foundations
b) Virtues
c) Ethics
d) Religious Aspect
e) The Quest
f) Mysticism
g) The Secret Doctrine


IV. Legislative Masonry

a) The Grand Lodge
1. Ancient Constitutions
2. Codes of Law
3. Grand Lodge Practices
4. Relationship to Constituent Lodges
5. Official Duties and Prerogatives

b) The Constituent Lodge
1. Organization
2. Qualifications of Candidates
3. Initiation Passing and Raising
4. Visitation
5. Change of Membership


V. Historical Masonry

a) The Mysteries: Earliest Masonic Light
b) Studies of Rites: Masonry in the Making
c) Contributions to Lodge Characteristics
d) National Masonry
e) Parallel Peculiarities in Lodge Study
f) Feminine Masonry
g) Masonic Alphabets
h) Historical Manuscripts of the Craft
i) Biographical Masonry
j) Philological Masonry: Study of Significant Words
     

‘Cryptic congratulations!’

     

Magpie file photo

Reed Fanning
at Masonic Week 2016

The Most Illustrious Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters (I think that’s the whole name) is said to be the Masonic fraternity with the longest title and the smallest membership. Known as the Cryptic Rite for short, it works a total of three degrees in what we Americans call the York Rite, and yesterday, Reed Fanning was elected Grand Master of Utah.

Congratulations Reed! You very well may become the only Mason who will look good in one of those purple blazers. Have a great year!
     

‘Is this a real word or not?’

     
The answer is: Yes!

What’s the word? Symbology.

So?

Nothing. It’s just that Coach Nagy posted something on the Faceybook this morning that quotes Joseph Campbell in which the professor uses the word symbology.

“The symbology of religion is, in many of its most essential elements, common to the whole of the human race; so that, no matter to what religion you may turn, you will––if you look long enough––find a precise and often illuminating counterpart to whatever motif of your own tradition you may wish to have explained. Consequently, the reference of these symbols must be to something that is antecedent to any historical events to which they may have become locally applied. Mythological symbols come from the psyche and speak to the psyche; they do not spring from or refer to historical events. They are not to be read as newspaper reports of things that, once upon a time, actually happened.”

Joseph Campbell
“The Interpretation of Symbolic Forms”
The Mythic Dimension, p. 198


Campbell died in 1987, and this reminded me of a brief protest made at some point (I don’t remember when) on X-Oriente as the hosts decried use of that word, saying it wasn’t a real word, but merely was something coined by Dan Brown for his Langdon character. It’s a word I think I’ve used here on The Magpie Mason at least once, so I took notice of what they said. They are wiser than I am, so I listen.

On the other hand, I’m not opposed to novelists, playwrights, poets, et al. making up words that the rest of us infuse into the lexicon of our lives. I’ve been using “grokking” as often as good manners permit since learning of it here back in high school, which I soon followed to its source. Offerings from this one and that one enhanced my vocabulary, even though these writers invented the adopted words. Sometimes smithed words will do that, especially by this Will smith.

Prompted by Coach Nagy, I finally just looked up symbology, and it has a bona fide etymology because it has a history.


symbology (n.)
1840, contracted from symbolology, from Greek symbolon “token” (see symbol) + -ology.


(Remember, we speak of tokens in Masonic initiation.)

The month of August began a few minutes ago. It is named for Augustus, but that was not his original name. He was Gaius Octavius, but was dubbed the title Augustus (“venerable” in Classical Latin) upon becoming the first of Rome’s emperors, so that’s how we know him and the month of his birth. In Continental Masonry, our lodge masters are addressed as Venerable Masters.

I have no larger point here. I just like investigating language.

No, wait, I do have a point: Where the hell are those august X-Oriente guys?!
     

‘The saddest day: destruction of KST’

     

Courtesy chabad.org

In New York City, sunset is just minutes away, which means Tisha B’Av, noted as the saddest day of the Jewish calendar, will begin. The ninth day of the month Av is cited as the anniversary of many tragedies confronted by Jews throughout their history, including the destruction of King Solomon’s Temple by the Babylonians in 423 BCE. And this is not the only reason why the day should be significant to Free and Accepted Masons.

In religious practice, it is a busy day for the faithful, albeit one shaped by mournful prayer, fasting, and additional acts of solemnity befitting this day of grim remembrance. The relevant Scripture is the Book of Lamentations, the prophecy of Jeremiah that foretells the destruction of the First Temple.


“For these things I weep; my eye, yea my eye, sheds tears, for the comforter to restore my soul is removed from me; my children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed.” (1:16)

“The Lord has rejected His altar, He has abolished His Sanctuary, He has delivered into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they raised a clamor in the House of the Lord, as on a day of a festival.” (2:7)

“Restore us to You, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old.” (5:21)


In the Craft lodge, the Freemason speaks only of building the Temple, because the Mason is at once the builder, the raw material ashlar, and, in the end, the finished perfect ashlar fit for the Grand Architect’s designs. Even after the tragedy that befalls GMHA, we know from history that the labors continued and the Temple was completed. Although it was known what would happen to the Temple on Tisha B’Av, it had to be built. The Temple also is three-fold: the First Temple, as erected by Solomon; the Second Temple, of the post-Babylonian exile; and the “Third,” yet to be built, but inevitable.
     

‘Weird Fact Wednesday: Bro. Mungo’

     

Actually, the Brother’s name is Ray Dorset, and it was his band that was named Mungo Jerry, and this edition of Weird Fact Wednesday commemorates the 50th anniversary of their hit song “In the Summertime.”

The band’s name derives from the T.S. Eliot character Mungojerrie in his poetry book Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, which you may know through the stage musical Cats, but that’s a whole other story.

Courtesy Chelsea 3098

Dorset, Wakeman, and Jensen.

Bro. Dorset is at labor in Chelsea Lodge 3098 under the United Grand Lodge of England. This is the lodge founded in 1905 by brethren who worked in show business. He was initiated in 2014. The lodge typically confers two degrees during its afternoon meetings, and David “Kid” Jensen was Passed to the Degree of Fellow Craft that day. Rick Wakeman was Master!

Here in America, “In the Summertime” debuted at 32 in top 40 on July 18, 1970. It skipped up and down the list for 13 weeks, and reached as high as No. 3 on September 12 of that year. The group fared much better in their home country, where the song reached No. 1 and remained there for seven weeks. Mungo Jerry had another No. 1, “Baby Jump,” in 1971, and had a number of other hits in the U.K. through the 1970s and ’80s.

The group is still working, with Dorset being the only original member, and you can see them live at dates in the U.K. and Europe scheduled into next August. (Wakeman’s still at it too.)
     

‘Lodge-Kabbalah lecture on Saturday’

     
“Kabbalah is not a secret teaching. It is the teaching of a secret. ‘The secret teaching’ means that we are trying to hide something from you. ‘The teaching of the secret’ means that we are trying to teach something to you, to open up and reveal something hidden.”

Rabbi Tzvi Freeman

Click to enlarge.

On Saturday, the Maryland Masonic Research Society will host a lecture, via Zoom, by Walter Benesch.

Open to all. Write the Treasurer here to gain admission.
     

‘A Digital Evening with Mitch Horowitz’

     

And, speaking of Manly P. Hall (see post below), the North Carolina Masonic Research Society plans “A Digital Evening with Mitch Horowitz” for next month. From the publicity:

Manly P. Hall

and The Secret Teachings

of All Ages

A Digital Evening

with Mitch Horowitz

Tuesday, August 11

8 p.m. (Eastern)

Tickets here

One of the most extraordinary works ever written on the esoteric mysteries of the ancient world came from a young man who was himself a riddle: Manly P. Hall.

The self-taught occult scholar had few visible signs of education following a lonely childhood in Canada and the American West during the early 20th century, yet in 1928, at age 27, Hall produced a monumental record of the hidden symbols and most carefully shrouded belief systems across human history. He called it The Secret Teachings of All Ages.

In this special digital evening, occult scholar Mitch Horowitz (“Solid Gold” - David Lynch) probes the most significant teachings of Hall’s mysterious masterpiece—and considers the life of the unusual man who produced it. Topics include:

• The mystery of how Manly P. Hall created such an epic work with no apparent schooling at a remarkably young age.
• Hall’s surprising influence on figures ranging from actor Bela Lugosi to President Ronald Reagan (who actually quoted from Hall in speeches).
• The controversial circumstances surrounding Hall’s death in 1990, and the lessons that can be found–both cautionary and inspiring–in the life of an esoteric master.
• The enduring value The Secret Teachings of All Ages, a book so unsurpassed in probing the inner workings of the world that it leaves no reader unchanged who approaches it.

Mitch also previews his forthcoming book, The Seeker’s Guide to the Secret Teachings of All Ages (coming in October) and takes your live questions. Do not miss this vibrant and revealing evening. (The presentation will not be live-streamed via Facebook.)

Mitch Horowitz is a historian of alternative spirituality, and is one of today’s most literate voices of esoterica, mysticism, and the occult.

Mitch illuminates outsider history, explains its relevance to contemporary life, and reveals the longstanding quest to bring empowerment and agency to the human condition.

He is widely credited with returning the term “New Age” to respectable use, and is among the few occult writers whose work touches the bases of academic scholarship, national journalism, and subculture cred.

Mitch is a 2020 writer-in-residence at the New York Public Library, lecturer-in-residence at the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles, and the PEN Award-winning author of books including Occult America, One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life, and The Miracle Club.

He has discussed alternative spirituality on CBS Sunday Morning, Dateline NBC, Vox/Netflix’s Explained, and AMC Shudder’s Cursed Films, an official selection of SXSW 2020. Mitch is collaborating with director Ronni Thomas (Tribeca Film Festival) on a feature documentary about the occult classic The Kybalion, shot on location in Egypt and releasing in Fall 2020.

Mitch received the 2019 Walden Award for Interfaith/Intercultural Understanding. The Chinese government has censored his work.
     

‘New release of Manly Hall lectures’

     
Best to just let the publicity speak for itself:

The Philosophical Research Society is pleased to make available to the public for the first time a series of special edition audio recordings from Manly P. Hall. With more than 52 illuminating themes, ranging from “Buddha’s Great Discourse on Love, to “Transformation Mystery: The Alchemy of Attitudes” and his last recorded lecture, “Mental Stress,” you are sure to find a sense of profound inspiration in Hall’s words. Available online for shipping or curbside pickup.

Manly Palmer Hall (1901-90) was a Canadian-born scholar and philosopher. He is perhaps most famous for his 1928 book The Secret Teachings of All Ages.

Hall was the Philosophical Research Society’s first president, a seeker and lover of wisdom, and the very definition of a philosopher. He had the courage and the raw intellectual energy to look for wisdom in places that most people had long since forgotten about or never knew existed. He lived in an era when other cultures were valued only for their exoticism, if at all, but in them he found ancient and profound wisdom.

He began his public career in the related fields of philosophy and comparative religion at age 19, and devoted his life to teaching, writing, and lecturing without interruption for more than half a century. Uniquely endowed for the task to which he dedicated his life, he attained an amazing degree of scholarship in the beliefs, ideals, and convictions of humanity.

Hall gave nearly 7000 different lectures and talks, and appeared on numerous radio and television stations throughout the United States. All of his lectures, many lasting two hours, were given extemporaneously and without notes. His versatility was remarkable. He could discuss the Bill of Rights at the dedication of a public school, explain Socratic philosophy on the campus of a university, take the pulpit of a denominational church, give a sermon on Buddhism in a Buddhist temple, address the congregation of a synagogue, give the graduation talk for a medical college, or analyze the implications of space conquest before a chamber of commerce. In 1940 he received the Award of Merit for lectures given at the New York World’s Fair.

In addition to these activities, Manly P. Hall traveled extensively in Europe, Asia, and Central America, and assembled a magnificent library that he presented to the Society. With countless calls upon his time and energy he was able to write more than 35 books, scores of essays, and hundreds of articles. The Society continues to receive visitors and letters of appreciation from all over the world for the inspiration and guidance he shared over the course of his extraordinary life, and we continue his mission to provide practical and profound wisdom to seekers at all stages of life.
     

‘Weird Fact Wednesday: The Capitular cure for COVID-19?’

     
I knew the archives of Freemasonry would yield some kernel of information leading us toward a cure for the Chinese Virus, and I think I’ve got it!

“It is tobacco.”

Courtesy of the Illinois Royal Arch Companions, the “Report on Correspondence” within the 1913 Book of Proceedings of the Grand Chapter of California informs us of the surefire way to prevent cholera—and they knew a thing or two about pestilence back then, you betcha!

Excerpted:


And now comes forward a comforter for that much maligned and long-suffering Companion: the man who smokes in the Chapter room. It seems that Dr. Wenck, of the Imperial Institute of Berlin, has discovered an infallible preventive of cholera, and similar maladies. It is tobacco. He has demonstrated that cholera microbes will not survive more than half an hour when exposed to tobacco smoke, and that smokers are entirely free from the bacilli. Now, as you all know, the recent immigrations are mainly from cholera-infected countries. Hence, for hygienic reasons, smoking should be encouraged. You might cut this out and paste it on the Tyler’s door.

Note—The Professor further says: that genuine Havana is the best microbe killer, and that combinations of oakum and Michigan cabbage leaf are ineffectual. The Steward should bear this in mind when he purchases the ropes.


Cholera, of course is bacterial, whereas the Chinese Virus is, well, a virus, so my theory here isn’t foolproof but, as “Freemasonry is a progressive science,” I think this is worth investigating. While I’m not necessarily in favor of smoking in the Chapter (or Lodge) room, I suppose I could get used to it. If you insist.

(I personally abstain from Havanas, because they are made by slave labor.)
     

‘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.