‘Wanted: Masonic citizens’

     

The Masonic Society

Lecture 2021

 
In lieu of the Masonic Society’s usual banquet during the annual Masonic Week festivities in Virginia, we gathered via Zoom Friday night to host one of the most dynamic thinkers and persuasive speakers on the Masonic scene today. As president of the Society, I hadn’t anticipated the pandemic would still hound us into 2021, so I in fact had been planning for our customary dinner-lecture at the hotel in Arlington when I first contacted MW Bro. Akram Elias last June. It was my desire to find a speaker who would continue a theme opened by RW Bro. Eric Diamond, one of our Board members, who addressed the group in 2019 with a speech that rightly should arouse Freemasonry’s latent desire to infuse a positive energy into the public square because, candidly, Freemasonry has turned into an introspective and persnickety historical society. Having discovered earlier in 2020 the Masonic Legacy Society, co-founded by Elias, I recognized exactly such a presenter of urgent Masonic ideals. He graciously agreed to join us, without any hesitation, mental reservation, etc.
 
MW Elias has been a Freemason since 1996, when he was initiated, passed, and raised in Potomac Lodge 5 in Washington, DC. He has presided in the East of La France Lodge 93, Benjamin B. French Lodge 15, Cincinnatus Lodge 76, and Pythagoras Lodge of Research, all in Washington, where he also is a founding member of other lodges. In 1999, he joined the Grand Lodge officer line, culminating in his term as Grand Master in 2008. He is a York Rite and Scottish Rite Mason, and a Shriner, as well as a member of invitational groups. His Masonic accolades and accomplishments are too numerous to include here. In his professional concerns and employments, Elias has been engaged in the field of international relations for more than thirty years; he is a co-founder and president of Capital Communications Group, Inc., an international consultancy that provides to governments and private clients alike an array of strategies for navigating across humankind’s varied nations and cultures.

His presentation is titled “Freemasonry in 2026: A Force for Good, or a Footnote in History?” He spoke for approximately thirty minutes before fielding questions for an hour. We are in the process of editing the webinar video to make it available online to all. The following summary of Elias’ remarks will appear in the upcoming issue of The Journal of the Masonic Society, due out in April.
 

“I hope every Freemason would take a few moments to truly think deeply and seriously about what it means to be a Freemason in our country five years before our country celebrates the 250th anniversary of our independence,” he begins. “And about the special relationship that has existed between the Founding of the Great Experiment and the role Freemasonry has played in the establishment, development, and evolution of the Great Experiment; and where we are today—at a major crossroads. Will Freemasonry rise to the challenge once again to help propel this Great Experiment into the future?”
 
Elias defines the Great Experiment as the uniquely American system of governance needed “to advance the human condition.” Not only democratic elections, which had been tried with only partial benefits to previous societies, but also “the genius of the Founding Fathers,” meaning government as a “systems engineering machine that people can use to solve their own problems.” By employing individual liberty, self-governance, and the rule of law, America, which he acknowledged was led at that time by white, Anglo-Saxon property owners, could set in motion a system that would “expand the Experiment” so as to include and embrace all the people of America.
 
“Enlightened citizens are of the utmost importance to the success of this Great Experiment,” he also says, and that is where Freemasonry enters the history. “Masonic lodges truly were incubators” where its members elected their leaders, voted on legislation, and honed their skills in rhetoric. The lodge experience produced leaders of local communities who could safeguard freedom, which is always endangered. “America created civil society,” he adds. While the world always had “society” consisting of structures—religion, ethnicity, family—that predetermined a person’s identity, it took the American Experiment to birth a place where an individual could relieve himself of constraints and enjoy freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to assemble, and other inalienable rights. “It is also, from an Enlightenment perspective, freedom from ignorance, freedom from bigotry, freedom from superstition.”
 
“Masonic lodges spread across the country. It was a place where people learned to govern themselves,” Elias continues. “They were laboratories where Masonry is taken seriously. How does Masonry take an individual and make him better? That happens by studying seriously the deeper meanings of the symbols and allegories of our Craft. It is the esoteric, the hidden aspect, that enables a person to transform from within.”
 
“Masonry was instrumental to help bring people together of different backgrounds to try to work together to build their communities.”  The result over time was making the Great Experiment more inclusive. “One way to look at the evolutionary history of the United States is to see each generation had to fight its own viruses—we live in a COVID pandemic right now. Viruses have variants and can spread sometimes like wildfire. Well, ignorance, superstition, bigotry, and extremism are viruses, and each generation of Americans would face those,” he says, referring to the revolutions in American life that ended chattel slavery and racial segregation, and that expanded suffrage and economic opportunity beyond the original Founders’ social class. “It took generations and generations of Americans to fight hard and make the Experiment more inclusive.”
 
“As Masons, we are taught in our ritual—we live it in many jurisdictions in our country—we need to attract people of different faiths, backgrounds, races, nationalities, etc.,” he explains. “We know what are the minimum criteria for someone to knock at the door and be accepted in our Craft.”
 
“Five years before we celebrate our 250th anniversary, given where our country is, what are Freemasons going to do?Are we, as Freemasons, going to go to lodges and do the stuff that we would typically do—conduct some business, maybe spend some good time together because we are fellows who like one another and spend an evening together—or  are we going to really go back to the fundamentals of Freemasonry and make it relevant again?”
 
“Freemasonry has a unique role: It is to build a better person, a more engaged, enlightened citizen, and that’s what we need, because if we don’t have enlightened citizens who take on the responsibility, engage the system engineering machine, to move us forward, solve our problems, always expanding opportunity for all—if we don’t do that, it becomes the rule of the mob,” Elias adds conclusively. “As Benjamin Franklin told that lady who asked ‘What have you given us, Dr. Franklin?’ And he said ‘A republic, madam, if you can keep it.’ And a republic needs enlightened, engaged citizens.”
 

‘Esotericism and Masonic Connections’

     

The Ninth International Conference of Freemasonry is scheduled for Saturday, April 10.

The day-long affair will begin at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Titled “Hidden Meanings: Esotericism and Masonic Connections,” it will be a webcast bringing together top scholars you’ve been following for many years.

Register here.

Ric Berman, John Cooper, Shawn Eyer, Adam Kendall, and Will Moore will be among the presenters—and there’ll be more heavy hitters during those eight hours.

     

‘Grotto Day: an opportunity to howl’

     

Azim Grotto

After a period of quiescence for the summer, Azim Grotto No. 7, Veiled Prophets, will again be in active eruption next Saturday night, Sept. 26. Potent Monarch J. Harris Balston says in his notice to the prophets:

“You need a good laugh, you need an opportunity to howl, you need a change of scene, so don’t let any ordinary circumstance prevent your being present on Saturday evening, Sept. 26. There are a few real smooth things in this world that you have not seen yet, and in order that your eyes may behold and your ears hear, some of those things will on this occasion be revealed to you. There will be novel surprises, for the same old committee on ‘ways and means’ has been devising a lot of ‘warm ones’ for the candidates.”

The Masonic Standard

September 19, 1903

Not to be squelched a second time by the pandemic, the Veiled Prophets of Azim Grotto 7 will initiate a group of, ah, initiates next month at Masonic Hall.

Yours truly, on account of my spiritual powers, y’understand, will serve as the chaplain for the life-changing ceremony.

The graphic above has the particulars. Send an email to that gmail for your petition for membership, but do it today!

(For the record, I have no idea what “warm ones” refers to.)

     

‘Be there on Friday’

     

Join us Friday for the Masonic Society’s virtual meeting when we will welcome to the lectern MW Bro. Akram Elias, Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Washington, DC.

In lieu of our annual banquet amid the Masonic Week festivities in Virginia, we shall gather via Zoom to enjoy our guest speaker’s presentation.

Just as when we meet inside the hotel, this “meeting” is open to all Freemasons and friends of the fraternity.

In all seriousness: Evidently there are grand lodges that proscribe the use of online platforms for Masonic purposes by their members. Govern yourselves accordingly.

MW Bro. Elias will challenge us to look five years into the future, to the 250th anniversary year of the Declaration of Independence, for a candid assessment of Freemasonry. Will it be as vital to our world as it was in the time of the Founding?

Dress as you would for a Masonic meeting. See you there.

     

‘33 & Beyond’

     

I have seen 33 & Beyond: The Royal Art of Freemasonry, and it is good.

I finally had chance to watch Johnny Royal’s 2017 film love letter to the fraternity yesterday and, while I won’t write a review, I recommend it.

The movie runs 90 minutes. With numerous interviews and footage of various untiled Masonic persons, places, and things, it relates philosophical interpretations of the degrees of Craft Masonry, the A&ASR-SJ major degrees, and the York Rite too.

In the interviews, we hear from young and not so young, and from famous and not yet famous brethren. Most, I think, are Californians, including Kendall, Cooper, and Doan; and there are Oklahomans Bob Davis (now Grand Master) and the late Jim Tresner, both of whom, unsurprisingly, are indispensable.

Conspicuously missing are any New Yorkers—the closest we get is a three-second clip of a homeless guy on MacDougal Street—but I guess you can’t have everything.

Watch it on Prime Video or Xumo. And stay through the end credits for a funny coda.

     

‘Oscar is next OpenLFM speaker’

     

I can’t prove it, so I probably shouldn’t say it, but I think Oscar has cloned himself. How else can one reasonably explain the pace he maintains in his various stations and places and concerns and employments?

If that is true, then it surely is secret, so I’ll keep it inviolate.

Anyway, it’ll be Oscar Alleyne’s turn at the lectern for this month’s Open Lectures on Freemasonry session. From the publicity:

The Masonic Legend

of Count Roume de St. Laurent

by Bro. Oscar Alleyne

Saturday, February 27

2 p.m. Eastern Time

In the year 1832, there arrived in the City of New York the Count de St. Laurent. He was a member of the Supreme Council of France and Grand Commander (ad vitam) of the Supreme Council 33 for Terra Firma, New Spain, South America, Puerto Rico, Canary Islands, etc. He found the old council sleeping in consequence of political and anti-masonic troubles existing at that time. This lecture discusses his role in resuscitating that council and many of the mysteries connected to him as he introduced Scottish Rite to African American Masons.

More info here.

Register here.

     

‘The historic lodge without a grand lodge’

      

The seal of Holland Lodge 8, warranted September 20, 1787 when it worked the three degrees of Craft Masonry and the Mark Master Mason Degree. Its motto, ‘Deugd Zy Uw Cierrad,’ means ‘Virtue Is Your Jewel’ in the Low Dutch of that period.

I noticed fairly early in my studies of Freemasonry how its history generally is the story of Freemasons segregating themselves from other Freemasons. That is what 1717 was about. That’s what 1751 was about. Ditto the proliferation of the countless high degrees in Europe that century.

During the 1800s and closer to home, a series of schisms, rebellions, and flashpoints in New York Freemasonry made it simply miraculous that our fraternity survived intact by 1900. There was frictional competition for leadership between city and country lodges; there was one or two start-up grand lodges; they had various Scottish Rite factions; and in the back rooms, famous Masons who wielded great political power from their public offices battled each other within the fraternity. And, keep in mind, all the above happened during the same era that also saw the twenty or so years of collapse following the Morgan Scandal.

Absolute anarchy.

Amid these catastrophes, Holland Lodge 8, established 1787, saw reason to break from the Grand Lodge of New York and be at labor independently.

On Thursday, February 25, from 7 to 8 p.m., the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library will host a lecture online that will explain the unusual story of Holland’s secession.

From the publicity:

The Crane-Balestier Letters

by W. Bro. Bradley Corsello

This presentation will tell for the first time the complete story of Holland Lodge’s independence, introducing the Masons whose plots and intrigues nearly destroyed one of the oldest and most eminent lodges in New York City.

W. Corsello is a Past Master of Solomon’s Lodge 196 in Tarrytown. He also is a Royal Arch Mason in Ancient Chapter 1, and is a Prophet in Azim Grotto 7.

Admission is free. Register here.

     

‘To work in the color purple’

     

Israel Antiquities Authority

“And now I have sent a cunning man, endued with understanding, of Hiram my father’s, the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre, skillful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson....”

2 Chronicles 2:13-14

A certain piece of cloth that is significant to Freemasons made the news last week. No, not some talk show host’s Prince Hall sweater. This is a scrap of fabric said to date to the Iron Age epoch the Hebrew Bible informs us was the time of David and Solomon.

Even without particular literacy in the Hebrew Bible, Freemasons will recognize the above verses from their ceremonies. Mention of a skilled workman, able to craft metal, stone, and wood is straightforward, but kudos to the Masons who wonder about the placement of colors on that resume, and extra credit to those who investigated it.

We today take our colors for granted. In paints and inks, and in dyes and food colorings, purple is made to appear all around us. In ancient times, however, things were extremely complicated.

Tyre, home of King Hiram, was famous in antiquity for several reasons, including its manufacture of purple and blue dyes. To produce a single ounce of the colorful substance, fishermen would draw from the Mediterranean thousands of a certain kind of snail. The mollusk contained a gland that secreted a substance that was found to have the potential for creating purple, red, and blue dyes. The process was extremely labor intensive and its chemistry required the use of urine. Between the gutted snails and the urine, sailors knew they were approaching Tyre just by the smell. I bet the guy who discovered that process had some funny stories. Anyway, the expense and scarcity of the coloring mandated its use be reserved for royal and priestly leadership.

Might this piece of fabric have been part of a garment worn by Solomon, King of Israel?

Read The Times of Israel here, and BBC Science Focus here.

     

‘Grand Lodge looks to October’

     

The Grand Lodge of New York is aiming for an October date for its next annual communication, Grand Master Bill Sardone announced minutes ago in a Zoom discussion.

After much time invested in exploring potential alternatives, from online conferencing to relocating the full agenda physical meeting to the Catskills, the GLNY leadership team determined that October at Masonic Hall in Manhattan is the optimal contingency. (A brief business meeting will be held May 3.)

“The planets have to line up to do this,” Sardone said, explaining the logistics of arranging hotel accommodations, bus transportation, meals, and other planning that demand much lead time—all potentially vexed by the unknowable vicissitudes of the pandemic itself.

And some form of amendment to Grand Lodge’s Constitution is being drafted in anticipation of future similar emergencies that would prevent Grand Lodge from convening.

No date was mentioned.

Grand Lodge has been busy steering the fraternity through the months of lockdowns and other restrictions. Sardone listed adaptations varying from degree rituals modified for physical distancing to grant money to lodges of up to $2,000 to improve building security as successes in managing this uncertain time.

At the local level, the ten-attendee maximum at meetings is lifted, with the decision of how best to proceed left to the Worshipful Master in accordance with the State of New York’s Micro-Cluster Strategy. Physical distancing and masks remain required. These apply to all concordant bodies also.

Look for official word from the Grand Master shortly.

     

‘Livingston Library closes’

      

The Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library of the Grand Lodge of New York is closed, according to a message today from the institution.

“Due to the increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases in New York State, the Livingston Masonic Library & Museum will be closed temporarily until further notice,” reads its website.

The civil authorities here in New York boasted today of lower transmission rates and fewer hospitalizations, while announcing lifting socialization restrictions and promising more liberalization is soon to come.

Library staff will be on duty in limited hours, but no visitations are possible.

A memo disseminated yesterday by Grand Master William M. Sardone, addressing the subject of the belated Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge now scheduled for May, says plans are being made to proceed with that meeting, and reminds “the COVID danger is real.”

“The safety of our members, their families and friends, as well as the future of our fraternity, are always part of every discussion,” Sardone adds.

The Grand Master himself was hospitalized recently to be treated for both COVID-19 and pneumonia.

He closed his letter to the fraternity with details of a Zoom conference for tomorrow night when the brethren may discuss and ask questions about the upcoming Grand Lodge session. The May 2020 annual meeting was canceled, keeping the grand staff in place an additional year.

(My own lodge has not convened since last March, instead employing Zoom for substitute meetings, plus educational lectures and planning sessions.)

     

‘Shall brothers be for a’ that’

      

Robert Burns, Scotland’s most beloved historic Freemason, was born on this date in 1759. Among his most famous works is “A Man’s A Man for A’ That,” wherein he speaks of virtues in terms every Mason can understand, despite the Scots Gaelic tongue. It is dated 1795, the year before his death at age 37.

A Man’s A Man For A’ That

by Robert Burns

Is there for honest poverty
That hangs his head, an’ a’ that
The coward slave, we pass him by

We dare be poor for a’ that

For a’ that, an’ a’ that

The rank is but the guinea’s stamp

The man’s the gowd for a’ that

What though on hamely fare we dine

Wear hoddin grey, an’ a’ that

Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine

A man’s a man, for a’ that

For a’ that, an’ a’ that

Their tinsel show an’ a’ that

The honest man, though e’er sae poor

Is king o’ men for a’ that

Ye see yon birkie ca’d a lord

Wha struts an’ stares an’ a’ that

Tho’ hundreds worship at his word

He’s but a coof for a’ that

For a’ that, an’ a’ that

The man o’ independent mind

He looks an’ laughs at a’ that

A prince can mak’ a belted knight

A marquise, duke, an’ a’ that

But an honest man’s aboon his might

Gude faith, he maunna fa’ that

For a’ that an’ a’ that

Their dignities an’ a’ that

The pith o’ sense an’ pride o’ worth

Are higher rank that a’ that

Then let us pray that come it may (as come it will for a’ that)

That Sense and Worth, o’er a’ the earth

Shall bear the gree an’ a’ that

For a’ that an’ a’ that

It’s coming yet for a’ that

That man to man, the world o’er

Shall brithers be for a’ that

     

‘You are not of the masons.’

    

Born on this date in 1809: Edgar Allan Poe.

His short story “The Cask of Amontillado,” published in 1847, makes a reference to Freemasonry that scholars have pondered for generations, and features a show of operative masonry that has chilled readers for just as long.

The Cask of Amontillado

by Edgar Allan Poe

The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitely, settled—but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong. It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued, as was my in to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my to smile now was at the thought of his immolation.

He had a weak point—this Fortunato—although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine. Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit. For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity, to practice imposture upon the British and Austrian millionaires. In painting and gemmery, Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a quack, but in the matter of old wines he was sincere. In this respect I did not differ from him materially; I was skillful in the Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I could. It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells. I was so pleased to see him that I thought I should never have done wringing his hand. I said to him “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking today. But I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts.”

“How?” said he. “Amontillado, A pipe? Impossible! And in the middle of the carnival!”

“I have my doubts,” I replied, “and I was silly enough to pay the full Amontillado price without consulting you in the matter. You were not to be found, and I was fearful of losing a bargain.”  

“Amontillado!”

“I have my doubts.”

“Amontillado!”

“And I must satisfy them.”

“Amontillado!”

“As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchresi. If any one has a critical turn it is he. He will tell me…”

“Luchresi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry.”  

“And yet some fools will have it that his taste is a match for your own.”

“Come, let us go.”

“Whither?”

“To your vaults.”

“My friend, no. I will not impose upon your good nature. I perceive you have an engagement. Luchresi…”

“I have no engagement. Come.”

“My friend, no. It is not the engagement, but the severe cold with which I perceive you are afflicted. The vaults are insufferably damp. They are encrusted with nitre.”

“Let us go, nevertheless. The cold is merely nothing. Amontillado! You have been imposed upon. And as for Luchresi, he cannot distinguish Sherry from Amontillado.”

Thus speaking, Fortunato possessed himself of my arm; and putting on a mask of black silk and drawing a roquelaire closely about my person, I suffered him to hurry me to my palazzo.

There were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry in honor of the time. I had told them that I should not return until the morning, and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house. These orders were sufficient, I well knew, to ensure their immediate disappearance, one and all, as soon as my back was turned. I took from their sconces two flambeaux, and giving one to Fortunato, bowed him through several suites of rooms to the archway that led into the vaults. I passed down a long and winding staircase, requesting him to be cautious as he followed. We came at length to the foot of the descent, and stood together upon the damp ground of the catacombs of the Montresors. The gait of my friend was unsteady, and the bells upon his cap jingled as he strode. “The pipe,” he said. “It is farther on,” said I, “but observe the white web-work which gleams from these cavern walls.” He turned toward me, and looked into my eyes with two filmy orbs that distilled the rheum of intoxication.

“Nitre?” he asked, at length. “Nitre,” I replied. “How long have you had that cough?” “Ugh! ugh! ugh! —ugh! ugh! ugh! —ugh! ugh! ugh! —ugh! ugh! ugh! —ugh! ugh! ugh!” My poor friend found it impossible to reply for many minutes. “It is nothing,” he said at last. “Come,” I said, with decision, “we will go back. Your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchresi…”  

“Enough,” he said; “the cough’s a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough.” “True, true,” I replied, “and, indeed, I had no intention of alarming you unnecessarily, but you should use all proper caution. A draught of this Medoc will defend us from the damps. Here I knocked off the neck of a bottle which I drew from a long row of its fellows that lay upon the mould.

“Drink,” I said, presenting him the wine. He raised it to his lips with a leer. He paused and nodded to me familiarly, while his bells jingled. “I drink,” he said, “to the buried that repose around us.” “And I to your long life.” He again took my arm, and we proceeded. “These vaults,” he said, “are extensive.” “The Montresors,” I replied, “were a great and numerous family.” “I forget your arms.” “A huge human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.” “And the motto?” “Nemo me impune lacessit.” “Good!” he said. The wine sparkled in his eyes and the bells jingled. My own fancy grew warm with the Medoc. We had passed through long walls of piled skeletons, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs. I paused again, and this time I made bold to seize Fortunato by an arm above the elbow. “The nitre!” I said, “See, it increases. It hangs like moss upon the vaults. We are below the river’s bed. The drops of moisture trickle among the bones. Come, we will go back ere it is too late. Your cough…" “It is nothing,” he said. “Let us go on. But first, another draught of the Medoc.” I broke and reached him a flagon of De Grave. He emptied it at a breath. His eyes flashed with a fierce light. He laughed and threw the bottle upwards with a gesticulation I did not understand. I looked at him in surprise. He repeated the movement—a grotesque one.

“You do not comprehend?” he said. “Not I,” I replied. “Then you are not of the brotherhood.”  

“How?”

“You are not of the masons.”

“Yes, yes,” I said, “yes, yes.”

“You? Impossible! A mason?”

“A mason,” I replied.

“A sign,” he said, “a sign.”

“It is this,” I answered, producing from beneath the folds of my roquelaire a trowel.

“You jest,” he exclaimed, recoiling a few paces. “But let us proceed to the Amontillado.”

“Be it so,” I said, replacing the tool beneath the cloak and again offering him my arm. He leaned upon it heavily. We continued our route in search of the Amontillado. We passed through a range of low arches, descended, passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame.

At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious. Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris. Three sides of this interior crypt were still ornamented in this manner. From the fourth side the bones had been thrown down, and lay promiscuously upon the earth, forming at one point a mound of some size. Within the wall thus exposed by the displacing of the bones, we perceived a still interior crypt or recess, in depth about four feet, in width three, in height six or seven. It seemed to have been constructed for no especial use within itself, but formed merely the interval between two of the colossal supports of the roof of the catacombs, and was backed by one of their circumscribing walls of solid granite.

It was in vain that Fortunato, uplifting his dull torch, endeavored to pry into the depth of the recess. Its termination the feeble light did not enable us to see. “Proceed,” I said. “Herein is the Amontillado. As for Luchresi…”

“He is an ignoramus,” interrupted my friend, as he stepped unsteadily forward, while I followed immediately at his heels. In niche, and finding an instant he had reached the extremity of the niche, and finding his progress arrested by the rock, stood stupidly bewildered. A moment more and I had fettered him to the granite. In its surface were two iron staples, distant from each other about two feet, horizontally. From one of these depended a short chain, from the other a padlock. Throwing the links about his waist, it was but the work of a few seconds to secure it. He was too much astounded to resist. Withdrawing the key I stepped back from the recess. “Pass your hand,” I said, “over the wall; you cannot help feeling the nitre. Indeed, it is very damp. Once more let me implore you to return. No? Then I must positively leave you. But I must first render you all the little attentions in my power.”

“The Amontillado!” ejaculated my friend, not yet recovered from his astonishment. “True,” I replied. “The Amontillado.”

As I said these words I busied myself among the pile of bones of which I have before spoken. Throwing them aside, I soon uncovered a quantity of building stone and mortar. With these materials and with the aid of my trowel, I began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche. I had scarcely laid the first tier of the masonry when I discovered that the intoxication of Fortunato had in a great measure worn off. The earliest indication I had of this was a low moaning cry from the depth of the recess. It was not the cry of a drunken man. There was then a long and obstinate silence. I laid the second tier, and the third, and the fourth; and then I heard the furious vibrations of the chain. The noise lasted for several minutes, during which, that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction, I ceased my labors and sat down upon the bones. When at last the clanking subsided, I resumed the trowel, and finished without interruption the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh tier. The wall was now nearly upon a level with my breast. I again paused, and holding the flambeaux over the mason-work, threw a few feeble rays upon the figure within. A succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting suddenly from the throat of the chained form, seemed to thrust me violently back. For a brief moment I hesitated, I trembled. Unsheathing my rapier, I began to grope with it about the recess; but the thought of an instant reassured me. I placed my hand upon the solid fabric of the catacombs, and felt satisfied. I reapproached the wall; I replied to the yells of him who clamored. I re-echoed, I aided, I surpassed them in volume and in strength. I did this, and the clamorer grew still.

It was now midnight, and my task was drawing to a close. I had completed the eighth, the ninth and the tenth tier. I had finished a portion of the last and the eleventh; there remained but a single stone to be fitted and plastered in. I struggled with its weight; I placed it partially in its destined position. But now there came from out the niche a low laugh that erected the hairs upon my head. It was succeeded by a sad voice, which I had difficulty in recognizing as that of the noble Fortunato.

The voice said “Ha! ha! ha! he! he! he! A very good joke, indeed—an excellent jest. We will have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo—he! he! he!—over our wine—he! he! he!” “The Amontillado!” I said.

“He! he! he!—he! he! he!—yes, the Amontillado. But is it not getting late? Will not they be awaiting us at the palazzo, the Lady Fortunato and the rest? Let us be gone.”

“Yes,” I said, “let us be gone.”

“For the love of God, Montresor!”

“Yes,” I said, “for the love of God!” But to these words I hearkened in vain for a reply. I grew impatient. I called aloud “Fortunato!” No answer. I called again “Fortunato!” No answer still. I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in return only a jingling of the bells. My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so. I hastened to make an end of my labour. I forced the last stone into its position; I plastered it up. Against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat!

     

‘Masonic Con 2020-ish’

     

UPDATE—March 2021: It’s been announced this will be a hybrid event. Info here.

Change of plans.

Forget what I told you last May about Masonic Con 2021 taking place in New Hampshire. I learned today the event will be at Ezekiel Bates Lodge in Massachusetts, as usual, April 30 to May 2.

Tickets available here.

     

‘The library of Alexandria’

     

Courtesy GWMNM

Not that Alexandria. This Alexandria!

Yes, there is good news from the George Washington Masonic National Memorial. It is announced in its latest newsletter how the digitization project was restarted last year. With its “more than 4,500 years of Masonic history” scanned, saved, and searchable, I suppose the Memorial is a modern Library of Alexandria—albeit with a specific focus.

I think it was about twelve years ago when Mark Tabbert, Director of Collections, announced the Memorial was to begin digitizing books of grand lodge proceedings. As of October, according to the anonymously written item in this newsletter, the effort thus far had 30 collections of grand lodges’, Royal Arch grand chapters’, Cryptic grand councils’, and Templar grand commanderies’ (plus Grand Encampment’s) archives as searchable data.

Where? Here.

In other high tech news, Shawn Eyer, Director of Communications and Development, recorded omnidirectional and three dimensional videos of the Memorial’s eleven public spaces. Sounds like sorcery to me, but take the tour—pandemic or no—here.

On the brick-and-mortar capital improvement side, the ongoing renovations have caught up to the windows in Memorial Hall.

Gone are the stained glass panels installed in the 1950s. Everybody loves stained glass, but that medium doesn’t really let there be light. Instead, the original architect’s vision of amber-color windows has been brought to fruition to shine golden rays upon Bryant Baker’s titan statue of Washington the Freemason. I bet it’s gorgeous.

I haven’t visited in ages. Hope to correct that soon.

     

Died #otd: Chester Arthur Burnett

     

Courtesy Howlin’ Wolf Blues Society

Died on this date 45 years ago: Chester Arthur Burnett.

That’s Howlin’ Wolf to you and me.

While I have yet to find the specifics of his lodge membership, we all know African-American musicians, who traveled extensively, very often sought Masonic belonging so as to have an extra-friendly support system wherever they turned.

It seems the only clue we have is that pinkie ring visible in this photo, shot by Brian Smith in 1964.

That’s not much at all, of course. We do not know where or when Burnett received the degrees of Freemasonry. If the Mississippi native was made a Mason after relocating to Chicago, which is home to myriad lodges of offshoots derivative from Prince Hall Masonry, then the unanswered question could become more complicated.

I’m happy just to think of him as a Brother, without the political complications.

Burnett is said to have stood six and a half feet tall, and otherwise was massive in stature. I’d like to see the Ruffian tasked with the final blow. (And, if you know how physical a Prince Hall degree can be....) I hope he was a ritualist. A charge, for example, emanating from his presence would resound very effectively!

The music of Howlin’ Wolf reached a whole new world during the late 1960s when blues-based, guitar-heavy rock bands performed his songs. Just off the top of my head:

“I Ain’t Superstitious”

Jeff Beck Group

“Back Door Man”

The Doors

“Spoonful”

Cream

“Wang Dang Doodle”

Savoy Brown

“No Place to Go”

Fleetwood Mac

“Smokestack Lightning”

The Yardbirds

“Killing Floor”

Jimi Hendrix Experience

(and adapted by Led Zeppelin as “The Lemon Song”)

I’m sure there are many others. It actually took a Rolling Stones appearance on Shindig! in 1965 to bring Burnett before an American television audience. (And that Masonic ring can be seen.)

Raise your glass today to the memory of Howlin’ Wolf: Bro. Chester Burnett.

     

‘Pure Ancient Masonry T.O. style’

     

The chapter room of Suwassett 195.

Last night, Suwassett Chapter 195 hosted a Zoom meeting where the HP reprised his lecture on “Traditional Observance Royal Arch Masonry.” As the Grand Chapter of New York’s representative near the Grand Chapter of New Jersey, I felt duty-bound to attend, but I would have anyway as a lover of both Capitular and Observant Masonry.

Chartered in 1857, Suwassett, located in Port Jefferson, New York, recently adopted the tenets of what is called “Observant Masonry,” if I understood the HP correctly, to save itself from extinction. Sounds like it’s working. My chapter also dates to 1857, and I’m trying to introduce Observant practices there to revivify an uninspired group.

(In my opinion, if you want the Observant lodge model—summarized quickly as solemnity and excellence in making Masons, profound education, quality dining, elegance in attire, et al.—but are stymied by the institutional atrophy that deadens too much of the Craft, you may find an easier way forward by bringing those practices to smaller, more flexible groups, such as those found in the York Rite. True, we don’t make Masons there, but great purpose and satisfaction can be realized.)

Our lecturer seems to keep his name off the web, so I won’t divulge it here, and I’ll get to the point. He wants Master Masons to know that although everything they have been entrusted to keep and conceal is massive and absolutely essential, it is not the entirety of the “pure Ancient Masonry” prescribed by the Articles of Union that amalgamated the rival English grand lodges in 1813. No, there is a certain revelation, a Word, a greater context that a Master Mason should know to see the mystery completed.

In addition, our speaker called our attention to elements of Craft lodge ritual that would seem to foreshadow a Royal Arch culmination. There are several arches incorporated into the floorwork of the Craft degrees (think about it); the Pillars in the Porch seem to map a subsequent journey in the unknowable future; and the lodge altar communicates in symbols not comprehended by Master Masons.

He also recalled to our minds the unfinished state of the SS of KST and the climax of the Hiramic legend itself to illustrate how “Blue lodge is the sound foundation, and Capitular Masonry is the superstructure of Freemasonry.”

The Q&A was light and fun, with some in the audience augmenting the lecture with commentary on local New York historical facts. Another Companion was innocently confused about one point of history, saying he believed Royal Arch Masonry was extant in the 1600s(!), and cited from memory the proof that there was a parade of RAMs in that era. Of course he is thinking of the Saint John the Evangelist Day public procession of Youghall Lodge 21 in Dublin, but that was 1743. A local paper reported the parade featured “the Royal Arch carried by two excellent Masons.”

All in all, it was a great way to enjoy an hour on a Wednesday night, and I hope this lecture is repeated for the enlightenment of Masons everywhere. Perhaps your lodge or chapter might contact Suwassett and extend an invitation.